Could Donaldson, Belt help your hunt for homers?

In Saturday's post, I mentioned power only in passing.
There come times in a season when you're looking for power. This could be one, especially for owners with Orioles 1B Chris Davis on the roster.
In the first place, Davis hasn't been hitting with power. In the second, he might not even play for the next two weeks if he goes on the disabled list.
The easy choices are the current major league leaders, Angels 1B Albert Pujols and White Sox 1B Jose Abreu. They each have nine homers in less than four weeks. What's that you say? Pujols was a keeper in your league and other owners jumped on Abreu as the new kid on the power block?
OK, let's look a bit further down the home run list.
With eight homers, there's Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez. That's a pace for more than 50 this season. But should you be concerned because that's about twice the number he has hit in most seasons? Yes. I'm not even talking about steroids in this article, but you know which players to whisper about amongst yourselves.
The 7-HR group has some of the players you'd expect -- Blue Jays OF Jose Bautista, Marlins OF Mike Stanton and Diamondbacks OF Mark Trumbo, who's now injured. I've already touched on Twins SS Brian Dozier. There are up-and-comers such as Giants 1B Brandon Belt and Athletics 3B Josh Donaldson. I'm not sure about Belt as a consistent power source, but I could see power potential in Donaldson, even though he's not very big, back when he was a minor league catcher. Braves OF Justin Upton also has seven homers in what appears to be a bounce-back season.
Those with six homers also include some you'd expect -- Brewers OF Ryan Braun, who has been hitting his homers in bunches; Orioles OF Nelson Cruz; Braves 1B Freddie Freeman and C/OF Evan Gattis; Giants OF Mike Morse; Angels OF Mike Trout, and Pirates 3B Pedro Alvarez. Like last season, when he finished strong to tie for the National League lead, Alvarez has started slowly, with a batting average still on the interstate. He probably could use more protection in a lineup that hasn't been working. However, Pittsburgh 2B Neil Walker also has six homers, a pace he seems highly unlikely to keep up. He's also less effective against right-handed pitchers, the kind that Alvarez terrorizes. He's sometimes platoon-replaced against lefties.
Missing from that list is Tigers 1B/3B Miguel Cabrera, who reached five homers with a hot Week 4. He's a perfect example of why I don't like to make yes-or-no decisions about players until after Week 5.
Saturday was a difficult day for a number of players. Nationals OF Bryce Harper went on the disabled list Sunday. Davis seemed likely to join him on the DL. Braun left Saturday's game because of a strained intercostal muscle and his teammate, SS Jean Segura, left Milwaukee's lineup after being hit in the face by a Braun practice swing.
More coming over the next few days about other fantasy categories -- most importantly stolen bases and saves. I also expect some shorter posts with observations about players I see in person. Those could be similar to Saturday's comments about Rangers LHP Martin Perez.

Some teams aren't getting the new emphasis on defense

I've written about some teams with position battles at second and third base.
This installment includes a look at some teams with options, or should I say problems, at first base -- and how they're solving those.
The White Sox and Mariners seem willing to go the route of weakening their defense in exchange for the possibility of increased offense. The Pirate no doubt will have their eyes on the waiver wire or trade possibilities.
Chicago signed Cuban 1B Jose Abreu, possibly expecting 1B Paul Konerko to retire. His decision to return for a farewell season created a logjam at first base/DH, with Adam Dunn already there. The proposed solution is to have Dunn play left field. Sox pitchers no doubt are overjoyed.
Seattle's taking a similar tack. 1B Justin Smoak might have saved his position with a strong second half in 2013. But then they traded for 1B/OF Corey Hart, whose outfield days are numbered at best. The Mariners also are working failed C Jesus Montero at first base. So there could be something like Smoak at first, Montero as a shaky DH and Hart as a shaky outfielder in a big outfield. Sure, Seattle has added 2B Robinson Cano to RHP Felix Hernandez and 3B Kyle Seager, but what else is there?
Pirates 1B Gaby Sanchez is making noise about being a full-time player this year. The right-handed batter wasn't very effective in just a platoon role against lefties last season, so how can he really be expected to produce every day. The alternatives or possible platoon players are left-handed batters Travis Ishikawa, who has been found wanting elsewhere, and the unproven Andrew Lambo and Chris McGuiness.
-- Reports say the Red Sox are close to signing LHP Chris Capuano to fill the rotation spot that would have gone to RHP Ryan Dempster except that he decided not to pitch this year. They're interchangeable fifth starter at this stage of their careers, and probably average of below-average among fifth starters.
-- For starters: No surprise, RHP Adam Wainwright will start the opening game for the National League-champion Cardinals.
New Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he hasn't decided among his wealth of right-handed talent: Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez. I'd rank them in that order. If Scherzer couldn't get the Opening Day start after the season he had in 2013, when would he? Verlander is 31, so logic tells us he isn't likely to have another year as good as his glory days. Sanchez can be unhittable; the inconsistent one can also be hittable.
Detroit has decided on a starter for its opening exhibition game Tuesday against Florida Southern College, and its Ver ... no, not Verlander, but rookie RHP Drew VerHagen, who finished last season at Double-A Erie. I saw VerHagen on a few occasions when he was at Rockwall-Heath High School in Texas. He was drafted in the fourth round out of Vanderbilt in 2012.
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Basketball. Team Fresh Prints maintained its 7-1 lead for this week. Friday's games could be the key to protecting that lead or even going ahead in free throw percentage for an 8-0 sweep. It appears that I'll have nine players to my opponent's two. If my starting nine can shoot well at the foul line, they could put a big dent in the .050 by which they trail in free throw percentage. The downside is that a bad shooting night could all but eliminate the chance of leading in free throws and could also drop the field goal percentage behind. The six other counting categories should be all but wrapped up Friday night.