Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!
We’re officially half of the way through the MarmosDad version of our Top 100 Starting Pitchers list! And for this week, we’re headed back to the Tanner heap. And similar to our Bibee from last week, this Tanner is most certainly no Bad News Bear.
Two weeks ago I ran down the (literal) Top 25 here. Then last week we touched on that SP 26-50 pocket here.
What kind of flickering spark appeared when I perused the SP51 to 75 for this week? Maybe it was a bit of an influence from last week, but I was drawn to yet another Tanner for this post. This week our focus is Tanner Houck – aka one of the Red Sox rotation anchors, (who was not even guaranteed a spot this spring).
Every time I see the name Tanner, I think of two things:
(1) It’s one of the child-naming holy trinity that fans of 90210 (and often also parents of 90’s kids) thought would be a great idea to choose for their darling boys. (An extra apology to all of you Dylans and Brandons out there, too).
(2) A certain foul-mouthed shortstop from the old 1976 ‘classic’ movie, The Bad News Bears.
Now, maybe it’s because I spend a lot of my time hollering encouraging words to travel youth baseball players, albeit with more clarity than Walter Matthau, but the nostalgia bell rings hard every time I see the name and think of the blond-haired middle infielder from that pillar of American cinema.
First and foremost, it’s been a long time since I watched the movie. And I realize that I’m at risk of alienating all of you youngsters, but the first time I watched this gem of summertime cinema was at a friend’s house in the mid-1980’s … on a laserdisc player.
So my first instinct was, “Hey! I can look up some YouTube clips to share so that you’ll all know what I mean if you are too young to have viewed the original film in all its glory.”
What I uncovered…well…
Let’s just say that a lot of clips from that movie…Well, I don’t think they’re getting past today’s censors.
And I think it’s safe to assume that Disney isn’t doing a remake of this franchise any time soon.
This movie did, however, provide one of the earliest examples of data analysis and Sabermetrics on the big screen. (Ha!)
Now that I’ve sufficiently buried the Houck blurb, let’s have a look at a Tanner that your kids could hope to emulate (without getting expelled from school).
Tanner Houck (59) – I moved him up this week from his spot as SP81. In his first two starts, Houck had allowed a total of 7 hits, zero earned runs, and struck out 17 in 12 innings. The sky’s the limit! Yep, that’s what I said when I decided (on Thursday) to run with him as the lede for this week…then he got a bit roughed up at home against the Angels on Friday night. The 12 hits weren’t exactly nice to see, but of the 7 runs he gave up, only 3 were earned. He did give up a home run to Taylor Ward, but he didn’t issue a walk in his 5.2 innings and he managed to strike out two. I’m still in on Houck, and am hoping this was just a minor speedbump on the trip down Breakout Road.
Before we get to the list this week, I need to link y’all to The Streamonator to help you answer those burning questions that we might not be readily available to help you with 24/7. I’m sure a lot of you know already, but Streamonator is more than a good resource for the entire season. It’s going to save you a lot of time researching on your own, and save you from making those tough “Should I start…?” decisions. Check the link, yo.
The Top Starting Pitchers for 2024
| RANK
(LAST WEEK) |
Name | TEAM | BUY? NOTES? ANYTHING!? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (2) | Corbin Burnes | Orioles | New top SP means bad news from Strider’s MRI |
| 2 (4) | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | |
| 3 (6) | Freddy Peralta | Brewers | |
| 4 (15) | Tyler Glasnow | Dodgers | Can he stay healthy? |
| 5 (16) | Grayson Rodriguez | Orioles | |
| 6 (3) | Kevin Gausman | Blue Jays | Rust from no spring training or a lingering injury? |
| 7 (5) | Luis Castillo | Mariners | |
| 8 (9) | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | |
| 9 (7) | Pablo Lopez | Twins | |
| 10 | Logan Gilbert | Mariners | |
| 11 | Framber Valdez | Astros | |
| 12 (14) | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | |
| 13 | Zac Gallen | Diamondbacks | |
| 14 (8) | George Kirby | Mariners | Back-to-back hiccups after a great first start |
| 15 (12) | Aaron Nola | Phillies | |
| 16 (17) | Blake Snell | Giants | |
| 17 (19) | Logan Webb | Giants | |
| 18 | Max Fried | Braves | |
| 19 (20) | Zach Eflin | Rays | |
| 20 (21) | Jesus Luzardo | Marlins | |
| 21 (22) | Bobby Miller | Dodgers | |
| 22 (23) | Joe Ryan | Twins | Big Saturday – 6.1IP, 6H, 1ER, 1BB, 12K |
| 23 (25) | Cole Ragans | Royals | |
| 24 | Chris Sale | Braves | |
| 25 (26) | Dylan Cease | Padres | |
| 26 (27) | Shoto Imanaga | Cubs | 15.1IP, 0ER, 2BB?! |
| 27 (28) | Chris Bassitt | Blue Jays | |
| 28 (29) | Joe Musgrove | Padres | |
| 29 (34) | Bryce Miller | Mariners | |
| 30 (50) | Garrett Crochet | White Sox | Bad news: 5ER against Cincy Saturday. Good News: 10Ks in 4.2IP |
| 31 (39) | Reid Detmers | Angels | |
| 32 (40) | Justin Verlander | Astros | Should return Friday @ Nationals |
| 33 | Mitch Keller | Pirates | |
| 34 (31) | Jordan Montgomery | Diamondbacks | New agent; one-year ‘show me’ deal. |
| 35 (32) | Tanner Bibee | Guardians | |
| 36 | Justin Steele | Cubs | Should return early-May |
| 37 | Merrill Kelly | Diamondbacks | |
| 38 | Jose Berrios | Blue Jays | Another gem yesterday. Could move up quickly. |
| 39 (35) | Hunter Greene | Reds | |
| 40 (30) | Hunter Brown | Astros | Slipping. Another rough outing. |
| 41 | Walker Buehler | Dodgers | Still rehabbing. 1-2 more starts. |
| 42 | Charlie Morton | Braves | |
| 43 | Sonny Gray | Reds | Debut last week. 5IP, 5H, 5K. |
| 44 | Bailey Ober | Twins | Two start week – I sat him because 1st matchup was the Dodgers – threw two great games. |
| 45 | Cristian Javier | Astros | |
| 46 | Yusei Kikuchi | Blue Jays | Most underrated AL SP? |
| 47 | Nestor Cortes | Yankees | |
| 48 | Yu Darvish | Padres | |
| 49 (51) | Brayan Bello | Red Sox | |
| 50 (52) | Nathan Eovaldi | Rangers |
And our Top 100 Starting Pitchers: SP 51-75 for this week…
| 51 (59) | Nick Lodolo | Reds | |
| 52 (64) | Garrett Whitlock | Red Sox | |
| 53 | Carlos Rodon | Yankees | Nearly labeled him as a White Sox. Oof. |
| 54 | Michael King | Padres | |
| 55 | Eduardo Rodriguez | Diamondbacks | |
| 56 | Ryan Pepiot | Rays | |
| 57 | Aaron Civale | Rays | |
| 58 | Bryan Woo | Mariners | |
| 59 (81) | Tanner Houck | Red Sox | |
| 60 | Kenta Maeda | Tigers | |
| 61 | Lance Lynn | Cardinals | |
| 62 | Triston McKenzie | Guardians | |
| 63 | Braxton Garrett | Marlins | |
| 64 (NR) | Ronel Blanco | Astros | |
| 65 | Jon Gray | Rangers | |
| 66 (67) | Kutter Crawford | Red Sox | |
| 67 (77) | Jared Jones | Pirates | Up we go! |
| 68 | Seth Lugo | Royals | |
| 69 | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | |
| 70 (66) | Gavin Williams | Guardians | |
| 71 | Sean Manaea | Mets | |
| 72 | Max Scherzer | Rangers | |
| 73 | Kyle Harrison | Giants | |
| 74 | Brandon Pfaadt | Diamondbacks | |
| 75 (1) | Spencer Strider | Braves | Single tear for redraft leagues |
Nick Lodolo (51) – All of Razzball HQ was aflutter this spring with Lolz until Lodoloz went down with a not-so-lol-ly left leg relapse. He made his season debut on Saturday and promptly struck out 10 major leaguers in 5.2 innings. Said major leaguers are, officially, paid by the Chicago White Sox, so there’s some room to argue that they’re quality hitters … but still! This is certainly an encouraging outing for all of us Lodolo truthers to get behind!
Garrett Whitlock (52) – I mentioned that Tanner Houck was one of the Red Sox rotation anchors this year. The other one, (unless you count an equally impressive Brayan Bello), is Mr. Whitlock. 16 Ks in 14.1 IP, a 1.26 ERA, and a 1.186 WHIP are some pretty impressive numbers across three starts. The only thing he needs to beef up is his ability to work deeper in his starts (hasn’t seen the 6th inning in any start so far). I’m in.
Eduardo Rodriguez (55) – Experienced “soreness” in his left shoulder and had his rehab assignment “put on pause”. Pause? More like, “Please be kind, rewind”… back to when you were healthy and effective. This ranking is more about the potential to throw solid innings for a strong team when he returns, so I’m not dropping him unless we get more bad news.
Ryan Pepiot (56) – The strikeouts are there (20 in 16.2 innings), and the earned runs are low (5), but we’re looking for more outings like his second game against the Rockies – where he gave up 0 ER in Colorado somehow – and not the other two games where he averaged 5 runs against.
Bryan Woo (58) – Should start his rehab assignment this week. Monitor his progress before adding.
Braxton Garrett (63) – Threw 6 innings in Jacksonville on Friday. He should be activated this week.
Ronel Blanco (64) – Not ranked until this week? Am I crrrrrrazy?! Well, probably just a bit, but not because I waited this long to add La Flama Blanca to our list. Will I miss out on adding a potential breakout pitcher this year because I don’t fully believe in his success through three starts? Yes. Will I not pass up a chance to add a Kenny Powers YouTube clip here strictly because of this guy’s last name? Also, yes.
Jared Jones (67) – First, let me say that I am fully aware of the hypocritical nature of continuing to move a guy like Jones up our list while simultaneously posting that I do not believe in breakouts like the one we may be seeing from Ronel Blanco. Why? Because Jones’ strikeout numbers seem legit and Blanco’s do not convince me. Jones K%, Whiff%, BB%, and Chase% are all 90th percentile or greater. He gets hit hard and has served up two homers in each of his last starts, but give me that sweet strikeout upside for a low price every time, please!
Gerrit Cole (69) – Late May at the very earliest. Monitor the throwing program and if you have room to stash, I think you know what to do.
Gavin Williams (70) – Slated to throw a simulated game today. Aiming for a late April or early May return.
Spencer Strider (75) – Oh this one stings. I am in the front row for class in the School of Grey when it comes to NOT drafting a starting pitcher in the first few rounds of a snake draft. I avoided Strider in TGFBI and RazzSlam for much of the same reason we all do. The price is just too steep and starting pitchers slinging a small sphere 100+ times every 5 days is not natural.
I did, however, secure a cheap FAAB pickup of this top arm three years ago in a mixed keeper home league for a mere $5. This year he was a $15 ace on my squad. All of this is to say that if you’re in a keeper league, even with Strider being finished for the whole year, it still may be a bad idea to drop him.
If I keep him at $20 next season, he’s still undervalued. You can drop him in redraft, but it’s too early to cut bait in those keeper leagues. Especially if you have him well under-value like I do.
That’s it for the Top 100 Starting Pitchers: #51-75 ranked starters…
BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE!!!
Here’s the rest of the list.
| 76 (75) | Christopher Sanchez | Phillies | |
| 77 (70) | Nick Pivetta | Red Sox | 15-day IL |
| 78 (76) | Luis Severino | Mets | |
| 79 (85) | Gavin Stone | Dodgers | |
| 80 | Tyler Wells | Orioles | |
| 81 (78) | Logan Allen | Guardians | |
| 82 (88) | MacKenzie Gore | Nationals | Going way up next week! |
| 83 | Luis Gil | Yankees | |
| 84 (79) | Griffin Canning | Angels | |
| 85 (84) | Paul Skenes | Nationals | Worth stashing if you have the slot |
| 86 | Marcus Stroman | Yankees | |
| 87 | Dane Dunning | Rangers | |
| 88 (82) | Shane Baz | Rays | |
| 89 | Ranger Suarez | Phillies | |
| 90 | Edward Cabrera | Marlins | |
| 91 | Casey Mize | Tigers | |
| 92 (NR) | Jordan Hicks | Giants | Was Cody Bradford here until Bradford hit the injured list |
| 93 (92) | Jordan Wicks | Cubs | |
| 94 (NR) | Michael Wacha | Royals | Boring but effective…and that wins leagues |
| 95 (NR) | Brady Singer | Royals | |
| 96 (NR) | Tyler Anderson | Angels | |
| 97 (93) | Kyle Bradish | Orioles | Rehab this week. Targeting mid-May return. |
| 98 (96) | Dean Kremer | Orioles | See: Wacha, Michael |
| 99 (98) | Reese Olson | Tigers | |
| 100 | Kodai Senga | Mets | Trying to keep him on our list (barring any injury setbacks) |
BIGGEST DUMPERS : With apologies to Cal Raleigh, these are some of the biggest dumpers (in value, not pants size).
Spencer Strider, George Kirby, Aaron Nola, Hunter Brown, Nick Pivetta, Griffin Canning
BIGGEST JUMPERS : Who’s got hops? These are some of the biggest jumpers in value this week.
Tyler Glasnow, Grayson Rodriguez, Garrett Crochet, Reid Detmers, Justin Verlander, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, Jared Jones
OOF : The following players dropped off the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list this week.
AJ Puk, Erick Fedde, Ryan Weathers, Jack Flaherty
WHEE! The following players launched into the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list this week.
Ronel Blanco (64), Jordan Hicks (92), Michael Wacha (94), Brady Singer (95), Tyler Anderson (96),
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 final 76-100 ranked section. Then, I’ll try to chery pick some players 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
Sonny Gray back with the Reds, huh? I did not see that coming…..nor did he, I’d imagine!
I’ll tell you at least I caught the Carlos Rodon White Sox in an edit, though.
I guess, FWIW, the Cards are the Red Birds, so…
Thanks for the read!
Is T McKenzie going to be on top 100 after this week? He has looked terrible. Surprised to see him in the 60s even!
The walls are pretty brutal. His last start (before the Yankee game) wasn’t too bad but his still gave out four free passes. I’ve never really been a fan, but didn’t want to shake rankings too much this early on.
Like I said with Morton below here, he’s another on that list of guys that should move down next week too. Now that most guys have 3 starts to look at, if there’s anything that looks really wrong I can see a few taking a hit and sliding for sure.
I was hoping to kind of ride the first four weeks before cross referencing too much with the player rater, but it looks like I’ll have to be early there too. Ha.
Just saw Max Meyergot sent to AAA to make room for Edward Cabrera. Max has arguably been the Marlins best pitcher. I’m guessing they’re just protecting his innings limit. It definitely can’t be because they have better options.
That makes sense for sure. I wonder if Braxton Garrett being close has something to do with it too. Seems like them wanting to get him throwing on a schedule instead of spot starting. Probably easier to manage the innings down there too (like you said).
I am surprised to see Charlie Morton at 42. He’s been looking pretty rough and hasn’t made it through 6 innings yet. Maybe he is starting to lose it at age 40.
Turnbull not making the top 100? Player Rater has him at 30 currently and Morton at 103. What are you seeing or not seeing that you like or don’t like? What about Javier Assad? Currently at 19 on the Player Rater?
Thank you in advance for your expert analysis!
Hey Dude,
I profiled Turnbull a few weeks back in the post-300 piece that I wrote up. I think I said it there – I want to see that he has the return to form from when he was successful with the Tigers before I move him up anywhere. Health has been an issue too, so guys like that need more time to watch to see if their comeback (or improvement) is legit – apps that they’re not one hard slider away from blowing out the arm again.
I’m stubborn on Morton for sure, and there are a few others that are also due to drop a bit over the next week or two. Part of the Morton thing is his team and that top 3 offense giving him enough support to pick up a dub even if he doesn’t have his best stuff.
Still early, but some guys need to show consistency for sure or they’ll be sliding quite a bit sooner than later (looking at you, Hunter Brown! Haha).
Are we buying low on Blake Snell? His velocity hasn’t dipped and his X sabermetrics are screaming positive regressions.
Snell also won’t have a matchup the Dodgers until after the all star break.
Could you see trading Bellinger for Snell if in need of pitching?
That’s a fair deal for sure, especially if you have a strong enough OF to lose Bellinger.
Snell’s BB numbers last year are no secret. I think the walks will always be there, but I’d say buying low on him is a solid bet. The fact that his velocity is still up is another checkmark on the buy low list.
George Kirby is another buy low if you have someone in your league that sees doom and gloom in such a small sample size.
This morning, Grey mentioned Pepiot as another buy low candidate. I’m in on that too.
What does Ranger Suarez have to do to get some love? ;)
Change his name to Kevin Gausman?
Haha!
Seriously he’s due for a boost. Last game was solid as well & I probably should’ve moved him up a bit this week too. I just can’t get away from the Whitlock/Crochet obsession for now. Lol.
Hi MumosDad.
I was so excited to be the first to answer a question for the week. I am very much looking forward to your input after the first few days of the season. I have to constantly remind my self that it is marathon and and not a 100M dash.
Looking forward to your review of my staff and any possible moves.
SP: Burnes, Skubal,Nola, Wheeler, Cole Ragans and GreyRod
Streamer: Kutter, Cristopher Sanchez, Casey Mize and Crockett
RP: Hunter Harvay and Shelby Miller
My only move was to waive Manaea and pick up Shelby Miller. Was that a good move?
I thought of picking up Jose Butto but thought to wait for your input on picking up Butto
Another possibility is to pick up Yariel Rodrquez. However he is not available in my yahoo league until he makes two more appearances. Would that be a good move when available?
I think that I should waive Nola to improve my regular batting order. Do you agree?
My Current team is the following:
C: Gabriel Moreno with Sean Murphy on IL
1B: Spencer Torkelson with Rhys Hoskins as backup
2B: Marcus Semien with Ketel Marte as backup
3B: Nolan Gorman and Ryan McMahon
SS: Jackson Merrill
LF: Lourdes Gurriel with Jarren Duran as backup
CF Jurren Duran with Cedric Muillins, Jackson Merrill and Brandon Nimmo as backups
RF:Jorge Soler in RF and no backup
DH: Katel Marte:
I thought of trading Nola for Riley or Lindor but just could not pull the trigger. The manager who has Riley is currently in first. I suppose that I could offer Kutter for Lindor. Kuttor had a good day today.
Any input as to possible moves or hold would be much appreciated!!!!!
Martin!
Lots there to digest for sure so I hope this all makes sense.
First off, I’d look to boost your OF with a Nola trade. He still has good value, especially since he’s a big name arm. You should be able to get a decent OF to boost your offense or a couple of medium talent pieces on return. Don’t flat out drop him.
Your other starters are great. I like the idea of flipping Nola for a hitter (or two) and sliding Kutter right into that open spot.
The Manaea for Shelby isn’t bad either. It’s lateral but you look like you could use some relief help so it makes sense to cut Manaea for a guy like Shelby.
Butto I can honestly say I haven’t watched much so take it with a grain of salt – I don’t think he’s a difference maker, but I did read this morning that his manager said he’s sticking in the rotation after his last start was a good one.
That brings us to Yariel. First off, I have a bias here because I’m a Jays fan AND what I’d predicted in Keelin’s AL Only preview on our YouTube channel is starting to come to fruition.
I said that I could see Manoah getting 3 starts (he didn’t even last that long) then have the Jays turn to someone else like Nate Pearson while they stretched out Yariel in the minors to eventually take that 5th SP spot by mid-May. It was Bowden Francis and not Pearson but it looks like it’s happening.
I’d monocle (watch list) Yariel for sure. His innings the last couple of years haven’t been great so he may not throw a lot this year, but the innings he does throw could be really good. Tiedemann hasn’t exactly come out like gangbusters either, so I can see them giving Yariel some time to prove he belongs on the rotation.
Whew! Hope that novel helps! Ha.
What a cool response. You have made my day! Thanks for providing so much actionable input!!!
Any ideas on any OF’s to get?
You’re the best!!
I’d check out the Trade Analyzer (it’s in our drop down up above).
Some names that look close to the value that Nola has (at least according to that tool) were Arozarena, Michael Harris, and Trout. Although Trout’s hot start might make it tough to reel him in. Ha
Great suggestions!
Funny you mention Trout. His owner just offered to trade Volpe and I would send him Wheeler. I was going to reject that trade.Do you agree?
What are your thoughts on trading Nola who I have for Trout?
Thanks again so much!!
i could throw in Mullins.
Interesting?
thanks so much!!
The Nola for Trout offer is more than fair straight up. I think Nola’s value on the trade analyzer is around $23 and Trout is $17 and change(?).
You could ask for another piece depending on how much he values Trout, but straight up isn’t a bad offer for sure. If the other owner is looking for an SP, you could try to package Nola and a lesser piece for Trout and a reliever upgrade maybe.
Thanks so much!