Derrick Rose (Getty)Derrick Rose will see a specialist Monday regarding his ongoing back spasms. Rose offered this unpleasant quote after sitting out Sunday's 95-91 loss to the Celtics:

"It's been hurting the whole trip. I just played through it. It tended to get worse after every game. I was really worried about it. But I'm trying to stay positive. I don't know what the diagnosis is. I just know my back is not right."

Rose is indicating there that his back has been bothering him for two weeks now, although he certainly turned in some dominant performances during that span. He added that he's hoping that a few treatments deal with the problem but that he'll take his time in returning if that is not the case. C.J. Watson (14% owned) will continue to start for as long as Rose is sidelined - he's averaged 15.6 points, 2.2 threes, 6.4 assists, and 2 steals in 33 minutes during his five starts thus far.

Update: an MRI revealed no structural damage and that he's dealing only with a muscle issue. He's officially day-to-day until he can resolve said muscle issue.

From Cuba, With Love (AP)Some people collect stamps, some people collect bottle caps. Some people collect stuffed animals, some people collect antiques, some people collect Hello Kitty.

Billy Beane collects outfielders, apparently.

The Athletics put an end to the Yoenis Cespedes intrigue Monday, signing the Cuban free-agent to a four-year, $36 million deal (hat tip to Yahoo's Tim Brown, who broke the news). He's a center fielder by trade, though the presence of Coco Crisp in Oakland could push Cespedes to one of the corner spots.

Where will the A's stash all of their outfielders? In addition to Crisp and Cespedes, the club also has Josh Reddick, Jonny Gomes and Seth Smith on the roster. Prospects Collin Cowgill, Chris Carter and Michael Taylor have to be factored in as well. Oakland's also been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Manny Ramirez, as silly as that sounds.

Projecting Cespedes is the ultimate fool's errand.

Albert Pujols mingles, meets the new fan base (US Presswire)

Over the past 13 months, beginning with the Vernon Wells acquisition last January and continuing through the Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson signings in December, the Los Angeles Angels have committed something like $97 quadrillion to future player salaries.

If that seems like a big number, well...yeah. It certainly is. That's a 97 followed by 15 zeros: $97,000,000,000,000,000. Huge total. It's actually more wealth than was believed to exist in the world, but Arte Moreno somehow found it. Maybe he prints it himself.

[Related: Albert Pujols' arrival helps Angels owner continue to win over L.A. fans]

So have the Angels improved significantly? C'mon, of course they have. It's almost impossible to throw this sort of money at something without improving it. I'll direct your attention to the "Arrivals & Departures" section of LA's team report...

Brey's brilliant coaching has opponents seeing green. (US Presswire)

The Bracket Big Board takes into consideration past returns, current performance and expected future gains in determining who should be included among the field of 68 (31 automatic and 37 at-large bids). Essentially, the Bracket Big Board is a cheat sheet designed for amateur bracketologists if they were filling out a Tourney Pick 'Em '12 entry today. The Triple-B, the second-most accurate bracket predictor among macro-sites over the past four years, is updated every Monday until the dance card is unveiled March 11.

When teams are faced with extreme adversity one of two outcomes usually occur: 1) Assume the fetal position and fold or 2) Grin, bear and fight through it with every ounce you got.

Notre Dame, fitting given the school's pugilistic nickname, chose the latter course.

Entering the season the Fighting Irish were projected to flirt with the at-large fringe. Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough along with key contributors Carleton Scott and Tyron Nash, a group that comprised 51.9-percent of the club's offensive last year, moved on to greener pastures. Even with All-conference forward Tim Abromaitis and senior guard Scott Martin returning, the Irish were largely young, unproven and destined to rough it with perennial dungeon dwellers DePaul, South Florida and Rutgers.

Barely into the season, it got worse, much worse.

Green Party Candidate (US Presswire)

The collapse of the 2011 Red Sox is a well-documented story, so I won't waste a lot of words with the intro. The season started with one vision and it ended with fried chicken, along with a 6-18 nightmare in September. The Olde Towne Team somehow found a way to blow a nine-game wild-card lead in the final month. No playoff baseball in The Hub.

A handful of big names jetted out of town immediately after the season. Closer Jonathan Papelbon cashed in with the Phillies, GM Theo Epstein hooked up with the Cubs, and manager Terry Francona made a beeline for the ESPN broadcast booth. Francona's dugout replacement turned out to be Bobby Valentine — coincidentally, the man he replaced on ESPN's Sunday Night Team. Valentine hasn't managed in the majors since 2002. (I suspect Francona might prove better than Valentine at both jobs, but we'll see how it plays out.)

Ben Cherington (one of Epstein's proteges) is the new man in the GM chair, but he's yet to put the credit card to work. Boston didn't throw any money around in the offseason and the projected payroll for 2012 is actually $7 million under last year's number. Maybe ownership feels a little burned by some of Epstein's shopping mistakes (Lackey, Dice-K and Drew, among others), or perhaps the organization thinks it has enough talent in-house to contend. The Red Sox were consensus American League favorites at this time last year, but as things stand today, they're just the third-best AL East team on paper.

Ah, but why let real-life baseball get in the way? There's plenty of fantasy value, and intrigue, to be found at Fenway Park. Let's meet up in Kenmore Square and try to figure it all out.

Kevin Martin (Getty)The Rockets have won their past three games with Courtney Lee (30 minutes per game) and Chase Budinger (29) leading the team in minutes. Kevin Martin has averaged 17 minutes in the three games, while starting center Samuel Dalembert has see just 14 minutes of playing time, on average. Kevin McHale will tell you that it's simply his sticking with what is working at any given point, and Tuesday's gameflow certainly backs that up - the Rockets' five starters averaged and a -15 in 21 minutes, while the five reserves averaged a +22 in 27 minutes. This situation is obviously maddening for fantasy owner, but a knee-jerk reaction here is not warranted. Yes, I'm including Dalembert in that statement because he's averaged 7.6 points, 7.7 boards, and 2 blocks in just 23 minutes on the season - you aren't going to find that level of production on the wire in anything resembling a competitive league. The Rockets are 8-3 when Dalembert has played at least 25 minutes and 8-8 when he hasn't, and these on/off court numbers should speak to his impact beyond some recent slow starts. McHale obviously isn't afraid to mix things up and his reserves have been peaking lately, but you should still expect Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin, and Luis Scola to lead the team in minutes over the final 10 weeks of the season, and Samuel Dalembert doesn't need more than 25 minutes to warrant near-universal ownership in the first place.

For the record, it did not happen (US Presswire)

Just so we're clear from the start, the world needs lousy fantasy owners. I don't actually want them to change anything about their in-draft behavior. They play a vital role in the fake-sports ecosystem, like cleaner fish traveling with sharks.

If you believe yourself to be terrible fantasy manager, then I would encourage you to read no further — just head over to the baseball sign-up page, maybe join a Pro League. This is your year, champ! Go forth and conquer. IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!

(Thumbs-up, high five, etc.)

No, not really. It's never gonna happen, fool, not unless you change your horrible draft habits.

Donny Baseball is ready to fill out his lineup card. Are you? (US Presswire)

Warm sunshine. … Can you feel it?

Fresh-cut grass. … Can you smell it?

Cold beer. … Can you taste it?

That's right rawhide fans. Baseball is just around the corner.

With Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball officially open for business, we blew off the clubhouse doors to clue you in on the latest bells and whistles this year's game has to offer. Brad Evans and Brandon Funston discussed the hottest news from around the bases, including tasty tidbits on Adam Wainwright and Bryce Harper. Our fanalysts also unveiled their top sleeper picks at 1B, 2B and RP, and detailed just how high Matt Moore should go in drafts.

Meanwhile, in Hour No. 2, Justin Phan stopped by to talk the Linsanity infecting New York, Ramon Sessions and fallout from Chauncey Billups' injury.

Too busy checking out Nick Cage in Ghost Rider 2? No problem. Listen to the replay below.

Listen to Hour 1 (MLB) Here

Listen to Hour 2 (NBA) Here