Today's Fantasy Rx

While we examined a couple hundred players before picking these teams, most of these selections were easy calls, particularly at first and second base, relief pitcher, and most outfielders and starters. A couple other players earned significant consideration from us in each game, but we firmly believe these teams offer us the best chance of winning right now. However, I at least will discuss the last round of cuts for each game over the next two days since we likely will choose from that group of players when we need mid-season help.

Schedule recommendations for teams with 6 games

Good for hitters / Good for pitchers
Los Angeles Angels: 3 Home vs. TEX; 3 Home vs. KC.
Cleveland: 3 Road at CHW; 3 Road at DET.
Los Angeles: 3 Road at SF; 3 Road at ARI.
Minnesota: 3 Road at SEA; 3 Home vs. CHW.
Oakland: 3 Road at BAL; 3 Road at TB.
Seattle: 3 Home vs. MIN; 3 Home vs. TEX.
San Francisco: 3 Home vs. LA; 3 Home vs. COL.

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Arizona: 3 Home vs. CHC; 3 Home vs. LA.
Boston: 3 Road at NYY; 3 Road at TOR.
Chicago White Sox: 3 Home vs. CLE; 3 Road at MIN.
Chicago Cubs: 3 Road at ARI; 3 Home vs. MIL.
Cincinnati: 3 Home vs. NYM; 3 Road at HOU.
Kansas City: 3 Road at DET; 3 Road at ANA.
Philadelphia: 3 Home vs. WAS; 3 Road at STL.
Toronto: 2 Road at TB; 3 Home vs. BOS.

Bad for hitters / Good for pitchers
Atlanta: 3 Road at FLO; 3 Home vs. NYM.
Detroit: 3 Home vs. KC; 3 Home vs. CLE.
Florida: 3 Home vs. ATL; 3 Home vs. WAS.
Pittsburgh: 2 Home vs. MIL; 4 Road at SD.
San Diego: 2 Road at COL; 4 Home vs. PIT.

Bad for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Baltimore: 3 Home vs. OAK; 3 Road at NYY.
New York Mets: 3 Road at CIN; 3 Road at ATL.
Tampa Bay: 3 Home vs. TOR: 3 Home vs. OAK.
Texas: 3 Road at ANA; 3 Road at SEA.
Washington: 3 Road at PHI; 3 Road at FLO.

Schedule recommendations for teams with 5 games

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Milwaukee: 2 Road at PIT; 3 Road at CHC.
Houston: 2 Home vs. STL; 3 Home vs. CIN.
St. Louis: 2 Road at HOU; 3 Home vs. PHI.

Bad for hitters / Good for pitchers
Colorado: 2 Home vs. SD: 3 Road at SF.

Pitchers with 2 starts(to deploy everywhere you own them):
Josh Beckett: Tue:ATL(J.Smoltz); Sun:WAS(L.Hernandez)
Jeremy Bonderman: Mon:KC(J.Lima); Sun:CLE(J.Davis)
Mark Buehrle: Mon:CLE(J.Westbrook); Sun:@MIN(J.Santana)
Chris Carpenter: Tue:@HOU(R.Oswalt); Sun:PHI(J.Lieber)
Matt Clement: Tue:@NYY(C.Pavano); Sun:@TOR(T.Lilly)
Bartolo Colon: Tue:TEX(R.Drese); Sun:KC(Br.Anderson)
Roy Halladay: Mon:@TB(D.Brazelton); Sat:BOS(D.Wells)
Livan Hernandez: Mon:@PHI(J.Lieber); Sat:@FLO(I.Valdez)
Randy Johnson: Sun:BOS(D.Wells); Sat:BAL(B.Chen)
Jon Lieber: Mon:WAS(L.Hernandez); Sun:@STL(C.Carpenter)
Rod Lopez: Mon:OAK(B.Zito); Sun:@NYY(C.Pavano)
Derek Lowe: Tue:@SF(J.Schmidt); Sun:@ARI(Ru.Ortiz) Greg Maddux: Tue:@ARI(Ru.Ortiz); Sun:MIL(C.Capuano)
Pedro Martinez: Mon:@CIN(P.Wilson); Sun:@ATL(J.Smoltz)
Gil Meche: Tue:MIN(Jo.Santana); Sun:TEX(R.Drese)
Roy Oswalt: Mon:STL(C.Carpenter); Sun:CIN(B.Claussen)
Carl Pavano: Tue:BOS(M.Clement); Sun:BAL(Rod.Lopez)
Oliver Perez: Mon:MIL(B.Sheets); Sun:@SD(T.Redding)
Brad Radke: Mon:@SEA(J.Moyer); Sat:CHW(O.Hernandez)
Johan Santana: Tue:@SEA(G.Meche); Sun:CHW(M.Buehrle)
Jason Schmidt: Tue:LA(D.Lowe); Sun:COL(Jam.Wright)
Ben Sheets: Mon:@PIT(Ol.Perez); Sat:@CHC(C.Zambrano)
John Smoltz: Tue:@FLO(J.Beckett); Sun:NYM(P.Martinez)
David Wells: Sun:@NYY(R.Johnson); Sat:@TOR(R.Halladay)
Jake Westbrook: Mon:@CHW(M.Buehrle); Sat:@DET(W.Ledezma)
Carlos Zambrano: Mon:@ARI(J.Vazquez); Sat:MIL(B.Sheets)
Barry Zito: Mon:@BAL(Rod.Lopez); Sun:@TB(D.Brazelton)

Pitchers with 2 starts to deploy only in leagues that don't count qualitative stats:
Dewon Brazelton: Mon:TOR(R.Halladay); Sun:OAK(B.Zito)
Ryan Drese: Tue:@ANA(B.Colon); Sun:@SEA(G.Meche)
Joe Kennedy: Mon:SD(W.Williams); Sat:@SF(Jer.Williams)
Jose Lima: Mon:@DET(J.Bonderman); Sat:@ANA(K.Escobar)
Jamie Moyer: Mon:MIN(B.Radke); Sat:TEX(P.Astacio)
Russ Ortiz: Tue:CHC(G.Maddux); Sun:LA(D.Lowe)
Javier Vazquez: Mon:CHC(C.Zambrano); Sat:LA(S.Erickson)
Woody Williams: Mon:@COL(J.Kennedy); Sat:PIT(D.Williams)
Paul Wilson: Mon:NYM(P.Martinez); Sat:@HOU(B.Backe)

Diamond Challenge

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sun:BOS(D.Wells); Sat:BAL(B.Chen)
Johan Santana: Tue:@SEA(G.Meche); Sun:CHW(M.Buehrle)
Jason Schmidt: Tue:LA(D.Lowe); Sun:COL(Jam.Wright)
Pedro Martinez: Mon:@CIN(P.Wilson); Sun:@ATL(J.Smoltz)
Roy Oswalt: Mon:STL(C.Carpenter); Sun:CIN(B.Claussen)
Roger Clemens: Fri:CIN(Ra.Ortiz)
Ben Sheets: Mon:@PIT(Ol.Perez); Sat:@CHC(C.Zambrano)
Mark Mulder: Fri:PHI(C.Lidle)
Jake Peavy: Thu:PIT(M.Redman)
Rich Harden: Wed:@BAL(D.Cabrera)
Oliver Perez: Mon:MIL(B.Sheets); Sun:@SD(T.Redding)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:ATL(M.Hampton)
Josh Beckett: Tue:ATL(J.Smoltz); Sun:WAS(L.Hernandez)
Of the 8 doubles, Randy, Santana, Schmidt, and Beckett look like easy calls. We like Perez more than Sheets due to the extra home start and superior second outing while Oswalt seems much stronger than Pedro considering Pedro doubles twice and faces tougher competition.

Offensively, Barmes will sub for Reyes considering Reyes faces two tough catchers; making that move allows us to play Pujols over Edmonds. Iguchi and Holliday round out our bench, along with Wright, out last-minute substitute for the injured Garrett Atkins.

Rotohelp.com(No standings)
Week 1: April 3-April 10

C	Victor Martinez		860
C	John Buck		390
1B	Mark Teixeira		1310
1B	Travis Hafner		810
2B	Brian Roberts		960
2B	Marcus Giles		950
3B	Melvin Mora		1270
3B	Troy Glaus		830
SS	Nomar Garciaparra	1130
SS	Clint Barmes		400
OF	Carl Crawford		1560
OF	Adam Dunn		1110
OF	Miguel Cabrera		1110
OF	Scott Podsednik		1090
OF	Kevin Mench		580
OF	Jeremy Reed		400
UT	Albert Pujols		1930
UT	Justin Morneau		680

SP	Randy Johnson		1980
SP	Johan Santana		1710
SP	Jason Schmidt		1510
SP	Roy Oswalt		1320
SP	Oliver Perez		880
SP	Josh Beckett		820
RP	Francisco Rodriguez	1250
RP	Octavio Dotel		1240
RP	B.J. Ryan		950
RP	Guillermo Mota		950

Total Salary for Week 1: 	29980

Fantasy Baseball & Budget Baseball
(Same game = same rosters and moves for both teams)

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sun:BOS(D.Wells); Sat:BAL(B.Chen)
Jason Schmidt: Tue:LA(D.Lowe); Sun:COL(Jam.Wright)
Pedro Martinez: Mon:@CIN(P.Wilson); Sun:@ATL(J.Smoltz)
Johan Santana: Tue:@SEA(G.Meche); Sun:CHW(M.Buehrle)
Ben Sheets: Mon:@PIT(Ol.Perez); Sat:@CHC(C.Zambrano)
Jake Peavy: Thu:PIT(M.Redman)
Oliver Perez: Mon:MIL(B.Sheets); Sun:@SD(T.Redding)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:ATL(M.Hampton)
Josh Beckett: Tue:ATL(J.Smoltz); Sun:WAS(L.Hernandez)
Dan Haren: Thu:@BAL(E.Bedard)

Randy, Schmidt, Pedro, Santana, and Beckett all look like easy calls. With Perez at home against Sheets and facing a much easier second matchup, he'll complete our rotation over Sheets.

The four Rockies, Closser, Helton, Barmes, and Holliday, all stay benched in this short week; we cut Atkins only an hour before rosters finalized due to his injury, instead opting for Morgan Ensberg, who also will sit this week. Hudson remains no more than a secondary option at second, and then we lack the salary room to run Glaus or Drew due to the need for our four top starters.

Rotohelp.com(No standings)
& Rotohelp.com(No standings)
Week 1: April 3-April 10

C	Victor Martinez		1800
C	John Buck		1030
1B	Travis Hafner		1870
1B	Justin Morneau		1780
2B	Marcus Giles		1850
2B	Brian Roberts		1850
3B	Eric Chavez		2740
3B	Hank Blalock		2240
SS	Rafael Furcal		2430
SS	Khalil Greene		1410
OF	Miguel Cabrera		2420
OF	Carl Crawford		2120
OF	Scott Podsednik		1990
OF	Kevin Mench		1660
OF	Austin Kearns		1540
OF	Jeremy Reed		1000
DH	Albert Pujols		3700
DH	Jason Lane		1000

SP	Randy Johnson		3330
SP	Jason Schmidt		3180
SP	Pedro Martinez		3140
SP	Johan Santana		3090
SP	Oliver Perez		1960
SP	Josh Beckett		1730
RP	Octavio Dotel		2440
RP	Francisco Rodriguez	2630
RP	B.J. Ryan		2060
RP	Guillermo Mota		1940


Total Salary for Week 1: 	59610

Today's Fantasy Rx: The Opening Game this evening features Boston at New York on ESPN2 at 7:00PM CDT. Following the last two ALCS contests, all true baseball fans should spend the evening watching the 2005 season debut of the best rivalry in sports.