Today's Fantasy Rx

To make this a little easier for those of you following along in the Sports Weekly 2004 Fantasy Guide, I'll review the teams in the order that Sports Weekly lists them.

Please refer to the LABR National League rosters here.

Owner: Peter Hull
Site: Regular Guy
$ Left: $0.
Split: $180H/$80P = 69/31.
Reserve roster: Andy Marte, Mark Corey, David Krynzel, Corey Hart, Chin-hui Tsao, and Prince Fielder.

Nice pick: J.D. Drew, $15; if he conquers his injury demons in Atlanta, he could double this price, and even if he misses half the season, he at least should earn his salary.
Top sleeper: Adam Wainwright, $1; while he's the only one of six top prospects on this team likely to contribute at all, one injury in St. Louis could open a spot for Wainwright to approach double-digit value.
Potential bust: Jose Reyes, $29; reaching this level will require him to steal a few dozen bases and hit around .300, two goals that appear highly unlikely given his current skills and health problems.
Wasted picks (that won't contribute in the majors): Marte, Krynzel, Hart, and Fielder; did anyone tell him LABR is a single-season league?.
Early good/bad luck: Jose Reyes is hurt, St. Louis released Steve Cox($1), and of his four dollar rookies, Rene Reyes, Luis Terrero, Merkin Valdez, and Wainwright, only Terrero and Reyes appear to have any chance of breaking camp in the majors, and they're stuck as fifth outfielders. The only good news is that Bobby Hill($2) should start at second base for Pittsburgh by default.
Category to trade: Top prospects, since Hull needs every major leaguer he rostered.

I can't quibble too much with rostering Scott Rolen($35), Richie Sexson($32), and Rafael Furcal($29), at value, but then Hull largely ignored the rest of his offense, settling for Cox, Reyes, Terrero, Gregg Zaun($1), Barry Larkin($3), and Ray Lankford($1), none of whom should earn more than a buck or two of profit at best. Rostering Pat Burrell($19) as the only significant power source after Rolen, Sexson, and Drew just isn't enough to complete quantitatively, particularly when Reyes and Rafael Furcal($29) easily could finish closer to $29 of value rather than $58.

His pitching staff isn't in much better shape. After Josh Beckett($24) and Matt Morris($21), both slightly overpriced given their injury troubles, a staff of Brett Tomko($2), Paul Byrd($2), Chris Carpenter($2), Wainwright, and Valdez could self-destruct. If Trevor Hoffman($21) hits the DL Jose Mesa($7) is his only source of saves. With only Corey and Tsao available as reserves, he could finish with less than 15 pitching points if his staff doesn't stay healthy.

Summary: Hull's primary strategy, to quote his Sports Weekly blurb, was to "To impress Lucy Liu". While he also indicated a preference for "Studs, buds, and no duds" later in his blurb, the composition of Hull's team suggests he spent more time writing his blurb than prepping for this draft. No other rostered more than two position players above $27 and Hull drafted four. Failing to spread his money over more players will result in quantitative problems in both hitting and pitching categories. I suspect he won't finish last, but anything other than a second division finish would shock me.

Today's Fantasy Rx: During the auction endgame don't be afraid to drop down to minimum bids for your last few players as long as you have no more than two open spots on offense and three pitching slots available. While you may miss a couple of sleepers, you should gain more by spending your remaining excess funds to secure one of the last established producers on the board, and regular Rotohelp readers should have no problem during Dollar Days in the vast majority of leagues.