Two Startapalooza, Week 8: It’s A Trap!

Hoo doggy, we’ve got some slim pickins this week. And not like Slim Pickens from Dr. Strangelove, because he’s actually fun. The pickins in Two Startapalooza this week consist mostly of Tier 4 and 5 bottom feeders. Although, now that I think about it, riding with one of those guys is a bit like Slim Pickens riding that bomb to his doom. The top three tiers this week hold a grand total of 10 double dippers, most of which are already owned unless you’re in an extremely shallow league. Even Tier 4 is pretty sketchy this week, though. And not “draw me like one of your French girls” type of sketchy, more like an Etch A Sketch drawing from an elderly woman who’s also working a Shake Weight. There are a few permissible options that we’ll get to, but realize that if you’re in a shallow league you might be better off going with your Single Start Studs over these Double Dipping Ding Dongs. Mmm…Ding Dongs.

• Jose Berrios (MIN) – It’s been a rocky road for Berrios owners so far, albeit with far fewer calories than the ice cream of the same name. In fact, you’ve probably burned through a fair bit of calories shouting at his putrid box scores recently. Between 4/24 and 5/10 (4 GS) he posted an 8.84 ERA with a 1.75 WHIP and 11:8 K:BB ratio over 18.1 innings. His problem appeared to be the curveball, as his whiffs on his biggest pitch were vanishing. He even failed to record a single whiff on 17 curveballs against the Angels on his 5/10 start. He took to the video room and spoke with teammates to see what was going on in his delivery to cause this. He seemed to have gotten away from using his powerful lower half properly, and in his last start it seems to have been corrected. Berrios struck out 10 Cardinals with one walk over 7.1 innings, yielding one lone run on just two hits. That’s about as good as you could ask for. He gets a pair of decent matchups this week against the Tigers and Mariners, who don’t strike out much but aren’t overall overwhelming. Sale and Cole he is not, but he’s a step above Tier 2.

• Walker Buehler (LAD) – Not a lot going on here in Tier 2. Happ rounded back into form in his last start after two duds, but his date with the Angels is enough to keep me from pushing him to Tier 1. Pivetta’s 11 strikeout game against the Orioles should finally be enough to convince everyone that he’s legit, but he’s got rough matchups this week. Walker Buehler, on the other hand, has two of the best matchups you could hope for. The Rockies on the road have been very timid this year (27th road wOBA), and you’re streaming everybody you can get your hands on to face the Padres right now. Buehler’s 11.33 K/9 is really inflated if you consider his subpar 8.4% swinging strike rate and 27.6% O-swing%. That said, the Padres have the worst K% against RHP in the league this year at 26.9%, so we could see that strikeout rate hold for another week.

• Jameson Taillon (PIT) – Taillon had his 5/11 start cut short due to a finger laceration. Everyone on the team got in a line and peed on his finger though, I guess, and he was good to go for his next start against the White Sox. He was just ok. He hasn’t quite been able to take his game to that next level this year like it looked as though he may early on in April, but he’s proven to be a pretty reliable option nevertheless. The Reds and Cardinals should provide little in the way of resistance this week overall, even if he doesn’t get you quite as many strikeouts as you’d like from a Tier 3 starter.

• Jeremy Hellickson (WSH) – I’m going full Admiral Ackbar here – this feels like a trap. Hellickson has a 2.20 ERA over six starts (32.2 IP) with a 0.55 HR/9 compared to his career rate of 1.28. He does have a career-high 48.3% GB% though, and these things could be attributed to him doubling the usage of his curveball from a year ago. The curve is netting 74% grounders and a .188 batting average against, very solid numbers. He’s tossing a career-low 36% fastballs, and so far it’s all worked. He also has two superb matchups with the Padres at home and the Marlins in that gigantic cave they have in Miami. It all lines up just a little too perfectly. It’s too good to be true. Would I stream him if I needed a deep league double dipper? Absolutely. But still, it’s Jeremy frickin Hellickson, and he loves nothing more than blowing up your ratios. Maybe I’m just paranoid.

• Ian Kennedy (KC) – I want to like Ian Kennedy, I really do. Mostly because I’m a huge Resident Evil 2 fan, and Leon Kennedy was awesome in that game. They share a last name, you see. Sadly, Ian doesn’t wear a cool leather jacket or shoot zombies. All he does is give up dingers. He’s in the top 20 in MLB in HR/9 at 1.53. This marks the fourth straight year he has had a 1.50+ HR/9, and it’s just really damn hard to be a successful starter when you’re serving up all those long balls. He also has a a 40% hard contact allowed, 13th worst among qualified starters. The Cardinals and Rangers are good matchups, but can he take advantage of them? There’s a reason he’s in Tier 5.

All starters are projected for two starts as of Friday evening.

You can find Dokken on Twitter @NathanDokken