Rich Harden seems healthy, and is pitching well. So now is a perfect time to sell high on the injury prone hurler.

Surprise, surprise. Pedro Martinez is hurt again. I know he was a sneaky sleeper pick in your fantasy leagues. You figured you'd draft him late, hope he stays healthy for most of the year, then trade him before he goes to the shelf. That sounded like a good idea at the time; now you'll just have to stash him away with one of your DL spots. Or, you could have done as I did. I'm in a relatively competitive league in which the owners actually know what's going on in the game, so I drafted Pedro knowing that he would have some value from at least a couple owners. But I did one even better – I traded him before the season even started. Granted, I only netted Jhonny Peralta, but I basically got him for nothing. For all you Pedro Martinez owners out there, consider this a lesson learned. Trade those players whom you know will inevitably get hurt. Two other “sell high” candidate pitchers of the moment: Ben Sheets and Rich Harden. Hurry!

My Detroit Tigers lost to the lousy Kansas City Royals on Opening Day. At least I got to see Miss America throw out the first pitch. She’s a beautiful woman with good throwing form. It doesn't get any better than that! That was a mean fastball. I think she'd give George W. Bush's heater a run for its money. This one thing is for sure: she looked better doing it.

In his return to the Metrodome, Torii Hunter was given a standing ovation in both pre-game warm ups and during his batting introduction. It just wasn't the same seeing him in that Angels uniform, but he sure looked at home in center field. I just love how that guy makes a dead sprint to exactly where the ball is going to land. He never misreads a fly ball, and I fully expect him to win his eighth consecutive Gold Glove. His replacement in Minnesota, Carlos Gomez, didn't show any first-game jitters in the home opener for his new team. He led the game off with a double down the left field line, and he almost took off for third after rounding second base by about 20 feet. There is a lot of room in the left field corner in Minnesota, so I could actually see him legging out a few three-baggers down there this season. Before Monday I had not seen much of this guy, but after one game I am fairly confident in saying that any ball he hits that gets to the wall to the right of the center fielder gives him a definite chance to be standing on third base. My fearless (and somewhat crazy) prediction: Carlos leads the American League in triples and stolen bases. Sorry, Curtis Granderson and Carl Crawford.

The Tampa Bay Rays have locked up two key pieces to their growing franchise. Left fielder Carl Crawford's $8.25 million option was picked up for 2009. He also has a 2010 option of $10 million. The club will pick that up next year, and it's my guess that they'll try to work out a long- term deal somewhere in the neighborhood of a year from now. Crawford has been through a lot of losing in Tampa Bay, and he's still hungry. I can't believe it. The Rays also locked up Dan Wheeler, whom they acquired from the Houston Astros at the trading deadline last season. The team erased his 2008 salary and gave him a raise. The deal totaled $10.5 million through 2010. He'll throw a lot of innings this year given the fact that the back end of the bullpen is populated by question marks Troy Percival and Al Reyes. They could come up lame or ineffective at any moment. The team also chose to pay the $4 million buyout on Rocco Baldelli's contract instead of a $6 million option. This guy just cannot stay healthy. He should have made my All-DL team (check out last Wednesday's Grumble). I don't know how I forgot him. I guess he'll make my second team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been trying to lock up first baseman Adam LaRoche with a long-term deal, but the negotiations have hit a roadblock. He is due to hit free agency after the 2009 season, but there is word that the team will now try to trade him. We may have to wait until the July 31 trade deadline for that to happen. We all know every contender can always use a lefthanded bat for the stretch run. Pittsburgh had wanted to lock him up for a few more years since it recently moved prospect Steve Pearce from first base to the outfield...Also look for a deal for closer Matt Capps somewhere close to what Colorado's Manny Corpas got (four years, $8.025 million with two club options) if the Bucs are willing to open the vault.

By the way, did anyone else see that Manny Ramirez was given a $10,000 check for being the MVP of the first game in Tokyo Dome in Japan? When asked what he was going to do with the money he said he was going to buy gas. I guess that's just Manny being – well, you know...

As an Ohio State hater, it deeply saddens me that the Florida Gators lost in the semifinals of the N.I.T. Had they won that game they would once again be matched up with the Buckeyes in a championship game. Another victory by Florida over Ohio State would have been so sweet, if only because it would pour salt in the wound of Buckeyes' fans. You wanna know what I really don't like people saying: THE Ohio State University.

Check out that new movie, “21”. But the book is better - “Bringing Down the House”.