Two Startapalooza, Week 25: It’s Glasnow Or Never

Brace for impact folks, this week could get ugly. For many of you, it’s your championship week. There are some nice options to be had, but between plain old rotation shuffling and some extreme weather conditions thanks to Hurricane Florence, you’ll need to keep a constant eye on your probable pitchers. I’ll be as responsive as possible in the comments to aid you in your championship quest as best as I can!

Tiers 1 and 2 are unusually stacked this week, so if you invested in any of those starters you’re in good shape. Terry Francona was so kind as to skip Corey Kluber his last time out, so you get him twice this week instead. Hopefully. Tiers 3 and 4 are plentiful as well, but please…avoid Tier 5 this week. FYI, I updated the wOBA lefty/righty splits to reflect team totals since the All Star break to give a better idea of how teams have been performing more recently.

• Patrick Corbin (ARI) – If you can believe it, Corbin has actually been better over the second half than he was in the first. His 2.69 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 11.45 K/9, and 0.99 BB/9 since the break are as good as you’ll find in baseball. He doesn’t have the most ideal matchups with the Cubs and Rockies on the docket, but I couldn’t care less. You have to ask yourself: are you Corb-in…or Corb-out? I’m Corbin baby. Corbin.

• Miles Mikolas (STL) – Mikolas will go down as one of the biggest players who surprised me this year. I still recall watching him get absolutely tattooed in Spring Training and couldn’t have been less interested in acquiring his services on draft day. Fast forward to mid-September, and he’s got a 2.99 ERA over 180.2 innings. The funny thing is, I’ve heard nothing but owners complaining about Mikolas not having any trade value thanks to a low K-rate and lack of track record. I can’t say I blame them for their hesitance, but now it is time for the Mikolas owners to reap their rewards. The Atlanta matchup isn’t ideal, but the Giants are a complete train wreck right now, and there is no team I’d rather have a pitcher facing. You’d have to be totally stacked to not start Mikolas this week.

• Carlos Rodon (CHW) – I really hesitated to put Rodon in Tier 3. Rodon has had a very successful second half, with a 2.81 ERA over 67.1 innings for the Pale Hose. However, his FIP is 4.51, and xFIP hates him even more at 5.27. He has a horrendous 6.7% K-BB%, and isn’t a maestro at limiting hard contact with 31% hard contact allowed. This looks like a house of cards. The only possible thing to point to if you’re trying to justify the success is his incredible slider results. The batting average against on his slider is 0.062!! It gets just 18% whiffs, which is just meh, but 52% grounders is decent. The matchups are bad, and despite his ranking in Tier 3 I’m looking for better options in this highly important week.

• Tyler Glasnow (TB) – Glasnow has got an obscene amount of pub since his trade to the Rays thanks to a few splashy starts. He has really improved his walk rate, from 5.46 BB/9 with the Pirates to 2.84 with Tampa. However, he has just a 4.74 ERA over 38 innings with the Rays. I’m not ready to trust him against two of the better offenses of the second half, however, in the Rangers and Jays. I’d rather take my chances with someone like Anibal Sanchez or pick on some bad offenses with Brad Keller.

• Framber Valdez (HOU) – I guess this is the section in which I try to polish a turd to try and find someone with fantasy intrigue. It almost makes too much sense to do that with a man named Framber. Despite a 2.66 ERA with the Astros, his peripherals are…not good. He has just 18 strikeouts to 14 walks over 23.2 innings with a 4.89 FIP that is more than two full runs over that shiny little ERA. On the bright side, he has some decent matchups with slumping AL West opponents in the Mariners and Angels. Still, you’re probably better off passing on everyone in this Tier, per usual.

*All starters are probable for two starts as of Friday evening.

You can find Dokken on Twitter @NathanDokken