Pablo Sandoval has been slayed by a hamate bone again — this time on the other hand. The good news is that he came back strong after his six-week absence last year, so maybe he can do it again. The bad news is that his owners are now looking for a third baseman on a waiver wire that just was just raided by Ryan Zimmerman, Kevin Youkilis, and Evan Longoria owners.

On the Giants themselves, it’s likely that callup Conor Gillaspie gets much of the playing time at third. Second base is still a (craptacular) Ryan Theriot / Manny Burriss mashup, and those two dudes are needed over there, and also to backup Brandon Crawford. Against left-handers, the team has the option of moving Brett Pill over to third base — he’s faked the position before. That still leaves a little under 3/4 of the at-bats at third base for the next six weeks available for the rookie.

What can he do?

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I liked Lucas Duda going into the season, you may have heard. Ten days ago, he had a .188/.216/.396 batting line and my twitter timeline was blown to pieces. I started planning a mea culpa and some sort of investigation into his contact problems. Good thing life got in the way — Duda’s past week cleaned up most of his peripherals in one fell swoop.

From April 21st until April 30th, Duda went 11 for 30 with a home run and a double. But the batted-ball results weren’t what provide the most hope for the rest of the season. Saying that he struck out six times against seven walks in those 37 plate appearances gets a little closer — he’d struck out 15 times against two walks in the 50 PAs that came before. But per at-bat results are still inferior to per-pitch results in the early season. Most importantly, Lucas Duda started making contact.

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Mike Trout and Bryce Harper came up this weekend. Mike Trout went oh-for-the-weekend. Bryce Harper had two hits, one a double, with an RBI to boot. Trout is on a crowded team at a crowded position. Bryce Harper plays center field for a team desperate for a center fielder. In keeper leagues, many will tell you — we’ve got all the premier scout-types on record in our FG+ article on the subject — that Harper’s power upside will be the more valuable tool going forward.

But, in redraft leagues, for just this year, I’m taking Mike Trout.

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Bryce Harper’s debut is nigh. The Nationals will call him up Saturday and put Ryan Zimmerman on the DL. Though he wasn’t available in any of my 14 leagues, perhaps he’s available in yours. Should you pick him up?

Despite having all the pedigree in the world, the answer is unclear. He already has two things going against him before day one. He’s only 19 years old, for one. Here’s the list of 19 year olds that managed at least 200 PAs since 1980 and how they fared in their rookie seasons.

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A little haggard around the edges, but I’ll be here at 12:30 to chat. Cause it’s fun!

Drew Smyly wasn’t supposed to be here. Going into the season, it was the more heralded Jacob Turner that was supposed to move into the Detroit Tigers’ starting rotation. But then shoulder woes felled Turner, and the young southpaw with the happy last name and 46.1 innings in the high minors got the call.

The response was muted. Smyly was supposedly the kind of polished college lefty that would give Minor League hitters the fits — but then possibly have muted upside in the Major Leagues. His fastball is low nineties, not mid nineties. Maybe his secondary stuff isn’t the whiffiest. Maybe he’ll be forced to come into the zone more in the Majors.

So far, though, he’s been smiling in the face of his detractors. Well, he did have a bout with lesser control in his debut, but since then he’s been in a groove. Should we re-evaluate his upside? Should mixed-leaguers be picking him up?

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Marlon Byrd is the word in Boston, but we know how that tune goes by now. Once the BABIP (.091) stabilizes, he’ll put together a good batting average (.278 career) with home run and stolen base numbers that shouldn’t add up to 20. The move to Fenway won’t help him hit more home runs, since the right-handed park factor for dongers in Chicago is 102 and it drops to 94 in Fenway, but that really isn’t Byrd’s game most years. Instead, look for the 132 PF for doubles from righties in Fenway to help augment their new center fielders’ batting average.

But, as usual, the more interesting situation is the one left behind on the rebuilding squad. You know what Tony Campana has coming to him? The world, Chico, and everything in it. (Or a one-month shot at staking out the center field job for himself, it could just be that.)

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Baby? Baby? This is fantasy, man. We take this stuff seriously. The baby can wait.

• Yes, Yu Darvish held a high-powered Detroit offense to one run in 6.1 innings. Yes, he struck out five guys and only allowed seven baserunners. It’s too bad that five of those baserunners were walks. Control like that is going to hurt him in the long run, if only because it will keep him from racking up longer outings and TeH WiNZ. From watching him, it seems like he has decent control, but that something is still off. Maybe it’s getting used to the new strike zone. Maybe it’s a mechanical issue. It’s tempting to say we know what Darvish is — another nibbler from the NPB — but even the complete sample of pitchers that have come to America from that league is small. And three starts certainly isn’t enough to condemn him. It might be interesting, if you have a fungible hot-starting pitcher (Matt Harrison, Kyle Lohse and Barry Zito come to mind), to attempt a buy-low that won’t hurt you if it goes wrong.

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The baby’s due any minute, but let’s sneak in a chat. I’ll be here at 12:30… or at the hospital!