Today's Fantasy Rx

To qualify for the highest ratings in these articles, pitchers must meet five individual skill ratios in 25 or more innings: K/9 of 6.0+, BB/9 of 3.0-, H/9 of 9.0-, HR/9 of 1.0-, and G-F of 1.0+. While only Freddy Garcia reached that standard in the AL, eight NL starters achieved that level of the skill through Thursday's games.

Over the past few weeks here I've discussed Ben Sheets and Joe Kennedy, who remain leading the pack, and Carlos Zambrano, who looks more effective with each start. Rather than present the first in-season LPR rankings of 2004 for the NL, I instead will review the other six pitchers who haven't earned extended looks in previous articles this season. As usual, I have included the QA scores for all games started by each pitcher so far.

QA score for starts: up to 5 total points, one for each statistical goal, to any starter who pitches at least 5 innings and fulfills any of the following skill qualifications: K>=IP-2, BB<=IP/3, H<=IP, HR<=1, and G-F>=1.00. Any starter who doesn't reach any of the required statistical goals or fails to pitch 5 innings earns a 0 QA score. Scores of 5 and 4 qualify as DOMinant outings, a 3 is DULl, and anything below 3 ranks as a skill DISaster.

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Kerry Wood, CHC: 3-2 on a 50:13 K:BB in 42.2 IP over 6 GS with 28 H, 3 HR, a 1.29 G-F, and a 2.53 ERA. After walking more than 3 batters in 16 starts last season, including two playoff starts, Wood hasn't exceeded three walks in any outing this year. His 10.6 K/9 appears right at his career norm, and a career-best ground-fly rate nicely reduces his downside. Only inconsistency and an unimpressive offense should keep Wood from approaching 20 wins and a multitude of Cy Young votes, so as long as he doesn't lose control and limits his disastrous outings to one per month, he should be fine. He ranks with any NL starters right now and should coast past $20, particularly in 5x5 leagues.

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Randy Johnson, ARI: 3-2 on a 51:12 K:BB in 50.2 IP over 6 GS with 27 H, 3 HR, a 1.61 G-F, and a 3.10 ERA. Shrugging off a lost 2003 season and a couple of mediocre starts at the beginning of the year, Johnson again looks like the reigning dean of NL aces. All of his skill ratios appear nicely in line with his pre-2003 performance, and only Arizona's questionable lineup and bullpen will keep him from the 20 victories he needs to reach 250 career wins. Johnson historically flourishes in the Diamondbacks' hitter-friendly ballpark, didn't exceed 100 pitches in the two starts following his 125-pitch outing in Milwaukee, and shows no overt skill decline, making him an ideal starter to own in any single-season league.

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Livan Hernandez, MON: 2-2 on a 37:15 K:BB in 49 IP over 7 GS with 46 H, 5 HR, a 1.19 G-F, and a 2.94 ERA. He hasn't posted a ground-fly ratio this low since 1998, leaving him vulnerable to the longball in Montreal's two hitter-friendly home parks. A slightly elevated 2.8 walk rate similarly suggests he won't match the 3.20 ERA he managed in 2003. Yet Hernandez somehow remains among the safest and most effective NL starters to own. He suffers from no significant splits, hasn't exceeded 120 pitches in any outing this season, and doesn't seem likely to falter significantly thanks to a history of strong second-half performances. While I don't view him as a great target right now with the Expos heading back to Puerto Rico in a week, he also merits keeping if you already own him unless you can already own a couple of other top-ten starters.

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Roy Oswalt, HOU: 2-1 on a 32:11 K:BB in 42.1 IP over 6 GS with 36 H, 1 HR, a 1.29 G-F, and a 2.76 ERA. Despite pitching just as well as new teammate, Oswalt doesn't own Roger Clemens' 6-0 record thanks to receiving more than 3 run per games less support than the 7.51 R/G Clemens enjoys from the Astros' offense. Unfortunately, career-worst strikeout, walk, and ground-fly rates all worry me, especially since playing in Minute Maid helps few pitchers. The good news is that a career-low skill set for Oswalt remains better than what many other pitchers ever can manage; he still owns a 2.9 K:BB. His impressive ERA similarly makes him a tough player to grab in trade since most owners still should view him as an ace and potential star. Yet if you see the opportunity to acquire Oswalt, I heartily recommend you pursue him since his upside ranks with the potential value of any pitcher in baseball.

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Oliver Perez, PIT: 2-0 on a 29:5 K:BB in 25.2 IP over 4 GS with 22 H, 2 HR, a 1.23 G-F, and a 3.16 ERA. Nothing here particularly surprises me given Perez's outstanding debut back in 2002, when he compiled a 9.4 K/9 in 90 IP despite only turning 21 that August. While he continued to suffer from control problems last year, he still compiled a 10.0 K/9 while edging his ground-fly rate closer to 1.00. If the Pirates continue to limit his pitchers and he continues developing these already impressive skills, Perez could develop into one of the game's best starters given his combination of youth and dominance. Randy Wolf is the only left-handed starter to qualify for the ERA title while posting a strikeout rate no lower than 7.0 K/9 in each of the last three seasons; Randy Johnson, Andy Pettitte, and Barry Zito each matched that standard twice. Perez's 9.8 career strikeout gives him as much upside as any of these pitchers, so take advantage of any opportunity to acquire him, particularly in long-term keeper leagues since he occasionally should struggle for the next couple of years.

Tomorrow, like every Sunday during the season, we'll post our preview of the coming week's games and our CDM challenge lineups.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Low ERA marks don't necessarily correlate with high QA ratings, and the absence of any surprisingly high ERAs among these pitchers keeps me from suggesting you specifically seek to acquire anyone discuss above. However, since none of them own great won-loss records, exchanging a Tom Glavine, Kaz Ishii, or even Roger Clemens for Kerry, Randy, Livan, Oswalt, Perez, Ben Sheets, or Carlos Zambrano likely will improve your team's performance.