Fantasy St Louis

Let's face it -- one of the real joys of playing fantasy sports is the satisfaction of feeling smug, even superior, to the other folks in your league. Take, for instance, last season when a given owner tried to add Ryan Braun or Tim Lincecum prior to their call-up, only to find them sitting on your bench. There's no doubt that you felt pretty superior when they undoubtedly posted something like, "I can't believe he's already taken!" (Of course, this assumes a free agent world – otherwise, the same reaction would occur after you bid on that player weeks before anyone else did.)

On the other hand, this can go a bit too far sometimes. This year, I drafted Cameron Maybin, sure that I had myself a great combination of young speed and power – and then he got sent down by the Marlins, and it's far from clear when he'll be back in the bigs. I've stashed Colby Rasmus on a team where I have a bench that justifies it, even though it's not clear if he'll play before September.

Of course, this doesn't just apply to fresh young faces -- the savvy fantasy player can also pick up and stash a veteran who is out on the DL for a sizeable part of the year. Many folks have been holding on to Francisco Liriano for just this reason. (I'm of the theory that this is a waste since he'll be able to contribute very little when he does return.) But who else is likely out there on your free agent wire, potentially providing some free benefits to you down the stretch? Well, it turns out the Cardinals have a rash of pitchers with some prior success that should be hurling in the bigs sooner than later. Let's look at them and decide whether they are worth your bench space.

I've always been one for letting my employer decide when I'm no longer capable of doing my job, but Eric Gagne and Jason Isringhausen apparently feel differently, being "honest" enough to let their managers know they're no longer worthy of the closer role. (Update: Gagne can apparently close again!) Either way, not a lot of confidence. What they did is rare in the sense of being voluntary, but it certainly underlies the basic fantasy notion that saves are easy to come by.

In Milwaukee, if you're looking for saves, you actually love Gagne flip-flopping; Ned Yost will probably go back to the well with him, and you'll have an easier time going after the guy who will probably end up getting the saves. Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota and David Riske are the official closer by committee. (The reality is they shouldn't have let Francisco Cordero walk, but that's neither here nor there at this point). I've been saying that Riske is my guy since early in the season, but in fairness, he hasn't pitched perfectly. Then again, neither has Torres, so I'm sticking by my guns here and saying Riske ends up with the most saves in the Milwaukee pen this year (unless Yost does something cr-r-r-r-azy and puts Carlos Villanueva in the spot).

The Cardinals end of things appears to be a little more cut and dry, in the sense that Ryan Franklin is the new go-to guy from the bullpen in St. Louis. Russ Springer and Randy Flores are apparently in the mix as well to a degree, but when you look at Springer's walk count -- five! -- since Izzy went down, it's hard to imagine Tony La Russa trusts him. Plus, Franklin is actually locking down the ninth. And the guy you want to grab for your fantasy league.

Rams quarterback Marc Bulger had a lousy game in Sunday's 24-3 loss to the Buccaneers, but he has a pretty good excuse: Rams coach Scott Linehan disclosed Monday that Bulger has two broken ribs and a badly bruised knee.

"He was limited going into the game," Linehan said. "He has a couple of broken ribs, but he played with it. We're not going to say that's the reason he didn't have his best game of his career or anything like that. He will be much better this week; he got out of this game pretty healthy."

The Rams need Bulger to be better this week, especially without Steven Jackson. But overall, is there any way Bulger can get through this season healthy? He's already lost his best pass blocker, left tackle Orlando Pace. Although Alex Barron has performed well in Pace's absence, the decision to move Barron from left tackle to right had a ripple effect on the rest of the Rams' line.

For the Rams, it's hard not to think that this is a lost season. Sept. 25 is too early to start looking ahead toward next year, but does anyone really think they can be contenders this year?

As if news couldn't possibly get any worse for the St. Louis Rams following their 0-3 start, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that Steven Jackson-the consensus number two pick in most fantasy drafts this year-will miss the team's week four game against Dallas with a tear in his groin.

This is a bit of a nightmare for fantasy owners, particularly since Jackson appeared to be getting back on track following a 100 plus yard effort against the Bucs on Sunday. It's been mentioned that he's going to miss "at least one week" and then will be "week to week" after the Dallas matchup.

Brian Leonard will take his place in the Rams backfield, but with all the injuries to the offensive line, don't expect a ton of production out of the Rutgers rookie. Stay tuned but feel free to use your back end waiver claim on Leonard if you're in desperate need of backfield help - tore groins aren't exactly quick healers for running backs.

It's also worth noting that if you have Jackson on your squad and someone is willing to take an injury/flier on him and offer you good value--like a first or second round running back--in the hopes that he bounces back, it's probably worth considering/taking. Good luck with that though. In all likelihood you're riding this one out.

Rams wide receiver Torry Holt has battled a knee injury all off-season, but there are now indications that the injury is more significant than previously known.

In fact, Bill Coats of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Holt won't be completely healthy for the Rams' season opener and might not be completely healthy all year.

"It's just one of those deals where I'm not recovering as quick as I used to," said Holt, 31. "I have to get used to that and stay patient. ... I don't know if it'll ever heal all the way, but I think it will heal enough where it will allow me to go out and play."

Holt describes his knee at "70, 80 percent." Torry Holt at three-fourths speed is still better than a lot of NFL receivers, but that still represents a major dropoff for the Rams.

Hat tip: Pro Football Talk.

A regular look at 30 people who will affect the 2007 NFL season.

The sight of Rams left tackle Orlando Pace getting carried off the field would devastate millions of fantasy football players -- and I'm not talking about some kind of weird league using offensive line stats.

The name of Pace, who missed half of 2006 with an injury, won't be called at any fantasy drafts, but he makes a huge difference to many players whose names will be called: Steven Jackson, Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce. Pace is one of the league's best offensive linemen, and his teammates -- especially Bulger -- greatly missed him when he was gone last year.

Jackson has said he hopes to gain 2,500 yards from scrimmage this year, and although that's a lofty goal, it's not totally unrealistic. But it'll be a lot easier to achieve if Pace is on the field.

Bottom line: Pace should be healthy, which means Bulger, Jackson, Bruce and Holt -- and the people who own them in fantasy leagues -- should be happy.

30 to Watch: See them all.

The St. Louis Blues made a shocking move as they put 38-year old captain Dallas Drake on waivers with the intention of buying him out and clearing a little bit of cap space if he goes unclaimed.

Given how hard Drake worked night in and night out for the Blues, and given their lack of leadership, it's somewhat strange that they would boot their captain out the door.

The Blues say the move wasn't about saving money. Rather, they need the roster spot heading into training camp. Several of the Blues' young players, such as D.J. King, will need to clear waivers this season to be sent to Peoria, and the Blues don't want to risk losing them.

"We tried to make deals during the draft to open up roster spots, and we couldn't make any deals," Blues President John Davidson said. "If we could have found ways to open up more spots with certain deals, then we wouldn't have to worry so much about our 23-man roster. If you look at our roster, there's only a couple of spots open for free agents and we need a couple of free agents, if we can."

Dallas Drake's offensive production slipped to a mere 12 points in 60 games last season, and it was clear that he was a one-dimensional defensive forward. Still, he led the Blues' forwards in PK ice time, and was still able to get under the skin of many opposing scoring stars. It's not as if he wasn't without SOME value.

Fine, the Blues want to clear a roster spot for a younger player with more upside. I understand that. But, DJ King? A goon that had just 9 points in 38 AHL games? What's the use?

Drake would make a good 4th liner on a team willing to give him a spot, but the old fart may want to retire, instead of making the league minimum and playing a greatly diminished role.

OK, so he might not be at A-Rod status of hotness, nor David Wright either, but Rich Aurilia is doing pretty well in his own right. Check this out: Aurilia is enjoying a 12-game hitting streak, during which he's batted .388. In the last five games he has nine hits and six RBI, but most of all, he's been clutch. On Thursday he delivered a two out two-run tiebreaking double in the sixth inning which helped spark the Giants 6-2 win. On Wednesday, Aurilia delivered the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 12th to give the Giants a 6-5 extra-innings win over the Cardinals. In his second stint with the Giants, Aurilia is concerned with more than just himself:

"It's a good feeling. It's nice to be able to come back home and contribute like this ... Now, if we can just get on a roll and win a few more in a row and get back to .500, that'd be great."

The Giants have rallied from a 1-6 start to win five of their last seven games, thanks in large part to Aurilia. It's a positive sign for Giants fans who starting getting seriously concerned early in the year, writing the team off.

Previously at FanHouse:
We May As Well Just Hand A-Rod the AL MVP Trophy
Dodgers Own the Giants Whose Season Is Over