Fantasy Minnesota

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...

Best running team in football. If anything they'll be better at running the ball this season. The Vikes have committed to a better balance between passing and running, which will (hopefully) prevent teams from stacking the box against the run -- opening more running lanes. Tarvaris Jackson has experience under his belt and is unchallenged as the starter, not to mention they signed Bernard Berrian in the off-season to give him a legitimate NFL wideout. Adrian Peterson has a year of NFL experience, and Chester Taylor is an able-bodied complement to Peterson. Expect the same, if not better, numbers as last season from the ground game.

The Breakout

He's not going to be a pro-bowler or even a fantasy starter, but "breakout" is defined as someone whose eventual value exceeds the value he held on draft day. Tarvaris Jackson is going to be avoided in nearly all drafts, or possibly taken as a third string fantasy QB with the hopes of upside. By the end of the year, he'll pick his spots well enough to be worthy of a backup fantasy QB for bye-week replacement or injury replacement purposes. He'll get rushing yards -- which is such a huge bonus for QBs -- avoid the interception quite well, and throw for 150-200 yards a week with a passing TD per game.

The fantastic ideas we had for Francisco Liriano's return in 2008 were not single game pitching lines like this: 0.2 innings pitched, 35 pitches, five hits, six earned runs, three walks and zero strikeouts. But that's exactly what he produced in an Oakland shellacking of the Twins.

Liriano's peripherals are down across the board (BB/9 is up to 9.31 and his K/9 is down 6.10). Of course, they're not the only things down now, as Frankie as been reassigned to Triple-A Rochester.

Liriano took the loss in all three of his starts with the Twins so far this season, including giving up six runs in two-thirds of an inning Thursday afternoon at Oakland. In those three starts, Liriano has allowed 15 hits, walked 13 and struck out seven while posting an 11.32 ERA.

[...]The Twins have had problems with Liriano since Spring Training, when the pitcher arrived late to Fort Myers after having problems acquiring his visa.

Well, that seems unnecessary, doesn't it. Sure, there may have been some mishandling on both sides of this debacle, but there's no reason to take a shot at Liriano now. He went from "greatest pitcher of all time" hype-status to "done-cakes" in less than two years. There's still a chance that he will be able to come back and pitch in the majors again; certainly aided by the fact that he apparently "feels no pain", even though he has not pitched like it.

I hope he does. He was a thrill to watch in 2006 and utterly untouchable for a really brief period. But after he failed to mention the pain to the team and then the team [most likely] brought him back to early, well, it seems like too much to ask for Liriano to ever bring back 2006.

Bonus Fantasy Spin: Liriano is a strong enough talent that you can't drop him just yet, unless you're in a small league. In fact, because of the "pain free" element to his pitching status, I almost think he's a buy low at this point, if you already have a stout pitching staff or deep bench and can afford to take an upside-riddle risk.

To get you ready for draft season, Fantasy FanHouse will be running through each major league team, covering lineups, rotations and sleeper/busts.

Meet the ...
Memphis Grizzlies of Major League Baseball. Not that the Twins are that bad, but it just bothers me to consider what they got back by letting Johan Santana go to the Mets. The Yankees and Sawx had better offers on the table, making it tough to stomach for Minny fans. Torii Hunter was tough to see go as well, one would imagine, but it was a necessary loss. Anyway, that's gone and done, so we're left to wonder who the new fantasy stud of the Twinkies will be in 2008. (Hint: not Adam Everett.) Two years ago, it was Francisco Liriano, no questions asked. But now ... well, there's still Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. And Joe Nathan is a stud closer on a team that is not as good anymore. Delmon Young is the new guy in town with the departure of Matt "young John Smoltz" Garza.

The Breakout
Delmon Young might be a limb to step out on in predicting a breakout. Sure, he's got ridiculous skills, but he might not have put it all together in the cabeza yet to really bust out. I still have this feeling that change in scenery will do him good, even though his second half dips in taters and swipes are disconcerting (in fairness, the rise in OBP and AVG kind of help me feel better). 20/20 isn't out of the question, making him a very solid third outfielder for most fantasy teams.

The Bust
I hate to pick on Liriano, because the guy already has more pressure on his left arm than Kevin Garnett ever had to deal with. With Johan gone, Liriano will be forced into the number one slot in the rotation, and frankly, that's just not fair. Or right. I know he's had a year to rest, but don't forget how young this guy is, much less forget the fact that he was too timid/proud/young to actually tell management that his arm was hurting the first time. They need to be patient with him, and I'm terrified that won't happen. And right now, he's just too freaking expensive in fantasy leagues to make him worth what you're spending, unless he repeats the back end of 2006. Which he won't.

About three weeks ago, FanHouse highlighted that Minnesota Wild stalwart Wes Walz had walked out on his club, essentially going AWOL. Rumors were rampant that Walz was contemplating retirement, after starting the season quite poorly. With just 4 points in 11 games, and a team-worst -5, Walz may have felt that he could no longer play a positive role in the Wild's success.

Well, the rumors came to fruition, and Walz is officially announcing his retirement from the NHL this morning.

"I thought for sure I was riding off into the sunset 10 years ago," Walz said in January 2006. "But I always felt I had more to give over here. I'm just so glad I was given an opportunity to satisfy my dreams of playing in the NHL and maybe even having an impact."

Walz, the spunky little forward with a big heart, is truly one of the league's better comeback stories. Despite having loads of speed and skill, not a single NHL club wanted his services after he played just two games for the Red Wings in 1995-96. Contemplating retirement at that point, Walz got a call from Zug of the Swiss League, and went into a three year exile from the NHL.

Seeing what other teams were missing, the Wild plucked Walz from his 'prison' and gave him a second chance. Given a role that suited his style, and the confidence of coach Jacques Lemaire, Walz rewarded the Wild with some fine defensive play over his six-plus seasons.

And, with Walz gone, Marian Gaborik is now the lone remaining active player from the Wild's original season roster.

The collision between fantasy sports and the real McCoy has become unavoidable. So I'll admit there have been times in the locker room when I'm interviewing a player, he's yapping on about something, and in the back of my mind all I want to do is ask: "Dude, would it have killed you to have picked up a shorthanded assist at some point last week so I could have beaten the guy ahead of me in the fantasy league standings?"

Maybe someday I'll work up the nerve; meanwhile, it's good to see Marian Gaborik addressing what has to be a sore spot for fantasy owners: When offensive dynamos are shackled by a defensive system, like the one Jacques Lemaire has perfected in Minnesota. Gaborik read a funny "prepared statement" as part of one of Sportsnet' s Fantasy Hockey segments, making a "public apology" for the Wild's defensive play:

"When developing this team it is obvious that management paid no attention to fantasy owners, but instead selfishly decided that winning was more important. Again, I apologize for this. I will continue to help you guys out whenever I can, but I'm afraid that management is obsessed with giving the Minnesota fans a Stanley Cup."

Watch the short satirical mea culpa here. For the record, Gaborik is ranked No. 78 overall in actual fantasy impact by Yahoo! Sports heading into Thursday night's action, right behind Pavel Kubina and ahead of Anze Kopitar; while Minnesota was ranked 20th in goals scored as a team.

What did the Devils' Martin Brodeur, Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, Miikka Kiprusoff of Calgary and Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers have in common last season? They were all finalists for the Vezina Trophy, and they all appeared in 70 or more games for their teams. In fact, since 1994 the only goalie to capture a Vezina with less than 65 games was Dominik Hasek, that was because he's Dominik Hasek.

With Jacques Lemaire's reputation as a defensive wizard, and with the Wild coming off a season in which they led the NHL in fewest goals-against, Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom appeared primed to make a run at the Vezina this season -- especially after his competition, Manny Fernandez, was shipped off to Boston. But according to Lemaire, Backstrom isn't the team's lone No. 1 goalie heading into this season; newbie Josh Harding played so well in the preseason that Lemaire said the Wild have "Two A's, no B's," according to the Star Tribune:

Because of Harding's promise and his preseason play, the Wild will use a platoon system not unlike the one employed when Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez were here. "The biggest thing for us is that the team plays well and wins," Backstrom said. "Everybody wants to play, but in goal only one can. When it's not your turn, you do what you can to support the other guy."

According to Lemaire, Harding could play in as many as 35 games.

Which means that Backstrom could appear in 50 games or fewer this season, a prediction echoed by the Tribune's Michael Russo. Lemaire's been enamored with the goalie rotation for years in Minnesota and it's a cornerstone of the team's philosophy; as GM Doug Risebrough told the Star Tribune, "From a strategy point of view, I think it's hard to put a load on one guy to play all those games. Ultimately, as we saw last year, injuries become a factor."

So perhaps this is good news for the Wild...even if it's a total downer for anyone who spent a top-round fantasy draft pick on Backstrom, looking for 70 games worth of a 1.97 GAA.

Take a look at the Minnesota Vikings' depth chart. We still don't know for sure who all the starters will be, but the starters at the skill positions could be:

• Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who has 81 career passing attempts
• Running back Adrian Peterson, who has zero career carries
• Wide receiver Sidney Rice, who has zero career catches
• Wide receiver Billy McMullen, who has 45 career catches
• Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, who has 35 career catches

Doug Drinen writes at the Pro Football Reference blog that a lineup like that -- or even a lineup that substitutes more experienced players like wide receivers Troy Williamson or Bobby Wade and tight end Jimmy Kleinsasser -- would be among the least experienced in history. In terms of the experience of its skill players, this year's Vikings may be the most inexperienced non-expansion team since the 1996 Rams.

Of course, experience doesn't necessarily make a team good, and inexperience doesn't necessarily make a team bad. But Drinen writes that there isn't much historical precedent for a team with so little experience doing much of anything on offense. It could be a long rebuilding year for the Vikings.