It’s an odd thing, trying to rank baseball players before the season begins. There’s so much that can happen in between your last click of the “Post” button and the start of the regular season. Pre-season rankings are like a message in a bottle that gets gently pushed out to sea, or in my case, thrown overboard in choppy seas after the contents of the said bottle have been drained, stuffed with the best note I could muster and chucked out into the ether. It’s not easy, that’s what I’m trying to convey. In this post, I’m going to focus on what went well.
I’ve got a weekend board coming for y’all, so look for that on Friday evening. I’ll try to get one for each of these last 3 weekends.
I’m a huge Logan Webb fan, but he isn’t an unquestioned must-start here. His 1.28 WHIP v. teams over .500 is 14 pts higher than sub-.500 clubs, including a 1.53 in 19 IP v. the Padres. I’m more inclined to run him if I’m in chase mode hoping vintage Webb returns with 8 shutty in a low-scoring win.
Brant Hurter has sneakily been a big reason the Tigers are back in the wildcard mix. He has 33 innings with 3.00 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 19% K-BB, often following an opener (1 start, 6 follows) for about 5 innings per outing. He has wins in each of his last 4 outings, including a traditional 5-inning start v. LAA.
Do not feel obligated to start Freddy Peralta. ARI is so scary. They are 1st in BB% v. righties since July 1st and 3rd on the year while Peralta has walked at least 2 batters in each of his last 10 starts (10% BB).
FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: I agree w/the comment that Clarke Schmidt should be higher but I didn’t want to remake the chart so I just 2-x’d him and highlighted it to signify it was changed. I mistakenly thought this was his return from the IL, but w/the tune-up start at CHC (75 pitches, 4.7 IP), I feel good running him in a lot of spots today. He’s even borderline 3-x depending on your situation. View him more in the Webb/Hurter range.
As usual, don’t hesitate to tweet us or comment below with fantasy questions.
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While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even a larger entry fee ($2.5K to $15K). They were originally named “High Stakes Leagues” and there are ten of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain any advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues. Read the rest of this entry »
Oof, Bobby Miller just allowed a 3-run homer, ending his day with 6 ER in just 4.3 IP. As it stands right now, I still think I’ll be in at the discounted rate for 2025, but obviously we could learn of an injury in the offseason (if not sooner) that would then change his outlook.
I’m very excited for Kumar Rocker’s debut. He has an 0.91 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, & 41% K-BB rate in his last 7 starts across Double- and Triple-A.
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Not a bad board for Wednesday’s full slate. Plenty of options across the various formats. I’m sure some of the 2- and 1-x guys will pop off, but identifying exactly who is tough. Bradford, for example, could deal but I’m not dying to take the shot at ARI.
