Taylor Jordan made nine starts this year before the Nationals turned to Tanner Roark. Nate Karns made three; even Zach Duke got a chance to start before Roark. And why not? Texas’ 2008 25th-rounder — he was traded to Washington in 2010 for Cristian Guzman, and how is Guzman still only 35 years old? — lost 17 games with a 4.39 ERA in Triple-A last year, was unprotected and unselected in the Rule 5 draft, and spent much of this year coming out of the Syracuse bullpen.

Now, suddenly, Roark is the talk of the town as the Nationals make an improbable run at the final wild card spot, having won seven of the 12 games he’s appeared in with a 1.08 ERA and generating stories about his inclusion in the 2014 rotation.

Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? More importantly, is Roark a name you really need to know as you start thinking about keepers for next year, or just someone on a well-time hot streak feasting on the expanded rosters of teams who gave up weeks ago?

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It’s hard to believe that there’s only about a week and a half left of the 2013 regular season. Many of you are likely scrambling for wins and strikeouts at the expense of potential destruction to your ratios. As usual, there are a whole bunch of new or returning starters in the American League that may be sitting in your free agent pool. The question becomes: do I pick up the pitcher or not?

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Back in May, Chris Cwik noticed something very interesting about Andrew Cashner. His hard slider was gone. Whether the pitcher had done it to save his arm, or the pitch had changed because of the rigors, the pitch was gone. And, seemingly, the strikeouts with it.

It looks like the hard slider is back.

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Finally, I have published this streamer post on Monday to offer a recommendation for every game of the fantasy week! Hopefully the entire RotoGraphs readership is still in the hunt for that exhilarating Yoo-Hoo shower and any additional wins and strikeouts could be the difference between getting wet and staying dry. As a reminder, I am attempting to identify starting pitchers who should be available in the majority of leagues. There may be better options available in your league, in which case you may ask for any specific cases in the comments.

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The Dodgers have one of the top starting rotations in the game as they head into the playoffs, and it’s not hard to see why. Clayton Kershaw might be the best pitcher on the planet, while Zack Greinke has been just about as good as Kershaw over the last two months. Behind that pair, Hyun-jin Ryu has been fantastic in his debut season, and might have been the slam-dunk Rookie of the Year in a campaign that didn’t feature Jose Fernandez, Yasiel Puig, Shelby Miller, and so many others.

With that trio leading the way, it’s easy to forget the 30-year-old veteran who only joined the team in July after having been rescued from Miami, and whose main claim to fame during parts of eight seasons in the big leagues is that he constantly (and infuriatingly) under-performed his peripherals. But since arriving in Los Angeles, Ricky Nolasco has been every bit as effective as his more famous teammates, with a 2.07 ERA and 3.06 FIP in 12 starts. Luck? Increased happiness at being away from the Marlins, back in a pennant race, and pitching for his childhood team? Or has something actually changed other than his zip code? Read the rest of this entry »

On August 6, the White Sox promoted starting pitcher Chris Beck from High-A Winston-Salem to Double-A Birmingham. A common question I heard when that news broke was “Isn’t that rushing him, since his strikeout rate is low?”

My response to that line of questioning was always “No, he’ll be fine.” And indeed he was, making five great starts in Birmingham down the stretch (28 IP, 22/3 K/BB, 0 HR, 2.89 ERA, 2.16 FIP). Ending his first full professional season by overmatching Double-A hitters is a great sign, but what of the low strikeout rate? How does the 76th overall pick of the 2012 draft project?

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Over the last 30 days, this pitcher ranks second  in strikeout percentage among all starters with at least 20 innings pitched. In the second half of the season, this same pitcher ranks ninth among that group of starters in ERA, with a 1.94 mark. Since the beginning of June, the man in question has posted a 2.63 ERA. Of course, you know from the title that I’m talking about Ubaldo Jimenez.

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After an awful debut showing several weeks ago when I first started identifying streaming candidates, I came back with a roar last week to save face. In 6 starts spanning 35.1 innings, my streamer staff won 4 games and posted a sterling 2.80 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, while compiling 30 strikeouts. I’m pretty sure that was better than any of my actual staffs filled with start-every-week pitchers. Here are this week’s picks.

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After only pitching a total of 69.2 innings in 2011 and 2012, Jorge de la Rosa has enjoyed a productive bounce-back season in which he’s compiled a 3.31 ERA, and his 16 wins are the second-most in Major League Baseball. Those two statistics have made de la Rosa extremely relevant in standard rotisserie leagues. In fact, he’s been more valuable than Justin Verlander, Gio Gonzalez and Kris Medlen in ESPN leagues, which immediately demands attention.

That value is what makes his 44.6% ownership rate in ESPN leagues so fascinating. He’s widely available on the waiver wire in most leagues, yet he’s been effective all season — including recent starts. The southpaw hasn’t surrendered more than three earned runs in a start since July 29 and has won six-consecutive decisions. Although pitcher wins remain a roll of the dice in many ways, it’s surprising such a stretch would fly under the radar for so many owners, leaving him on the waiver wire collecting fantasy points for no one.

The fantasy baseball community has seemingly decided this level of performance is largely unsustainable, essentially treating him like fellow left-hander Jeff Locke who has similar ownership rates. Unlike Locke, though, de la Rosa hasn’t imploded down the stretch. He continues to find success and has been the 30th-ranked starting pitcher over the last 30 days.

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At this point, it’s fairly well-accepted that the vaunted Jesus Montero/Michael Pineda trade has not worked out especially well for either the Yankees or the Mariners. Montero has hit all of .252/.293/.377 while playing poor defense and amassing -1.0 WAR; meanwhile, Hector Noesi has gone 2-13 with a 5.79 ERA, 5.36 FIP, and -0.7 WAR. Montero’s been the second-worst catcher of the past two seasons according to WAR, whereas Noesi has been the third-worst pitcher (min. 100 IP). Meanwhile, Pineda has yet to throw an inning for the Yankees due to injury problems.

Indeed, the only player of the four in that deal who was healthy and remotely effective for the duration of the 2013 season was the throw-in on the other side, Jose Campos. Of course, the level he was effective at was Low-A, and Campos has endured his own post-trade misfortune, making five starts in 2012 before being shut down with elbow problems and missing the rest of the season. But he once was considered arguably the top pitching prospect in short-season ball, and he did have a fine season this year, with a 3.41 ERA, 2.87 FIP, and 77/16 K/BB in 87 2/3 innings (The low innings total was due to an extremely short leash–with the exception of one outing, he was only allowed to work 2-4 innings each time out–not an abbreviated season). So what exactly do the Yankees have here?

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