It’s great to be back, Razzball faithful!

I am happy to announce that all is good in Marmo-ville and that the vacation was successful. We’re back home and rested. More importantly, this week I got to catch up on some baseball news and notes.

A lot of this week’s write-up will be done before Sunday’s games begin as myself and some Marmo-pals are headed to the big city to catch NOFX’s final Toronto show …ever. Thank God It’s Monday!

It was a good time to work on some music references this week, so I was overjoyed when a certain Arizona starting pitcher gave us a Pfaadt bunch of strikeouts against the Rockies last Monday.

Can Brandon Pfaadt belt out old-school punk tunes like the lead singer of NOFX?

Give us two thumbs up if you believe in this kid’s upside, Fat Mike.

Ya, maybe not. But you’d better lace up your old Doc Martens if you think this sophomore starter has had a disappointing 2024 season.

The 7-6 record is misleading. Sure, he had some tough outings back in April. But baby Brandon has been pretty fine over his last 8 starts, including the one from last Monday that fuelled our title here. 

Since June 30th, Pfaadt has rewarded us patient owners with 4 wins, 47.2 IP, 42 H, 16 ER, and 49 Ks. 

The 3.02 ERA over that span was nearly a full run lower than his 2024 total (3.98), and his K/9 was pushed up to 9.25 (just a smidge higher than his season rate of 8.40).

But the statistic that should make your jaw drop down to that Linoleum floor? 

The walk rate.

Pfaadt’s 2024 BB/9 checks in at 1.80. For reference, that’s better than Bryce Miller and Chris Sale’s 2.0 BB/9, and good enough for the 8th-best mark in all of baseball.

Over that 8 game span that I highlighted above? Pfaadt gave up just five free passes. Yep, that’s good for a 0.94 BB/9.

Sure, Pfaadt will have his ups and downs for the rest of the year. And it’s fair to say that he may have a tough time keeping up his stamina as he’s just 25 innings away from surpassing his highest total (168 IP in 2022). 

But hold on! (It’s time to turn this ship around). Arizona is only 4 games back in the wildcard race. And with the playoff success that Pfaadt had in the D-backs World Series run last year, I will admit that My Heart Is Yearning for a strong finish to his 2024 season.

Do those most recent blips of earned runs mean we should just, “Leave It Alone”?

As always, before we get to the list, I need to plug a couple of things for y’all first. If you want to check the spot I usually have open when flipping through my information on Sunday afternoons, you’re looking for that Player Rater leaderboard. This is always a great resource to use if you’re doing research. A bit of this, and a splash of that goes into the prep work for our weekly Top 100 Starting Pitchers list.

Of course, if you’re one of those doubting-your-own-gut-instinct fantasy managers, or simply want to use a great resource that will point you in the right direction every week, The Streamonator is here to help you answer those burning questions. 

If you haven’t signed up for it, this should be your go-to reference for the entire season. It will save you a lot of time researching and often includes those “Oh, I never thought about that” solutions. The Razzball subscriptions are well worth the price of admission. If you’re serious about improving throughout the season, check the link, yo.

 

The Top Starting Pitchers for 2024

RANK (LAST WEEK)	Name	TEAM	NOTES
1	Tarik Skubal	Tigers	Our top arm for a couple of weeks has finally reached the pinnacle of the Player Rater, too. Skubie…Doobie…Doo!
2	Zack Wheeler	Phillies	Last 3 starts: 20 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, 23 Ks.
3	Chris Sale	Braves	More below.
4 (6)	Dylan Cease	Padres	I initially wrote that I keep thinking the inevitable 6 BB outing is just around the corner…then I saw that he pitched Saturday night and walked 5. Ugh. Let’s give him a free pass because he was in COL though. The 186 Ks are elite.
5	Paul Skenes	Pirates	More below.
6	Corbin Burnes	Orioles	Let’s just pretend we didn’t see that Friday start vs BOS…aight?
7 (10)	Cole Ragans	Royals	Another 8 Ks bring the total to 174 strikeouts in 147 IP. He flip you for real.
8 (4)	Tyler Glasnow	Dodgers	15-day IL with right elbow tendinitis. He stays in the Top 10 for now, but not without that Michael Scott, “No…Please, God… No!” GIF replaying over and over again in my head.
9 (11)	Jack Flaherty	Dodgers	The strikeouts are there. The walks are not. He’s throwing for the best team in the National League. Does he give up a few earned runs? Sure. But until his back acts up again, he’ll likely stay in the Top 10.
10 (9)	Logan Gilbert	Mariners	That 7-9 record makes people wonder why he’s this high. If you know someone like that, send them this link…
11 (8)	George Kirby	Mariners	“Hello, Motown Police Department? I’d like to report a mauling!” 11 ER at Detroit does not give us any enthusiasm to Kirb, that’s for sure. But in all of that mess he still only walked one. Edit: A nice bounce-back W in PIT last night.
12 (16)	Blake Snell	Giants	11 more strikeouts and just 2 hits allowed with 0 ER vs ATL? Snellzilla! He gets OAK and SEA next too! Edit: No decision at OAK in a strikeout scrap with JP Sears (Snell had 10 Ks; Sears had 9).
13 (19)	Gerrit Cole	Yankees	The Cole Train followed up his 10 K performance last week with 6 innings of shutout ball with 2 BBs and 8 Ks. I’m not necessarily shouting that we’re back…but the volume of my whisper would get me kicked out of a library.
14 (12)	Shoto Imanaga	Cubs	Ticker shock at CLE. Just 3 of the 7 runs were earned. Phew. Monday Morning edit! Imanaga lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Bowden Francis’ Blue Jays. More later.
15 (14)	Luis Castillo	Mariners	Square hole. Round peg. I was all set to slide Castillo into the Top 15 here. Then he gave up 4 ER to a sneaky good PIT team on the road. He gets the benefit of the doubt for now.
16 (21)	Michael King	Padres	6 inning shutout with 10 Ks and 0 BBs moves this king up into the Top 20 again. If he can keep piling up gems like this, he’ll climb even higher.
17 (20)	Bailey Ober	Twins	The hottest Bailey since WKRP. Good news! If you get that reference, don’t forget to take your medication and then lay yourself down for a pre-lunch nap.
18 (15)	Aaron Nola	Phillies	I said last week that I’m no Nola (stutter!) fan. Then, of course, he posts a 6.2-inning shutout vs WSH (no decision).
19 (30)	Zach Eflin	Rays	More below.
20 (18)	Tanner Houck	Red Sox	Houck threw another quality start last week, but the 4 Ks (total) in 2 GS is a bit worrisome. Especially if you’re banking on him as an SP 1 or 2 in a playoff run.
21 (13)	Grayson Rodriguez	Orioles	When your fantasy ace has a news blurb that reads “could return sometime in September”…and it’s not even the third week of August yet…well, they say that’s not so good.
22 (17)	Luis Gil	Yankees	Did you give up 4 ERs to a lineup with Nicky Lopez leading off and served up a big fly to Korey Lee? Dude.
23	Pablo Lopez	Twins	Pablo gave us a better start last week in his win vs KC. He was slated to start at TEX yesterday though. A strong start there would be another good step forward. Edit: He pitched great in yesterday’s game. Jhoan Duran cost him the dub.
24 (32)	Logan Webb	Giants	This was my note fr the week for Webb. “4 straight banger starts. 0.61 ERA in his last 4 GS”. What’s even more impressive is the 25 Ks he has in those 28.2 IPs.
25 (37)	Framber Valdez	Astros	Framber’s Ascension, AKA The sequel to the first War Room movie…War Room 2: Revenge of the Robot. Framber’s doing his best to justify the preseason SP4 ranking. Edit: Another great start last night. 2-0 shutout of CWS for his 13th win.
26 (29)	Tanner Bibee	Guardians	More below.
27 (25)	Freddy Peralta	Brewers	Back-to-back 4 ER starts had him destined to slip down much farther but he was solid vs CLE Saturday night (6 IP, 1 ER). The 3 Ks wasn’t ideal, though.
28 (24)	Zac Gallen	Diamondbacks	There are glimpses of more here…then he gives up a handful of ER with a low K total and I doubt myself again. Rinse. Repeat.
29 (31)	Ronel Blanco	Astros	Took a comebacker off the finger but should be fine. If you’re a fan, there are a lot of numbers to point at that support the breakout. If you’re not…well, you can point out that he’s tied with Chris Flexen and Andrew Abbott for the 11th most BBs allowed in the league.
30 (33)	Ranger Suarez	Phillies	Was supposed to throw a rehab or simulated start yesterday. If all goes well, he’s due back next Friday.
31 (35)	Bryce Miller	Mariners	13 scoreless innings with 15 Ks and 1 BB in his last 2 starts.
32 (22)	Sonny Gray	Cardinals	Sonny shared more earned runs (6) and homers (3) again last week at CIN. Like I say later with Brady Singer, the 9 Ks are nice but the rest…well, I don’t got you, babe. Edit: Decent start at home but tough loss to Kershaw last night.
33 (27)	Taj Bradley	Rays	15 ER in his last 14 IPs (3 GS). Here’s hoping the breakout isn’t stalling out.
34 (39)	Reynaldo Lopez	Braves	Eligible to start yesterday but should be eased back into rotation vs early this week. ATL plays PHI though so you may want to sit him until after this week.
35 (45)	Justin Verlander	Astros	His second rehab start went well, and I admit that this may be too much of a boost, but he’s likely to return for the BOS series this week. I’m comfortable betting on JV if he’s healthy.
36 (26)	Hunter Greene	Reds	I was ready to share a pretty note that I had ready for Greene this week but he was placed on the 15-day IL on Saturday with right elbow soreness. Could the Green-for-Greene trade with Grey in the Perts league actually be a win for yours truly?! Stay tuned!
37 (42)	Kevin Gausman	Blue Jays	He’s flipped and flopped for over a month. The mid-30s is probably where he should settle in. 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks in his last start. His next two are home starts (CIN, LAA).
38 (28)	Garrett Crochet	White Sox	The love story of the year has turned into a horrorshow if you’re looking for wins. The strikeouts are still there but Crochet hasn’t thrown more than 4 innings in a start since June 30th. He’s thrown more than 75 pitches just once in his last 6 GS, too.
39 (44)	Clayton Kershaw	Dodgers	I said last week that I hoped he could go 6 innings vs MLW. He went 5.2, allowed 3 H,  1 ER, and 2 BBs. A half dozen strikeouts and a victory against Freddy Peralta? That’ll do. Edit: 6 shutout innings at STL yesterday, albeit with just 2 Ks.
40 (43)	Nick Pivetta	Red Sox	Tough loss at BAL last week.
41 (34)	Max Fried	Braves	14 walks in his last 4 games are worrisome. The fact that he hasn’t won since the kids were still in school? Yes, that’s also worrisome.
42 (38)	Seth Lugo	Royals	He’s lost 3 out of his last 4 starts and given up 21 runs and 9 walks in those 23.2 innings. If you took away the 8-inning gem at DET it would look even worse.
43 (52)	Bryan Woo	Mariners	Frequent readers will know that I really love me some Woo. It’s probably too much Woo-love. But when he rips off 7 innings of shutout ball with 4 H, 0 BB, and 6 Ks? Well, that’s like a sipping on a glass of cold, sweet orange juice on a hot summer day…Let’s call it the Woo-Tang.
44 (41)	Robbie Ray	Giants	? IP and 5 ER at ATL. It gets hot in August under that Georgia sun…
45 (40)	Nick Lodolo	Reds	Remember all of that nice stuff that I wrote about Lodolo last week? I mean, before he gave up 8 ER to KC in 2.1 innings with just 2 Ks? Ya, let’s pretend I didn’t write that.
46 (58)	Jared Jones	Pirates	The first rehab start went well. He should have one more before activation on the 21st. This boost is more about the hope that he hits the ground running when he comes back.
47 (47)	Justin Steele	Cubs	Only 2 IPs against TOR last week but don’t worry. It was rain.
48	Jose Berrios	Blue Jays	I was ready to push Berrios way down now that he’s tied with Kutter for most HR allowed in the league (27). Then I looked at his last two starts…14 IP, 2 ER, 2 HR, 2 BBs, 13 Ks. This confusion and general bewilderment is a microcosm of the Blue Jays season.
49	Max Scherzer	Rangers	He’s not eligible until August 27th but the fact that he’s throwing bullpens already is an encouraging sign.
50 (36)	Mitch Keller	Pirates	Once again Mitch did not have my money. The velocity on his fastball and slider were both down in that shart at San Diego. And when a guy gives up 15 ER in his last two starts, it’s permissible to not correct that accidental mistype from the previous sentence.
51	Nathan Eovaldi	Rangers	7 innings in his return from a mild oblique strain. Gets CLE and CWS in his next two.
52 (56)	Jeffrey Springs	Rays	Three straight 5 inning starts and averaging 80 pitches per game is a good start. I said last week that I don’t know if we see 7 innings anytime soon, though.
53 (46)	Shane Baz	Rays	7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 Bbs, 6 Ks, and took a 3-2 loss against a tough HOU offense. Paraphrasing Grey here – It’s good. Do I think he’s back to pre-surgery Baz yet? No. I think I said it in the comments last week but the gist is: There’s room for growth.
54	Matt Waldron	Padres	Survives another dump here because he’s a knuckleballer at COL (last week) but if he gets pounded by MIN this week he’ll tumble.
55 (50)	Gavin Stone	Dodgers	5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 B, 6 Ks. Rocked it. Moves down a bit though until he starts consistently logging 6+ innings.
56 (53)	Erick Fedde	Cardinals	Fedde is like the anti-Eflin as far as success with his new club is concerned. 1-2 since the trade to St. Louis with 16 IP, 10 ER, and 12 Ks.
57	Christopher Sanchez	Phillies	Followed up an implosion at ARI with a complete game 2-hitter vs WSH on Saturday. Jekyll and Hyde.
58 (59)	Carlos Rodon	Yankees	Blasted by the Tigers on Saturday but he’s still a Top 30 SP on the Player Rater, likely due to the 13 wins.
59 (65)	Yusei Kikuchi	Blue Jays	5 ER and 23 Ks in his 16.2 IP for the Astros. Kikuchi-coochie-coo!
60 (66)	Brandon Pfaadt	Diamondbacks	See above. I want to move him up higher but he needs to cut the runs down. Feels like something special is brewing with that BB rate, though.
61 (68)	Nestor Cortes	Yankees	7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BBs, 9 Ks? NOPE! I’m not falling for it, Cortes: The Ratio Killer!
62	Brayan Bello	Red Sox	6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 6 Ks at BAL Saturday night? Insert Palpatine gif…”Good….Good…”
63	Spencer Schwellenbach	Braves	44 Ks in his last 31 IPs. I thought this spot was too high, but so far so good.
64 (61)	Gavin Williams	Guardians	Sandwiched a good start at MIN between two horrendous ones. Growing pains.
65 (69)	Hunter Brown	Astros	Three solid starts in a row have me believing again…just be careful for his next two (at BAL and at PHI).
66 (61)	Brady Singer	Royals	The 9 strikeouts were nice but the 6 ER in 5 IP make this Singer look like Milli Vanilli. Edit: A nice bounceback last night at CIN. 6 IPs, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, and 6 Ks.
67 (70)	Ryan Pepiot	Rays	5.1 IP, 0 ER vs ARI last week. 1 BB and 5 Ks.
68 (72)	Sean Manaea	Mets	Last week’s lede has come back to Earth a bit, but he did win his 9th game on Friday night (3rd W in his last 4 GS).
69 (77)	Yariel Rodriguez	Blue Jays	More below.
70 (64)	Kutter Crawford	Red Sox	Well, the good news is he’s no longer alone atop the HR-allowed leaderboard. Thanks, Jose Berrios!
71 (74)	Michael Wacha	Royals	6 scoreless at CIN with 9 Ks is enough to push him up here.
72 (84)	Luis Severino	Mets	Complete game shutout with 9 Ks Saturday night against MIA with just one walk and four hits is enough to boost him here.
73 (91)	Tyler Mahle	Rangers	4.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks. The strikeouts and command are nice to see. He’s not going to excite many fans but fantasy managers aren’t looking to improve in the “exciting” category. We’re looking for healthy arms that can move us up with category points. Edit: Just 3 IPs yesterday.
74 (86)	Tobias Myers	Brewers	One strikeout against the Dodgers isn’t great but he’s still building momentum and hasn’t given up more than 2 ER in any of his last 6 starts.
75	Ryne Nelson	Arizona	Back-to-back QS with 15 ks in 13 IP.
76 (73)	Colin Rea	Brewers	6 IP, 7 ER. I thought we had something here but it wasn’t Rea-l. Edit: The Cleveland start yesterday was strong so maybe he is a REA-l boy after all.
77 (NR)	Walker Buehler	Dodgers	More below.
78	MacKenzie Gore	Nationals	SMH. As in “Shake MacKenzie’s Head”
79 (76)	Spencer Arrighetti	Astros	I thought I’d put him too high last week, but the 33 Ks over his last 19 IPs was pretty mind-blowing. He got tripped up by the White Sox Friday night (no, that’s not a typo), so he moves down a bit.
80 (67)	Chris Bassitt	Blue Jays	More below.
81 (79)	Ben Lively	Guardians	3.2 IP, 3 ER? Not so Lively. Not so Deadly. I’d say he’s more Meh-le, but that guy’s ranked #87 and pitching in Texas.
82 (80)	Jake Irvin	Nationals	I asked myself why I didn’t like this guy as much as I do (or don’t?). Then when I looked at his Statcast page, it was more Bluey than an Australian kids’ TV show (nailed it!)
83	Eduardo Rodriguez	Diamondbacks	Not a great start by any means but he’s healthy and upped his pitch count by 20 in his most recent game.
84 (87)	Charlie Morton	Braves	I know he’s an easy target to pick on but every time he blows up (8 ER two starts ago) he seems to bounce back with a strong start. 6 IP, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks at SF last week. Edit: Rewarded the kudos with a W yesterday.
85	Andrew Abbott	Reds	6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 Ks. Much better than the 6 ER last week. First win in his last 6 starts. Edit: Roughed up for 4 ER in 5 IP and lost to KC last night.
86 (93)	JP Sears	Athletics	7 IP, 3 ER, 4 Ks, W at TOR. His third win in a row and his 6th dub in his last 7 games. Edit: He kept up the pace yesterday against a (literal) giant in Blake Snell. 9 Ks to Snell’s 10.
87 (81)	Jose Soriano	Angels	Decreased velocity led to an IL assignment on Thursday. Sad emoji.
88 (NR)	Joe Musgrove	Padres	He’s back. But is he the super-ace we knew? Probably not. He’s worth monitoring but you’ve got watermelons in your undies if you’re starting him this week (at COL). Edit: He threw a good one yesterday. Only 4.1 innings, so building on stamina is next.
89	Andrew Heaney	Rangers	The strikeouts are still there but the 4 ER sends his season ERA up in smoke to 4.20.
90	David Festa	Twins	Reminds me of Fresca. And the 5 innings at Texas on Saturday with 0 BBs and 6 Ks was just as refreshing, even with the no-decision.
91 (82)	Edward Cabrera	Marlins	The fight for the bottom 20 spots gets pretty heated when so many of these guys lay rotten eggs. 4 IPs and 6 ER pretty much make his next start a do-or-die one to stay on the list. To be fair, he hadn’t given up more than 3 ER since July 13th (6 starts).
92 (55)	Joe Ryan	Twins	When the return date is measured in “weeks or months”, it’s not a good sign.
93 (100)	DJ Herz	Nationals	Hasn’t given up more than 2 ER in any of his last 5 starts.
94	Jameson Taillon	Cubs	I mean…I don’t want to keep him on the list. But his ratios are still not that bad.
95 (NR)	Valente Bellozo	Marlins	I admit if his name sounded more like a British duke than an Italian opera singer I probably would have just put him into one of the sections below. But here he is. He’s pitched 12.2 innings in his last two starts (total) with 0 ER, 3 BBs, and 8 Ks. Edit: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 Ks v NYM yesterday.
96	Zack Littell	Rays	5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks. The Littell engine that could!
97 (NR)	Bowden Francis	Blue Jays	The stealing of a rotation spot by Francis is the biggest theft since Pee Wee Herman’s bike was stolen. Monday morning edit! Francis threw 7 shutout innings with 0 BB and 7 Ks to beat Imanaga in a 1-0 Wrigley Field pitchers duel.
98 (99)	Nick Martinez	Reds	Back-to-back scoreless starts with zero walks since being inserted in the rotation. 12 Ks in 12 IP over those GS.
99 (92)	James Paxton	Red Sox	More below.
100 (71)	River Ryan	Dodgers	More below.

With the NOFX theme this week, let’s rename our jumpers and dumpers sections. I had two YouTube clips picked out but managed to record bits of the show last night so you get a snippet of Marmo-love from the last ever Toronto NOFX show…like forever. Haha.

For our biggest jumpers section? Let’s look at the Starting Pitchers who have shown an ability to mow down the competition and…

“Eat The Meek”

This one holds a special place in my heart because of Hefe’s horn work, but more so because I managed to slip it into the dinner music playlist during my wedding reception. 

Chris Sale (3) – If I had another mentally vocal personality (totally a real term), it would have started razzing me for ranking Sale in the Top 5 for a few weeks now. That voice in my head would probably start with something like, “You idiot. This is the guy you said was built like a foil birthday streamer and was primed for a breakdown in March! He can’t be a Top 5 pitcher!”. Then my main brain would say, “Yes. But show me where ranking Sale this highly is the wrong call. Look at his numbers.” And after that…smoke would start pouring out of my ears and my brain would explode.

Paul Skenes (5) – The Pirates announced this morning that they may consider shortening his starts, but have no plan of shutting Skenes down before the end of this season. A 7.5-game deficit to overcome in a wild-card chase is going to be pretty tough to tackle, but Pirates fans deserve even the slightest bit of false hope for fall ball, no matter how low the percentages are. There’s that…and then the real reason why I had him in our “Eat The Meek” section this week…

Livvy Dunne went all out with the Paul Skenes outfit. pic.twitter.com/OsjveSDNEe

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) August 17, 2024

Zach Eflin (19) – This is a huge jump for Eflin, and it’s a warranted one. Since jing the Oriles at the trade deadline, Eflin has won four straight starts and allowed just 6 ER, 3 HR, and 2 BBs in 25.1 IP. Even the 8.88 K/9 is up from his career average of 7.87. Someone likes it in Camden!

Tanner Bibee (26) – “Whatever Bibee wants…he’s gonna get it…Whatever Bibee wants…he’s gonna get it…” Another strong start Saturday at MLW. 3 straight GS on the road and a pretty sweet line over his last 5 (total). 27.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 BB, 21 Ks.

Yariel Rodriguez (69) – To avoid being labeled as a ‘homer’, I’ll defer to Grey for this one… “5 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.60. He’s 51.3% O-Contact% which is near best in the  league with Glasnow (if Yariel qualified, he doesn’t, obviously), and his Z-Contact% is worse than average.” And that’s me quoting Grey! Grey also points out that the sample size is small, so there’s also that. 

And, of course, for the dumpers, there isn’t a better NOFX song to add than this one. (If only for its title alone).

“The Decline”

Here’s hoping these starters don’t decline much more than they have over their past few starts.

If you’re a fan of this tune, check out the clip of them playing live at Red Rocks with a full orchestra. Boy, that one is a chills-inducer.

The tune is a long one, (especially for a punk song), but it’s great. I only recorded a few minutes last night because I wanted to experience the final moments of that show through my eyeballs and not my phone screen. Enjoy!

Chris Bassitt (80) – 4 IP, 7 ER at home against OAKLAND last week? In his defense, Bassitt threw a decent game at Wrigley on Saturday night, giving further proof that the frustration is real. Is this an angry drop? Yes. Is he at 80 because I wrote him up right after I put Yariel in as a jumper this week? Also yes. Should Bassitt be below Rodriguez in the Blue Jays’ rotation and on our list? Guess what the answer to that one is!

Walker Buehler (77) – This was a tough call between slotting him into the “names to consider” section and into the bottom 20 for the actual list above. In the end, he gets the nod but I’d be very careful running him out right away. I always, like to wait for a start or two before activating guys like this. His next two starts are at home, and you can take a shot with the SEA game, but the BAL one will be the true test to see if he’s back to ‘normal’ or at least acceptable.

James Paxton (99) – Strained calf? That’s not how you prepare veal! Someone call PETA! The official word is that it’s ‘unknown’ if he will return in 2024 for the regular season OR playoffs. I will now say a silent prayer for you AL-only managers who lost a bunch of FAAB thinking he would be a beautiful parmigiana. You know what they say…you can’t spell parmigiana without…well, ya, probably without a spell-checker.

River Ryan (100) – Tommy John surgery for a UCL tear. I guess it’s fitting that this River dried up in August. So much for those people who were all up in arms about me not including him in the Top 50 the week after he was called up. The good news is you can get him for free off of waivers this week. If you’re in a deep dynasty league you can hold him, but he’s not expected to do anything for 18 months. Don’t forget that he also missed the first 2-3 months this season with shoulder fatigue.

In place of the WHEE and OOF sections, I wanted to revisit an old section from a few months ago. 

Names to consider…(because I did!)

These are some names to consider adding if you have the space or want to gamble on new-ish names. Maybe you’re fed up with certain starters and ready to drop them for a fresh arm. (Yes, I’m looking at you Kutter Crawford and Chris Bassitt).

Zebby Matthews, Albert Suarez, Matt Boyd, Bobby Miller, Osvaldo Bido, Cody Bradford, Martin Perez, David Peterson, Max Meyer, Simeon Woods Richardson, Dean Kremer, Jordan Montgomery (just kidding…I didn’t), Paul Blackburn (no, really, I didn’t).

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, I’ll post the Top 100 Starting Pitchers with some write-ups on some of the arms that I think need a bit more attention than others

Then, I’ll keep cherry-picking names to highlight throughout the list as we progress through the season.

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