Dear Mr. Fantasy: Francisco treat?

You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Dear Mr. Fantasy in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we do not guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.

I am in a 10-team, AL-only, 5x5 keeper league. We are permitted to keep eight players. As Draft Day is approaching, I am having trouble with my final two spots. I am already keeping Raul Ibanez, Nick Swisher, Mark Teahen, Jeremy Bonderman, Chien-Ming Wang and B.J. Ryan. My remaining considerations are: Ramon Hernandez, Josh Barfield, Bartolo Colon, Dan Johnson and Craig Monroe. Which way would you go? Is the stability of a solid catcher worth more than the upside (and risk) of players such as Barfield or Johnson?

Robert Scott
Hawthorne, NJ

MH: Catchers are the one position in Fantasy leagues I absolutely dread drafting. It is one of those positions that if you can't get your hands on a premier player, you just take a pass and grab a sufficient option in the later rounds.

Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez are the crème De La crème when it comes to AL-only Fantasy catchers, and outside of that, it is a crapshoot. With that said, since Hernandez is your choice and although he is a top Fantasy option in AL-only leagues, I would let him go and hope to reacquire him when your draft takes place.

Out of the options you provided, my choices for keepers are your two biggest fears -- Barfield and Johnson.

You label Barfield as a risk, but he did a nice job last year with the Padres playing in a pitcher's ballpark. He finished the season with a .280 average, 13 homers, 58 RBI and 21 stolen bases. He heads to a hitter's park in '07 with the Indians and there is very little risk involved with Barfield. He will be the team's everyday second baseman and is already a top 10 Fantasy candidate at a very thin position.

As far as Johnson's concerned, there is far more risk involved, but the rewards could be substantial. He had an awful 2006 campaign with just nine homers, 37 RBI and a .234 average. Johnson will have to earn his stripes in spring training, but the team is expected to name him the starting first baseman with Nick Swisher moving back to the outfield. He also just turned 27, the prime age for a breakout year. He has the potential to go .280-25-80-80.

If I had to make a choice, I wouldn't hesitate in taking Barfield and Johnson.

I've got Francisco Liriano as a keeper from last season and I am well aware that he is out for the year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Is he worth holding on to or should I bite the bullet and keep Jeremy Sowers or Jeremy Bonderman? I can keep two of the three.

Bryan A. Schulz
Seattle, Wash.

MH: Liriano took the baseball and Fantasy world by storm in 2006 with his nasty slider. He went 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA and 144 strikeouts. His season came to an abrupt end when he felt soreness in his left arm and it was later recommended that he undergo Tommy John surgery. This, of course, put an end to his 2007 season before it began since it takes about a year to fully recover from the operation.

Now Fantasy owners in keeper leagues are wondering what to do with the young hurler. I offer this advice: be ready to shoulder the risks and rewards that go with keeping Liriano.

If you have the roster space and can afford to be one guy down in '07, then it is worth keeping Liriano. What typically happens with Tommy John surgery is that they take a ligament from your knee and place it in your elbow. Knee ligaments are typically stronger than elbow ligaments and most pitchers have success in the majors after the surgery. The only guy to really suffer has been Kerry Wood, who will start the season in the Cubs' bullpen after being one of the best young starters in the game prior to getting injured.

In your case Bryan, I would keep Bonderman and Liriano. I like Sowers, but only to a point. I think he might surprise people one day, but his 7-4 record, 3.57 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 88.1 innings just can't hack it with what Liriano might come back to in 2008 -- that being 15 wins, 180 innings, a 3.00 ERA and 200 strikeouts.

I belong in a 10-team, NL-only auction league that has a standard $260 cap. We are allowed to keep up to four players and a rookie from the previous season. This is where I need help. We have Ryan Howard for $3, Hanley Ramirez for $1, Cole Hamels for $16 and Taylor Tankersley for $1. The problem is we also have Scott Olsen for $9 and Chuck James for $1. Strikeouts are important in our league because we only have the three basic pitching stats that count for points: wins, strikeouts and saves. So who would you pick as your fifth keeper -- Olsen or James? Thanks for your time.

Nathan Lehmann
Cleveland, Ohio

MH: I am a huge fan of James. He has been the Braves brightest pitching prospect for years and he showed why last year, going 11-4 with a 3.78 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 119 innings. He is drawing early comparisons to a young Tom Glavine.

Olsen was no slouch either, going 12-10 with a 4.04 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 180 2/3 innings. Right now, his Fantasy value is a little higher than James.

If you are looking for strictly strikeouts, then Olsen is your guy, much to my personal dismay. He nearly struck out one batter per inning last season and has consistently struck out more batters coming up through the minors than James.

James might be in the better situation to get to 15-plus wins, but it sounds as though strikeouts are far more valuable in your league as opposed to wins. The only scenario in which you would want to take James is to save a few Fantasy dollars. If you can get James for a buck, then you could use the difference to get another power bat to complement Howard in your lineup -- which is not a bad idea.

The league that I am in is a standard Rotisserie format (5x5) with three keepers. I have two figured out, Angels OF Vladimir Guerrero and Phillies 1B Ryan Howard, but I am wavering between the following two: Jake Peavy or Brandon Webb. Do you have a recommendation?

Rebecca Cobbler
Silver Spring, Md.

MH: I sure do have a recommendation, Rebecca. At this point, it would be silly to go against the reigning NL Cy Young award winner Webb. The flavor of the month in the majors right now is sinker ball pitchers and Webb, along with Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang, are arguably the two best in the league right now mastering that pitch.

Webb took home Cy Young honors after going 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 235 innings. Peavy on the other hand is coming off an awful year where he went 11-14 with a 4.09 ERA. The lone bright spot were his 215 strikeouts. Peavy is clearly the better K-man, and if that is something you value, then by all means stick with him. However, a lot more people in your league will be scratching their head when you drop Webb in favor of Peavy, then vice-versa.

Everyone is hoping that Peavy will revert back to his ace status that garnered him much acclaim during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Peavy blamed some of his struggles last season on not having the right contact prescription and that seemed to make a difference when he got the problem corrected in August. He had a sub-3.00 ERA from August to October and struck out 79 batters during that same stretch.

Both pitchers head into the season as top 10 Fantasy candidates, but the safer pick right now is Webb. There are still some risks involved with keeping Peavy.

I have a question about Mark Teahen. Everyone seems to laugh at me because I'm thinking of keeping him. Now yes, everyone is experiencing pandemonium over Alex Gordon -- as they well should be. And we all know the possible outcome of this is Teahen moving to the outfield. But in the Fantasy realm, when is a 3B/OF multiple eligibility a bad thing for 2007 and 2008? Yes, Teahen came out of nowhere and he lit the world on fire after the All-Star break on his way to a 18-homer, 69-RBI season. But I've seen projections ranging around a .285 avg. with 25-90-90-10. But should I fear the sudden breakout last year, that he hasn't played a full season in the majors and the shoulder injury that forced Teahen to have surgery in September?

Brian Sutton
Dallas, Texas

MH: Brian, while all your fears are legit, there is no need to get too critical concerning Teahen. The biggest worry should be how he responds coming off surgery.

I don't know the specs of your league and how many keepers you are allotted, but in a general sense, Teahen would be a low-end keeper.

He has the potential to put up some big numbers, but he has had only one decent season in the majors and he still plays for the bottom-feeding Royals. Therefore, it is hard to believe he would be someone you would consider as a high-end keeper just based on potential. I am sure you have a few batters and pitchers you would want to keep before selecting Teahen. See where I am going with that in regards to high-end and low-end value?

Teahen enters this season at the ripe age of 25 and many believe 27 is the age that players are primed for a breakout season. Not saying that Teahen isn't capable of reaching that threshold early, but unless the Royals find someone other than Ryan Shealy to protect him in the lineup, pitchers might not be willing to pitch to him this season.