This is turning out to be an extremely busy week in baseball happenings. So I’ll dispense with the usual banter, and get right into some timely notes.

The Yankees seem to be losing key players almost daily. Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez, and now Phil Hughes have all gone on the DL in the past three days, leaving the Yankees lack of organizational depth on full display. What does this mean from a fantasy perspective you ask? Well, first of all, the players left to guide the Yankees through this storm will all likely see a dip in production without Posada and Rodriguez in the lineup and getting on base. Bobby Abreu, Melky Cabrera, Hideki Matsui, and Derek Jeter are all going to see reductions in runs scored and RBI for the foreseeable future. There isn’t much that a fantasy owner can do about it, except try to find other ways to boost your team by replacing some of the less productive players on their rosters. Then again, maybe Yankee players that have not been producing much will step up their game. I’m talking about Jason Giambi, and especially Robinson Cano, who have been just horrid in April.

The Red Sox have had two ninth inning walk-off wins in their last two games. The first coming off of Roy Halladay, who looked like her was ready to commit redrum (read it backwards) when Vernon Wells bobbled the ball in center, allowing David Ortiz to score the winning run. It would have been a close play had Wells fielded it cleanly, and Halladay was visibly furious when Big Papi strolled in without a throw to home. The walk-off hit by Jason Varitek in last night’s game couldn’t have been helped, but it must have been discouraging to the Blue Jays to have it happen two nights in a row. Jonathan Papelbon got vulture wins in both games, showing again how unjust the rules of baseball can be, as Jon Lester’s one-hit, shutout pitching and Daisuke Matsuzaka’s heroic effort will both go uncredited in the record books.

Tuesday night saw Joe Saunders put together yet another stellar perfomance, this time against the Oakland A’s, who have been playing way over their heads. If you read Gabe Dobmeyer’s Grumble yesterday, you would know that they are doing it with timely hitting and great pitching from their starters and the bullpen. Unfortunately, I doubt they will keep this up, and are doomed to fall back to Earth at some point, but I digress. Getting back to Saunders – his stats are looking very strong. His K rate is a bit low, but he is playing on a strong team, is already 5-0 after 6 starts, and has excellent ERA and WHIP ratios. What’s not to like? He should be on all AL only rosters and may even have some value in mixed formats.

Is Curtis Granderson not the best leadoff hitter in the game today? Since he’s come back from the DL, he is batting .375 with three homers, 11 runs scored, and an OBP of .531. More importantly, the Tigers have won 5 of the 7 games they’ve played since his return.

Jorge Cantu, the Marlins third baseman, has had himself a nice little month of production that harkens back to 2005 when he was with the Rays and hit 28 homers. If you’ve convinced yourself that he’s a good pickup, be forewarned that his peripheral stats point to a fall ahead. He has a BABIP of .351, which is unsustainable, and his strikeout totals are more in line with his 2006 numbers when he simply stunk up the joint. Sell high, and find yourself somebody else for third base.

Good to see Jarrod Saltalamaccia back in the bigs with the Rangers. With Jason Botts recently designated for assignment, and Adam Melhuse out with a broken hand, Salty should have at least a month to hit his way into the Rangers lineup. He’s definitely worth a flier if he is on your waiver wire.

John Smoltz’ shoulder is really hurting, but Dr. James Andrews has determined that surgery is not the answer. Smoltz is planning to return to the bullpen as the Braves closer, a job he held from 2001-2005, recording 154 saves. If you have him, hang on to him. If you can get him in a trade from someone who needs a starter, go ahead and do so knowing he will do a great job of it. Atlanta really needs him in that role as they don’t really have anybody else right now.

This just in…Cliff Lee is human. He coughed up a three run homer to Wladimir Balentien, just called up by Seattle who decided to dump Brad Wilkerson. Lee elevated his ERA all the way to 0.96 with that homer. By the way, Seattle also called up catcher prospect Jeff Clement, who will probably catch a couple games a week and DH in order to get him into their lineup as much as possible. Clement can flat out rake and should be picked up in all leagues right away.

Randy Johnson had a terrible game last night against the Astros, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings of work. Johnson simply does not have that killer slider that he has lived by throughout his career. I took a chance on Johnson in a couple of leagues this season, but I should have listened to Josh Kalk over at the Hardball Times. His article examining Johnson’s first couple of starts showed that he’s been successful with smoke and mirrors and that the first good hitting team he met would hit him hard. I can be really thick sometimes.

It looks like Troy Tulowitski is going on the DL with some kind of leg injury. Opportunity is knocking for Clint Barmes to redeem himself and win a full time job. If not at shortstop, then at second base, where Jayson Nix is about to flame out.

OK folks, that’s all I’ve got today. Shake it easy.