Today's Fantasy Rx

Schedule recommendations for teams with 4 games

Good for hitters / Good for pitchers
Detroit: 4 Home vs. KC.
Minnesota: 4 Home vs. CLE.
St. Louis: 4 Home vs. LAD.

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Baltimore: 4 Home vs. TEX.
Boston: 4 Home vs. OAK.
Cincinnati: 4 Home vs. COL.
Colorado: 4 Road at CIN.
Los Angeles Dodgers: 4 Road at STL.
Oakland: 4 Road at BOS.
Texas: 4 Road at BAL.

Bad for hitters / Good for pitchers
Cleveland: 4 Road at MIN.
Florida: 4 Home vs. HOU.
Houston: 4 Road at FLO.

Bad for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Kansas City: 4 Road at DET.

Schedule recommendations for teams with 3 games

Good for hitters / Good for pitchers
Los Angeles: Angels: 3 Home vs. TB.
San Diego: 3 Home vs. ATL.
San Francisco: 3 Home vs. PHI.

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Arizona: 3 Home vs. MIL.
Chicago White Sox: 3 Road at NYY.
Chicago Cubs: 3 Home vs. NYM.
Milwaukee: 3 Road at ARI.
New York Mets: 3 Road at CHC.
New York Yankees: 3 Home vs. CHW.
Pittsburgh: 3 Home vs. WAS.
Seattle: 3 Road at TOR.
Toronto: 3 Home vs. SEA.
Washington: 3 Road at PIT.

Bad for hitters / Good for pitchers
Tampa Bay: 3 Road at LAA.

Bad for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Philadelphia: 3 Road at SF.

No one starts twice due to the All-Star break.

CDM finally changed their rules to prevent royal headaches this weekend. As of this year, all the CDM baseball contests in which we participate allow you to wait until Thursday, July 13th, at 12PM(CDT) to complete your moves for the Week 15 games from the 13th through the 16th. Since few teams have announced their post-break rotations, we're going to wait until Wednesday evening to post our CDM rosters for the week. While delaying until mid-week will cost us an extra $.25-.50 per transaction, we believe the expense complete justified by the fact that even the need to make so much as three moves on Wednesday to adjust our pitchers will eliminate any savings temporarily gained by making our moves today.

Diamond Challenge

SP(6)
Johan Santana: Sat:CLE(C.Sabathia)
Roy Oswalt: Thu:@FLO(D.Willis)
Pedro Martinez: No start.
Chris Carpenter: Fri:LAD(D.Lowe)
Randy Johnson: Fri:CHW(J.Contreras)
Jake Peavy: Sun:ATL(Ho.Ramirez)
Roy Halladay: Sat:SEA(J.Moyer)
Mark Buehrle: Sat:@NYY(M.Mussina)
Curt Schilling: Sat:OAK(J.Blanton)
Brandon Webb: Sat:MIL(D.Davis)
Felix Hernandez: Sun:@TOR(A.Burnett)
John Lackey: Fri:TB(J.Seo)
Dan Haren: Fri:@BOS(J.Beckett)

Santana, Carpenter, Peavy, Halladay, Webb, and Lackey all look solid for us. While adding Francisco Liriano is quite tempting, we'll wait until the weekend and then purchase him for his double.

With little cap room then available on offense, our current bench of Willingham, Tex, Encarnacion, and Figgins remains unchanged.

Rotohelp.com(6th lg; 89th div; 1752nd overall)
Week 15: July 13-July 16

C	Victor Martinez		1020 
C	Joe Mauer		770
1B	Albert Pujols		2060
1B	Ryan Howard		880
2B	Chase Utley		1190
2B	Rickie Weeks		620
3B	David Wright		1210 
3B	Garrett Atkins		610 
SS	Felipe Lopez		1070
SS	Jose Reyes		1030 
OF	Jason Bay		1380 
OF	Pat Burrell		1040 
OF	Matt Holliday		1040 
OF	Chad Tracy		1020
OF	Nick Swisher		620 
OF	Brad Hawpe		440
DH	Travis Hafner		1180 
DH	Jim Thome		1070

SP	Johan Santana		1960
SP	Chris Carpenter		1550 
SP	Jake Peavy		1240
SP	Roy Halladay		1230 
SP	Brandon Webb		1030
SP	John Lackey		940 
RP	Bobby Jenks		1150
RP	J.J. Putz		890
RP	Jon Papelbon		890
RP	Chris Ray		820

Total Salary for Week 15: 	29950

Diamond Challenge - 2nd Season

With Ensberg now essentially a part-time player following the Houston's acquisition of Aubrey Huff, we're cutting Ensberg and replacing him with Garrett Atkins, available as a free agent this week.

SP(6)
Johan Santana: Sat:CLE(C.Sabathia)
Pedro Martinez: No start.
John Smoltz: Sat:@SD(C.Park)
Roy Halladay: Sat:SEA(J.Moyer)
Curt Schilling: Sat:OAK(J.Blanton)
Brandon Webb: Sat:MIL(D.Davis)
C.C. Sabathia: Sat:@MIN(J.Santana)
Mike Mussina: Sat:CHW(M.Buehrle)
John Lackey: Fri:TB(J.Seo)
Chris Capuano: Sun:@ARI(C.Vargas)
Dan Haren: Fri:@BOS(J.Beckett)
Brad Penny: Sun:@STL(An.Reyes)
Tom Glavine: Sat:@CHC(C.Zambrano)
Scott Kazmir: Sat:@LAA(Er.Santana)
Francisco Liriano: Thu:CLE(Cl.Lee)

Santana, Halladay, Webb, Lackey, and Liriano appear automatic, and then with Smoltz, Capuano, and Glavine all decent options, Capuano starts due to his great shot for a win.

Atkins flips for Ensberg, and then Soriano, Patterson, and Rios all sit.

Rotohelp.com(12th lg; 96th div; 577th overall)
Week 15: July 13-July 16

C	Joe Mauer		770
C	Ramon Hernandez		690
1B	Travis Hafner		1180
1B	Ryan Howard		880
2B	Chase Utley		1190
2B	Rickie Weeks		620
3B	David Wright		1210 
3B	Garrett Atkins		610 
SS	Jose Reyes		1030 
SS	Hanley Ramirez		400
OF	Jason Bay		1380 
OF	Scott Podsednik		1370 
OF	Matt Holliday		1040
OF	Austin Kearns		700
OF	Nick Swisher		620 
OF	Brad Hawpe		440
DH	Albert Pujols		2060
DH	Jim Thome		1070

SP	Johan Santana		1960 
SP	Roy Halladay		1230 
SP	Brandon Webb		1030 
SP	John Lackey		940
SP	Chris Capuano		870 
SP	Francisco Liriano	700
RP	Bobby Jenks		1150
RP	Jon Papelbon		890
RP	Chris Ray		820
RP	Akinori Otsuka		690

Total Salary for Week 15: 	27540

Internet Challenge

SP(6)
Johan Santana: No start.
Roy Oswalt: Thu:@FLO(D.Willis)
Pedro Martinez: No start.
Chris Carpenter: No start.
Randy Johnson: No start.
Jake Peavy: No start.
Roy Halladay: No start.
Mark Buehrle: No start.
Curt Schilling: No start.
Felix Hernandez: No start.
John Lackey: No start.
Dan Haren: No start.
Francisco Liriano: Thu:CLE(Cl.Lee)

Only Oswalt and Lirano start on Thursday, so they'll deploy along with our existing rotation of Halladay, Felix, and Lackey. Haren hits the bench since we know he won't pitch for us this weekend in Boston. Dempster also flips for Street with Oakland in Boston against Papelbon.

With Willingham, Tex, Encarnacion, and Swisher all playing on Thursday, Howard, Wright, Burrell, and Dye hit the bench due to their lack of games until Friday.

Rotohelp.com(11th lg; 317th overall)
Week 15a: July 13

 
C	Victor Martinez		1020 
C	Joe Mauer		770 
1B	Mark Teixeira		1470
1B	Travis Hafner		1180
2B	Chase Utley		1190
2B	Rickie Weeks		620 
3B	Garrett Atkins		610
3B	Edwin Encarnacion	600
SS	Felipe Lopez		1070
SS	Jose Reyes		1030 
OF	Jason Bay		1380 
OF	Chone Figgins		1350 
OF	Matt Holliday		1040
OF	Chad Tracy		1020 
OF	Corey Patterson		910 
OF	Nick Swisher		620
DH	Albert Pujols		2060 
DH	Josh Willingham		340 

SP	Johan Santana		1960 
SP	Roy Oswalt		1830
SP	Roy Halladay		1230
SP	Felix Hernandez		960 
SP	John Lackey		940 
SP	Francisco Liriano	700 
RP	Ryan Dempster		1180
RP	J.J. Putz		890
RP	Jon Papelbon		890
RP	Chris Ray		820

Total Salary for Week 15a:	29680

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

SP(6)
Johan Santana: Sat:CLE(C.Sabathia)
Roy Oswalt: Thu:@FLO(D.Willis)
Chris Carpenter: Fri:LAD(D.Lowe)
Pedro Martinez: No start.
Randy Johnson: Fri:CHW(J.Contreras)
Javier Vazquez: No start.
John Lackey: Fri:TB(J.Seo)
Mike Mussina: Sat:CHW(M.Buehrle) Roy Halladay: Sat:SEA(J.Moyer)
Dan Haren: Fri:@BOS(J.Beckett)

With irritatingly few options, Oswalt and Mussina will join Santana, Carpenter, Lackey, and Halladay.

Cap problems lead to a four-day switch of Willingham for Mauer. Tex, Ellis, Encarnacion, Barmes, Bay, Gomes, and Sullivan all stay seated.

Rotohelp.com(FB: 15th lg; 757th overall)
& Rotohelp.com(BB: 14th lg; 1661st overall)
Week 15: July 13-July 16

 
C	Victor Martinez		1940 
C	Josh Willingham		1000
1B	Lance Berkman		2860
1B	Ryan Howard		1950
2B	Chase Utley		2270
2B	Rickie Weeks		1300
3B	David Wright		2480 
3B	Garrett Atkins		1330
SS	Felipe Lopez		1800 
SS	Bobby Crosby		1640 
OF	Grady Sizemore		2200 
OF	Chad Tracy		2100 
OF	Nick Swisher		1550
OF	Curtis Granderson	1000 
OF	Jeremy Hermida		1000 
DH	Albert Pujols		3870
DH	Travis Hafner		2680

SP	Johan Santana		3310 
SP	Roy Oswalt		3200
SP	Chris Carpenter		3140 
SP	John Lackey		2760 
SP	Mike Mussina		2480
SP	Roy Halladay		2480 
RP	Huston Street		2320 
RP	J.J. Putz		1600
RP	Jon Papelbon		1590
RP	Chris Ray		1580

Total Salary for Week 15:	59570

Today's Fantasy Rx: We highly advise against making player purchases or trades today. The All-Star Break remains an ideal opportunity for clubs to deal, creating the strong possibility that anyone you move or acquire could possess vastly different value by the end of the week than when you consummate any action. Instead, just set your lineups for the week early, favoring pitchers over hitters due to the reasonable potential for bat rust over the next few days, and then catch the Futures Game on ESPN2 at 4PM(EDT).