Eight months ago, Grady Sizemore(notes) underwent microfracture surgery on his left knee. On Monday, he officially participated in "baseball activities," according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Sizemore jogged, he hit, played catch, probably spit. You know … baseball activities.

That seems like a good sign. But Sizemore also acknowledged that he's still feeling knee discomfort, and he couldn't quite commit to opening day. These were a few of his comments:

"We built everything around Opening Day," Sizemore said. "But we're not going to push anything or speed the process up to get to that point. If two weeks from opening day, I'm still a little bit behind, or I still need two weeks and five days, we're not going to ramp it up so I can get an extra five days of work in. I want to be playing at the end of October or the end of September — not just at the beginning of April.

[…]

"I'm not symptom-free," he said. "It's probably going to be like that even when I'm cleared to go and 100

I can understand why pitcher wins are a hot-button issue in the fantasy community. It's obviously a flawed stat, and it's frustrating when an ace like Felix Hernandez(notes) or Zack Greinke(notes) gets shafted in the win column because his team isn't supporting him.

But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater here, at least as we plan our 2011 roto teams. Life isn't fair but it's a lot fairer than everyone seems to think – and you can say the same thing about pitcher wins. Is it a fluky stat? You bet. Should it be removed from the basic roto equation? You can decide that for yourself. But the stat might not be as random as you think.

Twenty-four pitchers won 15 games or more last year, and it wasn't hard to find those hurlers – just about all of them were on decent clubs. Only three pitchers got to the 15 mark while playing for a losing team – Mike Pelfrey(notes) (15-9 for the 79-win Mets), Ervin Santana(notes) (18-10 for the 80-82 Angels) and Ryan Dempster(notes) (15-12 for

• DeMarcus Cousins(notes) missed Sunday's game after his fight with Donte Greene(notes) following the Kings' loss to the Thunder on Saturday. He has been fined an undisclosed amount but was not officially suspended and is now expected to be back on the active roster on Tuesday. Samuel Dalembert(notes) got the start in Cousins' place during the team's win over the Suns and was impressive (31 minutes, 18 points, 8-12 FG, 15 boards, 1 steal, 3 blocks). It's not yet known how the team plans to move forward with their center rotation, but it seems likely that Dalembert will at least see a few more starts in the short-term.

• Paul Pierce's(notes) MRI on his aching left foot revealed no structural damage, just a bruise and some swelling that have been slow to subside. He'll be held out of Monday and Tuesday practices but is expected to be active Wednesday. Pierce's horrific offensive performance in 40 minutes against the Heat on Sunday (1 point, 0-10 FG) prompted the MRI, but his foot has

Just so you know, our purpose today is not to review every team's bullpen hierarchy — we'll save that project for the first edition of Closing Thoughts, a few weeks down the road. Instead, we're looking only at MLB teams that will reassign closing duties in 2011. As usual, it's not a short list; roles are unsettled in several cities.

If you're the sort of fantasy owner who refuses to pay for saves at the draft table, these are the bullpen situations on which you'll be speculating this spring…

Arizona Diamondbacks – Last year, four pitchers earned at least one save for the Diamondbacks: Aaron Heilman(notes), Juan Gutierrez(notes), Sam Demel(notes) and Chad Qualls(notes). None of those four finished the season with an ERA below 4.50. This bullpen recorded just 35 total saves and 24 blown saves. It was a mess. The ninth inning was essentially a running joke in Arizona, until Gutierrez finished strong in September.

JJ Putz(notes) was signed to a two-year deal this offseason (with a club

Brad Evans' distrubing infatuation for Billy Butler(notes) is legendary. Evidence of his unwavering passion can be read here and here. Strangely, however, Brandon Funston is the Yahoo! fanalyst chasing the chub this season. Read, reflect and exercise your democratic right. The Docs are ready to operate …

Evans leads off: Over the years, I’ve penned several tenderhearted odes to Billy B. How can you resist those pinchable cheeks, million-dollar smile and ten-dollar Dickies? Unfortunately, our romance is on the rocks. Cold shoulders and modest power yields have permanently fractured the relationship. As a result, we’ve mutually agreed to see other first basemen.

Like any fanalyst on the rebound, I’ve drifted as far away from Billy as possible, confiding in a player his opposite, Morales.

Smooth, consistent and terribly undervalued, the import is positively dreamy. Though Scioscia plans to ease him back into action this spring, Morales’ health isn’t a concern. He will contribute

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 '11 entry today. The Bracket Big Board is updated every Monday until the dance card is officially unveiled March 13.

This March marks the fifth anniversary of an upset-laden tournament that will forever live in Tourney Pick ‘Em infamy. In 2006, George Mason, a surprising at-large selection from the unheralded Colonial, rode in a pumpkin carriage all the way to the Final Four, toppling Wichita St. along with perennial goliaths Michigan St., North Carolina and Connecticut. Suffice it to say, the Patriots’ path of destruction left brackets bloodied in their wake. It was the second time in tournament history a double-digit seed had reached the pinnacle of

Each Sunday, the Dashboard centralizes all the crucial information fantasy managers need to dominate their weekly head-to-head matchups or climb the standings in their rotisserie leagues. The Dashboard covers schedule analysis, status updates, adds, drops, watch list candidates, and deep league targets for managers of all skill levels. Quite simply, it is a comprehensive weekly cheat sheet that is packed with so much information that we’ve devoted two writers to producing it.

Add List - players currently owned in less than 40% of Yahoo! leagues

• Ersan Ilyasova(notes), F, MIL (34% owned)
Some may be quick to write him off given his recent string of single-digit point outputs –10, 2, 10, 6, 6, but what you have to realize is that scoring is one of two areas (assists being the other) where Ilyasova derives a very small portion of his value from. Look past that and you’ll see that he contributes everywhere else, namely rebounds (8.3 over the past two weeks) and steals (1.1). Sprinkle in

Each Sunday, the Dashboard centralizes all the crucial information fantasy managers need to dominate their weekly head-to-head matchups or climb the standings in their rotisserie leagues. The Dashboard covers schedule analysis, status updates, adds, drops, watch list candidates, and deep league targets for managers of all skill levels. Quite simply, it is a comprehensive weekly cheat sheet that is packed with so much information that we’ve devoted two writers to producing it.

Schedule Breakdown – essential schedule information for the upcoming week and beyond

Week seventeen, total games.
2 games: ATL, CHA, CHI, DAL, DEN, DET, GSW, HOU, IND, LAC, LAL, MIA, MIL, MIN, NJN, NOH, PHI, PHO, POR, SAC, SAS, UTH
1 game: BOS, CLE, MEM, NYK, OKL, ORL, TOR, WAS

Week seventeen, quality games.
1 game: CHI, DAL, PHO, SAS

Week seventeen, ease rankings.
LAL: (0.80) @CHA, @CLE
UTH: (0.79) @PHO, GSW
MIL: (0.57) LAC, DEN
MIA: (0.37) @IND, @TOR
ORL: (0.36) WAS
DAL: (0.33) SAC, @PHO
LAC: (0.29) @MIL, @MIN