Archive for Matt Boyd

Each week I look at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 30% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) with a few extra sub 5% discount options at the end, pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

Let’s highlight my ten favorite starting pitcher options that may be available on your waiver wires, roughly ordered from top to bottom:

Under 30% Owned

Steven Matz (New York Mets) – After a rugged four-game stretch, Matz has rebounded in a big way in his last three outings, featuring a 1.89 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 33% K rate, and 4.5% BB rate in 19 frames. It’s a small sample, though he might be worth the gamble as he has a cushy schedule of PHI, MIA, @PHI, @WSH, and MIA ahead. This could be a season-winning stretch.

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Each week I look at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 30% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) with a few extra sub 10% discount options at the end, pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

Let’s highlight my ten favorite starting pitcher options that may be available on your waiver wires, roughly ordered from top to bottom:

Under 30% Owned

German Marquez (Colorado Rockies) – I’m a little surprised to see Marquez still this available. It’s a 30% K rate, near 1.00 WHIP and sub 3.00 ERA over his last eight starts, half of which have come inside Coors. He’s improved his curveball while his slider is still a fantastic offering for any count. Go get him, he could push the needle in the right direction.

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If there is such a thing as a flyball revolution for pitchers, it appears that Blaine Hardy wants to be a part of it.

The Tigers’ 31-year-old reliever-turned-starter induced grounders at a mere 33.0 percent rate last season, but this season, he has gone extreme with a 24.1 percent rate. That might not seem like a good career move for someone who coughed up seven home runs in 33.1 innings a year ago, but he is making it work. In his 20 innings to date, Hardy has allowed two homers and a .143 Iso (which is 23 points below the American League average).
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Each week through the season, I’ll be looking at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 15% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) and pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

It’s been another week of Fantasy Baseball, and the waiver wire has shifted. Let’s highlight my ten favorites, roughly ordered from top to bottom.

Mike Minor (Texas Rangers) – There is a little more under the hood discrediting Minor’s start to 2018 than I would like, though I still believe Minor will improve as we march further into the season – remember, he hadn’t started a game since 2014 prior to this year. Armed with four solid pitches in his arsenal, Minor sports an impressive 11.9% overall whiff rate and a digestible 7.0% walk rate to his name. His a slider that gets strikes on both sides of the plate, a fastball that hints a 10% whiff rate and hits the zone nearly 60% of the time, and he leans on an effective changeup/curveball combination that takes different roles each outing. The tools are there, it’s just a matter of time before he wields them properly.

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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 16)

27-29 record
4.81 ERA
7.6 K/9
2.3 K/BB
1.46 WHIP
31 quality starts

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

RHP JC Ramirez – 19.5% ESPN – v. BAL (95), @SEA (101)

I just can’t quit a guy who throws this hard and at least seems to have pretty great stuff. Ramirez routinely sits in the mid- to upper-90s with his fastball (technically a sinker), and is heavily reliant on his slider (32.9 percent) with a curve (16.8 percent) as well. The slider comes in at 88 mph on average, which is pretty stellar velo for a secondary pitch. He gets plenty of grounders, but I’d really like to see more strikeouts from a guy with this raw stuff. The slider has potential (16 percent whiff rate), but the curve doesn’t do much for me (8.2 percent this year, mirroring his career rate). As far as matchups go….meh. It’s not like he’s facing the Phillies or Padres, but as long as we can stay away from the Yankees, Astros or Dodgers it’s not too worrisome, either. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

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 »