It’s easy to write off the first week of the season as a slow start for the players you used your high picks on. Now that we’re almost three weeks in, you’re almost definitely looking at the numbers of some of your top picks and wondering what in the world is wrong. Avoid the temptation to dump your third-rounder for someone else’s suddenly-hot sixteenth-rounder, and use this time to commiserate with your fellow owners who are ready to hit the Panic Button on these players.

C – A.J. Pierzynski (.195, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 0 SB)

Pierzynski was the 9th or 10th catcher on the board and has been a mess so far. With a recent mini-surge on Tuesday and Wednesday he was able to raise his average to a sparkling .195, and in those rare moments when he does get a base hit it’s meaningless for fantasy owners—he has no RBIs or extra base hits since April 5th. The power outage is nothing notable (his first home run in 2006 wasn’t until mid-May) but at least his average did not drop below .300 until late August last year. If he can’t give you .300 he may be totally worthless from a fantasy perspective.

1B – Mark Teixeira (.204, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 6 R, 0 SB)

As someone who fearlessly touted Teixeira as a great value pick in the second round, I’m scared stiff about his second straight terrible season start. He’s even behind his frigid 2006 pace—he at least hit two homers the first two weeks of the season, and still was hitting around .300. He’s currently the 24th-rated 1B in fantasy leagues and since every owner took him earlier than the 24th overall pick, a lot of people are hoping for a serious turnaround, and hoping we don’t have to wait until July this time.

2B – Josh Barfield (.154, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 4 R, 0 SB)

At some point in your draft, unless you took an elite 2B early, you probably had the option among young sleeper 2B of Kinsler, Kendrick, or Barfield. If you picked Kinsler you’re ecstatic; even if you took Kendrick you’re very happy with his hitting prowess, injury problems aside. Barfield, on the other hand, has gone into the tank completely, seemingly unable to hit the ball with any power, culminating in the dreaded “take the day off to get your head straight” on Thursday. Barfield is still only a second-year player so his swing will probably come, but you have to hope he’s not losing his nerve already.

3B – Ryan Zimmerman (.203, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 6 R, 0 SB)

This probably isn’t what the Nationals were hoping for if their plans were to trade Zimmerman to beef up the farm system. The Nationals have actually averaged five runs a game over the past week but Zimm apparently wants no part of it. He put up 17 RBIs in April 2006, even though the average was still hovering below .250, but he’s acting like the poster child for the sophomore slump so far, unable to produce in any of the five categories.

SS – Stephen Drew (.212, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 8 R, 1 SB)

For the most part, the top shortstops this year have performed as expected, except for Furcal who at least wasn’t taking up an active roster spot the first two weeks. I only bring Drew into this because for some reason, during the last three weeks of March his stock shot through the roof and he was being taken absurdly early in most drafts. Now he’s acting exactly like the streaky young hitter that he probably will be for most of the season. In 46 AB, Drew has exactly one extra base hit and is very close to coughing up the leadoff role.

OF – Alfonso Soriano (.245, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 6 R, 1 SB)

Now this is just pathetic. Who would have thought that Soriano’s injury would lead to an increase in productivity from the CF position for the Cubs. A few scattered experts defended Soriano as a possible #1 overall pick because of the unmatchable power & speed combination, and so far he’s brought neither. It’s tough to steal a lot of bases with an OBP of .288 and two total walks from the leadoff spot. Now an injury will sideline him for at least a week and you can only hope at this point that he’s on the verge of a serious hot streak across all categories, and that those voices in your head saying “post-contract hangover” when you drafted him can be silenced.

SP – Carlos Zambrano (22 IP, 1-2, 7.77 ERA, 1.86 WHIP, 16 K)

Three ugly starts is a reason to be worried. Against the Braves on Wednesday, he was left to fend for himself after being torched in the first inning and at least emerged from the start with a day ERA under 9.00—thank goodness for small victories. A strikeout-to-walk rate of 1.0 is not going to get it done and Big Z can forget about a Cy Young award at this point—one more start like this and he will be wishing that he signed whatever was put on the table on March 31. Looks like the “contract year” still isn’t a perfect theory.

RP – Mariano Rivera (4.2 IP, 1-1, 5.79 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 4 K, 0 SV)

Rivera’s line is deceptive—before Scutaro’s HR on Sunday, he had great ratio stats and a 0.0 ERA. The big problem here for the man who was probably the fourth closer drafted in your league is that almost three weeks have passed without a single save and it’s not due to any injury or weather problems. That’s indicative of the problems the Yankees will likely face this year—a lot of 10-5 wins and a lot of 9-4 losses, and not a lot of close save situations. The ERA is obviously an aberration but only one K in the last 3.2 IP, and no saves to speak of, is cause for at least a bit of concern.