US PresswireTampa Bay Lightning veteran center Domonic Moore has to feel pretty bad. He's only managed to put two pucks into the net this season, but he did hit another target Thursday that could have a much bigger effect on the Lightning's season: the face of Martin St. Louis, who has nine goals and 13 assists this season.

St. Louis is now out indefinitely "because of facial and nasal fractures sustained Thursday morning when he was struck in the face by a shot taken in practice" by Moore, TSN reports. He was "bleeding profusely" when he left the Madison Square Garden ice in the morning and left the arena in an ambulance, TSN reports.

Before Thursday night's game against the New York Rangers, a rare win for the Lightning, St. Louis had appeared in 499 straight contests, the site notes.

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US PresswireNow that they are out of the running for Tyson Chandler, the Golden State Warriors have moved on to Plan B: Los Angeles Clippers restricted free-agent center DeAndre Jordan.

The Warriors plan to offer Jordan a contract on Friday, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears.

A source tells the site that the Warriors are "prepared to begin Jordan's contract at $10 million next season." As it is, Jordan has a five-year, $40 million offer on the table from the Clips, who would have three days to match any offer made to Jordan.

The 6-11 Jordan averaged 7.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game last year.

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Last year veteran point guard Chauncey Billups had to leave his hometown of Denver, where he had expected to retire, when he and Carmelo Anthony were traded to the New York Knicks from the Denver Nuggets. The 35-year-old was expecting to make $14.2 million this season and perhaps help the Knicks become a powerhouse since fellow stars Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire would have more time to jell.

The word from Yahoo! Sports'  Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears is that Billups will be put on amnesty waivers in order to make room for the four-year, $58 million contract it is close to finalizing with center Tyson Chandler, who helped the Dallas Mavericks win a championship last season. While Dallas would like to keep him, Yahoo! Sports points out that the Mavs are saving their cash for next summer for when Deron Williams and Dwight Howard are scheduled to become free agents.

Billups is not happy. "He's irate under the circumstances," his agent, Andy Miller, said, according to Yahoo! "He

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The St. Louis Cardinals seemed to be in the driver's seat on the Albert Pujols Sweepstakes when the Miami Marlins suddenly dropped out Wednesday, but then the Los Angeles Angels and another "mystery team" made competitive offers to the slugger.

According to USA Today, the offer to Pujols from the Angels is for 10 years and "at least $210 million."

Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown reports that the Marlins are "expected to make a run at Prince Fielder" now that the team has given up on getting Pujols to join the wave of free agents moving to South Florida.

The Chicago Cubs have also been in contact with the agent for Pujols, Dan Lozano, "but industry speculation was they were simply hoping to drive up the price for their NL Central rivals," Brown reports.

UPDATE: The Angels ended up winning in the Pujols Sweepstakes, signing him to a 10-year, $250 million-plus offer.

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US PresswireNow that Mark Buehrle is off the market and C.J. Wilson appears to be close to a new deal (UDATE: He signed with Angels), there isn't a ton of top-level talent on the free-agent market in the starting-pitching department.

Enter Japan's Yu Darvish. Fox Sports has it that the righty will be posted Thursday and the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays are expected to place bids.

''I have decided to use the posting system,'' Darvish wrote on his blog Thursday, according to Fox. ''I wanted to tell my fans directly, so that is why I am posting this on my blog.''

When Darvish gets posted, teams have four days to get sealed bids to his current team, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Fox notes. The winner gets a 30-day window to negotiate a deal with the 25-year-old Darvish, who went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA last season while striking out 276 in 232 innings.

"Darvish's posting fee could exceed the Boston Red Sox's winning $51 million bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Darvish's

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The Texas Rangers were unable to re-sign C.J. Wilson this offseason so it looks like the team might be turning to the trade market to plug the hole in the rotation.

ESPN Chicago reports that the Rangers and Chicago Cubs have had "numerous conversations the past two days" about what it would take to send Matt Garza from Chicago to the Lone Star State.

"Chicago remains hesitant to move the pitcher that most consider to be the team's ace," the site notes. Garza, of course, has only been with Chicago for one season, coming over in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays last offseason.

The 28-year-old Garza went 10-10 with a 3.32 ERA last season for the Cubs, who are "seeking top-tier prospects from Texas" in the deal, a source tells the site. Since debuting with the Minnesota Twins in 2006, Garza has gone 52-54 with a 3.83 ERA and 769 strikeouts.

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beltran, carlosWhen the San Francisco Giants traded for Carlos Beltran this summer, the hope was that he would provide an offensive boost that would help bring the team its second straight World Series title. While he batted .323 for the Giants, he also spent time on the disabled list and the team didn't even make it into the postseason.

MLB.com reports that the Giants tried to re-sign Beltran, but he wanted too much. So the team traded for the man who replaced Beltran when he was injured while on the New York Mets: Angel Pagan. Giants GM Brian Sabean said that talks with Beltran "never progressed past the preliminary stage," MLB.com reports. That is likely because the 34-year-old outfielder "was believed to be seeking an eight-figure annual salary on a multiyear deal," the site notes.

MLB Network reports that the market for the six-time All-Star "appears very thin."

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US PresswireThe Minnesota Vikings have only managed to win two games so far this season. It hasn't helped that the team has been without running back Adrian Peterson for the last two games due to a high ankle sprain.

Peterson is saying that he is at 70 percent and would like to be in the lineup when the team takes on the 7-5 Detroit Lions, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"God willing, I'll be out there [Sunday]," he said Wednesday at a special event at the Mall of America, according to the paper. "I'm like 70 percent."

Retired NFL running back Chuck Foreman, who was at the event with Peterson, suggested that Peterson hold off. "I know you want to play," Foreman said, the paper reports. "But don't you think you should wait until you're 100 percent? ... As much as I want to see you play and I love watching you play, I don't want to see you back until you're 100 percent. That's me. Because I think you've got a lot ahead of you and there's no need."

Before his injury, Peterson had rushed