Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

If you think drafting a league against a bunch of Fantasy Baseball ‘experts’ with a 4-hour pick clock is stressful…well, what would you say if I told you it’s even more stressful to do three of those drafts at once?

We began our TGFBI draft on Monday, March 3rd. Then, our favorite Points-league baby, RazzSlam 6, started on March 5th. And, because I’m a glutton for punishment, insanity, and spreadsheet tracking madness, I was part of the Fantasy Six Pack draft that started on that same Wednesday morning as the RazzSlam.

Yes, Fred. It’s a little bit insane.

Next week, I’ll discuss the RazzSlam results when the draft finishes, but today I’ll share a different set of notes alongside my Top 100 Starting Pitchers list.

For those who might not be aware, TGFBI is Justin Mason’s creation and is filled with baseball writers and podcasters from around the world. It’s a 5X5 league that uses Rotisserie style scoring, $1000 FAAB for free agent pickups, and NO TRADES (to eliminate that nasty threat of collusion between teams).

Many of us Razzball writers play in this league every year, and this year was no exception. I was happy to see my colleague and compadre The Lineup Builder (Derek) in my TGFI draft. The only problem with this was that it meant it would be a lot tougher to hit on certain targets from my draft notes. Derek is a great player and having him in my draft room meant there would be no sneaky bargains to be had.

After the draft finished, I thought about a different way to incorporate our TGFBI information into the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list this week. 

I replaced the Average ADP column from previous weeks with a new column titled, “TGFBI LEAGUE SP ORDER”.  This is where I input our league’s draft spot for each starter on my Top 100 list. For example, my 7th ranked SP, Dylan Cease, was the 12th SP off the board in this draft.

I’ll add Derek’s TLB image to show which players were his picks.

And, of course, I’ll add in the Marmo image to indicate which arms I selected.

Then, at the bottom of the list, I’ll write up each player that Derek and I took throughout the draft.

Another piece of information that might be of interest, Derek picked right in the middle of our draft board at 8th overall while I figuratively sat at the back of the room with the 14th pick. 

I updated the “WHEE” and “OOF” sections because of the injuries rolling out over the past couple of weeks. I also missed some names last week that were too good to leave off the list, so I wiped the bottom of the board and re-sorted a bit.

BUT before we get into it, we have a bit of business to take care of first. If you haven’t signed up for it, The Razzball Fantasy Baseball Subscription should be your go-to reference for the entire season. It will save you a lot of time researching and often includes solutions to those “Oh, I never thought about that” questions that arise throughout the year. The Streamonator is also a helpful resource when making lineup decisions. If you subscribe early enough, you’ll also get access to the War Room. Rudy’s tools are well worth the price of admission. If you’re serious about improving throughout the season, check the link, yo.

Also! Don’t forget to sign up for a Razzball Commenter League. The RCLs are some of the toughest competition in the business. So if you’re looking for a challenge, click that link and join us for a league or two.

Editor’s Note: There’s THIS FREE LEAGUE drafting at 9PM ET tomorrow (Tuesday) night and there’s still TWO SPOTS in one of our more competitive money leagues, DFSers Anonymous.  If you tried to enter last week, there was a glitch that was keeping people out, try again!  We had a few dropouts this season who couldn’t handle the competition, we’re drafting Thursday night (3/20) at 9 PM ET.  $25 to get in, we pay the top three 150/100/50.  Come join the fun!

One final caveat before we get to the list. Remember that each manager often employs a different strategy or build, so some picks might be different than they will be in your league. It’s worth noting that TGBI is not a keeper league, so mining the deep names for rookie upside or taking too many minor league players will often seal your fate early. You need counting stats right from day one if you want to compete with these players!

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2025

SP RANK	NAME	TEAM	TGFBI LEAGUE  SP ORDER	GREY’s RANKINGS	NOTES
1	Paul Skenes	PIT	1	1
2	Tarik Skubal	DET	2	2
3	Zack Wheeler	PHI	3	3
4	Logan Gilbert	SEA	4	4
5	Cole Ragans	KC	11	7	My SP1
6	Garrett Crochet	BOS	6	12
7	Dylan Cease	SD	12	6
8	Corbin Burnes	ARI	7	20
9	Michael King	SD	15	11
10	Framber Valdez	HOU	17	8
11	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	16	15	My SP2
12	Chris Sale	ATL	9	19
13	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	25	34	I had a feeling I should have jumped earlier for Glasnow. He went right after I took Bregman (7th RD) and Bichette (8th RD).
14	Shota Imanaga	CHC	18	13
15	Blake Snell	LAD	5	10
16	George Kirby	SEA	8	5	I moved him out of the Top 10 last week, then read that the injury may not be as serious as they thought. Talk about yelling FIRE in a crowded draft room. Overreaction soon to correct itself.
17	Pablo Lopez	MIN	13	22
18	Jacob deGrom	TEX	10	18
19	Roki Sasaki	LAD	28	17	TLB’s SP2
20	Bailey Ober	MIN	23	23
21	Bryce Miller	SEA	29	14	10 out of 15 picks in RD 8 were SPs. I had to wait for the draft to come back down to me in the 9th RD.
22	Spencer Schwellenbach	ATL	26	16
23	Joe Ryan	MIN	22	41
24	Sonny Gray	STL	34	28
25	Freddy Peralta	MLW	37	32
26	Zac Gallen	ARI	33	25	He’s still not going as high as I assumed he would. You may be able to sneak in and grab a solid arm here around SP30.
27	Hunter Greene	CIN	19	40	Spring Training noise pushed him up in our TGFBI draft.
28	Max Fried	NYY	24	39
29	Luis Castillo	SEA	30	38
30	Logan Webb	SF	39	24
31	Tanner Bibee	CLE	20	29
32	Aaron Nola	PHI	21	42	TLB’s SP1
33	Bryan Woo	SEA	38	26	My SP3. What a surprise.
34	Kevin Gausman	TOR	46	57	Splits the difference between me and Grey here.
35	Spencer Strider	ATL	27	59	Beat writers are whispering he might be back as early as late April.
36	Jack Flaherty	DET	48	31
37	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	N/A	9
38	Shane McClanahan	TB	40	60
39	Hunter Brown	HOU	31	30	I’m likely too low on him here.
40	Jared Jones	PIT	36	33	He went 3 picks before my 9th RD selection. I’m pretty sure you can guess woo I took.
41	Kodai Senga	NYM	46	58	Some are scared by the injury risk. Some are pumped about a perceived discount. There will be more than one owner in each of those camps in every draft room this Spring.
42	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA	44	63	Down a bit from last week.
43	Carlos Rodon	NYY	47	35	TLB’s SP3
44	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	50	61
45	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	51	49
46	Justin Steele	CHC	35	36	I won’t own him anywhere but I’m ok with missing out on what will likely be a strong season.
47	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	41	37
48	Robbie Ray	SFG	45	48
49	Reynaldo Lopez	ATL	49	44
50	Seth Lugo	KC	52	43
51	Shane Baz	TB	42	54
52	Taj Bradley	TB	55	55
53	Gavin Williams	CLE	57	83	I’m officially buying into the hype.
54	Nick Pivetta	S.D.	54	50
55	Zach Eflin	BAL	53	45	If you’re looking to shore up the WHIP category with a lower ranked arm, this is your guy.
56	Ranger Suarez	PHI	73	47	TLB’s SP5
57	Bowden Francis	TOR	61	56	My SP4
58	Jose Berrios	TOR	69	71	My SP5
59	MacKenzie Gore	SD	67	66
60	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	59	46	TLB’s SP4
61	Tanner Houck	BOS	70	68
62	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	71	65
63	Ronel Blanco	HOU	56	64
64	Reese Olson	DET	77	67	This feels like a really good price on Olson. He’s looked great this Spring.
65	Spencer Arrighetti	HOU	60	53	I like him a lot but the BB/9 issue needs to be corrected before I jump in at this price.
66	Nick Lodolo	CIN	74	75
67	Mitch Keller	PIT	75	79
68	Ryan Pepiot	TB	43	52	Too rich for my blood.
69	Jackson Jobe	DET	68	73	This felt like a “get your guy” kind of reach based on the ADP, but it wasn’t that far off of his ranking in here.
70	Jeffrey Springs	ATH	76	105	Injury history and an offense boosting home park = no thank you.
71	Dustin May	LAD	105	88	It looks like he’s won the LAD 5th starter spot. If he shows he’s healthy, he’ll move up the list quickly. The TGFBI pick was before Gonsolin went down to injury.
72	Max Scherzer	TOR	88	122	He’s been throwing well this Spring. If you temper your expectations to 90-100 IP, you should be happy with the results.
73	Yu Darvish	SD	72	72
74	Chris Bassitt	TOR	109	90
75	Ryan Weathers	MIA	94	N/R	More below.
76	Clay Holmes	NYM	78	96	More below.
77	Nestor Cortes	MLW	79	107
78	Merrill Kelly	ARI	93	103	A yawner, but a good arm to help fill out your fantasy staff.
79	Brandon Woodruff	MLW	64	106	Some guys I’m willing to accept the injury risk. Some of them I’m not. Guess which side of that line Woodruff falls on.
80	Brady Singer	CIN	102	91	TLB’s SP6
81	Brayan Bello	BOS	92	78	Injury news affects this one. He’s been ruled out for Opening Day.
82	Clarke Schmidt	NYY	58	85	I don’t know how much I trust taking him in the 50s with reports of back problems.
83	Michael Wacha	KC	83	69
84	Walker Buehler	BOS	66	104
85	Matthew Boyd	CHC	95	76
86	David Peterson	NYM	99	85	Didn’t make it back to me in the 23rd RD.
87	Jose Soriano	LAA	91	101	I guess someone else likes the strikeout upside too.
88	Drew Rasmussen	TB	65	87	See Woodruff, Brandon.
89	Tobias Myers	MLW	97	80	It was between him and Uceta in RD 22. I went with the upside reliever.
90	Jameson Taillon	CHC	103	91
91	Luis Gil	NYY	86	62	Out for 3 months. This one was a timed-out auto-pick for someone. Oof. Still a fine pick if you’re in a keeper league.
92	Chris Bassitt	TOR	109	90	My SP7
93	Cody Bradford	TEX	85	74	Will start the year on the IL.
94	Tomoyuki Sugano	BAL	100	77	My SP6
95	Luis Severino	ATH	81	97	I likely have him too low here, but that Sacramento park scares me a bit for ATH pitchers.
96	Grant Holmes	ATL	82	111	I wrote last week that he’s been in more “sleeper” talks than I can count. Then he was picked about 5 selections after I finished typing it up last Sunday afternoon.
97	Grayson Rodriguez	BAL	32	27	This shows how optimistic I am that the elbow irritation is a minor concern.
98	Michael Soroka	WSH	90	N/R
99	Max Meyer	MIA	96	N/R
100	Bubba Chandler	PIT	80	N/R	He’ll be drafted in your redraft league. And if he’s not already gone in your keeper league, get on it.

Unranked pitchers taken in the draft – Erick Fedde (84), David Festa (87), Sean Manaea (89), Nick Martinez (98), Reid Detmers (104)

Some notes on our draft choices (with the SP spot from the draft in parentheses)

Our “Aces” – aka SP1 and SP2

Cole Ragans (SP11) – I needed an ace and I wanted one who can give me a bunch of strikeouts. Taking a guy who is projected by all of the systems to have a 10+ K/9 is a good enough start for me at this price. Ragans was my Round 4 choice on the way back up to the top after I chose Yordan Alvarez, Jackson Chourio, and Pete Alonso with my first 3 picks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (SP16) – Right after I took Cole Ragans in the 4th round, the closer run started. NINE closers went off the board before the draft came back to me so I chose Robert Suarez with my 5th round pick and Yoshi on the way back up in Round 6. I had set the maximum pick on Yamamoto for a while at 77th overall until he went a bit later in a few other leagues (81st, 82nd and 83rd). I’ll take that as my SP2. 

Aaron Nola (SP21) – Don’t worry. The Lineup Builder did take some starters after all. In chatting with Derek, he let me know that he was going to try to load up on hitters and wait as long as he could to start to draft pitching. We agreed that the starting pitching pool is SO deep this year, that it’s not a bad decision to make, especially in a league like this. I’m not a big Aaron Nola fan, but you can’t argue with the track record. Derek secured his SP1 on the way down in round 7.

Roki Sasaki (SP28) – Taking three pitchers in rounds 4, 5, 6 was enough to scare me into drafting hitting for the next two rounds. I was so tempted to jump in and take Sasaki in round 7 and 8, but ultimately went wth Alex Bregman and Bo Bichette to shore up more of my infield. Glasnow, Schwellenbach, and Spencer Strider went after my pick and Derek landed a pretty sweet SP2 in the 8th round.

Our Mid-Rotation Arms – aka SP3 and SP4

Bryan Woo (SP38) – This one is like playing a game of hide and seek, but without the hiding part. Anyone who has been following along this year, (or last summer, to be honest), knows about my burgeoning mancrush for all that is Woo. Did I reach for him? Possibly. But I wasn’t very stressed about missing out on Shane McClanahan, Ryan Pepiot, or Brandon Pfaadt – the three SPs that went after I took Woo. For what it’s Werth, fellow Marm-obsession Jared Jones went three picks before this as the SP36. This was the end of RD 9.

Carlos Rodon (SP47) – I took a hiatus from the pitching picks for a while after Woo, and we didn’t have another starter drafted by one of our teams until Derek took Carlos Rodon as his SP3 in round 12. Rodon was sandwiched right in the middle of Kevin Gausman, Kodai Senga, Jack Flaherty, and Reynaldo Lopez. Again, TLB might have been drafting from my list of fades, but this is very similar to the Nola pick. Choosing Rodon here is great value for a pitcher who has shown he can dominate. I might not be a believer in Rodon but the Yankees will be leaning on him now more than ever with the Gerrit Cole injury. A solid 12th RD pick.

Nathan Eovaldi (SP59) – Round 15 was where both Derek and I added our SP4s. Derek plucked Eovaldi out of a pocket of arms that I really like. Round 15 SPs went Taj Bradley, Ronel Blanco, Gavin Williams (ooh!), Clarke Schmidt, then Eovaldi. Spencer Arrighetti was selected right after Derek’s pick so that left me with…

Bowden Francis (SP61) – Taking Bowden Francis as my SP4 felt good. I tried to address other roster spots between my SP3 and SP4 picks and it was past the time to pick up another solid arm. Late summer success and Blue Jays homerism put Francis smack dab in the middle of my radar, but it was nice to get some confirmation bias when I listened to Eno Sarris this winter on a podcast.

To paraphrase, Bowden Francis has the ‘biggest movement’ of anyone in major league baseball. The big curveball is complemented by a running fastball. It’s not dominating stuff, but he throws strikes. That’s a good enough endorsement for me…even if there was an admission that Bowden tends to give up too many homers. The good news is if you’re in the nerdiest fraternity in the world, you can likely make a drinking game out of how many times you see Bowden Francis on every ‘sleeper list’ this Spring.

Our Back-End – aka SP5

Jose Berrios (SP69) – After round 15, I took Christian Encarnacion Strand as my CM. Then, on the way back down in the 17th round, I took Jose Berrios as my SP5. I saw Francis and Berris as interchangeable, so it felt more like SP4A and SP4B with these two. The Spring Training narrative goes both ways, so I don’t put too much stock into the small sample size, but it was reassuring to see Berrios with this line against some lesser known Atlanta Braves yesterday. 6 IP, 4H, 0ER, 0BB, 7Ks. Hey, it’s better than putting up a stinker and making me question if I should have taken Tanner Houck or Jesus Luzardo instead! If Spring stats are your thing, Berrios ranks 9th in K/BB among starting pitchers.

Ranger Suarez (SP73) – Derek’s SP5 was his 18th round selection. You can’t go wrong picking a Phillies starter this late. I was a bit concerned about the back injury last year, but Suarez came back in late August and pitched in the playoffs, so hopefully the back issues are behind him (no pun intended…kind of). When we get this deep, there are tiny warts or risks in every pick. Heck, even Jose Berrios could revert to his 2022 self (please, God, no). But taking Ranger Suarez before Nick Lodolo, Mitch Keller, and Jeffrey Springs is a shrewd selection that I would have gambled on as well.

Our Rotation Depth – aka Reserve SPs

Tomoyuki Sugano (SP100) – We’re into the end game now, folks! It was CoolWhip who first shared Sugano news with us this winter in our writers’ Discord, and as soon as he said that this guy was nicknamed “Japan’s Greg Maddux”, I took notes. Itch just listed Sugano in his bold predictions post as a possible 15-game winner wth a 3.15 ERA and I swooned so hard I nearly hurt my back. I’ll gladly join ‘The Century Club’ with my SP6! Give me some Sugar, baby!

Brady Singer (SP102) – The Reds’ newest starter went right after I took Sugano and another manager took Lucas Giolito. At this point, we’re drafting volume and Singer should provide just that. The Reds’ home park might be a bit scary for a starting pitcher, but Singer’s GB% (nearly 50%) will play there. If anything, he’ll be a good streamer away from Great American Ballpark for innings and strikeouts.

Chris Bassitt (SP109) – Honestly, I didn’t come into this draft thinking I would come out of it with 60% of the Blue Jays starting rotation, but here we are. I was not planning on taking Bassitt, but he sat there for three full rounds before I finally decided it was worth the risk to take him as a backup pitcher for my reserve list. Not bad for an SP7.

Will Warren (SP124) – The news about Gerrit Cole had just broken when we reached round 27, so Will Warren was a worthwhile gamble at this point in the draft. When the alternatives (and next three arms taken) were Charlie Morton, Landon Roupp, and Ryne Nelson, I think it was a decent reserve pick.

That’s it for our Starting Pitchers from our TGFBI draft! There were some pretty solid choices in some bargain sections, and I’m looking forward to the season. Hopefully, The Lineup Builder doesn’t build too much of a lead early and I can keep pace throughout the summer!

If you liked this format, let me know in the comments and I can do up the RazzSlam draft the same way next week (if it’s done by then!).

Here are some notes about the changes to the list today too.

WHEE! – These players launched on to the Top 100 list this week.

Clay Holmes – I should have had him in the list earlier than this so here he is today. I’m concerned about Holmes’ transition back to the rotation after never throwing more than 70 innings in a season. As far as talent is concerned, Holmes’ strikeout potential is great and his ability to suppress home runs is excellent. I just can’t see him throwing more than 100-120 innings. Steamer has him projected at 155 IP, but I’d take the under on that one. 

Nestor Cortes – I’m not a fan and I was not surprised when the Yankees banished him to the bullpen last year. That said, he should be a source of innings on a good Milwaukee team without much competition for a rotation spot. I’m not sold on Woodruff staying healthy either, and an injury there means yet another open rotation spot if/when it happens. Jacob Misiorowski is a good growth stock, but I don’t think he’s ready to push Cortes to the pen just yet.

Michael Soroka – Whoa! Look at who is back with something to prove this preseason! The last time he threw significant innings was 6 years ago (174 IP in 2019) but Spring training numbers are encouraging. 11.57 K/9 and 1.29 BB/9 in a small sample size from the Calgary, Alberta native looks great, but this is more about him locking down a rotation spot over DJ Herz and Cade Cavalli. 

Ryan Weathers – Oh boy. There’s a theme with these “WHEE!” guys this week and there might be no bigger “WHEE!” than Ryan Weathers. We could use the same argument about limited innings as we used with Clay Holmes above, but the fact that Weathers has touched 102 MPH this Spring is enough for me to add him to the list, and roll the dice on him late in drafts. Itch had a bold prediction of 200Ks and a 2.75 ERA for Weathers, but my favorite graphic that sums up the Ryan Weathers love comes from CoolWhip.

Max Meyer – I had David Festa in here, but with Chris Paddack throwing well and Zebby Matthews coming back strong after a hip scare, I went with Max Meyer instead. Meyer looks like the favorite to break camp in the rotation and these kinds of kids with pedigree, (3rd overall in 2020 draft), often get multiple chances to show what they can do. 

Almost Lucas Giolito – I was all ready to add him to the list. Then his hamstring started barking and Alex Cora announced that Giolito will start the season on the 15-day IL. Woof.

OOF! – These players fell off the Top 100 list this last week.

Gerrit Cole – TJS and finished until mid-summer…2026.

Kutter Crawford – The optimistic part of me says at least it’s his knee and not a shoulder or elbow injury. The realistic part of me says I don’t want any part of this until or unless he proves he’s 100% healthy and ready to return.

Eduardo Rodriguez – Steady Eddy loses out on a spot to younger and more exciting arms.

Justin Verlander – If we had a list of 105, he’d still be in there.

Charlie Morton – He hasn’t done anything wrong AND his Spring numbers are strong, but there are too many younger arms making noise this month. I’d rather go with upside late in the draft than old and somewhat reliable.

Jose Quintana – Both he and Heaney were added more so to point out they signed with a team. He’ll be serviceable, but…see EdRod above.

Andrew Heaney – A lot of the bottom 10-ish guys are even more fluid from week-to-week than the rest of the list. This won’t be the last time we see guys like Heaney and Quintana in 2025.

 

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, I’ll likely include the Top 100 list again with a few updates in the notes section like I did this week, along with the RazzSlam results from my draft room too!

Drop some comments in the chat if you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here. Have a great week!

Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social