Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

It was a busy weekend in MarmoVille for your Top 100 Starting Pitcher writer. 

For the record, the photoshopped picture turned out WAY BETTER than the AI version did. And, yes, I’m representing the brand as well. Human interaction for the win!

If anyone caught my Saturday morning stand-in for Dan Pants (Answering The RazzMan Distress Call For A Cardinals/Cubs Fireworks Show), you’ll know that this weekend was filled with a July 4th Cosmic Baseball game in Buffalo, NY, followed by a Weird Al concert in Niagara Falls last night.

Needless to say, I told the Marmo-lets not to expect every summer weekend to be this exciting.

And I thought of y’all while we were at the concert. I figured this upload would be fitting. (Providing that YouTube doesn’t come after me for infringement).

It was a pretty exciting weekend, to say the least.

Speaking of exciting (segue nailed), Justin Wrobleski decided to shed his marshmallow-tosser label for at least one game when he made the Athletics weeble, then Wrob-ble, and fall down with a Tuesday night masterpiece of his own: 7 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 11 Ks.

There might not have been many glow-in-the-dark baseballs being launched into the stands, and I’m fairly certain there were no silly rewrites of any old Michael Jackson classics, but J-Wrob gave us a night to remember, nonetheless.

Whenever I run out one of these guys as a lede, I always wonder what his price tag would’ve been way back in draft season. I mean, I know the strikeout rate is pretty ugly, but where would you have drafted this arm if you knew that his pitching line would look like this when July 4th rolled around?

10 W, 2 L, 93.1 IP, 29 ER, 76 H, 18 BB, 64 Ks, 2.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .217 BAA, 10 QS (in 14 starts).

As I said, the 6.17 K/9 leaves a lot to be desired in that specific category, but would you guess he wasn’t even drafted in the Top 300 overall?

That’s right. Our favorite Dodger breakout arm was NOT Emmett Sheehan’s (ugh). Mr. Justin Wrobleski had a not-so-brag-worthy ADP of 471.73.

Just to give us a bit of perspective, the five “SPs” that were ranked above Wrobleski according to NFBC data back at the start of the season were:

Clarke Schmidt (470.69 and placed on the 60-day IL on February 12th)

Kyle Freeland (470.70)

Taijuan Walker (471.57)

Connor Prielipp (471.67 – but without a starting job out of camp in April)

Joey Wentz (471.2)

Do you think folks who drafted any of those five arms to round out their pitching staff might want a “do-over”?

Here’s the note I wrote after he delivered this gem:

“AND this was at Bing Bong Stadium? Oh, and we came thisclose to getting a dozen strikeouts from a dude with a 6.2 K/9? In a park that sends cans of corn into outer space?

Seriously. It makes the heart tingle to see this kind of stuff. Either that or he was really miffed at being sorted into the marshmallow-tosser group and said “Eff this Marmo-guy. Imma show him!”

I’d like to think that’s how it went.

And if that’s not enough, I’ll add in a tweet/Xeet from the Pitch Profiler account that spells it out for us (with a fancy graphic to boot!). It’s only from this most recent start, but the message is loud and clear.

 

Good on the Dodgers for developing one of their own arms into something special. Now, the next time you hear someone griping about how the Dodgers are “just an All-Star team of free agents”, you can use this as a piece of evidence for some pushback.

I can hear some of you now. (And I don’t know how that works, but maybe it’s just Fantasy Baseball telepathy).

Cool story, MarmosDad, but just how high does Justin jump up this week’s list?

Well, before we get to that, let’s not forget about the Razzball tools. The Razzball subscriptions are well worth the price of admission. This should be your go-to reference for the entire season. That resource that the other “experts” from other sites use as often as they look at Statcast or Fangraphs data? This is it.

Also, before we get to the goodies today, as I said above, I need to share that I filled in for Dan Pants on Saturday morning. So if you see any “quotes” in some of the blurbs and are wondering why the eff the word “yesterday” reads like Friday night instead of Sunday, well, now you know!

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026

MARMO RANK	Name	Team	Notes
1	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW	5 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 1.47. Everyone and everything is loving this. Except for maybe the tendons in this kid’s right arm. But other than that, it’s a love fest.
2	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.00. Ok, my sweet, sweet NL Cy Young Award prince, you can move back up and continue to nip at Jacob Misiorowski’s heels again.
3	Paul Skenes	PIT	4 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 3.62. I hope you didn’t take The Allegheny Ace and the Philly Wheels as your SP1 and SP2, because if you did…you didn’t have an enjoyable week.
4	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 10 Ks, and his 9th win. Serious question here. I know no big leaguer would admit this, but how many dudes do you think roll into Dodger Stadium, look at the lineup, then see they have to face Yamamoto that night, and just think to themselves, “Oh man. It’s gonna be a long night tonight”?
5	Cam Schlittler	NYY	4 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 2.08. Flew too close to the son of Papa Misiorowski and got burned. He’s back down a few spots today.
6	Jacob deGrom	TEX	7 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.48. I could’ve used the bunny story here instead of with Mike Burrows (below), but let’s focus on the bigger point. Mr. Dig-rom has been as lights out as any Jacob (without the last name, Misiorowski).
7	Zack Wheeler	PHI	4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 2.36. Ya, this is what I meant in the Skenes blurb.
8	Chris Sale	ATL	5 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and his 9th win. I suppose these 5-inning jobbers with 3 or fewer earned runs could also apply to the oldies and not just as “youngster quality starts”. Come Sale away with Chris. He’ll bring the good ratios.
9	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	“6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 1.79. WHIP at 0.95. I ripped on Dalton Rushing in last week’s Top 100 Starting Pitcher article because he dared to doubt Ohtani’s ABS challenge. Don’t question this guy. Just watch and marvel at the excellence.”
10	Chase Burns	CIN	6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.40. Only FOUR strikeouts? Jeez. My grandmother could do that, and she turns 100 this weekend. Sick Burns. Also, that’s a true story. About the birthday, not the strikeouts.
11	Logan Gilbert	SEA	7.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and his 7th win. ERA at 3.19. WHIP at 0.95. Logan welcomed Canada’s team to town on July 4th with a swift backhand and a “Canada Day was Wednesday? Come back when you’ve got 250 of them under your belt and maybe then we’ll talk.” A bit aggressive, but accurate nonetheless. Up. (For the pitching results, not the disrespect).
12	Joe Ryan	MIN	Game 1: 4 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.61. If you can quiet all the external noises and listen carefully, you can hear the clicking of other GMs’ mouse fingers as they remove players from the trade deadline offers after every Joe Ryan stinker start. Game 2:  7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, and his 6th win. Wait a minute. Maybe he lost his last two starts against LAD and HOU on purpose! Because he wants to get traded to the Yankees! Talk about some galaxy brain stuff right there.
13	Tarik Skubal	DET	6 IP, 1 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.15. Look out. There’s a charged-up rhino in the Tigers’ cage, and it’s getting ready to smash through that All-Star Break checkpoint.
14	Max Meyer	MIA	Well, he finally lost his first game of the year. And it was on Canada Day. So much for that bottle of lucky maple syrup that I sent him. 6 IP, 1 ER, (5 R), 6 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks.
15	Logan Webb	SF	“3 IP, 7 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, 2 HR allowed, and one WTF!? Yes, the smart move is to sit all arms when they travel to COL, but the spinner of Webb-gems had the exact opposite kind of June that Spencer Arrighetti had. When I figured he would be able to withstand the curse of Coors Field…I figured wrong.” I’m giving him a free “at COL” pass in this one, but he still slips a couple of spots today.
16	Drew Rasmussen	TB	5 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, 2 HR allowed, and the no-decision. The old MarmosDad would have ripped on this guy for not finishing at least 6 innings and for being lifted after just 77 pitches, but with 6 QS in his last 7 starts, he gets a mulligan for this one. Kind of. He’s down a bit today.
17	Sonny Gray	BOS	6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 10th win. Ho hum. No big deal. Just another quality start from Mr. Underrated. What’s that? Oh, it was his 7th straight QS and his 9th in his last 10 starts? Ok. I guess he’s pretty good. (Yes, that whole paragraph was saturated with Marmo-sarcasm). Up again today.
18	Bryan Woo	SEA	6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.17. Grey mentioned in his roundup last week that this one was against a sad-sack Angels squad (with Zach Neto). But I chose to ignore that part because it’s a quality start and he didn’t give up a handful of homers again. Woo!
19	Dylan Cease	TOR	“7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, and his 5th win. I tuned into this one late (4th inning) because the kids didn’t fall asleep until 15 minutes into the movie. Cease said in his post-game presser that it was “just a slight mechanical tweak” that helped him last night, and whatever that was, he can keep on doing it. Last night’s start was his 10th consecutive one with 7 or more strikeouts.” Up.
20	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	5.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 9th win. In a fantasy baseball universe where everything is melting around us, let’s at least be thankful that we have access to the World of Ashcraft.
21	Bryce Miller	SEA	7 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 1.71. To borrow from Grey’s tidbit last week, this guy is looking like a Top 10 starter right now. 10.6 K/9, 0.9 BB/9, 2.64 xFIP means I’d be buying everywhere I can, but it’ll probably cost you. No matter what, it’s Miller Time.
22	Hunter Brown	HOU	4 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision. I don’t know what was in the pre-game spread on July 4th for the TB/HOU game, but whatever it was, it sure didn’t help either starter keep the runs off the board. Down a smidge.
23	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	5 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 4.02. Three more outs would’ve made this look OK. Six more would’ve made it look good. Down a bit.
24	Gerrit Cole	NYY	“5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and his 3rd win. ERA at 4.01. WHIP at 1.20. I saw a couple of people asking about dropping Cole in their leagues and immediately thought, “Come on. Take a deep breath and slow down a bit.” (That’s also what I tell my kid when he’s pitching, so I guess it checks out).
25	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, his 7th win, and a big old “Yeehaw” from the managers that refused to move on from him after a rough start to the season. Outside of a couple of 5 ER meltdowns in early May and June, he’s been a solid source of strikeouts, innings, and quality starts (6 QS in his last 10 GS). The Luzard-King is UP again today.
26	Nolan McLean	NYM	Jumper. By a bit. More below.
27	George Kirby	SEA	8 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.81. I know they’re paid to pump up their own guys, but it was still nice to hear the Mariners’ booth exclaim, “Complete domination from Furious George!” at the end of this one. It’s reassuring to know at least someone else loves him as much as I do. Up today. And yes, that means INSIDE the Top 30!
28	Shane McClanahan	TB	6 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.05. I didn’t mean to sound the alarm bells with the comment about innings management last week. I just mean that it becomes a more likely scenario with each passing week. Take the solid quality start for now and worry about the innings tweaks later. We should be safe with all of these guys until a couple of weeks post-All-Star Break.
29	Parker Messick	CLE	5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and it’s a bit annoying that he didn’t notch a quality start. The Guardians tried to get him there, though, and make the right call by pulling him at 100 pitches.
30	Kevin Gausman	TOR	6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.19. I said it in another blurb today, but can the Jays play the Mets for another 50 games, please? (FWIW, the Mets won this game 3-0, so maybe that’s not a great idea either).
31	Robbie Ray	SF	6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and his 8th win. I thought FOR SURE we cursed him after I pointed out the back-to-back 8-inning starts from last week, but he delivered once again. With the higher walk total and lower strikeout numbers, it’s not vintage Robbie Ray, but it’ll help anyone’s fantasy roster that needs a boost.
32	Kyle Harrison	MLW	“2.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, on 72 pitches, and I have no idea if this is part of an innings management plan, but the 2.82 ERA and 1.08 WHIP didn’t take much of a hit in this one.” He’s down a bit today.
33	Payton Tolle	BOS	Dumper. And be forewarned. It’s an extensive story. More below.
34	Gavin Williams	CLE	“4.2 IP,  3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and the no-decision, ERA at 3.89. WHIP at 1.19. It was a bit worrisome to see that the Guardians pulled him after just 79 pitches, but it turns out it had more to do with a 2-hour rain delay than any injury concerns, so breathe a sigh of relief if you roster him.”
35	Ranger Suarez	BOS	Game 1: 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.94. Grey mentioned last Tuesday that he doesn’t get the Ranger hate from most people, and I’m right there too. What’s not to like? If anything, the narrative about him getting rocked when he moves to Fenway should be debunked by now (Although, excluding last night’s start, only one of his four wins was at Fenway!). Game 2: Well, he sure didn’t get that second Fenway win. 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, and was removed from the game after stretching out the left adductor in a way the left adductor did not want to be stretched. Monitor the news for now, but my guess is the Red Sox take this opportunity to tell him to chill out until after the All-Star Break.
36	Kyle Bradish	BAL	7.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and his 9th loss. Some might say a loss is a loss, but if your league counts ratios and quality starts as categories, this loss wasn’t catastrophic by any means.
37	Emerson Hancock	SEA	7 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and his 6th win. Holding the Jays to just two hits makes it pretty tough for Trey Yesavage to record a win, that’s for sure. Up a bit today.
38	Carlos Rodon	NYY	I almost missed this one. And I’m glad I didn’t ‘cause it’s a doozy. Dumper. More below.
39	Hunter Greene	CIN	He’s back. And he’s ranked too low already. But he’s a Jumper. More below.
40	Trey Yesavage	TOR	Game 1: 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.34. Can the Jays face the Mets 50 more times this year, please? Game 2: 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and a tough-luck loss (his 4th). It wasn’t so much a “No-Savage” as it was an Emerson Hancock out-pitched him.
41	Justin Wrobleski	LAD	More above! It’s probably too aggressive of a jump, but here we are.
42	Ryan Weathers	NYY	Game 1: 1 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.08. It was awfully nice of Ryan Weathers to put up a stinky just so Casey Mike’s start looked even better in comparison. What a good dude. Game 2: (With a dramatic exhale) 4 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks. Maybe he just wanted to make Joe Ryan’s start look good for this one, too? Or maybe he’s making his manager’s decision an easier one when Aaron Boone needs to decide who heads to the bullpen after they activate Max Fried. Either way, it’s not good. Down.
43	Will Warren	NYY	5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.73. I’ve seen a few folks (not just Martin) asking about cutting Warren loose, and I can’t see it being a good path to follow. I know we joked a bit about the wrestling match for that rotation spot when Max Fried returns, but if you don’t have to make a move now, I’d just sit on it. There’s no sense in discarding a known commodity if you can make that same move in a week or two but with more information to support your decision either way.
44	Eury Perez	MIA	Pre-mature Jumper (I put him there before his start yesterday). It’s a big boost today. More below.
45	Freddy Peralta	NYM	Dumper. Again. More below.
46	Jared Jones	PIT	4 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.28. He only threw 73 pitches, so it’s tough to figure out why the Pirates wouldn’t have tried to push him to get at least three more outs, let alone six. Shrug. At least he didn’t get blown up.
47	Nick Martinez	TB	“5.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 2.61. WHIP at 1.13. Kevin Kelly relieved Nick-Mart and scored the win (his 5th) in 1.2 innings of work, but Martinez, AKA The King of the Marshmallow Tossers, deserves to be rostered everywhere; 5.51 K/9 be damned!”
48	Troy Melton	DET	6 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.05. Fitting, since last week we had a heat advisory/warning up here, and I was Melton when I wrote this up, too. Badum tss.
49	Emmet Sheehan	LAD	4.1 IP, 1 ER, 3H, 3 BB, 5 Ks, and out-duelled by…*checks notes*…J.P. Sears? Yep. That sounds about right. Or at least it sounds like it’s about exactly the way Sheehan’s season has gone so far. He has two wins in his last 10 GS. He’s down a bit today.
50	Reid Detmers	ANA	“5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks, and his 6th loss. The 1.11 WHIP is still pretty great. The 4.13 ERA? Not-so-great. I don’t know if you started him last night, but I know I would have (because he was at home).” Down today.
51	Brandon Woodruff	MLW	Dumpers today, but just for the IL announcement. Technically, he’s a Bumper (next week). Way down today.
52	Jose Soriano	LAA	5 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.42. This is what we want to see. BUT HOW MANY WALKS? Whoa, easy there, that’s the Bubba Chandler schtick. (It was one).
53	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	Game 1: 5 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.20. He got Coors Fielded. Game 2: 8 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, and his 10th win. I’m convinced he sees the box score from his old buddy Jesus Luzardo’s start, then uses it as a baseline for an “Anything you can do, I can do better!” I know it’s not really like that, but I like to think it is. UP a bit.
54	Sean Burke	CWS	Jumper. More below. Another aggressive jump today (12 spots).
55	Foster Griffin	WSH	“5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and his 9th win. ERA at 2.87. WHIP at 1.04. Shhh…the eagle-lion adoption center is on the short list of second-half breakout arms!” Up just a smidge today.
56	Gage Jump	OAK	Uh…what’s the opposite of Gage Jumper? Oh. That’s not good. More below in the “not Jumpers”.
57	Framber Valdez	DET	5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.29. Someone pointed it out last week when they asked if I’d rather roster a couple of names ranked way below Framber. I said yes, then added that I have Framber still ranked as highly as I did because he should still be able to net a decent return if folks floated his name out in trade talks. Well, that value is plummeting. And so is his ranking.
58	Davis Martin	CWS	3 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 hits, 5 walks, zero strikeouts, ERA at 3.08. This start was comparable to forgetting to put that thawed chicken breast on the bbq, leaving it out in the July heat for a week, saying to yourself, “Well I don’t want to waste money or food”, then doubling down and assuming the sun likely cooked it enough so you don’t want to take the time to cook it. Oh, and you added some mayonnaise that was sitting outside in the hot sun for the same period of time. Ya. That’s how healthy this start was. A sad slide down the list today.
59	Michael King	SD	“6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.43. WHIP at 1.16. It’s not a win on the scoresheet, but it’s his second-best start since May 18th, so let’s call it an unofficial dub.”
60	Nick Lodolo	CIN	Game 1: 5 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 4 BBs, 4 Ks, ERA at 5.05. Hey, look! It’s the original Bubba Chandler! (Please, for the love of the fantasy gods, just figure it out already). Game 2:  6 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 3rd win. “Wait a minute. You’re saying if I don’t walk a lot of guys…and I scatter a half dozen hits through my 18 outs…I have a better chance of pulling out a win?” Yeah, Nick. That’s right.
61	Shota Imanaga	CHC	Game 1: 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 9 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.30. Sure, the Ks aren’t great, but this is the Imanaga that I wanna start everywhere if he’s not dishing out BBs or HRs. Game 2: 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks, and his 7th loss. “Shota through the heart, and walks to blame? You give the Cubs pitching coaches a bad name?” Ya, you’re right, maybe that’s not the best Bon Jovi cover of all time.
62	Ian Seymour	TB	Jumper! More below! Exclamation point!
63	Trevor Rogers	BAL	More below! Jumper!
64	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI	7 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 1 K, ERA at 2.21. If the Player Rater valued strikeouts like it does wins, this guy would be closer to where I have him ranked in my list, but either way he’s one of the best waiver wire arms you picked up this year (and don’t even try to tell me you drafted him unless it was in an NL-Only league!)
65	Griffin Jax	TB	6 IP, 3 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.45. The All-Star break plan was a good enough one, but I get the feeling that the guys I have queued up for that one are going to excel in these next two weeks to the point where we’ll read that piece and a bunch of you will go, “Well, ya. No duh.”
66	Landen Roupp	SF	Dumper. More below.
67	Andrew Abbott	CIN	5 IP, 2 ER, 10 baserunners (5 BBs), 3 Ks, ERA at 3.88. Ehhhhh. “It’s not terrible” is not what you’re looking for here. Up.
68	Taj Bradley	MIN	5 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 11 Ks, ERA at 3.86. Uh oh. 11 strikeouts means we’re going to get people asking if they should drop Nathan Eovaldi or Sonny Gray for this guy. I wrote him up last year (I think?) and said the only thing stopping him is sharpening that command and giving us consistent outings like this (I suppose that’s two things). I’m still committed to locking him down in dynasty leagues because if it all clicks, we’re going to look back and say, “How did no one see this coming?”
69	Joey Cantillo	CLE	5 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners (5 BBs), 4 Ks, ERA at 3.86. This Joey can only hop around a half dozen walks for so long before he gets booted in the gut and all those earned runs come falling out of his pouch.
70	Matthew Boyd	CHC	5 IP, 3 ER, 8 hits, zero walks, 2 Ks, ERA at 5.08. Is he looking to fill Stephen Kolek’s open spot in the Wacha Court of Marshmallow Tossers? Maybe. But don’t ignore Nick Martinez, because he’s coming for the crown.
71	Jake Bennett	BOS	“7.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, and his 3rd win. That’s three straight quality starts for the 25-year-old lefty, and it’s past time for you to make sure he’s not hiding on your free agent list.” He’s up a bunch today and just missed being in our Jumper section (I went with Trevor Rogers instead).
72	Connor Prielipp	MIN	Dumper. More below. (Down 10 spots with more to come depending on his usage).
73	Casey Mize	DET	Jumper. More below.
74	Peter Lambert	HOU	Game 1: 5 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.51. Meh. Game 2: 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 7th win. We’ll take the youngster quality start AND the win! Same spot as last week.
75	Shane Baz	BAL	7 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.19. There are some pitchers that I’m genuinely glad to see do well. There are also some pitchers that I would never roster again. Baz is on both lists. He’s up today, against my better judgement.
76	Brandon Sproat	MLW	5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.28. Last week’s else followed up with a nice “youngster quality start” – 3 or fewer earned runs and between 5 and 5.2 innings pitched. We’ll take it, especially when it comes with the sweet frosting of more than half a dozen strikeouts.
77	Bubba Chandler	PIT	Game 1: 6 1/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.62. I tried to trade him in a mixed keeper league and was denied. Methinks he rots on mebench for a few weeks. Hopefully, he can build up some trade value because the command is not something I want to invest too heavily in the long-term if he can’t right the ship. Game 2: 4 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 0 Ks. Wait a second. That’s ZERO Ks? Oh, I don’t even want to play the HOW MANY WALKS game now.
78	Spencer Arrighetti	HOU	“6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.81. WHIP at 1.23. Sure, he hasn’t won a game since May 28th, but this one was a big step out of the muck for the Astros SP. June was a month to forget for Arrighetti – 25 IP, 25 ER, 29 H, 11 BB – so a quality start like this one is a welcome sight!” He holds here today and, to be honest, that’s a lot better than it could have been.
79	Mackenzie Gore	TEX	5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.31. The strikeouts are nice, but he feels a bit like Taj Bradley. Hold in keeper leagues, but start at your own risk. Down.
80	Luis Castillo	SEA	“6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and his 7th loss. ERA at 4.79. WHIP at 1.33. But, hey, he didn’t have to follow an opener or piggyback anyone, so that’s really a win, no? Hashtag sarcasm.”
81	Tanner Bibee	CLE	Game 1: 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.69. It’s all about consistency with this guy. If he can put up starts like this, and maybe ratchet up the K total to at least a half dozen, he’ll end up with far more wins in the second half than he did in the first. Game 2: 4 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Oh, Bibbe. That’s not good, baby. Down a bit.
82	Shane Bieber	TOR	4 IP, 7 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and his first loss. The hopium is quickly turning into “can’t copium” for Jays fans and fantasy managers. It’s been 3 GS now since his activation, and the line isn’t pretty: 13 IP, 13 ER, 20 H, 7 BB, 9 Ks, .351 BAA, 9.00 ERA, and a 2.08 WHIP. It’s a small sample size, sure, but I’m still benching him until he shows at least a glimmer of his old self.
83	Michael Wacha	KC	6 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and his 6th loss. He was already in tough matching up against Jesus Luzardo, but the 3 HR allowed didn’t help him much. The 7 strikeouts were a nice consolation prize for anyone who had the guts to start him against PHI, though.
84	Zebby Matthews	MIN	Game 1: 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.15. Solid. And I wouldn’t give it Zebby. Maybe Zeb…B+? Ze A-? Game 2: 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 5 Ks, and 2 HR allowed at NYY. If you’re going to be a go-to arm, you have to be able to run with the big dogs on the road, Zeb! The official “word” was that he was removed with a “right foot laceration”. I don’t know how he got that, but it certainly wasn’t from kicking anyone’s butts on Saturday.
85	Walbert Urena	LAA	5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners (4 BBs), 6 Ks, ERA at 3.03. “To the window…to the Wal…till he stops them base on balls!” That’s how it goes, no? (Hey, it’s a youngster quality start so we’ll take it).
86	Hurston Waldrep	ATL	5 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.68. Hey look! It’s another youngster quality start. I’d be giving this guy innings over Bryce Elder for sure. To be honest, that Braves rotation isn’t challenging the 1995 one as the best of all time anytime soon. I’d gamble on Waldrep if I needed an SP just because it doesn’t look like there’s much competition to push aside for him to seize a spot.
87	Brandon Young	BAL	5 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks, and his 7th win. Hey, we weren’t expecting the second coming of Mike Mussina here. As long as he keeps giving us innings and doesn’t get annihilated in his starts, he’s a fine fill-in for the injured arm on your roster. Up one spot today.
88	Michael McGreevy	STL	6 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.12. That’s another McGroovy start from McGreevy. And it’s been impressive enough that he’s a JT Ginn for me this week – aka to question whether or not I had him on the list already.
89	Andre Pallante	STL	“5.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and his 10th win. Um…where did that come from? I’ve been writing him up in my Top 100 Starting Pitchers list as a Stumper for a while now, but I didn’t realize he was this close to double-digit dubs already. Someone gets a promotion on Monday!”
90	Noah Cameron	KC	3.2 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 0 Ks. Every week, I get through everyone, then realize that I missed this guy. I wonder why. Way down today.
91	Roki Sasaki	LAD	3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 5.40. It’s fitting that this start was against Randy Vasquez. I believe it was advertised as the “Race Around The Swirling Toilet Bowl”. Down a lot today.
92	Dustin May	STL	2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.80. I know I ran him as a lede a few weeks back. I’ll apologize for that now and say that I should have listened to my anti-May bias and just steered clear. He’s like Roki. Rinse and do not repeat. Down today.
93	Cade Cavalli	WSH	Dumper. But not because of how he threw in his first start of the week, that’s for sure. More below.
94	J.T. Ginn	ATH	6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 Ks, and his second straight win. I was going to say there’s no tonic for this Ginn…but he walked five guys this week, so maybe the tonic could be some added control.
95	Javier Assad	CHC	Well, he had two appearances last week! That’s the good news? His first one was a relief job last Tuesday – 2.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 K, and an audible “Euuugh” – from me. The actual start yesterday wasn’t much better. 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks on 80 pitches. Hey, at least he didn’t give up 2 ERs, too.
96	Anthony Kay	CWS	“4 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 4.39. WHIP at 1.39. So if you start a game, throw fewer than 5 innings, and then watch 6 different relievers finish things off for you, does it really qualify as a start or should it be considered a “bullpen game”? Asking for a friend.”
97	Kumar Rocker	TEX	4.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. It’s just fine. Nothing more. But let’s also not forget that his most recent win was on May 19th when he was used as a “follower”.
98	Mitch Keller	PIT	“6 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 1 K, and his 6th loss. He had 7 quality starts in his first 11 GS this year. Now, after 18 starts, that QS total is at 9. Woof.” To be honest, it was between him and Gasser for the bottom spot today, and it wouldn’t take much convincing to wipe both off the list.
99	Robert Gasser	MLW	5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.54. Ah, the youngster quality start. 3 (or fewer) earned runs, and one out shy of a big boy QS. EDIT: MLW optioned him to rookie ball (ACL), so he’s down near the bottom today. It might have just been an administrative move, though, as they’ll need another arm before the All-Star break for a doubleheader (Thanks to Fantrax for that tidbit).
100	Tatsuya Imai	HOU	1 1/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 6.14. More like “For better or worse, Imma leave this guy on someone else’s roster”. Down today.

JUMPERS (Players who jumped up the list this week).

Trevor Rogers – This is what I wrote up on Saturday morning: “ 5 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 5 BB, 4 Ks, and his 6th win. He hasn’t allowed more than 3 ER since the end of May (6 starts including last night), and I was a heck of a lot more excited to see this line until I saw the BBs. I guess the positive here is they didn’t score.

Also, let’s borrow a graphic from Grey’s Thursday notes to illustrate just how good Trevor Rogers could be when everything is firing on all cylinders.”

I’m not saying we should expect the same 18-game run of near perfection that we got last year, but one of the most important pieces of advice in Fantasy Baseball is to trust guys who have proven they’re able to show a skill more than those who haven’t. Is he going to be awesome for two months? I don’t know. But he has done it before, so I’ll ride this train until it’s time to jump off the side and roll down the hill.

Nolan McLean – Game 1: 6 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.78. Nolan looked a lot more like Omni-Man last week than some non-Viltrumite mortal. (Apologies for the niche reference, but if you like the superhero genre and haven’t watched Invincible, you need to do that now. Or at least after you’re finished sharing the Top 100 with your friends.)

Game 2: Much the same as Game 1 – 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.73. What would Nolan say to his critics that think they matter?

Ok, then!

I know he’s been up and down the last few weeks. And I know we really want him to consistently show how great he is, but I couldn’t move past this Rob Friedman clip from last week, showing us once again just how filthy McLean’s stuff is.

For reference’s sake, Logan Webb’s top-tier curveball regularly sits around the 3100 RPM mark. 

A healthy Max Fried’s 2800-2900 RPMs on the same pitch have him sitting in the 91st percentile among starting pitchers.

That should be enough data to convince you that this kid has some serious company in the “that was sick” department, if not just as a nod to recency bias with the two-win week. He’s up today.

Hunter Greene – The good news is HE’S BACK! Um…the other news is he allowed 8 earned runs in 3.1 innings, walked 4 guys, and had a 21.60 ERA. BUT HE’S BACK! Like I’ve done with some other returning arms in the past, he gets a spot around the middle of the pack today, but he’ll move way up very quickly if he can shake this rust off before his next start (vs CHC). For the record, I had him slotted in at SP50, then cut a 10-spot off him just because he’s that much better than the others below him (even after a poor first showing).

Casey Mize – Game 1: 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.63. “This Mize…Oh, we’ve cried…This Mize has seen a lot of hate from a lot of fantasy managers, but he’s pitching so well that it should stop coming from youuuuuu”. That’s Michael Cera in the Fantasy Baseball remake of Superbad. We can call it: Casey Mize Has Been SuperGood. Game 2: 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. Hey, it wasn’t a repeat of the first start of the week, but it was good enough to pull in his second win in 7 days. Up.

Sean Burke – Game 1: 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.69. Shhh…don’t draw too much attention to yourself or you’ll spoil the All-Star Break writeup! Game 2:  6 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, and guess how many strikeouts. Come on, it can’t be more than a half dozen, can it?

Oooooohhhhh snap!

(And not to step on JKJ’s toes here, but Grant Taylor notched his 3rd save in that game, too!)

Eury Perez – Game 1: 5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners (4 BBs), 8 Ks, ERA at 4.21. It’s a reverse order of our usual way of doing things; he’s up today. Because that should be the focus here, it’s a solid start, although the walks could use a shave if we’re picking nits.

I thought more about this when I looked at the line and compared it to Sproat’s. Rudy’s start is technically a “youngster quality start” (fewer than 3 earned but only 5 innings with an extra out or two).

Maybe the reason I’m so critical of him is that he’s got so much talent and that it hasn’t translated yet. It feels like he’s been around for a long time, so he seems like he’s closer to veteran status than he should be. Just for comparison’s sake, Brandon Sproat is 25 years old…and Eury is 23. It’s time to cut him some more slack.

He started yesterday, so putting him in early as a Jumper could backfire.

Game 2: Let’s get this out of the way first. The early Jumper assignment DID NOT BACKFIRE! And whatever the opposite is, Eury steamrolled right through that too. 7 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks, and wait a second. He was removed after finishing the 7th inning WHILE HE WAS PITCHING A PERFECT GAME? Oh, come on, Marlins! 

I get it. Eury was at 92 pitches, and he’s not exactly the pitching version of Cal Ripken Jr., so pulling him was likely the right call, but come on. Don’t deny the fans a chance to see history happen so you can preserve some tiny little UCL. (Was that convincing enough?)

Justin Wrobleski – It’s kind of a duh with the lede up there, but I wanted to make sure he got some shine in the Jumpers section here too.

Ian Seymour – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.02. Another hot shot Rays rookie promoted before his 20th birthday?!

(Italicized voice says he pitched 57 innings last year and was born in 1998).

Ahem. 

Another Rays hotshot sophomore throwing great before his 30th birthday?! Ya, not as enticing, but it’s not his fault Tampa is run by a group of monkeys in the control room pulling levers and mashing buttons.

And I’ve also got a worthy addendum. Seymour was a guy I drafted in RazzSlam hoping he’d get some run in the rotation, but the Rays jerked him around too much, (4 GS, 27 relief appearances), so the uncertainty meant he was only ever a Stumper here.

DUMPERS (Players who dropped down the list this week).

Carlos Rodon – I know I’ve mentioned more than once in the past that I strongly dislike the Yankees, but this news really sucks no matter who your favorite team is. When we have a pitcher placed on the 15-day IL, it’s already bad news. But when he says that although “he’s dealing with heavy inflammation, but his UCL is still intact”, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that we won’t see him back in two weeks. Ugh. It’s a nasty blow to our Fantasy teams, but an even tougher pill to swallow for a guy who hasn’t had the cleanest medical reports in the last few years.  

Brandon Woodruff – 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 2nd loss. Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this before…but guess who’s headed back to the IL with shoulder inflammation. Word is that he’ll “miss much more time than the minimum 15-day IL assignment”, so he’s out again today. It’s a brutal piece of news for those who roster him, and even tougher to expect much from him if we aren’t going to see him for the next 4-6 weeks. Stash him if you can afford to, but I’d be looking to move on in redraft leagues. 

Payton Tolle –  3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.39. Another true story alert! He started on July 1st – Canada Day – so I thought it would be a nice afternoon to fire up the BBQ for the kids and watch the Red Sox / Nationals game while the boys ran around the backyard. I even took screenshots of the beginning of the telecast because I was sure we were in for a treat from the MarManCrush.

I didn’t add the one of him hopping over the foul line on his way to the mound as I felt it would be overkill. Well, let’s just say that after a 3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.39 outing, the hot dogs were barely finished before I shut off the game.

Sigh. It can’t be a Jumper week every week, kids.

Freddy Peralta – 4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.81. Oh, Frederick. There’s no way you deleted all those old Brewers contacts from your phone. Can’t you just message a couple of pitching coaches and former rotation mates and get them to give you some notes? Because we already know you shouldn’t be listening to your current team’s pitching coaches. And if that isn’t enough of a kick to the fantasy roster, I had this TJStats graphic saved a couple of weeks ago but didn’t have a chance to use it. 

The “good news” is he’s lowered it to a more respectable 4.81? Ya, I didn’t think that would look convincing either.

Gage Jump – Game 1: 4 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 2.93. I take full responsibility for this one. Here’s what I said last week – “No one can Gage when the regression fairies will attack, but this kid is walking a tooth-floss-thin tightrope and making it look like he’s a 10-year veteran. At this point, he’s an auto-start for me, and I’ve come to accept the inevitable debacle that will come sometime. AKA The juice is worth the squeeze, even if you have to swallow a pit at some point.” And that’s me quoting m—- *hack hack hack*. Sorry. I was choking on the pit. Game 2: 3 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 1 K. It’s getting pretty hard to breathe over here!

Connor Prielipp – He was skipped last week when the Twins announced they were going to a 4-man rotation, so it sounds like he’s getting a bit of the bubble-wrap treatment. Coming off a 6-inning, 10-strikeout game with 93 pitches thrown on June 28th could have gone one of two ways. (A) Increased confidence and blowing off the shackles while setting a second-half goal of 95+ innings (he’s at 61.2), or (B) Innings management from the front office. It sounds like we have our answer, and that’s why he’s down a bunch today.

Landen Roupp – 2 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.55. That’s a big old serving of WOOF from the Roupp-dogg. I’ll get ahead of the questions now and say, “Yes. I would drop him for Brandon Sproat, Jared Jones, or Eduardo Rodriguez”. 

In his defense, Roupp had two straight quality starts before he laid this rotten egg, but the 6 BBs from last week mean I’m not messing with him on my active roster anytime soon.

Cade Cavalli – Game 1: 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 0 ER, zero walks, 13 Ks, ERA at 3.69. Everyone loved this start. Except for me. And anyone else who benched him. And all the Red Sox fans. Oh! And I think Willson Contreras wasn’t too happy, either, unless Willson was just testing out his new Robert De Niro Taxi Driver impression. Honestly, if this was his only start of the week, he likely would’ve appeared in the Jumpers group above. But Game 2…well…

Game 2: There was A LOT of blowback from the Cavalli/Contreras kerfuffle from last week. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with the short start yesterday, but a 2.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 K start is the polar opposite of his first start of the week. He was removed with an “injury concern”, and there’s a lingering 7-game suspension that he will appeal, so the best course of action here is sit him for this week and monitor the news (because there’s a lot of it!).

Martin Perez – He gets a Dumper write-up this week just because it’s too lengthy to jam down below in the Stumper section.

Game 1: 5 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 1 K, ERA at 3.27. This one calls for a direct quote from Grey, so the 19 Martin Perez fans don’t come looking for retribution. “Is there a German word for wanting to see regression from a pitcher you don’t have?” Well, I did some digging and found this one.

Game 2: 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 K. I know it’s bad form to wait for one crappy start before dunking on a guy, but this one finally had a junky game, and it gives me just a tiny feeling of vindication for refusing to acknowledge his strengths this summer. 

Zac Gallen – Another Dumper who isn’t even on the list. Wow. MarmosDad is just sending out the nasty this week. Well, you can tell me if it’s fitting or not after Gallen posted a start of 5 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 6.36.

If you need to know how bad that is, scroll up one mouse-wheel rotation and have another peek at that TJS graphic of “Worst ERA” for the season.

Does anyone remember when this guy was supposed to be an ace? Now every week he just falls flat on his face.

STUMPERS (These names might stump you as to why they aren’t on the Top 100…yet. Some of these guys are close).

Jameson Taillon 

Shane Drohan – 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.12. Another “youngster quality start” (more than 5 but less than 6 innings) from the son of Mark DeRosa and Lindsay Lohan. 

Kai-Wei Teng – He had his option “rescinded”? What? So I guess the Astros don’t lose one of Teng’s options here (or at least for now), as he’s placed on the 15-day IL with a right knee sprain instead of being banished to AAA.

Kyle Leahy – 5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 7th win. I’m going to have to stop with the Trailer Park Boys references and start considering a promotion from the Stumpets group at some point if he keeps this up. (Insert “Why not both?” GIF here).

Slade Cecconi – 5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.44. I added him to TGFBI as a deeper contingency bid just in case my other ones didn’t go through. And not only did I “win” the bid, but I also started him last week. Can ya guess how the TGFBI team is faring? Hint: this is a perfect metaphor for the whole season. 

Zac Gallen – He gets a “Dumper” write-up today and isn’t even on the list. That’s a tough row to hoe.

Jacob Lopez

Martin Perez 

Chris Bassitt 

Christian Scott – “4 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 7 Ks, and his first loss. I wanted to add Scott back to the Top 100 list, but the innings total has to go up, and the walks need to come down before that happens.”

David Peterson – “3.2 IP, 10 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and his 7th loss. ERA at 6.75. WHIP at 1.67. Yep. That Mets jinx sure is a tough one to shake off. Ugh.”

Rhett Lowder 

Mike Burrows – 5 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 5.58. True story alert! I went out to the backyard to water the gardens (literally), and when I was spraying the cucumber plant that I have in front of a wooden skid jigged up to be a climber for said vegetable plant, the soil at the bottom started moving. I thought – “Ok, probably just a big toad” – and kept watering the plants. Then the soil started to shift, and a big old hole opened up. Inside there were (at least) two baby bunnies. Mama must have figured that my makeshift wooden trellis was a good spot to dig under to make a home for her babies.

So, Summer Homework assignment #1 in MarmoVille last week was to get the boys to try to figure out what wild rabbits like to eat and to set up a few handfuls of food for these fluffy puppies to chew on. Also, I’m fully ready to say rest in peace to that cucumber plant at some point now.

I also would like to know how the magic Mama Bunny warped through the chicken wire I have around the garden. But that’s another story for another day.

Oh, and how does this fit with an underachieving Houston Astros pitcher? That’s easy. I kind of wish that Mike had Burrow-ed himself into my garden too, so I wasn’t tempted to start him anywhere before OR after right now.

Tomoyuki Sugano 

Janson Junk 

Colin Rea 

Eric Lauer

Dean Kremer – 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.18. “I like my sugar with coffee and Kreme!” 

Jeffrey Springs

Sean Manaea – Game 1: 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.71. No word on how tightly his pitching hand wrapped around Juan Soto’s neck for his less-than-urgent display of “defense” on George Springer’s “inside the park triple” (aka a single and a Juan Soto ‘give up and pout’). Game 2: 5 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and his 4th loss. A couple of years ago I ran with a lede of “Manaea Manaea, Do Do Do Do You?” as a bit of an homage to the old Muppet Show skit. But now he’s just, “Do do do doo-doo”. As in poop emoji. Because he’s been…well, you know. 

J.P. Sears – 5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks at LAD yesterday? Ok, I’m listening now. And this one was a lot better than the 4.2 inning, 6 ER, 3 HR allowed that we got from him on Tuesday (at CHC). He gets the Jays at SD this week.

Jack Flaherty – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, and his second win. Are you gonna be the one who Flah…er, falls for it this time? He’s at home this week! (And it’s against Kyle Schwarber and the Phillies). I know what I’m doing here, and it isn’t “rushing to the free agent list to stream him”. 

Walker Buehler – 4 IP, 9 ER, ERA at 4.61. Last week I pleaded with the fantasy cosmos to “not make me do this”. And this was why. 

Tyler Mahle – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks. He’s winless in three starts since his return on June 24th and has given up 7 ER, 12 H in those 14.1 innings, too.

Cal Quantrill – A new Stumper this week. 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and his first loss. He went for a few bucks in our AL-Only FAAB, but I assume that’s just because we have too many Canadians in our league who want to relive the nostalgia generated when they think of his dad, Paul. He’s been ok since moving to the rotation, though. (Cal, not Paul – 11 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks). 

Sean Newcomb 

Jake Irvin

Matthew Liberatore – 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and no way am I starting this guy unless it’s a VERY deep league with nothing to stream on the waiver wire.

Aaron Nola – Game 1: 4 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 6.04. Do I have to keep putting him in this piece every week, or can we just send him out to the barn with Lenny and George’s rabbits already? Game 2: I wrote his name down for yesterday’s game and immediately thought to myself, “If the over/under on earned runs from him was 4.5, would I take the over?” I figured I would. 7 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks. Well, I guess I lost, but guess what. So did he, so *blows raspberry*. 

Brady Singer – “5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 6 Ks, and a tough-luck loss (his 8th). His only mistake, really, was on the Basallo HR. Well, that and the five walks.”

David Sandlin 

Seth Lugo – 6 IP, 3 ER, 9 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.20. I didn’t want to chop him last week, but it’s going to take a couple more starts like this to get him back on the list. 

Stephen Kolek – 2 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.50. Please exit the ride to your left and dispose of your trash in the proper receptacle. Oh, and please take Roki Sasaki with you while you’re at it. 

Trevor McDonald – 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.42. It’s solid, yes, it’s true. But it’s only a matter of time before they tell us the ice cream machine is broken again and we leave McDonald’s with that same level of disappointment.

Bryce Elder

Noah Schultz – 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 5.86. He’s back. And he didn’t re-injure anything. That’s two big ole checkmarks. Speaking of checking, I’m having a look at the Streamonator before starting him for the rest of the month. 

Griffin Canning – 4 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 6th loss. It’s not a terrible line for a starter. But Canning followed an inning from Wandy Peralta, so we can’t even give him that.

Grant Holmes – “5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and his 5th win. Somebody is miffed about being removed from the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list last week. You’re gonna need to add another half dozen strikeouts before we clear a new spot for you, though, Holmes.”

Merrill Kelly – 5 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 6th win. It was an encouraging start but after the guy ripped off 5 straight losses, it’s going to take more than one encouraging start to get him back onto the list. 

Jack Perkins – It’s a tough call adding a guy as a Stumper just to highlight his…uh…low-light. Alas, it’s not always just rainbows and cold beers in MarmoVille. “3.2 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 8 Ks, 2 HR allowed, and his 4th loss. I was surprised that the A’s only hit one home run when I saw they were at Bing Bong Stadium and wondered if the ball just wasn’t carrying last night. Then I saw that the Marlins hit five. Ouch.”

Reynaldo Lopez – 5 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.31. True story alert: Both of my kids are at my school, and one of the minis in my youngest’s classroom told him that a girl in my class had a famous aunt. Her last name is Lopez, so my kid came home asking, “Is Bianca’s Aunt Jennifer Lopez?” I’ll give him bonus points for immediately following up with, “I mean, I know it’s probably not, and this kid is lying, but I just wanted to check.” No confirmation if my reply was, “No, but Reynaldo is her cousin.” I assume that’s a better reply than “According to religious texts, if you go far enough back, everyone is related anyway.” 

BUMPERS (Injured starters or minor league guys who could or would bump others off the list if they were active on the big league roster).

Connolly Early – This was my note after his start: “Left with elbow discomfort. No. Please, no. Hopefully, we get an update before the weekend. (I wrote this on Wednesday morning).” Well,  “Left posterior elbow inflammation” was the update, and that means a 15-day IL trip for our Early bird. I’ll have to change my notes to “Hopefully we get a POSITIVE update…” next time. Sad emoji.

Joe Musgrove

Max Scherzer 

Ben Brown

Keider Montero – 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 Ks and his first save. I’m sorry, his first WHAT? Well, that was fun while it lasted. He’s started twice in his last 5 GPs, so this looks like Keider’s keister gets bumped to the Bumpers today. Fare thee well, Mon(tero). 

Ryne Nelson

Max Fried – He threw a two-inning simulated game yesterday without any setbacks and will throw another simulated game on Thursday or Friday with an increased pitch count. If that goes well, he’ll head out on a rehab assignment at some point next week. That would keep him in line to return at some point during the last week of July. 

Lucas Giolito

Michael Soroka

Edward Cabrera

Justin Steele 

Robby Snelling 

Jonah Tong

Brandon Pfaadt – 5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 5.40. The Pfaadt Boys are back? Meh. 

JR Ritchie

Spencer Strider

Jack Kochanowicz 

Lance McCullers Jr.

Randy Vasquez

Cristian Javier

Joe Boyle

Spencer Schwellenbach

Zach Eflin

Johan Oviedo

Cole Ragans

Grayson Rodriguez 

Cody Ponce

Cade Horton

Shane Smith

Quinn Priester

Clarke Schmidt

River Ryan

Corbin Burnes 

Pablo Lopez

Kade Anderson

Nick Pivetta

Andrew Painter 

Thomas White

Ryan Pepiot

Jose Berrios 

Justin Verlander

Reese Olson

Mick Abel – “Arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow”. Bye-bye.

Didier Fuentes

Garrett Crochet

Tyler Glasnow

Steven Matz.

Kodai Senga 

Brayan Bello

Braxton Garrett

Yusei Kikuchi

WHEE! – These players vaulted onto the Top 100 list this week.

Hunter Greene

Ian Seymour – I said that he likely should’ve been in there over the past couple of weeks. He’s here now. More above.

Hurston Waldrep

Andre Pallante – Adding guys from the Stumper list hasn’t been a blessing for these dudes. Here’s hoping we didn’t just curse old Andre this week.

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

Carlos Rodon

Connolly Early

Keider Montero 

Randy Vasquez – He was another one who was barely clinging to a spot last week. Then, after I wrote up this note, “3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 4.71. It’s not good. Like, not even Stumper good.”, the Padres sent him to the minors. He gone.

Bryce Elder – He was cut last week, then through the magic of “Whoops!” he was resurrected after y’all realized I messed up in the 40s and had to move some folks up to fill in a couple of empty spots. So this week he’s out. For reals. (Unless I messed up again somewhere).

And, of course, we need to drop the link that served as the muse for our lede this week.

I’ll admit that I’m not old enough to remember the commercial, but some of y’all might!

 

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! If you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here, drop some comments in the chat. Have a great week!

 

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