So, how’s everyone holding up without baseball every day? I don’t know what to do with myself! Yesterday, I wandered into a Starbucks and told the coffeerista about Mike Stanton for 2012. We’ve gone over the final 2011 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters and the top 20 starters. There’s only one of these godforsaken recap posts left before we’re into 2012 fantasy shizz. You’re welcome. Anyway, here’s the top 40 starters for 2011 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
21. Madison Bumgarner – Trying to find some info that hasn’t been reported before, I decided to look at some of Bumgarner’s splits vs. his NL West opponents. I figured he would’ve dominated them and I was going to conclude Giants pitchers are can’t misses because of their most-faced opponents. Against the Padres (4.24 ERA in 23 1/3 IP), Dodgers (4.11 in 30 2/3 IP!) and Arizona (4.26 in 12 2/3 IP) — hey, metaphorical window, how about you open so I can throw a theory out? Preseason Rank #46, 2011 Projections: 12-7/3.60/1.25/140, Final Numbers: 13-13/3.21/1.21/191
22. Daniel Hudson – I had so much love for Hudson in the preseason that he kinda needed to compete for the Cy Young to please me. Instead, he produced respectable numbers but disappointed in the one category that gives me the goose pimples — Ks. His K-rate dropped from 7.93 to 6.85. Mr. Obvious, “Yeah, that’s not good.” Preseason Rank #34, 2011 Projections: 12-9/3.50/1.18/190, Final Numbers: 16-12/3.49/1.20/169
23. Hiroki Kuroda – Definitely the Rodney Dangerfield of major league starters. Kuroda could’ve been coming off 5 solid starts and I’d have people asking me in the comments if they should hold him. Hold him, squeeze him, love him. On an unrelated note, what if Chazz Palminteri became Chastity Palminteri? Or Chazz Face-Palminteri? Preseason Rank #39, 2011 Projections: 12-9/3.45/1.18/140, Final Numbers: 13-16/3.07/1.21/161
24. Johnny Cueto – I played a broken record during the season about how Cueto wasn’t a sub-2.50 ERA pitcher. Not going to play that tune again. Everyone who owned him got lucky. Let’s leave it at that. Preseason Rank #42, 2011 Projections: 12-8/3.65/1.26/160, Final Numbers: 9-5/2.31/1.09/104
25. Jeremy Hellickson – Member what I said about Cueto? No? I just said it Mr. Short-Term Memory. He got lucky. Yeah, Hellickson did too. In a huge way. 2.95 ERA vs. 4.72 xFIP and a 5.57 K-rate. Can anyone say Blechellickson? Sure, you can. It’s Hellickson with a Blec. Preseason Rank #64, 2011 Projections: 9-5/3.60/1.10/140, Final Numbers: 13-10/2.95/1.15/117
26. Ryan Vogelsong – As will be a recurring theme that won’t emerge until January of 2012, just about all of the pitchers that ended up in this top 40 that were unranked, I won’t like next year. Except Pineda. Vogelsong left a bunch of men on base, walked hitters, didn’t strike out guys… He looked like a fantasy number two but he’s really a four to five. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 13-7/2.71/1.25/139
27. Shaun Marcum – Tale of two pitchers with Marcum and Greinke. I liked both of them in the preseason and they both produced, but I still felt disappointed by their end of the year numbers. Hmm, that’s not really a tale. With Marcum, I gave some lofty expectations, telling you he was going to start the All-Star Game. Yeah, that turned out as bonkers as it sounded even at the time. I thought Marcum could step up his K-rate in the NL, instead it took a small step backwards and we were actually lucky to get the ERA we did get. It worked out; it could’ve easily backfired. Preseason Rank #33, 2011 Projections: 15-8/3.35/1.15/185, Final Numbers: 13-7/3.54/1.16/158
28. Zack Greinke – He had a 10.54 K/9 and a 2.56 xFIP. Who are you, Ricky Nolasco? How dare you try to confuse Murray Chass! Or Murray Chass Bono. Preseason Rank #17, 2011 Projections: 15-9/3.50/1.18/200, Final Numbers: 16-6/3.83/1.20/201
29. Jon Lester – One of the biggest disappointments, but at least he wasn’t Liriano. And you were wondering how long it would be until I mentioned Liriano. Hey, at least I didn’t mention Morneau. Oh, wait. Preseason Rank #7, 2011 Projections: 17-9/3.30/1.18/220, Final Numbers: 15-9/3.47/1.26/182
30. Ervin Santana – One of my misses in the preseason. I was done with him going into 2011 because of his yawnstipating 2010 and 2009. Now not to turn every square peg into a round one, I wasn’t totally wrong on Ervin. He outperformed his xFIP (3.93) by a decent amount. He did produce more ground balls and upped his K-rate ever so slightly. All in all or some other idiomatic phrase, Ervin gave us some magic. Preseason Rank #51, 2011 Projections: 13-10/4.30/1.32/150, Final Numbers: 11-12/3.38/1.22/178
31. Gio Gonzalez – In my tier of guys I kinda love for a third starter, there was Marcum, Daniel Hudson, Gio Gonzalez and Volquez. To one-up Meatloaf, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad. Seriously, everyone talks about how pitchers aren’t predictable, but I do a pretty good job of picking them out. BTW, this kinda made me laugh, in the preseason I said, “(Gio) went 13 innings over the 30 inning Verducci threshold last year, but Verducci’s a crackpot who told you to avoid F-Her, Latos and Josh Johnson in 2010.” Ha, Verducci. What a jizzie-joke. I wonder if he puts all pitchers under 25 years old on a dart board, or if he puts a picture of the pitcher on the dart and sees if he can hit the board. Preseason Rank #35, 2011 Projections: 12-8/3.60/1.28/195, Final Numbers: 16-12/3.12/1.32/197
32. Javier Vazquez – Then in my tier of guys I kinda l0ve as my fourth starter were Vazquez, Garza, Zimmermann, Hellickson and James McDonald. Quite a few hits in there too. Yeah, I did like Vazquez last preseason only to have Rudy badger me to drop him in our 12-team NL-Only league. A league where middle relievers were owned, forget about finding a starter with a rotation job. Fongool my life. Preseason Rank #61, 2011 Projections: 12-10/3.75/1.25/170, Final Numbers: 13-11/3.69/1.18/162
33. Mat Latos – On the Verducci list this year was Latos, Bumgarner, Price, Beachy and Gio Gonzalez. One of my favorite parts of the offseason is hearing how he justifies the previous year’s misses. Preseason Rank #19, 2011 Projections: 9-7/3.50/1.10/160, Final Numbers: 9-14/3.47/1.18/185
34. Kyle Lohse – I would’ve had a hard time picking up Lohse in September even after he had 5 solid months. That’s how much I trust him. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 14-8/3.39/1.17/111
35. Matt Garza – He was in my early season difference between ERA and xFIP articles that told you he was going to be much better, then he went ahead and made me look like a genius. Though I still can’t spell genius without a spellchecker. Preseason Rank #62, 2011 Projections: 12-8/3.75/1.27/165, Final Numbers: 10-10/3.32/1.26/197
36. Alexi Ogando – God, his Ks were terrible. I know, I know, it’s only one category. But they’re not. They’re a category that every other category can hinge on. Strike guys out and they don’t get on base and it lowers your ERA and WHIP and gives you a chance for Wins. Sure, there’s other ways pitchers can get hitters out, but they’re not as straightforward. I like straightforward! Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 13-8/3.51/1.14/126
37. Michael Pineda – Now he struck people out. I already went over my Michael Pineda 2012 fantasy. In that article, there’s German women dancing in lederhosen. BTW, shouldn’t more than one German be Germen? Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 9-10/3.74/1.10/173
38. Justin Masterson – I Cameron Maybin’d Masterson this year. Was all about him in 2010, but then when I should’ve actually been in on him I Mr. Bungled it. Though I did recover quickly and ended up with him on some teams because I grabbed him off waivers in April-ish. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 12-10/158/3.21/1.28
39. Cory Luebke – And with a bullet… The first hodgepadre! Earlier in this post (I think it was this post… Jesus Montero, what am I going on like 1300 words? Offseason is supposed to be easier for me, crimey a river, Timberlake), I said there’s no unranked pitchers that I will like again next year except Pineda. Luebke will probably be liked too, depending on January Grey’s mood ring color. January Grey, “I hocked my mood ring for blow.” Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 6-10/3.29/1.07/154
40. Josh Collmenter – Yeah, Collmenter wasn’t that good. An under 6 K-rate? As the French say, “Parlez vous crap.” (The French don’t say that.) Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 10-10/3.38/1.07/100
