Fantasy Island.

Josh Hamilton will officially be out for 6-8 weeks. Those of you looking for a replacement out of Texas can expect David Murphy to get most of the time in left field. Marlon Byrd is another option. He is owned in less than 40% of Yahoo! fantasy leagues and is currently batting .391 for the Cubs. In deeper leagues you may need to look to a Jeff Francoeur or a Melky Cabrera, both owned in less than 10% of Yahoo! leagues and have been relatively productive on a Kansas City offense.

Rafael Furcal suffered a broken thumb on Monday and will miss 4-6 weeks. An integral part of the Dodgers offense and defense, Furcal hasn't been the most productive shortstop in the early 2011 season. Jamey Carrol, available in 95% of Yahoo! leagues and eligible for 2B, 3B, SS and OF, will pick up a majority of the time at short while Furcal is out. Oddly enough, he is a decent option at short if you are looking for on base percentage. He was sporting a .452 OBP going into Tuesday night's game and could be a surprising source of runs. Angel Sanchez of Houston and Orlando Cabrera of Cleveland may be more reliable. Owned in less than 15% and 30% of Yahoo! leagues respectively, Sanchez and Cabrera have been two of the most productive shortstops on the year.

Ryan Zimmerman suffered an abdominal strain and could miss up to 3 weeks. I don't trust the rest of the Washington Nationals offense, but Alex Cora and Jerry Hairston Jr. will split time at third while Zimmerman is out. Owned in less than 30% of Yahoo! leagues Alberto Callaspo, with a .436 OBP and a couple of home runs heading into Tuesday's game, is a better option.

This Week In Baseball.

The second week of the baseball season brought fans the second positive drug test of Manny Ramirez. But instead of sitting through a 100-game suspension and possible investigations, he decided to call it quits. Signing with the Tampa Bay Rays in the off-season, Ramirez went 1-for-17 in his final five games. Was this a smart move for him, or is it just another case of Manny being Manny?

I say it was a smart move. Sure, he probably had some home runs left in the tank, but I highly doubt he would have been the deciding factor in a Tampa Bay championship season (he would only play in 62 games). I'm sure there's a lot of disappointment from fans from Boston to LA, but at nearly 40 years old it was probably for the best. Heck, even I'm disappointed. I never got a chance to buy one of those Manny Ramirez dreads caps. Manny, just keep being Manny.

This Week In Baseball.

On another note, my favorite occurrence this week is the sweep of the Boston Red Sox by the Texas Rangers. Hilarious! They spent millions and millions of dollars on Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and fans have been boasting since the winter meetings of a potential championship 2011 season, and now this? Hilarious! The Red Sox still have the on-paper-offense to win it all, so stop worrying Red Sox fans! 159 games to go, anything can happen. I just hope their pitching staff implodes on a daily basis. Hilarious!

This Week In Baseball.

In an uncommonly shortened opening week, there have been records broken, sweeps completed and some serious holes created within potent lineups. But the most valuable player in my eyes only played in one of his teams first three games: Ramon Hernandez. He belted a walk-off, three-run home run with two outs in the ninth to rally the Cincinnati Reds to 7-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on opening day. Despite not playing in the next two games, you can bet it was his home run that supplied the momentum needed for the Reds to complete a three game sweep of the Brewers. To get a win like that has to be amazing, not only for the team and the fans, but for Hernandez who finished the day with 4 hits, a homer and 3 RBI. The NL Central champion Reds have started their season 3-0 and look to continue their dominance against the current bottom feeding Houston Astros.

mlb.com has the highlight.

Diamond Cuts.

I've been off the grid for quite a while. So first and foremost, let me just sadly say that I was wrong about Brett Favre. But baseball is back! It's opening day for the MLB. Where's the excitement, people?! I'm asking major league baseball the same question. Where have all the games gone? I don't recall an opening day ever having less than a full slate of games to watch. Aside from the Atlanta Braves winning their first game without Bobby Cox in a long, long time, opening day 2011 has been slightly disappointing.