Archive for Streaming Two-Starters

It’s time to play with fire. After this brutal of a start, it’s all we’re left with. I mean I think it’s been an especially difficult year to select two-start guys, especially since I think there have been some slumping aces and it has left the secondary tiers beaten down a bit, but I still can’t excuse this horsesh** performance.

Here are the totals through half of week six:

4-20 record
6.61 ERA
6.3 K/9
2.0 K/BB
1.56 WHIP

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! ownership numbers pulled courtesy of twitter pal @PandaPete21, whom you should give a follow:

RHP Jesse Hahn – 9% ESPN/26% Y! – v. DET (.336), v. NYY (.315)

Hahn’s numbers have been a bit troubling this year, but he seems to have rebounded a bit from a two-start rough patch earlier in the month. He’s fanned 11 batters over his last two starts, and is hopefully picking up some steam to get back to where he was earlier this season with a sub-3.00 ERA. The one troubling thing about Hahn’s pitch metrics is that his curveball seems to have fallen off the planet this season. Last year he threw 361 curveballs with a whiff rate of 18.3 percent; this year, he’s thrown 147 but is generating a swing and miss just 10.2 percent of the time. It’s been a better pitch outcomes wise (.456 OPS to .667 OPS), but would seem to be a big part of the reason he’s seen a drop in K/9 from last year (8.6) to this (6.2). His fastball has gotten pasted too (.917 OPS after last year’s .540), and it would seem to stand to reason one affects the other. I still believe in the arm — I have to especially this week — but he’ll need to reverse some trends to me anything more than a here and there option. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m gonna be honest with you all: if you want to stop taking my advice for a bit, that might not be a bad idea. Run in the other direction. Use Paul Charchian’s “do the opposite” for I have led you all astray. We’ll get back on track, but holy smokes this has been ugly. Avert your eyes.

Here are the totals through half of week five:

4-17 record
6.34 ERA
6.7 K/9
2.1 K/BB
1.53 WHIP

I mean, at least we’re finally approaching the league-average strikeout rate, right?

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! recs pulled courtesy of twitter pals @PandaPete21/@dontbeakedir, whom you should give a follow:

RHP Drew Hutchison – 26.9% ESPN/43% Y! – v. LAA (.282), v. SEA (.310)

It hasn’t been pretty on the whole for Hutchison, who currently sports a 6.17 ERA thanks to three starts (out of eight) in which he’s allowed at least six earned runs. On the bright side, we’re now two full starts without incident, in which he stymied the Astros and Orioles for a combined line of 11 innings, 15 strikeouts and two walks. He allowed just three earned runs in those starts, and I’m hoping like hell that’s a sign of things to come for the 24-year-old righty that people spent quite a bit on in auctions and in terms of draft value. Most encouraging for me was the 16 swinging strikes on 98 pitches last time out, too. Facing a pair of bottom-half offenses — including the Angels who are No. 29 by team wOBA — won’t hurt, either. Read the rest of this entry »

Another rough week has put us in a hole we need to dig out of fast. I’m confident Trevor May will have a good start to pick up the second half of week three, but so far, no good you guys.

Here are the totals through half of week four:

4-10 record
5.48 ERA
6.3 K/9
2.4 K/BB
1.40 WHIP

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! recs pulled courtesy of twitter pal @PandaPete21, whom you should give a follow:

RHP Alex Colome – 9.1% ESPN/14% Y! – v. NYY (.324), @MIN (.302) Read the rest of this entry »

It was another bleak week, as my selections last time around got peppered pretty good their first time out. As a result, we’re back to where we started after week one. That’s OK, it’s a marathon, not a race, right? On the bright side, we finally are moving past the Minnesota Twins-level strikeout rates, though we’ve brought the K/BB down and the WHIP up with it. We’ll get there friends, I am confident.

Here are the totals through half of week three:

4-7 record
4.89 ERA
6.0 K/9
2.1 K/BB
1.33 WHIP

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! recs pulled courtesy of twitter pal @Adams_Steve, who is one of the great folks over at MLB Trade Rumors whom you should definitely follow:

RHP Travis Wood – 26.2% ESPN/23% Y! – @STL (.318), @MIL (.276)

The Milwaukee matchup is killer for Wood, as the Brewers have the No. 29 offense in terms of wOBA. Even with Carlos Gomez coming back, it’s an offense that is hitting .225/.276/.347 and is taking virtually no walks (5.5%). I’ll take my chances there. The Cardinals could be pretty tough on the front end, as they have a top-10 offense wOBA-wise — like always — and are doing so with a pretty balanced team triple-slash of .268/.335/.393. On his own, Wood has been really good, fanning just under 10 batters per nine innings with an improved walk rate and FIP numbers that generally back up his 3.04 ERA. The strand rate is a bit high and he’s fly ball heavy, so that could lead to him being somewhat blowup prone, but I think there’s enough intrigue to stream him here. Maybe even hold onto him if you see a little bit more this week. Read the rest of this entry »

After getting utterly rocked in the first week of #2xSP, this last stretch was very solid halfway through the second go-round. Hopefully that’ll keep up for the second starts, which take place Saturday and Sunday.

Here are the totals through half of week two:

3-3 record
3.72 ERA
5.2 K/9
2.7 K/BB
1.08 WHIP

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! recs pulled courtesy of twitter pal @hotakesonsports. Give him a follow!:

RHP Joe Kelly – 28.8% ESPN/26% Y! – v. TOR (.346), v. NYY (.328)

Would you believe me if I told you Kelly has the best four-seam fastball velocity among qualified starters so far this season? Heck, I’m not sure I’d believe it myself, but at 96.1 mph here we are. Kelly has always had plenty of velocity, but this season his four- and two-seamer — his preferred heater — have picked up about a full tick each, and thus far the early results are promising. Kelly has fanned 18 hitters in 17.2 innings, while pitching to a 4.08 ERA that in some ways appears to be even a bit unlucky. It’ll be interesting to monitor not only the strikeout jump but the groundball drop — 39.6% this year, 51.8% career — because the latter is the sort of thing that is supposed to stabilize quite quickly. It’d also be truly interesting to see a pitcher that pitches better away from St. Louis, for once. This’ll be a tough week for Kelly, and maybe his first big test, as these are a pair of divisional foes who are swinging it pretty good right now. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, we took a bit of a bath through the first part of week one, but I like to think there were some better candidates this time around. Have a peek, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Here are the totals through half of the first week:

0-1 record
6.88 ERA
4.2 K/9
1.6 K/BB
1.41 WHIP

Sheesh. It can only get better.

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses.:

LHP Jon Niese – 6.4% ESPN/9% Y! – v. ATL (.311), @NYY (.311) Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome back for what I believe to be year four of 2xSP. We didn’t roll out last week with mostly just aces and No. 2s to deal with in the opening week, though I suppose you could have streamed Kyle Kendrick, right? Anyway…as always, I’ll keep the spreadsheet updated and will share it periodically (or upon demand if you wish). Here’s the link to it for now. If you can think of specific ways to improve this, please let us know in the comments. Thanks.

First a look at the last year’s totals:

49-39 record
3.79 ERA
7.6 K/9
2.7 K/BB
1.30 WHIP

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Yahoo ownership figures courtesy of twitter pal @PandaPete21 (follow him!):

LHP Daniel Norris – 5.8% ESPN/23% Y! – v. TBR (.310), v. ATL (.305)

Let’s just get this out of the way: this first week was hard. Not only are drafters seemingly getting smarter this year — thereby depriving you of my recommendations of Danny Duffy, James Paxton and Brandon McCarthy — but this is a quirky week where I really wanted to recommend Shane Greene (exempt as Tuesday starter with an off day) and Eno Sarris-darling Anthony Desclafani (same as Greene).

But anyway, this Norris week is pretty awesome. He gets a couple of really nice matchups, and will no doubt race up the ownership numbers as the season wears on, making this probably the only time we can recommend him in this sort of format. Norris’ Rays matchup could be beneficial because their rotation is still so in flux they haven’t even announced a Monday starter yet. Yikes. Norris looked pretty good in his season debut — his second big league start as well — “outdueling” C.C. Sabathia over 5.2 innings with five strikeouts to get his first major-league win. Projections are high on Norris this year as well, expecting roughly a strikeout an inning with so-so walk numbers and a high-3.00s/low-4.00s ERA. They Jays will push him pretty hard with Marcus Stroman out too, I’d imagine. Most projections have him making ~20 starts, but it’ll likely be north of that should he remain healthy. Read the rest of this entry »

My 12 leagues are coming to an end, and I’m scrambling in the leagues where scrambling makes sense. And so, as a selfish and lazy person, I will just scan the probables for Tuesday and discuss the names of the starting pitchers that we know less about.

Hey, it might be selfish and lazy, but it should be useful for us both.

Read the rest of this entry »

First a look at the running totals through half of week 23:

46-34 record
3.77 ERA
7.6 K/9
2.8 K/BB
1.29 WHIP

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

Danny Duffy – 28.6% ESPN/39% Y!/66% own, 28% start CBS – @CLE (.314), @CWS (.314)

There’s some risk associated with starting Duffy here, as he’s coming off having his last start skipped and has been out since coming out of a start against the Yankees Sept. 6. But there can be virtually no qualms about Duffy’s skill set and that’s about all we can go on here. Duffman has a 2.44 ERA and .591 OPS allowed since moving into the rotation in early May, and his month-by-month ERA over that span goes like this:

4.00
1.69
2.01
2.41

Get this guy in your lineups. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve got streaming for steals. We’ve got your streaming two-starters sussed twice over. Tomorrow, I’ll look at some late week streaming for power options.

But today, I’m going to look at ahead at mid-week starters that deserve your attention. You may need to pick them up early, or at least identify them for quick waiver work. Because now is the time for all hands on deck — no more waiting for a bounce-back or a could be or even a should be. If you’re still in it, look at all your roto categories or every position on your head to head bench and ask yourself “What have you done for me lately?”

Read the rest of this entry »