Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

On this St. Patrick's Day weekend, let’s raise a glass or two and give a hearty Fantasy Island toast to the all-important starting pitcher.

While I agree they are generally the most unpredictable fantasy performers, one thing I do know for sure is your team is worth “spit” if you don’t have enough good ones. There’s nothing that will sabotage your head-to-head week like a couple of hurlers getting lit like a Bob Dylan fan on Monday or Tuesday. Conversely, a couple of solid early week starts can leave you in prime position to gobble up 4-categories (Wins, K’s, ERA & WHIP).

Now, how you get good starting pitching varies. You can draft it early and pray it stays healthy. One year, I took SP’s in the first three rounds (plus had Pedro as my keeper) and ran away with the league. Other years, I’ve had to fish the waiver wire because the draft dictated offense was the way to go, yet still ended up with surprise gems like Anibal Sanchez and Scott Olsen toeing the rubber Championship week.

How you choose to get good pitching is up to you. All I can tell you is; you’d better have it!

Royal Flush
1)Johan Santana
2)Carlos Zambrano
3)Felix Hernandez
4)Chris Carpenter
5)Roy Halladay

As deep a field as this is, Santana is still in a league of his own. He’ll be the Cy Young favorite every year as long as health isn’t an issue, which it never seems to be…Zambrano is primed for a bust-out season, and he’s been damn good to begin with. With the team the Cubs have assembled around him, 20-wins are in sight…King Felix was a disappointment last year. Then again, how can you consider a kid who isn’t even old enough to drink a disappointment? I say Hernandez lives up to the massive hype in ’07…Carpenter is about as steady as they come. Pencil the Manchester, NH native in for 18-wins, 200-strikeouts and very low ERA and WHIP…Halladay is the AL’s version of Carpenter, except the league jacks up his ratios a bit. (Toughest omissions were Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy)

Asleep at the Wheel
1)Rich Harden
2)Daisuke Matsuzaka
3)Jonathan Papelbon
4)Adam Wainwright
5)Daniel Cabrera

Harden is Top-3 if healthy. That’s a big “if,” but if he’s still around in the 4th or 5th round, you almost have to take the chance. The reward is too huge to pass up…Don’t worry about Dice-K’s adjustment to American baseball. Major League hitters will have a tougher time adjusting than Matsuzaka will. He’s going to be in the Royal Flush next year…Please, please, please, please, please Terry Francona! Let Papelbon pitch an entire year in the rotation. Next year, you’ll have a Pedro/Shilling type combo in Dice-K/Little Papi… Wainwright is another guy going from closer to starter. This kid will go much later than Papelbon, but his upside as a National Leaguer on a winning team is just as high…I got burned by Cabrera on draft day last year. However, his 2nd half splits were amazing and showed someone who finally got command of the strike zone. At #510 in Yahoo, he’s going to make a lot of owners smile come September.

The Plague
1)Aaron Harang
2)Kenny Rogers
3)Andy Pettitte
4)Bronson Arroyo
5)Mark Prior

Harang at #75 overall? Yeah, right!...I don’t mean to insinuate Rogers was “cheating” last year, but let’s see Mr. Personality do it again with all of baseball on the lookout for mysterious smudges on his fingers…Most Yankees are overvalued anyway. Pettitte moving back to the AL after a nice little run in the NL makes him more overpriced than Super Unleaded gasoline. (Aviod the "Rocket" Fuel, too!)…Arroyo was a nice little story in ’06, but if you'll be singing the blues if you expect a repeat. I say; welcome back to mediocrity in '07. …Prior won’t even be with the Cubs coming out of spring training, yet he’s still ranked pretty high up on most boards. Don’t be the one to gamble he’ll still have something left when he eventually does make it back to the majors.