Value Guy's, Who Aren't Top Tier

C- Russell Martin, Geovany Soto, Kurt Suzuki, Buster Posey, Jeff Clement

1B- Pablo Sandoval, Joey Votto, Mark Reynolds, Kendry Morales, Billy Butler, Chris Davis

2B- Jose Lopez, Ian Stewart, Rickie Weeks, Casey McGehee

3B- Mark Reynolds, Brandon Wood, Gordon Beckham

SS- Elvis Andrus, Stephen Drew, Alcides Escobar, Alexei Ramirez, J.J. Hardy, Everth Cabrera

OF- Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, Hunter Pence, Jay Bruce, Julio Borbon, Jason Heyward, Corey Hart, Kyle Blanks, Cameron Maybin

SP- Ricky Nolasco, Clayton Kershaw, A.J. Burnett, Scott Kazmir, Jonathan Sanchez, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ben Sheets, Johnny Cueto, Fransisco Liriano, Ervin Santana, Homer Bailey, Manny Parra, Arlodis Chapman

RP- Brian Wilson, Billy Wagner, Octavio Dotel, Rafael Soriano, Frank Francisco, Carlos Marmol, Leo Nunez, Mike Gonzalez, Brad Lidge

Digging Deep - Luke Gregerson of the San Diego Padres

If you are looking for a sleeper for some saves your guy just may be Luke Gregerson. 2009 was Gregerson's rookie campaign and it was very successful. In 75 innings pitched the soon to be 26 year old had 93 strikeouts, a 3.24 ERA, and a 1.24 WHIP. Heath Bell is currently San Diego's closer and their have been rumor's of Bell being traded since last season. I personally feel Gregerson would be next in line for save opportunities if the second year closer either struggles or gets traded before the trade deadline. Mike Adams also could be in line for saves, but Gregerson's strikeout ratio tells me that he has the stuff to be a closer, and is younger than Adams, meaning Gregerson could be the closer of the future for the youthful Padres. Take a late round flier on Gregerson during draft day and stash him on you bench; start Gregerson if your league awards points for holds.

NL-Only Fantasy Baseball

I have been in an NL-Only fantasy baseball league for around 5 years now. It is a pretty complex league. It is a keeper league where you have $26.00 to spend on 23 players. Typically auction leagues use a $260 cap space, but our league just uses $26. We have a standard auction draft where players contracts are labeled as 2plus, which means you can keep the player for 2 years at his current price, and if you want you can add $0.50 during the players third year. We also have a second draft which is called the "topper auction", during this auction an owner can enter players who either are ending their second year of their two year contract or were picked up on the waiver wire the previous year. In this auction you can sign a player for up to 5 years, but their is a catch. Players on long term topper contracts can only be in your reserves if they are in the minor leagues. If you decide to drop a player under a long term contract you have to buy his contract out. Our buyout rules are the salary x2 x(# of years remaining on contract). So if I had Albert Pujols for $5 on a three year contract his buyout would be $30 (5x2= 10x3= $30). This buyout money is paid out of the owners pocket and is put into a pot, which is divided accordingly between the 1st place through 4th place teams. You also can select minor league players and keep them as long as you want as long as you don't have them on your active roster. Once a minor leaguer is activated his contract automatically is $1 for 2plus years. Your minor league's also acts as your team's bench. We currently just had our topper auction and are allowed to protect up to 15 players from last years team. I will be doing weekly updates on all of Fantasy Baseball, not just the National League this year, including sleepers, waiver wire gems, and I am open to answering any questions a reader has, just comment on the column and I will answer your question. I decided to spend as little money as possible this year with my middle infield, considering it is a very weak position in terms of fantasy. I also am a heavy preacher on putting most of your money into offense. On the pitching side of things I am usually hesitant on spending big bucks on a player, and spend heavy into setup men who could potentially be closers. This worked out very well for me last year as I picked up Leo Nunez who ended the 2009 campaign with a nice amount of saves. During the topper auction this year I just couldn't resist taking George Sherrill for $0.20, he is behind Broxton in terms of getting saves but the thing that pops out at me is he is a left handed throwing set up man. In crucial games don't be surprised if manager Joe Torre brings in Sherrill against tough left handed hitters in the ninth. It is unlikely Sherrill will get a lot of saves but considering the fact pitchers have a fairly high injury rate, I like my twenty cent gamble on the left hander. Enough with the talking, here is what my NL-Only team looks like heading into Saturday's standard auction:

C	Miguel Montero	$1.00	1+	ARI
C
1B	Albert Pujols	$4.80	1	STL
2B	Ronnie Belliard	$0.10	LT4	LAD
3B	Mark Reynolds	$1.30	LT3	ARI
SS	Julio Lugo	$0.10	LT5	STL
CI	Prince Fielder	$4.90	1+	MIL
MI	Matt Antonelli	$0.10	LT5	SD
OF	Matt Kemp	$1.20	LT2	LAD
OF
OF
OF
OF
U
	8	$13.50	----
SP	Jonathan Sanchez	$0.20	LT2	SF
SP	Barry Zito	$0.20	1+	SF
SP	Randy Wolf	$0.50	LT2	MIL
RP	George Sherrill	$0.20	LT5	LAD
RP	Leo Nunez	$0.60	1+	FLA
RP
P
P
P
	5	$1.70	----
M	Blake Dewitt	LAD
M	Jason Heyward	ATL
M	Chris Marrero	WAS
M
M
M
M
M
M
M

Week 5 Top 10 Quarterbacks

1. Peyton Manning IND @ Titans (giving up 282.2 YPG/Air) The best QB in the league against the worst defense against the pass means a huge day for Manning and his fantasy owners.

2. Ben Roethlisberger PIT @ Lions (giving up 240.2 YPG/Air)  Expect big things out of Big Ben this weeks against one of the worst teams in the NFL.

3. Matt Schaub HOU @ Cardinals (giving up 280.3 YPG/Air)  Anytime you have Andre Johnson as your main target and your facing a defense that hasn't shown any signs of stopping the pass you know your in for a big week.

4. Joe Flacco BAL vs. Bengals (giving up 242.2 YPG/Air)  Flacco has been very solid all year and is facing the Bengals who have had a tough time of shutting down the opposing QB, think big.

5. Donovan McNabb vs. Buccaneers (giving up 221.8 YPG/Air)  Yes McNabb is coming off of an injury but he is also playing the Buccaneers, DeSean Jackson should have a big day.

6. Tom Brady @ Broncos (giving up 162.5 YPG/Air)  Okay the Broncos do have the third rated pass defense in the league, but Brady might have too many weapons.  Welker is now healthy, and Moss can beat just about any corner in the league on any given day.  Brady might be the QB to hand the Broncos their first loss.

7. Brett Favre MIN vs. Rams (giving up 224.5 YPG/Air)  Favre hadn't really impressed fantasy owners until his Monday night performance against the Packers.  He has three very good WR's with Berrian, Rice, and Harvin.  He also has the ShawShiancoe Redemption as a sure handed tight end.  We see Favre having a very nice day against the lowly Rams. 5-0? YES!

8. Tony Romo DAL @ Chiefs (giving up 250.5 YPG/Air)  Romo should have a very nice day in Kansas City.  He has shown signs of the Romo of old this season, and KC is a team he should explode offensively against.  Roy Williams is a very solid start at wide-out as well.

9. Matt Ryan @ 49ers (giving up 210.2 YPG/Air)  If Roddy White can't get things going while facing Nate Clements, we know Tony Gonzalez will step up his game.  Gonzalez creates a mismatch against nearly every linebacker in the league, and we don't see things changing this week.

10. Kurt Warner vs. Texans (giving up 203.8 YPG/Air)  Before last weeks bye, Warner had a brutal showing on national television, but anytime you have Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston as targets, you have the potential to break out at any moment.  We see Warner exploding this week. 

Other notable QB matchups- Eli Manning vs. Raiders, Carson Palmer @ Ravens, and Matt Cassel vs. Cowboys

Byes: Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, & Philip Rivers

Trade Steve Smith?

Through three games, Steve Smith has 15 receptions for 190 yards and the key piece 0, zip, no touchdowns. He is on an 0-3 Panthers team who can’t seem to get the running game back to last years form, and Delhomme hasn’t made good decisions. Until the running game gets back to form, or Mushin Muhammed or Dwayne Jarrett (tore college apart) learn how to get open and make plays.  Look for Steve Smith’s numbers to stay down, because teams will continue to double team him and force Delhomme (ranked 32^nd among active QB’s stat wise), to make plays.  This season Delhomme hasn’t been able to make plays. We would hang on to Smith to see how he does week five (they have a bye this week), if things in Carolina don’t seem like they are improving try trading him for as much talent as possible.  It is hard to do good being double covered, especially when it is every play of the game.  If no progress is made during week 5 trade him before other owners realize how much he is struggling this season.

 

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J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.

The New York Jets are off to a great start this season.  A lot of things have changed since last season.  Defensive guru Rex Ryan is in his first season as head coach in the NFL. After losing future hall of famer Brett Favre in the offseason, the Jets took Mark Sanchez out of USC in the first round.  Sanchez has made big plays at times and has thrown for 606 yards and 4 touchdowns through 3 games.  Not outstanding stats, but Sanchez has done a great job of managing the game for the Jets who are now 3-0. Coach Ryan (defensive coordinator at Baltimore last year) watched Joe Flacco go through ups and downs last season.  It seemed like from day one, the Jets were going to start Sanchez, even though there was a so-called position battle at QB.  Sanchez doesn’t need to go out and be Peyton Manning in order for the Jets to win ball games.  The Jets have been tremendous on the defensive side of the ball this season. Rex Ryan has brought a flair into the Jets locker room, something that seemed to me missing last season.

 

The D is allowing only 11.0 points per game (2^nd best in league), 256.0 yards of total offense per game (3^rd best in league) and only 82.7 yards a game (9^th best in league).  They have brought heat to the quarterback this season. Using a variety of blitzing schemes against the Texans, Patriots, and Titans has been very successful thus far. The defense has been led by impressive play from the gritty LB Bart Scott and shut down CB Darrelle Revis. The Jets seem to have regained popularity in New York and Mark Sanchez is looking like could be the next coming of Joe Namath. At some point this season, the Jets are going to rely on Sanchez making big plays in order for the team to win.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of this season goes.  Last year the Jets started the season strong, going 8-3 in the first eleven games.  They ended up missing the playoffs going 1-4 in their last five games. Rex Ryan has talked smack all season, and the Jets have been backing it up.  We see the Jets making the playoffs, and being a team capable of making it to the Super Bowl, as long as the team doesn’t lose their spark once they lose a game.

 

As far as a fantasy perspective we like the Defense but this weekend they have a very explosive opposing offense.  The Jets have showed they can shut down top offenses this season so, start them at your own risk against the Saints this weekend.  Drew Brees looks like he is out there playing a video game, throwing for ridiculous stats nearly every game.   We also like Thomas Jones even after the rough day he had on Sunday. The Saints are only allowing 67 yards rushing a game, which is 5^th best in the NFL.  Play Jones this week at your own risk.  Someone has to take pressure off of Sanchez, so he will get plenty of chances to make plays.  The game is in The Big easy so the Jets need to bring their A game in order to come out with W.  Our prediction, Jets win by three.

 

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Cedric Benson, a Beast this weekend?

Cedric Benson is starting develop into the player that the Chicago Bears thought they were getting after selecting him with the 4^th overall pick in the 2005 draft.  After having a very disappointing career in the windy city, Cedric Benson is starting to blossom with the Cincinnati Bengals.  Benson is a must-start in all fantasy formats this weekend.  The Browns have looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL this season.  Are the Browns the 09-10 version of last years Lions?  We won’t start making bold predictions about the Browns going 0-16, but you get the point, they are awful. The Browns are allowing 184.3 yards a game rushing, which is ranked 30th in the league. Benson has rushed for 293 yards this season, which is good for 97.7 yards per game.  He will get plenty of touches this week, and could be a top fantasy performer, if you are lucky enough to have him, start him.

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