Today's Fantasy Rx

As no pitcher started more than two games prior to Thursday, I only will review relievers this week. Please remember that the extremely limited sample size of statistics generated in 2006 renders the following comments far more useful as general guidelines rather than specific recommendations.

QA score for relief outings: up to 5 total points, one for each statistical goal, to any reliever who retires at least one batter and fulfills any of the following skill qualifications: K>=IP, BB=0, H<=IP, HR=0, and G-F>=1.00. Any reliever who doesn't reach any of the required statistical goals or fails to retire a batter earns a 0 QA score. Scores of 5 and 4 qualify as DOMinant outings, a 3 is DULl, and anything below 3 ranks as a skill DISaster.

We've included the five most recent QA scores for each pitcher.

5 DOM, 0 DUL, 0 DIS
Joe Kennedy, OAK(44454): 1-0 on a 3:1 K:BB in 4 IP over 5 G with 1 H, 0 HR, a 6-3 G-F, and a 0.00 ERA. Kennedy always possessed passable control and some strikeout potential, but the key here rests with the combination of Oakland's defense and the support of the rest of the relief corps. The Athletics probably field baseball's best bullpen, and since Kennedy pitches in the comparatively easy role of lefty specialist, he'll thrive as long as he avoids allowing an abundance of homers. Definitely target him anywhere you need qualitative stability to compensate for other early disasters.

4 DOM, 1 DUL, 0 DIS
Justin Duchscherer, OAK(55534): 0-0 on an 8:1 K:BB in 6.2 IP over 5 G with 4 H, 0 HR, a 9-2 G-F, and a 0.00 ERA. Emerging as one of the half-dozen best relievers in the game last year keeps this early dominance from surprising us at all. Duchscherer appears perfectly suited to this role, and between his lack of any skill deficiency and his double-digit upside, he easily ranks among the safest pitchers to own in any format. Target Duchscherer anywhere he seems available, especially shallow mixed leagues that might underrate his likely five-category expected contribution.

Jon Papelbon, BOS(54434): 0-0 and 4 Saves on a 5:0 K:BB in 5 IP over 5 G with 1 H, 0 HR, a 1-9 G-F, and a 0.00 ERA. Few early developments surprised us more than Papelbon's leap from sixth starter to Boston's closer role. Of course, the move makes plenty of sense given his normal control problems and occasional homer issues, plus the superior upside of deploying a healthy Keith Foulke in the middle innings. While we still may see the Red Sox bow to convention by returning Foulke to his regular role, twenty saves seem a nearly foregone conclusion for Papelbon, yet unless you're desperate for those saves, shop him now before any further developments halve his value.

Mike Myers, NYY(45453): 0-0 on a 4:1 K:BB in 4.1 IP over 6 G with 1 H, 0 HR, a 5-1 G-F, and a 0.00 ERA. Like most relief specialist, Myers can tally plenty of dominant outings without compiling overly impressive stats. Although his hot start impresses me, he remains very unlikely to accumulate more than about forty innings of action and shouldn't finish with great qualitative stats. Congratulations if you benefited from his early success, but anyone with Myers rostered needs to deal or cut him immediately or risk watching his inevitable downturn sabotage these usable early stats.

4 DOM, 0 DUL, 0 DIS
Elmer Dessens, KC(5445): 1-0 on a 7:0 K:BB in 6 IP over 4 G with 3 H, 0 HR, an 8-1 G-F, and a 0.00 ERA. Dessens just might own the best skill set of any AL reliever as we near the end of the first fortnight of the 2006 season. With plenty of dominance, control, and a superb groundball rate, Dessens looks perfectly on track to fulfill our off-season belief that he'll thrive if left alone in middle relief. He even could sneak a few save opportunities, so although most owners comfortably can wait to see if he maintains this hot start, I also see no problem adding Dessens now, especially if you can stash him on your bench until you need to sit a starter headed into a bad match-up.

Ron Villone, NYY(4445): 0-0 on a 5:3 K:BB in 3.2 IP over 4 G with 2 H, 0 HR, a 5-3 G-F, and a 2.46 ERA. Unlike teammate Mike Myers, Villone not only remains a regular middle reliever, but he still could see a couple starts depending on how the season evolves. The problem with that scenario is that Villone historically appears incapable of succeeding in the rotation, so only treat him as a viable fantasy option as long as he holds his current role. I don't see great upside here, but he at least shouldn't hurt you if you need to target him as short-term roster filler.

3 DOM, 2 DUL, 0 DIS
Bobby Jenks, CHW(53453): 0-0 and 3 Saves on a 4:1 K:BB in 4.1 IP over 5 G with 4 H, 2 HR, a 6-5 G-F, and a 6.23 ERA. Owners relying upon Jenks as a primary closer need to explore alternatives given his extremely shaky skill set to date, which follows an equally troublesome spring. Ozzie Guillen proved quite willing both to change closers abruptly and then stick with his new guy indefinitely, and with Chicago's entire rotation signed through 2007, redeploying Brandon McCarthy at the end of games looks more tempting every day. Jenks still could relax, stop allowing a homer every couple outings, and begin dragging down his ERA to an acceptable level. However, given his erratic history and questionable base skills, his situation just seems increasingly unstable every time he struggles at all. Deal the 2005 post-season hero if you see any chance to upgrade to a safer option like Chris Ray or even Bob Wickman.

We'll continue tomorrow with the first in-season NL LPR article of the year.

Internet Challenge

SP(6)
Johan Santana: Sat:NYY(Jar.Wright)
Roy Oswalt: No start.
Pedro Martinez: No start.
Chris Carpenter: Fri:CIN(A.Harang)
Randy Johnson: No start.
Jake Peavy: Fri:@ATL(J.Smoltz).
Roy Halladay: No start(DL?).
Mark Buehrle: Sat:TOR(A.Burnett)
Barry Zito: Fri:TEX(K.Millwood)
Rich Harden: Sat:TEX(V.Padilla)
Felix Hernandez: No start.
John Lackey: Sun:@BAL(K.Benson)
Dan Haren: Sun:TEX(K.Loe)

Santana, Zito, Harden, and Haren are easy calls, however since we want extra cap space for offense, Buehrle and Lackey will go instead of Carpenter, who faces the red hot Reds' offense at home.

Sitting Carpenter allows us to keep Pujols and all our Rockies deployed. Griffey heads to the bench until he returns to health, joining E.Encarnacion, Uribe, Gathright, and Mark Teixeira. Pat Burrell stays in the lineup with the Phillies headed to Colorado.

Rotohelp.com(5th lg; 165th overall)
Week 2b: April 14-April 16

C	Victor Martinez		1020
C	Josh Willingham		340 
1B	Travis Hafner		1180
1B	Ryan Howard		880
2B	Chase Utley		1190
2B	Rickie Weeks		620
3B	David Wright		1210 
3B	Garrett Atkins		610
SS	Jose Reyes		1030 
SS	Clint Barmes		780
OF	Jason Bay		1380
OF	Chone Figgins		1350 
OF	Pat Burrell		1040
OF	Chad Tracy		1040 
OF	Matt Holliday		1040
OF	Cory Sullivan		460 
DH	Albert Pujols		2060 
DH	Todd Helton		1380

SP	Johan Santana		1960 
SP	Mark Buehrle		1120
SP	Barry Zito		1070
SP	Rich Harden		1040
SP	John Lackey		940
SP	Dan Haren		860
RP	Huston Street		1300
RP	Ryan Dempster		1180
RP	Mike Gonzalez		1120
RP	Chris Ray		820

Total Week 2b Salary:		30000

Today's Fantasy Rx: With offenses exploding around baseball, quickly mitigating the damage from any early pitching disasters just might prevent a season-long qualitative dive. Adding low-profile yet low-risk relievers like Kennedy and Dessens remains a great way to solidify your overall staff stats without sacrificing an abundance of quantitative stats due to the relatively good odds that these and similar middle relievers will vulture a few wins and even possibly save a couple games.