One of the most popular sleeper picks this spring was San Diego’s Jedd Gyorko. A third baseman by trade, he’s expected to be the Padres’ primary second baseman once Chase Headley returns from the disabled list, so the positional flexibility will benefit fantasy owners.

The primary reason owners have been drawn to Gyorko is his potential to offer plus-power at the second base position. He launched 30 home runs last season between Double-A and Triple-A, culminating in an impressive .413 wOBA with 24 home runs in 92 Triple-A games. Gyorko backed it up with four long balls this spring and the bandwagon had little room room for additional passengers. It was already filled to the brim.

Early this season, however, the 24-year-old rookie has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. He’s hitting .244/.347/.317 in 49 plate appearances, and while his 14.3% walk rate provides value in OBP leagues, his much-hyped power potential has been notably absent. He currently has an .073 ISO and hasn’t hit a home run on the season.

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Between 2008-2011, Tim Lincecum was arguably the best pitcher in baseball. He won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2008 and 2009, while posting four-consecutive seasons with at least 200 innings pitched. And in three of those seasons, he featured an ERA under 2.75.

In short, he was dominant. He earned the nickname “The Freak” and became a media darling across the country. His face was seemingly plastered on the cover of ESPN the Magazine or Sports Illustrated every other week, and SportsCenter did numerous featurettes on him throughout the baseball season.

All of the praise and attention was certainly deserved. Only Cliff Lee compiled a better FIP (2.79) than Lincecum’s 2.81 FIP amongst qualified starters in those four seasons, and the right-hander also had the fourth-lowest ERA (2.81).

That’s why it seems so awkward to say the following: fantasy owners should flat-out avoid Tim Lincecum.  There, I said it.

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A week into the regular season, fantasy baseball owners already have much to analyze and discuss. From the unexpected struggles of R.A. Dickey to the scorching-hot start of Chris Davis, early performances often leave lasting impressions. Early-season struggles can poison the well and cause owners to overlook quality midseason production, and vice versa.

With that said, owners should certainly monitor early-season trends to help determine if they should buy low or sell high on various players. Here are some performances this week that stood out at second base:

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The Texas Rangers reportedly agreed to an eight-year, $120M contract extension with shortstop Elvis Andrus, effectively making him the focal point of the franchise for the next decade. Contract extensions don’t generally have a huge impact on fantasy baseball for the individual signing the extension. Perhaps it slightly increases Andrus’ long-term value because he will remain in a positive run environment, but that only matters in extreme keeper leagues.

This Andrus extension does impact fantasy baseball in a different way, though. It essentially guarantees one of two scenarios will happen with top-prospect Jurickson Profar: (1) he will be moved to second base with the Rangers, or (2) he will be traded and play shortstop for another organization.

Since this is not the space for trade speculation regarding one of the top prospects in all of baseball, we can focus upon Profar’s assumed move to second base and what that means for his value in standard roto formats.

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After reading my ten hopefully-bold-enough predictions for the upcoming season, be sure to peruse the other Bold Prediction articles that have been published this week. We can then reconvene once the regular season has ended and discuss just how foolish the majority of these predictions proved to be.

It’ll be fun. Kind of.

(1) Starlin Castro will see his batting average fall under .275.

Although I love the power/speed combination offered by Castro and he just turned 23 last weekend, I’m worried his poor plate discipline will rise up and continue to take a bite out of his batting average this season. Consider this: his O-Swing% rose to 37.4% in 2012, while his strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate and swing percentage all increased in a similar fashion for the second-consecutive season. Sure, he’s young and has ample time to develop his skills, but those peripheral numbers are not trending in the right direction. Every projection model on his FanGraphs player page has him hitting over .290. I’m not so certain we’ll see that in 2013.

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The Boston Red Sox have experienced massive turnover amongst their position players over the last year. No more Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Mike Aviles or Cody Ross. They will be replaced by a combination of free-agent signees and internal prospects, and the organization hopes the new faces will help the offense improve from last season’s mediocre output. Boston finished with a 12th-ranked .316 wOBA and a 94 wRC+.

For fantasy owners, the trick will not only be assessing whether the Red Sox will ultimately improve with the bats, but also who projects to get early playing time. David Ortiz is doubtful for the start of the season with Achilles / leg problems, while Stephen Drew may begin the year on the disabled list due to concussion symptoms.

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We released our consensus rankings earlier this month, but we enjoy going the extra mile and we place players into various tiers. It helps contextualize an individual player by grouping them with players of similar fantasy value. My personal rankings varied slightly from the consensus rankings, so they won’t be perfectly aligned. The differences shouldn’t be too dramatic, though.

Without further ado, here are the tiers:

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The Orioles were a middling offense last year, ranking in the middle of the pack in runs scored and combined wOBA. But they did hit the second-most home runs in the league. That power streak extended to the infield, where the Orioles boast some elite power options at first base, catcher and shortstop.

Add a heralded, young third baseman into the mix, and Baltimore has one of the more intriguing crops of infielders in the American League.

When analyzing the depth chart, second base raises the most obvious question mark in regards to playing time. Brian Roberts should break camp as the everyday option at second, but fantasy owners can reasonably expect him to lose plate appearances throughout the year — whether that’s due to injury or ineffectiveness. He’s 35 years old and has only played in 115 games in the past three seasons. And when he has been in the lineup, the Brian Roberts circa 2005-2009 has been nowhere in sight. In those last 115 games over three seasons, he’s only hit .244/.308/.648 .340 with seven home runs. That’s simply not useable at second base.

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The 2012 season proved to be disappointing for the Philadelphia Phillies, who finished in third place in the NL East, so it’s not a stretch to say the roster was littered with underperformers. The outfield was no different. The Phillies’ outfielders combined for a .320 wOBA, which was tied for 19th in Major League Baseball. Changes were needed.

The organization began its outfield shakeup last summer, when they traded both Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence to the NL West, and it continued this winter when they moved to acquire center fielder Ben Revere from the Minnesota Twins. Needless to say, Opening Day in 2013 will look very different in the outfield for the Phillies than it did a year previously.

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The Atlanta Braves have a history of quality starting pitching, and that success has extended into recent years. By earned run average, their rotation has ranked among the top ten in baseball in each of the last four years, including a 3.75 ERA last season.

This spring, the starting rotation is already set with the only caveat being Brandon Beachy’s expected midseason return from Tommy John surgery.

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