Seemingly everyone in the fantasy community has a strong opinion about Randy. (USP)

All it takes is a simple yet direct opinion.

Thursday night sipping on Three Olives while watching the Miami Heat dismantle OKC, a clear thought entered the Noise's normally polluted head. Of course, the sudden stroke of "genius" didn't exceed 140 characters. Blasted out on Twitter, the seemingly benign statement reached followers' iPads, cellphones and laptops in the blink of an eye, a spark that, surprisingly, ignited a firestorm.

Who knew Randy Moss was still that relevant? The conversation:

Dumbfounding.

Nathan Eovaldi needs a moment (US Presswire)

We've got new leads this week, sales team, so please listen up.

In the tiers below, you'll find three names that we haven't yet discussed in this feature — young pitchers who are serving as placeholders for injured vets, all with short-term opportunities to achieve fantasy relevance. I'm giving each of these kids a test-drive somewhere, so I thought I'd give you a few thoughts on each, beginning with the dude pictured above. Important: None of these guys profile as must-adds in public-style mixed formats, so there's no need to get too transaction happy. As always, do whatever feels right for your league.

Now let's hit the basics...

Down with AJB (USP)

It's a Casual Friday, all bullets, all the time. Settle in, and microwave if necessary.

• The A.J. Burnett Revitalization Tour shows no signs of slowing down, no matter how skeptical roto players want to be. Burnett had little trouble with the Tigers on Friday (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K), grabbing his seventh consecutive victory. If you subtract the 12-run beating he took in St. Louis seven weeks ago — and anytime a pitcher allows 12 runs, it's partly on the manager as well — you come out with a heck of a season: 8-1 record, 26 walks, 60 strikeouts, 1.87 ERA, 1.11 WHIP. That's worth owning in any format.

Burnett's front-door ERA currently stands at 3.24, and it's supported by the secondary numbers. The .275 BABIP isn't that much different than his career mark (.289) and he's actually been a little unlucky with homers (11.8 HR/FB rate). The ERA estimators only call for the slightest of regression (3.60 FIP, 3.54 xFIP, 3.51 SIERA); this is a roto play that the statheads can embrace, too.

Burnett works at Philadelphia next week — no longer a spot to fear — and then he returns home for the Astros. PNC Park is driving the story as much as anything: Burnett has a 1.11 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in the forgiving confines. It's a far cry from the horror of Yankee Stadium, with the short porch in right field. The mercurial right-hander is still unowned in 43 percent of Yahoo! leagues, for reasons I can't fathom. Live in the present, amigos.

Here I am now, entertain me (USP)

The Red Sox have plenty of reasons to shop Kevin Youkilis aggressively. He's a hobbled 33-year-old vet in the midst of a horrible season (.225/.311/.359), he's a likely free agent over the winter (assuming the club declines its option), and he's considered a divisive, irascible personalty in the clubhouse. Those fans aren't chanting "Youk," they're actually booing.

And then there's Will Middlebrooks, the up-and-coming cornerman for Boston. The way he's hitting in The Show, no wonder the Red Sox are desperately trying to shove Youkilis out of town.

Middlebrooks was the star of Boston's sweep over the Marlins, going on a 6-for-8 binge with two homers and seven RBIs. He's carrying a nifty .316/.353/.551 slash for the Sox, with eight homers and 31 RBIs. He's been effective against righties and lefties alike, and while his numbers do have a Fenway Park tilt, he's still slugging .500 on the road.

Maybe, just maybe, Chad Ocho...Johnson will give these kids something to cheer about. (USP)

Change is inevitable.

In this day and age of exorbitant contracts and selfish attitudes, team loyalty is often compromised. No surprise, it's extremely rare players stick in one location throughout their entire career.

Percy Harvin could be the latest example.

On this week's in-depth show, Brad Evans and Scott Pianowski addressed the mess in Minnesota along with tasty tidbits on the running back rotation in Atlanta and Reggie Bush's new role on South Beach. Also, the tag-team partners played doctor diagnosing the values of Matthew Stafford versus Drew Brees.

Meanwhile in hour numero dos our heros we touched 'em all, discussing Tulo, Dickey and sticky bullpens in Detroit, Milwaukee and Washington.

Too busy watching Honest Abe behead vampires? No problem. Listen to the replays or download the podcasts below:

LISTEN TO HOUR 1 HERE (NFL)

LISTEN TO HOUR 2 HERE (MLB)

Running into the MVP race (USP)

Today's ranking assignment is the outfield. Big position, important position, tricky position.

What you'll see below are prices for most of the Yahoo-eligible outfielders going forward. There are a few rules here: if you're in the minors or on the DL, you don't make this list. Too variable in worth, league to league. Don't obsess over the actual dollar amounts - what matters is how the players relate to one another. When players are at the same number, they're considered even.

The games to this point are merely an audition. We're trying to figure out who's worth the most going forward. Assume a 5x5 rotisserie format, as always.

I welcome your respectful disagreement but you have to include a reason. Respect the room; back up your disagreement with facts, stats, logic. Win the debate, win the rank. And remember the golden rule: a player doesn't spike in value by 10-20 percent merely because he's on your roster. Keep both cleats on the ground.

Make the jump, wander through the green grass:

OK, after last year, we can finally forgive MJD for taking a knee at the goal line (US Presswire)

These teams that have exactly one high-end fantasy asset are always trouble where the Juggernaut Index is concerned. An individual talent like Larry Fitzgerald or Adrian Peterson can keep a franchise out of the basement, but typically not out of the high-20s.

So it goes with Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags' offense was dreadful last year — dead-last in yardage, 29th in scoring — yet MJD still led the league in rushing by a comfortable margin. He dismissed the preseason concerns about his knee, appearing in all 16 games for Jacksonville, gaining 1,980 yards from scrimmage and scoring 11 touchdowns. He was brilliant. Heroic. Unreasonably good. Every other member of the Jaguars offense combined for 2,500 scrimmage yards and 10 TDs.

Just think about that for a moment: As a team, Jacksonville averaged only 280 total yards per week — 123.1 on the ground, 156.9 through the air. On his own, Jones-Drew accounted for 123.8 of those total yards. Defenses were focused on him to an absurd extent, but he still piled up stats at a league-best rate. He was also remarkably consistent, topping the 100-scrimmage-yards plateau in 10 of the Jags' final 11 games. Jones-Drew never let down his fantasy owners, nor did he ever let down Jacksonville fans.

Considering MJD's importance to his franchise and the mileage he's accumulated over six pro seasons, it's tough to blame him for threatening to hold out into training camp. In the NFL, players basically need to get whatever they're worth at the exact moment they're worth it. Right now, Jones-Drew has the rushing title and a good-not-great contract, signed before he'd proven himself as a 300-carry back. Thus, he's now involved in a stare-down with the team that could drag into August, if not beyond. Let's hope this thing is resolved to everyone's satisfaction before your league holds its draft.

If for some reason an MJD holdout lingers into the regular season, then Rashad Jennings will again get interesting — or at least as interesting as a handcuff on a bad team can possibly be. He's shown flashes of talent in his two seasons, averaging 5.4 yards-per-carry on 123 rush attempts. Jennings missed all of 2011, placed on injured reserve in September with a knee issue, but he's healthy now and functioning as the team's first-team back. He could get a big value bump, depending on the way Jones-Drew's situation plays out.

And so ends the semi-positive portion of our 2012 Jacksonville Jaguars fantasy preview. Hope you enjoyed it. We shall now discuss the rest of this steaming mess of an offense...

Weird Fishes

Generally I'm against someone telling the same joke over and over, but I always liked the placekicking laugh Charles M. Schultz offered to us. Lucy Van Pelt would trick Charlie Brown into kicking a football, then she'd swipe the pigskin away from poor Chuck before the boot was made. The final frame would offer up a life lesson, a punchline, or both — while Brown lay on the ground, dazed and confused.

In fantasy baseball terms, here's the lineup: Ricky Nolasco is Lucy. His stats are the football. And thirty percent of you are Charlie Brown, duped again.

Nolasco's 2012 Batting Practice Tour hit Fenway Park on Wednesday, with the righty allowing nine runs in 3.1 messy innings. His ERA jumped to 5.16 on the year. He's been knocked around at home and on the road, by lefties and righties alike.

So why is Nolasco still owned in 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues? Because he's one of the all-time peripheral teases. He's the type of player rotoheads tend to outsmart themselves on.