• Marlins pitching prospect Chris Volstad had a great start on Wednesday, giving up one run on five hits in six innings.  He is now 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in Double-A Carolina.  The 6-foot-7 right hander has a great chance at being fantasy-significant if he keeps pitching well, as the Marlins have already brought up Burke Badenhop from Double-A this year to replace the struggling Rick VandenHurk, and wouldn’t be afraid to promote another young pitcher if necessary.  According to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, Volstad’s experience in Double-A last has made him slightly ahead of other pitching prospects in the Marlins organization.

• The Marlin’s center fielder of the future, Cameron Maybin, is off to a fast start in Double-A Carolina.  He’s batting .474 (9-for-19) with two homers and seven walks.  Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest says:

“It’s great. It’s good for his confidence,” Beinfest said. “Spring Training was a little rough for him. Not being on field the whole time, and then he struggled a little bit at the end. It’s good for him to get off to a good start. He just needs to work on getting the experience and getting ready.”

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports that Braves center field prospect Jordan Schafer has been suspended for 50 games for using human growth hormone. Schafer is ranked the 27th and 25th best minor league prospect by Keith Law and Baseball America, respectively. Crasnick writes that the 21-year-old was considered by some to be a possible replacement for Mark Kotsay by the second half of the season. Schafer hit .312 in High-A ball last year with 176 hits (1st in minor leagues) and 49 doubles (3rd).

• John Frisaro of MLB.com reports that Marlins pitching prospect Burke Badenhop, acquired from the Tigers in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade, will join the big league club today and will get the start on Friday or Sunday. This will be the 25-year-old’s first major league appearance. He was impressive throughout spring training and was the opening day starter for Double-A Carolina, going 6 1/3 innings with 3 strikeouts, no walks, and 1 unearned run on 6 hits. The Marlins now have two pitchers acquired in the Tigers trade in their rotation. (In related news, Detroit has yet to win a game this season.)
• Despite injuries to outfielders, the Marlins are still not considering bringing up Cameron Maybin until they believe he is ready.

It looks like Twins new starting CF Carlos Gomez isn’t have any more problems with his hamstring.  It was reported that manager Ron Gardenhire was miffed with Gomez for his reluctance to take it easy after experiencing tightness in his hamstring.  Gomez told fellow outfielder Michael Cuddyer that his leg was getting stiff.  Cuddyer promptly told Gomez to take himself out of the game.  Gomez refused and in the next inning was unable to run down a ball hit to deep center.  Gardenhire quickly pulled Gomez as a precaution against further injury.  Apparently Gomez attributes his leg stiffness to having too little body fat, and really doesn’t see it as a big deal.

After his performance in Minnesota’s home opener, Gomez proved he was right.  Gomez impressed everyone by going 2-3 with a walk, 2 stolen-bases and 2 runs scored.  In what was supposed to be a night about Torii Hunter returning to Minnesota, most fans walked away talking about the new Twins CF.

• Despite an impressive Cactus League performance, the A’s Carlos Gonzalez was sent down to Triple-A Sacramento when Oakland’s 25-man roster was set on Sunday. Oakland GM Billy Beane expects Gonzalez’s time in the minors to be short, and says that he just needs to get some at-bats and play every day. This seems reasonable, considering that he has only 42 career at-bats in Triple-A. This appears to have been the A’s thinking all along this spring with Gonzalez.
• Rookie Daric Barton missed the game on Saturday, citing hand soreness. This is the same injury he was bothered by earlier this spring, so fantasy owners might want to be wary. He expects to play in the A’s home opener on Tuesday.

Kind of a funny piece today from Reds beat writer John Fay.  He shows his projected lineup and rotation from two months ago, on February 5th.  He had 1B Joey Votto batting lead off, and starting CF Jay Bruce batting in the 7 spot.  Of course we know now that Bruce has been optioned to Triple-A and Cincinnati’s new CF is Corey Patterson, who wasn’t even on the Reds on February 5th.  Fay is still projecting Votto in the starting lineup, but batting 8th in the lineup instead of lead off.

Fay didn’t fair quite as well with his projected starting rotation.  After the obvious first two in Harang and Arroyo, he had Matt Belisle, Jeremy Affeldt, and Homer Bailey.  Fay missed on all three.  Today the 3-5 spots in the rotation are expected to be occupied by Johnny Cueto, Josh Fogg, and Edinson Volquez.  All of the Reds top prospects are definite fantasy sleepers this year.

• Carlos Gonzalez, acquired by Oakland in the Dan Haren trade, has been out for a week with a strained hamstring and did not accompany the A’s to Japan for their season-opening series against the Red Sox. However, Manager Bob Geren says that he will play Gonzalez at center field when they play the Giants in the preseason Bay Bridge Series starting this Friday. Geren will then decide if he will include the 21-year-old on the 25-man roster, which must be finalized by April 1st. Gonzalez hit .360 this spring, to go with a tremendous arm and defensive skills. If he makes the roster, fantasy owners should look to pick him up, especially in deep leagues.
• Geren also noted that Dana Eveland, also acquired in the Haren trade, would be the A’s 5th starter. Eveland has looked fantastic this spring, putting up a 1.20 ERA in 15 IP.

Today was a big day for big name prospects getting the ax.  One such top prospect was the Marlins CF prospect, Cameron Maybin.  Despite showing flashes of the potential that has earned Maybin his status as one of the very top prospects, his spring overall was merely mediocre.  It was for this reason that the Marlins decided Monday afternoon to option Maybin to Double-A Carolina.  Marlins’ president of baseball operations, Larry Beinfest, pointed to a lack of big league experience as the main reason for sending Maybin down:

“We still see him as the center fielder of the future. It’s not going to be on Opening Day. He still needs to refine a few things. He probably needs additional Minor League at-bats to work through those things, and hopefully he will be our center fielder for a long time.”

• The Red Sox love Jacoby Ellsbury, writes Michael Silverman. Manager Terry Francona likes that he is driving the ball a little more, imparting more backspin on the ball to help it carry. Ellsbury got the start in center field on Saturday, playing all 9 innings (although he was moved to left field in the 7th when Coco Crisp came in to pinch run for Mike Lowell). Ellsbury is expected to start opening day and bat somewhere at the bottom of a stacked Boston lineup.
• Clay Buchholz has yet to secure the 5th rotation spot, and getting lit up for 4 runs in the first 2 innings of his start against the Hanshin Tigers didn’t help his cause. His command wasn’t there, and he left a lot of pitches up in the zone, although he did recover to retire the side in the third.

The Twins announced this morning that they have optioned four more players to Triple-A Rochester.  The demoted players were RHP Philip Humber, IF Brian Buscher and two of the three candidates for the starting CF role in Denard Span and Jason Pridie.  By process of elimination, this leaves Carlos Gomez, the top prospect sent over in the Johan Santana trade, as the starting CF in Minnesota.  While Gomez has certainly gone through periods of struggle, he has always been fast.  Gomez should certainly have value in shallower leagues for his ability to rack up the stolen bases.