Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!
It seemed pretty fitting to lead with Shrek this week after being swamped with Easter preparations and candy gathering for the last seven days. Then, when I thought about it some more, it was a bit of a natural segue since, “Somebody once told me, the world is gonna roll me…”, sounds like a song we could’ve sung while we waded through the murkiest of nasty and stinky waters from last week’s SP201-300 list. Yuck!
If you remember the theme song from Shrek, you’ll understand why I chose this for our first installment of my modified Top 100 Starting Pitchers. For this week, I’ve got all Top 100 names, but I’ll only add blurbs from our #1 through #25. There’s sure to be some “All-Star(s)” in this group.
Just some notes before we begin…for the first couple of months, I used Rudy’s 15-team mixed league 2024 preseason rankings. When I started to piece this list together last week, I wondered how many of us play in those 15-teamers compared to the 12 or 10-team leagues that seem much more prevalent in our fantasy landscape.
So for this list, I used a bit of the 12 team mixed league rankings as a base for some of the names, and added in my own spin on how I feel about certain players for the duration of the season. Do I take any of the miniscule sample sizes from spring training or Week 1 into account? I think I’d be a bit of a swamp donkey to ignore those performances altogether, but they will not hold the supreme weight that the 2024 stats will as we move through the season.
I’ll spin through the SP1-25 in detail this week, follow it up with words about SP26-50 next week, and so on until we get to the end of the Top 100. Then I’ll try to follow with anyone who has had a good (or not so good) first month of the season. As I said above, we should have some decent data points or information to carve up by then. After all, the Top 100 is kind of like an onion…
The Top 100 SP has layers…and, hopefully, it doesn’t make you cry too much
Without further delay, let’s get to the ‘Happily Ever After’ that is…
The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2024…
(And let’s not forget to have a good old Easter egg hunt for those Marmo Buy and Rodzilla Sell icons, too!)
| RANK | Name | TEAM | BUY? NOTES? ANYTHING!? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spencer Strider | Braves | |
| 2 | Kevin Gausman | Blue Jays |  |
| 3 | Corbin Burnes | Orioles | |
| 4 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | |
| 5 | Luis Castillo | Mariners | |
| 6 | Freddy Peralta | Brewers | |
| 7 | Pablo Lopez | Twins | |
| 8 | George Kirby | Mariners | |
| 9 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | |
| 10 | Logan Gilbert | Mariners | |
| 11 | Framber Valdez | Astros | |
| 12 | Aaron Nola | Phillies |  |
| 13 | Zac Gallen | Diamondbacks | |
| 14 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | |
| 15 | Tyler Glasnow | Dodgers | |
| 16 | Grayson Rodriguez | Orioles | |
| 17 | Blake Snell | Giants | |
| 18 | Max Fried | Braves | |
| 19 | Logan Webb | Giants | |
| 20 | Zach Eflin | Rays | |
| 21 | Jesus Luzardo | Marlins | |
| 22 | Bobby Miller | Dodgers | |
| 23 | Joe Ryan | Twins | |
| 24 | Shane Bieber | Guardians | |
| 25 | Chris Sale | Braves |
Spencer Strider (1) – Not much to say here. With the injury to Gerritt Cole, Strider is the best in the business…and it’s not particularly close. (Not that I necessarily think it was to begin with).
Kevin Gausman (2) – My AL Cy Young pick from our Razzball Staff Picks for 2024. Click on those blue words there to give it a once over. The short version? Gausman gave up 2 hits through 4.1 innings yesterday with 6 K’s (and a solo home run to Randy Arozarena). This follow-up to his 7 K’s in 3 IP against the Pirates last week should be one more sigh of relief from people who were worried about that shoulder. Hopefully, it was just a matter of taking things slowly during spring training.
Corbin Burnes (3) – New digs. New offense. New AL Cy Young contender? Absolutely. Burnes should put up 200 K’s this year, with some solid run support to help him chase down 20 wins – health permitting.
Zack Wheeler (4) – Speaking of 200 K’s…he’s tallied 195 strikeouts or more in 3 of the last 4 seasons (and, no, we don’t count that aberration that was the 2020 ‘season’). The ‘Wheels’ on the bus go whiff, whiff, whiff.
Freddy Peralta (6) – Grey said it more than once on the pod. A lot of the RazzStaff is in on this as well. I targeted Peralta as my SP1 in TGFBI and nearly took him before I took Framber in RazzSlam. I’m pretty sure we’re higher on him than anyone else on Freddy KBB. If anything happens to Spencer Strider, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Peralta take home that NL Cy Young award in 2024.
George Kirby (8) – His sub-9 K/9 is the only thing pushing him this low in the list. The fact that this knocked him down and he’s still a top 10 arm should be all you need to know about the sky-high reach of this ceiling. If he figures out how to ramp that K/9 up to double digits…Boom goes the dynamite.
Aaron Nola (12) – Following Kirby up with this seems a bit hypocritical since Nola has been able to post a 10+K/9 in 4 of the last 5 years. He’s a fine choice as an ace for your squad, but the price tag is too steep for me. A guy that has won more than 12 games just once in his nine-year career? Getting pumped for 12 H and 7 ER in 4.1 IP with 5 XBH allowed on Saturday doesn’t help his case here either. Pass.
Grayson Rodriguez (16) – This is another one from our Staff Picks article. I have Rodriguez down as my “Infatuation” for this year for a few reasons. From my February 26th article…
“I mentioned Cole Ragans last week and I feel like the Grayson Rodriguez observations are pretty similar as far as a tale of two halves of the season is concerned. Like Ragans, Rodriguez had a pretty atrocious first half of 2023 (27% HR/F rate, 10% BB rate, 5.32 ERA, 1,51 WHIP). Also like Ragans, this kid flipped a switch in the second half and didn’t look back. After ditching the cutter, (his worst pitch), and improving his velocity and command, Gray-Rod corrected all of the aforementioned problems and showed why he’s been touted by some as the next big ace in the American League. Be prepared to pay up for him in drafts, but things are looking good at Camden if you’re hunting for talent these days.”
Jesus Luzardo (21) – I mentioned the guys’ podcast earlier. Grey dives into the Luzardo well a lot more deeply than I will here, but his point of Luzardo going at 90 overall in drafts and that he’d rather take the Marlins’ young lefty here than a guy like Aaron Nola is a sentiment that I can agree with for sure. A repeat of 200+ strikeouts and a trip up our list here are two predictions that I’m comfortable making.
Shane Bieber (24) – The news bites are plentiful on Bieber this spring. Velocity is back up on his fastball. The changeup that he rarely used last year was tinkered with over the offseason and he’s comfortable using it more often now. The slider still looks great. Six scoreless innings with 11 K’s in the Guardians opener, (albeit against the hapless A’s). A lot of the check-boxes are filled on the “Shane Bieber Comeback” page already. Here’s hoping he can keep it up and move up our board.
Chris Sale (25) – I wanted to not include Sale here. I flip-flopped between him and Cole Ragans. The thin, white duke act should not be performed by a lanky starting pitcher with a history of arm issues…and I think I should get bonus points for managing to work in two Bowie references in consecutive weeks…but the crash that I expected hasn’t started yet. I found a quote from an MLB.com article on March 25th that sounds pretty encouraging.
“I’m still strong now, like I was at the beginning of spring,” Sale said. “Luckily, I didn’t really run into anything, no hiccups during spring, which was nice. That’s what all the hard work was for.”
This clip from his Braves debut might be a better indicator of how things started. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is yet another Alex Anthopoulos magic wand wave. I’m slowly going from a sell to a buy for Sale this season…with that pesky caveat of health lurking.
Chris Sale's @braves season debut:
5??.1?? IP
5?? H
2?? ER
2?? BB
7?? K pic.twitter.com/kuIjV9K9TM— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) March 31, 2024
BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE!!!
Here’s the rest of the list! Make sure to jot this all down so you can participate in the Not-So-Celebrity RazzMatch fight in the comments when you see your guy ranked too low or a guy you dislike ranked too high. (smile emoji)
| 26 | Cole Ragans | Royals | |
| 27 | Dylan Cease | Padres | |
| 28 | Chris Bassitt | Blue Jays | |
| 29 | Shoto Imanaga | Cubs | |
| 30 | Joe Musgrove | Padres | |
| 31 | Hunter Brown | Astros | |
| 32 | Jordan Montgomery | Diamondbacks | |
| 33 | Tanner Bibee | Guardians | |
| 34 | Mitch Keller | Pirates | |
| 35 | Bryce Miller | Mariners | |
| 36 | Hunter Greene | Reds | |
| 37 | Justin Steele | Cubs | 15 day IL – left hamstring strain |
| 38 | Merrill Kelly | Diamondbacks | |
| 39 | Jose Berrios | Blue Jays | |
| 40 | Bailey Ober | Twins | Rough Sunday; 1.1 IP, 8ER |
| 41 | Justin Verlander | Astros | Throws sim. game today |
| 42 | Walker Buehler | Dodgers | Rehab assignment yesterday |
| 43 | Charlie Morton | Braves | |
| 44 | Sonny Gray | Cardinals | Mild hamstring strain – IL |
| 45 | Cristian Javier | Astros | |
| 46 | Reid Detmers | Angels | |
| 47 | Yusei Kikuchi | Blue Jays | |
| 48 | Nestor Cortes | Yankees | |
| 49 | Yu Darvish | Padres | |
| 50 | Carlos Rodon | Yankees | |
| 51 | Lance Lynn | Cardinals | |
| 52 | Eduardo Rodriguez | Diamondbacks | |
| 53 | Nathan Eovaldi | Rangers | |
| 54 | Michael King | Padres | |
| 55 | Brayan Bello | Red Sox | |
| 56 | Ryan Pepiot | Rays | |
| 57 | Aaron Civale | Rays | |
| 58 | Bryan Woo | Mariners | IL w/elbow inflammation |
| 59 | Nick Lodolo | Reds | Rehab assignment yesterday |
| 60 | Kenta Maeda | Tigers | |
| 61 | Eury Perez | Marlins | Elbow inflammation/long tossing |
| 62 | Triston McKenzie | Guardians | |
| 63 | Braxton Garrett | Marlins | Rehabbed 2 IP last Friday |
| 64 | Griffin Canning | Angels | |
| 65 | Jon Gray | Rangers | |
| 66 | Gavin Williams | Guardians | 15 day IL – elbow inflammation |
| 67 | Kutter Crawford | Red Sox | |
| 68 | Seth Lugo | Royals | |
| 69 | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | 60 day IL – out until at least early June |
| 70 | Nick Pivetta | Red Sox | |
| 71 | Sean Manaea | Mets | |
| 72 | Max Scherzer | Rangers | Avoids 60 day IL – could return in May |
| 73 | Kyle Harrison | Giants | |
| 74 | Brandon Pfaadt | Diamondbacks | |
| 75 | Cristopher Sanchez | Phillies | |
| 76 | Luis Severino | Mets | |
| 77 | Louie Varland | Twins | |
| 78 | Logan Allen | Guardians | |
| 79 | Garrett Whitlock | Red Sox | |
| 80 | Tyler Wells | Orioles | |
| 81 | Jared Jones | Pirates | |
| 82 | Shane Baz | Rays | TJS – 15 day IL |
| 83 | Garrett Crochet | White Sox | |
| 84 | Paul Skenes | Pirates | |
| 85 | Gavin Stone | Dodgers | |
| 86 | Marcus Stroman | Yankees | |
| 87 | Dane Dunning | Rangers | |
| 88 | MacKenzie Gore | Nationals | |
| 89 | AJ Puk | Marlins | Friday – 2 IP, 4ER, 6BB, woof |
| 90 | Edward Cabrera | Marlins | Shoulder impingement |
| 91 | Casey Mize | Tigers | Beat out Manning for SP5 |
| 92 | Jordan Wicks | Cubs | |
| 93 | Kyle Bradish | Orioles | 15 day IL. UCL sprain |
| 94 | Luis Gil | Yankees | |
| 95 | Erick Fedde | White Sox | |
| 96 | Dean Kremer | Orioles | |
| 97 | Ryan Weathers | Marlins | |
| 98 | Reese Olson | Tigers | |
| 99 | Jack Flaherty | Tigers | |
| 100 | Kodai Senga | Mets | Shoulder injury, threw last Wednesday |
Omitted but considered :
Jacob deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Manning, Brady Singer, Joe Boyle, Ryne Nelson, Clarke Schmidt, JP Sears, Zack Littell, Chris Paddack, Jordan Hicks, Trevor Rogers, Reynaldo Lopez, Tanner Houck, Bowden Francis, Max Meyer, Frankie Montas, Miles Mikolas, Michael Soroka, James Paxton, Ricky Tiedemann, John Means
Oh man. One thing I realized while feverishly sliding these names around like it was a chess set made of margarine…you could make a case for at least 150 names to include in this Top 100 SP list. Needless to say, this is an ever-evolving group and I look forward to seeing how the season unfolds so we can ride this chaos train together!
Omitted and not considered :
Alek Manoah.
That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, I’ll post the Top 100 Starting Pitchers with more blurbs in that 26-50 ranked section.
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
Hi Marmosdad
I so appreciate your insight and common sense!!!!!
The following pitchers have become available on the the wire:
Tanner Houck – next start is at LAA
Sean Manema – next start at CInn
Garrett Crochet who is pitching against Atlanta
1. What is your thoughts on these three? Could any of them have the potential to be more than a streamer?
2. If Crochet pitchers well tonight and, I still want to wait till to see how Puk pitchers, would you jump the gun and waive Chas Mccormick to get Crochet or be aggressive and waive
Puk or pass on these three. What would you do?
thanks so very much
I think all three have the potential to be more than a streamer. I’d be wary of starting anyone against Atlanta (or the Dodgers for that matter too). I don’t mind Houck’s matchup against LAA though. I watched his start last night and he looked pretty good.
I said it before, though. It’s hard to drop anyone that was good enough to draft a few weeks ago after only one or two starts. It’s very challenging to be patient at this time of year, (both of my teams in my home leagues are at the bottom and just seem to be falling apart already), but staying the course at least until May 1st is usually the smart play.
It’s tempting to ‘rosterbate’ for sure, especially if the other managers in your league are quick to add or drop anyone after one start.
I’m no huge Chas fan, but dropping him would depend on league size, active roster positions, what’s on the wire, and of course who else you have out there.
So on Point! thanks!
Ranger Suarez not even considered?
There’s a few I missed in that list. He’s one of them for sure. In an NL only he should obviously be owned already. I’d monitor in mixed too.
Thoughts on Brady Singer? One game… but added 2 pitches. Just wondering… thanks for the read.
He’s a watch list guy for sure. I said it below to Martin but it’s tough at the beginning of the season. Tempting to drop guys that get roughed up for a guy who has a hot start, and either way we should all probably wait until 2 or 3 starts before cutting bait on anyone (unless there are obvious problems). We drafted or kept these players for a reason.
That said, if you’ve got FOMO on Singer, I could see dropping an injured player or fringe guy for him especially if you’re in a league that streams arms a lot (just meaning someone is likely to scoop him if that’s the case).
We all rely on Laura a lot but as we move down the list with you, please share a few thoughts about how the picture changes for single league AL/NL only “That is guy is a dog for mixed leagues but in an AL only, he will fetch your slippers”
AL: Valdez, Bieber, Kremer, Olson, Paddack, Littell, Silseth, Clase, Brebbia
NL: Peralta, Musgrove, M Kelly, Morton, Sanchez, Stone, Alvarado, Payamps, Kinley
Hi Richard,
First off, absolutely Laura’s work is a great only league resource. I’ve been reading her stuff and following for AL notes for a long time.
I’m not sure I follow with the mixed/only question though. I think those marginal mixed league guys end up being a lot more valuable in the only leagues because of the dearth of talent on the wire. Our first faab this weekend had guys like Tyler Freeman and Berti as the big bids. Guys that probably won’t get much run in mixed leagues at all.
If those are your two pitching staffs in an AL and NL only, they both look pretty good. The NL saves guys you have might be in tough (Colorado looks like they’re going to run with Lawrence to start) but with both teams you’re going to get innings. If you’ve played only leagues for a while you don’t need me to tell you that that’s half the battle when trying to build a competitive team.
Thanks for reading.
I think I get it now. Dog as in “dog water trash” as opposed to “dawg” as in a go to player.
Those mid level arms can turn into gold if you can scoop them in an only league. I picked up Houck and Manning for $1 in the AL and am hoping it pays off in a big way.
Hey MarmosDad,
Here is my 5×5 Roto pitching staff.
In parenthesis is the pitcher I covered the IL’ed palyer with. I’ll have to make a decision when the player returns from IL.
How do you think it stacks up?
Strider
Bieber
Crochet
Eury (Weathers)
Pivetta
Gore
G. Williams (J. Hicks)
Jax
Clase
I think a lot depends on how long until Eury returns and if Gore can get those ratios in order.
I also bit into the “Bieber return to form” dialogue!!
Thanks for the feedback.
Hey Sos,
Assuming this is a 12 team league, it looks like you have a good base for strikeouts for sure.
Health for Eury is a priority here and you can probably cut bait on Weathers when Eury (or one of his teammates) comes back. I know Grey isn’t a big fan of Weathers too.
I honestly thought Pivetta might live back to the bullpen at some point this year, but it sounds like the lack of other options (and no free agent arms in that rotation) means he’ll get a chance to show he belongs.
Keep an eye on Duran’s recovery. If he looks like he’s building up strength and can be back before expected, I’d shop Jax while he still has value (especially since you don’t use holds in your format).
Jordan Hicks is interesting. I can see having to make a decision between him and Gore if Hicks keeps performing like he did in his first start. Worst case, if both pitch really well you might just be able to drop Jax if everyone else is healthy.
Thanks for the read and the question! Good luck!
Yes, it is a 12 team league.
All of that makes good sense.
I feel that K’s are a probable strength as well.
Thanks for the reply! Great stuff!
hi MamosDad,
Thanks for your kind comments about my staff which includes Burnes, Wheeler, GreyRod, Subal, Ragans, Stubal, Nola and AJPuk
PuK’s first start left a lot to be desired to say the least.
There are two intriguing names on the wire, Garret Crochet and Zach Lindell.
would you pick up any of them. crochet’s next start is at home versus Atlanta and then on the road at Kansas City.
Zack’s next-starts are on the road at Colorado and on the road to LAA
If yes, would you wave Puk or find another way to get them.
can’t wait for your reply. Thanks again.
Martin
Hey Martin!
Ya your staff looks good. I think you listed Skubal twice there though.
One start (either good or bad) is tough to gauge any pitcher’s potential from, but I get being worried about Puk. Command issues are tough to stomach, especially when it’s a guy transitioning from a reliever role. You want him to at least be able to either strike guys out or hit the box so it induces contact (hopefully weak contact to boot!).
As much as I really like Crochet, I’d say hold your group there for now. There’s a reason you drafted Puk in the first place and I think any of us should probably give our rosters at least a good 2-3 weeks to settle in before we dump anyone or change it up too much.
If you have other options to move out, (I’m thinking bench bats – depending on the depth of your league), then you can make the move for Crochet if you have FOMO.
I like Littell too, but he’s a … uh … little light on the strikeouts. Sorry I couldn’t resist.
Hope that helps!
so helpful and entertaining- really appreciate the details!
Thanks man!
ROTO this week start Pepiot vs TEX, at COL or use Singer vs CHW
Or just use a MR guy to be safe?
Safer MR guys are always a good option, especially if one of your choices is a young arm throwing at Colorado. Yikes.
That said, I’d be tempted to start Singer against the White Sox just to see if he can build off the solid start he had last time out. And these White Sox aren’t exactly the 1927 Yankees. Haha.
Hope that helps! Thanks for the read and the question!