Michael Taylor (OF, OAK) and J.J. Hoover (RHP, CIN) are awaiting their calls to make an immediate impact with their clubs.

B.J. Upton (OF, TAM) returned to action Friday, activated from the DL following a lengthy minor-league rehab assignment. Upton has been sidelined with back soreness resulting from a mid-March Grapefruit League OF collision with teammate Desmond Jennings. It is unclear whether Upton's running game, a significant component of his value, will be limited by the injury.

While the 2012 season is not yet a month old, injuries and slow starts are already prompting clubs to consider making roster changes. Many of the early season call-ups will hardly cause a ripple in your free agent pool, but there are impact prospects who could reach the majors sooner than anticipated.

[FREE] HQ RADIO: A new website lets fantasy owners speculate on "shares" of teams in their leagues and in experts leagues. HQR interviews site co-founder Jon Norman. Plus the usual great analysis and commentary. Runs 1:02:20.

Juan Cruz (RHP, PIT) saved consecutive games on Tuesday and Wednesday as the Pirates took two out of three games from the Diamondbacks. With closer Joel Hanrahan (RHP, PIT) out for a second game with a tight right hamstring, Cruz stepped in and fired his sixth straight scoreless outing to begin the season.

For the longest time, I've wanted to set the record straight. Wikipedia is wrong.

This NL Weekend Series Matchup column previews six three-game series and two four-game sets.

Rangers and Tigers get weekend sets going with a four-gamer beginning on Thursday

Mark Melancon (RHP, BOS) lived a nightmare against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night, allowing a walk, a double, and three home runs without recording an out. For the season, Melancon has now allowed 11 ER in only two innings, for a 49.50 ERA. He has taken two losses and was removed from the set-up role in the season's first week. Melancon has options remaining, and on Wednesday he was sent to AAA-Pawtucket in an effort to let him straighten out his mechanics and clear his head. How does his demotion affect the Red Sox pen?

Each year some players have hot starts, and during the first few weeks of free agent bidding/waiver pickups we have to make decisions about how aggressively to chase these players. At Baseball HQ we consistently counsel owners to have patience and not make decisions on small sample sizes. This article focuses on potential free agents who had a "hot start" in one of the 5x5 offensive categories during the 2009-2011 seasons, and examines the results of investments in those free agents.

Call-ups from the minors for April 19, 2012: Pollock and Tazawa.