Today's Fantasy Rx

We apologize for the late posting of yesterday's articles. Due to problems with our server's FTP client, we were unable to access the site files until mid-day today. The articles are available, as always, in the archive by date, accessible either through the archive link on the left side of each page, or by clicking on the previous article link at the bottom of each column.

Colorado: 6 games: 3 Home vs. Pittsburgh; 3 Road at Philadelphia.
Houston: 6 Home games: 3 vs. Montreal; 3 vs. New York Mets.

Minnesota: 7 Home games: 4 vs. Tampa Bay; 3 vs. Detroit.

Baltimore: 7 games: 3 Road at Boston; 4 Home vs. Kansas City.

Tampa Bay: 7 games: 4 Road at Minnesota; 3 Home vs. Boston.

Kansas City: 7 Road games: 3 at Detroit; 4 at Baltimore.

All other teams play six games.

Pitchers of interest with two starts:
Ramon Ortiz: Tue:@CLE(Sabathia); Sun:@TOR(Prokopec)
Greg Maddux: Tue:@MIL(Figueroa); Sun:@STL(Kile)
Frank Castillo: Mon:BAL(R.Lopez); Sun:@TB(Rupe)
Matt Clement: Tue:@SD(Lawrence); Sun:@LA(Brown)
C.C. Sabathia: Tue:ANA(Ra.Ortiz); Sun:TEX(Rogers)
Jeff Weaver: Mon:KC(Suppan); Sun:@MIN(Lohse)
A.J. Burnett: Tue:@STL(Kile); Sun:@MIL(Figueroa)
Roy Oswalt: Tue:MON(Vazquez); Sun:NYM(A.Leiter)
Jeff Suppan: Mon:@DET(Weaver); Sat:@BAL(R.Lopez)
Chris George: Tue:@DET(Sparks); Sun: @BAL(Maduro)
Kevin Brown(?): Tue:CIN(Reitsma); Sun:CHC(Clement)
Eric Milton: Mon:TB(Kennedy); Sat:DET(Redman)
Javier Vazquez: Tue:@HOU(Oswalt); Sun:@ARI(Stottlemyre)
Al Leiter: Tue:@ARI(Stottlemyre); Sun:@HOU(Oswalt)
David Wells: Tue:OAK(Zito); Sun:SEA(Piniero)
Barry Zito: Tue:@NYY(D.Wells); Sun:@CHW(D.Wright)
Robert Person: Mon:@SF(Schmidt); Sun:COL(Hampton)
Brian Lawrence: Tue:CHC(Clement); Sun:PIT(D.Williams)
Joel Piniero: Tue:@CHW(D.Wright); Sun:@NYY(D.Wells)
Jason Schmidt: Mon:PHI(Person); Sat:CIN(Haynes) or Sun:CIN(Reitsma)
Darryle Kile: Tue:FLO(Burnett); Sun:ATL(Maddux)
Ryan Rupe: Tue:@MIN(Lohse); Sun:BOS(Castillo)
Kenny Rogers: Tue:@TOR(Prokopec); Sun:@CLE(Sabathia)
Luke Prokopec: Tue:TEX(K.Rogers); Sun:ANA(Ra.Ortiz)

Diamond Challenge

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Wed:NYM(Trachsel)
Pedro Martinez: Wed:BAL(Douglass)
Greg Maddux: Tue:@MIL(Figueroa); Sun:@STL(Kile)
Curt Schilling: Fri:MON(Chen)
Mike Mussina: Wed:OAK(Hiljus)
Roger Clemens: Thu:OAK(Lidle)
Matt Morris: Fri:ATL(A.Lopez)
Tim Hudson: Fri:@CHW(Buehrle)
Russ Ortiz: Wed:PHI(Adams)
Javier Vazquez: Tue:@HOU(Oswalt); Sun:@ARI(Stottlemyre)
Kerry Wood: Thu:@SD(Tomko)
Brian Lawrence: Tue:CHC(Clement); Sun:PIT(D.Williams)
Eric Gagne: 6 Home games: 3 vs. Cincinnati; 3 vs. Chicago Cubs.

RP(4)
Jason Isringhausen: 6 Home games: 3 vs. Florida; 3 vs. Atlanta
Byung-Hyun Kim: 6 Home games: 3 vs. New York Mets; 3 vs. Montreal
Eddie Guardado: 7 Home games: 4 vs. Tampa Bay; 3 vs. Detroit
Danys Baez: Fri:TEX(R.Bell)
Jorge Julio: 7 games: 3 Road at Boston; 4 Home vs. Kansas City.

With Randy, Pedro, and Schilling all continuing to pitch great, we need to start all three of them at home against weak offenses. Brian Lawrence is a great choice against two weak offenses at home. Now that Danys Baez has pitched fairly well for us in two separate two-start weeks, we no longer need him as we remain desperate for saves; all four of our relief closers are in, as well as Gagne as a starter. These choices leave us one starting spot remaining for pitching between Road doubles for Vazquez and Maddux, as well as potentially adding Oswalt for his Home double.

We'd planned to pick up Berkman when he was healthy and at home, and as both appear to be the case this week, we're going to add Lance to our roster and drop Danys Baez. We'll start Berkman for Ichiro as Suzuki is still hobbling after needing four stitches in his knee.

Our Coors' platoon remains deployed, and with a month of the season now over, we're going to examine the rest of our lineup by position.

Jorge Posada and Toby Hall are acceptable at catcher since Posada's doing great and Hall's too inexpensive to replace at this time despite Lo Duca's availability as a free agent this week. Our major need right now on offense is RBI, and Hall will likely help as much as Lo Duca.

At 1B, with Ortiz on the DL, we need to start both Helton and Giambi. Ryan Klesko needs to remain in our lineup considering his current hot streak, and he'll remain at DH this week. We'll consider Konerko the next time the White Sox play seven games, but we also expect Giambi to heat up soon.

Soriano and Castillo have been great at second; Soriano may be the top player in Challenge right now and Castillo's really helping in steals.

We're really unhappy at third and wouldn't mind benching all three of our guys. Hillenbrand didn't contribute much power last week but continues to face Baltimore and Tampa. Both Chavez and Blalock are on the road for six this week, and considering Chavez's current slump, we'll consider benching him if we need more salary room.

Uribe and ARod are great at short, and Jimmy Rollins has also played exceptionally well.

Larry Walker, Pierre, Dunn, Ward, and Jeremy Giambi have played solidly in the outfield, and Ichiro/Berkman give us a great potential speed/power platoon. Drew's been solid when healthy, and Bonds really helped out with homers in the beginning of the year, although we'll likely move to Sosa in another couple of weeks.

We'll put Drew back in this week since he gets six at home, along with Walker, Pierre, Berkman, and Ward. We don't have the cap room for Bonds despite six home games, so our remaining outfield slot is between Dunn's six road games and and Jeremy Giambi's six road games.

We're not adding Oswalt this week because he's facing two of the best pitchers in baseball in Vazquez and Leiter, so we'll wait one more week and then add him as a free agent. Due to our cap restrictions, we'll use Vazquez instead of Maddux, and we also like Vazquez against Stottlemyre.

With Dunn heating up, we'll leave him active since he's likely to contribute more RBI, but that leaves us with only 1150 left for two slots, and Chavez costs 1070. As he's facing Wells, Mussina, Clemens, Buehrle, and Ritchie, we'll sit him for Blalock, and then fill the last hole with Jeremy Giambi since we don't quite have enough money available for Rollins and David Ortiz, despite a perfect salary, is still injured.

We've now used 5 of our 12 buys to add Guardado, Gagne, Hillenbrand, Hudson, and Berkman, although we have all four of our free agents remaining. Cory Lidle is available today, and we really like his 640 salary, but he's on the road against Clemens this week, and after a probable double in two weeks in Boston and Toronto, he'll only get a two single-start weeks against Tampa Bay. Hudson and Mulder are currently scheduled for those doubles, so we see no need to burn this move right now.

As previously discussed, we'll certainly add Oswalt next week as a free agent, and we'll pick up Nomar in two weeks as Boston heads into a two-week, 13-game home stand. We'll also consider Corey Patterson that week if we need another cheap outfielder, but we'll likely hold our remaining two moves. With Colorado and San Francisco both on the road next week while the Cubs play seven at home, we'll probably pick up Sosa as planned as long as the weather around here is decent.

The three players "on the bubble" for us right now are Russ Ortiz because of his dreadful K:BB, Maddux due to his injury problems and overall performance, and Bonds since we don't have room for both Bonds and Sosa. At least one of these three will need to go for Oswalt, and it'll likely be Ortiz unless he turns his season around rather suddenly against Philadelphia this week. We'd considered dropping Brian Lawrence around here, but while he's relatively useless for the next two weeks, he should double in a month at home against Colorado and Milwaukee.

Shadow of the Umpire & Interview with the Umpire
Week 5: April 29 - May 5

C 	Jorge Posada		990
C	Toby Hall		320
1B	Todd Helton		1980
1B	Jason Giambi		1640
2B	Luis Castillo		1000
2B	Alfonso Soriano		900
3B	Hank Blalock		500
3B	Shea Hillenbrand	450
SS	Alex Rodriguez		1880
SS	Juan Uribe		500
OF	Larry Walker		1530
OF	Lance Berkman		1320
OF	Juan Pierre		1180
OF	J.D. Drew		1010
OF	Adam Dunn		710
OF	Daryle Ward		620
DH	Ryan Klesko		1300
DH	Jeremy Giambi		500

SP	Randy Johnson		1990
SP	Pedro Martinez		1770
SP	Curt Schilling		1540
SP	Javier Vazquez		1100
SP	Eric Gagne		500
SP	Brian Lawrence		480
RP	Jason Isringhausen	1290
RP	Byung-Hyun Kim		1200
RP	Eddie Guardado		900
RP	Jorge Julio		750

Internet Challenge

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Wed:NYM(Trachsel)
Pedro Martinez: Wed:BAL(Douglass)
Greg Maddux: Tue:@MIL(Figueroa)
Kevin Brown: Tue:CIN(Reitsma)
Mike Mussina: Wed:OAK(Hiljus)
Roger Clemens: Thu:OAK(Lidle)
Russ Ortiz: Wed:PHI(Adams)
Javier Vazquez: Tue:@HOU(Oswalt)
Kerry Wood: Thu:@SD(Tomko)
Brian Lawrence: Tue:CHC(Clement)
Eric Gagne: 3 Home games vs. Cincinnati

RP(4)
Keith Foulke: 3 Home games vs. Seattle
Jason Isringhausen: 3 Home games vs. Florida
Byung-Hyun Kim: 3 Home games vs. New York Mets
Eddie Guardado: 4 Home games vs. Tampa Bay
Jorge Julio: 4 games: 3 Road at Boston; 1 Home vs. Kansas City.

No starts: Schilling, Morris, Baez.

Guardado, Julio, and Gagne are automatic with our need for saves, and we'll decide the last two closers based on available salary. Considering Ortiz's struggles, we'll take the remaining home starts of Randy, Pedro, Mussina, Clemens, and Lawrence, and we'll continue to wait on Oswalt until we see a more favorable matchup.

We need to add Berkman here, too, so we'll pick up him and dump Baez as we don't expect we'll be needing starts from a reliever any more. We'll also activate Berkman for Suzuki. The Colorado platoon is in for the first half of the week, Ortiz remains on the bench, Klesko's in due to his hot streak, and Jeremy Giambi needs to remain active because of his cheap salary. Since Hillenbrand is at home, we'll add him and then go ahead and drop Ortiz, instead keeping Kevin Brown because of his higher upside. Adding Hillenbrand for a benched Chavez allows us in under the cap as long as we put Foulke back on the bench in favor of Kim and Izzy.

The Umpire Hunter
Week 5a: April 29 - May 2

C 	Jorge Posada		990
C	Toby Hall		320
1B	Jason Giambi		1640
1B	Ryan Klesko		1300
2B	Luis Castillo		1000
2B	Alfonso Soriano		900
3B	Hank Blalock		500
3B	Shea Hillenbrand	450
SS	Alex Rodriguez		1880
SS	Juan Uribe		500
OF	Larry Walker		1530
OF	Lance Berkman		1320
OF	Juan Pierre		1180
OF	J.D. Drew		1010
OF	Adam Dunn		710
OF	Daryle Ward		620
DH	Todd Helton		1980
DH	Jeremy Giambi		500

SP	Randy Johnson		1990
SP	Pedro Martinez		1770
SP	Mike Mussina		1380
SP	Roger Clemens		1240
SP	Eric Gagne		500
SP	Brian Lawrence		480
RP	Jason Isringhausen	1290
RP	Byung-Hyun Kim		1200
RP	Eddie Guardado		900
RP	Jorge Julio		750

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

We have no relievers on the bench, so we'll stay with Smoltz, Isringhausen, and Kim until further notice. Due to Anderson's injury problems and the Tigers' dreadful starter, we'll finally make the switch from Anderson to Guardado, a move that we should have made weeks ago despite our faith in Anderson.

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Wed:NYM(Trachsel)
Pedro Martinez: Wed:BAL(Douglass)
Curt Schilling: Fri:MON(Chen)
Mike Mussina: Wed:OAK(Hiljus)
Roger Clemens: Thu:OAK(Lidle)
Tim Hudson: Fri:@CHW(Buehrle)
Matt Morris: Fri:ATL(A.Lopez)
Javier Vazquez: Tue:@HOU(Oswalt); Sun:@ARI(Stottlemyre)
Kerry Wood: Thu:@SD(Tomko)
Brian Lawrence: Tue:CHC(Clement); Sun:PIT(D.Williams)
Eric Gagne: 6 Home games: 3 vs. Cincinnati; 3 vs. Chicago Cubs.

We'll start Randy, Schilling, Pedro, Vazquez, and Lawrence, and then we'll set our offense before deciding on the last starter, since we're also considering adding Eric Gagne or Roy Oswalt.

As both Pierzynski and Hall should play seven games, we're going to bench Lo Duca for this week in favor of the extra potential points. With the Colorado managerial change, we'll leave all of our Coors' platoon active, including Jose Ortiz, since we expect them all to see solid playing time. We're going to add Berkman for Juan Gonzalez, and deploy him instead of Cliff Floyd, who's on the road for the week.

To add Oswalt or Gagne, we'd need top drop a pitcher who we really want to keep. Randy, Schilling, Pedro, Mussina, Clemens, Hudson, and Morris are perhaps the best seven pitchers in baseball, and Vazquez and Lawrence both double this week. Kerry Wood, while currently having the most problems in this batch, is set double next week at home against St. Louis and Milwaukee, so we'll hold off on making any further pitching changes at the moment until Oswalt faces easier opposition. We're comfortable starting Morris against Atlanta and Albie Lopez, so now we just need to cut 40 of salary to accommodate Morris.

Our only feasible option is to cut Dunn in favor of Jeremy Giambi, and while Oswalt would allow us to keep both Dunn and even perhaps Lo Duca in the lineup, we think Oswalt'll be lucky to win one game this week.

The Umpire Chronicles & Umpire with a Soul
Week 5: April 29 - May 5

C	Toby Hall		1000
C	A.J. Pierzynski		1000
1B	Nick Johnson		1200
1B	Steve Cox		1160
2B	Jose Ortiz		1500
2B	Alfonso Soriano		1800
3B	Eric Chavez		2270
3B	Hank Blalock		1100
SS	Alex Rodriguez		3430
SS	Juan Uribe		1300
OF	Larry Walker		2790
OF	Lance Berkman		2540
OF	J.D. Drew		2310
OF	Juan Pierre		1880
OF	Daryle Ward		1590
OF	Jeremy Giambi		1300
DH	Todd Helton		3400
DH	Jason Giambi		3320

SP	Randy Johnson		3580
SP	Curt Schilling		3160
SP	Pedro Martinez		2950
SP	Matt Morris		2650
SP	Javier Vazquez		2600
SP	Brian Lawrence		1000
RP	John Smoltz		2610
RP	Jason Isringhausen	2370
RP	Byung-Hyun Kim		2230
RP	Eddie Guardado		1690

Today's Fantasy Rx: If you don't already own Lance Berkman in any of the BBW Challenge games, you should purchase and deploy him this week due as he gets six games at home this week and a seven-game homestand in two weeks.