By those numbers, each would fit nicely into the right role in just about any fantasy rotation, but unfortunately there are a lot of question marks surrounding this rotation.

The safest bet out of the six named pitchers is Brandon Beachy simply because of his dominant strikeout numbers.  The 25 year-old righty’s minor league strikeout rate support his 2011 numbers, making it highly likely he would be able to keep at least a 9.00 K/9 mark in 2012.  Work load is always a concern with younger pitchers, but his 141.2 innings pitched last season was just under the “magical” 20-percent increase from 2010, so that should not be a worry for fantasy players.

Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson should both carry a reasonable amount of concern with their recent injury history.  Not only should you worry about them missing time, but worst in some cases, trying to pitch through an injury as both pitchers appeared to do in 2011.

Heading into the All-Star Break Jurrjens was carrying a 1.87 ERA with 12 wins.  He made only 7 more starts, presumably on a bum knee, and rewarded his owners with a 5.88 ERA the rest of way.  Hanson’s shoulder problems were ongoing in 2011, but the investment most owners made to own him forced you to keep him in your rotation even when it was obvious something wasn’t right.  On top of his shoulder issues potentially continuing this season, it appears Hanson could have to deal with concussion related issues due to a car accident that occurred during spring training.

Both pitchers are definitely ownable as long as you don’t pay the premium price for them, and should both be considered high risk/high reward within their own tier of starting pitchers.