why I will end up as an investment banker...

I never can quite understand the torrent off adds and drops at the beginning of the fantasy season. I can't get over it.

Case in point: Alex Gordon.

In one of my 13-team, 25-deep rosters he has been dropped, I'm supposing over his less than stellar .091 (at time of writing) average. People are more than prepared after seeing 35 ABs to say, ex-post no less, that he "should be sent back to the minors - duh." It's a small sample, but why don't we look past the horrific numbers and reason this one out.

First question: who has a better starting rotation? Tampa or Boston? This is obvious, it's Boston. So is it possible that Gordon has just faced some of the best pitching in the league as his introduction?

Who he has started against so far:
Schilling
Beckett
Dice K
Verlander
Bonderman

yikes. That's a list filled with cy young and rookie of the year winners, and other top #1/#2 starters on contending teams.

When Gordon faced off against Josh Towers, an average starting pitcher he showed the first signs of life by hitting his first dinger in the majors. He played in fantastic weather in Wichita and grapefruit ball...Moral of the story: the competition Gordon will face has probably peaked at a great time for shrewd investors to capitalize. Gordon is real deal. 25-100, and 10 steals is in the waiting. Have faith, the numbers will be there by season's end.

My advice: pick him up or trade for him wherever possible. I claimed him in one league, and have a waiver request (4th priority) and am desperately hoping that other non-actives are letting this slide.

Akinori Iwamura: I let him loose in a few leagues, I had depth at hitting and needed some closers. Proud owner of Al Reyes since pre-season, and as a non-believer in Jorge Julio I now have the encumbent 10K/9 or Henry Owens producing for my team.

Adam LaRoche: playing terribly to start the season. No surprise here, he hit .200 last year in April. If he hits the wire, he makes a terribly cheap CI. Enjoy a 10 dinger July.

Adam Loewen: he's putting it together, finding a way to win, even when not at his best. cutting down the walks and eating the yankees was a treat. a solid 5th starter, and member of my team in deeper leagues.

Fantasy Studs: at the moment my fantasy team is being carried by J-Rol and Reyes and superb starting pitching(Felix, Hamels, Rich Hill, Vazquez, etc.) I'm sitting in third place right now and waiting for my studs to breakout. Guys that are tanking on my team thus far:

-Atkins
-Teahen
-Barrett
-LaRoche

Many of my sleeper picks are off to slow stars, but I wont cut bait on:

-Victorino
-Kelly Johnson
-Encarnacion
-Chris Young

I will try to update more often, but I have a real job now so my baby (roto) has hit the backburner a bit. Keep looking out for posts that will keep you laughing to the top of the standings in a league near you.

As a final point on the Gordon case, let me ask this: how noticeable to fantasy owners was the .264 second half Dan Uggla had? That's what I thought.