July 31 is rapidly approaching. Buy or Sell lets each team know where they stand.The Cardinals are in an interesting position coming up to this deadline. They might be in contention, but they're not as good as the Cubs, Brewers, Phillies, and Mets, which is who they're likely contending for playoff spots between. Buying now might mean giving up a guy like Colby Rasmus, but selling means giving up hope in a season that they might not be out of contention yet.
The one place the Cardinals need the most hope is their bullpen. The pen's been rough all year and that was exploited on Saturday night by the Pirates, who came back from a 10-4 deficit in the eighth inning and an 11-10 deficit in the tenth against the Cardinals' shoddy pen. They're not going anywhere with the pen they have now. They could also use one more outfielder and maybe a shortstop to round things out.
So what do the Cards do? I've seen them linked to guys like Jason Bay and they'd certainly be interested in a reliever like Damaso Marte or Brian Fuentes or George Sherrill (or anyone with an arm attached to their shoulder), but at what cost? Isn't a core offense with Albert Pujols, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick, and Rasmus with a staff aced by Adam Wainwright a pretty good core to build from? I'd advocate selling here, but they don't have a whole lot to see with. Their best bet is probably to stand pat.
Obviously the fantasy season is past the halfway point, but you gotta work with me here. There aren't any games that count for the next few days, so it's the perfect time to formulate these teams. Unlike the actual All-Star game, there are different parameters for judging who makes the fantasy All-Star team. Value matters. For example, Hanley Ramirez is obviously the best fantasy player in baseball. He was a high first round pick in every draft, though, so he's not really exceeding expectations.
It's hard to imagine a better way to kick off the mad dash to baseball's trade deadline than with the Brewers and Cubs pulling trades for big-name pitchers within two days of each other. Of course, those moves raise a pretty big question: who's the favorite to win the division now? Let's break it down.
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Ever since I went out on a bit of a limb and predicted that 