Archive for Streaming Two-Starters

We did a little work on streaming last week, in an effort to find you some stolen bases. But stolen bases are just one of the few things we’re all trying to cobble together here in the final month. You might be in a head-to-head league, looking to add one counting stat or another in your playoffs, or in a roto league where you’re furiously fighting for a category. Either way, you need power, speed, relief stats or spot starts, and either way, the context is key.

This is the guide for those that find themselves in that situation but don’t have the time to get granular. All you have to do is look at the team your potential player is facing, and you’ll know enough to make a decent move. Hopefully it won’t let you down — you’re already standing on the ground.

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Alright we’re back for another week of #2xSP, and the harsh (?) reality is there aren’t too many of these left. We’re starting to come down the stretch run, and if you’re like me that also means playoff time in head-to-head leagues.

We’ve had a pretty good run of success here of late, as the worst week-by-week ERA I’ve had in the last five weeks is 4.18. I mean, they haven’t all been good, but for the season I’m pretty proud of the numbers put forth.

Speaking of, here are the season numbers:

42-41
3.87 ERA
8.2 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.32 WHIP
61 quality starts

And now, onto this week’s recs (with team wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Ervin Santana – 44.2% ESPN – @DET (103), @NYM (96)

Big Erv has been a bit more embattled in recent starts, but overall he’s been pretty great in the second half: 2.89 ERA, .644 OPS against and 57-18 K/BB ratio in 65.1 innings/10 starts. He’s not flashy, but just gets the job done. For the Twins, that makes him their de facto as, as they’ve got the worst rotation in baseball by not a small margin. He’s only faced Detroit once this year, but held them to just one earned run in seven innings back on July 20 in his second start after the break. The Mets should be an interesting matchup, though not a particularly worrisome one. Read the rest of this entry »

Alright so we’re back here for another edition of #2xSP. There aren’t many left of these this year, so maybe it’s time to reflect, or at least look forward. I think a reasonably fair goal is to keep the ERA under 4.00, strikeouts above 8.0 per nine innings and maybe, just maybe sneak that K/BB up over 3.0. It’s fair to say this year has gone markedly better than last: 4.66 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 2.2 K/BB and 1.41 WHIP, and this year is more consistent with the previous two years in the now four-year (?!?) track record of this column.

Here’s where we stand so far this season:

42-40 record
3.95 ERA
8.2 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.33 WHIP
59 quality starts
Real-world equivalent: roughly Jake Odorizzi?

Here are this week’s recs (with opponents wRC+ in parentheses):

LHP Tyler Anderson – 20.6% ESPN – v. SFG (101), @SDP (87)

With Anderson it flat out boils down to the fact that I love him. I love a guy who can get strikeouts (8.3 K/9), grounders (53.5%) and doesn’t walk many (2.2 BB/9), and that is even more true at Coors Field. He’s posted a 3.43 ERA that checks out peripherally, and I just don’t see that many red flags with him after 15 MLB starts. I’m cautiously optimistic he can handle Coors long-term, as he’s posted a 3.11 ERA at home versus a 4.21 mark on the road, but his opposing batter splits are flipped in that respect. Batters have hit .266/.318/.409 against him at Coors Field, and just .211/.267/.383 on the road. Even if the answer is somewhere in the middle, I think he’s a really solid guy moving forward. Read the rest of this entry »

We got off to a pretty solid start in week 18, with Kevin Gausman and Dan Straily putting up scoreless outings before seeing that Homer Bailey got rocked a bit, but overall we’re halfway through that week with a 3.77 ERA and a pair of quality starts under our belts. One issue: We somehow missed that Dan Straily was starting Tuesday with an off-day on Thursday, so he won’t be making two starts this week, but will be doing so next week with a Monday start.

With that said, if you grabbed Straily, use him this week instead! He had a very nice start and has been one of the hardest pitchers to square up in the NL all season.

Here’s how we’re doing through half of week 18 overall:

40-38 record
3.93 ERA
8.1 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.31 WHIP
57 quality starts

….and here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Tom Koehler – 40.3% ESPN – @NYM (93), @CLE (104)

It’s understandable if Koehler doesn’t do much for you on the whole, as he’s got a so-so ERA with some iffy peripherals as a 30-year-old who has put together mostly a nondescript career. But he’s been very, very solid over the last month or so — so much so that it stands to take note of. He’s carried a 2.16 ERA through four August starts so far (20-5 K/BB ratio in 25 innings, .599 OPS against) and he was also solid in July (3.33 ERA). All told, since July 1 — a span of nine starts — he’s got a 2.77 ERA, .650 OPS against and 36-12 K/BB ratio in 52 innings. He lost to the Mets twice already this season, but now seems like as good of a time as ever for him to get off the schneid. Read the rest of this entry »

Alright we’re back for another edition of #2xSP, and after a weird Week 15 (0-5, 4.18 ERA, 9.5 K/9 and three quality starts), we’re off to a pretty good start in Week 16 (3-0, 2.55 ERA, 6.1 K/9, but just one quality start). I guess on the aggregate, those two weeks combined would be pretty solid.

This week was a bit of a struggle, but I really like the first name and the other two I’m semi-enthused about, so let’s get after it. First of all, here are the season marks:

37-35 record
4.01 ERA
8.1 K/9
2.8 BB/9
1.33 WHIP
52 quality starts

And here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Homer Bailey – 28.3% ESPN – v. LAD (98), @ARI (94)

“Hi, I’m Homer Bailey, and you might remember me from not pitching a full season since 2013.” While that is true, as Bailey made 23 starts in 2014 and just two last year before missing a ton of time with Tommy John surgery. Before that, he had surgery to repair a tear in his flexor tendon in his throwing elbow as well. Either way, he’s back and ready to roll, and has a couple decent matchups coming up this week. Beyond that, he’s looked pretty good so far in his four starts since returning: 3.66 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 12.4 K/9. Opposing batters have hit just .269/.337/.321 against him, with the OBP a bit alarming but nothing else terribly out of whack. Either way, it isn’t often that you get a starter of Bailey’s caliber largely available on the wire at this time of year. Get on it. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re off to a good start so far in the half-week that’s been Week 16, with quality starts all across the board from Tyler Anderson, Collin McHugh and Kevin Gausman — though weirdly, they’re a combined 0-2. But anyway, maybe we can get you to go ahead and forget about the Week 15 recommendations then, right? Woof, that didn’t end well, as Dylan Bundy accounted for both of our quality starts in a week where Jimmy Nelson and Kyle Gibson got completely obliterated.

But onward and upward, right?

Here are the numbers we’re working with so far this season:

34-32 record
4.00 ERA
8.0 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.31 WHIP
51 quality starts

Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Ervin Santana – 38% ESPN – @ATL (79), @KCR (88)

Santana’s working on a string of nine straight starts where he’s allowed three or fewer earned runs, with seven of those starts being quality starts as he’s lowered his ERA from 5.10 to 3.62 in that time frame. Over that entire time frame, he’s pitched to the following numbers: 2.05 ERA, .543 OPS against and 44-10 K/BB ratio in 61.1 innings. Those maybe aren’t ace numbers — especially when factoring in whiff rate and a .246 BABIP — but it’s easy to see why the Twins see him as part of the solution rather than the “problem” moving forward. Sure, they’re betting on his right shoulder holding up after all those sliders in his ages 34-35 seasons, but at $27 million it’s not the craziest bet they’ve ever made. This week, he gets a couple of #OldFriend clubs, as he squares off against a pair of mediocre offenses in the Braves (whom he was with in 2014) and the Royals (2013). By team wRC+, both are in the bottom-five across MLB. Read the rest of this entry »

Woof. After getting all excited about how Week 14 had started — and it still finished with a solid 2.52 ERA — the wheels came off last week a bit. Then again, we still have Dylan Bundy we can bond over, right? Right?!?

Hopefully this week will be better, as three names really stuck out to me while preparing for this week’s column. Or perhaps more accurately, there were three decent names and a fair amount of ‘meh’.

Here’s a look at the season numbers cobbled together thus far:

32-29 record
3.99 ERA
8.0 K/9
3.0 BB/9
1.31 WHIP
47 quality starts

Here at this week’s recs (with team wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Collin McHugh – 33.6% ESPN – @MIN (99), @TOR (103)

There’s good and bad wherever you look with McHugh, who has a 4.73 ERA and 1.48 WHIP this season, but has also managed a solid 121-35 K/BB ratio through 121.2 innings. He was absolutely battered in his penultimate start against the Tigers (eight earned, just four outs recorded) but pretty much all of his starts around it have been pretty good. In his last eight starts, save the Tigers outing, he’s allowed three or fewer earned runs in each, with a quality start in seven of those eight. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles the Blue Jays in such close proximity; last start he also faced them, and threw six innings, allowing three earned runs — three solo home runs — with 10 strikeouts and just one walk. Read the rest of this entry »

After an incredible first half of week 14 — 0.90 ERA, 3-for-3 in quality starts, 17-2 K/BB ratio and 0.55 WHIP — we’re feeling pretty good heading into week 15. Here’s how things have shook out so far this season:

30-27 record
3.87 ERA
8.2 K/9
3.0 K/BB
1.30 WHIP
45 quality starts

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wRC+ in parentheses:

RHP Jimmy Nelson – 21.6% ESPN – @SDP (92), @ARI (95)

It might be a tough sell on Nelson, who has decent enough numbers this year but is a) coming off getting absolutely rocked by the Diamondbacks (whom he sees on the back end this week) and b) walks way, way too many batters. He’s got the third most walks in the NL (55) and has given up his share of extra-base hits as well, so while his .255 BAA looks impressive, he’s sporting a triple-slash against of .255/.344/.403. So while that doesn’t look all that appetizing, it came down to him or Adam Conley (Cubs and Rockies both at home), Archie Bradley (also getting largely rocked; will likely face Nelson on Saturday) or James Paxton (Red Sox and Angels). So….we’re playing the matchups here, kind of. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey everyone, we’re back after a bit of a hiatus to bring you #2xSP again. We missed a week for the All Star break, and frankly last week the matchups weren’t available early enough to give you any sort of advantage. We hope you enjoyed the time off, as we did as well.

Here are the numbers for how we’ve done through 13 weeks this season:

29-26
4.01 ERA
8.2 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.33 WHIP
47 quality starts

In my estimation, those are reasonably solid numbers, and hopefully we’ve helped some teams along the way. Questions, comments and encouragement are always welcome, so let us know what you’ve thought so far. We’re going NL East-heavy this week as I think we’ve found a somewhat exploitable run with a couple guys as well as hopefully a pretty safe third option as well. Without further ado, here are this week’s recs (with opposing team’s wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Jerad Eickhoff – 37% ESPN – @MIA (95), @ATL (74)

We profiled Eickhoff in our most recent column as well, and he did fine in his first start — against the Braves, we might add — before the Rockies got to him at Coors, which we feared *could* happen. Still, this is a righty who has allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his last nine starts — with the Coors exception — and for the most part has mixed in strikeouts at a reasonable rate while limiting his walks. The Marlins offense isn’t a pushover, but it’s in the lower half of teams across the league and the Braves, well, they’re where they’ve been all season long — in the cellar. This should be a very good set up for Eickhoff to grab a couple quality starts. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy week of July 4! This’ll be the last one of these for a couple weeks as we plow through the All Star Break, but so far so good on season four of #2xSP after a bumpy season three.

Here’s what we’re working with so far:

24-23 record
4.05 ERA
8.3 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.36 WHIP
37 quality starts

There are multiple good options to look at this week, so in addition to the three recommended you can also look at Junior Guerra (20.7% ESPN, @WAS, v. STL) and Matt Moore (17%, v. LAA, @BOS). Here are this week’s recs, with opposing team wRC+ in parentheses:

LHP Sean Manaea – 4% ESPN – @MIN (88), @HOU (100)

Manaea looked solid against a pretty good Giants offense last time out — 5.2 innings, six hits and no runs with four strikeouts and just one walk — and I like his chances for a solid start against a subpar Twins offense. Manaea dominated the Twins to start the month — eight strikeouts and one earned run on June 1 — and has put together a really solid June (3.13 ERA, 23-7 K/BB ratio in 23 innings) after being absolutely obliterated in his first six starts (7.03 ERA). I think he’s settling right in, and there’s no reason not to buy the talent overall. Read the rest of this entry »