Today's Fantasy Rx

Fourteen pitchers earned a 1 for their performance this season as of last week. Nine more joined the list this week while four dropped off, bringing our total LIMA-quality 2002 AL pitchers with at least 15 IP to nineteen.

Pitchers who joined the list include Kevin Appier, Tim Wakefield, Damaso Marte, Mariano Rivera, Steve Karsay, Chad Bradford, Kazuhiro Sasaki, John Halama, and Arthur Rhodes.

Pitchers who dropped off the list include Jorge Julio(HR/9), Tim Hudson(BB:K), Mark Mulder(H/9), and Ryan Rupe(HR/9).

Please refer here if you'd like to take another look at some of our methodology.

LPR Code Description
1 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- thus far in 2002
2 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- in the second half of 2001
3 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- in the first half of 2001
4 - K:BB of 2.0+, K/9 of 6.0+, HR/9 of 1.0-, and H/9 of 9.0- for all of 2000

a - DOM of 55% or more in 2002
b - DOM of 55% or more in 2001
c - DOM of 55% or more in 2000
x - DIS of 20% or less in 2002
y - DIS of 20% or less in 2001
z - DIS of 20% or less in 2000

(Note: I used the PQS logs from Baseball Forecaster to create these ratings, and I strongly recommend that you purchase a copy if you haven't already.

Here are the second set of 2002 in-season LPR ratings which include all games played through May 16th. We ranked pitchers by the highest LIMA rating and then by the best PQS rating. Starting pitchers, if necessary, are ranked by their performance over their last five starts, which I include after the pitchers name in chronological order, ending with his most recent appearance.

Due to other commitments, I only have time to list the LPR rating for each players, along with the PQS log for his most recent five starts; I hope to resume commenting either tomorrow or next week.

1234
abcyz - Pedro Martinez(55305)

Arthur Rhodes
Mariano Rivera

123
abcxyz - Roger Clemens(54535)
abxyz - Kevin Appier(04445)
abxy - Roy Halladay(50445)

Eddie Guardado

124
Chad Bradford

134
Billy Koch
Paul Shuey

234
Keith Foulke

12
b - Joel Pineiro(0525)

Kazuhiro Sasaki

13
by - Tim Wakefield(453)

Steve Karsay

23
abcxyz - Mike Mussina(32354)
abxyz - Tim Hudson(44241)
bcyz - Chan Ho Park(24)

Danys Baez(44354)
Troy Percival

24
bcxyz - Bartolo Colon(25533)
cx - Paul Wilson(22423)

Dan Miceli
Ugueth Urbina
Todd Van Poppel

34
xy - Joe Kennedy(33443)

Randy Choate
Rich Garces
Mike Holtz
Bob Howry
David Riske
Mike Stanton

1
John Halama(524)
Jeremy Affeldt(003)
LaTroy Hawkins
Damaso Marte
J.C. Romero

2
abcyz - Barry Zito(50545)
by - Mark Mulder(5300)
xy - Freddy Garcia(25555)
b - Rolando Arrojo
z - Kelvim Escobar

Matt Anderson
Lorzeno Barcelo
Shigetoshi Hasegawa
Antonio Osuna
Lou Pote
Ricardo Rincon
B.J. Ryan
C.C. Sabathia(00142)
Rudy Seanez
Victor Zambrano

3
abxy - John Burkett(25544)
yz - Rick Reed(34440)
y - Andy Pettitte(500)

Pedro Borbon
Gary Glover(00)
Buddy Groom
Al Levine
Jim Mecir
Jeff Nelson
Dan Plesac
John Rocker
Bob Wickman
Kelly Wunsch

4
x - Derek Lowe(34534)
y - Luke Prokopec(41030)

a
xyz - Ramon Ortiz(25445)
xy - Paul Byrd(43435)
xy - Jeff Suppan(44044)
xy - Mark Buehrle(40534)
xz - Sidney Ponson(45344)
xz - Chuck Finley(42444)
xz - Orlando Hernandez(53440)
x - Ismael Valdes(32544)

b
xy - Cory Lidle(35323)
Brandon Lyon(34203)
Matt Wise

c
x - Mark Redman(25424)
x - David Wells(13344)
Sterling Hitchcock

x
yz - Kenny Rogers(53042)
yz - Jarrod Washburn(33342)
y - Dave Burba(50544)
y - Tanyon Sturtze(44224)
y - Jeff Weaver(14344)
z - Frank Castillo(03533)
Ryan Rupe(53550)
Calvin Maduro(33442)
Rodrigo Lopez(12353)

y
z - Jamie Moyer(44140)
z - Brad Radke(01530)
z - Todd Ritchie(51112)
z - Aaron Sele(21333)
Erik Hiljus(34402)
Eric Milton(04302)
Jon Garland(12411)
Scott Schoeneweis(30323)
Josh Towers(121)
Doug Davis(30121)
Paul Abbott(02300)
Joe Mays(000)
Rick Bauer

z
Jason Johnson(5105)
Blake Stein(0)
Jim Parque
Steve Parris

AL pitchers I continue to recommend despite their failure to appear here include Rob Bell, Casey Fossum, Chris George, Hideki Irabu, Ted Lilly, Steve Woodard, Esteban Yan, and Jeff Zimmerman.

Other frequently owned pitchers who've shown little overt skill in the last three years include James Baldwin, Jesus Colome, Ryan Drese, Scott Erickson, Dustin Hermanson, Roberto Hernandez, Matt Kinney, Ramiro Mendoza, Jose Paniagua, Dan Reichert, Willis Roberts, Jeff Tam, Bob Wells, and Mark Wohlers.

We'll cover NL LPR ratings tomorrow.

Today's Fantasy Rx: If you're prepared to punt a category and still own any excess, likely in either SB or Saves, you should probably deal those players immediately to bolster the rest of your team.