Casey Fossum

He's Tampa Bay's enforcer; Fossum led the AL in hit batsmen last year (and, no, they weren't all Red Sox, though they were the only ones whining about it). He's a serviceable fifth starter on a team that has three or four of them in their rotation, but because of his low strikeout rate, Fossum is less desirable than most in AL-only leagues.

Fossum started the year in mid-May due to offseason shoulder surgery. Many of his peripherals actually look consistent from 2003 to 2004, including his walk rate, strikeout rate and even batting average on balls in play. Home runs, however, went way up with none of those 31 taters hit at Coors. He has to make some adjustments to keep the ball in the park more this season. Traded to the Devil Rays in February, Fossum likely will assume a middle or long relief role with the Rays, similar to the role fellow lefty John Halama had with the club last year.

Fossum's ERA with the Red Sox climbed from 3.46 in 2002 to 5.47 in 2003, but according to the Bill James Handbook, his year-to-year component ERA increase was much smaller, from 4.14 to 4.77, indicating that he was pretty lucky in 2002 and pretty unlucky in 2003. Fossum comes over to Arizona as part of the Curt Schilling deal. Since he is very tough on lefties (.230/.286 lefty-righty split last year) and Arizona's home park is a much more friendly environment for lefties to hit in than Fenway Park is, the D-Backs will start the spring with Fossum in the bullpen as a lefty-killer -- a role where Fossum could be brutally effective, but have a lot less roto impact than he would as a member of the rotation.

Fossum, 25, will begin the season as a starter, likely fourth in the rotation. Had some success in 12 starts, going 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 66 2/3 innings. He got hit around (.279 BAA), but walking only 19 batters helped keep the damage to a minimum. He had been a reliever for a couple of seasons, and is just now starting to get his swerve on as a starter. Good sleeper pick who could be had cheaply.