Today's Fantasy Rx

American League Relief Pitchers with Double-digit PDV

Quick Key to the tables:
W = Wins.  S = Saves.  ERA = Earned Run Average (ER*9/IP).
WHIP = (Walks + Hits)/IP aka Ratio.  K = Strikeouts.  BB = Bases on Balls aka Walks.
H = Hits.  IP = Innings Pitched.  P = Pitches.  B = Bats.
2003 Age = Player's Age as of October 1, 2003.
4x4 = BA, HR, RBI, and SB in 12-team, $260 leagues with 23-man rosters.
5x5 = BA, HR, RBI, SB, and R in 12-team, $260 leagues with 23-man rosters.
DV = Draft Value (The price a player earned under a 70/30 hitting/pitching split).
AV = Actual Value (The price a player earned under a 50/50 hitting/pitching split).
Rotohelp = 2003 Rotohelp Predicted Draft Value.
LABR/Tout = 2003 Expert League prices; LABR for 4x4. Tout Wars for 5x5.

Average league worst BA, ERA, and WHIP based on data compiled from TQ Stats.

Players are ranked in order from the highest draft value in a 4x4 league to the lowest. As the majority of fantasy leagues allow you to keep anyone traded to the other league, all players are listed in the league where they began the season.

1.		W	S	ERA	WHIP	K	BB	H	IP
Keith Foulke		9	43	2.08	.89	88	20	57	86.2
OAK Athletics		DV		AV		Rotohelp		LABR/Tout
P:R    B:R	4x4:	36		62		32		30
2003 Age: 30	5x5:	32		55		29		28

Moving from Oakland to Boston at least should help Foulke maintain his quantitative totals, but his qualitative stats will rise after this career year. Foulke leaves the AL's best pitchers' park for a decent hitters' stadium and loses the solid defensive support on the Athletics. The good news is that Boston owns a much better offense and a significantly stronger middle relief corps than Oakland, so while he might lose up to $5 qualitatively, his wins and saves should insure Foulke earns around $30 again. My only severe concern in drafting Foulke is his career-worst .50 G-F rate, yet as long as he keeps his homer rate relatively close to 1.0 HR/0, a feat he managed in past years despite similar ground-fly ratios, he will remain one of the AL's best closers.

50 Days to Choose Your Pitchers: '04 continues tomorrow with more American League relievers.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Although the elite AL closers don't compare favorably with the top few NL closers, Foulke, Rivera, and if Sasaki misses the year, Guardado, easily could remain around $30 for another season given their skills and strong team support. Troy Percival, Danys Baez, and Francisco Cordero seem the safest secondary bets, however they simply don't approach the overall upside of the studs. Among middle relievers and former relievers, Johan Santana should continue dominating if he remains healthy, and then Tom Gordon and Francisco Rodriguez look like extremely solid setup men worthy of a few bucks or more in every league.