Hudson (1-0) was still hitting 94mph in the seventh inning before being removed with two outs after a bad hop ate up third baseman Omar Vizquel.

After Jake Peavy went down with a season-ending injury, the White Sox turned to the Old Dominion standout. Hudson dominated in Triple-A this year, going 11-4 with a 3.47 ERA. He struck out 108 batters in 93 1/3 innings while holding batters to a .228 batting average. Expect the young righty to remain in the five-hole for the remainder of the season. Hudson is certainly a must-add in all keeper leagues, and he looks like a good add in most mixed leagues too.

Ike Davis wants an NL ROY trophy.

Davis (like fellow NYM top prospect Jenrry Mejia) should be added immediately in all long-term keeper leagues. If he hits, he will be up for good and should be an NL ROY candidate. The Mets may have started slow (4-8 record), but it is nice to see top MLB prospects Mejia and Davis up from the farm.  So far so good for Mejia. Let’s see if Davis can follow suit.

Ike Davis wants to an NL ROY trophy.

Note that this is a 6×6 league. Extra categories are holds and OPS. I picked third overall.

Chase Utley going number #1 was a shock. With the 3^rd pick overall, I figured that I’d be rostering Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun or Utley. But with Albert Pujols available, it was the quickest and easiest draft selection that I’ve ever made. I’m happy with Ryan Zimmerman at #24 overall. Is he THAT different than first-rounder Evan Longoria? I sure don’t think so.

Normally I go hitting first and wait for pitching, but after seeing the second tier guys like Jon Lester and CC Sabathia get drafted a bit early, I decided to jump on Adam Wainwright in the late 4th. Wainwright should have won the NL Cy Young in 2009 and is in his prime. I snagged Tommy Hanson in the sixth and couldn’t be happier with my 1/2 punch.

Rickie Weeks in the seventh was a reach. Position scarcity may have gotten the best of me, but second base is extremely shallow and he has 20/20 upside.

I had to have Jason Heyward. And when owners were drafting outfielders like Michael Bourn, Nate McLouth and Raul Ibanez, this proved to be the perfect time to pounce on the 2010 NL ROY.

Chris Coghlan is extremely underrated. Peak at Dustin Pedroia’s rookie year and then give Coghlan’s stats a look — eerily similar. Yes, Pedroia plays the keystone, but Cogs could too if Dan Uggla gets traded or injured. But hey, I’ll take 20/20 from an OF and like it.

Hideki Matsui at #258 looks like a steal. I hate Milton Bradley, but decided to take him with my final pick. This is an OPS league, and Bradley led the majors in OPS in 2008. Can he do it again?

Draft Results:

Santana might be back to 2008 form

After getting two runners on in the third, Santana struck out Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and James Loney. That’s 2008 Ervin right there. He was troubled with elbow issues in early 2009, but in the second half, he went 7-3 with a 3.90 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 99 1/3 innings.

It was just a year ago when Santana was on the cusp of becoming a top-15 starter. He was being drafted well ahead of Josh Johnson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo and Justin Verlander. If he stays healthy and has a solid 2010, he could return to that secondary tier of starting pitchers.

Grab Santana in all leagues if you have an empty bench spot. If he starts the season with a solid start, everyone will be all over him. Just throw him on your bench now — no risk and huge reward.

Santana will make his season debut on Wednesday night against Carl Pavano and the Minnesota Twins.

UPDATE: Tex was seen by a doctor and has a right elbow contusion.  X-rays were not taken and he will be reevaluated tomorrow.

Tex hit 39 homers in '09

Losing Teixeira would be a devastating loss to the Yankees and to any fantasy team so hopefully this remains minor.

Soria K'd 69 in 53 innings in '09.

Soria has been mostly untouchable up to this point in spring training. Hopefully this is just an off-day for top-tier closer and nothing to worry about.

Soria registered 30 saves in 2009 with excellent peripherals. In single-season leagues, only Rivera, Broxton and Papelbon should come before Soria.

Bailey gave up a homer in his return to the mound.

“I was just trying to establish my fastball and get my feel back on the mound,” Bailey said. “That’s my fifth appearance and we can go from that. There’s still some time to get used to game action again, but definitely I’ll be ready for opening day.”

Great news for Oakland’s injury-ridden bullpen and Bailey, who had been shut down with tennis elbow.

With Joey Devine (elbow) and Michael Wuertz (shoulder) still on the shelf, Oakland shored up their pen by inking Chad Gaudin to a one-year deal worth $700,000, with a $400,000 performance clause. Gaudin is a valuable asset who can both start and relieve.  The 27-year-old righty appeared in 31 games (started 25) for the Padres and Yankees last year and is on his second stint with Oakland.

Aroldis Chapman battles for the 5th spot in the rotation.

According to Dusty Baker, Cincinnati phenom Aroldis Chapman might be back on the mound this Sunday against the Dodgers.

“It’s a possibility, he’s feeling good,” said Baker. “They said he threw long-toss and said he was cleared so far by the trainers…it was everybody else that was panicking.”

Chapman was removed from Monday’s game due to back spasms.  The twenty-one-year-old lefty threw a long-toss session on Thursday and participated in conditioning drills today (Friday) and reported that he felt fine.

If Chapman wants to stay in the race for the 5th starter slot, he needs to perform well on Sunday, and most importantly, not have that back flare up again.  Here’s a good piece from ESPN’s Tristan Cockcroft and another from MLB.com’s Peter Gammons.

Reds pitching coach Bryan Price says, “I can’t speak for the organization, but my feeling is that he’s going to need a certain amount of innings and pitches thrown to compete for that spot, this window of opportunity doesn’t stay open until April 5, at some point it’s going to become fairly urgent that he get on the mound to compete for the job.”

Jenrry Mejia could be KROD's setup man.

Coach Jerry Manuel has gotten his wish. Jenrry Mejia will remain in spring training and work exclusively as a reliever. The 20-year-old has thrown 5 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts while allowing just two hits. Both Manuel and Darryl Strawberry have already compared Mejia to cross-town legend Mariano Rivera.

“I played with Mariano Rivera, I saw it up close,” Strawberry said. “I know what his cutter looked like and I’m telling you, I haven’t seen a pitch move like his, with that kind of velocity, until I saw this kid Mejia.”

Baseball America rates Mejia as the number one prospect in the Mets’ system. The young hurler was being groomed as a starter, then Kelvim Escobar injured himself again and Jerry Manuel realized that he can’t rely on Bobby Parnell to set up KROD.  If Mejia continues to be unhittable, he gives the Mets the best chance to win.

Keeper league owners should be all over Mejia. If he breaks with the Mets and begins the season in the bullpen, that creates nice RP eligibility going forward. Just remember that he’s only 20, and has had two spring appearances so far. It is very early, and he holds an 0-5 with a 4.47 ERA in his only 10 games above Single-A.

If he forces the Mets’ hand and makes the squad, perhaps he starts the season as a reliever and transitions to starter like Francisco Liriano in 2006. There’s definitely huge upside here — Mejia is in good company, think Liriano and Neftali Feliz.

Aroldis Chapman could sneak into the NL ROY conversation.

Cincinnati fans have something to be excited about — Aroldis Chapman has officially arrived. The 6’4 lefty threw two scoreless innings today, while striking out three and yielding one hit and one walk. Chapman topped out at 102 mph and hurled 26 pitches total, 15 going for strikes.

Chapman was only facing the Royals, but he still had a very successful debut. Stay tuned for velocity reports. And if you are in a keeper league, grab him now. By the time ESPN and the MLB Channel start airing today’s highlights, it will be too late.

The Cuban import is rated by Baseball Prospectus as the tenth best prospect in baseball. That puts him ahead of Kyle Drabek, Brian Matusz, Wade Davis and Madison Bumgarner. Conventional wisdom says that Chapman would be best served by spending a season in the minor leagues, but if he shows well throughout spring, don’t completely write him off. He is competing against some very average arms for the five-slot, so don’t be shocked if he wins a job.

If the Reds exercise caution and start Chapman in the minors, look for him to spend roughly half a season dominating minor leaguers before he gets the call. Either way, he offers value in 2010. Here’s the first real scouting report on Chapman from MLB Fanhouse.