It might be a little late but the dark days are almost over, as the love of our sporting life will soon be here again. And with it, the song in my heart can no longer be contained. Read the rest of this entry »
With the season upon us, it is time to drop my final edition of my positional ranks. I will continue to update them live on the Sleeper and the Bust Patreon until the season gets underway and in-season as well.
You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/
With the season upon us, it is time to drop my final edition of my positional ranks. I will continue to update them live on the Sleeper and the Bust Patreon until the season gets underway and in-season as well.
You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/
We’ve got lots of guys to talk about, so let’s get right to it. Check out the start of last week’s article for an explanation of what we’re doing and how we do it. The pitchers are listed in descending order of likelihood that they’ll do what the stats we’re looking at suggest they’ll do. In other words, we list unlucky guys in ascending order of our pessimism about our optimism, and lucky guys in ascending order of our pessimism about our pessimism.
UNLUCKY STARTING PITCHERS
Kyle Freeland: Hesitant as we are to recommend, and for that matter to draft, Colorado pitchers, we are making an exception for Freeland, whose 2018 was unquestionably the best single season ever by a Rockies pitcher. The only thing that went wrong for him last year was that he was suddenly unable to get left-handed hitters out. Since he’s never had that problem before, we envision that he won’t have it again, at least not this season.
The Pre-Season Injury Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.
Injury Update – Reuven gives us the injury updates.
Hitters
Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download
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With the season upon us, it is time to drop my final edition of my positional ranks. I will continue to update them live on the Sleeper and the Bust Patreon until the season gets underway and in-season as well.
You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/ Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s my first run from New Year’s Eve and those of you subscribed to the podcast’s Patreon have had access to mine & Justin’s ever-evolving rankings as the winter wore on (and thank you all so much for the support!). Now it’s time to dive deeper into the SP pool. I won’t have a comment on every single pitcher listed, but please feel free to ask questions in the comments about anyone – even if they have a comment!
| RK | STARTING PITCHER | TM | Last Rk. | Diff. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gerrit Cole | NYY | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | Brandon Woodruff | MIL | 6 | 3 |
| 4 | Walker Buehler | LAD | 2 | -2 |
| 5 | Corbin Burnes | MIL | 4 | -1 |
| 6 | Max Scherzer | NYM | 5 | -1 |
| 7 | Julio Urías | LAD | 13 | 6 |
The best of the best.
I understand the narrative of Cole and the sticky stuff ban because he had a 4.12 ERA from that point forward, but it came with a 3.39 FIP and 32% K rate. Even with a couple September duds mixed in, his FIP was 2.95 in the second half. The skills remain truly elite.
Astros
• Framber Valdez added a cutter.
The first spring start of Grapefruit League play this year went much more smoothly for Valdez, who threw 30 pitches in three scoreless innings in Monday’s 2-1 win over the Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. Valdez also debuted a cutter he picked up in the offseason that he hopes to add as a viable weapon with his sinker and curveball with an elite spin rate.
Astros
• Cristian Javier will start the season in the bullpen.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said on Monday that Cristian Javier will likely begin the season in the bullpen, because the club will need some long relievers in April.
Athletics
• According to manager Make Kotsay, Lou Trivino should be the closer.
Who begins the year as closer remains under wraps. However, A’s manager Mark Kotsay mentioned that Trivino’s track record does give him a leg up on the competition.
“When we put this roster together, we’ll try to identify roles,” Kotsay said. “But [Trivino] obviously has the most experience on the roster closing games, so it seems like he would be ahead of the curve.”
With the season upon us, it is time to drop my final edition of my positional ranks. I will continue to update them live on the Sleeper and the Bust Patreon until the season gets underway and in-season as well.
You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/
