Today's Fantasy Rx

I'll try to break them down team by team with a more in-depth review than is normally present in the annual Baseball Weekly Fantasy issue. Please refer to the LABR National League rosters here.

To make this a little easier for those of you following along on the site, I'll continue reviewing the teams in the order that the website lists them.

Owner: Jeff Erickson
Site: Rotowire.com
$ Left: $0.
Split: $190H/$70P = 73/27.
Reserve roster: Brady Clark, Gary Matthews, Bobby J. Jones, Garrett Stephenson, Jose Acevedo, and Ben Broussard.
Audio Review Summary from website: Decent hitters but OF dwindles quickly. They wanted to focus on relatively scarce positions this year like catcher, SS, and even 1B. They might be short in speed as they lost a bunch of bidding wars.

Nice pick: Brian Tollberg@$7; he has the ability to earn three times this much, and he's a quality anchor for any pitching staff.
Top sleeper: Jose Acevedo; does this selection really surprise anyone?
Potential bust: Jack Cust@$5; he might wind up spending the entire year in the minors again.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Ben Broussard.
Early bad luck: Orlando Cabrera($21)'s bulging disc.
Category to trade: Power.

They did an excellent job with the reserve list as everyone except Broussard could make significant contributions this year, especially Clark and Acevedo. While all their outfielders are somewhat risky, they also assembled a significant amount of offensive depth on the infield. They're also nicely positioned in saves, ERA, and WHIP, so if they deal someone like Burnitz for a quality starter, they'll be in the mix to the end.

Summary: I definitely think they can finish in the first division, and quite possibly high in the money.

Owner: Eric Karabell
Site: ESPN.com
$ Left: $0.
Split: $H187/$73P = 72/28.
Reserve roster: Josh Fogg, Valerio de los Santos, Julian Tavarez, Mike Fetters, Ryan Vogelsong, and Ross Gload.
Audio Review Summary from website: He wanted a monster hitter and will be pleased if Sosa($40) contributes 60HR/0SB. He's counting on Kip Wells($3) and Elmer Dessens($4) for 10 wins each, and Beckett($14) and Person($11) for 13 wins each; he expect another 10 wins between his potential Phillies' #5 starters(Coggin($1), Figueroa($1), and Padilla($3). He's happy with his two-headed bullpen($21 Mesa and $13 Mike Williams), and after overspending in 2001, he toned down his strategy this year.

Nice pick: Sosa; I agree with Karabell that he definitely paid for quality here.
Top sleeper: Damian Jackson@$5 could earn $15+ plus if he starts.
Potential bust: Jimmy Rollins@$29; he'll steal a few dozen bases, but I'm not certain he'll contribute in any other category.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Ryan Vogelsong(out for the season) and Ross Gload.
Early bad luck: Marlon Byrd($4) wasn't given a real shot to win the Phillies' CF job.
Category to trade: Wins and potentially stolen bases.

He has a nice foundation but he's depending a lot on some young starters. I think he looks very vulnerable in BA, and it will be difficult for almost any of his players to exceed their prices by much. If Beckett stays healthy and dominates, he'll have a great piece of trade bait.

Summary: He'll need some luck to secure a first division finish.

Owner: Tristan Cockcroft
Site: CBS Sportsline.com
$ Left: $6.
Split: $148H/$106P = 58/42.
Reserve roster: Tike Redman, Blaine Neal, Junior Spivey, Zach Day, Chin-Feng Chen, and Aaron Heilman.
Audio Review Summary from website: Most players didn't go too high early so there were fewer bargains later. He wanted Vazquez($21) and didn't really plan for Schilling($28), although he thinks both went cheap. Steals were expensive, so he'll need to trade for SB and saves, and he has an extra catcher to deal(Lopez($16), Petrick($7), and Lieberthal($12).

Nice pick Shawn Green@$32; he snagged a solid 4-category player at a fairly reasonable price.
Top sleeper: Brad Wilkerson@$1; he's fully capable of a $15 season if he beats out Canseco for a full-time job.
Potential bust: Jose Jimenez@$14; I'd be surprised if he comes within $5 of this price and he could easily earn $0 or worse.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Tike Redman, Blaine Neal, Chin-Feng Chen, and Aaron Heilman.
Early bad luck: Jason Schmidt($9)'s groin injury doesn't appear to be going away.
Category to trade: Ace starters, with Schilling, Vazquez, Lieber($15), and potentially Schmidt.

He appears to have ERA, WHIP, and probably wins locked up, although his reserve roster is rather dreadful; I'd be surprised if he finds $5 of value from it all season long. However he also might have drafted 70 saves between Jimenez, Chad Fox($12), Mike Trombley($1), Graeme Lloyd($1), and even maybe Blaine Neal. He looks set in BA but shallow in speed and power. Besides FAABing a new reserve roster, he should look to deal one of his studs for some serious OF help.

Summary: He drafted an interesting team, and while he'll have to deal and FAAB like crazy, I think he could finish in the money.

Owner: David Vandersand & Kevin Davidson
Site: Regular Guys
$ Left: $0.
Split: $197H/$63P = 76/24.
Reserve roster: Mike Mathews, George Lombard, Mike Matheny, Ricky Ledee, Wilton Guerrero, and Rod Beck.
Audio Review Summary from website: Pretty much "blew off" power entirely, and after spending for speed, they didn't have much left. While they got SB cheap, they're not happy with spending $18 on Kevin Millar. If given another chance, they would have spent less on speed, although now they'll look to trade someone like Pierre($34) for power.

Nice pick: Juan Pierre@$34; they should keep him and look instead to deal Glanville($12) and Vina($13) to boost their power without hurting BA too badly.
Top sleeper: Dennis Tankersley@$1; he should be up by the second half and could easily earn $10 in only half a year.
Potential bust: While I could take the easy route with Rick Ankiel($7), if Vlad isn't running this year, he'll have a hard time earning $39.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): J.R. House($1), Jake Peavy($1), Rod Beck(out for the year after arm surgery).
Early bad luck: Fernando Tatis's($9) chronic injury problems remain chronic.
Category to trade: Obviously speed.

They have very few players likely to exceed their drafted price, the only guy on their reserve roster with any significant 2002 roto potential is Ricky Ledee, and Mike Matheny is just a horrible pick under any circumstances, and especially in a 4x4 experts' league. With House returning to the minors for the year, they'll likely need to use him; this might not bode well for their BA.

Summary: Unless they make some fantastic trades to gain roster depth at the expense of their superstars, I don't see them cracking the first division.

Owner: Steve Moyer
Site: Baseball Outsider on Rotowire
$ Left: $0.
Split: $205H/$55P = 79/21.
Reserve roster: Carlos Hernandez, Brian Bohanon, Andy Benes, Damian Moss, Kevin Olsen, and Abraham Nunez.
Audio Review Summary from website: He knew Ron would LIMA and therefore kept tossing out players rated either "A" or "B+" for LIMA plans all night long. Steve feels "real good" about his roster and doesn't understand how anyone can't feel good about their team after the draft; something must have gone really badly for those people. He "feels good" about his team, although he recognizes that there's a lot of luck in one-year leagues.

Nice pick: Ken Griffey, Jr.@$29; of all his studs, Griffey is the most likely to earn $10 over his value.
Top sleeper: Carlos Hernandez; if he wins the 5th starter's job, he could also post a value in the high teens.
Potential bust: Curtis Leskanic@$8; as long as Fox stays healthy, I don't expect Leskanic to see many save opps.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Abraham Nunez.
Early bad luck: He was aware that Kent($25) was injured, so Donovan Osborne's($1) demotion to the bullpen qualifies.
Category to trade: $20+ offensive studs; he has eight of them and could easily deal two for additional depth.

Moyer is the leading proponent of the "stars and scrubs" strategy as he believes that most unestablished players are a complete crapshoot. All low $ players are eminently replaceable, so if one guy doesn't work, drop him and try someone else. The key to this strategy is the willingness to freely replace $5 or less players on a week-by-week basis. As all but 10 players on his roster fall into this category, Steve should be glad LABR doesn't charge transaction fees.

Summary: While I think he can practically sweep the offensive categories and make a nice showing in saves, the downside to "scrubs pitching" is that you risk awful outings on a regular basis, leaving him vulnerable in ERA, WHIP, and wins. I don't like betting against Steve, but I'd be surprised if he finished Top 3.

Owner: John Hunt
Site: Baseball Weekly
$ Left: $4.
Split: $162H/$94P = 63/37.
Reserve roster: Brett Myers, Ty Howington, Brad Lidge, Chad Hermansen, Luis Pineda, and Joe Nathan.
Audio Review Summary from website: He almost exercised too much patience by waiting too long. He overpayed a little for Uribe($19) and Reggie Sanders($18), but grabbed bargain closers, netting Strickland($15) and Graves($17) for a total of only $32. As pitching was undervalued and closers very cheap, he was still pleased to pick up Astacio($9) with his closers.

Nice pick Kevin Brown@$24; even more than Larry Walker($29), Brown could dramatically exceed this price by just staying healthy the entire year.
Top sleeper: Albie Lopez@$3; Mazzone Magic could help Lopez earn in the high teens.
Potential bust: Daryle Ward($17) loses RBI opps in the #2 hole, and Jason Lane will push him by the All-Star break.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Brett Myers, Ty Howington, Brad Lidge, and Joe Nathan.
Early bad luck: The Cardinals keep talking about sending Bud Smith($6) back to AAA so Andy Benes can start.
Category to trade: With pitchers like Astacio, Lopez, Smith, Carl Pavano($5), and Glendon Rusch($8) able to potentially earn double these prices or more, I think he'll be able to trade Kevin Brown by the end of April if he needs to reinforce his offense.

While he'll need to redo his reserve roster and his entire roster is quite injury-prone, most of his acquisitions also have significant upside. He can withstand a major injury or two and still stay in the hunt (no pun intended) throughout the year. I especially like $6 catchers Damian Miller and Brad Ausmus.

Summary: Even his $1 position players(Miguel Cairo, Ramon E. Martinez, and Greg Colbrunn) should earn a few dollars profit, as might almost everyone on the roster. I'll be surprised if he doesn't wind up in the first division, and I expect an in-the-money finish.

So now that I've critiqued these twelve rosters, I should probably offer my picks for the top finishers. Based on my reviews, you can likely tell that I'm fairly confident in the rosters of Ron Shandler and John Hunt. Jeff Erickson, Greg Ambrosius, and Alex Patton all drafted quality teams that should be very competitive for the entire season. Erickson drafted Acevedo and some other nice sleepers, Ambrosius picked up a relatively low-risk roster, and Patton has solid star power.

While any of these teams could finish first, I have confidence that Ron will defend his title with Hunt running a close second. Rotowire did a better job of drafting depth, so I think Erickson will sneak into third place ahead of Ambrosius and Patton.

Today's Fantasy Rx: A special for Chicago fans: WGN is showing White Sox@Cubs beginning at 2pm Central. As both teams will likely play their "A" rosters for the televised pre-season crosstown contest, this telecast is also a great opportunity for fans across the country to see some of the top young players in baseball like Bobby Hill and Willie Harris, as well as established stars like Sammy and Mags.