CATCHER - As I said last week, Paul LoDuca at 840 is ranked higher than Jorge Posada at 990. So LoDuca starts along with Toby Hall who will be popular at 320. Posada does get a berth on my taxi squad.

FIRST BASE - There are many directions CDM owners will go at this position. Myself I upgraded from a Tony Clark/Derrick Lee combo for the first week. Hearing great things about Sean Casey, I elected to go with him at midweek. Then I got some stats thrown at me from a Milwaukee play-by-play announcer (who as usual, is convinced that the Brewers will be right in the thick of the NL playoff race) during an exhibition game on Friday. Richie Sexson hit 27 HR's with a .291 BA in the second half last year. That means we can look for a .290/55/130 season out of Sex in '02. OK I'll bite, at least he opens the year in Enron. Todd Helton (1980) is on my taxi for Week 1 and will be worked in for his Week 2 homestand.

SECOND BASE - Alfonso Soriano will be a near unaminous selection among the top teams, that is the no-brainer. My other second sacker for Week 1 is Marcus Giles, who I think will be a bargain at 550 and has the power potential of his brother, which is always nice for a middle infielder. Some were scared off by Giles' hemorrhoid surgery last week, which the Braves originally said would keep him out a week. Please, George Brett (in an earlier medical era) had that removed smack in the middle of the 1980 World Series (I think they used whiskey for anesthesia back then) and was back in the lineup the next day. Rockie Jose Ortiz (750) is on my taxi and will probably be brought up for Week 2.

THIRD BASE - Many CDM teams are taking the dive on hot rookie Hank Blalock (520) - discussed in more detail last week. Aramis Ramirez will also be popular at 890. So that is my combo. Aaron Boone, who I think will blow up just like his brother, was originally on my taxi but circumstances caused me to drop him and to go naked depth wise for now.

SHORTSTOPS - Another position where there won't be much variety. Alex Rodriguez (1880) is the best selection among baseball's elite due to being at SS and will be coupled with Nomar Garciaparra at 1120. Rockie Juan Uribe (500) is on my taxi while some teams went with Jimmy Rollins for Week 1 due to Boston only having a 5-game week.

OUTFIELDERS/DH - Both of my DH's came out of the outfield position. Ichiro (1330), Lance Berkman (1320), Adam Dunn (710), and Daryl Ward (620) were the no-brainers. In a late move I decided on Toronto rookie Vernon Wells (440), who also appears to be a popular play. I think I went slightly off the board with the other three selections. Late developments allowed me to squeeze in Albert Pujols (1300), who finishes in Enron for Week 1. Likewise, I am also high on teammate J.D. Drew (1010). My final outfielder is Geoff Jenkins (950), who has potential for a .300+ BA and 40 bombs. My taxi squad outfielders consist of Larry Walker, Juan Gonzalez, Todd Hollandsworth, and Juan Pierre. Cannot have enough Rockies. Pierre is a late replacement for Roger Cedeno. Rog finished last year by pissing off Phil Garner, I'm sure he'll piss off Bobby V. in due time.

STARTING PITCHERS- Sunday Night Baseball had me scrambling here at the last minute. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were the no brainers, and then decided to go with Javier Vazquez and Wade Miller. Then it got tricky. At 8:50 ET Jon Miller was promo-ing the PHI/ATL Opening Day matchup and said that "it appears that Greg Maddux will not be going for Atlanta". No further explanation was given. Meanwhile ESPN2's Bottom Line was reporting earthshaking news such as Texas signing Ruben Rivera along with UConn's chicks hoops teams quest for an undefeated season, but nothing on Maddux. So it was off to the BBS board where it had been mentioned in the last hour that Maddux would be scratched with a sore buttocks. So I quickly replaced Maddux with Matt Morris, while upgrading from Roger Cedeno to Pujols. I had Oakland's Mark Mulder at 1080 penciled in as my sixth starter, but also keeping an eye on Bartolo Colon's (who is at 1090) progress in the Sunday Night game. As the 10 PM deadline drew close, Bart had breezed through 6 shutout innings. Goodbye Mark, hello Bart. Yes, it's only one game out of 162. But for a SP it is one game out of 35. And if Don Fehr has his way, it may be one game out of 25. So yes, I will take the free six scoreless racks. Bart would go on to finish the complete game shutout, scattering five hits and two walks. I'm happy with the twelve guaranteed Week 1 starts with one shutout already in the bank. Between Maddux and Colon, those who paid attention until the last minute were rewarded handsomely. The taxi-squad consists of Josh Beckett, Tim Hudson, and starter turned reliever Kelvim Escobar (who I will probably throw in Week 2)

RELIEF PITCHERS - The saves category killed me last year, and will not allow that to happen again. So I went with Ugueth Urbina, Billy Wagner, and John Smoltz, to go along with late cheapie (760) Braden Looper who became Florida's de-facto closer when 24-digit freak Antonio Alfonseca was traded in Spring Training's closing days. Keith Foulke is on my taxi squad. Many CDM teams seem to be going with the likes of Eddie Guardado and Mike DeJean in the tradition of a cheap reliever thoery. Myself, I've been down the Brewer/Twin closer road before - I'll pass.

My budget points game entry (I only entered one) comes in a slightly different flavor, as I steered towards power and pitching wins/saves. LoDuca/Hall are again my catchers along with Sexson/Casey at first base. Edgardo Alfonzo joins Soriano at second base while Aram/Blalock are at third and Arod/Nomar man short. The outfielders/DH consist of Berkman, Ichiro, Dunn, and Ward � along with Juan and Luis Gonzalez, Preston Wilson, and Richard Hidalgo. The starting pitchers consist of Matt Morris, Tim Hudson, Javier Vazquez, Wade Miller, Mark Buehrle, and Kelvim Escobar while Billy Wagner, Ugueth Urbina, Mike Williams and Braden Looper comprise the bullpen.

The taxi squad consists of Robert Fick �, Todd Helton (1B), Jose Ortiz (2B), Aaron Boone (3B), Juan Uribe (SS), along with outfielders Larry Walker, Carlos Beltran, and Pat Burrell. The bench pitchers are Greg Maddux, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, and Josh Beckett.

Just a couple days into the season, and the elevators are already shooting up and down. A quick look at some of the more notable developments�

HEADING UP

Randy Johnson/Curt Schilling � Not exactly breaking news that this is a pretty good 1-2 combo. This is especially true when the Padres are the opposition, who these two treat like Little Leaguers. And they appear to be taking their exploits to even greater heights. Unit pitched a complete game shutout, scattering six hits and one walk, while striking out eight. That does not even tell the whole story. Unit�s next to last pitch of the game, his 127th, was recorded at 101 MPH. Just remember he�s 38 and way past his prime. Meanwhile Schilling was staked to an early 9-0 lead and would pitch seven efficient shutout innings, with no walks, six hits and nine K�s. Remember Schilling�s 35 now, he�ll be through soon enough. Throw in scoreless racks by Mike Meyers/Byung-Hyun Kim and you have two shutouts with only one walk allowed. Pitching coach Bob Welch has one of the easiest jobs on the planet.

Barry Bonds � So much for slowing down and hitting only 50-55 HR�s this year. If he ends up with only 50 it�ll will be because of a work stoppage. Bonds went yard four times on four different Dodgers hurlers, including the likes of Kevin Brown and Hideo Nomo. But don�t worry, he�ll turn 38 in a couple of months, and definitely has seen his better days. Oh yeah, and he hit .328 last year, plus the walks. Talk about OBP and Slugging pct. And yes, Hammerin' Hank's record is in jeopardy

Robert Fick � Catcher eligible, Fick is hitting third as a DH in Detroit�s lineup and went 5-9 the first two days, further enhancing his status as one of this year�s prime sleeper catchers.

Toby Hall � Hit fifth in Tampa Bay�s opener, and has a four-hit game already. He should be at least a middle-tier catcher this year as well.

Tony Clark � Gigundous three-run bomb in the middle of a potent lineup in the Bosox opener. This looks like the year he puts it together.

Gary Sheffield � Couple of bombs already, quickest bat speed I�ve ever seen.

Albert Pujols � In case you thought he was a fluke, 2-4, 3 runs, 3 RBI on opening day. He�s still for real.

Bartolo Colon � For once opens the season with a bang. Now listed at age 29, we now know that he is in his prime as opposed to being an up-and-comer.

Russ Ortiz - Buried under Bond's mind-boggling performance was Ortiz's seven shutout innings. But the real key was he only gave up one walk, if he can keep the control up look out...

HEADING DOWN

Pedro Martinez � How to feel like your team�s finished on April 1??? Definitely if you paid or drafted dearly for P-Mart. It isn�t just the stats. The delivery is alarmingly different and his heater is only low-90�s. As I said last week, he will be shelved sooner rather than later.

Kevin Brown � How to feel like your team�s in trouble on April 2??? There are many KB owners in that boat right now after giving up 7 ER in 4 innings. But Brownie gets a little more leway since it looks like Bonds is hellbent of hitting anyone and anything out. But pity those who rolled the dice on both Pedro and Brown this week.

Vernon Wells � A lot of people had this guy as an impact rookie in �02, but managed to go 0-6 in a 12-11 game. Sorry you missed the party Vern.

Ugueth Urbina � One save opp, one blown save. Just something else for Chowd Nation to grip over.

Mike Hampton � Now in the latter stages of Darryl Kile disease, when you start performing as bad on the road just like you would at Coors.

Chan Ho Park � His move to Texas already looking as bad as feared, and is breaking down already.

WEEK 2 PREVIEW

Do challenge players go with Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson in Coors Field??? That is just two of many interesting decisions on hand for Week 2. Colorado�s seven games at home highlight the slate, three v. HOU followed by AZ. In addition to Unit/Schill, Roy Oswalt will also oppose COL. Still, with seven home games, you should not go wrong with Rockie hitters. Besides COL and AZ, MIN, CLE, NYY, TOR, SEA, ANH, ATL, and PHI have seven-gamers, everyone else plays six times.

Obviously, Weeks 2 and 3 don�t offer as much as far as two-start pitchers are concerned, until the opening day starters recycle themselves in Week 4. There is still a fairly decent selection of two-steppers this week, headed by Oswalt, Eric Milton, David Wells, Mike Mussina, Kerry Wood, and Barry Zito. Greg Maddux is slated to make his season debut on Sunday but if he holds off a day or two becomes a two-timer as well.

And for my opinion about the big two at Coors??? Unit I would consider starting on the moon. Strikeouts travel the same at altitude as at sea level � they end up in the catchers mitt. Schilling of course gives up the long ball on occasion but historically has fared well in Colorado as well.

LATROY F. HAWKINS AWARD

In the tradition of the Andy Houston award that I give out in my NASCAR column (to the driver who eliminates him/herself in the opening laps), I now unveil the LFH award. This goes to those so-called closers who go out and crap the bed, ruining eight plus innings of hard work by their teams, in addition to wrecking the pitching stats of fantasy teams in a matter of minutes. This week�s winner follows in the great LFH tradition. We take you to Montreal where newly anointed Marlin closer Braden Looper attempts to protect a 6-4 ninth inning lead. Looper opens the ninth facing Brad Wilkinson, this should be easy. Whoops, HE JUST WALKED SOMEONE I NEVER HEARD OF. That was followed by a check-swing double. Looper would then strikeout the next two hitters but then give up a game-tying two-run single, an intentional walk, and another bloop single for the ballgame. There was some rotten luck involved but we all know about leadoff walks. Guess the Marlins are missing more than two toes, two fingers, and thirty pounds in the ninth�

Honorable mention goes to Keith Foulke, who coughed up six hits and four earnies to lose a game in Seattle. But at least the Mariners are tough for anyone to close out against.