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 “prev” column. They may be a bit off this week.
Let’s see how the SP landscape has changed since last week:
| Rank | Player | Prev | Best | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clayton Kershaw | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Jake Arrieta | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Noah Syndergaard | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 4 | Madison Bumgarner | 11 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | Chris Sale | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Jose Fernandez | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| 7 | Stephen Strasburg | 7 | 7 | 12 |
| 8 | Max Scherzer | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Jacob DeGrom | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 10 | Carlos Carrasco | 19 | 9 | 19 |
| 11 | Corey Kluber | 8 | 8 | 11 |
| 12 | Johnny Cueto | 26 | 26 | 30 |
| 13 | Jon Lester | 17 | 17 | 19 |
| 14 | David Price | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| 15 | Matt Harvey | 12 | 12 | 13 |
| 16 | Steven Matz | 23 | 23 | 27 |
| 17 | Aaron Nola | 36 | 36 | 48 |
| 18 | Zack Greinke | 15 | 14 | 17 |
| 19 | Danny Salazar | 21 | 21 | 23 |
| 20 | Yu Darvish | 32 | 32 | 44 |
| 21 | Jose Quintana | 28 | 28 | 39 |
| 22 | Justin Verlander | 30 | 28 | 31 |
| 23 | John Lackey | 65 | 54 | 67 |
| 24 | Rich Hill | 56 | 48 | 105 |
| 25 | Kyle Hendricks | 61 | 47 | 61 |
| 26 | Carlos Martinez | 27 | 23 | 27 |
| 27 | Masahiro Tanaka | 39 | 37 | 39 |
| 28 | Chris Archer | 14 | 14 | 16 |
| 29 | Cole Hamels | 20 | 20 | 21 |
| 30 | Gerrit Cole | 13 | 13 | 14 |
| 31 | Lance McCullers | 43 | 36 | 43 |
| 32 | Taijuan Walker | 29 | 29 | 50 |
| 33 | Kevin Gausman | 68 | 53 | 72 |
| 34 | Jeff Samardzija | 63 | 55 | 78 |
| 35 | Aaron Sanchez | 69 | 51 | 236 |
| 36 | Drew Pomeranz | 57 | 52 | 172 |
| 37 | Matt Shoemaker | 81 | 81 | 124 |
| 38 | Michael Fulmer | 59 | 59 | 254 |
| 39 | James Paxton | 121 | 81 | 121 |
| 40 | Danny Duffy | 142 | 127 | 142 |
| 41 | Jameson Taillon | 64 | 64 | 188 |
| 42 | Blake Snell | 65 | 62 | 85 |
| 43 | Joe Ross | 31 | 31 | 35 |
| 44 | Steven Wright | 73 | 73 | 222 |
| 45 | Sonny Gray | 25 | 25 | 29 |
| 46 | Jake Odorizzi | 34 | 34 | 43 |
| 47 | Tanner Roark | 53 | 53 | 142 |
| 48 | Felix Hernandez | 16 | 16 | 18 |
| 49 | Dallas Keuchel | 18 | 15 | 18 |
| 50 | Jason Hammel | 60 | 50 | 68 |
| 51 | Chris Tillman | 107 | 100 | 129 |
| 52 | Julio Teheran | 57 | 57 | 116 |
| 53 | Drew Smyly | 22 | 22 | 33 |
| 54 | Marcus Stroman | 25 | 20 | 26 |
| 55 | Kenta Maeda | 54 | 35 | 63 |
| 56 | Jordan Zimmermann | 40 | 40 | 53 |
| 57 | Vincent Velasquez | 37 | 37 | 72 |
| 58 | Jaime Garcia | 38 | 31 | 38 |
| 59 | Marco Estrada | 67 | 67 | 91 |
| 60 | CC Sabathia | 237 | 230 | 237 |
| 61 | Jon Gray | 77 | 77 | 144 |
| 62 | Gio Gonzalez | 58 | 55 | 58 |
| 63 | Anthony DeSclafani | 110 | 80 | 110 |
| 64 | Julio Urias | 101 | 77 | 117 |
| 65 | Carlos Rodon | 63 | 39 | 63 |
| 66 | Mike Leake | 68 | 68 | 127 |
| 67 | Rick Porcello | 62 | 51 | 70 |
| 68 | Nathan Eovaldi | 87 | 67 | 94 |
| 69 | Michael Wacha | 61 | 45 | 61 |
| 70 | Adam Wainwright | 64 | 22 | 84 |
| 71 | Eduardo Rodriguez | 55 | 37 | 68 |
| 72 | Alex Reyes | 330 | 330 | 330 |
| 73 | Tyler Glasnow | 66 | 66 | 86 |
| 74 | Josh Hader | 331 | 331 | 331 |
| 75 | Josh Tomlin | 75 | 72 | 87 |
| 76 | Jerad Eickhoff | 60 | 45 | 70 |
| 77 | Nate Karns | 77 | 63 | 93 |
| 78 | Michael Pineda | 78 | 24 | 82 |
| 79 | Hisashi Iwakuma | 79 | 40 | 79 |
| 80 | Wei-Yin Chen | 80 | 53 | 80 |
| 81 | Ian Kennedy | 81 | 56 | 81 |
| 82 | Archie Bradley | 82 | 82 | 135 |
| 83 | Collin McHugh | 83 | 59 | 88 |
| 84 | J.A. Happ | 84 | 72 | 90 |
| 85 | Adam Conley | 85 | 72 | 120 |
| 86 | Junior Guerra | 329 | 329 | 329 |
| 87 | Jimmy Nelson | 87 | 85 | 111 |
| 88 | Scott Kazmir | 80 | 66 | 80 |
| 89 | Bartolo Colon | 89 | 89 | 143 |
| 90 | Edinson Volquez | 90 | 56 | 95 |
| 91 | Yordano Ventura | 91 | 50 | 91 |
| 92 | Joe Musgrove | 92 | 92 | 332 |
| 93 | Alex Cobb | 93 | 92 | 101 |
| 94 | Zack Wheeler | 94 | 93 | 103 |
| 95 | Tyson Ross | 95 | 44 | 95 |
| 96 | Matt Moore | 96 | 56 | 113 |
| 97 | Trevor Bauer | 97 | 97 | 136 |
| 98 | Jeremy Hellickson | 98 | 88 | 153 |
| 99 | Patrick Corbin | 99 | 31 | 99 |
| 100 | Doug Fister | 147 | 133 |
Notes
– Small shifts in the Top 20 with Jon Lester finally getting the respect he deserves. David Price drops a little given his inconsistency and Matt Harvey has overcome his mechanical issues + changed his approach to be the ace that he should have been from the get-go
– The biggest change is the investment of upside candidates in the Top 40. Given how volatile the majority of pitchers have been this season, the gap of value between players at around the #30 mark all the way to the 60s and 70s is much smaller than in previous seasons. This means it’s best to invest in heavy upside players who have displayed some consistency and keep churning through the options until players stick. Matt Shoemaker, James Paxton, Michael Fulmer, and Danny Duffy are pitching like aces and have the stuff to back it up, giving them huge bumps. While they could easily fall off over the next few weeks, they are worth the investment at this point.
– Both Jameson Taillon and Blake Snell are getting calls back to the majors this week (Taillon is not 100% but Gerrit Cole will almost certainly head to the DL) and both are looking to make major impacts in the months ahead.
– Given their lack of upside and inability to maintain a previously believed high floor, weak strikeout guys including Jordan Zimmermann, Jaime Garcia, and Marcus Stroman took major hits past #50 this week.
– CC Sabathia has been on of the biggest surprises in the past month and it would be silly to overlook his production as he’s dominated despite a rough schedule.
– Anthony DeSclafani is back and while there is still questions about his ceiling and floor, you may as well run with him given the huge number of question marks behind him.
– Eduardo Rodriguez hasn’t looked as strong as I hoped out of the gate, and I worry if his ceiling will be hit any time soon.