Carl Crawford's fresh start (USAT)When it comes to buzzy names and bloated paychecks, the Dodgers have few rivals in major league baseball. There are major fantasy options all over the Glendale diamond; this is a roster we have to take seriously.

Alas, aches and pains are part of this L.A. Story, too – especially in the outfield.

Left fielder Carl Crawford is coming off Tommy John surgery and it's not a guarantee he'll be ready for the opening of the season. Crawford suffered a "minor setback" this week, stiffness in his left forearm, and he was limited in his Thursday workout. Here's more from beat writer Ken Gurnick:

Crawford participated in drills other than throwing and hitting Thursday, saying the stiffness cropped up two days ago.

"It flared up on me," said Crawford. "We're just being careful. I don't think it's [anything] crazy, just everybody is being very careful. From what I'm hearing, this stuff happens and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again. "We just have to stay on top of it. I don't look at it as a major setback. If I had to, I could do the things I'd have to do."

Manager Don Mattingly said Crawford might have thrown too much in his rehab from Tommy John elbow surgery.

"It's not uncommon going through this," Mattingly said. "We want to be cautious with Carl. There's plenty of time before Opening Day. I don't know if it's a setback, but it's a pause. We've had him doing so much, and this guy is a working machine. He wants to get out there, but Sue [Falsone, trainer] wants to be cautious. We don't want to push it."

Down year for a big-name goalie (USAT)

You should know the Shuffle Up rules by now, but we'll do a quick refresher. What's happened to this point is merely an audition; we're trying to rank the players based on how they'll play for the balance of the season. Consider basic Yahoo! scoring categories as we do this dance: wins, shutouts, save percentage and goals-against average. There are also contextual factors to consider, of course (supporting cast, job security), not to mention age and career arc and injury concerns.

Injured goalies are kept off the list, which is why Miikka Kiprusoff isn't here. (The way he's been playing, no big loss. We don't miss you, Kiprusoft.)

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]

Your respectful disagreement is always welcome, just be sure to support your argument; further the conversation, gamers. Win the debate, you might win the rank. I'll add comments as the day goes along, and this list might be tweaked during that period.

Game on. Make the jump, meet up between the pipes

Ryan Howard, obvious rebound candidate (Getty)There's an easy profit to be made on Ryan Howard this season. Easy.

No, maybe not for his real-life team — the Phillies owe Howard no less than $105 million over the next five years, so they probably don't feel great about the price tag. But if you're a fantasy owner willing to wait until Rounds 8-10 to draft your first baseman, then this is your guy. At Howard's current price — his average Yahoo! draft position is 98.7, his auction value $11.4 — he seems, to me, like the most absurdly under-appreciated name in the player pool.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]

Let's recall that Howard is just a season removed from a 33-homer, 116-RBI campaign, finishing at No. 55 in the overall fantasy ranks in 2011. That year of course ended horribly for the player and the team, as Howard tore his left Achilles while making the final out of the NLDS. He then limped through a messy half-season in 2012, dealing with rehab, infection and inactivity. He didn't make an appearance in extended spring action until early-June and didn't return to the Phillies lineup until July.

When he finally made it back to the bigs, he was slower and larger and more strikeout-prone than ever. Plus he was unusually inept against left-handers (.173/.226/.378).

Blake Griffin's fantasy value continues to climb (USAT)

After being the 100th most valuable fantasy player during the first month of the season, Blake Griffin has ranked 19th ever since, as his value hasn’t been tied to Chris Paul’s availability (actually if anything he’s been more valuable when CP3 is sidelined, with his assists notably going up). Griffin is on pace to finish with career lows in ppg (18.5) and rpg (8.6) - the latter by a wide margin. But he’s become much more active on the defensive end, averaging 1.4 spg (his previous high was 0.8), and ironically, his drop in Usage Rate has helped his fantasy value, as while his free-throw shooting has improved (his 66.2 percent mark is a career best, but he shot 64.2 percent from the line as a rookie), the big difference is him getting to the charity stripe less this year. After averaging 8.5 freebies per game as a rookie and 7.1 last year, that number is all the way down to 5.5 this season, so his impact there has been felt less by fantasy owners. And while this might not be bankable moving forward, if Griffin can improve a bit more and get close to 70.0 percent (a number he’s bested over his past 25 games) from the line, he’s going to remain an elite fantasy player. After averaging 7.3 attempts at the rim over his first two years in the league, Griffin is getting “just” 5.6 this season, but he still easily leads the NBA with 138 dunks (JaVale McGee is second with 126). Griffin’s overall FG% may not be a career best, but this is a bit misleading since he’s attempting fewer shots from in close, as his percentages from at the rim, from 3-9 feet, from 10-15 feet and from 16-23 feet are all career highs, so his offensive game is developing as hoped.

Here’s a sick LeBron James pregame dunk.

I sure hope the Nets PR team was being facetious with this tweet.

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Bobby V, also not welcome in my auctions (USAT Images)

Eventually, as we get deeper into draft season, the Roto Arcade team will get around to publishing the usual lists of do's and don'ts for fantasy auctions. And it will be an awesome list, loaded with wickedly insightful tips like, "Don't leave dollars on the table" and "Don't overpay for career years" — stuff you couldn't possibly figure out on your own.

But today, we have a different objective. Today, we're simply discussing behavioral issues.

Before we give you advice to help dominate at the auction table, we first need to ensure that you aren't the chucklehead who destroys the auction for everyone else.

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If you're thinking that perhaps this feature is being written as an angry reaction to a very recent draft experience ... well, yeah. That's exactly what this is. Had a little too much exposure to this tool...

Tough hit for The Grandy Man (USAT)

Keep those cell phones charged, MLB general managers. Brian Cashman might be calling you sooner rather than later.

We focused on the aging Yankees when we hit The Bronx in last month's Pressing Questions, but the reasonably-spry Curtis Granderson was the first to take a shot in spring training. Granderson fractured his right forearm Sunday in his first at-bat of camp, courtesy of a J.A. Happ fastball, and is expected to miss 10 weeks.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]

The Yankees don't have an obvious replacement for Granderson, their freshly minted left fielder. Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki are settled in the other two slots. Unexciting non-roster options Matt Diaz and Juan Rivera are around, in addition to prospect Zolio Almonte. Maybe the Yankees will look at upgrading the spot for the first month or two, maybe not. There's no outfield help waiting in the DH spot, where Travis Hafner stands. (Anyone up for Soriano 2, Electric Boogaloo? Well, it's complicated.)

Fantasy owners need a new plan of attack for Grandy, who was a third-round selection in most leagues prior to the injury.

Jedd Gyorko, post-slam (USAT Images)

OK, so we're talking about a home run in a meaningless game, hit against a pitcher who is verifiably bad at pitching. I get that. But still: JEDD GYORKO WENT DEEP.

Seattle right-hander Hector Noesi presented him with a 2-1 fastball on Friday, and Gyorko smoked it. Grand slam. Not a bad way to open the Cactus League season, if you're hoping to claim a big league job.

For those who aren't familiar with Gyorko's story, he's a 24-year-old Padres prospect who hit like a machine in the high minors last season. Gyorko began his year at Double-A and finished in the Pacific Coast League, delivering 30 homers and a .311/.373/.547 slash along the way. This spring, he's attempting to claim the second base job in San Diego — not a given, since he's spent most of his minor league career at third.

Aroldis Chapman making move to rotation (USAT)

There are a handful of outfielders worthy of being taken in the first round even after Mike Trout and Ryan Braun are off the board, all of whom should be valued similarly. I’m personally taking Matt Kemp first in this tier, as he’s one season removed from a .324-39-115-126-40 campaign and finished April with 12 homers and a .417/.490/.893 line over 23 games last year. But injuries derailed the rest of his season and coming off serious shoulder surgery that repaired a detached labrum and rotator cuff damage, he’s certainly not without risk. Andrew McCutchen is likely off the board next in most leagues, and it’s tough to argue after he posted a .327/.400/.553 line as a 26-year-old last season. But his SB rate (66.1%) hasn’t been very good over the past two campaigns, including going 6-for-14 after the ASB last year, and playing for the Pirates hurts his counting stats. Over the past three years, Carlos Gonzalez has hit .313 while averaging 27.3 homers, 97.3 runs scored, 98.0 RBI and 22.0 steals. He’s done so while averaging just 135.7 games played. In other words, if every hitter in baseball were guaranteed 650 at-bats in 2013, CarGo would be a top-three pick, but unfortunately, there’s no denying his durability issues. Still, Gonzalez has major upside, even if the production comes in huge home/road splits.

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