This is my 16th season in the sick addition known as fantasy baseball, and I am hard pressed to find a season opening with as many question marks. There are questions literally from A to Z, and starts literally with the premiere players in the game.

Alex Rodriguez � Blast Arod all you want for taking all the dead presidents to play for that mutt of a franchise known as the Texas Rangers. But give him credit for showing up for work for all 324 games, hitting 109 HR�s and 277 RBI in the process. Playing a full slate does not look like a good bet this season. The words �herniated disk� and �neck� do not bode well, no matter how minor the team and Arod himself try to spin it. Arod played in a minor league game this week, reported no problems and even hit a home run. Arod has pronounced himself in for the opener Sunday night. But you CDM players out there (deadline 10 PM ET Sunday Night) may want to observe his first couple AB�s closely and be prepared to make contingency plans at the position.

Vladamir Guerrero � Can these guys at least wait until Opening Day to get involved in a fight??? Vlad basically plea-bargained his suspension from three to two games, and it will be served immediately. Thence only look for four games out of Guerrero this coming week. The good news is this will now be out of the way and Vlad will be available for the Expos Puerto Rico homestand in a couple of weeks.

Mike Piazza � Has spent the last two weeks searching every bunker in Vero Beach trying to find Guillermo Mota. The five-game suspension has been appealed, with the hearing not likely to be held until Mid-April at the earliest. Thence start Piazza with confidence this week.

Barry Bonds � In case you�re wondering, Barry has not slowed down and has hit nine home runs this spring. Bonds also gets to feast on Milwaukee pitching next weekend.

Hideki Matsui � Spring stats (18-51, 3 HR) have been acceptable. You can keep him in his $20-$22 dollar range.

Ken Griffey Jr. � 6/17/.381 in just 42 AB�s this spring and more importantly appears completely healthy. Grab him, especially in the salary cap games. The Seattle Kingdome Griffey may be making a return.

Ivan Rodriguez � Has had a solid spring, driving in 14 runs in 48 AB�s. Don�t expect the Irod of Texas, but expect decent stats. Also expect Pudge to be on the trading block at some point once the Marlins fall out of contention.

Barry Zito � After the A�s two-game set with Seattle in Tokyo was scrapped, it was announced that Tim Hudson, and not Zito may start on Opening Day. If that�s the case, Barry�s two start week would not come until Week 2.

Austin Kearns � Got cut on 3/10 to remove loose bodies out of his elbow. Is now back in the Reds lineup. You may want to wait a week or two before he gets back to full strength.

Randy Johnson � Goes without saying Unit pitches twice this week, with his second start in the thin air of Colorado. Unlike nearly any other pitcher don�t fret. Strikeouts travel the same (0 feet) in Denver than anywhere else, and the Rocks now have whiff kings Preston Wilson and Jose Hernandez in the lineup. Unit should be good for at least 15 in that game alone. I would back away a little from Curt Schilling in Coors since he does give up the occasional gopher balls.

Byung-Hyun Kim � Named the D-Backs fifth starter, and will be skipped on occasion in favor of Unit and/or Schilling. Keep tabs but be aware he will not be full-time. Will be a 5-6 inning guy when he does take the bump.

Pedro Martinez � In CDM you must have him for the first four week. First four starts will be v. TB and BAL, followed by a two-start week in Week 4. Could be the April�s MVP.

Brandon Phillips - Goes for 400 in CDM and has been named Cleveland's starting second baseman. Hitting .291 in the spring with 3 SB's.

Joe Crede - Another ROY candidate who will be starting at third for the White Sox - Hitting .263 on the spring along with four HR's.

Carl Crawford - Look here for your stolen bases. Hitting .323 on the spring with 7 SB's. Goes for only .420 in CDM.

Aubrey Huff - Another highly regarded young D-Ray who has a spot for sure now since the team has swallowed hard on Greg Vaughn's contract. His triple values in Sports Weekly goes 19/19/21. .292/3/11 in the spring with a team leading 72 AB's.

Eli Marrero - Had a health scare over the spring which turned out to be a GI reflux issue, and unrelated with his bout with thyroid cancer in 1998. Eligible at catcher, it looks like Eli will open the season in the Cards outfield>

Toby Hall - Had a nice second half after a minor league demotion, but could be headed for another slow start as he is only .200/1/5 in 45 Spring AB's.

Jason Schmidt � Giants starter has issued 13 free passes in just over 20 innings.

Jim Thome - Will be booed out of Philly when he opens 2-18 this week. Just give him some time to adjust to the NL.

And then there are the closers, keep tabs on the following situations.

Mariano Rivera � Will open season on the DL with an injured groin. Set-up man Steve Karsay is also out. Look for Juan Acevedo to get most of NYY�s save opps in the early going.

Kazuhiro Sasaki � Has dealt with shoulder woes this spring along with off-season elbow surgery. Reported to have had a great mound session this week, but remains questionable for opening day.

Robb Nen � Also coming off off-season surgery. Has been handled with kid-gloves this spring but appears ready to open the season on the active list.

Matt Mantei � Has had to deal with fingernail issues but otherwise has had a good spring. Will be the D-Backs closer.

Dennis Baez � 10 scoreless racks so far this spring, opens the year as C-town�s closer.

Brandon Villafuerte - With Trevor Hoffman out at least until mid-season and Jay Witasick also ailing, Brandon appears to be opening the season as the Padres closer. Unfortunately he is unlisted in CDM and will be unavailable until the second week.

Franklyn German � Company line is that Matt Anderson is still the Tigers closer. It may not be for long, as German has whiffed 16 in 9.2 spring innings. This kid�s for real.

Scott Williamson � I never have heard of a �minor� fracture of a digit on the pitching had. Has been roughed up for 7 ER, 11 hits and has issued five BB in nine spring innings. It could be rough for him early on.

Antonio Alfonseca � A marginal closing option to begin with, Alf will now miss the first month with a severe hammy pull. I�d like to tell use on who the Cubs will use as a closer, but Dusty Baker has mentioned Mike Remlinger, Kyle Farnsworth, Dave Veres, and Mark Guthrie as possibilities.

Jason Isringhausen � Rehab on his shoulder is going fine. Will miss the first week or two before working himself back in the closers role. In the meantime the Cards will use � you guessed it, a committee.

Jesus Colome � Should open as the D-Rays closer, and his salary in CDM is a rock-bottom 400.

And there is still no clue on who may emerge as the Red Sox closer, wait a couple weeks then jump on someone there.

Your schedule may have Oakland and Seattle playing only five games, but they will be playing six as one of the Tokyo games will be made up. ANH, BOS, LA, SD, TB, and TX play seven games, everyone else six. TB and SD also play the entire week at home, along with NYM, BAL, KC, STL, ATL, CIN, and OAK. Teams playing the entire week at home include BOS, CHC, CLE, LA, MON, NYY, PIT, SEA, and SF.

Check over the weekend for Opening Day starters, as is usually the case most staff aces will see two starts this week.