ESPN

Last week, I investigated 10 Draft Day Bargains on the offensive side of the ledger, but what would a whopping fantasy lineup be without a deft and clever fantasy rotation? Certainly, utilizing your early-round fantasy picks is an art in itself: Don't reach, play it safe, lay a solid foundation across as many categories as you can. But any fantasy warhorse will tell you that rotisserie bones are made deep inside the draft, when other owners are nodding off in their beers, when buddies are reaching for fantasy magazines to find out who Adam Lind is, and when your Uncle Marty tries to pick Dave Concepcion.

Some of this site's readership plays in shallow mixed leagues and probably never gets to experience the pleasure/pain of having to choose between Paul Byrd and James Shields. But for the rest of us, late-round bargains are the straw that stirs the nonalcoholic beverage. As such, here are 10 pitchers who'll be available in your fantasy draft later than they should be. I've compared my own 2007 player ratings with the average draft position (or ADP) of each player, and thus labeled my bargains. Here we go:

Dan Haren, Oak
Maybe if you added a "D" to the middle of his last name, fantasy folk would get more frenzied. (In fact, I know they would; Rich Harden is going higher than Haren in average drafts.) Haren didn't finish 2006 very well, but he's reliable (200+ IP his first two full years as a major leaguer), strikes out a lot of hitters (6.78 K/9 his last two seasons) without walking too many (2.00 BB/9 in that same span), and he's posted WHIPs of 1.22 and 1.21 in '05 and '06 in the American League. He's not spectacular, but in deep leagues he's probably a No. 2 starter, yet he's going, on average, 116th overall in drafts, or 26th among starting pitchers (and 13th in AL-only leagues). I have Haren as the No. 65 player overall, and the 13th starter among mixed leagues, or the fifth-best starter in the AL.

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider