Today's Fantasy Rx

After spending yesterday monitoring thirteen different games, I have compiled the following notes from Opening Day 2006:

12pm(CDT): Washington Nationals @ New York Mets

After avoiding him on virtually all of our fantasy teams for several seasons due to declining control, we reversed course by finally drafting Tom Glavine in the hope that he will rebound from last year to his usual awesome April stats. Admittedly keeping the Nationals to a single run is not an impressive accomplishment, but at least we also received some benefit from the Mets stranding David Wright in the #5 hole, inspiring a sixth inning homer.

Conversely, only Glavine could allow three walks to the Nats without merely walking Nick Johnson thrice. Nothing about Washington's offense makes much sense, an ironic development considering the massive offense generated by the rest of the city. At least Soriano began dispelling the predictions of his detractors, adding a walk and steal to his 2-for-3 day. The Nationals will not score many runs, but with some individually impressive players capable of singular feats like steals and homers, at least they will look good while losing.

1pm(CDT): Pittsburgh Pirates @ Milwaukee Brewers

Anyone else believe that Jason Bay will lead the league in walks if the Pirates continue wasting him in the #4 hole ahead of strikeout machines? The Brewers rebuilt the right way and now only lack a future potential All-Star at catcher. Doug Davis deserved the win, and given this club's development, only Ben Sheets' questionable health stands between Milwaukee and playoff contention.

For Pittsburgh fans: Oliver Perez looked strong. I want to add some inspiring comments regarding the club's overall upside, but between Humberto Cota starting over Ryan Doumit and the unbelievable extension awarded Dave Littlefield merely for spending the money ownership ordered him to consume, I cannot see much hope for the Pirates' immediate future with my current prescription.

1pm(CDT): Boston Red Sox @ Texas Rangers

Whispers of Chan Ho Park will follow Millwood throughout his contract even though he signed for $5M less than the Great Texas Boondoggle. Scott Boras needs to send a thank you note to Toronto owner Ted Rogers. Only Rogers' order to spend payroll led the Jays to add the fifth year necessary to convince A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan to head north of the border. Millwood then landed a fifth year from the Rangers, joining the Jays' $102M duo as the only pitchers to receive five-year deals since Park.

However, offense truly decided this game as Mike Lowell began fulfilling our rebound predictions. Trot Nixon and Manny each managed a hit and a walk in the battle to avoid replacement by Wily Mo Pena. Hank Blalock also started his breakout campaign nicely, somehow still leaving Schilling owners content with a win and solid stats while hopefully ignorant of his 117 pitches.

1pm(CDT): Chicago Cubs @ Cincinnati Reds

Listening to this game on the radio with other Cubs fans provided a wealth of interesting moments, perhaps peaked by the need to explain why Ronny Cedeno deserves more playing time than Neifi Perez. Of course, we also heard Adam Dunn's glove burying Wayne Krivsky's decision to deal Wily Mo Pena, as well as Matt Murton providing Tuffyesque justification for the Nomar trade. Watching Krivsky follow the Pena trade by dealing Kearns this summer likely will hurt Reds fans even more than dumping Nomar initially bothered Red Sox Nation.

However, the biggest shock of the day occurred in Dusty Baker's shockingly logical lineup, which returned Todd Walker to his natural #2 hole between Pierre and Lee/ARam, hit Barrett sixth behind Jones, and then ended with Murton and Cedeno. Chicago may get enough offense to approach ninety wins if these eight guys play in a significant majority of games.

2pm(CDT): Tampa Bay Devil Rays @ Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore exposed the folly of Tampa keeping Julio Lugo's younger brother even as the Rays clearly demonstrated that the Orioles deployed their worst starter on Opening Day. Keeping Nick Markakis and Corey Patterson as bench players simply baffles me when the club simultaneously could deploy three decent centerfielders behind flyball pitchers like Bruce Chen. We desperately want to see a present-future lineup of Roberts/Mora/Tejada/Gibbons(1B)/Lopez/RHernandez ahead of Markakis/Matos/Patterson, along with a steady parade of green lights flashed at Patterson both at the plate and on the bases. Instead the Orioles continue treading water offensively, though perhaps Leo Mazzone at least will help move the club forward on one side of the ball.

The Rays remain a team headed in the exact opposite direction, barreling toward an optimal team regardless of management's wishes. Lugo's injury could push Upton to the majors, and with Baldelli nearly ready to replace Damon Hollins, soon only Travis Lee and Toby Hall will look like clear placeholders. Of course, if Scott Kazmir posts many more 4-8-6-6-3-4-3 lines, the Rays might start resembling the Reds or Rockies instead of the Brewers or Indians.

2pm(CDT): St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies

Rollins rolls on even as Charlie Manuel attempts to sabotage Pat Gillick's unretirement with Abraham O.Why.Is.He.Hitting.Second Nunez. Even leading off Nunez would sabotage fewer rallies than separating Rollins from the rest of the hitters in the order. As much promise as the lineup offers, we also were able to see the gaping bullpen hole that could sabotage the otherwise well-rounded squad. Gillick will need to add help well before the summer to offset the lack of right-handed firepower left in the wake of Ryan Madson's move to the rotation.

Tony La Russa similarly attempted to destroy our quantitative stats by running Encarnacion in front of PuEdRo rather than keeping Spivey and hitting him second as he deserves. Of course, Encarnacion could develop into an all-around threat in that lineup slot, so I will withhold total judgment of La Russa until at least the Cardinals' second game. Instead we will focus on Carpenter's relatively respectable debut and hope that Hector Luna soon will fix the defensive hole at second base.

3pm(CDT): Arizona Diamondbacks @ Colorado Rockies

No game provided more disappointment as popping the first Coors of the year led to less combined runs than the Red Sox, Devil Rays, Orioles, Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, Braves, Dodgers, and Padres scored on their own. Arizona soon will realize the necessity of batting Conor Jackson third, then further deepen the offense by shipping Shawn Green to the Padres for Chan Ho Park and Tim Stauffer to clear a spot for Carlos Quentin to take over the #5 hole. If Josh Byrnes makes that deal before June, the Diamondbacks may sneak into contention with the young offense further buoyed by the second-half promotions of Stephen Drew and Chris Young. For now, Snakes fans just need to focus on Brandon Webb's outstanding Coors performance and the glimpse into the 2008 World Series provided by Jackson, Chad Tracy, and Orlando Hudson.

The Rockies at least scored enough runs to win, nicely illustrating the ridiculousness of Arizona's signing of Jason Grimsley, but we expect a lot more than nine hits and three runs from Colorado. We also are irked that Bob Melvin held back the homertastic Russ Ortiz until the Rockies hit Milwaukee on Friday. Perhaps El Duque will leave a few fat ones up in the zone for Holliday and Atkins.

3pm(CDT): Detroit Tigers @ Kansas City Royals

No injury devastated our teams more this spring than the temporary loss of Todd Jones, though we at least hope you also added Fernando Rodney if you heeded our support of TSN's most interesting columnist. While moving Chris Shelton to #6 suggests some hope for Leyland V4.0, only a lineup that features Polanco/Guillen/Shelton/Maggs has any hope of keeping pace with the three true contenders in the division. Hanging out Granderson at leadoff also will not help anybody, especially since his power development remains more important to this franchise than his speed.

Thankfully the Tigers were not playing one of those three AL Central contenders yesterday. The Royals, whose motto remains "We want good hitters and good fielders, but never the twain shall meet in OUR lineup", managed a meager five baserunners against the Tigers' vaunted pitching. The other Kenny Rogers probably only would have allowed two runs, and with happy fun pitchers like Joe Mays cued for the enjoyment of opposing offenses, you might want to avoid theLeast Happy Place on Earth once again this summer.

3pm(CDT): Atlanta Braves @ Los Angeles Dodgers

The Braves' lineup already appears intriguingly scary and could develop into a monster run-scoring machine by next year. An expected Edgar Renteria rebound perfectly combines with the overall balance and the three impact sophomore hitters to offer eight tough outs every night. Valuing LaRoche above Ryan Howard will not look so silly given his power potential and development curve, making our 23 HR and 85 RBI projection a potential floor for the promising young slugger. The loss of fifteen homers for Andruw merely leaves an abundance of baserunners for LaRoche when he bats in the first inning with two RBI opportunities every other day.

Nevertheless, the Dodgers perhaps enjoyed a better day despite the loss. Rafael Furcal and underrated OBP source Jose Cruz spent most of the day running around the bases, each scoring three times. J.D. Drew only needs to stay healthy to approach his 2004 numbers, and with Nomar already heading to the DL, James Loney just slammed from 2007 sleeper to darkhorse 2006 Rookie of the Year candidate if Grady Little allows him to hit behind Kent.

4pm(CDT): Los Angeles Angels @ Seattle Mariners

The AL West could finish with surprising standings if the Mariners realize the upside gained by deploying Roberto Petagine over Carl Everett. Of course, with little overall offense and a pitching staff teetering on the rebuilt Rafael Soriano and Flailing Felix, expecting anything more than a run at .500 seems unreasonable in Seattle.

Garret Anderson's Silver Sombrero highlighted his Ofer, costing Vlad an easy early RBI. Casey Kotchman probably belongs in the #3 or #4 hole after his great spring, but with the Angels clearly determined to take the slowest possible route through rebuilding with youth, Mike Scioscia's veteran loyalty probably will cost the club a playoff spot this summer. Any potential post-season run here rests entirely on the health of the pitching staff, which at least received a nice surprise with the long-term deal awarded John Lackey to bridge between Colon/Escobar and WeaverX2/Santana.

6pm(CDT): Florida Marlins @ Houston Astros

Despite the Marlins surprisingly maximized lineup, which properly deploys Hermida, Cabrera, Jacobs, and Willingham in the 2-5 slots, Florida failed to score a run against Oswalt and Lidge while netting all of seven baserunners on the day. Hanley Ramirez leads our Hacking Mass" team and padded Oswalt's line with three Ks by himself. The two biggest surprises for fantasy owners involve Eric Reed starting over Reggie Abercrombie and the use of Joe Borowski as a middle reliever. Anyone drafting next weekend needs to devalue saves throughout Florida's pen as someone like Carlos Martinez, Chris Resop, or even the recently-acquired Franklyn German could begin closing.

With the first of many potential 1-0 losses, Dontrelle soon will know how Clemens felt throughout 2005.

6pm(CDT): San Francisco Giants @ San Diego Padres

No line looms bigger than the 4 1 1 0 of Barry Bonds, who did not walk once against three of the Padres' best pitchers. Jason Schmidt also pitched quite well, but Khalil Greene served notice that he will join LaRoche in embracing his age-26 (with 2+ years of experience) season. I do not view 20 HR and 80 RBI as unreasonable marks, especially if Giles, Piazza, and Adrian Gonzalez average a .375 OBP.

These two clubs look likely to finish 2-3 in the division, making these games vital as potential tiebreakers. The presence of Ray Durham in San Francisco's #3 hole needs fixing immediately if the Giants want to belong on the positive side of that standing, and with Felipe continuing to undervalue his kid, his club appears close to losing their opportunity to end their growing curse as the second-longest NL Series bridesmaids.

9pm(CDT): New York Yankees @ Oakland Athletics

Okay, so maybe Barry Zito will not win the Cy Young this year. All he needs are shutouts in Seattle and home against Texas to bring his ERA near the 3.12 we projected and negate his despicable 7 ER over 1.1 IP.

Moving on: The Yankees also might exceed the 787 runs scored we allotted them. Yes, they feature scarily past-peak starters Damon, Sheffield, Giambi, Posada, and Bernie, but these guys appear capable of raking for one more year. Adding Jeter, ARod, and Godzilla to that mix merely creates the potential for inflating the ERA of the rest of the division.

On the brighter side, we will even tolerate Chicago's return to the playoffs if we can watch Frank Thomas bite the hand that fed him for fifteen years only to slap him around when he would not head to the vet like a good metaphor and sentence that just...would not...end. Few moments mitigated the awfulness of Zito's debut like the Big Hurt's smash, especially when we then saw Kirk Saarloos trash our ERA in yet another league and Bobby Crosby possibly once again hurt his hand. Hopefully he will learn not to place his extremities between a flying pair of spikes and second base.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Bonus Opening Night Review: 7PM(CDT): Cleveland Indians @ Chicago White Sox. The rain delay really spoiled the season's debut as the game did not finish until well after midnight, however the recurrence of C.C. Sabathia's 2005 injury looks like the biggest effect here. His problems could take him from a season where we expected a potential Cy Young candidacy to one where he costs the Indians a playoff spot due to spending much of the year on the DL. Fernando Cabrera's struggles trouble us almost as much, especially when combined with the impressive homecoming of the not-dead-yet Jim Thome. While we still believe everyone is severely underrating the Twins, both these clubs should remain quite strong if their offenses continue to percolate.