2008 Quarterbacks Ranked By Yards per Game

Name	Team	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	Int	Sacks	YdsL
Drew Brees	NOR	413	635	65	5069	316.8	8	34	17	13	92
Kurt Warner	ARI	401	598	67.1	4583	286.4	7.7	30	14	26	182
Jay Cutler	DEN	384	616	62.3	4526	282.9	7.3	25	18	11	69
Matt Schaub	HOU	251	380	66.1	3043	276.6	8	15	10	23	149
Tony Romo	DAL	276	450	61.3	3448	265.2	7.7	26	14	20	123
Aaron Rodgers	GNB	341	536	63.6	4038	252.4	7.5	28	13	34	231
Philip Rivers	SDG	312	478	65.3	4009	250.6	8.4	34	11	25	151
Peyton Manning	IND	371	555	66.8	4002	250.1	7.2	27	12	14	86
Donovan McNabb	PHI	345	571	60.4	3916	244.8	6.9	23	11	23	149
Sage Rosenfels	HOU	116	174	66.7	1431	238.5	8.2	6	10	9	58
Matt Cassel	NWE	327	516	63.4	3693	230.8	7.2	21	11	47	219
Chad Pennington	MIA	321	476	67.4	3653	228.3	7.7	19	7	24	121
Shaun Hill	SFO	181	288	62.8	2046	227.3	7.1	13	8	23	148
David Garrard	JAC	335	535	62.6	3620	226.3	6.8	15	13	42	288
Jeff Garcia	TAM	244	376	64.9	2712	226	7.2	12	6	23	100
Brett Favre	NYJ	343	522	65.7	3472	217	6.7	22	22	30	213
Matt Ryan	ATL	265	434	61.1	3440	215	7.9	16	11	17	104
Brian Griese	TAM	110	184	59.8	1073	214.6	5.8	5	7	9	69
Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	281	469	59.9	3301	206.3	7	17	15	46	284
Jake Delhomme	CAR	246	414	59.4	3288	205.5	7.9	15	12	20	130
Jason Campbell	WAS	315	506	62.3	3245	202.8	6.4	13	6	38	266
Eli Manning	NYG	289	479	60.3	3238	202.4	6.8	21	10	27	174
Kyle Orton	CHI	272	465	58.5	2972	198.1	6.4	18	12	27	160
Gus Frerotte	MIN	178	301	59.1	2157	196.1	7.2	12	15	29	164
Trent Edwards	BUF	245	374	65.5	2699	192.8	7.2	11	10	23	143
Jon Kitna	DET	68	120	56.7	758	189.5	6.3	5	5	15	89
J.T. O'Sullivan	SFO	128	220	58.2	1678	186.4	7.6	8	11	32	197
Tyler Thigpen	KAN	230	420	54.8	2608	186.3	6.2	18	12	26	162
Joe Flacco	BAL	257	428	60	2971	185.7	6.9	14	12	32	276
Carson Palmer	CIN	75	129	58.1	731	182.8	5.7	3	4	11	67
Marc Bulger	STL	251	440	57	2720	181.3	6.2	11	13	38	263

Get Ready for Rookies, Rookies Everywhere

As more and more Major League Baseball teams reshape their team-building philosophies from "sign free agents and trade minor leaguers" to more development-centric methods, we will see a greater and greater number of rookies and young players making rosters out of spring training. Rookies will be given longer chances and more opportunities to contribute than we are used to seeing from most teams. Conversely we are going to start to see older veterans, who have begun to fade, shuffled out of the majors sooner than was once the case.

For fantasy owners this is both good and bad news. The good news is this will mean that there are lots of interesting new players available on an annual basis. Rather than filling out the ends of your rosters with the Shawn Dunston, Omar Vizquel, and Ken Griffey Jr types, you will find yourself drafting more Daniel Murphy, Justin Masterson, and Ben Zobrist types. These are players whose upside has often been higher than their initial roles might indicate. Insouciant owners who continue to waste their endgame picks on old guys will be far less effective.

The bad news is this means more work for fantasy owners. You will have to work hard to gain an edge. That geek in your league (it could be you) that reads every page of the Baseball America Prospect Handbook and the Baseball Prospectus will suddenly be more of a contender than he was before. Sure there are many websites that publish Top 100 lists but they won't help you much if you don't understand why a player is ranked the way he is. You need to immerse yourself into reading the work of writers like Kevin Goldstein of BaseballProspectus.com, John Sickels of MinorLeagueBall.com, Adam Foster and his extremely talented staff at ProjectProspect.com (a lot of their focus is on gathering and filtering information for people who play in deep fantasy baseball leagues, so they can help you quite a bit), or any of the talented guys like Jim Callis and John Manuel at Baseball America, the standard for tracking minor leagues and top prospects. If you just commit to reading the work of these writers you will be way ahead of the curve of the changes coming to baseball's player population.

This happens to be the start of that point in the season where you start to see rookies added to the major league roster of contending teams. The trade deadline has passed and the stretch run has begun. Every team wants their best hands on deck. Sure, you will see even more rookies added in September but they will be there to watch and learn on the contending teams. This is when you should be using low FAAB bids to acquire players, especially if you can reserve them or you are not really in contention for a title. They may be very useful next season.

Advanced Fantasy Football: Magazines

This is a little bit dated but I thought there might still be some interest in this here. This is a combination of some info that appeared on another short-lived blog of mine (it could come back but there has been no demand so far).

The RotoWire Fantasy Football Guide 2009 ships July 15th and should be everywhere by July 25th. It will include the following according to their website:

• Player Rankings & Profiles For More Than 250 Players!
• Comprehensive Cheatsheets & Projected Stats
• Will Carroll's Injury Analysis
• College Fantasy Football Preview
• Top rookies, sleepers, projected 2009 stats and more!

I obviously haven't seen this magazine yet, but RotoWire.com is one of the most reliable sites for Fantasy Football News on the internet. They have a great group of writers/experts who I'm certain will deliver quality product. Rotowire also offers a discount on their premium service to magazine buyers. You can check out the offer at the link above.

Fanball.com Three-Pack


I know a few of the writers at Fanball.com and can confidently state that the writing on this three-pack of Fantasy Football Magazines will be very good. The Fanball.com package consists of three fantasy football magazines:

• The Annual Guide - Often referred to as "the Bible of fantasy football," the full-color Annual Guide is in its 10th year of bringing readers the best analysis in a distinctive entertaining style. Chock-full of team reports, cheat sheets, sleepers, busts, profiles and projections for every relevant player, and much more, it is the ultimate draft-day reference. (Mid-June)
• Just Cheat Sheets - Tired of those run-of-the-mill fantasy football rags? Then this is the publication for you. Jam-packed with cheat sheets, mock drafts, auctions and specific player write-ups for almost every scoring format imaginable, Fantasy Football Just Cheat Sheets 2009 has everything you need to trounce the competition on draft day. (Early July)
• The Draft Issue - The fantasy football landscape is constantly changing with injuries, signings, trades and job battles, which is why the Draft Issue is a must-have resource. It contains the most up-to-date rankings and content on the newsstand, ensuring you enter your fantasy draft with all of the information you need to build a championship roster. (Early August)
  

The Fanball.com Combo is a great deal at $19.95 for all three issues. With the average Sports Magazine Annual approaching ten dollars a book any discount is going to be very welcome. I also like the fact that the release dates are spread out so that the later magazines will actually contain updated information that could be the primary difference between this magazine and many of the others.

Rotoman's 2009 Fantasy Football Guide

I consider the Rotoman's guide an Old School fantasy magazine because it features the work of so many experienced fantasy writers and experts such as the great staff of RotoRob.com and the Rotoman himself. They've made a few changes to the guide this year. They've finally arranged the capsules by position rather than alphabetically, a welcomed change for many frequent buyers.

The mag also features the KFFL Injury Guide, Strength of schedule, mock drafts, rookie reports, and the annual Overlooked/Over-Hyped blurbs throughout the magazine. This is good stuff and a magazine I'll pick up. It is available now.

Fantasy Football Index 2009

I love this magazine and the baseball version. One of my favorite features is the survey of fantasy experts. They are asked all sorts of questions from their favorite sleepers to players to avoid. They also offer a wide variety of cheat sheets and rankings. There is always a mock draft or two as well.

Fantasy Football Index magazine: $7.99
Fantasy Football Index includes 200 pages of player ratings, team analysis, stat projections, defensive player analysis, unique stat charts, sleeper picks, rule suggestions, offensive line analysis, and more -- plus passwords needed to access some web pages in the Toolbox area of the Fantasy Index website. The price includes shipping via USPS first-class mail, and there's no sale tax unless you live in Washington state. (mailed to subscribers July 1st - should be in stores Mid-July)

This is the one magazine I've actually subscribed to receive, because I want it that badly. I like most of you don't depend on magazines for analysis but like you I love having them for reading on the bus or in the bathroom.

The Roto Times Guide to Winning Fantasy Football ($6.99)

Roto Times has a collection of the best and most experienced fantasy football experts in the business. This guide is a must have if for no other reason than it includes Bob Lung's annual Quality Game Scores articles. This is one of the best performance predictors available.

Expert analysis from expert league winners, player profiles, mock drafts, player values, rookies to watch, team and position overviews and the best projections anywhere. Includes free update in late August. The Roto Times Guide to Winning Fantasy Football will be shipped the week of July 25.

The Street&Smith and Sporting News Fantasy Football annuals are now just one book. The cover image is from last year's annual because the only photo of this year's cover was ridiculously small. This magazine is supposedly already on the magazine stands although I have not seen it yet.

Fantasy Football 2009 $7.99
The Sporting News Fantasy Football annual proves why it is number one with features like exclusive player rankings and projections, NFL depth charts, a pull out cheat sheet and over 500 individual scouting reports. All of this plus “7 Must-Know items to win your league” and other draft day tips will be everything needed to help readers become number one of their fantasy football leagues.

Together Street & Smith and the Sporting News have a long history of solid publications. Although sometimes both magazines cater to the shallower leagues, it still contains lots of useful information and entertaining reading. The scouting reports are great for newbie owners who need to double check a player before drafting him. Plus you get three-year stats for just about every player. I usually buy it as one of the first releases of the season.

2009 Footballguys Strategy Guide Magazine - FREE

This is a fantastic resource for Fantasy Football participants at every level. It includes everything you need to dominate your drafts this season. It has taken me more than a week to finish reading it and I'm tempted to print it out and place it in a binder so I can keep it forever. It is that good.

Here's what the Football Guys have to say about their own product:

David and I have decided to produce our Footballguys 2009 Strategy Guide Magazine in a pdf that you can download online instead of printing the magazine and selling from the newsstand. The price to download this pdf online? NONE. NADA. ZIP. As in FREE. The magazine that we would have normally written in May, printed in June and put on the newsstand in July is now available to you on June 5th. For FREE. We figured if we were going to write the magazine in June, we might as well make it available to you as soon as we finished writing it. Pretty much like we do everything else. It's not conventional wisdom to give away a product we used to charge $8 bucks for. But we know things are tight out there. Call it our Footballguys Stimulus Package. You get the 2009 Footballguys Magazine for FREE. Then you take it from there. Check out the link in the headline. Let us know what you think. Share it with your friends if you really want to help us. But mostly, enjoy.

Trade Advice: Selling High and Going with Your Gut

Here is the content of a recent e-mail I received from a frequent reader:

Hey Jon,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I drove 16 hours to Chicago to catch the Cubs/Astros 4-gamer. That's not the full truth, though... I also delayed a response due to the shame I felt for going against your advice. I accepted the trade I mentioned in my last email. Don't worry - I paid for it. I was drinking $7 beer at Wrigley when Oswalt was helped off the field in the 2nd inning. It sounds like he's heading for the DL, too... yippee.

OK, so here's a quickie: Who would you rather own, Carlos Pena or Jason Bartlett? I'm pretty torn. Pena's batting average annoys me, but I feel like Bartlett is a good sell-high candidate. It seems inevitable that his power numbers decline... in fact, this seems to have already begun. Bartlett does, though, give you BA, Runs, & SB while providing decent HR & RBI numbers for his position.

Like I said, I'm torn. The reason I ask is I plan to trade 1 of the 2 for a closer. I've picked up Carlos Guillen to fill the void. This will probably change based on matchup. Well, thanks again for all the advice. Maybe this time I will listen. And, as always, if you're short on time, no worries. I've been keeping afloat for this long... just need to get healthy. Have a good one, Robert

Hey Robert,

No need to feel shame, I'm just offering second opinions here. I say all the time that you sometimes have to follow your gut in fantasy sports. You won't always be right but at least you won't feel the pangs of regret from not doing something that felt right to you.

I wish I could get away for a day to drive to other stadiums. I haven't been on a vacation in a long time, even of the one or two day variety. I'm in Cambridge, Massachusetts so it's Fenway Park or nothing most of the time.

In a vacuum I prefer players that hit for average and steal bases over low-average sluggers. So, I guess that puts me in the Bartlett camp. I actually like both guys to be productive if not stellar players over the balance of the season. Pena swings and misses a lot which leads to a lot of bad streaks where he offers very very little. Bartlett has some on-base skills. He takes a few walks and steals bases even when he isn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball.

A lot of owners misunderstand what the idea of selling high is about.. The purpose is to get maximum value for a player that is not likely to repeat his peak performance, which gives your team a steady production at a very high level. This does not necessarily mean that the player will become worthless at some point. Sometimes a good sell-high player is also a pretty good keeper. For example, Cliff Lee in 2008 was performing at a level that no one expected he could continue given his track record and skills. But if you owned Lee for a reasonable price he was worth keeping even if you expected a 20 percent decline.. Sure enough Lee was worth keeping for everyone that owned him in 2009. Though I expect there are more than a few AL-only guys banging their heads against a wall.

Good luck Robert.

Jon Williams
Advanced Fantasy Baseball

The Trades onTrade Deadline Day

I'm going to keep updating this post with the trades that have happened and that will happen throughout the day. With a brief (basically gut feelings before all the facts are in)analysis of the moves and the players involved. So please keep checking this space for the latest fantasy spins.

White Sox finally get Jake Peavy
Kenny Williams finally gets his ace, Jake Peavy for LHP Aaron Poreda, LHP Clayton Richards, RHP Adam Russell, and RHP Dexter Carter. There was a decent chance that Peavy would not pitch again this season if he remained a Padre but he is now headed to rehab and the White Sox think there is an outside chance he is ready to join them by mid-August. There was never anything wrong with his arm it was always an ankle injury keeping him out, so if the ankle if fine there should not be much to worry about. Peavy goes from the best park in baseball for pitchers to an American League hitter's park.

Peavy is an above average starter that looked like a dominate number one pitching in Petco Park. He shouldn't turn into a disaster in Chicago but do not expect him to be much more than a solid starter. The White Sox are not overly concerned with how Peavy performs this season and if he missed the rest of the season it would not overly concern them. Peavy is part of the plan for the 2010 White Sox rotation, this season is all gravy for them.

The Padres received an excellent collection of arms. Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richards should both join the major league rotation very soon. Pitching in Petco should be very good for their performances. Fantasy owners should swoop them up as soon as possible.

Marlins have acquired first baseman Nick Johnson
The Marlins at the very last minute agreed to the demands of the Washington Nationals and acquired first baseman Nick Johnson for the Nationals for Class AA left-hander Aaron Thompson and agreed to pay most of his salary. Johnson forces Jorge Cantu back to third base. Emilio Bonafacio and Chris Coghlan will share time in left field as a result. Though Johnson has a reputation as injury prone he has not been the disabled list this season and has been very productive, moving to Florida should not change that by any significant degree.

Aaron Thompson was a first round draft pick in 2005. He has a solid fastball, curve, and change-up but needs to work on being more consistent with his delivery. He could be a very solid mid-rotation starter for a good team or a high quality relief pitcher. He could be in the majors next season or even this season given the state of the National's bullpen.

Reds acquire Scott Rolen
The Reds acquired veteran third baseman Scott Rolen from the Toronto Blue Jays by sending them third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and RHPs Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart. Rolen returns to the USA in an area he considers very close to home. The Reds are looking for some veteran stability, leadership and production. The Reds also very clearly gave up on Edwin Encarnacion. The Blue Jays are obviously hoping that EE will rediscover the potential that has faded over the last two seasons. Injuries have certainly been a part of Encarnacion's downfall but he also needs to make serious progress in plate discipline.

Rockies acquire Joe Beimel
The Acquire LHP Joe Beimel from Nationals for RHP Ryan Mattheus and RHP Robinson Fabian, both minor leaguers. Mattheus has some potential as a reliever but still has some improvement to make with his control and stamina after he returns from Tommy John Surgery. Fabian is 23-years old and still in single-A. Beimel is a solid reliever but has no shot at the closer role in Colorado.

New York Yankees acquire Jerry Hairston
There were totally ridiculous rumors that the Yanks were sending top prospect Austin Jackson but they finally sent minor league catcher Chase Weems for INF/OF Jerry Hairston. Weems was a sixth round pick in the 2007 draft. He has a long way to go with the bat before he enters the fantasy league radar. Jerry Hairston is a solid replacement for the injured Brett Gardner. Hairston is a versatile player with speed and some plate skills. He can defend adequately at shortstop, second base or center field. He should get meaningful at-bats with the Yankees so he is worth a moderate FAAB bid.

Blue Jays get Sean Smith from Pirates

Braves Acquire Adam LaRoche
The Red Sox get back another first baseman in Casey Kotchman. The Red Sox just felt that Kotchman was better suited to waiting around on the bench for the blue moon he gets to play under. Adam LaRoche becomes a fulltime payer again in a much improved offense. He should draw a significant FAAB bid.

Red Sox acquire Victor Martinez
The Red Sox sent RHP Justin Masterson, LHP Nick Hagedone, and RHP Bryan Price to the Cleveland Indians for C/1B Victor Martinez. Victor Martinez gives the Red Sox the ability to rest both catcher Jason Varitek and third baseman Mike Lowell while also improving the lineup. Martinez should see a boost in productivity playing for the Red Sox who have a better lineup (even if it is slumping right now). For those in keeper leagues my gut feeling is that Martinez will spend 2010 splitting time between first base and catcher. Varitek will probably be back in 2010 but as a part-time player which would actually be very good for his production. Mike Lowell is likely to be somewhere else with Youkilis moving to third base. One of the plethora of first baseman in the Red Sox organization will take on the other portion of at-bats at first base.

The Indians get a nice collection of arms in exchange. I think this is by far the best trade the Tribe has made this season, even if I think trading Martinez was pretty stupid but if GM Mark Shapiro wants to rebuild, more power to him. Justin Masterson will jump right into the rotation and he should be a good one. He gets the strikeouts and groundballs that we like to see in starting pitchers. fangraphs compares him to Gil Meche and I think that fits. The other arms probably won't be seen in the majors this year but offer the potential to become mid-rotation guys.

Twins acquire Orlando Cabrera
According to Bob Nightengale the Twins are sending Twins get Orlando Cabrera for minor league shortstop Tyler Ladendorf. Landendorf was selected in the second round of the 2008 draft. He has very good power for a shortstop but has struggled with his plate discipline and making solid contact. But he has the tools to be a very good hitter. This is the Oakland Athletics buying low on a prospect.

http://joshsopinion.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-50-twins-prospects-2009-33-tyler.html

Orlando Cabrera has gotten old in a hurry but still has what it takes to help a contending team down the stretch. The Twins will use him everyday so there is no need for present owners to concern themselves much with his new situation. In fact his new team's home stadium should be less of a drain on his numbers than Oakland's.

Tigers Acquire Jarrod Washburn
The Mariners have traded starter Jarrod Washburn (who seems to have been a secondary target for many teams) for minor league pitchers Luke French and Mauricio Robles. Robles was the Tigers' #24 prospect in the 2009 Baseball America Prospect Handbook. Robles is very young with good to excellent stuff depending on which reports you believe. French is 24-years old and one of those very good control, mediocre strikeout, groundball type of pitcher that is often ignored by major league teams until they turn into Chien-Ming Wang.

Washburn is what he is. He leaves one of the better pitcher's parks in the American League and one of the better defensive teams for a closer to neutral park and a still solid defensive team. He should continue to produce for the Tigers.

The Dodgers acquire closer George Sherrill
In a move I did not think would happen the Orioles parted with closer George Sherrill for two minor leaguers: 3B Josh Bell and RHP Steve Johnson. Josh Bell was the Dodgers #8 prospect and was touted as having the best raw power in their system by Baseball America. He becomes the future at third base for the Orioles. Steve Johnson is the son of former big leaguer Dave Johnson and formerly the Dodgers #15 prospect. He has improving stuff and gets strikeouts in bunches. If he can improve his control he could have a solid future in the majors.

Sherrill gives the Dodgers an excellent left-handed reliever and insurance for Jonathan Broxton. The Dodgers bullpen has been pretty mangled by Joe Torre (that's what he does to relievers) and the fresh arm should prove to be a vitally important addition. He is worth a moderate FAAB bid in NL-only leagues as he will probably see the occasional save.

The Cubs acquire Starter Tom Gorzelanny and reliever John Grabow
The Pittsburgh Pirates are truly committed to trading everyone that will not have a part in their next playoff team. Although it seems that the Pirates have been rebuilding for years, the truth is they never made the commitment to trading to rebuild the team. It was always a salary dump here and a free agent dump there. The Pirates received prospects Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio, and Josh Harrison in return. As in most of the trades they have made of late they have preferred quantity to quality. But I am starting to see the method in their madness. By loading up their system with B and C prospects they give themselves multiple options at every position. They have an endless supply of potential relievers and mid-rotation guys. If the Pirates can draft a few A prospects and sign a top free-agent or two they will be well on their way back to the glory days.

General manager Neal Huntington says that Friday (today) he will call up outfielder Lastings Milledge and start a regular outfield of Garrett Jones, Andrew McCutchen and Milledge for the balance of the season. Don't be surprised if the Pirates give time at second base to Delwyn Young who has been a solid bat since coming to the Pirates.

Tom Gorzelanny has flashed his potential on a regular basis and the Cubs have added him to the 25-man roster. He should get innings but is obviously a risk for any fantasy owner in a chase for a championship. John Grabow on the other hand is an excellent reliever and should prove very valuable to the Cubs.

The Kansas City Royals acquired Josh Anderson
The Royals needed an outfielder about as badly as a team could need one. The Royals sent cash considerations to the Tigers for the speedy Josh Anderson. Anderson should get a lot more at-bats with the Royals and steal some bases. He is very much worth owning in AL-Leagues and anyone looking for steals should consider him.

Pittsburgh Pirates traded 2B Freddy Sanchez to San Francisco Giants

Seattle Mariners traded LF Wladimir Balentien to Cincinnati Reds for RHP Robert Manuel.

Seattle Mariners traded 1B Jeff Clement, SS Ronny Cedeno and RHP Nathan Adcock RHP Aaron Pribanic and RHP Brett Lorin to Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Ian Snell and SS Jack Wilson

Cleveland Indians traded Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to Philadelphia Phillies.

Cleveland Indians traded 1B Ryan Garko to San Francisco Giants.

Oakland Athletics traded LF Matt Holliday to St. Louis Cardinals.

Cleveland Indians traded RHP Rafael Betancourt to Colorado Rockies and Modesto Nuts traded RHP Connor Graham to Indians Organization.

Boston Red Sox traded Julio Lugo to St. Louis Cardinals.

Pittsburgh Pirates traded 1B Adam LaRoche to Boston Red Sox; Boston Red Sox traded SS Argenis Diaz to Pittsburgh Pirates and Greenville Drive traded RHP Hunter Strickland to West Virginia Power.

FanDuel - Fast Head-to-Head Fantasy Sports

Anyone who enjoys fantasy baseball or football should be interested in FanDuel.com, a relatively new site offering short-term fantasy games for cash prizes. I was allowed to try out the system before the official launch last week. I loved it. If you think you're good at fantasy baseball and you'd like to go up against me just sign up and challenge me. This should be a lot of fun.

1. What separates FanDuel from other online fantasy sports games?

FanDuel lets us play and win in a day instead of waiting the whole season. Players can draft a new team at any time, and pitch it head-to-head against an opponent – a friend, or another FanDuel player – for real money. The player whose team has the most fantasy points at the end of the day’s games wins the cash prize.

2. Do you believe that this is the direction the fantasy sports industry is going (short-term games) or is this meant to be different from traditional Fantasy Baseball the way Texas Hang 'Em is different than Five Card Stud?

I don’t really think short term and long term fantasy games compete with each other however I do think there is a huge unmet demand for short term fantasy games. I expect that most people who start playing short term games will continue to play their existing season long game. Most fantasy players we speak to like to play in several leagues and the opportunity to pick up and play something without the season long commitment is very appealing to them.

3. Right now you offer a free game as well as $5, $10, and $25 games. Do you plan to offer higher stakes games in the future?

Yes, definitely. We are slowly introducing higher entry fee games as users demand them.

4. The TechCrunch.com article emphasizes the social media aspects of the game. Is FanDuel meant to be a social media experience with gamers communicating with each other being almost as important as the game itself?

We think player to player communication will be very important. In our previous product, Hubdub (which is a news prediction game), the community and inter-player communication was very important so we introduced commenting, forums, shouts, challenges and other ways of communicating. However we are cautious about introducing too much functionality too quickly so we are going to work with the users to see what communication tools they think will be most fun before introducing them.

5. You offer Fantasy Baseball, and Fantasy Football is lauching soon. Do you see FanDuel breaking into other Fantasy Sports such as Basketball, Golf, and Nascar?

Absolutely. After fantasy baseball and fantasy football we think that basketball and hockey will be our priorities. After that we are going to really go with where we feel there is user demand.

6. Is there a mobile phone version of the game available?

FanDuel can already be played on the iPhone however it is still a bit fiddly on the small screen. We are planning to release a mobile optimized version of the site later this year.

7. I love that you can connect to Facebook and Twitter to send out challenges. Are there plans to add Facebook-like friend lists to the site?

We definitely want our users to be able to connect with their friends more easily which is why we are planning a much deeper integration with Facebook and Twitter. We also want people to be able to connect up and challenge other players on site more easily as well and are working on some features to allow that. What we are being careful to avoid is to ask users to build a whole new friends list on FanDuel.

8. Why should anyone reading this sign up at FanDuel?

FanDuel offers a great way to show your friends and others who knows they most about fantasy baseball and football. Plus you can put your knowledge to good use by winning cash on our daily games. Remember there is no season long commitment and we even throw in a free $10 sign-up bonus when you make your first deposit.

Check out our fantasy baseball here: www.fanduel.com/fantasybaseball

I want to thank Nigel from FanDuel.com for consenting to this interview.

Matt Holliday Traded to St. Louis Cardinals

The Oakland Athletics have decided to trade outfielder Matt Holliday to the St. Louis Cardinals for a collection of prospects including third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson, and right-hander Clayton Mortensen. These prospects are all worthy of attention in AL-only leagues but Brett Wallace is a prospect I expect to be a very special hitter. The Cardinals knew they had a potentially special hitter in Wallace but since they were extremely reluctant to play him at third base (and some other guy is at first base) it seemed pretty obvious they would eventually deal him.

Matt Holliday has been a much better hitter this month than for most of the first half, batting .344 with a .421 on-base percentage in July. His season totals are just a little worse than I expected out of Coors Field. He has batted .286 with 11 homers and 12 stolen bases in the first half. I expected closer to .300 with about 20-22 homers on the season with 20-25 stolen bases which would be about what he averaged on the road the last few seasons. Basically Holliday has been the same player but he is hitting more fly balls, mostly of the infield variety which has reduced his BABIP and this his batting average. This may be something that Holliday has corrected in his swing but it could also be just a fortunate streak. Either way Holliday is still a very good player that should be owned in fantasy leagues of all types and sizes. In NL-only leagues he is worth a significant FAAB bid.

Holliday will play every day in left field. The big loser in playing time will be Rick Ankiel who will probably steal a few at-bats from Colby Rasmus but will mostly be relegated to fourth outfielder status. Ryan Ludwick (who is blistering hot lately) will remain the every day outfielder in right field. The more interesting question is in the infield. The Cardinals recently acquired Julio Lugo who will almost certainly start against lefties at either shortstop or second base. They also just got Mark DeRosa back from the disabled list. DeRosa could play any of the infield position but is most likely to play third base until Troy Glaus comes back. Glaus could be back in a matter of days which would push DeRosa to second base and Skip Schumaker to the bench. It should be interesting to see how it all falls out.