#Fantasy baseball: Embrace these value pitchers in short season

So, we meet again.

We’re still in uncharted territory, and we’re still dealing with a pandemic. We’re still waiting for sports to return and, if you’re like me, you’re starting to stream really weird shows, like “My Strange Addiction,” where you can watch an episode highlighting an adult male and his relationship with 15 pool floats (spoiler: the giraffe float gets most of his attention).

One change: We’re figuring out the best strategies for drafting a fantasy baseball team for a (fingers crossed) 60-game season.

The key will be constructing your pitching staff. Loading up on high-end hurlers, like Jacob deGrom or Stephen Strasburg, is risky. Not only will it leave your team with big holes on offense, as those top-tier arms have big price tags, but one or two bad starts will do a lot of harm. There is little room for error in this abbreviated season, and their names and price don’t guarantee success. Loading up on non-closers will help your ratios and be cost effective, but they’re drafted to bolster your staff, not lead it. You need starters who will deliver quality innings while limiting damage.

Roto Rage believes you should load up on offense over the first several rounds before targeting cheaper pitching options for the bulk of your rotation. You could start with Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff around the seventh round.

Before being sidelined by a strained left oblique in late July last season, Woodruff was 11-3 with a 3.75 ERA, 136 strikeouts over 117 ²/₃ innings and just 29 walks. He even made his first All-Star team.

Woodruff had solid walk (6.1 percent) and strikeout (29.0 percent) rates, and an 11.6 percent swinging-strike percentage. He also had a 3.01 FIP and an inflated .320 BABIP, which indicates he got unlucky as hitters were not making a lot of hard contact against him.

If a full 162-game slate were being played, Roto Rage likely wouldn’t recommend pulling the trigger on Woodruff at his current 85.69 average draft position, according to Fantasy Alarm, but there’s so much to like about the hard-throwing Brewers ace in this kind of setting.

A look at some other mid- to late-round options to build your rotation:

Before being suspended 80 games after testing positive for a performance enhancing substance, Oakland’s Frankie Montas (107.83 ADP) allowed three earned runs or less in 15 of his 16 starts while going 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA, 1.115 WHIP, 2.2 walks per nine and 9.7 strikeouts per nine. Flamethrowing A’s teammate Jesus Luzardo (113.86) may be an even better, more intriguing option — especially with no innings limit to be concerned about.

San Diego’s Dinelson Lamet (122.43) remains a Roto Rage favorite after his 33.6 percent strikeout rate, .223 opponent average and 14.1 percent swinging strike percentage over his 14 starts in 2019.

Atlanta’s Max Fried (127.52) finished last season with a 4.02 ERA, but he also had 17 wins, a 24 percent strikeout rate, 6 percent walk rate and a 53 percent groundball rate. The 26-year-old also had a FIP (3.72) and xFIP (3.32), that indicates he was unlucky.

Kenta Maeda (165.86) — who has a career 3.87 ERA, 1.151 WHIP and 26.4 percent strikeout percentage — is no longer going to be tossed between the bullpen and the rotation. He’s a full-time starter for an up-and-coming Twins squad.

Another cheap option familiar with the IL who should benefit from the shortened schedule: Angels lefty Andrew Heaney (189.97). Before going 1-3 with an ugly 7.66 ERA and .327 opponent average in September, he was 3-3 with a 3.95 ERA, .222 opponent average and 88 strikeouts in 70 ²/₃ innings. He also recorded the lowest contact rate of his career and 11.1 strikeouts per nine. Considering he has worked more than 106 innings just once in his big-league career, making 10-13 starts should be a piece of cake.

Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller (234.55) had an unsightly 7.13 ERA, 1.833 WHIP and 3.0 walks per nine over 11 starts in 2019, but it is hard to ignore his 12.2 strikeouts per nine or the 3.19 FIP.

Other options worth a late flier on include the White Sox’s 24-year-old Tommy John surgery returnee Michael Kopech (247.00), 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello (277.40) of the Mets and Toronto’s Nate Pearson (287.35), who had a 2.19 ERA and 10.7 strikeouts per nine over three seasons in the minors.

Fantasy pitcher rankings

Starters

1. Jacob deGrom, NYM

2. Gerrit Cole, NYY

3. Max Scherzer, WAS

4. Justin Verlander, HOU

5. Walker Buehler, LAD

6. Jack Flaherty, STL

7. Stephen Strasburg, WAS

8. Shane Bieber, CLE

9. Mike Clevinger, CLE

10. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

11. Luis Castillo, CIN

12. Charlie Morton, TB

13. Patrick Corbin, WAS

14. Lucas Giolito, CWS

15. Chris Paddack, SD

16. Aaron Nola, PHI

17. Zack Greinke, HOU

18. Yu Darvish, CHC

19. Jose Berrios, MIN

20. Blake Snell, TB

21. Tyler Glasnow, TB

22. Trevor Bauer, CIN

23. Sonny Gray, CIN

24. Brandon Woodruff, MIL

25. Corey Kluber, TEX

26. Eduardo Rodriguez, BOS

27. Zack Wheeler, PHI

28. Lance Lynn, TEX

29. Mike Soroka, ATL

30. Frankie Montas, OAK

31. Shohei Ohtani, LAA

32. Hyun-Jin Ryu, TOR

33. Max Fried, ATL

34. Dinelson Lamet, SD

35. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

36. Carlos Carrasco, CLE

37. David Price, LAD

38. Zac Gallen, ARI

39. Kyle Hendricks, CHC

40. Madison Bumgarner, ARI

41. Kenta Madea, MIN

42. Matthew Boyd, DET

43. Julio Urias, LAD

44. Robbie Ray, ARI

45. James Paxton=NYY

46. Mike Minor, TEX

47. German Marquez, COL

48. Andrew Heaney, LAA

49. Sean Manaea, OAK

50. Joe Musgrove, PIT

51. Jake Odorizzi, MIN

52. Lance McCullers Jr., HOU

53. Mike Foltynewicz, ATL

54. Masahiro Tanaka, NYY

55. Luke Weaver, ARI

56. Marcus Stroman, NYM

57. Caleb Smith, MIA

58. Jose Urquidy, HOU

59. Jon Gray, COL

60. Joey Lucchesi, SD

61. Dylan Bundy, LAA

62. Mitch Keller. PIT

63. Dallas Keuchel, CWS

64. Carlos Martinez, STL

65. Yonny Chirnos. TB

66. Ryan Yarbrough, TB

67. Sandy Alcantara, MIA

68. Steven Matz, NYM

69. Michael Kopech, CWS

70. Anthony DeSclafani, CIN

71. Miles Mikjolas, STL

72. A.J. Puk, OAK

73. Garrett Richards, SD

74. Adrian Houser, MIL

75. Brendan McKay, TB

76. Cole Hamels, ATL

77. Ross Stripling, LAD

78. Dylan Cease, CWS

79. Alex Wood, LAD

80. Jeff Samardzija, SF

81. Rich Hill, MIN

82. Pablo Lopez, MIA

83. Marco Gonzales, SEA

84. Aaron Civale, CLE

85. Dustin May, LAD

86. Rick Porcello, NYM

87. Anibal Sanchez, WAS

88. Nathan Eovaldi, BOS

89. Michael Pineda, MIN

90. Griffin Canning, LAA

91. Chris Bassitt. OAK

92. John Means, BAL

93. Reynaldo Lopez, CWS

94. Dakota Hudson, STL

95. MacKenzie Gore, SD

96. Josh Lindblom, MIL

97. Freddy Peralta, MIL

98. Mike Fiers, OAK

99. Kevin Gausman, SF

100. Julio Teheran, LAA

Relievers

1. Josh Hader. MIL

2. Kirby Yates, SD

3. Aroldis Chapman, NYY

4. Liam Hendriks, OAK

5. Roberto Osuna, HOU

6. Taylor Rogers, MIN

7. Edwin Diaz, NYM

8. Brad Hand, CLE

9. Raisel Iglesias, CIN

10. Kenley Jansen, LAD

11. Ken Giles, TOR

12. Archie Bradley, ARI

13. Brandon Workman, BOS

14. Nick Anderson, TB

15. Craig Kimbrel, CHC

16. Hector Neris, PHI

17. Hansel Robles, LAA

18. Sean Doolittle, WAS

19. Alex Colome, CWS

20. Mark Melancon, ATL

21. Jose LeClerc, TEX

22. Giovanny Gallegos, STL

23. Ian Kennedy, KC

24. Will Smith, ATL

25. Joe Jiminez, DET

Team Name of the Week

The Braun Supremacy