Daily Starters – Tuesday, September 24th

by
September 24, 2018

Tuesday is full of lowly owned options with a few worth streaming.

Joshua James (22%) at Blue Jays

I pushed my normal 20% ownership rate up 2% points to included James. He’s by far the day’s best option. His only issue is the above league average walk rate.

Chad Bettis (20%) vs Phillies

Owners can’t take a chance on this home start unless they completely desperate for a Win and only a Win.

Brett Anderson (19%) at Mariners

I’m not against this start for an owner looking for a Win while keeping his ratios (1.23 WHIP, 3.96 ERA) in check. The owner isn’t getting many strikeouts (4.7 K/9).

Jalen Beeks (15%) vs Yankees

Since joining the Rays, Beeks has performed decently with an ERA under 3.00 since August 1st with 19.5% K%-BB% in September. I’d be all in but the matchup with the Yankees scares me a bit. Beeks is the perfect pitcher for an owner needing a possible late-season lockdown start. It may not come but besides James, none of the other pitchers have the potential.

Sam Gaviglio (11%) vs Astros

The 28-year-old righty can’t seem to limit home runs and I don’t see the trend ending against the Astros. He may be an OK source of strikeouts but that’s it.

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Robbie Erlin (9%) at Giants

It’s a perfect situation to start Erlin. Beatable team and starter (Stratton) in a cold pitcher’s park. Erlin’s walk rate is almost under 1.0 with a strikeout rate over 7.0 K/9.

Matt Koch (7%) vs Dodgers

I sat and stared at his profile for a while and in the end, I could buy into this start. While his walk rate (2.1 BB/9) is decent, it almost matches his 2.0 HR/9.

Yovani Gallardo (6%) at Angels

No freaking way.

Kohl Stewart (5%) vs Tigers

While his 55% GB% has limited the home runs and kept his ERA lower than his estimators, the walk rate over five is just killing his fantasy value.

Eric Skoglund (4%) at Reds

He doesn’t walk everyone but his home run nature (1.6 HR/9) could come into play in Cincinnati’s small park.

Jeff Brigham (2%) at Nationals

Which values do you think his ERA, K/9, and BB/9 represent?

  1. 7.30
  2. 6.57
  3. 5.84

“It doesn’t matter what you think!” as my good friend The Rock would say. No matter what, the answer sucks. Pass

Jimmy Yacabonis (1%) at Red Sox

Why don’t they just move this game to Denver so the Red Sox can destroy Yacabonis in one inning instead of two? In fairness though, if he can hang in for a few innings, he could be a nice source of strikeouts (8.3 K/9).

Spencer Turnbull (1%) at Twins

While the 10.80 ERA in 5 IP looks bad, he’s not 1% ownership bad. He’s had issues with walks in the minors but the strikeouts have been there also. He’s sort of an unknown gamble and could show some upside unlike the rest of the pitchers who will struggle their entire career.

Rankings

  1. Joshua James
  2. Brett Anderson (no K’s)
  3. Robbie Erlin
  4. Jalen Beeks (upside gamble)
  5. Sam Gaviglio (K’s only)
  6. Jimmy Yacabonis (K’s only)
  7. Spencer Turnbull (another upside gamble)
  8. Eric Skoglund
  9. Matt Koch
  10. Kohl Stewart
  11. Jeff Brigham
  12. Chad Bettis (Win only)
  13. Yovani Gallardo





 

Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.

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steveymerMember since 2020
7 years ago

For a weekly league, would you start Erlin or M Gonzales v. Texas? (All categories equally important)

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