With Mark Mulder out at least for the first three months of the season, the Cardinals are giving their former setup man, Brandon Looper (above) a shot in the rotation.

1. Nook Logan, OF, Washington: Here is a case of opportunity being everything. Logan fell out of favor with manager Jim Leyland in Detroit last season, perhaps because Leyland actually knows baseball. The Nationals brought in Logan late in the 2006 season, and they are already counting on him as their starting centerfielder after he returns from a groin injury in mid- to late April. A career .270/.319/.347 line makes this decision look like a joke in real-life decision making, but NL-only owners should still be able to reap the rewards of a player who has 33 steals in major league 545 at-bats. He is similar to former Nationals starting outfielder Endy Chavez.

2. Braden Looper, SP, St. Louis: With Mark Mulder out at least for the first three months of the season, the Cardinals are giving their former setup man a shot in the rotation. Looper has been effective enough as a reliever, but there are some concerning factors as he moves into the rotation. During the last two seasons Looper's groundball rate has declined greatly, which is especially worrisome for a pitcher whose strikeouts per nine innings rate is below five the last two seasons. The move to starting usually lowers velocity slightly in order to increase stamina, so Looper's strikeout rate should be expected to go even lower. This means that Looper should not be expected to post anything better than a league-average ERA if NL-only owners can stomach that type of performance.

3. Tony Pena Jr., SS, Kansas City: The Royals acquired Pena from Atlanta with the intention of making him their starting shortstop. Pena couldn't be any worse than Angel Berroa, could he? The son of the former Royals manager, Pena is pretty much all defense. The 26-year-old is a career .253 hitter in the minors with almost non-existent power and an unimpressive 59 percent success rate swiping bases. He will get ample opportunity on the lowly Royals, but AL-only owners should consider themselves lucky if he actually earns $1.

Honorable Mention:

Matt Chico, SP, Washington: The main player acquired for Livan Hernandez trade last season, Chico has won Washington's fourth rotation spot. He has a good arm and has been successful in the minors, but Chico also lacks any Triple-A experience and has had trouble in his debuts at a new minor-league level. Non-keeper NL-only owners are probably better off taking a wait-and-see approach.

Remember, reactive approaches can only get you so far. Proactive approaches are what will make you a legend. "It don't mean a thing if you don't win that bling."