The New York Yankees’ manager showed us how managing a baseball team is much like managing a fantasy squad. In game one, inning one and jam one of the season, with his ace C.C. Sabathia on the hill, Joe Girardi chose to inten-tionally walk Sean Rodriguez to load the bases. You cannot over-manage your team, especially this early in the season. Why? Because Carlos Pe?na will turn on a full-count heater and put your club in a 4-0 hole. Do not panic if your team is not putting up the numbers that you had dreamed that they would. The big-gest mistake that a fantasy manager can make early in the season is over-manag-ing. Don’t start dumping your underper-forming bats and giving up on pitchers after a poor first outing. Relax. It is week one. At least give your guys a chance to prove themselves before tossing them to the wind.

However, with that said, it is never too early to make some additions if ros-ter space permits or you have expend-able bench players. Keep in mind that this advice is best used in deeper leagues. First off, Pe?na needs to be owned in ev-ery league right now. He has come back with a vengeance to Tropicana, smoking homers off of Sabathia and Rivera in the Yankees series. I wouldn’t lean on him as a first baseman yet, but he is a qual-ity utility bat. I also like Rafael Furcal. The St. Louis shortstop opened the sea-sons with three three-hit outings in the first four games of the season, along with a pair of stolen bases. Be cautious, but if you are in need of a shortstop, take a look at Furcal. The final bat that I suggest taking a look at is Chone Figgins. He is hitting at the top of the lineup and might be a decent speed option if you are miss-ing on the stolen bases. Don’t invest too heavily, though.

Pitching is always deep and you never go off one start, but I do like Johan San-tana and Ricky Nolasco. Santana threw five innings of two-hit shutout ball in his debut. Don’t expect too much, but if you have room for him, he might be worth the add. Nolasco threw well in his debut, but more importantly, he has Chi-cago (NL) and Washington coming up. I expect him to give a few decent early season spot starts.

Finally, Fernando Rodney might be a nice source of saves. The Tampa Bay re-liever threw in the ninth inning in each of the three games against the Yankees, recording two saves and a win. He should be the main guy until the return of Kyle Farnsworth from the DL.

Remember not to overanalyze the first few games of the season, but always keep your eyes on free agency. You never know what gems will pop up there.

Contact Ben Arledge at [email protected].