Pablo Sandoval (3B, SF) exited Wednesday's game with an injured hand after a sixth-inning AB; tests on Thursday revealed a broken left hamate bone and the Giants placed him on the 15-day DL. In case this sounds familiar, Sandoval broke the hamate bone in his right hand in 2011. He missed 41 games last season, which makes the 4-to-6 week timetable for his return seem optimistic at best.

In mid-April last year in this column, I tried to find true breakout candidates based on only two weeks of statistics. Only 29% of those selected maintained their breakout performances. So I thought, if we had a 29% hit rate after two weeks, could we do better after four?

What if we're wrong, and the marketplace is right, about our All-Value and All-Avoid teams?

This NL Weekend Series Matchups column previews eight three-game series, all of which begin on Friday and end on Sunday.

The Boston Red Sox take on the Baltimore Orioles this weekend in Fenway Park. BOS owns a .306/.348/.529 batting line over its last nine games.

Kevin Youkilis (3B, BOS) was due to sit out his fourth consecutive game with back problems on Wednesday, and word out of Boston was that his back pains were "only intensifying, not abating." Then, he was placed on the DL and prospect Will Middlebrooks was called up from AAA-Pawtucket and made the start Wednesday night.

[FREE] Lyle Overbay (1B, ARI) is on his third tour of duty in Arizona, where he broke into the big leagues a decade ago as the Diamondbacks first baseman of the future. Now 35, he's in a time share with Arizona's current first baseman of the future, Paul Goldschmidt (1B, ARI), and gaining more at-bats thanks to a hot start. Is Overbay still worth fanalytic consideration?

Call-ups from the minors for May 3, 2012: Middlebrooks and Kratz.

"Which pitcher do I start?" are probably the most commonly asked words during the fantasy baseball season—whether wondered silently to oneself, asked to a friend, or posted on a message board. In the never ending chase for the elusive win, we all struggle with the decision of who to start and who to bench. Fortunately, we've got an app for that.

CHAT with Ron Shandler today at 11:00am EDT

Evan Longoria (3B, TAM) has been diagnosed with a partial tear of his left hamstring, and is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks. There is no clear cut replacement for him at the present time, but Elliot Johnson (SS, TAM) got the first start at third base in his absence. With a .566 career OPS in 201 at-bats, he is a significant drop-off from Longoria, and very unlikely to grab a full-time role, even temporarily. Another option would involve Sean Rodriguez (SS, TAM) sliding over there, with the recently recalled Will Rhymes (2B, TAM) plenty of the work at shortstop.