Today's Fantasy Rx

To make this a little easier for those of you following along in the Sports Weekly 2003 Fantasy Guide, I'll review the teams in the order that Sports Weekly lists them.

Please refer to the LABR American League rosters here.

Owner: John Hunt
Site: Sports Weekly
$ Left: $0.
Split: $198H/$62P = 72/24.
Reserve roster: Mike Restovich, Jorge DePaula, Jeremy Bonderman, Rett Johnson, Billy McMillon, and Dallas McPherson.

Nice pick: Corey Koskie, $19; nearly all of Hunt's picks were decent bargains, but nabbing one of the top few third basemen under $20 gives him a four-category player at a nice value.
Top sleeper: Jesse Crain, $5; he could close for Minnesota by the All-Star break even if he opens the year in the minors.
Potential bust: Jorge Posada, $22; while owning a top catcher is nice, this price seems a bit much when IRod went for $16.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Clint Nageotte($1) and McPherson.
Early good/bad luck: Lieber's injury could open a roster spot for DePaula in the Yankees' rotation, although Neal Cotts($1) and Jeff Zimmerman($1) both appear unlikely to contribute in the majors any time soon
Category to trade: Spending nearly $200 on offense gave Hunt a solid base from which to trade, although owning four starters on playoff teams in Zito, Kevin Brown, Redman, and Ramon Ortiz could enable him to move wins at some point.

While he couldn't resist rostering a couple of youngsters like Cotts, Nageotte, Johnson, and McPherson rather than grabbing low-risk, low-upside middle relievers, Hunt's draft gives him one of his strongest LABR rosters in years. A $95 outfield of Manny, Erstad, Jose Guillen, Jose Cruz, and Shannon Stewart gives him a four-category foundation, and getting Koskie, Rafael Palmeiro, and Bill Mueller between $15 and $20 also helps. Despite spending less in his middle infield than on seven separate players, selecting Vizquel, Vina, and Belliard at least gives him starters who could reach double-digit value.

The four starters not only anchor the pitching staff, they may comprise his only active pitchers since Justin Duchscherer($1), Crain, Zimmerman, Nageotte, Cotts, DePaula, and Johnson all could open the year in the minors, leaving Bonderman as his fifth and last active pitcher. Of course, I also expect Bonderman to earn at least $5 this year, so despite Hunt's likely lack of saves, thirty pitching points is an attainable goal.

Summary: Unless he gets lucky with a couple of youngsters and can deal for saves, I don't know if Hunt acquired quite enough talent or depth to finish first, however his broad base offensive talent should keep him competitive all year.

I'll continue tomorrow with the other six teams and my picks for the top finishers.

Today's Fantasy Rx: With most leagues we've observed this spring heading towards a 70/30 hitting/pitching split, we recommend moving your valuation split to that level even if you've stayed at 65/35 for many years.