Today's Fantasy Rx

Thirty-three pitchers earned a 1 for their performance this season as of last week. Not a single pitcher joined or rejoined this week's list (although Tim Hudson was only one strikeout short) while Eddie Guardado(HR/9), Ted Lilly(HR/9), and David Wells(K/9) dropped off, bringing our total of LIMA-quality 2002 AL pitchers with at least 15 IP to thirty AL pitchers.

Please refer here if you'd like to take another look at some of our methodology.

LPR Code Description
1 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- thus far in 2002
2 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- in the second half of 2001
3 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- in the first half of 2001
4 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- for all of 2000

a - DOM of 55% or more in 2002
b - DOM of 55% or more in 2001
c - DOM of 55% or more in 2000
x - DIS of 20% or less in 2002
y - DIS of 20% or less in 2001
z - DIS of 20% or less in 2000

(Note: I used the PQS logs from Baseball Forecaster to create these ratings, and I strongly recommend that you purchase a copy if you haven't already.

Here is the ninth set of 2002 in-season AL LPR ratings which include all games played through July 4th. We ranked pitchers by the highest LIMA rating and then by the best PQS rating. Starting pitchers, if necessary, are ranked by their performance over their last five starts, which I include after the pitchers name in chronological order, ending with his most recent appearance.

1234
abcxyz - Pedro Martinez(44545)

Arthur Rhodes
Mariano Rivera

123
abcxyz - Roger Clemens(52022)
abxy - Roy Halladay(45444)

Troy Percival

124
Chad Bradford
Ugueth Urbina

134
Billy Koch
Cliff Politte
Paul Shuey

234
Keith Foulke

12
b - Joel Pineiro(43433)

Matt Ginter
Ricardo Rincon
Kaz Sasaki

13
Tim Wakefield(4535)

Buddy Groom
Steve Karsay

23
abcxyz - Mike Mussina(12424)
abxyz - Tim Hudson(55423)
bcxyz - Chan Ho Park(04343)
byz - Kevin Appier(00534)
x - Danys Baez(52530)

Eddie Guardado

24
cx - Paul Wilson(04324)

Dan Miceli
Todd Van Poppel

34
xy - Joe Kennedy(34224)

Randy Choate
Rich Garces
Mike Holtz
Bob Howry
David Riske
Mike Stanton

1
az - Jason Johnson(35054)
a - Johan Santana(05055)

John Halama(5240)
Juan Acevedo
Francisco Cordero
Alan Embree
Casey Fossum
LaTroy Hawkins
Roberto Hernandez
Jorge Julio
Damaso Marte
J.C. Romero
Ben Weber

2
abcxyz - Barry Zito(45503)
abx - Rolando Arrojo(35550)
axy - Freddy Garcia(55045)
by - Mark Mulder(33535)
z - Kelvim Escobar

C.C. Sabathia(24332)
Matt Anderson
Lorzeno Barcelo
Shigetoshi Hasegawa
Antonio Osuna
Lou Pote
B.J. Ryan
Rudy Seanez
Victor Zambrano

3
bxy - John Burkett(33522)
yz - Rick Reed(12503)
y - Andy Pettitte(00025)

Gary Glover(50033)
Al Levine
Jim Mecir
Jeff Nelson
Travis Phelps
John Rocker
Bob Wickman
Kelly Wunsch

4
ax - Derek Lowe(25452)
y - Luke Prokopec(02542)

Jerrod Riggan

a
xyz - Ramon Ortiz(34534)
xy - Mark Buehrle(42422)
xz - Chuck Finley(53523)
yz - Jamie Moyer(40534)
x - Aaron Harang(30553)
z - Orlando Hernandez(53440)
Rob Bell(55341)

b
xy - Cory Lidle(03333)
Brandon Lyon(20300)
Matt Wise

c
x - David Wells(34551)
x - Mark Redman(33334)
Sterling Hitchcock(00)

x
yz - Jarrod Washburn(52455)
y - Jeff Weaver(05544)
y - Tanyon Sturtze(35341)
y - Jeff Suppan(23324)
y - Dave Burba(20432)
y - Paul Byrd(20241)
z - Frank Castillo(02333)
Rodrigo Lopez(43414)
Ryan Rupe(44250)
James Baldwin(04332)

y
z - Aaron Sele(42104)
z - Todd Ritchie(30334)
z - Kenny Rogers(10043)
z - Brad Radke(15300)
z - Pat Hentgen
Eric Milton(45005)
Jon Garland(30332)
Scott Schoeneweis(32030)
Erik Hiljus(40200)
Esteban Loiaza(02302)
Josh Towers(121)
Doug Davis(12120)
Paul Abbott(02300)
Joe Mays(000)
Rick Bauer

z
Sidney Ponson(34020)
Steve Parris(1042)
Blake Stein(02)
Jim Parque

AL pitchers I recommend despite their failure to appear here include Jeremy Affeldt(33050), Miguel Ascencio(33102), Adam Bernero(35430), Brendan Donnelly, Travis Driskill(25113), Travis Harper(044), Hideki Irabu, Sun-Woo Kim(3), John Lackey(53), Ted Lilly(30250), Ramiro Mendoza, Brian Moehler(4), Jose Paniagua, Jay Powell, Shawn Sedlacek(4323), Scot Shields, Ismael Valdes(30351), Pete Walker(04402) and Esteban Yan. Please recognize that these are fairly risky or unproven players, but most aren't missing much to at least pick up a 1 rating fairly soon.

Other pitchers who you probably shouldn't deploy right now include Wilson Alvarez(03140), Chris Carpenter(00133), Ryan Drese(43303), Scott Erickson(14243), Tony Fiore(22), Ryan Franklin(33), Matt Kinney(32021), Kyle Lohse(00530), Mike Maroth(34200), Darrell May(21340), Justin Miller(35300), Charles Nagy(0), Dan Reichert(01231), Juan Rincon(4), Willis Roberts, Rafael Soriano(44100), Steve Sparks(00323), Anthony Telford, Mark Wohlers, and Danny Wright(52304).

Today's Fantasy Rx: The eight worst starters in the league, measured by the most DIS starts and the least DOM and DUL starts, all pitch for either the White Sox or the Twins: Jon Garland, Gary Glover, Brad Radke, Kyle Lohse, Todd Ritchie, Rick Reed, Danny Wright, and Eric Milton. Only Reed and Milton seem fairly solid picks to deploy in the near future, and any contending team should attempt to bench, reserve, or cut the other six unless they're desperate to reach a minimum IP mark.