Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically the impact of Albert Pujols’ injury.

For 2011, RotoWire’s Fantasy Sports Today show is back on Sirius / XM live, Monday through Friday from 10 A.M. – 1 P.M. CT. The call-in number is 888-XM-FANTASY and listener participation is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically Sunday’s National League Tout Wars draft held at MLB Advanced Media’s offices in New York City. There will certainly be some St. Louis Cardinals talk sprinkled in, too, as I am fresh from my annual Grapefruit League trip, where I also saw the Mets, Tigers, Braves, Marlins and Twins.

For 2011, RotoWire’s Fantasy Sports Today show is back on Sirius / XM live, Monday through Friday from 11 A.M. – 2 P.M. ET. The call-in number is 888-XM-FANTASY and listener participation is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

I have greatly enjoyed the annual competition fantasy sports offer for a couple of decades now and actually wrote about that even before investing my (almost) full-time focus on the Cardinals.

Over the winter, I worked on several fantasy-related projects that are starting to hit newsstands and today, I will highlight a few.

A publication to which I have contributed for at least a decade, “The Fantasy Baseball Guide 2011”, can be had for $7.99. In addition to having penned player “Picks and Pans” scattered throughout the magazine, I participated in a “Strategies of Champions” interview. ESPN’s Nate Ravitz and I discuss what went into our pair of top two finishes in the National League Tout Wars competition over the last two seasons and what we have taken away from them.

The 2011 FOX Sports Fantasy Guide/Scout Prospect Guide will be out soon. As always, our Cardinals top 20 is featured along with my essay which includes top pitchers and position player prospects to watch this coming season and why. Annual subscribers to The Cardinal Nation that signed up by January 21 will receive a free copy in the mail. Others can purchase it when it hits newsstands.

USA Today has two spring baseball magazines out, one specifically devoted to fantasy. My contribution is actually in their regular baseball mag, called “Baseball 2011”, on sale in stores for $8.99 and available to purchase on-line too. In it, I co-authored a pro-con piece on what to expect from New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter in 2011. I took the con, explaining why I see him in decline.

The USA Today marketing department is a smart group. Depending on the area of the country in which “Baseball 2011” is being sold, they substitute the mug of a local player on the cover. So, the St. Louis version plugs Albert Pujols and an article written by my friend and Mastersball associate Lawr Michaels. (Not sure why I didn’t get that assignment, but Lawr did a great job.)

In the Big Apple, Jeter’s photo appears with the screaming headline, “Legend in the Fall” (see side-by-side photos of the “same” mag). Since I began the Jeter piece with a Dorian Gray reference before heading into an assessment of the November of “Mr. November’s” career, readers will quickly tell which direction I took. As a result, I will probably need to be put in a protection program to be shielded from unhappy Yankees fans. If instead I disappear abruptly like Jimmy Hoffa once did, you will know why.

I continue to pen (can one “pen” via a keyboard?) a weekly fantasy-oriented column each Saturday at Mastersball.com, where I am among a group of long-time friends and industry collaborators. I often focus on topics like league rules which would be dry to non-fantasy players, but now and then, I jump out of the box.

My most recent article was also picked up by our partners at KFFL.com. The site is one of the most comprehensive sources of player news around, making it most useful for any baseball (or football) fan. My new column looks at three National League third basemen, including a bad-ankled one already very familiar to this group.

While I am mentioning Mastersball, I will close with a commercial.

For serious players looking for a fantasy baseball information provider this season, Mastersball continues to offer what I truly believe are the best projections around. I say this because I understand the processes that go into them and participate personally. We explain our methodologies in detail for prospective customers and provide last year’s projections free so people can see ahead of time what they will receive. I use these in all of my league drafts.

Further, this year, we’ve developed our own draft software that integrates our projections into a computer-based tool. You can track rosters, remaining players and projected standings during a draft, whether snake, straight or auction. We’ve been putting this code through the paces all winter and will be releasing it to subscribers tomorrow.

Mastersball isn’t as well-known as many of the bigger sites offering projections but we’re very proud of our results in well-known leagues against many of the industry’s heavyweights. Our online projections are updated bi-weekly and kept current all season long. They aren’t free, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

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Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, but there will certainly be some St. Louis Cardinals talk sprinkled in, too. Erickson is a long-time friend of the Ryan family from Los Angeles, so the new Mariners infielder may come up as well.

For 2011, RotoWire’s Fantasy Sports Today show is back on Sirius / XM live, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET. The call-in number is 888-XM-FANTASY and listener participation is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

For 2010, RotoWire’s Fantasy Sports Today show is back on Sirius / XM live, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET, and replays following. The call-in number is 888-402-6328 and listener participation is encouraged.

Jeff Erickson is the managing editor of RotoWire.com and Chris Liss is senior editor of the site. They are winners of industry expert fantasy leagues and accomplished writers as well as co-hosting Fantasy Sports Today. The show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction.

Among the expert leagues in which we compete is Tout Wars. Jeff in is the American League and Chris and I are in the National. Each of us is a former champion.

Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically on my attempt to defend my 2009 championship in National League Tout Wars, one of the industry’s most prestigious and challenging leagues. I was also a part of the myriad of leagues associated with the country’s premier high-stakes fantasy event, the National Fantasy Baseball Championship, NFBC, that also drafted this past weekend in The City as well as in Las Vegas and Chicago and the previous weekend in St. Louis at the Pujols 5 Restaurant. Erickson is a long-time friend of the Ryan family from Los Angeles, so The Boog and the Cardinals are guaranteed to come up.

For 2010, RotoWire’s Fantasy Sports Today show is back on Sirius / XM live, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET, and replays following. The call-in number is 888-402-6328 and listener participation is encouraged.

Like me, squeeze it in before watching the Cardinals take on the Twins at 1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.

http://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/RotoWire-Fantasy-Sports-Today-Begins-Monday-BBD1846.htm

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Sports Today. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction.

Devotees of XM Satellite Radio are likely already aware of the long-running Fantasy Focus show. In 2009, it moved from XM to Blog Talk Radio. Listen live, Monday through Friday, or on demand.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RotoWire

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Focus. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction. Among the expert leagues in which we both compete is Tout Wars. Jeff is the 2007 American League champion while I won the 2009 National League title.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically on my 2009 championship in National League Tout Wars, one of the industry’s most prestigious and challenging leagues. It was a fantastic season, with Lenny and Paul among my league competitors. Of course, we will also discuss the Cardinals quick exit from the post-season.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TalkingBaseballLive

Lenny Melnick and Paul Greco of FantasyPros911.com bring their unique style of Fantasy Baseball expertise to Fantasy Baseball owners across the Internet. Lenny, a two-time LABR champion, has also padded his long Fantasy Baseball resume with a Tout Wars championship. Paul has a varied fantasy sports resume. He is part owner of Gotham Sports Media and is Associate Editor of BaseballDigest.com, bringing Fantasy Baseball to the online version of the popular magazine.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically on my 2009 championship in National League Tout Wars, one of the industry’s most prestigious and challenging leagues. It was a fantastic season as I logged the highest point total in the 12-year history of the competition, for which I am extremely proud.

Those devotees of XM Satellite Radio are likely already aware of the long-running Fantasy Focus show. For 2009, it has moved from XM to Blog Talk Radio. Listen live, Monday through Friday at Noon ET, or on demand.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RotoWire

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Focus. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction. Among the expert leagues in which we both compete is Tout Wars. Jeff in is the American League and I’m in the National.

I will be calling in from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to talk baseball with co-hosts Corey Gottlieb and Cory Schwartz, the latter against whom I compete in the National League Tout Wars expert competition.

Saturday night was an exception.

I compete to win in every league in which I participate and as such, they are all tied for first place in importance, to steal a line from Tony La Russa. Well, being honest, that isn’t completely true.

Of them all, the league which I want to win the very most is also the most prestigious – Tout Wars. Of the three flavors of Tout, I play in the National League competition. (The others are American League and Mixed.)

In this non-keeper league auction draft back in March in New York, I tried to build a well-balanced, winning team. I had several Cardinals on my target list, including Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright (pictured). I secured the latter, but when the bidding on the former climbed above my comfort level, I bailed out.

With 13 NL Tout Wars teams and 16 NL clubs from which to draft, it is easy to see that most teams will get only one closer. To go along with my choice, Chad Qualls of Arizona, I gambled a few dollars on a Chris Perez bet that has yet to deliver.

I also added a $3 Joel Pineiro, who has brought a nice return, but I didn’t do nearly as well on Khalil Greene, who I had felt was an excellent bounce-back candidate after seeing him hit .400 this spring. I also bid on Chris Duncan and Rick Ankiel, but thankfully did not win either.

Yet as it turned out, my Cardinals contingent pales in comparison to the group of Arizona Diamondbacks I ended up with on my Tout roster this season. I currently have five Snakes. It wasn’t the plan – it just ended up that way and I have no complaints whatsoever. Despite the fact the real Diamondbacks are doing poorly in 2009, these five are all contributing to my fantasy squad.

Along with Qualls, I drafted catcher Miguel Montero. Though he was not the starter when the season began and will probably not be again when injured Chris Snyder returns, Montero has a very good bat and as such, is more effective than a mediocre starting catcher.

Third baseman Mark Reynolds takes a lot of gas for all his strikeouts, of which there have been many. His batting average is also nothing to write home about (.261), but the 24 home runs, 62 RBI and 15 stolen bases are superb.

Outfielder Justin Upton is a budding superstar. Though he started terribly this season, Upton is batting just under .300 with 16 home runs, 51 RBI and a dozen swipes.

Just last week, I added outfielder Gerardo Parra in a trade that also brought me San Diego closer Heath Bell. I knew Parra would receive at-bats the rest of the way, a key factor in a very deep league like this one, and offer a slightly above-average level of production.

Here was my dilemma Saturday night.

Wainwright was starting for the Cardinals with all four of my Arizona hitters facing him. Waino went seven strong innings and while he didn’t get the win, his peripherals were solid – 2.571 ERA, 1.143 WHIP and eight strikeouts.

Parra took an 0-for-4 collar while Upton had just one hit, but also swiped a base. Reynolds went 3-for-5, scoring each time and added a stolen base of his own.

The catcher Montero was clearly the Arizona offensive star of the game, going 4-for-5 with a double and a home run. He scored once and drove in two plus called an excellent game for former Cardinal Dan Haren, the winning pitcher.

As it turned out, Qualls also appeared, securing the final three outs for the save, his 17^th of the season.

Though the Cardinals took the loss in the game – the one that really counts – the contest provided a good fantasy take for my NL Tout Wars team. For this one night at least, fantasy trumped reality for me.

Our focus will be on fantasy baseball, specifically a trade that I engineered with MLB.com’s Director of Stats Cory Schwartz in National League Tout Wars, one of the industry’s most prestigious and challenging leagues. In an interesting and likely entertaining twist, Cory and I will review our respective thinking behind the trade together on-air.

Those devotees of XM Satellite Radio are likely already aware of the long-running Fantasy Focus show. For 2009, it has moved from XM to Blog Talk Radio. Listen live, Monday through Friday at Noon ET, or on demand.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RotoWire

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Focus. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction. Among the expert leagues in which we both compete is Tout Wars. Jeff in is the American League and I’m in the National.

Those devotees of XM Satellite Radio are likely already aware of the long-running Fantasy Focus show. For 2009, it has moved from XM to Blog Talk Radio. Listen live, Monday through Friday at Noon ET, or on demand.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RotoWire

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Focus. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction. Among the expert leagues in which we both compete is Tout Wars. Jeff in is the American League and I’m in the National.

Yet at least once per year, it makes sense to delve into it a bit when the two worlds meet. The National League Tout Wars draft was Sunday morning in New York and I again participated – facing off against 12 of the top writers in the fantasy world.

I will look at where the Cardinals players went in the draft and a bit of my thinking about them. There was also a 17-team mixed draft on Saturday afternoon/evening. I will include those prices without commentary, as that format is likely less-transferable to your local league. In addition, I was only watching that draft, not bidding!

Full AL, NL and mixed rosters are available at ToutWars.com.

A bit of background. Most of the participants know one another pretty well, including draft tendencies and favorite clubs. My Cardinals background is more team-focused than most, which leads newer league members to assume I will try to assemble a St. Louis-oriented roster.

That is not the case. With a 23-player draft plus four reserve picks from a 16-team NL pool, odds are that any given owner will have one or two players from a given club on his roster.

So it was for me and the Cards in recent seasons. In 2007, my second catcher was a $4 Yadier Molina and I wasted $13 on a then-still hopeful return to St. Louis for Adam Kennedy.

Starting last season, which became a disaster for me, I also had two Cardinals. This time, they were expected to be a more integral part of my team at $16 each. Rick Ankiel was fine prior to his injury and Jason Isringhausen, well, let’s just say that they weren’t the only two disappointments…

It was yet another reminder to not pay for last year’s stats.

That was certainly a lesson I took into 2009. I was searching for players with solid skills but would be undervalued because they have yet to break out or due to concerns over past injuries.

In a league like this where all the competition is knowledgeable, there aren’t going to be sleepers. Everyone pretty much knows the players well. So looking for this upside is where I decided to take my chances on draft day.

I also wanted to build a solid team from top to bottom, avoiding having to fight for the inevitable late-draft scraps with people having too much to spend on too few decent players. With the four reserve rounds, we are talking about 13 teams times 27 players per team, or 351 NL players taken.

With that long introduction out of the way, following are the prices of the Cardinals players drafted in 2009 Tout Wars. You’ll see three values. The first is the player’s price in NL Tout. Second is his value as calculated through our draft kit, free at creativesports.com, where I also write during the season. On the right is the winning bid from the Tout Wars 17-team mixed draft auction.

		NL bid	Value	Mixed
Catcher	Molina	9	7	8
First	Pujols	38	33	48
Second*	Schumaker	8	9	1
	Ryan	1	3	U
Short	Greene	16	11	5
	Barden	R	R	U
Third	Glaus	7	11	2
	Freese	1	R	1
Outfield	Ankiel	14	18	10
	Ludwick	23	22	18
	Duncan	7	7	1
	Rasmus	8	10	3
	Mather	2	7	U
Starters	Wainwright	16	12	11
	Carpenter	10	11	12
	Lohse	7	3	R
	Wellemeyer	4	R	1
	Pineiro	3	R	U
Relievers	Motte	11	9	12
	Perez	4	4	3
	Franklin	3	4	2
	Kinney	2	R	U
* coming
R=reserve
U=undrafted

Now, let’s discuss the Cardinals players.

Catcher: I like Yadier Molina, but knew he would go for more than what I had allocated as his batting average improvement last season caught peoples’ attention. I was right.

First base: Albert Pujols was actually a bargain by most valuation systems, though not mine. It was very early in the draft, but having it to do over, it might have been tempting to say “$39”. At that point, I was still saving my corner money, hoping to get Ryan Zimmerman of the Nats, but I got out of the bidding for him at $23.

Second base: Though only initially qualifying as an outfielder, Skip Schumaker will become second-base eligible after only five games, making an $8 bid more reasonable. I chose not to go there, however.

Shortstop: Readers of this blog know how excited I became after looking at Khalil Greene’s springs compared to regular seasons. I ended up in a bidding war with Phil Hertz of BaseballHQ, paying more for Greene than I planned. But after a one-year absence from my Tout roster, Greene is back!

Third base: Hertz took a late $1 flyer on David Freese. Darn. I had hoped Freese would slip into the reserve round, but obviously he did not. I selected Houston’s new third baseman Chris Johnson instead. Troy Glaus’ value was approximately cut in half ($7) for good reason. I had no interest in going that route amid concerns about a lag in his power returning.

Outfield: I honestly did not have room for Colby Rasmus, as outfield is where I loaded up on talent. I had both Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel targeted, but secured neither. I bid Ludwick up to $22, at my top value, and let Lenny Melnick/Paul Greco take him for $23. They also added a $7 Chris Duncan, which could be especially nice if he is traded and receives more playing time. I may have gotten out too quickly on Ankiel as he sold for $14.

Starting pitching: I wanted the dual aces of Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. I paid for the first, but bailed out on the latter when the amounts reached double-digits. My biggest regret from the draft is not staying in on Carp longer, but I was worried about money after going over budget on Greene and several non-Cardinals.

While not Carp’s replacement, a $3 Joel Pineiro could be an asset if he can keep throwing an effective sinker. I was fine taking that small chance. Todd Wellemeyer and Kyle Lohse also received credible bids, $4 and $7 respectively, but I didn’t want to go in that direction.

Relief pitching: There apparently was an undercurrent of interest in the room and on the live draft blog over what I would do with regard to the Cardinals’ closer situation. I would have loved Jason Motte, but it would have taken at least $12 to get him and probably more. I viewed that as fairly high risk. Instead, I grabbed Chris Perez for just $4. Over the course of the season, I believe I will get more value per dollar in return for him.

Ryan Franklin and Josh Kinney also received bids from others, just to make sure the waterfront is adequately covered!

If you’re keeping score, I actually doubled my level of past Cardinals participation by taking four in this draft – the ones bolded in the table above. Greene, Wainwright, Perez and Pineiro cost a total of $39 of my $260. Yet the year-over-year increment is only seven dollars – the amount gambled on the latter two pitchers. As noted, I also would have liked to acquire three or four other Cards, though.

When analyzing why, I think I do harbor more optimistic feelings about several of these St. Louis players than do many other pundits. I don’t know that it makes them “homer” picks, however. I prefer to think I just have a deeper knowledge about them.

After all, I also ended up with four members of the Washington Nationals and I can assure you that I certainly have no affinity to that team. The reality is that they had more of what I wanted – emerging and comeback candidates at decent prices.

For those playing fantasy, good luck in your drafts and may you have a successful 2009 season!

Those devotees of XM Satellite Radio are likely already aware of the long-running Fantasy Focus show. For 2009, it has moved from XM to Blog Talk Radio. Listen live, Monday through Friday at Noon ET, or on demand.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RotoWire

Jeff Erickson is the Senior Editor of RotoWire.com and host of Fantasy Focus. His show covers fantasy baseball from a wide variety of angles, talking with the major forces within the industry, and also offers listener interaction. Among the expert leagues in which we both compete is Tout Wars. Jeff in is the American League and I’m in the National.