Fantasy Baseball 2012: Week 5 Revelations—American League

Here are a few American League-centric revelations from Week 5:

1. Albert Pujols will finish with 30 or more homers this season

With Pujols cracking a homer against the Blue Jays on Sunday, we can now bid adieu to one of baseball's most over-hyped "drought" stories since Derek Jeter went 0-for-September, homer-wise, in 2010. And it couldn't have come at a better time for Pujols owners...who were probably two more homer-free weeks away from getting 1-for-1 trade offers involving Danny Valencia or Nolan Reimold. Ugh.

As someone who doesn't put much stock into April stats with superstars, I hadn't entertained one serious trade offer for Pujols in the last six weeks. After all, what's the point of drafting someone with the first, second or third overall picks and then trading him on the low side of the buying bubble?

Does Pujols have a long way to catch up with Matt Kemp (15 homers) or even Adam Dunn (nine HRs) in power production? Absolutely. But for anyone who thinks Pujols' career is in steep decline need only review the video from Game Three of last year's World Series: Three homers, four runs, five hits and six RBI—perhaps the greatest single-game devastation in Series history.

Bottom line: If you're fielding 3-for-1 offers for Pujols, where Owner B is surrendering a combination of Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson, Starlin Castro, Dustin Pedroia, Desmond Jennings or Adrian Gonzalez, go ahead and give it the utmost consideration. Otherwise, there's no point in getting cold feet about owning the greatest hitter of this century, not to mention a lock for 38 homers, 118 RBI, 112 runs and .313 batting just 30 days ago.

2. There are only three untouchable pitchers in the American League—Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Jered Weaver

While it's true great hitters, by and large, carry more weight than great pitchers in roto leagues, Verlander (2-1, 2.38 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 42/9 K-BB), Hernandez (3 -1, 1.89 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 51/14 K-BB) and Weaver (4-0, 1.61 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 45/7 K-BB) deserve to be included with Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols or Robinson Cano—certifiable superstars whose values in 1-for-1 or 2-for-1 swaps can neither be quantified nor duplicated.

And if you should happen to be offered one of the above magnificent seven, please don't spend a lot of time analyzing the deal from many useless angles. Accept it...and move on!

3. After this stanza, I won't say another word about Adam Dunn all season

Clearly, I was wrong to throw dirt on Dunn's fantasy prospects back on April 17, when the strapping, but aging slugger had one homer and a deplorable .179 batting average.

Clearly, I was wrong to recommend dropping Dunn in all scoring formats, even though he averaged 39.5 homers from 2004-10. Clearly, I was wrong to ignore Albert Pujols' hitting woes from April 5-May 5...while conveniently lamenting Dunn's precipitous decline from all of 2011 and two weeks into 2012.

For whatever reason, Dunn (nine HRs) looks incredibly comfortable at the plate right now, getting around on nearly every inside strike, while terrorizing opposing pitchers like the old days with Cincinnati and Washington.

(Side note: It's easy to forget that Dunn stole 19 bases for the Reds in 2002; it's even easier to mis-remember that Dunn never finished a season with an OPS above 1.000, despite a personal-high 122 walks in 2008. But I'm getting off track here.)

In 12-team leagues, be weary of fantasy GMs offering a medium-grade No. 4 pitcher for Dunn...which is basically Owner B's way of saying that he/she respects Big Red's numbers to date but has minimal confidence the power trend will continue. Hopefully, that would elicit a venomous, sharp-tongued response from Owner A, via email.

Something like, "Then why are you making a trade play for Dunn in the first place? Respect the wood, or don't waste my time!"

It's just like Glenn Frey once sang: It's the politics, the compromise, it's the Adam Dunn market-value blues.