Razzball Nation! Hopefully the musings and GIFfings (man that sounds dirty) of this friendly, big-ol baseball nerd helped bring you low ERAs and WHIPs in 2014. And shameless plug, if you need some JB love-n-rubbin’ and/or looking for Fantasy Basketball talk, come over and join us at Hoops!
As I always like to do with rankings, it’s fun to go back and see what went right. What went wrong. Especially when you get to say “Member in preseason when Grey wanted everyone to get Justin Masterson Top 25? Yeah, no fun to make fun of wrong ranks/calls to everyone, is it Grey?! Hell, everyone knows I’m only writing this since I’ve been talking about Corey Kluber since May 2013! (True story, I watched these two innings and had him in my line-up in a ton of leagues while either 0 or 1% owned, game went into a 2 or 3 hour rain delay, but those two innings got me hooked on the firebeard!)
So what I’ve put together are my 2014 Preseason Starting Pitcher Ranks (be sure to look at my 5 sleeper picks in the intro – saucy! Better than last year, HUH GREY?!) in the order I had them mid-March, followed by Grey’s rank, ESPN’s pre-season rank (since RCL Baseball was played there and using this list), and the Razzball Player Rater Final SP Value to establish the final rank. Here’s how Big Biscuit did:
JB’s Top 100 SP Recap
(pitchers listed on opening day team)
| SP, Team | JB’s RANK | Grey’s Rank | ESPN Rank | Final Rank | NOTE |
| Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | As my blurb said in the preseason, “really not much to say here.” |
| Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers | 2 | 2 | 4 | 44 | Whoopsie! Injuries limiting Yu to 141.1 IP sure didn’t help, but a 1.26 WHIP is not what you need from an Ace Rothstein. I will say that his .334 BABIP was unlucky, even though his GB% went to a career-lowest 36.3%. While the injury concerns will persist, I’ll probably rank him favorably again next year. Not 2 though! |
| Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals | 3 | 5 | 7 | 12 | Whoopsie worsey! Well, it could’ve been worse… Huge strikeouts, BABIP was a smidge high, FIP and xFIP were under 3.00, I’ll like him again next year as well. |
| Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | Awesome season, did fade down the stretch and I won’t be drafting him next year. |
| Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | Grey wins the prize! Grey is so smart. He’s so sexy. I wanna F-Him. |
| Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies | 6 | 8 | 2 | 138 | Those early ESPN projections struggled here! And well, so did everyone, although injury was the biggest culprit. Grey wins the prize again! |
| Madison Bumgarner, SF Giants | 7 | 7 | 10 | 8 | Boring. Reliable. But with Waino faltering, Lee hurt, and Darvish usually hurt, he’s an easy top 5 next year. |
| Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox | 8 | 11 | 9 | 10 | I loved him heading into the year, love him now the year is over, might go ahead of Bumgarner for me in the top 5. If not for the flexor injury, might’ve been AL Cy. |
| Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers | 9 | 4 | 6 | 9 | Well, he had a good year! But to quote the immortal philsophy of Happy Gilmore, “Somebody’s closer!” Preseason I said “Is he going to have another good year? Sure. But I don’t think top 5 at all. Nice Ks, but I think ERA over 3.20 and WHIP around 1.15 will lower him.” Ended up 3.18/1.18. I was pretty damn close! I also said his BABIP would normalize, jumping back from .259 in 2013 to .315 this past year. |
| Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins | 10 | 10 | 11 | 103 | Unbelievable just how good JoFer was pitching, as he still finished almost a top 100 SP! Grey and I are so cute when we rank just alike… |
| Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers | 11 | 9 | 13 | 90 | No one is a winner here! We’re all “last season’s losers!” At least, that’s how I feel. I thought a semi-bounceback was coming, looks like everyone did, moving on… |
| Anibal Sanchez, Detroit Tigers | 12 | 12 | 14 | 75 | I said preseason, “if he makes every start, will be a top 10 pitcher.” I’m saved! Well, not really. The K rate fell off, but did sneak in a career-best WHIP. 8 wins in 21 starts isn’t too great either, especially on DET. |
| Julio Teheran, Atlanta Braves | 13 | 15 | 30 | 14 | Grey and I knocked this one out of the park! There were a couple valleys, but it was mostly peaks. And he split the difference in our rankings. By “our”, I’m saying mine and Grey’s and leaving out that horrific ESPN rank. |
| Gio Gonzalez, Washington Nationals | 14 | 19 | 19 | 57 | Ugh. When did I become a Gio guy? Never again! In my defense, he missed a few starts (made 27) and really wasn’t that bad despite a pretty bad July/August. Finished stong in September. I fear I’m going to be a Gio guy next year too! Funny how fast that changed… |
| Zack Greinke, LA Dodgers | 15 | 17 | 12 | 11 | Solid year, boring and reliable and out pitching his pre-ranks across the board. |
| Homer Bailey, Cincinnati Reds | 16 | 14 | 15 | 83 | “You know, I came into these ranks thinking I was gonna dog Homer Bailey because I hate his inconsistency. Turns out, he’s really only inconsistent game-to-game, but year-to-year has been fantastic.” That’s me in March, and me in October is mad that I didn’t listen to myself! I still managed to be the lowest, but not enough to feel good about the rank. Even if the elbow injury was a big part of the downfall. |
| James Shields, Kansas City Royals | 17 | 23 | 17 | 28 | Grey wins again! Anyone scoring at home yet? Yeah, yeah, Grey did the best with his rank, but I think the stability Shields gave you was a stable as morning wood. Fairly solid. |
| Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees | 18 | 27 | 22 | 29 | Wow, do I feel smart! I bought Tanaka, but didn’t realize I was a good bit ahead of the consensus. Even though Grey was closest with the rank, I think everyone can agree that this was a pretty goodun with the late injury and horrific final showing while hurt. |
| Michael Wacha, St. Louis Cardinals | 19 | 28 | 35 | 107 | Wacha on the other hand, WAS a guy I knew I was way ahead of the consensus on. And boy oh boy did I look good the first couple of months. Just didn’t pitch enough, then wasn’t great returning in September. This slight shoulder fracture sounds like it could be a chronic thing. I’ll have to dig deeper into those September starts, but I think I’m going to flip flop and not want him at all next year. |
| Jordan Zimmermann, Washington Nationals | 20 | 21 | 20 | 13 | Welcome to the K party! Consensus had JZ all in the same spot, and he delivered a huge season for those waiting for him as their #2. |
| Matt Cain, SF Giants | 21 | 22 | 16 | 155 | Yikes. Well, it wasn’t only me! Limited to 15 starts, and they weren’t good ones. Might have some late round appeal next year, but on the very low end. |
| Shelby Miller, St. Louis Cardinals | 22 | 36 | 23 | 87 | All bow to Grey! In his prerank: “His 2nd half K-rate dropped from 9.63 to 7.47 and he was lucky last year to have such a low ERA. I think he’ll be ranked around here next year after taking a step back in 2014.” My excuse? Ummm, I was drinking? |
| Mat Latos, Cincinnati Reds | 23 | 39 | 18 | 111 | I said “Nahhh, probably not drafting Latos in most leagues.” yet Grey was so much smarter with it. I had him below the consensus and didn’t own him in any leagues, but was still pretty off. He pitched decently, but Ks weren’t impressive in his 16 starts |
| Mike Minor, Atlanta Braves | 24 | 34 | 27 | 148 | I had expressed concern with the shoulder issues, but obviously didn’t think it would come to this. 21 HR in 25 starts, and well, everything was bad. I will be buying low next year – velocity was the same, BABIP way up to .323 and was leaving breaking balls up due to a mechanical flaw he identified late in the year. |
| David Price, Tampa Bay Rays | 25 | 16 | 8 | 7 | It gets better from here on out, I promise! At least, it better, right…? A bad ERA early on made me able to sleep at night, but now I have insomnia. Had a great season. |
| Jeff Samardzija, Chicago Cubs | 26 | 61 | 32 | 30 | Told you it gets better! Grey hated Shark, I like Shark, ESPN kinda liked Shark. Solid season, and just as good in Oakland as with the NL Cubs. |
| Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates | 27 | 25 | 25 | 63 | Racked up the Ks, especially late, but was only able to get through 22 starts. Still, 3.65/1.21 isn’t going to cut it. I will hate him next year for lying about not cursing at Carlos Gomez, even though the MLB highlight of that benches clearing fight had to be bleeped… |
| Alex Cobb, Tampa Bay Rays | 28 | 13 | 26 | 39 | Man, Cobb had an awesome year. But looking back, I thought he made fewer than 27 starts. Great numbers, K-rate went down very very marginally, but Grey was closer than you think. |
| Hishashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners | 29 | 33* | 29 | 22 | My rank included an update for his injury heading into the season, as I think Grey was moving him down. I can see the push for him to be top 15 or so next year, but won’t be for me. He’ll turn 34 at the start of next year, and has had numerous injury issues through his career in Japan and in the MLB. |
| Tony Cingrani, Cincinnati Reds | 30 | 30 | 42 | 185 | Grey and I can hold our hands while Melancholia slams into the Earth pulverizing it… Poopypants. |
| Danny Salazar, Cleveland Indians | 31 | 29 | 45 | 120 | Man, these two second-year guys sure flamed out! At least Salazar gave you good starts in the final month. Stuff indeed looked pretty nasty in September. Should have similar buzziness in 2015. |
| Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies | 32 | 31 | 34 | 21 | I’ve always liked Hamels, but was scared of the shoulder. Who can blame me?! I think everyone was a little, but I ended up with him in several leagues. People were more scared than me! |
| Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox | 33 | 53 | 54 | 147 | I hate my life. I really thought if he was healthy he could be a surprise. Then on top of absolutely sucking, he got hurt again too. Did I mention I hate my life? |
| Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds | 34 | 46 | 47 | 2 | I love my life! Did I mention I love my life?! I said in preseason that even with injury concerns, at this point it was worth the gamble. Obviously no one saw this coming, so if you picked him as a SP4 you likely won many-a-pitching-cat. |
| Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians | 35 | 55 | 78 | 4 | The whole reason I wrote this recap! Haha, just kidding… If you’re a loyal Razzballer, you know I’ve been pushing for Kluber since early last year (pitcher profile a month or two into my love in 2013). He easily ended up on every single one of my teams and I had a great pitching season. As I said in the open, I was hooked in that start in May of 2013. Might be the best pitching call in the short history of the Pitcher Profile! |
| Sonnny Gray, Oakland Athletics | 36 | 26 | 46 | 24 | I think Grey and I both get credit for this one! But of course, Grey more than me. Grey has to get all the Gray props, because well, ya know. They twins! |
| Yordano Ventura, Kansas City Royals | 37 | 67 | 81 | 41 | I called him “My bar none, #1 sleeper this year.” I think I should get pretty nice props! The WHIP at 1.30 was a little rough, and the Ks weren’t as strong as I hoped – but man after that elbow injury scare – turned in a pretty big year! And heading into 2015, with him pitching virtually all year and looking nasty through most of preseason, seems pretty safe health-wise. [crosses fingers] |
| Andrew Cashner, San Diego Padres | 38 | 40 | 37 | 94 | Everyone was looking way wrong early in the year! But poor Cash can’t stay healthy… If he falls into the 40s next year I’ll take a flier, bu that’s about it. Could he turn into 2015 Cueto though? Isn’t too outlandish to see that happening is it? |
| Rick Porcello, Detroit Tigers | 39 | 38 | 62 | 48 | For all the crap I got about supporting Porcello, how did Grey outrank him over me?! Turns out we were both right! I think it was CramIt in a comment who said over 3.75 ERA 1.20 WHIP and under 18 wins. Well the wins fell off and so did the WHIP, but I still think my support was worth it! The Ks definitey didn’t come around though… I’ll ease off to around 50 for next year. |
| Matt Moore, Tampa Bay Rays | 40 | 18 | 31 | 200 | I hate that an injury made this rank right, since you just never know what could’ve been… His only two starts weren’t any good either (might’ve been hurt already), but still sucks to be right on this one. |
| Francisco Liriano, Pittsburgh Pirates | 41 | 20 | 52 | 71 | Grey loves the lefties! And hey, he was dead on for that run in the 2nd half! Just like how Liriano’s preranks were all over the place, he was all over the place being terrible, then hurt, then awesome. I don’t see how you can trust him for much in 2015. |
| Hiroki Kuroda, New York Yankees | 42 | 44 | 39 | 56 | After that horrifically slow start, settled down to be the boring 6th pitcher on your team you expected. |
| Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians | 43 | 24 | 50 | 207 | Eesh, I’m sorry Grey… No one thought he’d be this bad though, and pretty sure he was pitching through some sort of injury to see his velo fall off like that. |
| Hyun-Jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers | 44 | 43 | 28 | 37 | A few injuries helped, but looks like Grey and JB win this one over ESPN! Needs to get those glutes in shape so they don’t strain again! |
| Zach Wheeler, New York Mets | 45 | 52 | 44 | 60 | Suffice to say, I thought he’d do better… But there are encouraging things that will make me like him again in 2015, like a BABIP over .300 for the first time in the Majors or Minors since 2011, Ks were great, and GB% went up. |
| Ervin Santana, Atlanta Braves | 46 | 62* | 48 | 54 | Grey’s rank gets a slight denotation as big Erv wasn’t signed yet. I thought Santana had a better season, but a brutal September (6.51 ERA 1.55 WHIP) derailed him. A very “meh” pitcher for next year. |
| Matt Garza, Milwaukee Brewers | 47 | 74 | 41 | 82 | Well, I thought health would be the main issue, and while he did get hurt for a bit (shocker!) he really was only good in the J months (except the one start I saw him live, not getting through the first inning in DC!). A just as much “meh” pitcher for next year. |
| Chris Archer, Tamp Bay Rays | 48 | 42 | 61 | 61 | I wasn’t huge on Archer even though I said he needed to be owned all year, and ended up being a pretty solid pitcher. Still needs a consistent third pitch, work on the walks and WHIP, and be a little more consistent, but I imagine I’ll rank him around here again. |
| Drew Smyly, Detroit Tigers | 49 | 58 | 56 | 64 | Surprised I was the highest on Smyly after noting how much his great 2013 relied on facing tons of lefties in lefty-lefty relief matchups. But man, he looked unreal after the trade to Tampa! Will be a big sleeper in 2015, at least for me. |
| Alex Wood, Atlanta Braves | 50 | 82 | 66 | 31 | Woo! Finally, a good one again! I’m gonna be all over Wood again in 2015. 2015, “The year of JB’s Wood”. |
| Lance Lynn, St. Louis Cardinals | 51 | 49 | 57 | 20 | Wow, I was loathing this review after never being a Lynn guy, but looks like I wasn’t low at all! Great year from Lynn, guess I need to take him more seriously. |
| Archie Bradley, Arizona Diamondbacks | 52 | 94 | 86 | n/a | Yeah, this was the really bad one. But in my defense! Got hurt in the minors. And the Diamondbacks were atrocious and had no reason to promote him. Hey, at least he can be a sleeper again next year! |
| Scott Kazmir, Oakland Athletics | 53 | 76 | 84 | 32 | Hells yeah! Although he did fade down the stretch… |
| Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels | 54 | 35 | 21 | 26 | Weaver proved me wrong! Which I’m glad to see, since I like Weaver a lot even though I avoided him in all leagues. A lot of value came in the 18 wins, which is fine, but I still think those who got him around ESPN ranks were not too happy. |
| CC Sabathia, New York Yankees | 55 | 45 | 38 | 171 | Living in the past… What ESPN does best! I didn’t buy any of the lost weight or preseason stuff, and he wasn’t good before the knee injury anyway. No way I’d draft him in any leagues in 2015. How fast they can fall! |
| R.A. Dickey, Toronto Blue Jays | 56 | 48 | 33 | 40 | I guess this shows how well you can do by attrition! A very ho-hum year in a lot of innings. A shining September helped his final line as well. |
| Tyson Ross, San Diego Padres | 57 | 87 | 85 | 19 | Hilarious how things can be so right! Even though I had no faith he’d be a top 25 pitcher at all after seeing some of his struggles early in the year. They were minor, but he plowed through and was a big breakout who I had ranked da best! Ross Can! |
| Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles | 58 | 41 | 59 | 49 | Sheesh, good rank Grey! Although it looked bad halfway through! I’m still not a Tillman guy. |
| Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox | 59 | 37 | 36 | 6 | INEXCUSABLE! Although, it’s not like anyone got it right… I had no faith in Lester after some middling seasons, but re-found it in Boston and kept it going in Oakland. |
| Josh Johnson, San Diego Padres | 60 | 73 | 102 | n/a | Eh, this was a gamble, and we’ll just never know if he could’ve been a HodgePadre. |
| C.J. Wilson, Los Angeles Angels | 61 | 50 | 40 | 99 | “As I look at my rankings, I may have Wilson too low, but I’ve never been a big fan.” Me in March! Glad my fandom worked on this one better than my Brewers fandom. |
| Marco Estrada, Milwaukee Brewers | 62 | 83 | 55 | 104 | Nice one Grey! I thought he had a lot more buzz and I would be by far the low man, especially after seeing, like, a bajillion home runs get crushed off him. Welcome to the world of long relief, Mr. Long Ball. |
| Dillon Gee, New York Mets | 63 | 63 | 67 | 115 | We’re all the same on this one! A little injury hurt his value and he wasn’t that great… |
| Doug Fister, Washington Nationals | 64 | 32 | 24 | 23 | I know, I know, I know… This was one of my bolder calls for a guy I hated, numbers all trending down, he was injured heading into the year, had a lucky BABIP in 2013 especially considering the bad Tigers infield D that year and he’s a GB pitcher, but it came together just fine in the NL. |
| Jake Peavy, Boston Red Sox | 65 | 51 | 49 | 96 | Finished strong with that developed cutter and the move to SF. But with how bad that first half was, I think people might forget. He will be a really boring sleeper of mine for 2015. |
| Taijuan Walker, Seattle Mariners | 66 | 57 | 74 | 150 | A popular sleeper for many, injury issues held Walker back from any breakout potential. I probably won’t be huge on him next year, but still upside. |
| Carlos Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals | 67 | 89 | 115 | n/a | Hmmm, when did I become the Martinez guy? Well, never really got a shot to start, so there’s that. Ends up not being ranked since I think he’s RP only now… |
| Ubaldo Jimenez, Baltimore Orioles | 68 | 56 | 70 | 154 | The second half of 2013 made you have to believe just a little, but you shouldn’t have at all… And neither should have the Orioles! |
| Tyler Skaggs, Los Angeles Angels | 69 | 69 | 130 | 125 | Grey and I are the exact same! And add us up, and we were almost the same as ESPN’s rank! He showed some flashes – who knows what could’ve been had his elbow stayed intact. |
| Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants | 70 | 47 | 65 | 102 | Well, at least I was the low man here. What a terrible pitcher… |
| Hector Santiago, Los Angeles Angels | 71 | 65 | 100 | 118 | This one didn’t go too hot either… |
| Dan Straily, Oakland Athletics | 72 | 84 | 51 | 245 | … Or this one… |
| Wily Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers | 73 | 64 | 90 | 36 | Solid, solid year. There were ups and downs and at times he was maddening to own, but ended up with a full season of decentness. I think he’s an awesome pick in a deeper league since he’s so durable. |
| John Lackey, Boston Red Sox | 74 | n/a | 58 | 53 | Eh, this was a fine rank for a douchey pitcher. Surprised Grey didn’t rank him, maybe I missed it though… Lackey is standing in front of Grey’s ranks. |
| Tim Hudson, San Francisco Giants | 75 | n/a | 75 | 88 | Looks like Grey didn’t rank Hudson either… T-Hud really fell off though, and not like you missed out on too much if you didn’t draft him late or scoop him off the waivers. Unless you dropped him at the right time… |
| Yovani Gallardo, Milwaukee Brewers | 76 | 72 | 63 | 93 | Not surprised I was the low man on Yoga. Yoga is my least favorite P90x day too! |
| Martin Perez, Texas Rangers | 77 | 60 | 80 | 160 | Really wasn’t a much hotter pitcher early on (well, minus his lack of Ks), but then faltered and blew out the bo. No one will know. The trouble I seen. |
| Ian Kennedy, San Diego Padres | 78 | n/a | 72 | 35 | He surprised me, no question. I thought he’d be traded, I thought mid-season walk issues were a foreboding of suckiness, but he held it together to have a nice year. |
| Nathan Eovaldi, Miami Marlins | 79 | 81 | 108 | 130 | This was looking fantastic for Grey and I a month or two in… Then the old Eovaldi came back… |
| Kyle Lohse, Milwaukee Brewers | 80 | n/a | 68 | 45 | One of my worst ranks of the year, because Lohse is always good! I mean, I guess it has to fall off at some point… |
| Ricky Nolasco, Minnesota Twins | 81 | 75 | 76 | 213 | When I just skimmed through before going through each rank and saw Nolasco’s name, I thought I was gonna puke. Turns out, I was the low man! Rejoice! |
| Michael Pineda, New York Yankees | 82 | 80 | 97 | 84 | The buzz increased all through preseason, and while he was awesome early, he was pine tarring it! Then got hurt, then was unreal to close out the year. What a roller coaster… I probably won’t be taking a ride next year. |
| Drew Hutchison, Toronto Blue Jays | 83 | n/a | 160 | 69 | Here’s a goodun! I don’t think I ever had him get much higher than the 70s, but he stayed in my ranks week-to-week all year and despite ups and downs. Was usable. |
| Mike Leake, Cincinnati Reds | 84 | n/a | 82 | 65 | Grey had a leak in his rankings! |
| Ivan Nova, New York Yankees | 85 | 68 | 60 | 232 | Blew out his elbow early in the year after being a popular sleeper pick… Another “no one will know”. |
| Zach McAllister, Cleveland Indians | 86 | 95 | 118 | 172 | Guess I was highest on McAllister’s Deli… Eh, was an easy drop in virtually all leagues if you had to. |
| A.J. Burnett, Philadelphia Phillies | 87 | 54 | 53 | 117 | This one went like how Fister should’ve gone! I got some flack for having Burnett so low, and even though he pitched virtually the whole season (and had 190 Ks!), you get to see why! |
| Jake Odorizzi, Tampa Bay Rays | 88 | 85 | 89 | 67 | Wow, for all the buzz around him, we all had him ranked eerily similar. Development of “The Thing 2” or whatever he calls his change-up sure boosted the Ks. |
| A.J. Griffin, Oakland Athletics | 89 | 97 | 113 | n/a | Another “we’ll never know”. All I do know is I’m excited to see those long locks of blonde hair flowing from his rec specs again… |
| Wade Miley, Arizona | 90 | n/a | 69 | 110 | Talk about some all over the place ranks! Grey was closest with the non-rank I guess, but if you could use him as a streamer on the road (3.17 ERA vs. 5.61 at home) you could’ve squeezed something out of this big lemon. |
| Jon Niese, New York Mets | 91 | n/a | 71 | 76 | Back-to-back Grey unranked guys and ESPN love childs, Niese actually stayed healthy enough – just long enough – to be a top 80 pitcher. |
| Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs | 92 | n/a | 79 | 157 | Three-back it! I saw this in preseason comments, so everyone shower Sky in golden… beers. Let’s go beers. COMMENTER – “Travis Wood? The guy gets no love.” SKY – “77.4% LOB rate, 2.18 K:BB ratio, a 6.9% HR/FB rate coupled with a very low 33.2% GB rate and a sub 7 K/9 rate…I think we saw the utmost luckiest and best of Travis Wood in 2013. He’s gonna need to improve in a lot of areas to be viable again in 2014 without a lot of luck again.” |
| Bartolo Colon, New York Mets | 93 | 77 | 64 | 55 | Eh, I mean I guess I was wrong. But I don’t feel bad about it. |
| Scott Feldman, Houston Astros | 94 | n/a | 105 | 112 | He was hurt for a small stretch (29 starts), but otherwise would’ve hit exactly on my rank. |
| Randall Delgado, Arizona Diamondbacks | 95 | 59 | 128 | 269 | Grey swung for the fences on this one. Chicks love the long ball! And the moustache! |
| Jared Cosart, Houston Astros | 96 | n/a | 201 | 89 | Wow, I guess this was an outlandish guy to barely make it in… Ended up being a pretty good rank! |
| Dan Haren, Los Angeles Dodgers | 97 | 71 | 43 | 58 | This is a shocking finishing number for Haren. No way he was that good. I guess he started and finished good enough to make up for being terrible through summer. |
| James Paxton, Seattle Mariners | 98 | n/a | 133 | 114 | My love of Paxton knows no bounds! I’ll have him ridiculously high next year. If not for his lat injury, this would’ve been a huge call. |
| Alexi Ogando, Texas Rangers | 99 | 79* | 104 | 286 | Injuries and got moved to the bullpen. Ron Washington should let poor Alexi in on some of his stash. Grey crossed him out, so the injury/bullpen move dropped him out of his ranks I’m guessing. |
| Wei-Yin Chen, Baltimore Orioles | 100 | 98 | 125 | 38 | One of the more surprising top-50 finishes. I thought he’d be a pretty safe guy towards the end of the 90s, but Grey and I still knocked it out of the park! |
Even with highs of Kluber and Ventura, I think Grey bested me with his ranks. Nice work Grey! But can’t make fun of me as much this time!
PITCHERS I UNRANKED THAT FINISHED TOP 50:
- Garrett Richards – 15 – Yeah he was unbelievable. Too early to know if his flukey knee injury will either linger into next Spring and/or make him a draft day value. Had him #15 the last time he was ranked in my week-t0-week Top 100.
- Phil Hughes – 16 – I stuck to my guns on this one, and my guns lost. Sure the historic K:BB was awesome, but at times he was really hittable. Those times didn’t happen at all down the stretch.
- Jake Arrieta – 17 – Awesomesauce. Devastating cutter and nice velocity. Kluber anyone?! Top 20 next year methinks… Arrieta Pitcher Profile.
- Tanner Roark – 18 – Ugh, this one GRINDS MY GEARS! Had him as one of my two or three just out. I feel like he stayed under the radar most of the year, especially compared to the number of mentions of the three names above. Might be a great value in 2015 drafts.
- Collin McHugh – 27 – Unlike Hughes, I should’ve stuck to my guns on this one! Obviously not a guy to rank preseason, but I Profiled him early in the year and was really impressed. But yo-yoed him in my week-to-week ranks when I should’ve believed all year. Has some good stuff with good control, another possible value pick in 2015. McHugh Pitcher Profile.
- Matt Shoemaker – 29 – Shoemaker I think I ranked pretty well through the week-to-weeks, well ahead of his normal ranks. A lot of value came in his Wins though, so I won’t be overpaying in 2015. He’d have to be one of my last pitchers to fall into my draft range. Shoemaker Pitcher Profile.
- Dallas Keuchel – 35 – I’ll never remember if the “E” comes before or after the “U” for the rest of my life… I probably never gave him his due, but mid-season he had a wrist injury and control issues that scared me. Was able to bounce back. Keuchel Pitcher Profile.
- Carlos Carrasco – 36 – Going to be all in on Carrasco next year. Like, all, All, ALL IN! Carrasco Pitcher Profile.
- Edinson Volquez – 44 – Psshhh.
- Bud Norris – 45 – Louder PSSSHHHH.
- Alfredo Simon – 48 – Like his body build, results were top heavy.
- Jacob deGrom – 49 – This is an interesting one. He’ll probably be a semi-sleeper for me next year, as he missed a little time with injury and didn’t begin the year in the rotation. But I could see him being buzzier than he should be. We shall see.
And finally, just because this post isn’t long enough, I leave you with my three futile attempts at catching Brewers’ home run balls that were so effing close! Hint – I’m the huge Brewers fan in the front row if you couldn’t figure it out… Thanks for dropping by to the Pitcher Profiles this year, and looking forward to a big 2015!
Scooter Gennett‘s 1st Inning HR (7/18 – man I have some long ass arms!):
Khris Davis‘s 2nd Inning HR (7/18):
Jonathan Lucroy‘s 2nd Inning 2B off the wall (7/19 – this one looked like it was heading RIGHT TO ME!):
