Fantasy Baseball: Daily Pitcher Rankings (May 29th)

By Muntradamus

 

BEAST DOME NATION.
Welcome back to everyone’s favorite article.  Check to see where your pitchers are ranked, and of course feel free to play DRAFTSTREET baseball for the chance to use my knowledge for your financial gain.  There will be good DRAFTSTREET advice that comes out later in the afternoon for the 7:00 PM Est games.

 

DAILY DRAFTSTREET TEAM (May 29th):

C: Mike Napoli
1B: Garrett Jones
2B: Jason Kipnis
3B: Mark Trumbo
SS: Alexei Ramirez
OF: Michael Brantley
OF: Nelson Cruz
OF: Jay Bruce
UTI: Asdrubal Cabrera
UTI: Adrian Gonzalez

SP: Anibal Sanchez
SP: Ryan Vogelsong
RP: Heath Bell
SP: Justin Masterson

DAILY PITCHER RANKINGS (May 29th):

 

ELITE STARTERS:

 

1. RYAN VOGELSONG VS. AZ

Vogel is a legitimate fantasy pitcher.  He owns a career 2.54 ERA against the Diamondbacks in 4 starts, and is sporting a 1.32 home ERA this season.  Chris Young and Ryan Roberts have hit HR’s off of Ryan before, but I do not expect them to be so fortunate in this one.

2. JEFF SAMARDZIJA VS. SD

The Padres offense is starting to get some fire power, thanks to the emergence of Will Venable.  Jeff has been amazing at home with a 1.52 ERA, and is pitching well enough, as his last bad start was April 19th.  He should get the W in this one.  Watch out for Chase Headley who is coming off of a multi HR game.

 

3. JUSTIN VERLANDER @ BOS

Verlander is as solid as they come, and he can be trusted in nearly every start.  The Red Sox offense is much better when they are at home than on the road, but their offense is injured and not playing well.  Justin had an 8 INN shutout opening day against Boston.  I do not expect the same results, but his career 2.78 ERA against the Red Sox is a good sample of what you are going to get.  David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis have had success against Justin.

 

4. ANIBAL SANCHEZ VS. WAS

Anibal is coming off of a surprisingly awful start against the Giants that got their offense going.  The game was also at home which could have you a bit worried about this one.  However Carlos Zambrano was in a very similar situation coming off of a bad start, and was simply good enough to beat Washington.  With Sanchez owning a 2.10 ERA in 18 starts with a 7-0 record against Washington.  I will take my chances, especially at home.  If the Nats are going to make something happen, it will be Ryan Zimmerman or Ian Desmond who have had previous success.  Possibly the hot Bryce Harper.  Also worth noting that Sanchez held the Nations to 2 ER in 7 INN with 8 Ks on April 21st.

 

5. JUSTIN MASTERSON VS. KC

Masterson is a master at home.  In his 6 starts, only one of them was not of quality.  Kansas City may have some momentum going after seeing Eric Hosmer hit a HR to join the hot Billy Butler.  However, Masterson may be too good.  Alex Gordon has had the most success against Masterson, but he is not nearly hot enough to be a factor.

 

 

GOOD STARTERS:

 

6. HOMER BAILEY @ PIT

Bailey has his strikeout pitching.  He faced the Yankees and the Braves, totaled 13 Ks.  The Pirates are at least three tiers behind those teams, so Bailey should be more than fine.  He also owns a 1.94 ERA, and a 5-0 record in 7 starts against Pittsburgh.  Andrew McCutchen and his career .353 average against Bailey will have to carry them.  Garrett Jones and Rod Barajas are slowly starting to pick it up.

 

7. RICKY ROMERO VS. BAL

Romero is having a lot of control issues right now.  He is coming off a 7 BB walk performance, and he is on pace for a career high.  However there is good news, he knows how to control it better at home.  His ERA in his career against the Orioles is 3.10, and his ERA at home is 3.09.  I think we may see a correlation here.  I am ready to see a Mark Reynolds HR in this one, he is hot and has great history against Ricky.  Despite the HR, J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones may not be able to do enough to make this one go bad for Ricky.

 

8. JAMES SHIELDS VS. CWS

The White Sox offense just got shut down by Matt Moore.  That should bode well for Shields to have a strong game, but he will have to be looking out for the hot Adam Dunn.  Shields has been bad against the Sox in his career with an ERA over 4.70, and that worries me especially with Rios, Beckham, and Ramirez all having success against Jamie.

9. EDWIN JACKSON @ MIA

Edwin is pitching pretty well right now, and his road ERA is more than fine at 3.23.  The Marlins have a very hot Giancarlo Stanton, which is always dangerous.  Besides Giancarlo, Logan Morrison, Jose Reyes, and Hanley Ramirez are having their moments.  Still none of them get me overly excited, and I expect Edwin to be okay, but most likely miss out on the QS.  John Buck is a good sleeper who has taken Edwin deep before.

 

10. DAN HAREN VS. NYY

Haren proved he may be back this season after his career high 14 K performance at Seattle.  The Yankee bats are as hot as people would expect them to be coming into this one, and that could spell trouble for Dan.  In his career he owns a 3.43 ERA against NY, and I would expect that number to rise as there are not a lot of safe outs on this team.

 

 

RISKY STARTERS:

11. DANIEL BARD VS. DET

The Tigers offense is not as hot as they could be at this point of the season.  They do not have the rhythm to win games solely off of their offense, and Daniel Bard will look to keep that theme rolling with his 3.00 home ERA.  The Tigers do have some hitter heating up, but I expect Bard to hold down the fort as no player has dominated against him.  Though Miguel Cabrera has hit a HR in 5 ABs.

 

12. NATHAN EOVALDI VS. MIL

Guess whose back.  Back again.  Evoaldi is back.  Tell a friend.  Nathan at times last season had mixed league quality stuff.  He could get the job done more effectively than you think, and with Jonathan Lucroy out he catches a little break.  Nate did pitch against the Brewers last season, he allowed 2 ER in 6 INN.  A similar star would not be out of the ordinary.

 

13. ANDY PETTITTE @ LAA

Andy has been great as of late allowing only 2 ER in his last 15 INN.  He also has 17 Ks over that span.  Now he faces his first road start of the season, and it is against an Angels team that is starting to hit the ball very well.  Although Andy has been great, I expect all the Angels to get after him in this one.  Especially the hot Albert Pujols.

 

14. JAKE ARRIETA @ TOR

Jake has been excellent on the road this season with a 2.77 ERA.  He has slowed down a hot Nationals team, and the Yankees on the road in his last two starts.  The Blue Jays definitely have a lot of hot hitters which makes me uncomfortable thinking Jake is going to have a solid game.  He owns a career 3.80 ERA against Toronto in 4 starts, I expect that number to jump over 4.00 when this game is all said and done.  J.P. Arencibia is HOT, and we all know what Edwin Encarnacion does the game after he hits a HR.

 

15. PHILIP HUMBER @ TB

Humber has been terrible on the road with a 5.09 ERA.  The Rays offense is not exactly on fire, but you cannot really trust Humber with confidence.  In his career he has a 3.78 ERA against Tampa, I expect one of the lefties of Carlos Pena or Luke Scott to make something happen.

 

16. SCOTT FELDMAN VS. SEA

Feldman has still not reached the 5 INN mark this season.  Seattle is a team he has struggled against, in his last start he gave up 5 ER in 4.1 INN to them.  To trust Scott is a tough move to make, but he is a good pitcher at home with a 1.80 ERA.  The key for him will to last 5 INN.

 

17. CHARLIE MORTON VS. CIN

Morton has been nearly perfect at home this season with a 2.90 ERA.  However he did have trouble against the Reds where he gave up 4 ER in 6 INN, at home.  In that game both Todd Frazier, and Drew Stubbs hit HR’s.  With Joey Votto and Jay Bruce coming in hot, this could get ugly for Morton.

 

18. JAKE WESTBROOK @ ATL

There is no way you can say with confidence, “Jake Westbrook is pitching well.”  He is restoring to his old form with 13 ER in his last three starts.  Now he travels to Atlanta to face a team he has  a career 4.03 ERA against.  No active player has  a HR against him, and he will need to depend on that to get by in this one.  The good news is, he should get run support.

 

19. JARROD PARKER @ MIN

Parker has been up and down this season, and now faces a team he could have success against.  The Twins offense is not as bad as everyone thinks, and with Parker really struggling in his last road start, I could see this one going bad.  The Twins have a very hot Justin Morneau, Denard Span, and Joe Mauer.  That spells trouble.

 

20. MICHAEL FIERS @ LAD

Fiers has not allowed an ER in his major league career.   Which has only been 2 INN.  The Dodgers offense is not as hot as it once was, but they could come alive at any point.  Would I trust Fiers to throw a good game, definitely not.  Would I be surprised if he managed a QS, definitely not.  A.J. Ellis seems to be heading in the right direction and could do some damage in this one.

 

BAD STARTERS:

21. JOE SAUNDERS @ SF

Saunders got creamed by SF last time they played May 13th, and he has not had  QS since May 2nd.  I would say avoid Joe with confidence in this one.  Buster Posey and Brett Pill are the two Giants who have hit HR’s, everyone else has hit him well.  Melky Cabrera is very hot coming into this one.

 

22. JASON VARGAS @ TEX

Right away, I do not like this start.  The Rangers offense is too good for Jason, especially with him on the road where his ERA is 4.36.  Right now nearly all Ranger batters are ready to launch HR’s, and that alone scares off his owners.

 

23. RANDALL DELGADO VS. STL

No way anyone can be excited to see Randall Delgado take the hill.  Unless you are a Cardinals fan, or own one of the hitters on your fantasy team.  Delgado has turned in back-to-back terrible starts, and there is no reason he will turn it around against one of the best offenses in the NL.  Randall does own a 1.80 ERA off of his one start against the Cards last season, that is unlikely to happen again.

 

24. JOE BLANTON @ NYM

Blanton pitched against the Mets earlier this season, and fell apart in the end.  He has been terrible in his last two starts allowing 13 ER in 8.2 INN.  Blanton has also been horrible on the road with a 5.40 ERA.  Bottom line, avoid Blanton.  If you want a good sleeper Mets hitter, look no further than Ike Davis.

 

25. ERIC STULTS @ CHC

Stults comes into this game with a lot of momentum only giving up 2 ER in his last 11.2 INN.  The Cubs offense may have hit a step in the right direction Monday to get all of their offense going.  The key for Chicago is Bryan LaHair, and to see him get three hits, along with four other Cubs homering.  Two of who include the hot Starlin Castro and Alfonso Soriano.  This is not looking like a promising start for Eric.

 

 

26. COLE DE VRIES VS. OAK

The A’s offense has cooled down, but Cole should be the recipe to get them going again.  Josh Reddick still has some mojo in his bat, and I expect Jemile Weeks to breakout at any point.  De Vries is not only close to a name of a community college, his first start was not a success allowing 3 ER in 5 INN, but 6 runs did come across.

 

27. JEREMY HEFNER VS. PHI

Hefner proved in his last start that he is better off as a reliever.  He shut down the Padres in the first two INN, than a rain delay, and then the wheels fell off.  The Phillies offense is not scorching right now, but they should easily find ways to get the job done against Hef.

 

28. WILL SMITH @ CLE

I can’t believe the Royals have no better arms than Will Smith.  After getting smacked around by the Yankees, there is no reason to believe he will not get smacked around again.  The Indians offense have a hot Michael Brantley, and Jason Kipnis who should be ready for some damage.  I would stay away from Will in this one.