Today's Fantasy Rx

Schedule recommendations for teams with 4 games

Good for hitters / Good for pitchers
Atlanta: 4 Road at NYM.
Chicago Cubs: 4 Home vs. PIT.
Detroit: 4 Home vs. KC.
Los Angeles Dodgers: 4 Home vs. SF.
Oakland: 4 Home vs. TEX.
San Diego: 4 Home vs. ARI.

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Boston: 4 Home vs. NYY.
Chicago White Sox: 4 Road at CLE.
Cleveland: 4 Home vs. CHW.
Florida: 4 Road at PHI.
Kansas City: 4 Road at DET.
Los Angeles Angels: 4 Road at MIN.
Minnesota: 4 Home vs. LAA.
New York Yankees: 4 Road at BOS.
Philadelphia: 4 Home vs. FLO.
Tampa Bay: 4 Road at TOR.
Toronto: 4 Home vs. TB.

Bad for hitters / Good for pitchers
Arizona: 4 Road at SD.
Baltimore: 4 Road at SEA.
Milwaukee: 4 Home vs. WAS.
New York Mets: 4 Home vs. ATL.
San Francisco: 4 Road at LAD.
Seattle: 4 Home vs. BAL.
Washington: 4 Road at MIL.

Bad for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Pittsburgh: 4 Road at CHC.
Texas: 4 Road at OAK.

Schedule recommendations for teams with 3 games

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Cincinnati: 3 Home vs. COL.
Colorado: 3 Road at CIN.
Houston: 3 Road at STL.
St. Louis: 3 Home vs. HOU.

No pitchers start twice this week due to the All-Star Break.

Diamond Challenge

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sat:@BOS(M.Clement)
Johan Santana: Sat:@LAA(P.Byrd?)
Jason Schmidt: Thu:@LAD(B.Penny)
Pedro Martinez: Sun:ATL(T.Hudson???)
Roy Oswalt: Sat:@STL(J.Marquis)
Roger Clemens: Sun:@STL(C.Carpenter)
Mark Mulder: Fri:HOU(A.Pettitte)
Jake Peavy: Sat:ARI(C.Vargas)
Dontrelle Willis: Sun:@PHI(V.Padilla?)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:@PHI(B.Myers)
Josh Beckett: No start.
Miguel Batista: 4 Home vs. TB.

With batting average, runs, and saves taking precedence, Batista returns to the lineup to join Pedro and our four least expensive starters: Mulder, Peavy, Willis, and Burnett.

Offensively, with neither Iguchi nor Buck impressing and Holliday still injured, only Mora and Crawford look like good choices, replacing David Wright and Morneau.

Rotohelp.com(5th lg; 47th div; 1118th overall)
Week 15: July 14-July 17

 
C	Victor Martinez		860
C	Joe Mauer		440 
1B	Albert Pujols		1930
1B	Mark Teixeira		1310 
2B	Brian Roberts		960
2B	Marcus Giles		950 
3B	Melvin Mora		1270
3B	Troy Glaus		830
SS	Miguel Tejada		1800 
SS	Jose Reyes		850 
OF	Jim Edmonds		1250
OF	Adam Dunn		1110
OF	Miguel Cabrera		1110 
OF	Scott Podsednik		1090 
OF	Kevin Mench		580
OF	Jason Lane		400 
UT	Carl Crawford		1560
UT	Chase Utley		480
 
SP	Pedro Martinez		1450 
SP	Mark Mulder		1060
SP	Jake Peavy		1030
SP	Dontrelle Willis	870 
SP	A.J. Burnett		830
SP	Miguel Batista		840
RP	Brad Lidge		1280
RP	Trevor Hoffman		1270 
RP	Francisco Rodriguez	1250
RP	B.J. Ryan		950 

Total Salary for Week 15: 	29610

Diamond Challenge 2nd Season

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sat:@BOS(M.Clement)
Johan Santana: Sat:@LAA(P.Byrd?)
Pedro Martinez: Sun:ATL(T.Hudson???)
Roy Oswalt: Sat:@STL(J.Marquis)
Roger Clemens: Sun:@STL(C.Carpenter)
Jake Peavy: Sat:ARI(C.Vargas)
Chris Carpenter: Sun:HOU(R.Clemens)
Dontrelle Willis: Sun:@PHI(V.Padilla?)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:@PHI(B.Myers)
Josh Beckett: No start.
Brett Myers: Thu:FLO(A.Burnett)
Ryan Dempster: 4 Home vs. PIT.

A continued focus on offense here leads to a staff of Pedro, Peavy, Carpenter, Willis, Myers, and Dempster.

While Counsell remains benched, Posada, ARod, Brady Clark, and Morneau all return to the lineup, replacing Yadier Molina, David Wright, Hawpe, and Atkins.

Rotohelp.com(4th lg; 28th div; 193rd overall)
Week 15: July 14-July 17

 
C	Jorge Posada		930
C	Joe Mauer		440
1B	Derrek Lee		1440 
1B	Mark Teixeira		1310
2B	Brian Roberts		960 
2B	Chase Utley		480
3B	Alex Rodriguez	1880
3B	Morgan Ensberg		690
SS	Miguel Tejada		1800 
SS	Jose Reyes		850
OF	Bobby Abreu		1860 
OF	Miguel Cabrera		1110
OF	Scott Podsednik		1090 
OF	Pat Burrell		870
OF	Kevin Mench		580 
OF	Brady Clark		540
UT	Tadahito Iguchi		750
UT	Justin Morneau		680

SP	Pedro Martinez		1450 
SP	Jake Peavy		1030 
SP	Chris Carpenter	930 
SP	Dontrelle Willis	870 
SP	Brett Myers		630 
SP	Ryan Dempster		520
RP	Trevor Hoffman		1270
RP	Chad Cordero		1000
RP	B.J. Ryan		950
RP	Dustin Hermanson	920

Total Salary for Week 15: 	27830

Internet Challenge

SP(6)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:@PHI(B.Myers)
Miguel Batista: 4 Home vs. TB.

With only Burnett and Batista ranking as useful plays due to no one else starting, we'll assemble our pitching staff with the goal of maximizing cap room for offense.

Mora and Crawford return to the lineup for Buck and Atkins, who join Morneau, Iguchi, and Holliday on our bench.

Rotohelp.com(3rd lg; 55th overall)
Week 15a: July 14

 
C	Victor Martinez		860 
C	Joe Mauer		440
1B	Albert Pujols		1930 
1B	Mark Teixeira		1310
2B	Brian Roberts		960
2B	Marcus Giles		950
3B	Melvin Mora		1270
3B	Troy Glaus		830
SS	Miguel Tejada		1800 
SS	Jose Reyes		850 
OF	Jim Edmonds		1250
OF	Miguel Cabrera		1110
OF	Adam Dunn		1110 
OF	Scott Podsednik		1090
OF	Kevin Mench		580 
OF	Jeremy Reed		400 
UT	Carl Crawford		1560
UT	Travis Hafner		810 

SP	Pedro Martinez		1450 
SP	Mark Mulder		1060 
SP	Jake Peavy		1030
SP	Dontrelle Willis	870 
SP	A.J. Burnett		830
SP	Miguel Batista		840  
RP	Brad Lidge		1280
RP	Trevor Hoffman		1270 
RP	Francisco Rodriguez	1250
RP	B.J. Ryan		950 

Total Salary for Week 15a: 	29940

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

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sat:@BOS(M.Clement)
Jason Schmidt: Thu:@LAD(B.Penny)
Pedro Martinez: Sun:ATL(T.Hudson???)
Johan Santana: Sat:@LAA(P.Byrd?)
Roger Clemens: Sun:@STL(C.Carpenter)
Ben Sheets: Fri:WAS(E.Loaiza?)
Jake Peavy: Sat:ARI(C.Vargas)
Dontrelle Willis: Sun:@PHI(V.Padilla?)
A.J. Burnett: Thu:@PHI(B.Myers)
Josh Beckett: No start.
With Randy, Schmidt, and Clemens all facing tough opposition, we'll deploy our remaining six healthy pitchers.

With Buck, Helton, Hudson, Drew, Kearns, and Holliday glued to our bench, only activating Glaus for Morneau and Podsednik for Mench appears to make much sense here.

Rotohelp.com(9th lg; 796th overall)
& Rotohelp.com(12th lg; 2010th overall)
Week 15: July 14-July 17

 
C	Victor Martinez		1800
C	Joe Mauer		1140 
1B	Albert Pujols		3700 
1B	Travis Hafner		1870
2B	Marcus Giles		1850
2B	Brian Roberts		1770 
3B	Eric Chavez		2740
3B	Morgan Ensberg		1530 
SS	Rafael Furcal		2430
SS	Khalil Greene		1410 
OF	Miguel Cabrera		2420 
OF	Carl Crawford		2120
OF	Scott Podsednik		1990
OF	Jason Bay		1680 
OF	Jason Lane		1000 
OF	Jeremy Reed		1000
UT	Troy Glaus		2460
UT	Hank Blalock		2240

SP	Pedro Martinez		3140 
SP	Johan Santana		3090 
SP	Ben Sheets		2940
SP	Dontrelle Willis	2170 
SP	Jake Peavy		2090 
SP	A.J. Burnett		1900 
RP	Brad Lidge		2510
RP	Francisco Rodriguez	2360
RP	Trevor Hoffman		2350
RP	B.J. Ryan		2060

Total Salary for Week 15: 	59760

Today's Fantasy Rx: Making major CDM moves prior to the All-Star break rarely helps a team. Despite the slow trading season to date, at least one decently major deal should occur prior to next Sunday, which easily could affect any potential additions to your challenge roster. While setting your lineups remains a requirement for pennant contenders, we see no reason to risk a buy this week in any league unless an excess of remaining free agent moves necessitates the addition of Mark Teixeira, Roger Clemens, or even secondary options like Felipe Lopez and Aaron Rowand.