Today's Fantasy Rx

We don't have updated LPR rankings for this year yet since we've decided to modify our requirements and need to recompile our data.

For now, we'll announce that for the PQS points, we're going to require five starts to qualify for the alphabetical notation. We're also increasing the DOM requirement, as per the suggestion of BaseballHQ's John Burnson, to 55% since we agree that a greater focus on dominance can only aid our selection of pitchers.

Daily Rx Reader Jon Ratner e-mailed me over a month ago, and among a few other interesting ideas to which I may return in the future, suggested a label of dull (DUL) for 2 and 3 PQS scores. For each pitcher in today's list, I'll list the number of starts in each category.

Today I'll list pitchers that qualify for either "a", by posting a 4 or 5 PQS in 55% or more of their starts, or "x" by posting a 1 or 0 PQS in 20% or less of their starts. Within each category I'll rank pitchers first by most DOM starts, then least DIS starts, and finally by the most DUL starts; I'll also include their current stat line.

If anyone is unfamiliar with PQS, please explore Ron Shandler's site Baseball HQ; Ron developed PQS scores a few years ago as a way to measure starter consistency, and all of our LPR work largely builds upon his concepts. A Baseball HQ subscription and Ron's annual Baseball Forecaster are probably the two best values for those seeking reasonably-priced, quality fantasy baseball analysis.

You can also check out my March 12th column for the original LPR description.

AL LPR DOM/DUL/DIS through May 2nd:

ax

Roger Clemens, 5/1/1: 4-2 on 47:19 K:BB in 45.2 IP with 39 H, 2 HR, and 54-40 G-F; 4.34 ERA.

Pedro Martinez, 5/1/1: 4-0 on 37:9 K:BB in 34.1 IP with 23 H, 1 HR, and 34-33 G-F; 3.67 ERA.

Roy Halladay, 5/0/1: 1-1 on 35:9 K:BB in 39.2 IP with 39 H, 2 HR, and 65-27 G-F; 4.08 ERA.

Tim Hudson, 5/0/1: 3-2 on 32:13 K:BB in 43.1 IP with 33 H, 2 HR, and 78-32 G-F; 1.87 ERA.

Paul Byrd, 4/2/0: 4-2 on 24:2 K:BB in 42.1 IP with 35 H, 8 HR, and 44-69 G-F; 3.40 ERA.

Jeff Suppan, 4/2/0: 2-3 on 21:5 K:BB in 42.1 IP with 30 H, 9 HR, and 62-49 G-F; 3.19 ERA.

Orlando Hernandez, 4/1/0: 3-1 on 32:10 K:BB in 36 IP with 25 H, 2 HR, and 34-46 G-F; 1.75 ERA.

Kevin Appier, 4/1/1: 3-1 on 25:15 K:BB in 34.1 IP with 31 H, 3 HR, and 28-51 G-F; 2.88 ERA.

Mark Buehrle, 4/1/1: 4-2 on 22:12 K:BB in 36.2 IP with 32 H, 8 HR, and 55-38 G-F; 3.93 ERA.

Mike Mussina, 3/3/0: 3-2 on 35:10 K:BB in 41 IP with 29 H, 8 HR, and 50-50 G-F; 3.73 ERA.

Kenny Rogers, 3/3/0: 3-0 on 22:12 K:BB in 40 IP with 30 H, 2 HR, and 66-28 G-F; 2.02 ERA.

Bartolo Colon, 3/2/1: 3-3 on 26:13 K:BB in 41.1 IP with 36 H, 5 HR, and 51-53 G-F; 3.48 ERA.

Jamie Moyer, 3/2/1: 3-1 on 20:10 K:BB in 37 IP with 33 H, 4 HR, and 49-56 G-F; 4.14 ERA.

Sidney Ponson, 3/2/1: 2-2 on 25:14 K:BB in 37.2 IP with 39 H, 5 HR, and 55-36 G-F; 4.54 ERA.

Todd Ritchie, 3/2/1: 2-2 on 26:15 K:BB in 38.2 IP with 31 H, 2 HR, and 58-36 G-F; 3.03 ERA.

Frank Castillo, 3/1/1: 1-2 on 13:7 K:BB in 27.1 IP with 21 H, 6 HR, and 41-34 G-F; 4.28 ERA.

Doug Davis, 3/1/1: 2-2 on 18:8 K:BB in 35.1 IP with 32 H, 4 HR, and 43-49 G-F; 4.33 ERA.

Chuck Finley, 3/1/1: 2-3 on 23:11 K:BB in 24.2 IP with 38 H, 3 HR, and 40-21 G-F; 6.20 ERA.

a

Eric Milton, 4/0/2: 4-2 on 18:5 K:BB in 36.1 IP with 36 H, 4 HR, and 45-59 G-F; 5.20 ERA.

Barry Zito, 4/0/2: 1-2 on 33:18 K:BB in 33.2 IP with 33 H, 4 HR, and 34-42 G-F; 4.81 ERA.

x

Derek Lowe, 2/3/0: 4-1 on 23:9 K:BB in 35.1 IP with 15 H, 0 HR, and 55-28 G-F; 2.04 ERA.

Ramon Ortiz, 2/3/0: 2-3 on 23:11 K:BB in 35.1 IP with 30 H, 6 HR, and 40-42 G-F; 2.55 ERA.

Ryan Rupe, 2/3/0: 3-2 on 24:5 K:BB in 30.1 IP with 29 H, 2 HR, and 50-27 G-F; 5.04 ERA.

Ismael Valdes, 2/2/0: 2-3 on 15:9 K:BB in 30 IP with 25 H, 2 HR, and 31-46 G-F; 3.60 ERA.

Dave Burba, 2/3/1: 2-0 on 34:16 K:BB in 33.2 IP with 29 H, 4 HR, and 38-35 G-F; 5.08 ERA.

Cory Lidle, 2/3/1: 1-4 on 24:6 K:BB in 35.1 IP with 42 H, 2 HR, and 60-39 G-F; 4.58 ERA.

Rick Reed, 2/3/1: 3-1 on 20:10 K:BB in 32.2 IP with 37 H, 5 HR, and 48-47 G-F; 3.86 ERA.

Tanyon Sturtze, 2/3/1: 0-3 on 23:17 K:BB in 37.2 IP with 49 H, 3 HR, and 52-54 G-F; 4.78 ERA.

David Wells, 2/3/1: 4-0 on 20:10 K:BB in 39 IP with 36 H, 3 HR, and 55-46 G-F; 4.15 ERA.

Erik Hiljus, 2/2/1: 3-1 on 23:9 K:BB in 29.2 IP with 27 H, 5 HR, and 25-55 G-F; 4.25 ERA.

Mark Redman, 2/2/1: 0-3 on 22:12 K:BB in 31.1 IP with 34 H, 4 HR, and 44-36 G-F; 6.03 ERA.

Paul Wilson, 1/4/0: 1-2 on 20:12 K:BB in 34.1 IP with 35 H, 5 HR, and 56-35 G-F; 3.41 ERA.

Scott Erickson, 1/4/1: 3-2 on 15:14 K:BB in 40.1 IP with 37 H, 3 HR, and 83-32 G-F; 3.57 ERA.

Freddy Garcia, 1/4/1: 3-2 on 23:6 K:BB in 36.2 IP with 39 H, 7 HR, and 48-51 G-F; 3.93 ERA.

Steve Sparks, 1/4/1: 2-2 on 18:11 K:BB in 42 IP with 41 H, 2 HR, and 73-47 G-F; 3.00 ERA.

Jeff Weaver, 1/4/1: 1-4 on 15:11 K:BB in 40.2 IP with 46 H, 0 HR, and 68-46 G-F; 3.54 ERA.

Brandon Lyon, 1/3/1: 18:6 K:BB in 29 IP with 30 H, 6 HR, and 41-38 G-F; 5.90 ERA.

Calvin Maduro, 1/3/1: 1-3 on 14:8 K:BB in 28 IP with 29 H, 5 HR, and 40-41 G-F; 5.46 ERA.

Joe Kennedy, 0/5/0: 1-2 on 20:11 K:BB in 29.1 IP with 39 H, 2 HR, and 42-39 G-F; 4.60 ERA.

Jarrod Washburn, 0/5/1: 3-2 on 19:9 K:BB in 35 IP with 41 H, 4 HR, and 40-57 G-F; 4.63 ERA.

Due to the small sample size, the only pitchers not on this list are either those who haven't been in the rotation all season, or those starters that have pitched rather poorly. I doubt there are many compelling reasons to acquire any pitcher not on this list who's already made five or more starts.

Four teams netted four starters on the list. You'd expect the Yankees and Athletics, likely the two best and deepest teams in the AL and both likely to add another starter to this list within the next two to three weeks. However, I doubt you expected to see the Devil Rays(Rupe, Sturtze, Wilson, Kennedy) and Rangers(Rogers, Davis, Valdes, Burba) on this list. The return of Chan Ho Park could boost Texas to five pitchers here by the end of May, and if their offense ever starts clicking, they have the talent to make a serious run for the playoffs. All their pitchers should post solid win totals, and it appears that at worst they shouldn't even hurt your ERA that much.

Internet Challenge

No starts: Randy, Pedro, Maddux, Mussina, Clemens, Wood

Starters(6)
Curt Schilling: Fri:MON(Chen)
Kevin Brown: Sun:CHC(Clement)
Matt Morris: Fri:ATL(Moss)
Javier Vazquez: Sun:@ARI(Helling)
Brian Lawrence: Sun:PIT(D.Williams)
Eric Gagne: 3 Home vs. Chicago

Relievers(4)
Keith Foulke: 3 Home vs. Oakland
Jason Isringhausen: 3 Home vs. Atlanta
Byung-Hyun Kim: 3 Home games vs. Montreal
Eddie Guardado: 3 Home games vs. Detroit
Jorge Julio: 3 Home vs. Kansas City

With only six starting pitchers likely to pitch, and all five starters with favorable matchups, we'll stay with our current group instead of picking up Oswalt in Houston against a red hot Al Leiter. With all five relievers scheduled for three games at home, we'll either bench Foulke or Kim since they face the best offenses; we'll see how much we need on offense and then determine our final reliever.

Colorado is in Philadelphia, so our Coors' platoon will sit. We'll keep Chavez and Hillenbrand active at 3B since we like Hillenbrand in Tampa better than Blalock in Cleveland. With Bonds at home and Sosa in LA, we're going to play the percentages and hope Sammy saves some two homer games for when we do pick him up, likely on Sunday. David Ortiz remains on the DL, so Ichiro rejoins our lineup, along with a DH from a group including Blalock, our four Rockies, or an inexpensive free agent.

We have 3020 of cap space left for a DH and closer, although we know we need at least 1200 for Kim, leaving us with a maximum of 1820 for our DH, and there's nowhere for us to cut 180 to allow us to carry Helton. The next most expensive player from our bench is Walker, but even he only costs 1530, leaving us 290 under the cap and enough room to carry Foulke.

Over the last two weeks, Foulke's compiled 2 saves on 3:2 K:BB in 6 IP with 5 H, 0 HR, and 11-4 G-F; Kim's managed 4 saves on 11:1 K:BB in 7.2 IP with 6 H, 0 HR, and 6-6 G-F. While the low G-F slightly concerns us, Kim appears more reliable at the moment and we'll stay with him this weekend.

The Umpire Hunter
Week 5b: April 19 - April 21

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	Eric Chavez		1070
3B	Shea Hillenbrand	450
SS	Alex Rodriguez		1880
SS	Jimmy Rollins		940
OF	Barry Bonds		1830
OF	Ichiro Suzuki		1330
OF	Lance Berkman		1320
OF	J.D. Drew		1010
OF	Adam Dunn		710
OF	Daryle Ward		620
DH	Jeremy Giambi		500	
DH	Juan Uribe		500

SP	Curt Schilling		1540
SP	Kevin Brown		1430
SP	Matt Morris		1190
SP	Javier Vazquez		1100
SP	Brian Lawrence		480
SP	Eric Gagne		500
RP	Jason Isringhausen	1280
RP	Byung-Hyun Kim		1200
RP	Eddie Guardado		900
RP	Jorge Julio		750

Today's Fantasy Rx: AL Pitcher Recommendations: Any of the top 4 will immediately provide a great boost to your team; Halladay should be the easiest to acquire. We've barely seen Suppan discussed and he's having a great year; definitely see if he's available in your league. I still like Kenny Rogers, Ryan Rupe, and Dave Burba, while Mark Redman and Brandon Lyon look like great potential rotation additions for any AL team.