[pitcher_list_new list_id=”29339″]

Fringe Starters

Pitcher Why They Missed The Cut Julio Teheran The actual last one cut. He starts today in Coors and I’m already anticipating a poor outing there. Maybe next week. Sean Newcomb Still terrible secondary stuff. Had a great start, but didn’t make any strides to made me a believer. Yonny Chirinos I don’t believe he’ll be without an opener for long + he has a low IPS and is a bit too volatile to recommend. Forrest Whitley He’s still a guy to stash, there are just too many guys that I wanted to fit in on The List. Justus Sheffield Same with Sheff – he’s a good stash option, but I want to focus on guys in the majors now this week. Martin Perez Spring Training velocity reports are definitely interesting but I need to see it during the season first. Dereck Rodriguez May deserve a spot as a Toby above other options, I just don’t see enough upside to make him a deserve a spot Dallas Keuchel He won’t be starting until May at the earliest and he’s not worth the stash on your roster. Vince Velasquez A massive Cherry Bomb without the clear path to working out of it with inconsistent secondary options. Carlos Rodon Still too volatile. Luke Weaver He hasn’t figured it out yet, but he could be given a mini-TIARA and turn it around right away. Andrew Heaney Shut down again with elbow trouble. That’s scary and makes his expected return even later. Jake Odorizzi Had a great first, then was atrocious. Not worth the investment as he’s a Cherry Bomb with more bad than good. Trevor Cahill He may improve as April continues, for now, I’d wait and see. Ivan Nova Just not enough upside and while he’s a decent streamer, it’s never for a high ceiling. Just not enough there.

What is happening!

It’s a new season and the weekly updates to The List have returned. I’ll be ranking the Top 100 Starting Pitchers every Monday from now until the end of the season.

Before I dive into the player notes, here are the new List features from last year’s editions:

Previous/Best/Worst columns removed These took a heavy chunk of loading time and ultimately provided very little value. The change arrows themselves are all that’s needed

Tiers added As much as I hate making tiers (When do they start and end? How big are the cliffs?), ya’ll have been asking for them and I’m here for all of you. Please understand how hard it is to accurately place them and don’t get too worked up about it.

Labels added There’s often confusion as to why a pitcher is a spot or two above or below another. These labels should help understand what each pitcher brings to the table, showing that some pitchers may be better or worse for what you need. Hover over them (or tap on mobile) to see each label’s name next to the pitcher. Ratio Focused = Their value lies in you chasing their ERA/WHIP more than strikeouts and Wins. Toby = Boring arm that doesn’t excite you, but you stare at the waiver wire and accept that he just okay enough. You don’t like that he’s around the office, but he gets his work done. Cherry Bomb = Volatile pitchers who are either “super sweet” or “blow up in your face.” Heed warning. Ace Potentia l = I define an ace as: 3.40 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 24% K rate, 6.0 IPS. It’s why you see some surprising names as having the upside of an ace.

Fringe Starters added There are always a handful of starters I badly want to add to The List but I don’t have enough room. I’ll always have this table at the end for a collection of starters – in no order – that I also heavily considered, as well as why they could be relevant This will be where IL Players will land. I’ll mention where they would slot when healthy.



Please let me know how you feel about these changes and I’m looking forward to another fun year assessing the wonderful entity that is the SP Landscape.

On to the notes! Remember, these ranks are for 12-teamers in H2H leagues.

Player Notes

(Photo by Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire)