Stability is important in fantasy baseball, especially when it involves early-round picks. When we talk stability it can mean two things. It can mean stability of health or stability of skill set. With your early-round picks you of course want players with very few holes in their skills and players who stay on the field. I now present you with someone who teeters on a tight rope with both health and skill set: Dinelson Lamet.
The season numbers aren’t great but we’ve picked up some steam over the last few weeks and hopefully will finish strong. As always, if you have any suggestions or tips, please feel free to mention them in the comments section, and thank you for reading.
Here’s how we’re doing so far this season (through half of Week 22)
41-40 record
4.74 ERA
7.8 K/9
2.5 K/BB
1.40 WHIP
44 quality starts
Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses):
RHP Dinelson Lamet – 36.6% ESPN – v. ARI (95), v. COL (86)
Lamet dueled with Ervin Santana at Target Field on Wednesday night, and while his team came out on the short end of a walk-off loss, it was a giant step forward for the 25-year-old righty who has put together an intriguing season, to say the least. He’s allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his last 10 starts, and that’s good for a 2.44 ERA, .553 OPS against and 66-28 K/BB ratio over 59 innings. However, this week he not only has matchups against two teams with so-so or worse offenses, but he’s also pitching at home, where he’s been markedly better (3.59 ERA) than on the road (4.73).
The season numbers aren’t great but we’ve picked up some steam over the last few weeks and hopefully will finish strong. As always, if you have any suggestions or tips, please feel free to mention them in the comments section, and thank you for reading.
Here’s how we’re doing so far this season (through half of Week 17)
29-32 record
4.75 ERA
7.6 K/9
2.4 K/BB
1.43 WHIP
35 quality starts
Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses):
RHP Jerad Eickhoff – 14.9% ESPN – @SD (85), @SF (82)
Oh man, this is a great week for Eickhoff. The talented righty who has had a bit of a rough season gets two of the bottom-three offenses in the game. Of course, he plays for the fourth-worst, but we can’t get too tied up in that, can we? Since his ERA peaked at 5.22 a couple months ago, Eickhoff has been really, really good, too: 3.10 ERA, 38-17 K/BB ratio in 40.2 innings and a .240/.324/.380 line against. I’ll always bet on talent like this. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re back for another week of #2xSP, and I’ve opted not to include Sean Manaea (v. TOR, @TBR) because even through he’s under our 50% regulation (46.2% ESPN), I still don’t feel like he’d be available in that many leagues. If he is in yours, I would pounce all over that, of course.
Here’s how we’re doing so far this season (through half of Week 8):
17-13 record
4.25 ERA
7.8 K/9
2.2 K/BB
1.45 WHIP
16 quality starts
Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses):
RHP Joe Musgrove – 6.6% ESPN – @KCR (76), v. LAA (92)
Musgrove is expected to come off the disabled list to make this start. If he doesn’t, we’ll default to Jaime Garcia (15.7 percent, v. PHI, v. NYM). If he does, he’s been fairly solid lately — including seven shutout innings against a sturdy O’s offense last time out — with a couple really, really nice matchups this week. The Royals have been dreadful offensively all season, and this is the perfect time to catch the Mike Trout-less Angels, who are also without Cameron Maybin, too.
RHP Dinelson Lamet – 13.8% ESPN – v. ARI (97), v. KCR (76)
We’re gambling here with a guy who has made just two career starts spanning 10 innings, but man have they been good: three earned runs (2.70 ERA), 16-3 K/BB ratio and .211 batting average against. We’d be more skeptical if he hadn’t shut down the Cubs last time out, and these two matchups are pretty solid as well — especially the Royals one. Lamet throws gas (95.4 mph average fastball) and in a very limited sampling, his slider (24.2 percent whiff rate) and changeup (16.1 percent) have been dirty.
RHP Junior Guerra – 17.7% ESPN – v. SF (74), @ARI (97)
Guerra is a layup at this point. He’s somehow still owned in under 20 percent of leagues — of course, the injury plays a huge part in that — but since coming off the disabled list he’s been very good, as he’s at a 1.84 ERA this season with 13 strikeouts and a .151 BAA through 14.2 innings. Like each of the others this week, he’s got one terrific matchup and one that is so-so. He’s basically on the reverse Lamet gamut. We’ll see who handles it better, but my money’s on Guerra, the 32-year-old sophomore. Maybe they’ll both rack up a couple quality starts. Wouldn’t that be nice?
