Stream, Stream, Stream: 2x SP 4.7-4.13
Year three of 2xSP rolls on with a pair of lefties and a veteran righty. As a procedural note, the ticker will be back again this year. Any tweaks that you’d like to see? Feel free to share below.
LHP Scott Kazmir – 16.8% ESPN – @MIN, @SEA
Quite frankly it’s completely stunning that Kazmir qualifies for this list at all, but here we are. And the skepticism on Kazmir isn’t totally unfounded; this is a guy who couldn’t find the strike zone with a GPS unit for three full seasons, and before that was still only marginal in that department. But for my fantasy dollars, he is who he was in Cleveland last year until he proves he isn’t. The A’s know pitching, and Kaz was solid the first time out against the Indians. With these two matchups this week, I think it’d be foolish not to take a look at the lefty.
LHP Jose Quintana – 5.7% ESPN – @COL, v. CLE
Quintana isn’t a sexy play from the standpoint that, for how good he was in 200 innings last year, he still only managed to win nine games. Wins again may be an issue for the 25-year-old left-hander, as the Pale Hose offense outside of J.D. Abreu might be marginal. But that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Quintana is still a perfectly useful starter rates-wise, and simply needs to be owned in more than one in every 20 leagues.
RHP Kyle Lohse – 28.9% ESPN – @PHI, v. PIT
Lohse is more of a safety play this week, as the veteran right-hander is coming off three straight seasons of double-digit wins, and four out of the last five. Overall, Lohse is unremarkable. He fans well below the league average rate of hitters, doesn’t get a particularly high number of grounders, and the past three years has sustained a below-average BABIP. One would expect that to play down in Miller Park, which has been an absolute launchpad for the longball for quite some time (127/134 HR park factor last year via StatCorner, for instance). And yet Lohse keeps on keepin’ on, like some sort of bizarro opposite day Jake Westbrook who just gets it done. I posed the question on twitter, and will do so here as well: could he be the next Bronson Arroyo? I guess only time will tell.
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Those looking in deeper leagues should consider Jarred Cosart (1.2%), Felipe Paulino (0.2%), and Tyson Ross (1.7%).
In addition to Rotographs, Warne writes about the Minnesota Twins for The Athletic and is a sportswriter for Sportradar U.S. in downtown Minneapolis. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Warne, or feel free to email him to do podcasts or for any old reason at brandon.r.warne@gmail-dot-com
Is Paxton a decent x2 SP? He plays both games at home and gets LAA who he just made look silly.
Yes.
yup
Assuming they skip the 5th starter. M’s are off Monday & Thursday.
They have a special Felix promotion planned for Friday, so I think that’s the plan.
That’s probably also why it didn’t show up in the author’s search.
If he makes two, by all means go for it.
If the future can you provide Yahoo and CBS ownership as well. For example Tyson Ross is owned is 68% of yahoo leagues compared to the 1.7% of ESPN.
Appears you are capable of looking yourself. Lazy tool.
you’re still terrible
I can do Yahoo, but am not in a CBS league. Are those easily accessible on their site? If so, more than happy to.
Any opinions on my best option for my last two starts. Paxton (vs LAA, vs OAK), Jimenez (@ NYY, vs TOR), or Ventura (vs TB) and Skaggs (vs NYM)? Thanks.
Think I might like Ventura-Skaggs in that situation.
Thanks Brandon.
Before ‘walking dead’ reacts to my question with a T–Shirt insult let me be forthcoming. I’m old and slower in the head so please refrain from the obvious. My request is…Could you put a little R or L next to the names of the pitchers you feature? It would shortcut some decisions we make when assembling a lineup…yeah we could look it up and yeah some of you hold the info in your heads but some of us don’t. As my favorite website for useful info I would appreciate that extra step.
I’m not sure I understand. Would you prefer Scott Kazmir (L) to LHP Scott Kazmir?
LHP=Left handed pitcher
Thank you for including that in this article. I was referring to the site wide as a whole. Rankings for instance. Discussions of matchups, positional coverage. The few pitchers listed in this article aren’t the resource I use to check for batters matchups pertaining to potential starts and sits. As of now to find that info I have to go to another website to find those important little tid bits. I might be slow but I can still tell the difference between a temporary article and a useful data base for reference.
I know I am a day late to the party, but why only three? Without doing any searching, I know that Kyle Kendrick is a two starter, and is owned in 1.0% of ESPN leagues (he’s on my team). Love the premise of the article, but couldn’t this go a bit deeper?
I guess it goes six, but I was referring to the players that were analyzed. Just to clarify. Thanks for your time.
My toe is currently in the stream on Morton vs Cubs and Brew Crew. Should I take it out before I lose my toes or is this looking safe?
Milwaukee is heavily right-handed, and Morton is really tough on righties. The Cubs are also heavily right-handed. I’d go for it.
So…Any thought to add the handedness of pitchers to your existing data base?
Shut up, loser.