The List Update: Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list list_id=”14789″ season=”2018″ include_stats=”1″]

Every Monday during the season, 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 2018 and as a tool to gauge trade value in your fantasy leagues.

The baseball season hasn’t begun yet, but plenty has changed since I released my rankings in early February.

Let’s talk about how the SP landscape has changed:

• I went plenty of the major changes in last week’s mini-update, including the fall of Jose Berrios, swapping of Luis Severino and Noah Syndergaard and why I’m not a fan of Chris Archer…
• …but I changed slightly on a few guys since then. I found myself reaching a little farther than #50 on Lucas Giolito where I wanted to chase him right above Jake Faria. There are times where it feels like a pitcher is ready to breakout and with Giolito and Faria trending differently during the spring (I know, it’s the spring!), I feel it’s better to get Giolito one round earlier than Faria, where you can still get both on your roster.
• The worst part about making this list is figuring out what to do with injured players. Instead of demoting them to a default end ranking, I elect to wade through the troubling waters of their trade value, and I’ve slotted Madison Bumgarner right after his teammate Johnny Cueto but before the upside targets of Giolito and Faria.
• The same goes for Jeff Samardzija, who will also be missing a good chunk of time to start the year. His ceiling is lower than Bumgarner’s though, making him fall to #58.
• Jack Flaherty shoots up the ranks as he has a firm job in St. Louis with Adam Wainwright’s injury. Not the same instant upside as players like Sean Manaea and Patrick Corbin due to a questionable heater, but he deserves your love in a 12-teamer, moreso than my other late fliers like Joe Musgrove and Reynaldo Lopez.
• Don’t sleep on Chris Stratton, Mike Minor, and Jake Junis as well, who have rotation spots and hints that their stuff could dictate very serviceable 12-teamer arms. Worst case, you can always get an “innings eater” type like Zach Davies, Tanner Roark, or Marco Estrada if it doesn’t work out.
• Marco Gonzales and Nate Karns join The List as they have had impressive springs to earn their rotation spots. I’m still skeptical that it will carry over in the regular season – Karns underwent TOS and while I loved him before his injury last season, that’s a tough hill to climb, while Gonzales’ consistency is heavily in question – but they deserve your attention now.
• Other pitchers joining The List this week include Felix Hernandez, Cole Hamels, Mike Foltynewicz, Trevor Williams, Chad Kuhl, and Matt Harvey. I’m in the camp that Felix and Hamels will continue to trend down, but there’s still hope as veterans that they can figure it out. Foltynewicz is a PEAS and I have little hope that he’ll suddenly turn the corner, Williams was productive at the end of last season but lacks the stuff to make a major jump in the rankings, Kuhl is the opposite – a hard heater and great slider – but nothing else and it pulls him down. I have no faith that Harvey will pull off a stable season ahead, but at this point you could do worse than hoping for lightning to strike.