Today's Fantasy Rx.

If you want to take another look at our criteria, please refer to Wednesday's article.

We continue our Spring Magazine reviews with:

Rotowire Fantasy Baseball Guide 2002

2/10 points for Presentation. Am I missing something here? They upped their price by a $1, matching TSN's Fantasy Guide, while not upgrading their paper at all. The only glossy pages are the front and back covers. While the player reviews are easy to read, most of the articles in the front are printed on a non-white or even recycled background, making them very difficult to read. A lot of the ink on the edges is also quite blurred, similar to writing meant to be read with 3-D glasses. The "closers in waiting" article begins with the AL on the left page and the NL on the right, and then they both continue on the similar respective pages on the next two pages, making for very difficult and unnecessary flipping.

9/10 points for Table of Contents and included content. Excellent TOC with article titles, authors, and even useful descriptions. Listing pictures and bios of the contributors is always neat. They list a good amount of dollar values, but I'll get back to these problems below. Most importantly, their player descriptions cover everyone they find relevant for 2002, and while I don't see a final count anywhere, its certainly more players than TSN. They list three years totals with each player, as well as some biographical data and position breakdowns. Their experts like John Hunt and Steve Moyer also provide occasional additional recommendations for each player, even if they often seem biased by their experiences with the player in previous seasons.

Finally, instead of a roundtable panel discussion like in last year's magazines, they provide page-long articles by most of the winners of last year's experts leagues on strategy. The magazine finishes with a Top 200 player list, which while including commentary on each player, also includes useless information like "Kerry Wood Got peeved when the pitching coach was fired".

1/10 points for describing the league for their main rankings. I probably should rate them an 8 or 9 considering the clearly list "25 team mixed league 4x4", but their dollar values are ridiculously bad: Paul LoDuca at $10, behind Toby Hall and Charles Johnson, both at $12? How about the $6 Jose Ortiz behind Terry Shumpert and Mark Grudzielanek.? Perhaps my favorite is the rating of both Aramis Ramirez and Tony Batista at $13.

They spend most of page 7 describing why they switched valuation systems and even discussing that this biases the rankings in favor of superstars and away from scrubs, but they never once discuss how they determine the rankings. These numbers are essentially useless to most leagues, and if you see anyone drafting out of this magazine this year, you should be able to easily toast them in that league.

28/50 points for specific player analysis, 5 points for each player as follows.
(As long as a magazine discusses part of each detail, we give them a full point.)

13/25 points for Position Players:

1. Jeremy Giambi, Outfielder, Oakland Athletics:
  1. Only now entering his peak years.
  2. Most of his averages have been trending upwards for the past few seasons.
  3. He's better at his age than his brother Jason.
  4. Injury questions: He's never had more than 2001's 371 AB in a season.
  5. Playing time question: The Athletics have several other quality 1B/LF/DH.

2/5 points for Giambi. Hits on #1 and #5, but they even argue that Jason was better at the same age because his counting numbers were higher.

2. Shawn Green, Outfielder, Los Angeles:
  1. He should stay above the 40/110 level regardless of a Sheffield trade.
  2. He's capable of a 45/35 season if given the opportunity.
  3. He just entered his peak power years.
  4. He almost never misses a game, so you can count on high counting number totals across the board.
  5. Los Angeles expects him to anchor their offense despite a career .353 OBP.

3/5 points for Green. Hits on #1, #3 and #4 more or less, but they don't see much upside nor recognize the problems in the LA lineup.

3. Todd Hundley, Catcher, Chicago Cubs:
  1. Expect 30+ HR if he can find 400+ AB.
  2. Don't expect him to find 400+ AB unless he starts off strong.
  3. He should reach at least 80 RBI hitting behind Sosa, McGriff, and Alou.
  4. Don't expect him to exceed a .260 BA.
  5. He's young enough to rebound into a typical catcher's late-career power spike.

3/5 points for Hundley. #1, #2, and #3 were touched upon, although there's no mention of his BA or a power spike.

4. Doug Mientkiewicz, First Baseman, Minnesota Twins:
  1. He's 27 and entering his third full season; expect a more impressive breakout than 2001.
  2. His RBIs will increase as Rivas and Guzman's OBPs increase.
  3. His runs will increase with probable improvements by Ortiz, Jones, and whomever earns the RF job.
  4. He'll be lucky to hit .300, but .290 is quite reasonable.
  5. With Tom Kelly gone, he's the unquestioned starter for the next couple of years.

3/5 points for Mientkiewicz. Solid hits on #2 and #5, and enough of #1 to make me happy.

5. Jose Ortiz, Second Baseman, Colorado Rockies:
  1. He's receiving his first uncontested full-time job going into Spring Training.
  2. His 2000 MLEs were outstanding, even for the Pacific Coast League.
  3. He's only turning 25 this year, so he's likely to post great 5x5 numbers in the future.
  4. Colorado wants to bat him 2nd, decreasing his RBI opportunities, but potentially increasing his runs scored ahead of Helton and Larry Walker.
  5. If he struggles, they might give Brent Butler a shot at the job.

2/5 points for Ortiz. Even in a mixed league, albeit with 25 teams, a $6 salary is unacceptable from any publication. I'll give them credit for #1 and #2 since I'm feeling generous.

15/25 points for Pitchers:

1. Paul Abbott, Starting Pitcher, Seattle Mariners:
  1. He had 17 wins because he received the most run support in the majors in 2001.
  2. He's allowed over 20 HR in each of the last two seasons in under 180 IP both years.
  3. Since he's already 34, he's now on the downside of his career.
  4. His K:BB has been quite bad at a combined 218:167 over the last two years.
  5. Seattle has a cadre of young pitching soon to replace him.

4/5 points for Abbott. Great hits on #1, #3, #4, and #5.

2. Matt Anderson, Closer, Detroit Tigers:
  1. Aside from one bad April outing, his ERA would have been well below 4.00.
  2. He pitched quite well as a full-time closer last year.
  3. There's little competition in the Tigers' bullpen.
  4. He doesn't appear to be an injury risk.
  5. The Tigers have a weak offense and weak starting pitching, decreasing his potential save opportunities.

4/5 points for Anderson. Dead on for #1, #2, #3, and I'm satisfied that no one called him any injury risk.

3. Curt Schilling, Starting Pitcher, Arizona Diamondbacks:
  1. He's unlikely to reach 20 wins again in 2002 because of a probable downturn in Arizona's offense.
  2. He led the league in HR, so his ERA could rise if his OOBP ever slips.
  3. He's 35, but appears to be aging nicely like his fellow ace and World Series MVP.
  4. While he's only broken 190 strikeouts three times in his career, he struck out over 290 batters in those other three years. Expect another season of close to 300.
  5. While he appears recovered from past injuries, he could hit the DL quickly, so monitor his pitch counts for overuse.

2/5 points for Schilling. Opposed #3, but hit on #1 and #5.

4. Jason Schmidt, Starting Pitcher, San Francisco Giants:
  1. He has $20+ potential when healthy.
  2. He appears to be both healthy and secure after signing a long-term deal with the Giants.
  3. He struck out almost a batter per inning last season.
  4. He's never finished the year with an ERA under 4.07, which he's reached twice.
  5. The Giants have a deep and talented bullpen, so he won't need to pitch deep into games.

1/5 points for Schmidt. They barely even discussed his stats and only listed him at $2. They hit #2, but mostly focused on unnecessary details.

5. Ugueth Urbina, Closer, Boston Red Sox:
  1. He appears fully recovered from his arm troubles.
  2. Posted a 2.25 ERA and a 32:3 K:BB after his trade to Boston.
  3. The Red Sox want Lowe to start, eliminating his primary competition.
  4. He'll be a free agent after this season, so the Red Sox are open to trading him under the right circumstances.
  5. He can dominate when healthy, and the Red Sox have a good team surrounding him.

4/5 points for Urbina. They covered enough of #1, #2, #3, and #5, but no mention of his future after 2002.

3/5 points for editing. Such obvious flubs as "Robb Nenn" aren't a real problem and I don't approve of some of the grammar in the player reviews. Overall, nothing was horrible in this department, but there were some problems.

5/10 points for the accompanying website. Rotowire has a great website. They employ several talented writers, specifically Steve Moyer, and we also find their frequent player updates as useful as any site other than Rotoworld.

However they recently went to a subscription service, and at least some of their content requires spending about five bucks a month. TSN offers even more content for free, so this is another negative for the book.

3/5 points for creativity and innovation. There's nothing particularly insightful for most of the book, but this is the cheapest way to learn Ron Shandler's LIMA plan, a vital strategy to consider in almost any league. Flip to page 155 to take notes.

Overall ranking: 51/100 points. This book passes just barely on the strength of generous points in the player reviews. If you need a great, portable source with brief descriptions on probably around two thousand players, you should buy this book. If you don't have time to read the LIMA plan in the bookstore, buy this book. However, if you're expecting another leap in quality like last year's over 1999, you'll be sorely disappointed. We don't regret buying it, but we see no reason to raise the price a full dollar since they didn't really improve their content from last year, and TSN stayed at their previous level.

I'll try to get through at least two magazines tomorrow, depending on time.

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Friday.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Aside from the two already reviewed(Rotowire above and TSN Fantasy Guide yesterday), here are the other Spring Baseball Magazines we've purchased:
The Sporting News Baseball 2002
Athlon Sports Baseball Edition 2002 Preview
Major League Baseball Yearbook 2002
2002 Spring Training
Fantasy Sports April 2002 Baseball Preview
Lindy's Fantasy Baseball 2002

We haven't yet seen the following in stores(all of which we bought last year):
Bill Mazeroski's 2002 Baseball Preview
Fanball.com 2002 Baseball Preview
Major League Baseball 2002: The Official Guide to the 2002 Season
Street & Smith's 2002 Baseball Preview

If we've missed something already published, or if you're aware of another magazine not yet in stores, please let us know.