Today's Fantasy Rx

We continue our look at inter-site drafts today with an examination of this year's American League FSIC draft.

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 American League rosters here.

Owner: C.J. Brexel
Site: Fantasy Sports World
Split: $204H/$174P = 54/46.
Reserve roster: Chan Ho Park, Chad Hermanson, and Ron Gant.

Nice pick: Jerry Hairston, R12; selecting Hairston and Roberts at one time is an excellent move, particularly since both will start as soon as Hairston's hand heals and Baltimore trades one of them.
Top sleeper: Chan Ho Park, R22; if healthy, Park easily could reach double-digit value, so grabbing him in the endgame is a good move, particularly since Park can remain reserved until he proves his skills.
Potential bust: Joe Mauer, R11; while Mauer may be the best long-term prospect in the game, he isn't a better choice this year ahead of players like Toby Hall or Victor Martinez.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Guillermo Quiroz (R25) and Bill Selby(R27).
Early good/bad luck: Joe Nathan (R7) still looks like the probable Minnesota closer, and selecting J.C. Romero (R16) as a backup was a good move
Category to trade: Any team with potential aces Esteban Loaiza (R4), Derek Lowe(R6), Freddy Garcia(R8), and Mark Buehrle(R9) can afford to shop wins immediately.

Brexel grabbed an excellent core with his first six picks, selecting ARod, Mariano Rivera, Garret Anderson, Loaiza, Rocco Baldelli, and Lowe. However, selecting two closers and four starting pitchers in his first nine picks leaves him woefully short in the quantitative categories. He already needs to use at least four of Alexis Rios(R18), Lew Ford(19), Ron Gant(R23), Ricky Gutierrez(R24), Quiroz, and Chad Hermansen(R26) in his starting lineup, and they all might open the year in the minors. Selecting Eric Munson(R10), Mauer, and Ken Harvey(R14) as three of his top eight position players also could hurt his BA, leaving Brexel in need of across-the-board offensive improvement.

Of course, he also rostered a good cadre of pitching to trade. Rivera, Nathan, Romero, and Shigetoshi Hasegawa(R17) give him an excellent bullpen, and a rotation of Loaiza, Lowe, Garcia, Buerhle, Victor Zambrano(R15), and Park offers four-category upside. I just wish he'd grabbed a couple extra pitchers in the last couple rounds instead of selecting Quiroz, Hermansen, and Bill Selby, who wasn't even eligible to be drafted after signing with the Cubs.

Summary: Any team with ARod and Rivera won't be a disaster, but I see significant problems here. Brexel basically needs to replace six players on his roster with free agents almost immediately, so his roster won't even look respectable until the end of April. Barring Rios, Ford, and Quiroz all winning unexpected starting job soon, Brexel appears headed to the second division.

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

Today's Fantasy Rx: Owners who pick near either end of a snake draft, specifically anyone who drafts 2nd and 11th in the first round of a snake, should pay special attention to the open draft slots remaining on the teams that draft 1st and 12th so that you don't overdraft someone. For instance, if Team 12 already has two catchers and a UT/DH by the 17th round pick of Team 11, you generally shouldn't pick a catcher in Round 17 (unless you were planning on selecting catcher with both your 17th and 18th round picks). Take a position that Team 12 still needs to fill, such as pitcher or outfielder, and then take the catcher the following round. Paying careful attention to the position slots for the owners drafting at the ends of rounds will insure you don't miss out on a player you truly want while overdrafting someone else unnecessarily.