Last week I went over picking up free agent hitters. So now I do onto pitchers as I did onto hitters. I opined that there were five things to look for with hitters, after looking up what opined meant. Most of the criteria had to do with the hitter and not so much who he was facing. It factored in, but didn’t dominate the decision. If you feel like pitchers are going in the opposite direction, your powers of perception are incredible. It is a true wonder how you’re divorced multiple times. Put yourself on the free agent market, you catch you! Pitchers are a lot harder to figure. The pitcher can really only do so much. I try to not even concern myself with wins. It’s a crapshoot. This is more for H2H than roto, but sometimes in roto you want a spot start too. I ain’t mad at cha! So here’s what I do concern myself with when picking up spot starters in fantasy baseball:
1. How well have they pitched in their last two games? – I don’t need a huge sample size here. I don’t need an under 2 ERA. I’m just looking to avoid a guy who is going to kill me. If a guy has been rocked for the last two games, he’s a pass. If a guy was rocked two starts ago, then pitched well in last start, he’s a possibility depending on how well he passes the next tests.
2. Is he going against a team that is struggling? – The Astros, M’s, Pirates or O’s hitters can make an All-Star pitcher out of Whitey Ford. And Whitey Ford is 106 years old.
3. Is he pitching in a pitcher’s park? – As I said in the opening, a lot of this has nothing to do with the pitcher. I wasn’t lying. Joe Saunders is crizzap. Joe Saunders in Petco is crizzap with a chance for an okay game.
4. How’s the other team against a certain side? – This usually only applies to lefties, because if a team is bad against righties then they’re just bad. The Blue Kays, for instance, are not good vs. lefties.
5. Can he give you something else you might need? – This is pretty much only for H2H. Even if the pitcher gets rocked, will he get me some Ks? Should his team win even if he’ll probably give up 4+ runs? These are team specific questions. Can you forfeit certain categories while hoping for other ones? Can you take getting tied to the WHIPping post while being bludgeoned with the ERA stick? Can you make love out of nothing at all?
