Today's Fantasy Rx

Internet Challenge

While we decided to deploy identical the same group of pitchers in both the Diamond and Internet Challenges, we believe one significant change to our offense will provide us with the greater flexibility needed in this contest. Garrett Atkins' injury prevents us from taking him, but with the extra salary room frequently provided here, we opted for Todd Helton to maximize our offensive upside when the Rockies play at home.

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sun:BOS(D.Wells)
Johan Santana: Tue:@SEA(G.Meche)
Jason Schmidt: Tue:LA(D.Lowe)
Pedro Martinez: Mon:@CIN(P.Wilson)
Roy Oswalt: Mon:STL(C.Carpenter)
Ben Sheets: Mon:@PIT(Ol.Perez)
Jake Peavy: Thu:PIT(M.Redman)
Rich Harden: Wed:@BAL(D.Cabrera)
Oliver Perez: Mon:MIL(B.Sheets)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:ATL(M.Hampton)
Josh Beckett: Tue:ATL(J.Smoltz)

No starts: Clemens and Mulder.

Randy, Schmidt, and Burnett look like the safest gambles here. We consider the Perez/Sheets duo unplayable here due to high level of competition each starter faces, and the injury concerns surrounding Pedro and Peavy render them too questionable to deploy. Despite their road starts, Santana and Harden look like good gambles, and then Oswalt holds a slight edge on Beckett due to the lesser overall competition he faces.

While we want to deploy Iguchi for Roberts, the game doesn't allow us to use anyone not initially listed on the rosters until Friday, so Roberts remains in our lineup. Our pitching also prevents us from running Edmonds, so we instead will deploy Holliday and Barmes at home over Morneau and Jose Reyes, choosing the promising rookies over the lesser option of switching Helton for Pujols with the Cardinals in Houston.

Rotohelp.com(No standings)
Week 1a: April 3-April 7

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	Matt Holliday		630

SP	Randy Johnson		1980
SP	Johan Santana		1710
SP	Jason Schmidt		1510
SP	Rich Harden		900
SP	A.J. Burnett		830
RP	Francisco Rodriguez	1250
RP	Octavio Dotel		1240
RP	B.J. Ryan		950
RP	Guillermo Mota		950

Total Salary for Week 1a 	29960

I'll add commentary regarding our initial roster choices in each of these contests later today.

Today's Fantasy Rx: If you never have played either a CDM contest or a points-based game, we recommend signing up for Budget Baseball, which only costs $30 and includes all transactions free. The gameplay is identical to that of the relatively expensive Fantasy Baseball contest, yet the lack of transaction fees should make the game much more appealing to budget-conscious owners.