Penultimate Update

John Rodriguez left Friday's game in the first inning with a left shoulder injury.Rodriguez, who has been troubled by the shoulder all spring, was hurt while using his arms to brace himself against the wall down the left-field line and appeared to be in quite a lot of pain. If he needs to join Larry Bigbie on the DL to start the season, the Cardinals could reconsider sending down Chris Duncan.

This is a good guy for a buck or 2.

Pirates purchased the contract of infielder Jose Hernandez. Hernandez secured a job by hitting .295/.319/.409 in 44 at-bats this spring. He shouldn't have any fantasy value as the Pirates' sixth infielder.

Freddy Sanchez will get the starts that don't go to the regulars.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker suggested Thursday that he sees Mark Prior being "five, six weeks behind."Prior, who played catch again yesterday and had no problems, didn't think he was starting completely over after taking two weeks off with a strained muscle in his right shoulder. Baker seems to feel differently, so it looks like Prior has little chance of pitching in the majors during April.

Might be cheaper than you think.

Mariners returned LHP Luis Gonzalez, a Rule 5 pick, to the Dodgers.Gonzalez walked 12 while giving up 10 earned runs in 11 innings this spring. The Mariners are looking to avoid another last place finish this year, and that means not handicapping themselves with another Matt Thornton. It's likely that Jake Woods will claim the last spot in the bullpen.

You can’t have enough guys on your team named Luis Gonzalez.

The Pirates confirmed that Nate McLouth has won a spot on the team, but they're not naming him the starting center fielder.It appears that he'll play behind Chris Duffy initially. McLouth is the better hitter of the two, whereas Duffy has a substantial advantage when it comes to range in the outfield. Unless injuries open up additional playing time in the majors, we're guessing one of the two players will be back in Triple-A by mid-May. There's just not going to be enough at-bats available for both.

Might be cheaper than our infl number.

Zack Duke surrendered five more runs in five innings Friday to finish the spring with a 7.62 ERA.Duke should be fine given time, but it doesn't look like a very good April is on the way. He's been searching for his rhythm all spring long.

Scary. This season’s Noah Lowry? Or worse? Can’t spend $20 on this guy. We’d better review our max here. Maybe half that.

Aaron Miles went 2-for-3 with a double Friday to raise his spring average to .353.The extra-base hit was his second in 34 at-bats. With Junior Spivey still struggling mightily, Miles has a very good shot at being the Cardinals' second baseman on Opening Day. It remains likely that Spivey will win out in the end, but Miles might have a little early value in NL-only leagues

Decent $1 player.

Pedro Martinez pitched four innings and allowed three runs Friday in a loss to the Cardinals. Martinez wasn't particularly sharp, but he did work at 87-88 mph often enough, which was fairly encouraging considering how late of a start he got off to. Martinez is in line to start the third game of the season. It seems doubtful that the Mets would move him up to start game two as a result of Victor Zambrano's injury, though he would be going on four days' rest if it happened.

Not us. It should be interesting to see what he actually goes for.

Update by Pefacommish