"Wahhhhhh, [player]Shane Greene[/player] doesn't strike anyone out, he's useless, wahhhhhh!" That's Sky on the Podcast a few hours ago... "The Fifth Element sucked!" That's Grey before I socked him!
Since my initial ranks in February, I've been a Greene champion. In my blurb, I mention a high K-rate finish to 2014 (52:16 K:BB his last 41.1 innings), along with an unlucky 2014 BABIP (.330). The starts I saw from him last year had me encouraged with his stuff, plus the move to a much better pitcher's park in Comerica had me "thrilled".
But even with the rank looking spiffy and everything going right, the low K-rate does seem a little concerning. He's turning into [player]Rick Porcello[/player], noooooooo! While his ERA and WHIP (along with 3 wins) are all change-your-pants worthy, he's got a measly 11:5 K:BB in 23 innings. Regression is screaming like Ruby Rhod after he counted ten! I of course hope not since he's on all my teams, and watching him so far this year in my normal bouncing-around-through-all-the-games he looks like a strong strikeout capable guy. So I decided to watch his start yesterday hosting the White Sox, and give it the ol' full attention and Pitcher Profile treatment. Here's how he looked:
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For the first time, there's Reasonable Doubt for you, the Jay Z owner. Asking yourself, on Growing Pains, am I, Boner? You're supposed to put up goose eggs, and be all zen. Now the Black Album is scrambled, got funky albumen. Grey told me don't draft a top starter, but I got Jordan Zimmermann not Shawn Carter. Jigga what...is with all the runs? His starts make me want to curse, hide your nuns. Pardon my question, but my H2H is on tilt and I need streamers from the SON, see. This is fantasy, where's my funzies!? Yesterday, Zimmermann went 2 1/3 IP and gave up seven, but at least I have Kershaw, Strasburg and Samardzija. Wait, then why is my team's ERA pushing five and I don't have anything that rhymes with Samardzija!? As for Zimmermann, he looks like he's hiding an injury so far this year. Velocity's down, Ks are down, pitches are up. I wouldn't panic trade him, but I wonder if something might be wrong and I would explore trade possibilities. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Pitcher Profile: The “C” In C-Mart Might Be For “Change-Up”, and the Top 100 Pitchers, Week 2
April 13, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 200 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
The season is here baby! Well, that's kinda old news at this point, but I'm pumped for the first Pitcher Profile of 2015!
Every Monday this season, we'll be breaking down fringy mixed-league starters (usually) to get a better gauge on their value and if they're worthy of a valuable roster spot. And I certainly like suggestions! Add into the comments a pitcher that's projected to start next weekend and I very well might end up Profiling them. Wait, not like that!
Now to our debut this year, and I've just never really known what to make of [player]Carlos Martinez[/player]. Power stuff, destroys righties, but left-handed batters have crushed him. I had Martinez 74 in my original ranks amongst SP, but dropped him out in my re-ranks as he was heading to the bullpen. Then [player]Jaime Garcia[/player] blew out his 5th or 6th shoulder - I've lost count - so it's back into the starting five, Carlos! Made him as excited as I was when I stumbled upon his Twitter a few years ago...
So I decided to tune into his 2015 debut as a starter (he threw an inning of relief on opening night last Sunday), and break down how he looked against the Reds pitch-by-pitch:
Two-Start Pitchers, Week Two: I’d Like You To Meet My Pal Harvey
April 11, 2015 | Two Start Fantasy Starters | 47 Commentsby: Geoff
Lads (and ladies), sit with me for a moment while I bless yee with a bit of the folklore of the old country, the Emerald Isle to be exact. A place of legal drugs, pubs, whiskey, rolling green hills, lovely redheaded lassies, and a tradition of folklore as rich as an Irishman's heart. You may be familiar with stories of wee men and their pots of gold, or the luck of the Blarney Stone, Stonehenge perhaps, but how many of you are familiar with the Púca? To be clear Púcas are ghosts or spirits, bringers of good luck or bad fortune, they are said to be both helpers and hindrances. The really tricky thing about Púcas is how tough they are to identify due to their ability to change appearances and shape-shift. We're all familiar with Púca's in one way or another but the most well known Púca to those of us in the States is a giant rabbit named Harvey. That would be the protagonist from Mary Coyle Chase's play of the same name. The play was later adapted to the silver screen in a film staring Jimmy Stewart, and its a worthwhile take.
Welcome to the 2015 edition of the RCL Razzball Champion's League. No matter how the season plays out and what the stats say, I will be claiming this is the best and toughest RCL. The 12 owners had 8 of the top-20 teams in 2014, and 17 of the top-50. The draft (April 1) was interesting as only 55 SPs were selected, compared to the RCL average of 81.6. 68 RPs were grabbed as well.
Here is the Team-By-Team breakdown, including the Vegas odds on winning the Champion's League title...
You know what's a very considerate thing to do? To tell you about some concerns I have for the upcoming season after you've already drafted. Due to posting my rankings in January and not tweaking things outside of injuries and playing time updates, there's some things that I look at now and I wonder what the hell I was thinking. I could update some rankings due to spring training performances, but then I'm throwing out the countless hours (1 1/2 hours) of research I put in to do my rankings. I don't believe in doing that. There was a reason I ranked how I ranked originally and to move a guy now because he hit a few homers in March doesn't make any sense. I'm also not completely immune to what was going on for the last month performance-wise with players, so I'm giving you some players that I might've ranked slightly different if I let spring training performances come into play. If you want to bump up or down some of these guys, I could understand it. Anyway, here's some players that have me second-guessing myself for 2015 fantasy baseball:
Pitcher Profile: Updating JB’s Top 100 Starting Pitchers
March 30, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 265 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
Man, name a starting pitcher and there's a 50% chance he's hurt!
It's been a brutal Spring - Tommy J's, ACLs, dead arms, demotions, sports betting on Twitter... It never ends! It feels like we're just another few injury-plagued Springs away from having pitching machines on the mound. Would spell a devastating end to Krispie Young, that's for sure!
So as we'll update every Monday through the season, below is an update to my first edition of the Top 100 SP Ranks, which you can find through the magic of clickity-click. Standard in-season-esque green for risers, red for fallers, additional notes at the end, and my principle is usually to not rank pitchers in the bullpen unless it's highly anticipated they will join the rotation in the immediate future. So Sayonara Cingrani! Sounds like an episode title of The Sopranos... Here's my updated Top 100 SP:
The Numbers Game: Control Artists
March 26, 2015 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 50 Commentsby: Big Magoo
We're almost there. Opening Day is just 11 days away (10 if you're counting down to the Cubs/Cards game on Sunday night), which means that fantasy draft season is in full swing. For those of you who are veterans of the FBB world, you know that draft day can be quite unpredictable. Average draft positions can mean next to nothing at times, particularly in competitive leagues. What should you do if Kershaw falls into your lap unexpectedly at the turn? How about if pitching is flying off the board and productive hitters start dropping an extra round or two below ADP (or more importantly, your own personal rankings)?
What was I thinking when I thought this would be a fun post? I came into this wanting to be Grey's opposite for S's and G's, but that ship sailed south really fast. If you are disappointed that I bailed on that idea, then go to his comments any day and you can view my contrarian ways as I try to keep him honest and keep myself being...well, me being good ole me. When Rudy told me he would make me a table doing a side-by-side with dollar values, I was a little worried about how that would be accepted by the Grey-heads. Then I thought to myself, who doesn't like money? Well maybe Monty Brewster, who hated money for 30 days, but I would too with what he had to do in that classic 80's baseball flick. On a hunch, I went into the archives to find that Rudy wrote this post last year and realized I got duped into doing it for 2015. Well played señor Rudolfo...well played indeed.
Want to take me on in a Razzball Commenter League? Join my league here!
Per the usual, I have to drop a caveat when it comes to Deep League Thoughts about pitchers: there's no such thing as a deep league pitcher. Unless you're talking 20 team leagues and then you're calling some relievers deep league pitchers. I ain't going there so let's realize upfront before you feel affronted. Now that we have that settled, when does a young pitcher settle? Two years? Four years? Do they ever? It's all hard to predict. As we've seen through our years as fantasy baseballers, growth isn't a promise from a young kid, it's a possibility. How many rookies came and went on your rosters in 2014 alone? I'm not asking you, Grey. You'd add and drop the same player five times in one day so you don't count, you chronic rosterbator. That said, I'm sure Trevor Bauer hit your roster more than once. He had some good with some bad in 2014. Maybe you got the bad from him and won't go near him again. Maybe you had more of the good like I did and you're willing to look into him a bit further. If so, trudge on with me. We're about to go deep inside the enigma that is Bauer and what he can do for you for the 2015 Fantasy Baseball season...
2015 Top 100 Starting Pitchers
February 24, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 162 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
Pitcher Profiles are almost back baby! Let's get this shizz goin!
We've got another big year of GIFfing, Gamescore+ , breaking down every pitch to a tedium... it's going to get my motor running about as hard as every [player]Corey Kluber[/player] start!
I hope everyone has had a nice winter, and enjoyed an awesome year with us so far over on Hoops. Good thing it's an indoor sport! Northeast getting more snow than Tony Montana's desk. But with the allure of the weather warming (it hasn't yet), we can all get together and talk some starting pitching (it's deep, convo over). With depth comes two interesting schools of thought - should you go with aces early because there's so little distinguishing the mid-tier and breakout guys? Or wait entirely and build your whole staff late? Of course there's 50 Shades of Grey, which is still my usual approach. Hopefully Grey's next book will be 51 Shades of Grey Albright. Shade 1 - mustache play.
If you missed the wrap up at the end of last year, you can check out how my 2014 pre-ranks fared against Grey and ESPN.
Enough foreplay, below are my top 100 SP ranks! With the great pitching depth, comes great responsibility a lot of guys out of the 100 that are probably in other ranks here and there. Pitchers 70-130 are so hard to differentiate... But as always, please shoot your comments below on what ya think, and happy pitching 2015!