Posted by Rob McQuown on Monday, April 6, 2009 at 11:42 am

Welcome to the first full day of baseball 2009! Well, sort of a full day. One only has to look at the snow out the window here in Chicago to realize just how foolish putting a stadium in Minnesota without a roof is. While stadium funding is a complicated process, there are some things that need to be non-negotiable. Anyway, that’s Minnesota, and it’s in the future. Meanwhile, Mother Nature is forcing three of the 4 AL playoff teams to extend their offseasons as the Rays/Red Sox and White Sox/Royals games are postponed. That will kick off today’s roto tips:

- Replace your players from the postponed games on the active roster. Duh! For me, that means Billy Butler, who I’m happy to have on my roster for a series at Chicago at least, especially if they see 2 LHP.

- As I noted in a comment last time, Randy Wolf is pitching tomorrow at SD. This is good for a number of reasons: a) Petco, b) Chris Young hasn’t looked sharp, c) The Padres don’t score a lot, d) Their “Big G” players – Gonzalez, Giles, and Gerut are all left-handed. It’s a good enough matchup to get him now instead of waiting, if you can free up the roster slot.

- Keep your eyes open for double-headers due to the postponements. I haven’t seen reports on them yet, but those are great for younger players if you want more PT.

- With all due respect to Texas and Cincy, neither Millwood nor Harang has looked like a world-beater, and opening at home makes anyone on the Indians (especially) or the Mets a good bet today, especially if they have power.

- Guthrie shuts down the running game, despite the O’s not having a catcher who can throw, so if you’re planning to play Brett Gardner, waiting a day might not be a bad idea. He should be on your speed dial if you have a team which will need SB, though.

- Emilio Bonifacio is another guy to keep on speed dial, but on the bench. While John Lannan allows SB with his frequent use of breaking pitches, Bonifacio hasn’t really hit lefties enough in the minors to risk it. Well, if your team is rock-solid except for SB, it’s not n awful gamble, but be prepared for some crappy batting stats from EB.

- Consider benching all but the major stars in the SEA/MIN game, as Felix v. Liriano could be very low scoring, with those two defenses helping.

- Aaron Cook hasn’t done well at Arizona in his career, and so D-backs players such as Orlando Hudson could be nice 1-day contracts.
- None of the other frequently unowned players jump out at me today.

SEASON NOTES:

- Nelson Cruz is still available in 30% of ESPN leagues. Make sure yours isn’t one.

- ESPN’s Eric Karabel suggested Pablo Sandoval as a good roto sleeper this year, and I agree with him. If OBP isn’t a category, he has a chance to be a great multi-position star.