Today's Fantasy Rx

Let's take a look at this year's top AL pitchers through April 25th, specifically focusing on their PQS DOM scores. With this still necessarily limited sample size, we're only going to examine pitchers who have at least three starts of at least a 4, including at least one 5 start. We'll rank them in descending order with pitchers who've thrown the most 5's first, and then sorting by those who've shown improvement by fixing the problems from their other starts as follows, thereby posting the most recent 5's. A lack of starts will not be held against the pitcher for ranking purposes.

The first nine names are identical to last week's list, albeit in a different order, and I doubt anyone will be surprised at the two new additions.

5455
Orlando Hernandez(xy LPR): 3-1 on 30:6 K:BB in 29 IP with 21 H, 2 HR, and 25-35 G-F. Shutting down the A's in Oakland against a primarily left-handed lineup lends more credence to this solid turnaround. While two of these were home starts against Tampa Bay and Baltimore, he's still assembled some of the best ratios of his career. One more solid game and we'll consider adding him in Challenge.

05455
Pedro Martinez(1234abcxyz LPR): 3-0 on 32:7 K:BB in 29.1 IP with 17 H, 0 HR, and 28-26 G-F. Two of these starts were in Baltimore, somewhat diminishing his overall performance. He's still questionable because of his limited pitch count, but he's certainly approaching his pre-1999 ratios, and while not historically impressive, these are still good stats. We'll wait one more week before we label him automatic for Challenge, although he's close to regaining his former status

05355
Roger Clemens(123abcxyz LPR): 2-2 on 34:13 K:BB in 31 IP with 28 H, 2 HR, and 39-27 G-F. As I discussed two days ago for AL Underperforming Pitchers, Clemens only two bad starts occurred when injured or starting on three days of rest. Like his Cy Young season a year ago, he's starting very nicely against fairly week competition, and he'll be able to beat up on the AL East for much of the season. I'll be surprised if he doesn't approach 20 wins.

52355
Todd Ritchie(xyz LPR): 2-1 on 24:10 K:BB in 33.2 IP with 23 H, 2 HR, and 50-29 G-F. While many columnists still tout the Pirates' end of the off-season dealing with the White Sox, Chicago might be buried in the division without these great starts by Ritchie. Suprisingly, he struggled against Kansas City and Baltimore while posting the 5s against Seattle and then Cleveland twice. He'll never be a dominating pitcher, but these stats will allow any pitcher to have a great year.

55405
Barry Zito(124abxy LPR): 1-1 on 27:14 K:BB in 29.2 IP with 27 H, 3 HR, and 27-38 G-F. Like Ritchie, Zito's three 5s came against his toughest competition: two games against Texas and yesterday's win over the Yankees. He pitched decently against Anaheim in his other two starts, but Zito's been passing 100 pitches in the sixth inning, necessitating shorter outings. The walk rate remains a concern, and I still expect an injury here, but he has been the A's most dominating pitcher through five starts.

55450
Roy Halladay(12ax LPR): 1-0 on 30:8 K:BB in 33.1 IP with 29 H, 2 HR, and 51-23 G-F. He excelled in Minnesota, Tampa Bay and two Yankee starts before failing to complete the fifth inning last night in Texas. I still believe he'll remain among the best starters in the league despite this hiccup, and he should be the most easily acquirable of any of these aces.

35245
Kenny Rogers(xy LPR): 2-0 on 21:11 K:BB in 33 IP with 26 H, 2 HR, and 55-22 G-F. The gambler beat Toronto on Wednesday, in his first start against anyone other than Oakland or Seattle, for his second straight win. If he's unowned in your league for any reason, grab him now before he rattles off a few more wins against easier competition than the best two teams from last year, and potentially this year, too.

5443
Doug Davis(4x LPR): 2-1 on 17:4 K:BB in 30 IP with 24 H, 1 HR, and 35-41 G-F. The other top Ranger lefty lost his start in Seattle, so hopefully he'll begin to win more at home after 3/4 road games. While his K/9 remains soft, his K:BB and H/9 are both significant improvements over the past few years. He's another potentially excellent trade target.

44532
Mike Mussina(1234abcxyz LPR): 3-1 on 31:7 K:BB in 34 IP with 24 H, 7 HR, and 39-41 G-F. Moose has gone homer-happy this year with a ridiculous 1.9 HR/9 thus far. Schilling actually allowed 8 homers in his first five starts last year for almost the exact same homer rate. The three wins still help, but I'm growing worried over his low pitch counts; his 106 pitches yesterday are a season high by five pitches, and Mussina is one of the few pitchers that I expect to approach 110 fairly regularly.

Both the new pitchers barely missed last week's list due to their lack of a second 5 start, but their consistency thus far earns them a spot under today's criteria.

54344
Mark Buehrle(2x LPR): 4-1 on 20:11 K:BB in 34 IP with 23 H, 5 HR, and 50-32 G-F. With the league-leading offense behind him, he's pitched great against Seattle and Cleveland while struggling a little against Kansas City and Baltimore, allowing him to post a PQS line rather complimentary to Ritchie's. His K:BB and K/9 both continue to worry me, so while he's been great thus far, I retain my concerns for his long-term consistency.

54434
Tim Hudson(1234abcxyz): 2-2 on 27:12 K:BB in 35.1 IP with 30 H, 2 HR, and 61-29 G-F. He still has the most long-term potential of any American League starter and remains perhaps the second best overall low-risk, high-reward pitcher in the league after Mussina. A slightly higher strikeout rate would be nice, but he'll cruise to nearly 20 wins this year on the strength of excellent skills and a deep roster.

Remaining pitchers with at least 3 starts and no DISasters(0/1 PQS):
(in alphabetical order)

Paul Byrd(x LPR): 3444; 4-0 on 13:0 K:BB in 28.1 IP with 25 H, 3 HR, and 37-44 G-F.

Joe Kennedy(2x LPR): 2223; 1-1 on 15:8 K:BB in 22 IP with 32 H, 2 HR, and 36-25 G-F.

Derek Lowe(1234 LPR): 3353; 3-1 on 17:8 K:BB in 26.1 IP with 15 H, 0 HR, and 42-22 G-F.

Ramon Ortiz(4xy LPR): 2325; 1-3 on 19:9 K:BB in 27.1 IP with 24 H, 5 HR, and 32-32 G-F.

Ryan Rupe(No LPR): 5335; 3-1 on 21:4 K:BB in 25.1 IP with 21 H, 1 HR, and 44-21 G-F.

Jeff Suppan(x LPR): 24344; 1-3 on 18:4 K:BB in 33.1 IP with 28 H, 4 HR, and 54-37 G-F.

Paul Wilson(13b LPR): 332; and 101 on 10:6 K:BB in 21 IP with 20 H, 2 HR, and 33-22 G-F.

New York has 3 dominant pitchers, while Chicago, Oakland, and Texas each have two. Boston has one dominant and one consistent starter, and Toronto has one dominant starter. Tampa Bay has three consistently decent starters, Kansas City has two consistent starters, and Anaheim has one consistent starter.

Prorating the current team runs scored to 22 games, Chicago leads with 148 R, followed by Seattle with 142 R, Boston with 139 R, Toronto at 123 R, Minnesota at 122 R, New York at 115 R, and Cleveland and Kansas City tied at 111 R.

For those teams needing wins now, your top targets should likely be Mark Buehrle and Todd Ritchie, followed by Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Roy Halladay, and any of Ducky, Clemens, and Mussina.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Don't get too upset is you miss one transaction deadline. Almost every owner will miss one or two deadlines a year in each league for vacation, emergency, or forgetfulness, so while you should attempt to help your teams every week, you can still remain competitive even if you leave someone in for a Colorado start by accident, etc.