Every Monday, I will be releasing “The List” where I rank the current value of the Top 100 pitchers in fantasy baseball for the rest of the season. Use these rankings to help understand what to expect from pitchers for the rest of 2016, and as a tool to gauge trade value in your fantasy leagues.
Note: We’re working on fixing the “change” and “prev” columns. Please ignore them this week.
Let’s see how the SP landscape has changed since last week:
[the-list]
Notes
– Carlos Carrasco takes a fall due to his hamstring injury. The timetable is still unknown, forcing me to conservatively put him at the backend of the Top 20. Stephen Strasburg and Corey Kluber move in to fill the void as both pitchers are hitting their stride come the end of April.
– I was anticipating myself giving Chris Archer a sizeable drop, yet the pitchers behind him haven’t been producing the performances that would dictate a leap over Archer’s low xFIP and high K/9.
– Young lefties Drew Smyly and Steven Matz are climbing up to comfortable spots inside the Top 25. Smyly is performing at a high level against sizeable AL Beast teams, while Matz is cruising after a very unfortunate 2016 debut. I expect both to provide huge dividends as the season continues.
– It’s time to acknowledge that I was a bit too high on Marcus Stroman during the pre-season, as it may take longer than expected for Stroman to present his strikeout upside. I still expect him to improve deeper into the season, though at this time he shouldn’t be expected to provide strikeout upside.
– Michael Pineda took a good fall as he simply can’t avoid the longball. It should iron itself out in the future, but the short-term could be more of the same.
– Jose Quintana has picked up where he’s left off, easily earning himself a Top 30 spot as both Garrett Richards and Patrick Corbin take steps back as their command needs a little more polishing.
– Speaking of which, it’s tough to endorse Adam Wainwright after he squeaked out a mediocre start against the weak Padres. I understand stashing him on the bench for the time being, but if you need the roster spot it’s safe to drop Waino.
– I’ve been impressed with Taijuan Walker and Jordan Zimmermann enough to give them decent leaps into the Top 45.
– Hector Santiago continues to impress with his extra velocity and deserves a pickup where he’s available. It’s certainly possible he’ll slow down in the second half, but ride that wave until it ends.
– Another surprise has been Edinson Volquez who is starting to realize some of his strikeout upside. I’m not sold it will carry through the full year, but he’s been very productive thus far.
– Brandon Finnegan takes a tumble as his control seems too wonky to trust heavily at this time. The upside is there, though the risk is sitting right beside it.
– Atlanta Braves pitcher Aaron Blair joins the party as he was called in to take on the Mets. I don’t see the huge upside that other prospect pitchers hold, though he can be quite serviceable in the NL Easy as an Aaron Nola–lite.
– Tanner Roark, Derek Holland, and Mike Leake also entered the Top 100 today. Roark had a stunning performance against the Twins that forces owners to see what happens, Holland is a decent stream here and there, while Leake has occasional upside that can help out often.
– Making room for the new additions are Clay Buchholz, Ubaldo Jimenez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Anibal Sanchez. Buchholz is presenting too much risk without the reward, Jimenez’s days as a consistent threat to put up a great start are dwindling, Ryu had yet another setback in his injury rehab, and Anibal is looking as poor as ever.