Oh, my aching back! -- Harrison hurting again

I think I forgot to mention in my previous post about Rangers LHP Matt Harrison.
He's a bit of an enigma. Harrison worked very hard to get himself back into shape -- I remember once referring to him as a "pudgeball" -- and having two very good seasons. Armed with a new contract, he followed those with two starts and two back surgeries in 2013.
Now, Harrison is back in Texas for an MRI exam Monday on his lower back. He also complained of neck pain before the Rangers excused him from a bullpen session in Surprise, Ariz.
Can he come back? Could his problem be something congenital that wasn't picked up in any physical?
Unless Harrison and RHP Neftali Feliz can come back from their succession of injuries, Texas' epic Mark Teixeira trade will lose some of its luster.
Also returning to Texas to see a specialist was C Geovany Soto, who has a sore left Achilles tendon. If he's out for any length of time, that could benefit C J.P. Arencibia, acquired from the Blue Jays.
Harrison could join LHP Derek Holland on the disabled list for an extended period. One pitcher the Rangers could have considered as a stopgap might not be available. LHP Chris Capuano reportedly is in Fort Myers, Fla., for a physical exam preliminary to signing a contract with the Red Sox. He's ticketed for Boston's bullpen. The Chris Capuano Brewers bobble-heads (two different models) above my desk were shaking their head, urging him to hold out for a better deal somewhere.
A former Ranger, OF Nelson Cruz, reportedly is close to signing a contract with the Orioles. Baltimore did lose on waivers a player acquired from the Twins. The Blue Jays claimed RHP Liam Hendriks on waivers.
There's not much real news coming out of spring training yet. Expect more next week when exhbition games begin.
For now, you'll have to be content with "the ball looks good coming out of Soandso's hand," or "Somebodyelse looks good at his new position. He fielded a ground ball."
Here are a couple of actual items that illustrate what you can expect to see for the next few days. In the Cubs' camp, a dude named Javier Baez hit a home run that broke a car window. In the parking lot. During batting practice. Wake me up when he breaks a car window on Waveland Avenue. In an actual game. Also, an mlb.com headline indicated that Astros RHP Lucas Harrell hopes for a "bounce-back" season. Shouldn't that be a "bounce" season? Has he ever really been there as an established major leaguer?
* * *
Basketball. Judging by tonight's scores, some NBA teams might still be in All-Star Game mode.
No matter. Four of my players had double doubles, with Carmelo Anthony going off again for 44 points and Victor Oladipo coming oh, so close, to a triple double with 30 points, 14 assists and 9 rebounds. Rookie of the Year, anyone?
Most important, my guys stepped up at the foul line, hitting 29 of 32 (91%). They couldn't do much about my opponent's four-corners stall, which resulted in his two active players going 0 for 0 at the line and still holding a lead of about .034 in free throw percentage. If they keep up that inactivity, Team Fresh Prints might have to go 64 for 64 these last two days of the week to have a chance at an 8-0 week.
Right now, it appears that my lead would be 14 games going into the final three weeks (24 games).

Rays' Hellickson to miss 6-8 weeks this season

One starting pitcher has had the start of his season moved back. Another appears to have a chance to return to a somewhat improved major league rotation in 2014.
Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson underwent elbow surgery -- not Tommy John surgery, but an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies. Hellickson is expected to miss the first 6-8 weeks of the season, meaning he wouldn't return until well into May.
RHP Jerome Williams was no more than an innings-eater for the Angels last season, but even that level of effectiveness would be an improvement in the Astros rotation. He said he has agreed to a 1-year major league contract, pending a physical exam Wednesday. Houston has not confirmed the assignment. There is no guarantee that Williams would become a starter with the new team; he could have a long-relief role. But there isn't much experienced talent vying for rotation spots.
The Mets signed RHP Kyle Farnsworth, who is beginning to approach the career life span of a left-handed reliever, to a minor league contract. And, no, the Mets themselves are not included among the teams in the minors.
The Rangers have signed RHP Armando Galarraga, who began his major league career with Texas, to a minor league contract. But even with a spring-training invitation to 2B prospect Rougned Odor, bringing the list of invitees to 18, Galarraga won't be among them. Texas also is trying an experiment that has worked with some strong-armed minor leaguers, most notably RHP Alexi Ogando. The Rangers signed former Red Sox OF Che-Hsuan Lin to a minor league contact, with the intetnion of converting him to a pitcher.
* * *
Basketball. I won Week 14 6-2, extending my lead slightly to 9 1/2 games with five weeks to play. I couldn't catch up in rebounds and remained behind in field goal percentage, primarily because Orlando's Victor Oladipo was just 3 for 16 (19%). I did not add a rebounder because the Magic and Celtics were the only teams playing Sunday. My opponent happened to have two front-court players in action, which enabled him to add slightly to his lead in rebounds.
Nine players on my team are active tonight, compared to seven for this week's opponent.
* * *
Hockey. I remained at 66 points, but moved within eight points of second place. The team ahead of me lost a point.
I have made some adjustments in my lineup for each day this week to try to remain on pace to avoid running out of games played before I reach the league limits. Wasn't easy. With just four skating bench spots, and teams squeezing in a lot of games before the Olympics break begins Sunday, I've had to have a couple of games extra for both forwards and defensemen.
There will be some help late in the week because D Zdeno Chara will miss the Bruins' games Thurday and Saturday so he can carry the Slovakian flag at the Olympic opening ceremonies. Keep that in mind if you have him on your roster, and check other Olympians who could miss a game or two.
* * *
Football. My pick of Denver in the "bet a thousand" pool proved to be disastrous. Along with the 13 other people who took the Broncos minus-2, I ended up with $0. Each of us bet everything s/he had. Most of the 20 who went with Seattle also bet everything, but the Seahawks won. No matter how much hypothetical money I wagered, I couldn't have finished in the money with The Broncos failing to cover the spread.
With Seattle as my big game 48 pick in the Pittsburgh pick-'em pool, I placed first. Not sure how much I won, or how much will go to pay for donuts at the company where the pool was hosted.
Bring on the baseball season.
I intend to do just that, with increased attention to fantasy stats and other features leading up to draft day/opening day.
By the way, do the games being played early in Australia make it so you hold your draft earlier. Just wondering. If you're reading this, please let me know about your draft plans. The Inner League Baseball drafts will be a week earlier than usual, on March 16, Sandy Duncan's birthday.

How successful was Holland's surgery?

Even the Yankees' signing of Masahiro Tanaka, the backlog of free-agent pitchers hasn't been reduced.
There's still not much going on in baseball. I did hear that Rangers LHP Derek Holland, on crutches, said the microfracture surgery on his knee wasn't as bad as what RHP Scott Feldman had when he was Holland's teammate. Feldman missed most of the season after his surgery, but has bounced back with other teams.
How Holland would know that isn't clear. In any event, it sounds like wishful thinking. You know, like how every player's surgery is deemed "successful" on the day it's performed. Who's going to remember that two years later when the guy has pitched 12 innings and can sign only a minor league contract with a non-contender?
* * *
Hockey. Saturday night was good.
I saw the best game, with the best crowd, that I've seen in the eight seasons I've been going to Stars game. Dallas stayed hot, defeating the Penguins 3-0 before the second sold-out house this hockey season at the American Airlines Center.
My fantasy team picked up 2 1/2 points, 2 in plus/minus (despite a combined minus-4 for my two Colorado defensemen) and 1/2 in power-play points. So I'm up to 66 1/2, but still third among 10 teams.
I have to do a better job checking out matchups. Philadelphia's Steve Mason was in goal against the Bruins, who all but skated on his face in a 6-1 victory. My goalies are down to 5 points in wins, with three teams below them within three wins. Of course, I'm already at the bottom of the league in GAA and save percentage. It could get worse.
I've set my team up for Monday so that the Avalanche players on my roster won't be in my lineup on the road against the suddenly red-hot Stars. We'll see how that works.
* * *
Basketball. I've made some lineup moves for Sunday, the last day in this week's competition. I'm ahead by about a 2:1 ratio in all six counting categories, but have slim leads in both field goal and free throw percentage.
I'd like to preserve that 8-0 lead, so I've benched the active players, Victor Oladipo and Mo Williams,  with the poorest shooting percentages. My opponent still might overtake me. Among the players in his lineup are Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili and David Lee. I'll get to see Dirk against the Pistons. I wouldn't wish ill on him, but if he has a cold night, so be it.
* * *
Football. Does anyone know who's even playing the Pro Bowl Sunday? Somewhere, I'm sure, bookmakers have set a line for the game? exhibition? farce? And somewhere, someone will bet on it.

There's always a job for a middle-of-the-road lefty

The Rangers and Mets made blip-on-the-radar news this weekend. Not a bad time for lefties either.
Texas signed LHP Rafael Perez a minor league contract with a chance to compete for a spot in their bullpen. He's a sidearmer effective against his kindred left-handers. Kind of like a southpaw Darren O'Day from the Rangers' glory days. Texas had Michael Kirkman in its bullpen most of last season. I'm fairly confident the Rangers could do better with Perez, who pitched only in the minors in 2013.
With LHP Derek Holland out for half or more of this season, Texas reportedly has been exploring signing LHPs Paul Maholm or Bruce Chen. Maholm had some success when the Pirates were really bad. Chen has pitched for just about everybody, including parts of two seasons for the Rangers, and brings a high-end personality to a clubhouse. He even pitched well as a swing man for Kansas City last season.
Texas also avoided arbitration by signing one-year contracts with RHPs Neftali Feliz ($3 million) and Alexi Ogando ($2.625 mill). That's probably more than $10,000 per pitch for the pair who were hurt most of last year. Ogando was on the DL three different times. Feliz took more of the long-term approach by not pitching in the majors until September.
The Mets signed LHP John Lannan, who could be their fifth starter, and are bringing back SS/utility infielder Omar Quintanilla. Each would go to spring training with a minor league contract.
Another guy, or perhaps I should say just another guy, is trying to make a comeback after being out of pro ball last year. The Mariners have agreed with LHP Joe Beimel on a minor league deal. Not sure why they think he suddenly might know how to pitch.
The list of teams that reportedly have offered RHP Masahiro Tanaka more than $100 million for six years shows that the Diamondbacks want to become major, big-market player. The other teams on the list are the Yankees, Dodgers, White Sox and Cubs. Hey, the Cubbies could win 70 games with Tanaka on the staff.
* * *
Basketball. It's still 7-1 going into the last day of the week.
I'm down by six 3-pointers, and think I have sufficient leads in the other categories unless my shooting percentages go down significantly (which always can happen).
Team Fresh Prints has five players going Sunday, to four for my opponent. However, three of his players are guards, but one is Rajon Rondo, whom we shouldn't expect to play much for a while.
I also have three guards in action, but I'll need good performances from Gerald Green, Victor Oladipo and Marco Belinelli to have a chance to sweep the week.
Covered the Trail Blazers' devastation of the Mavericks tonight. Mo Williams, who comes off Portland's bench in much the same way that he comes off my bench, had a good game with four rebounds, three assists, two steals and eight points, but didn't hit any 3s.
A player to watch for Dallas is Devin Harris, who played for the first time this season. He could give them a legitimate point guard, but tonight he had just six points in 17 minutes and missed two free throws.
* * *
Hockey. Can't say much because I dropped a point and had poor performances in my Categories That Shall Not Be Named. On the down side, there are four other teams creeping up close behind me in goalie wins. Let's put it this way, they're closer to me than I am to the team ahead of me.
* * *
Football. After being eliminated from the AMFL playoffs last week, I have no fantasy football teams active.
I'm pretty sure I'm out of contention in the Pittsburgh pick-'em playoff pool. Don't remember whether I told you my strategy for this week in the hypothetical bet-a-thousand pool. I'm putting $1,400 on the Broncos at (I believe) minus-7 1/2 and $100 on the 49ers at (I think) plus-3 1/2. A Denver win could at least narrow the gap between my $1,600 and the $3,700 that leads the pool. If the Patriots and Seahawks cover, I'd at least be left with $100 that I could double with a winning Super Bowl bet. Of course, it's not real money unless I finish in the top three (maybe top six, don't remember) and then I'd win just a percentage of the $10 entry fees put into the pool. I'm currently 18th among about 60 in the pool.

Astros improving one bite at a time

Happy new year.
And it should be a happier new year in Houston. That's not just because the Astros have signed free-agent RHP Jesse Crain.
Crain is more a symbol of change than a game-changer.
Houston's management has made a series of incremental improvements that won't move the Astros into contention this season, but should move them to a point where they are more competitive on a daily basis.
The change is most evident in the bullpen -- where Crain joins other new RHPs Chad Qualls, Matt Albers, Anthony Bass, Darin Downs and Raul Valdes.
That might not sound like much, but doesn't it sound better than Josh Zeid, Kevin Chapman, Chia-Jen Lo and Josh Fields? They were the unproven youngsters in a bullpen that led or tied for the lead in negative categories with a 4.92 ERA and 29 blown saves.
Fields and Lo were among the part-time closers Houston employed in what we now can call last year.
The most obvious weakness, even with the influx of veterans, is that there is no proven closer. Qualls would be the closest to matching that job description. He and Crain are tied for the most relief wins in the majors over the last 10 seasons, with 45. That says more about their longevity than their ability.
It's quite possible that some of the new Astros won't open the season on the major league roster. Well, Crain might not because he's still recovering from surgery following a bout with biceps tendinitis that ended early a 2013 season during which he was an All-Star for the White Sox (who weren't a whole lot better than Houston).
But let's say Downs and Valdes could go back to the minors or be shipped off to another organization. And maybe Zeid and Lo could be major leaguers in April. The point is that there would be greater competition for jobs, and even the losers in that competition could be viable major leaguers at some point in the season.
I'm planning to do some analysis during the next few days to determine who might be the best closer candidate in Houston. My gut feeling is that the Astros would start with Qualls, but we'll see.
* * *
I'm in two football bowl-picking contests. One is with point spreads, the other without. Haven't seen a recent report on the point-spread pool, but I started out something like 2-7. In the pick-winners pool, I've rallied after a slow start, and went 4-0 Tuesday. It's a pool in which you assign point values based on how much faith you have in a team's winning. Confidence pool, I think it's called. Texas A&M's rally helped because I had 30 points on the Aggies. I'm a little over plus-200, but haven't seen that report since early Monday.
By the way, I ended up making no money in my regular-season office pool. I made a rally in Week 17, tying for third at 12-5, but still finished 13 points behind the winner and four behind third place, the last with prize money.
Now I have a couple of different NFL playoff pools to master. One of those is straight pick-'em; the other is pick-'em while assigning wagers best on a theoretical $1,000 bankroll to begin the playoffs.
* * *
Hockey. I'm stayed at points, but fell 1 1/2 points farther out of second place. I got excited when I saw Keith Yandle, heretofore a drain on my plus/minus, was plus-3 Tuesday. However, my team still dropped another point in the plus/minus. Not many players going today, but I've set up my lineup for the next couple of days so that I'd have pretty much a full roster Thursday.
* * *
Basketball. My team currently is leading 8-0, but four categories are very close. Over the next two days, I had a choice for the 10th player in my lineup between Victor Oladipo and Taj Gibson. Because three of my closest categories are 3-pointers, assists and steals, I'm going with Oladipo.

No big deals -- Ibanez and Veras

There's not much new that's concrete in baseball right now.
The Angels finalized a 1-year contract with former ancient Mariner Raul Ibanez, who could DH and play a little bit of outfield.
The Cubs agreed to a 1-year contract with RHP Jose Veras, who would be their 2014 closer. Now there's not a lot to close on the North Side, and Veras seems likely to blow a number of the opportunities he gets. Expect him to join RHP Carlos Marmol and the ranks of other failed closers for the Cubs.
I'm working on some projects to produce some quantitative fantasy baseball information. I hope you can see at least one piece before the year ends.
* * *
Basketball. Carmelo Anthony didn't play Friday night, and isn't going to play Saturday. I still can fill all 10 spots in my lineup.
I had set up my lineup for Thursday, and neglected to change it for Friday. Thus, I left on my bench Victor Oladipo and his 16 points and 11 assists.
Through Thursday, I had been tied in blocked shots as part of a 5-2-1 lead. I figured Serge Ibaka would help me in that area, and sure enough, he blocked three Friday and helped me take the lead in that category. However, my lead is down to 5-3, partly because Anthony didn't play. But my 16-point deficit coincides exactly with Oladipo's 16 points that didn't count for me. We'll see what happens Saturday.
* * *
Hockey. I was buried under an Avalanche tonight. Colorado lost 7-2 to the Blackhawks. Jan Hejda and Erik Johnson were both -4, and Nathan MacKinnon was -3. That was 11 of my minus-15 for the night. That dropped me down to sixth in plus/minus at plus-19. Somehow, the Avalanche's and my, Paul Stastny broke even. Now I have four individuals on my team with season plus/minuses of 19 or more, but I haven't had those players in my lineup at the right time. Mikko Koivu also has been killing me; he was -3 tonight. In addition, Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up seven goals in two periods. That's a 10.50 goals against average. And the only thing I can say about his save percentage is that at least it isn't less than 0.
My plan is to divest myself of some Colorado players, and Koivu if I can. I'm a little light in forwards. Despite the debacle with Hejda and Johnson, my defense is pretty good. I'm even using a defenseman as a utility player. But I had Dallas' Brenden Dillon on my bench. He was plus-2 Friday, and he took a minor penalty. Another problem with my lineup was that my lineup totaled 0 penalty minutes. How is that even possible? I probably need a fighter.
Somehow I escaped the night losing a mere two points in the standings.
It's too late to make coherent moves tonight. I got home from the Predators-Stars game at about 1.

Mariners' moves questionable

The Mariners, apparently tired of acquiring 31-year-olds with little or no possibility of improvement, traded RHP Carter Capps to the Marlins for 26-year-old 1B/OF Logan Morrison. There is room for improvement, even though his best season was at age 23. Would he be an improvement over incumbent 1B Justin Smoak, who finally seemed to have a clue in September about hitting major league pitching? Would either Morrison or 31-year-old free agent OF/1B Corey Hart be capable of playing outfield defense with three bad knees between them, carting around 480 pounds of ballplayer? Hart, a two-time All-Star, missed all of this season because of microfracture surgery on both knees. Perhaps the answer to the questions above is that Miami was willing to take a reliever with a 5.49 ERA for Morrison. (And don't tell me anything about ERA+ or win shares for Capps; he wasn't a good pitcher by any measure in 2013.)
Hey, at least Hart and Morrison cost a fraction of what 31-year-old 2B Robinson Cano will.
The only other moves in the last couple of days:
-- The Tigers gave one-trick-pony OF Rajai Davis $10 million for 2 years to platoon in LF with OF Andy Dirks.
 -- The Pirates gave RHP Charlie Morton a new 3-year, $21-million contract through 2016, with a team option for '17. Morton was probably the greatest beneficiary of Pittsburgh's new emphasis on shifting its defense for almost every batter.
-- The Rangers made official a 1-year contract with free-agent C J.P. Arencibia.
-- The busy-with-the-little-stuff Marlins confirmed their 2-year contract with free-agent 1B/OF Garrett Jones.
-- Almost forgot. The Mets agreed on a 2-year, $20-million contract with RHP Bartolo Colon, pending a physical. What? Are they afraid he might not be in shape?
RHP Roy Halladay returned to his roots, signing a 1-day contract with the Blue Jays before announcing his retirement. I've seen a lot of support for Halladay as a Hall of Famer, but I'm not so sure. Doc had some great years, but interspersed with those were a succession of injuries and some bad seasons. It wasn't just a Greg Maddux 6-15 or whatever it was rookie season with a bad team followed by lights-out season after lights-out season. What Halladay, a great pitcher, lacked was reliability.
I'll be sending my thoughts about the AFL Top Prospects later.

* * *

Football. I took a 25-point lead in the first of two rounds in my scoring-plus-yardage ESPN league consolation semifinal. I've made some preliminary minor moves for this week, with more possible Thursday. In the scoring-only Andy Memorial Football League I got 1 point out of QB Matthew Stafford (for a 2-point conversion pass). In the same snowy game, my opponent received 10 from Eagles QB Nick Foles. That was enough for me to lose by 1 point, 33-25. That knocked me two games behind the co-leaders with three games left. I'm in a tie for third place, but would lose a tiebreaker. There are something like five teams one game behind us. So I'm figuring that I'll need to win all three weeks (possibly two) to get into the top-division playoffs during the NFL postseason.

* * *

Hockey. I'm mismanaging my goalies again. Here's my current story. On Saturday afternoon, I got to watch in person as Flyers goalie Steve Mason allowed 3 goals in 1:02 against the Stars. My thinking at the time was that Mason has been playing somewhat over his head. Even though he had made a number of outstanding stops (25 saves in two periods), that barrage seemed to be the type of thing that could damage his confidence. Confident goalies are like confident closers; if they're not confident, you can't count on them. I gave Mason another chance Monday, but he gave up four goals again -- to Ottawa!
At the same time, I was figuring it was no longer prudent to keep riding Toronto G James Reimer. To replace him, I picked up tried-and-true free agent Martin Brodeur. So I started Brodeur Tuesday, and he gave up five goals! He's no longer on my team. I've now added Jonas Gustavsson from the Red Wings. Hope he doesn't give up six goals in his first start for me.
Bottom line: I lost 3 more points, mostly in the goalie categories. I'm still in third place, but now much closer to fourth place than second.

* * *

Basketball. After Monday, I was 0-7-1, with a tie in steals. I realized that I had only one player -- Victor Oladipo, who didn't play very well -- active that night. My opponent had three players -- including Stephen Curry, who went for 40-some points.
On Tuesday, I had eight or nine players in action; he again had three. So now I'm ahead 6-1-1. We're still tied in steals, and I'm behind by only one assist. The other head-to-head competiti0ons are pretty close, so if the results stay the same, I'd move up only to seventh place. But I'd be over .500 and within five games of the lead.

Freese for Bourjos looks like a winner

I'll try to keep this short. I'm tired after getting home from Jazz-Mavericks. Well done, Samuel Dalember!
OK, I'll talk basketball first. I'm now ahead 7-1 in this week's competition, which I believe runs through Monday. I trail only in assists, by 6. I have set my Saturday lineup, which will have either 9 or 10 positions manned. I moved Victor Oladipo into the starting lineup to help with the assists. I also picked up Cavaliers C Anderson Varejao, who even has a couple of assists per game, when I waived recent acquisition Gerald Wallace. I'd like at least to maintain this lead, which would jump me up to eighth place and in a position to be in the first division within a couple of weeks.

* * *

Next up, baseball.

3B David Freese should benefit from his trade to the Angels if for no other reason than he'll get to play 19 games against the Rangers. RHP Fernando Salas could fit into Los Angeles' bullpen well. Unlike many of the relievers who performed for the Angels last season, Salas at least has had a measure of success in the majors. Not enough success to make him a viable closer, or even to supplant RHP Ernesto Frieri.
Freese would fill a void at third base for Los Angeles.
Individual winners in this trade are Angels OF Kole Calhoun, who should enter 2014 as their right fielder, and Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong. He can try to make up for being picked off in the World Series by playing well as a regular next season. The plan apparently is to move 2B Matt Carpenter to third. To me, he's still another outfielder trying to play the infield.
A potential loser is St. Louis CF Jon Jay. There will be pressure to have CF Peter Bourjos, the centerpiece moving to the National League, to play in at least a platoon role. Rookie Randal Grichuk also could make his way to the majors during 2014. Another possibility is that Jay could be traded. He could be a consolation prize for a team missing out on free agent CF Jacoby Ellsbury.

* * *

Hockey. As I prepare for bed, my team is half a point out of third place. I'm very close to that third-place team in goalie wins and ATOI (average time on ice), and could make up to a 4-point swing. Of course, my goalies would actually have to play to win. It appears that I'll be able to fill most of my 15 (?) positions for skaters. Look at me, I don't even know how many players to start. Note to self: Find out.
My apologies for being on my last legs and forgetting how to spell Anderson's last name and Grichuk's first name entirely, and for being too tired or lazy even to Google. Note: I have fixed these and caught up on my sleep.

Veteran pitchers in some demand

There is news in the Hot Stove League. Foremost was the Giants' signing of 38-year-old RHP Tim Hudson to a two-year contract for a reported $23 million. He still can pitch, as long as he recovers from this season's ankle injury. Monday's other definite signing was C Carlos Ruiz, who will remain with the Phillies for three years, with an option for 2017. His contract is worth a reported $26 million. Pending physicals, 40-year-old RHP LaTroy Hawkins would join the Rockies on a one-year, $2.25-million deal and OF/2B Skip Schumaker would become a Cincinnati Red for two years at an undisclosed salary. I'll have more coming up on Hawkins, who pitched for Colorado's 2007 National League champions and could compete for next season's job as closer with LHP Rex Brothers. Which makes sense, because Hawkins has hung around as long as almost any journeyman southpaw reliever. Speaking of lefties, the Orioles signed one, 25-year-old LHP Kelvin De La Cruz. He has had some success against left-handed batters in the high minors for the Dodgers' organization. There's no guarantee that that success would carry over into the majors. * * * While I was at tonight's 76ers-Mavericks game, I had some thoughts about fantasy basketball. Namely, that I'd never played it, didn't really know what categories were used and didn't know how valuable my plus/minus system would be in evaluating players for fantasy basketball. I'll give you results of a preliminary plus/minus study soon. No, it's not the same as the plus-minus you might see in NBA box scores When I arrived home, I looked around espn.com, where my football and hockey fantasy teams reside, and noted that a fantasy basketball draft was scheduled to begin that very minute. Just 8 of the 10 positions were filled, 9 once I signed up. So the draft was delayed another 5 minutes. During that time, a 10th team joined. The draft breezed by in about half an hour. I was in the ninth position in a snake draft, but it seemed pretty clear that I didn't make good use of the six sets of two picks close together. Of course, a modicum of preparation might have helped. When the draft ended, I looked at our league page and found out that the categories at ESPN are pretty standard -- points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, 3-point field goals made and the percentage categories of field goal and free throw percentage. I also found out that the league apparently back-dated our league to play three weeks of head-to-head competition, one "game" for each category -- and I was already in last place at 5-18-1 and trailing in this week's competition 3-4-1. The only players on my new team who were in action tonight were big men Joakim Noah, Serge Ibaka and Samuel Dalembert (who played very well for Dallas). So I did well in rebounds and blocks, but didn't have any 3-pointers, so I lost that category. Just set my lineup for Tuesday. I moved Gerald Wallace on to my active roster, replacing Victor Oladipo as one of my utility players. Wallace's team, the Celtics, is playing Tuesday; Oladipo's Orlando Magic isn't. There should be a few 3s Tuesday. Also playing for me will be Ricky Rubio, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. The lessons already learned here are simply 1) Prepare for your draft and 2) Know the rules and all the set up/settings for your league. My fantasy hockey team started slowly too. I'll be out of last place, maybe within a week. Getting to first place could be a tall order. * * * Speaking of hockey, my team suffered Monday from not having any of my goalies playing. Not only did I lose half a point because the team tied with me had a goalie who won a game, but I also dropped 2 additional points behind the third-place team because he overtook me in ATOI. I'm still confident that I can move up in the goalie categories as well as in three skaters' categories in which I'm also fourth in a 10-team league. * * * There was no action on my fantasy football leagues Monday. RB D'Angelo Williams did not score for my scoring-only league team, which already had clinched a 33-28 victory. But Carolina's rally gave me a loss and an 8-8 record for the week in the Pittsburgh office pool that includes me. I remained 14 games out of first place, but inched up to six games out of the money with six weeks to play. I can only hope for a huge week to fuel a rally like the one I had last year.