Tyler Greene of the Houston Astros was released today. Since he’s out of options the Astros will have a few days in order to trade him. In conjunction with this action, the Astros signed Ronny Cedeno, who is now expected to be the starting shortstop.

Derek Jeter is likely to start the year on the DL. The length of time time he’ll miss is still up in the air, but since the DL designation was backdated to March 22, the earliest he could be back is April 6. Eduardo Nunez is projected to be the starting shortstop. He’s below average defensively, but that doesn’t matter for fantasy. His primary asset is speed; if he plays a few weeks he could easily slot in your MI position for the first few weeks.

Jon Garland was released by the Mariners yesterday; as of now, Garland is likely heading to the Rockies. Garland has no fantasy value to speak of, but what this means is Erasmo Ramirez, from my standpoint, is all but assured to have a spot in the pitching rotation. Jeremy Bondermon, Blake Beavan and Brandon Maurer. Of the three, Maurer is the only pitcher that could be owned in a 12-team mixed league because he has the ability to miss bats with an above average slider with an average changeup and curveball. Prior to 2012, Maurer was plagued by injuries; elbow problems in 2010 and shoulder problems in 2011. Last year he was completely healthy was able to throw the most innings he’s thrown in his career (138).

Aaron Hicks will be the Twins starting center fielder on Opening Day. Hicks is still raw and probably isn’t ready for the Majors, but if he plays a full year he’ll hit .240 with 10 home runs and 15+ stolen bases. I bet Hicks will start to be overrated by fantasy owners because we tend to overvalue our dreams of an unknown.

Early reports out of Cleveland is Chris Perez should be ready for Opening Day.