Today's Fantasy Rx

Welcome to our weekly LPR rankings, our primary method to identify highly skilled and/or consistently effective pitchers. While we haven't changed this system since last season, feel free to refer here for a complete description of the codes. We've included the five most recent 2005 QA scores for each starter, along with the 10 most recent QA scores for each reliever, tabulating all data through the end of the first half on July 10th. Pitchers with no QA scores have not pitched this year, so don't roster any of them unless you see someone ready to return to the majors.

1
2ABY - Freddy Garcia(33453)
3ACXZ - Roy Halladay(44555)
ABC - Matt Clement(44433)
AX - Bartolo Colon(44242)
A - Dan Haren(44434)
A - Erik Bedard(55452)

23abcxyz - Mariano Rivera(4544545435)
3ax - Arthur Rhodes(4544325314)
abcxyz - Brian Shouse(4342242032)
abcxy - B.J. Ryan(5555455452)
ax - Justin Duchscherer(3454545425)

Swapping Matts Miller and Guerrier for Rivera brings this ranking much closer to my pre-season expectation, giving us seven excellent pitchers to target anywhere, as well as two useful southpaw relievers to provide qualitative help in deeper leagues.

I hope to post the remainder of this ranking soon.

1 - 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+ in 25+ IP in 2005.
2 - 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+ in 25+ IP in 2004.
3 - 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+ in 25+ IP in 2003.

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.

QA score for relief outings: up to 5 total points, one for each statistical goal, to any reliever who retires at least one batter and fulfills any of the following skill qualifications: K>=IP, BB=0, H<=IP, HR=0, and G-F>=1.00. Any reliever who doesn't reach any of the required statistical goals or fails to retire a batter 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.

Note: Starters must pitch in five games before earning any of the following DOM or DIS ratings; relievers must appear in no less than 10 games before earning DOM/DIS consideration. All pitchers are evaluated as relievers aside from those who reached both 5 starts in a given season and qualified for DOM or DIS ratings.

A - QA score of 4 or 5 in at least 50% of 2005 starts
B - QA score of 4 or 5 in at least 50% of 2004 starts
C - QA score of 4 or 5 in at least 50% of 2003 starts

X - QA score below 3 in no more than 20% of 2005 starts
Y - QA score below 3 in no more than 20% of 2004 starts
Z - QA score below 3 in no more than 20% of 2003 starts

a - QA score of 4 or 5 in at least 50% of 2005 relief outings
b - QA score of 4 or 5 in at least 50% of 2004 relief outings
c - QA score of 4 or 5 in at least 50% of 2003 relief outings

x - QA score below 3 in no more than 20% of 2005 relief outings
y - QA score below 3 in no more than 20% of 2004 relief outings
z - QA score below 3 in no more than 20% of 2003 relief outings

We'll continue tomorrow with this week's NL LPR article.

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Sat:@BOS(M.Clement)
Johan Santana: Sat:@LAA(B.Colon)
Pedro Martinez: Sun:ATL(M.Hampton)
Roy Oswalt: Sat:@STL(J.Marquis)
Roger Clemens: Sun:@STL(C.Carpenter)
Ben Sheets: Fri:WAS(L.Hernandez)
Mark Mulder: Fri:HOU(A.Pettitte)
Jake Peavy: Sat:ARI(C.Vargas)
Dontrelle Willis: Sun:@PHI(V.Padilla)
Josh Beckett: No start.
A.J. Burnett: No start
Miguel Batista: 3 Home vs. TB.

Given cap considerations and the four automatic home starts here, Willis and Batista will complete our offense.

Offensively, Buck, Morneau, Atkins, and Holliday will remain seated from the one-day first half of the week while Iguchi, enjoying a weekend against Victor Martinez, will sub for Edmonds, pushing us under the cap.

Rotohelp.com(3rd lg; 50th overall)
Week 15b: July 15-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	Carl Crawford		1560
OF	Miguel Cabrera		1110
OF	Adam Dunn		1110 
OF	Scott Podsednik		1090
OF	Kevin Mench		580 
OF	Jeremy Reed		400 
UT	Travis Hafner		810 
UT	Tadahito Iguchi		750

SP	Pedro Martinez		1450 
SP	Ben Sheets		1200
SP	Mark Mulder		1060 
SP	Jake Peavy		1030
SP	Dontrelle Willis	870 
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 15b: 	29810

Today's Fantasy Rx: Allocating FAAB following Wednesday's flurry of moves should result in a maximum bid for Eric Byrnes in the NL, a token offering for Joe Kennedy in the AL, and perhaps a few bucks from AL owners looking for rock solid qualitative help on the unsurprisingly excellent Jay Witasick.