Today's Fantasy Rx

The 2002 NL Tout Wars draft was held on March 17th. Due to finishing projections and the other articles from the past two weeks, we haven't had a chance to review it until now. With most shadowdraft deadlines rapidly approaching if not already past, I thought I'd offer our Shadowdraft roster.

Please refer to the National League Tout Wars rosters here.

Standard Shadowdraft rules involve choosing a full team of 23 players, each at $1 more than their draft salary. Any reserve player can be taken at $1, and no player can be selected who wasn't initially drafted. All listed salaries are Shadowdraft salaries, not Tout Wars' prices.

We'll begin with a position review of potential selections. Our projected value for each player is listed in parentheses.

Potential catchers: Jason Kendall, $23($23); Damian Miller, $8($9); Brad Ausmus, $4($8); Raul Casanova, $3($6).

Potential 1B: Todd Helton, $40($40); Travis Lee, $14($15); Kevin Young, $10($13).

Potential 3B: Chipper Jones, $32($31); Adrian Beltre, $20($21); Mike Lowell, $17($16), Aaron Boone, $17($16); Sean Burroughs, $14($21); David Bell, $5($8); Pedro Feliz, $1($1).

Potential 2B: Roberto Alomar, $32($34); Luis Castillo, $28($30); Eric Young, $22($23); Todd Walker, $16($19); Fernando Vina, $15($18); Ron Belliard, $6($12); Damian Jackson, $4.

Potential SS: Jimmy Rollins, $27($30); Edgar Renteria, $22($23); Juan Uribe, $19($25); Placido Polanco, $11($17); D'Angelo Jimenez, $11($16); Ramon Vazquez, $8($10).

Potential OF: Sammy Sosa, $39($37); Vladimir Guerrero, $38($36); Barry Bonds, $35($34); Shawn Green, $34($36); Bobby Abreu, $34($34); Gary Sheffield, $31($30); Juan Pierre, $32($42); Brian Giles, $30($29); Preston Wilson, $29($28); Corey Patterson, $7($16); Brad Wilkerson, $5($15); Kerry Robinson, $3($12); Eric Owens, $6($11); Roosevelt Brown, $3($9); Brady Clark, $2($12); Alex Sanchez, $1($7).

Potential SP: Javier Vazquez, $25($25); Russ Ortiz, $17($19); Brandon Duckworth, $10($11); Steve Trachsel, $6($13); Jason Bere, $6($10); Kurt Ainsworth, $4($9); Nick Neugebauer, $4(9); Albie Lopez, $4($8); Jose Acevedo, $1($7); Livan Hernandez, $1($3); Ryan Jensen, $1($2).

Potential RP: Jason Isringhausen, $23($26); John Smoltz, $23($26); Byung-Hyun Kim, $18($21); Jose Mesa, $19($21); Eric Gagne, $10($19); Vlad Nunez, $1($11); Jeremy Fikac, $1($3); Cliff Politte, $1($3); Scott Stewart, $1($5); Kevin Olsen, $1($6).

First, I'll try to find at least one guy at each position that will earn a nice profit or who gives us excellent value for the price.

C  Damian Miller, $8
C  Raul Casanova, $3
1B  Todd Helton, $40
3B  Sean Burroughs, $14
CR  
2B  Ron Belliard, $6
SS  Juan Uribe, $19
MI  
OF  Shawn Green, $34
OF  Juan Pierre, $32
OF  Corey Patterson, $7
OF  Brad Wilkerson, $5
OF  
UT

P  Javier Vazquez, $25
P  Russ Ortiz, $17
P  Steve Trachsel, $6
P  
P  
P  
P  
P  Vladimir Nunez, $1
P  Jason Isringhausen, $23

With all these players locked in at good prices, we're left with $20 for 8 players.

David Bell($5), Damian Jackson($4), and Jose Acevedo($1) fill some need areas, leaving us with $10 for 5 players.

With the Strickland trade, Scott Stewart looks primed for a few saves, and he makes a nice pick-up for a buck. Moises Alou is already on the DL, so Roosevelt Brown($3) should see significant playing time, and our last selection comes down to Alex Sanchez($1) vs. Brady Clark($2). While Clark could hit .300 in a full-time role, Cincinnati appears committed to Juan Encarnacion, so we'll gamble on Sanchez's speed for a buck.

With $5 for 2 players, we'll take Livan Hernandez at a buck to insure we're okay in IP and K's. We have our choice between Kurt Ainsworth and Nick Neugebauer at $4, and since Neugebauer has significantly more upside, especially for strikeouts, than Ainsworth, we'll gamble on Nuke.

Most of these decisions were actually fairly easy, and while I wish we had the room to take more high upside pitchers like Ainsworth and Bere, I'm more comfortable with more established veterans like Vazquez, Ortiz, and Isringhausen.

Our 2002 NL Tout Wars Shadowdraft Roster:

C  Damian Miller, $8
C  Raul Casanova, $3
1B  Todd Helton, $40
3B  Sean Burroughs, $14
CR  David Bell, $5
2B  Ron Belliard, $6
SS  Juan Uribe, $19
MI  Damian Jackson, $4
OF  Shawn Green, $34
OF  Juan Pierre, $32
OF  Corey Patterson, $7
OF  Brad Wilkerson, $5
OF  Roosevelt Brown, $3
UT  Alex Sanchez, $1

P  Javier Vazquez, $25
P  Russ Ortiz, $17
P  Steve Trachsel, $6
P  Nick Neugebauer, $4
P  Jose Acevedo, $1
P  Livan Hernandez, $1
P  Scott Stewart, $1
P  Vladimir Nunez, $1
P  Jason Isringhausen, $23

Tomorrow we'll review our Challenge moves for next week, as well as pitching outings from the last two days.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Through a confluence of bad timing and bad planning, we wound up with two drafts today. We're headed to Madison for one NL 4x4 keeper while my dad volunteered to cover us in Chicago for another NL 4x4 keeper.

We only have Scott Strickland on one of these teams, and we're going to hang onto him at $9 rather than worry about trying to change the roster as we also have Smoltz and Gagne at a buck each. However, we're fully prepared to sympathize with his many owners out there; here's our list of teams where we own Strickland this year:

The aforementioned NL 4x4, where he was our secondary closer.

An NL 5x5 "experts" league, where he's our primary closer; our second option is Vlad Nunez so now we might have to punt saves.

An NL points' league where we're required to use two relievers each week; Strickland is our second reliever, again after Smoltz. Our primary alternative here is also Nunez.

Both Diamond Challenge teams, although we can sub Jorge Julio for him on Sunday; we may also pick up someone like Esteban Yan, or even a better closer if we have the cap room.

One BBW Internet Challenge team, with the same Julio/Yan alternative as above.

So as we're taking the Strickland hit in six different leagues with you, please relax and take this move in stride. We also gain the benefits of Bruce Chen starting in one of these leagues, and as it's still early in the year, please consider your overall roster depth and other alternatives before making the move to replace the lost saves of Strickland.

For those of you still drafting with us this weekend, bump Strickland down to about three saves, and expect Herges, Reames, Lloyd, and Stewart to each net a half dozen saves. Montreal's best bet is to use a platoon of Reames and Stewart, so given the past tendencies of Frank Robinson, expect them to wind up alternating Herges and Lloyd.