Two Start Pitchers, Week 2: Verlander? I Don’t Even Know Her!

This is the worst week to try and figure out two-start pitchers. Nobody has rotations set with 5th starters being skipped in some places and swapped in other situations. Outside of that part of it, this may be the least affected article by overreaction to a few days. This is a streaming article at its heart anyway. You aren’t picking up Justin Verlander if you don’t already own him, so, let’s get to some early season streaming. As with wins in real baseball, or H2H leagues, every win counts and every stat counts towards that roto total.

No Doubt

Don’t speak, I know just what you’re saying. So, please stop explaining. Okay, I won’t explain. You’re starting these 5 guys if you have them. I’m not worried about Chris Sale for the season, but do think he may have to work up to the Chris Sale we know and love, so, I docked him to 4. I have Clevinger over Verlander because I like his match ups better, but that’s a coin flip for me. Tanaka isn’t always a no doubter, but with Detroit and Baltimore on the docket, he’s singing backup vocals this week.

Good Enough In a 2-Start Week

These options don’t offer the same security as the first set, but there’s still some good pitchers and nice opponents. Peacock is higher on the list than he probably should be, but I like him getting his shot at the starting spot after spending last season in the ‘pen. Even in 2017 where he split time as a starter and reliever, he had a 29.5% K rate and had a 35.3% K rate last year as a relief arm. Not overly concerned about Texas or Oakland either.

Throw Em If You Got Em

In a league with a strict innings cap or in a shallow 10 or 12 team league, I might lean toward sitting them. Happy belated birthday to Ryu who turned 32 on the 25th of the month. Ryu got off to a strong first start of the season, but I hope you play in a daily lineup league because his second start this week is in Coors. The first start is a beautiful home start against the Giants.

Ryu has 4 starts in Coors over his career, 1 in 2014, 3 in 2017. His first 2 starts in Coors were solid, but his last 2 starts have been absolute train wrecks  totaling 6 IP, 15 R, 10 ER, 7 BB, 5 K). In weekly lineup league, start him at your own risk. Hopefully by then he has done enough good for your lineup to mitigate the risk to some extent.

Basic B**ch

Nothing flashy in this category. I like Kelly, Smyly, and Beeks as guys to monitor through the season, but I don’t trust them all yet. The one guy of the bunch I do trust somewhat is Kyle Hendricks, but at Atlanta and at Milwaukee means he’s playing in 2 hitters parks against 2 good lineups. With the Ks iffy to begin with  for Hendricks, he’s a 2 starter in deeper leagues, but a bench in those shallow stream heavy ones.

Jordan Zimmermann threw 7 shutout innings with 4 Ks to start his season, but let’s just say I’m not buying into it, especially in weekly lineup leagues. The match up against Kansas City may be nice enough to take the chance he can continue his hot streak, but I don’t want any part of him in Yankee Stadium.

Well, They Have 2 Starts at Least

About all you can say for this group is that you get 2 shots at a decent outing from the group. I’m not excited about any of these guys and can’t recommend you throw them unless it’s the deepest of leagues or you’re simply chasing IP.