Player Notes:

This just in — a record number of grandparents and household pets passed away Monday…. allegedly. What? You know you used some sort of similar excuse to get out of work to watch the “REAL” opening day for baseball. Here’s some observations to consider, though it is important to remember not to get too high or too low after one day’s worth of stats, but a glorious day it was.

Names to know:

Alexei Ramirez — He has 2B eligibility right now and will soon have eligibility as an outfielder as well. Couple that with the fact that his manager is convinced he’s a player and that he looks like the next coming of Alfonso Soriano and you’ve got yourself quite a useful player. You may keep reading that he’s only keeping centerfield warm until Jerry Owens gets his man muscle in check, but if you’re like me, the potential five-category upside of Ramirez far outweighs the limp noodle and speed combination that Owens brings to the dish.

Nate McLouth — Okay, it’s more than likely that his secret is out already, but if your league has been too stubborn to recognize Mr. McLouth’s potential, then they are blind and you should take advantage of their handicap. McLouth has been awarded the starting center field and leadoff job for the Pirates, and aside from his stolen base potential, he could put up 15 to 20 bombs as he’s just now growing into his power (not to mention that he’s in that magical “Age 27” year). We may have a poor man’s Eric Byrnes on our hands here and you need to be the one to cash in on it if McLouth is still available in your league. The guy stole 22 bags in 23 attempts last year — he’s legit, too legit (thank you M.C. Hammer).

Lastings Milledge — Speaking of rappers. What more do you need to know about Lastings Milledge other than the fact that he raps? Okay, well if that isn’t doing it for you, his 20/20 potential should. He’s hitting 2nd in a more than formidable top of the lineup for the Nats. Ryan Zimmerman should be well on his way to making us all forget about his 2007 season, which really wasn’t all that bad considering his wrist troubles and the fact that it was his sophomore season. Couple that with the spry looking Nick Johnson hitting fourth (did you see him stretch that single into a double on Sunday and then follow it up by scoring from second base on a hard single seconds later?) and Milledge is starting to look like he has nice run potential to go along with his nice mix of speed and power.

Jon Rauch — Hopefully not too many of you went into cardiac arrest Sunday evening when Rauch’s 6’11” and 280 pounds came on in the 9th instead of Chad Cordero. Cordero says he had a “weird” feeling in his arm. Sounds kind of like something a high school freshman might say the first time he sees the cheerleading squad perform at half time of the football game, except the weird feeling wouldn’t be in his arm…. oh never mind. Whatever the case, Cordero and the “weird” feeling in his arm is going to be handled with caution for two reasons. Rauch is probably the better of the two pitchers to begin with, and they want to ensure Cordero stays healthy long enough to use as trade bait this summer.

Carlos Gomez — So maybe even Big Papi might be a 30-SB threat if he could play every game with Mike Napoli behind the plate — but the fact that Jose Reyes told us last year that even he can’t outrun Gomez is something that says a lot about Torii Hunter’s replacement. The Twins put together a nice lineup behind Gomez and you know they want to give him every chance to shine so that their trade of Johan looks only “somewhat lopsided” rather than “completely ripped off.” Gomez will steal 50 bags with regular at bats, and he’s going to get them. If you missed out on Michael Bourn and Willy Taveras, go get Carlos Gomez and thank me later.

Don’t jump ship yet:

Kerry Wood — If you own him, you obviously need to invest in Carlos Marmol as well. As for Wood’s roller coaster ride in the 9th inning Monday, don’t fret. If Lou Piniella can sit through a season of Ryan Dempster as his 9th inning guy, I’m sure the leash will be long enough for Wood to stick around as closer as well. You still need to be more concerned about Wood’s health than an actual demotion.

Matt Capps — I’ll admit, two walks for a guy who issued only 16 all of last season was a bit of a shock. However, he still should have gotten a cheap save had Jason Bay and Nate McLouth not looked like a couple of Bad News Bears players in the outfield on that routine can o’ corn hit by Brian McCann. What I don’t get is why the Pirates didn’t run Capps out there at the start of the 9th. Sure, they had a five run lead, but how many games do they really plan on winning this year? Even seven of their own players recently told a local newspaper columnist that they didn’t predict their own team to win the NL Central. So much for optimism.