Week 1 Pitching Planner

Our Eric Mack takes his weekly run through baseball pitching staffs, outlining the rotation decisions in the upcoming week, the matchups and the projected two-start pitchers.

Week 1 in Fantasy Baseball is always a crapshoot, so leave the crap on your bench. If you have a No. 5 starter in your lineup and his team has a day off Thursday, consider that guy a serious candidate for skippage.

Staff reflections

• Arizona Diamondbacks -- Brandon Webb, Livan Hernandez, Doug Davis and Edgar Gonzalez are in. Micah Owings and Dustin Nippert are the No. 5 finalists. Owings has nice potential as Randy Johnson's (back) temporary replacement, but he shouldn't be used in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8). Neither should the Big Unit, who will start on the DL.

• Atlanta Braves -- John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, Chuck James and Mark Redman are in. Lance Cormier (shoulder) needs to prove healthy to be No. 5, otherwise Kyle Davies will fill that spot.

• Baltimore Orioles -- Erik Bedard, Daniel Cabrera, Jaret Wright, Adam Loewen and Steve Trachsel are in. They could choose to skip Trachsel's first turn, so avoid using him in all leagues.

• Boston Red Sox -- Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez are in. Tavarez could be moved back, but he cannot be skipped in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8). Consider him a deeper AL-only option.

• Chicago Cubs -- Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, Rich Hill and Wade Miller are in. No one can be skipped. Mark Prior (shoulder) opens in the minor leagues.

• Chicago White Sox -- Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Mark Buehrle, Javier Vazquez and John Danks are in. No one will be skipped in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8).

• Cincinnati Reds -- Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, Eric Milton and Kyle Lohse are in. Elizardo Ramirez (shoulder) will start on the DL, so Matt Belisle or Kirk Saarloos are the final options for the No. 5 starter's spot. Consider either of them high risk for the deepest of NL-only leagues.

• Cleveland Indians -- C.C. Sabathia (arm) is expected to make his opening-day start and be a two-start pitcher. Jake Westbrook, Jeremy Sowers, Paul Byrd and Fausto Carmona round out the rotation. Cliff Lee (side) will start on the DL.

• Colorado Rockies -- Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis, Rodrigo Lopez, Jason Hirsh and Josh Fogg are in. There is the potential for Hirsh or Fogg to be skipped in Week 1, though. Fogg is too risky to consider in any league, regardless. Cook could pick up a second start if Fogg is indeed skipped.

• Detroit Tigers -- Kenny Rogers (blood clot) is out for half of the season, so Jeremy Bonderman draws the opening-day start. Nate Robertson, Justin Verlander, Mike Maroth and Chad Durbin round out the rotation. No one can be skipped, although Durbin could slide back a day to keep Bonderman on regular rest.

• Florida Marlins -- Dontrelle Willis, Scott Olsen, Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco are in. Sergio Mitre is expected to be the No. 5 starter, but with a Thursday off, he can be -- likely will be -- skipped. Reserve in those really deep NL-only leagues in which you own him. Josh Johnson (elbow) is out for at least two months.

• Houston Astros -- Roy Oswalt, Jason Jennings and Woody Williams are in and are safe starts. Wandy Rodriguez, Fernando Nieve and Matt Albers are the front-runners for the final two spots at this point. Consider them risky starts in the deepest of NL-only leagues in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8). The No. 5 starter could be skipped in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8), too. Jennings would get a second start in that event.

• Kansas City Royals -- Gil Meche, Odalis Perez, Zack Greinke, Jorge De La Rosa and Brandon Duckworth are in. No one can be skipped, but Duckworth could move back a day to keep two-starter Meche on regular rest. All Royals starters are high-risk options in the deepest of AL-only leagues.

• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim -- John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar, Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders are in. Jered Weaver (shoulder) and Bartolo Colon (shoulder) are starting on the DL. The No. 5 fill-in is between Dustin Moseley and Hector Carrasco, both of which are high risk for the deepest of AL-only leagues.

• Los Angeles Dodgers -- Derek Lowe, Randy Wolf, Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny and Brett Tomko are in. Tomko could be skipped, though, so consider him extremely high risk for the deepest of NL-only leagues. Wolf would pick up a second Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8) start, if Tomko is indeed left out of the first turn.

• Milwaukee Brewers -- Ben Sheets, Chris Capuano, Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Claudio Vargas are in. Vargas won't get a start in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8), though, because he will be skipped on his first turn.

• Minnesota Twins -- Johan Santana, Boof Bonser, Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponson and Carlos Silva are in. The exact order is not determined beyond the first two and it is significant because the No. 5 starter will be skipped to keep Santana on his regular five days rest. Silva is the likely No. 5 at this point, so reserve him in all leagues for Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8).

• New York Mets -- Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey are in. Pelfrey is a risky start in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8), because he can be easily skipped with off days Monday and Thursday. Chan Ho Park is opening the season in the bullpen.

• New York Yankees -- Carl Pavano, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and Kei Igawa are in. Jeff Karstens (elbow) and Darrell Rasner are the finalists to start the season as Chien-Ming Wang's (hamstring) fill-in. The No. 5 spot cannot be skipped in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8), but either of those options are extremely risky.

• Oakland Athletics -- Dan Haren, Esteban Loaiza, Rich Harden and Joe Blanton are in. Joe Kennedy and Brad Halsey are the finalists for the No. 5 spot. Both are high-risk options for the deepest of AL-only leagues, especially since one of them will be pitching in relief.

• Philadelphia Phillies -- Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton are in. Jon Lieber (oblique) and Freddy Garcia (biceps) will open the season on the DL, but Garcia is eligible to come off April 7, which is when the No. 5 starter's spot will be needed. Consider Garcia a risky start in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8).

• Pittsburgh Pirates -- Zach Duke will start on opening day at Houston, and will be followed by Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. Paul Maholm will work next at Cincinnati, with Tony Armas being named the No. 5 starter but not getting in the game until the Pirates' sixth contest as Duke will pitch again before him. Snell will then start the team's home opener.

• San Diego Padres -- Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Clay Hensley, Greg Maddux and David Wells are in. There is no Thursday day off, so all five starters will go in succession.

• San Francisco Giants -- Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Matt Morris, Noah Lowry and Russ Ortiz are in. There is no Thursday day off, so all five starters will go in succession.

• Seattle Mariners -- Felix Hernandez, Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez are in. The No. 5 starter, Ramirez or Weaver, could be skipped because of a Thursday day off. Consider those two risky starts in deeper AL-only leagues.

• St. Louis Cardinals -- Chris Carpenter, Kip Wells, Braden Looper, Adam Wainwright and Anthony Reyes are in. Carpenter will stay on his regular fifth day, so Reyes won't start until Sunday, April 8.

• Tampa Bay Devil Rays -- Scott Kazmir, Jae Seo, James Shields, Casey Fossum and Edwin Jackson are in. Kazmir will remain on regular rest, but all five starters should go in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8). Kazmir is the only one we can advise using in most leagues, though.

• Texas Rangers -- Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy, Robinson Tejeda and Jamey Wright are in. A Thursday day off will allow the Rangers to skip Wright's first start in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8), though, so keep him reserved in those really deep AL-only leagues you own him in.

• Toronto Blue Jays -- Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Gustavo Chacin and Tomo Ohka are in. The No. 5 starter's spot is down to Victor Zambrano or Josh Towers. Zambrano has to prove healthy before you should consider him, and Towers is high-risk anyway. Ignore the Blue Jays' No. 5 starter in Fantasy Week 1 (April 1-8).

• Washington Nationals -- John Patterson, Shawn Hill, Matt Chico and Jerome Williams are in. Jason Bergmann is the likely No. 5 starter fill-in at this point. Consider him a high-risk start at this point.

Week 1 (April 1-8) matchups

This week's matchups
AL early	NL early	AL late	NL late
TB@NYY	ATL@PHI	BOS@TEX	PHI@FLA
TOR@DET	FLA@WAS	SEA@CLE	COL@SD
CLE@CHW	LAD@MIL	TOR@TB	CHC@MIL
BOS@KC	CHC@CIN	DET@KC	PIT@CIN
OAK@SEA	ARI@COL	OAK@LAA	ARI@WAS
BAL@MIN	PIT@HOU	BAL@NYY	STL@HOU
TEX@LAA	NYM@STL	MIN@CHW	NYM@ATL
	SD@SF		LAD@SF
N.Y. Mets at St. Louis begins their three-game series Sunday.
Bold denotes a four-game series.
The following teams play seven games this week: Arizona, L.A. Angels, Oakland and Washington.

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