Today's Fantasy Rx

Today and tomorrow we will present our 2007 Fantasy Baseball All-Star Teams. To compile these rosters, we are employing traditional 5x5 stats with OBP/SLG to resolve any otherwise tight races. We also are using the current All-Star roster rules, including:

At least one representative from every team;

At least two representatives from every fielding position;

Evaluating players at their expected pre-season position while slotting all DHs at their most logical fielding position since San Francisco's AT&T Park hosted the Midsummer Classic this year;

Eleven pitchers, including at least five starters and three relievers;

and five deserving pitchers for the 32nd spot on each team.

Rotohelp's 2007 American League Fantasy Baseball All-Stars

Catcher: Jorge Posada's BA and overall excellence edge the superior power numbers of the Indians' Victor Martinez, especially since the Yankee also owns around a 100-point lead in OPS. Victor still takes the back-up slot with no one else particularly close.

First Base: The excellent batting average of Boston's David Ortiz allows him to outdistance the superior power numbers of Tampa's Carlos Pena, who provided the most unexpected though admittedly overdue breakout of the year.

Second Base: In a surprisingly strong year for second basemen, even Ian Kinsler's 20-20 season could not guarantee him a slot here. The fifty steals of Baltimore's Brian Roberts makes him the starter, and despite decent numbers from Placido Polanco, Tampa's B.J. Upton still qualifies here for our purposes and deservedly wins the back-up job.

Third Base: While a few AL third basemen posted solid numbers, New York's Alex Rodriguez obviously surpasses all competition here. Chone Figgins also posted great numbers, but with Boston's Mike Lowell seeing nearly 150 more at-bats, his BA, combined with his outstanding power numbers, edges Figgins's steals.

Shortstop: All the talent here now appears in the NL as I doubt any AL shortstop will reach $30. New York's Derek Jeter appears minutely superior to Detroit's Carlos Guillen despite the latter's superior power.

Outfield: AL batting leaders Magglio Ordonez of Detroit and Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle claim two starting jobs here, and the Tigers' Curtis Granderson takes the third slot, relegating Baltimore's Nick Markakis, Tampa's Carl Crawford, and the Angels' Vlad Guerrero to the bench. Alex Rios and Grady Sizemore likely will need tickets to attend.

Starting Pitcher: Despite several similarly worthy candidates, Boston's Josh Beckett merits the start here. Low win then totals push guys like Erik Bedard and Scott Kazmir out of immediate consideration, leaving a rotation of the Angels' John Lackey, Minnesota's Johan Santana, and both Fausto Carmona and C.C. Sabathia of the Indians.

Relief Pitcher: Sub-2.00 ERAs make Seattle's J.J. Putz, Boston's Jon Papelbon, and Minnesota's Joe Nathan the best choices in the bullpen.

With three more pitching slots available and five teams still requiring representatives, Chicago's Bobby Jenks and Oakland's Dan Haren appear easy calls. The Angels' Francisco Rodriguez also posted another great year and deserves a berth here.

Bench: Realistically no Royal deserves recognition here, but with over a hundred runs scored, David DeJesus appears a far better representative than Gil Meche or Joakim Soria. Including Toronto's Alex Rios and the Rangers' Mike Young also doesn't offend me, especially since Rios essentially makes the team on merit. Lastly, despite a wealth of solid options, including Polanco, Figgins, Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, Gary Sheffield, and especially Bobby Abreu, Cleveland's Grady Sizemore provided the best overall contribution of the remaining American Leaguers and claims the last spot on the bench.

32nd Man: As the managers let fans choose from five pitchers here, we also will submit AL strikeout leader Scott Kazmir of Tampa, Erik Bedard of Baltimore, Kelvim Escobar of Los Angeles, and two more Indians' pitchers, saves leader Joe Borowski and Rafael Betancourt, who tied for the league lead in holds, struck out eighty, and managed an outstanding 1.47 ERA and .76 WHIP. Bedard probably should edge Borowski for the spot given his strikeouts and overall qualitative excellence, though obviously Betancourt offered the best value to fantasy teams.

Today's Fantasy Rx: Though we did not expect to see a one-game playoff in the NL, San Diego's recent struggles, affected to an unknown extent by the ridiculous belligerence of umpire Mike Winters, resulted in the Padres heading to Denver tomorrow to face the Rockies for the right to face Philadelphia in the ALDS, allowing us to present:

2007 Week in Preview: Week 27

Schedule recommendations for teams with 1 games

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Colorado: 1 Home vs. SD.
San Diego: 1 Road at COL.

With the game in Coors, activate every hitter you can unless protected an extremely narrow BA margin. We also see little reason not to risk running Jake Peavy, who not only pitches for a playoff spot but also just might snag the MVP with a dominant outing tomorrow. Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman also seem safe plays, as does Manny Corpas, though deploying any other pitcher appears rather unwise. Similarly, we won't blame you if you don't want to risk a Colorado implosion of your qualitative staff and therefore sit your hitters, though if you can gain needed quantitative points, we generally favor the gamble.

For CDM purposes, we are activating all our batters on the Rockies and Padres, as well as Jake Peavy, who hopefully will not destroy our qualitative stats in the Challenge contests. Obviously you also should activate everyone you own on San Diego and Colorado in points leagues since you will not lose any points and just might add a couple dozen bonus points if everything breaks right.