Today's Fantasy Rx

After spending the last three days discussing our perspective on this year's Fantasy Sports Invitational Challenge, I now will examine the rest of the teams through a more analytical lens. While I haven't reviewed any inter-site leagues that don't employ an auction format in past years, I believe reviewing roster compensation and the order of player selection here can be quite valuable to many fantasy participants.

To determine the hitting/pitching split in this 5x5, 27-round draft, I assigned first round picks $27, second round pick $26, and so forth down to the $2 26th rd picks and $1 27th rounders. Snake draft strategies don't make this split quite as important as in auction leagues, however it still gives us an idea of where an owner focuses his assets.

I'll discuss the teams in the order of first round picks. Like all 12-teams snake drafts, the first owner also picked 24th and 25th, the second owner picked 23rd and 26th, etc.

Please refer to the FSIC National League rosters here.

Owner: Matt Watson
Site: Roto Times
Split: $231H/$147P = 61/39.
Reserve roster: Juan Cruz, Casey Fossum, Joe Thurston, and Dan Haren.

Nice pick: Albert Pujols, Rd. 1; while essentially a no-brainer due to Pujols' four-category dominance and superior skills, many owners might have considered Bonds, Pierre, or a pitcher. Locking up Pujols to solidify his offense was a great idea.
Top sleeper: Juan Cruz, Rd. 24; all he needs is an opportunity to pitch in front of a decent defense on a consistent basis and he could explode.
Potential bust: Dontrelle Willis, Rd, 8; given his workload last year, picking him above someone like Vicente Padilla involved unnecessary risk.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): None.
Early good/good/bad luck: Injuries to multiple Phillies could give Shawn Wooten, Rd. 22, nearly a full-time job early in the season.
Category to trade: Strikeouts, thanks to Roger Clemens, Wade Miller, and Willis.

Watson drafted a nicely balanced team that could post strong scores in almost every category except steals. Selecting Pujols, Octavio Dotel, and Brian Giles in the first three rounds gave him an excellent BA and Saves' core, and adding a few decent starters and some young pitchers with upside should insure competitiveness in the pitching categories.

Aside from Wooten, Pedro Feliz, and Wil Cordero, Watson also selected a nice cadre of starting position players, which provides him a good base in the quantitative categories. However, I just don't see many players here with great upside, and relying on three Astros' pitchers is a definite gamble.

Summary: While Watson's generally balanced roster should finish in the first division, he isn't assured a money spot.

I'll continue tomorrow with the other six teams and my picks for the top finishers.

Today's Fantasy Rx: For the first few picks of any straight draft, we see no reason not to select the best available player. Considering the depth at each position is fine even as soon as the last few picks of the first round, however roughly the top half-dozen players in each league stand out. American Leaguers Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Nomar Garciaparra, Vladimir Guerrero, and Ichiro Suzuki are logical choices in almost any order. Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Juan Pierre, Todd Helton, Edgar Renteria, and Eric Gagne all should go at the beginning of any NL draft, though again the order will vary based on personal preference.