It sure does seem like pitchers are dropping like flies. It’s probably the same every year, but this year it’s just affecting me more than others. And you know what, I don’t like it. Not one bit. Call me cold-hearted, but I don’t care if pitchers hit the IL, as long as they aren’t on my team. My latest casualty is Walker Buehler, and as far as I am concerned, it’s a doozy. If I’m being honest, I don’t expect him to contribute to my fantasy team for the rest of the season. In redraft leagues, I’d be jumping at the opportunity to trade him for something that’s going to help me this year. Maybe try and sell Buehler as a potential game-changer in the fantasy playoffs. I mean that might actually be true, but I’m willing to take the risk by letting him go. In keeper leagues, however, I’m much more inclined to stash him on the IL. However, if the right offer crossed my desk, I’d give it fair consideration. And by “right offer” I mean a deal that’s going to push me over the top this season.
Just to follow up, here are the pitchers I have lost in my two primary head-to-head points leagues. Walker Buehler, Jacob deGrom, Shane Baz, Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Jesus Luzardo and Nick Lodolo. WTF!
While I’m on the topic of starting pitchers, here are my current rankings/tiers for points leagues. Pitchers currently on the IL are not included in this list. The numbers associated with each pitcher are points per start.
Tier 1
Shane McClanahan – 21.58
Justin Verlander – 21.67
Sandy Alcantara – 21.25
Joe Musgrove – 21.82
Not exactly the names anyone expected to see here preseason.
Tier 2
Alec Manoah – 19.36
Max Scherzer – 20.38
Nestor Cortes – 18.82
Kyle Wright – 18.17
Tony Gonsolin – 18.00
Corbin Burnes – 17.33
I expect Scherzer to jump into tier one very quickly. Alec Manoah might not be far behind him.
Tier 3
Gerrit Cole – 16.83
Aaron Nola – 17.33
Pablo Lopez – 16.67
Max Fried – 17.17
Tarik Skubal – 16.83
Logan Gilbert – 16.75
Nice group of pitchers listed here. What a horrible filler sentence I just wrote. This tier kinda feels like the floor for these pitchers.
Tier 4
Luis Severino – 16.55
Kevin Gausman – 15.25
Tyler Anderson – 17.56
Zack Wheeler – 16.27
Sean Manaea – 16.00
Is it just me or is anyone else having a hard time buying into Tyler Anderson? His number should have him in at least tier 3, but I just couldn’t do it.
Tier 5
Dylan Cease – 14.45
Joe Ryan – 16.38
Carlos Rodon – 14.83
Framber Valdez – 15.92
Nathan Eovaldi – 15.83
Shane Bieber – 15.18
Jameson Taillon – 15.67
Martin Perez – 15.25
The reason Joe Ryan is in tier 5 with 16.83 points per start is because he only has 8 starts. I wonder if Bieber is suffering from face paralysis.
Tier 6
Eric Lauer – 15.00
MacKenzie Gore – 15.78
Paul Blackburn – 14.50
Carlos Carrasco – 14.67
Triston McKenzie – 15.20
Frankie Montas – 14.15
Miles Mikolas – 15.00
Yu Darvish – 14.91
Shohei Ohtani – 14.20
MacKenzie Gore and Triston McKenzie are the two I’m keeping an eye on in this tier. You can almost make a Wheel of Fortune “before and after” out of their names.
Tier 7
Jordan Montgomery – 13.75
Logan Webb – 14.08
Lucas Giolito – 13.80
Michael Lorenzen – 14.50
Michael Kopech – 13.10
Nick Pivetta – 13.75
Zac Gallen – 13.64
Robbie Ray – 13.00
Michael Wacha – 13.70
Adam Wainwright – 13.58
I wouldn’t be surprised to see several of these pitchers move up in the next rankings. I could also wait until they do until I post rankings again.
Follow malamoney on Twitter at @malamoney
