Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!
Each week I sit down and run through the notes I made over the last seven days. Which guys should add to the ‘jumper’ list? Which guys should be added to the ‘dumper’ list? Who should be dropped off the list? Is there anyone who should be added to the list?
Well, I think it’s time for a bit of Rage. Rage against the Woo-chine?
No, not at all.
Rage against the Manoah? Um…yes. That is certainly permissible.
After two pretty stellar starts in his last two games pitched, Alek Manoah was poised to saunter on in for the lede this week. Heck, he even garnered a $186 bid (out of $1000) in last week’s FAAB bids in TGFBI. I quipped to my fellow writers that that was a bit more than my modest $3 bid, which I thought was still pretty silly.
Then, of course, well…I think this photo of me in my classroom last October standing in front of Grey’s “Fantasy AL Least Valuable Player” write-up kind of sums it all up.
He is who we thought he was…and some of you FAAB bid him off the hook!
So, let’s not dwell on the not-so-swell in our Top 100 Starting Pitchers landscape. We need to find a name that elicits excitement…brings joy to all of our faces…and makes us want to jump off the top of a steel cage and smash through a folding table with our opponent strewn across the top of it…
Apologies to the Buffalo Bills Mafia for getting your hopes up with the “smashing through folding tables” comment.
Humans, fans, and readers of the glorious text of Razzball…I give you, Mr. Bryan Woo.
Bryan Woo in his first three starts:
15.2 IP
1 ER
2 BB
15 KHe’s looked outstanding. What an addition to our already elite rotation. pic.twitter.com/WwKwTZo8oR
— Steve (@MarinersSteve) May 22, 2024
Now I know what you’re thinking. “You sat down to write this 10 minutes before Woo started yesterday against the Nats? In Washington? Are you crazy, or do you just like to edit your write-ups multiple times every Sunday evening?”
Some of this is legitimate. Woo could get blasted this (yesterday) afternoon, and put all of this positivity in a giant bucket of slop. But bear with me for a bit.
Bryan Woo finished last season with 93 strikeouts in 87.2 IP (through 18 total starts). He jumped to the MLB roster from AA in early June and did not look out of place. I often look for strikeouts and hits allowed per inning as a couple of stats to help assess if a player looks ready for the big time. Woo’s.227 BAA through those starts was also impressive for a 23-year-old rookie.
This year? According to the Mariners’ broadcast crew, Woo has been throwing more first-pitch strikes (albeit with a heavier reliance on the sinker than on the fastball).
That fastball, which Woo throws more than half the time (51.4%), has been topping out at 94.9 MPH, and working as a pretty great complement to the sinker (22.9%) that he throws leff often, but just as hard at 94.4 MPH.
The other three pitches? The changeup, slider, and sweeper all come in for the opposing batters less than 10% of the time. But, the drop-off in speeds has caught batters off guard and has helped Woo post a nice 28.1 CWS% through three starts this year.
As Zach De La Rocha once said, “Woo I got to, Woo I got to do to wake you up?” Um…maybe throw 6 innings of 2-hit ball with 0 ER, 0 BB, and 7 K’s in New York against the Yankees?
Is that enough to raise our “Fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy?” Maybe not, and the Seattle management won’t “shake you up, to break the structure up” anytime soon either.
Today, the M’s broadcast team pointed out that Woo will be on a strict count in his starts, (likely 80–85 pitches).
So for now, I’m good with moving the Woo up in our list.
A 2-0 record through 3 starts with just one earned run allowed in total should justify the bump. The 0.54 ERA, 0.480 WHIP, and a .109 BAA are just a few of the other numbers that will help keep him there if he can continue to produce.
If you’re in a keeper league, it’s time to throw some trade offers out there before he rifles off any more of those positive starts. I wouldn’t wait for too long though.
How long? Not long. ‘Cause what you reap, is what you sow.
POST-GAME EDIT: Woo’s line from yesterday (6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – 78 pitches) wasn’t overwhelmingly good or bad.
Where exactly does Woo land in his big jump up the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list?
Well, before we get to the list, I need to plug a couple of things for y’all first. If you want to check the spot I usually have open when flipping through my information on Sunday afternoons, you’re looking for that Player Rater leaderboard. This is always a great resource to use if you’re doing research. A bit of this, and a splash of that goes into the prep work for our weekly Top 100 Starting Pitchers list.
Of course, if you’re one of those doubting-your-own-gut-instinct fantasy managers, or just want to use a great resource that will point you in the right direction every week, The Streamonator is here to help you answer those burning questions.
If you haven’t signed up for it, this should be your go-to reference for the entire season. It will save you a lot of time researching and often includes those “Oh, I never thought about that” solutions. Check the link, yo.
| RANK
(LAST WEEK) |
Name | TEAM | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corbin Burnes | Orioles | A couple of walks and 3 ER @CWS, but he’s still the top dog…er, bird. |
| 2 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | SP7 on the Player Rater and SP1 on the ROS one. |
| 3 | Tyler Glasnow | Dodgers | 7 ER over his last 10 IP, but those league-leading 87 Ks in 67 IP keep him up here. |
| 4 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | Skubal skidded through last week’s skirmish. Still elite. |
| 5 (9) | Ranger Suarez | Phillies | 9-0. Ho Hum. Just another ace outing with 10 Ks in 7 IP. Grey’s lede from last Wednesday. |
| 6 (7) | Shoto Imanaga | Cubs | Back-to-back shutout games. Elite. |
| 7 (6) | Luis Castillo | Mariners | 2 ER in each of his last 4 GS. Not terrible by any means, but not outpitching many others in this Top 10. |
| 8 | Freddy Peralta | Brewers | Nice bounce back at MIA. 11.28 K%. Grey said Thursday to look to buy low on him. |
| 9 (16) | Kevin Gausman | Blue Jays | I was too harsh last week. Still belongs in the Top 10. Double-digit strikeouts last start. |
| 10 (5) | Pablo Lopez | Twins | Pa-Bleh. 7 ER in 5 IP at WSH isn’t helping that ratio problem. |
| 11 | Chris Sale | Braves | We could make a good argument that he belongs in the Top 10 over a few of the names above him. |
| 12 (10) | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | A bit of a burp in his last game, (4 ER), but delivering as expected. |
| 13 (12) | Grayson Rodriguez | Orioles | The walks aren’t great, but the upside is sky-high. |
| 14 (23) | Seth Lugo | Royals | Player Rater now has him at #2 behind Ranger. The strikeouts aren’t in line with the innings, but that’s the only thing that is holding him out of the Top 10. |
| 15 (20) | Tanner Houck | Red Sox | It was tough to rank this pocket. 4H 0 ER through 4 IP yesterday. K rate isn’t great (8.58), but the BB rate is (1.66). |
| 16 (19) | Cole Ragans | Royals | I think Grey said it this winter. Expect a lot of ups and downs here. 12 Ks in 6 IP last GS qualifies as an “up”. |
| 17 (15) | Jared Jones | Pirates | Has given up some ER in the last few games. Still great. |
| 18 (13) | Dylan Cease | Padres | 12 ER over the last 3 GS, but those 82 Ks are what we want. If he keeps racking up K’s, we can deal with the other C’s in the ratio sections on his report card. |
| 19 (22) | Max Fried | Braves | CG 3 hitter with 9 Ks and 1 ER moves him up. |
| 20 (18) | Logan Webb | Giants | 4 Ks through 3 IP with one unearned run yesterday at the time of writing. |
| 21 | Zac Gallen | Diamondbacks | Still Top 20. Kind of. |
| 22 (14) | Logan Gilbert | Mariners | Still a solid starter, but the metrics are now just good and not great. |
| 23 (17) | George Kirby | Mariners | I thought I had him too low last week, then he went out and got pumped again (this time at WSH). 5 ER allowed in each of his last two starts. |
| 24 (25) | Aaron Nola | Phillies | Two starts last week weren’t as good as his CG SO, but still 11th on the Player Rater. |
| 25 (24) | Jose Berrios | Blue Jays | 3 straight QS, but the Jays can’t score so the wins aren’t there. The record is at 5-4 and he’s gotten just 2 runs of support in 3 of his 4 losses. |
| 26 | Justin Verlander | Astros | 6 IP, 9 Ks, 1 ER. This could be a line from 10 years ago. |
| 27 (40) | Jesus Luzardo | Marlins | Back-to-back shutout starts. More below. |
| 28 (27) | Joe Ryan | Twins | 7 IP, 3 H 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Much better than the last start. |
| 29 (33) | Garrett Crochet | White Sox | 17 consecutive scoreless innings over his last 3 GS. There’s nothing like that weak Blue Jays offense to make a CWS starter look like prime Jack McDowell. |
| 30 (31) | Paul Skenes | Pirates | 6 hits and just 3 strikeouts in 6 innings from Skibidi Skenes? I told you this guy was MID! (said no one). |
| 31 | Bailey Ober | Twins | “Hey now, hey now. Don’t dream, it’s Ober.” |
| 32 (28) | Walker Buehler | Dodgers | Chalk last week’s start up to visiting the homerdome that is Cincinnati. |
| 33 (62) | Luis Gil | Yankees | I said he should probably be higher last week. This week, it’s still probably a lot lower than he will be by June 1st. More below. |
| 34 | Bobby Miller | Dodgers | Will need ‘multiple rehab starts’ to rebuild arm strength. |
| 35 (41) | Mitch Keller | Pirates | 6.2 innings of 6-hit ball against the Braves with just 1 ER? That’s enough to move him up a bit for sure. |
| 36 | Clarke Schmidt | Yankees | Decent start last week. Throwing well through 3 innings yesterday at the time of writing. |
| 37 (50) | Nick Lodolo | Reds | Needed someone to slot in here. Lodolo is set to return today from IL. Let’s Go(dolo)! |
| 38 (46) | Sonny Gray | Cardinals | Sun up and Sun down. More below. |
| 39 (42) | Brady Singer | Royals | Another good start last week. |
| 40 (29) | Bryce Miller | Mariners | Rocked for 5 ER and 3 HR at NYY. Doesn’t get any easier hosting HOU this week. |
| 41 (44) | Hunter Greene | Reds | Another encouraging start as far as walks go (just one). Solid. |
| 42 (47) | Kyle Bradish | Orioles | Rolled into Chi-Town yesterday and blew through the Pale Hose. 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9K. |
| 43 (45) | Ronel Blanco | Astros | Faced the A’ss in his first game back after suspension today. Had a great game, but let’s see him do it against a stronger team before moving him back up. |
| 44 (37) | Kutter Crawford | Red Sox | Kutter hit the chop shop last week and took one on the chin. His next two starts are at BAL and vs ATL. Eek. |
| 45 (30) | Zach Eflin | Rays | Hit the IL with “MarmosDad moved me down the list too quickly and made me super queasy”. More below. |
| 46 (39) | Javier Assad | Cubs | 5 BBs in 4.2 IP last game. |
| 47 (63) | Bryan Woo | Mariners | Aggressive move. See above…and below! |
| 48 | Blake Snell | Giants | A rough first game back from injury, then off to welcome his new baby. Should be back today. Hold. |
| 49 | Reynaldo Lopez | Braves | A decent start but lost his dub to a <poop emoji> bullpen. 70 pitches through just 4.2 IP. |
| 50 (35) | Framber Valdez | Astros | An aggressive anger drop. More below. |
| 51 (38) | Yusei Kikuchi | Blue Jays | Pumped in a 14-11 hammer-fest vs DET yesterday. “Only” gave up 5 of those ER, but also didn’t throw more than 3 innings. |
| 52 | Brayan Bello | Red Sox | 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 K is OK. Would still like that ERA to sneak back below 4.00. Zing. |
| 53 (59) | Nestor Cortes | Yankees | 5 IP, 0 ER, and 6 Ks move him up a bit this week. Two wins in his last two starts. |
| 54 (43) | Yu Darvish | Padres | I was ready to move him up. Then he got demolished for 7 ER and 4 HR vs the Yankees on Friday night. |
| 55 (53) | Joe Musgrove | Padres | Only 3 innings in his first game back. Was pitching well yesterday at the time of writing (4 scoreless innings). |
| 55 | Carlos Rodon | Yankees | Floating around the middle of the pack. Great last start. Should move up next week. |
| 56 (54) | Michael King | Padres | Much better start last week than the previous one against COL. |
| 57 (58) | Jordan Montgomery | Diamondbacks | The meh is real. Strikeouts are way down. |
| 58 (NR) | Shane Baz | Rays | This feels like a good spot to slot in Baz. Healthy but activated and optioned to Durham. Should be the first arm recalled if a starter goes down or when he shows he’s 100%. |
| 59 (56) | Nick Pivetta | Red Sox | Brewed up a stinker against MLW on Saturday. |
| 60 (57) | Ryan Pepiot | Rays | Just a meh first start back from IL. Give him time to get back in the groove. |
| 61 (77) | Gavin Stone | Dodgers | A better start than his line indicates. Steadily moving up. More below. |
| 62 (69) | Charlie Morton | Braves | Yet another good start. “But he’s done, right?” No. No, he isn’t. And he pitches for a top offensive team. |
| 63 (60) | Tanner Bibee | Guardians | Decent start last week at LAA. 3 ER and ups the record to 3-1. |
| 64 | MacKenzie Gore | Nationals | We may just have to have Gore change his jersey number to 64. A solid outing with 8 Ks. Should move up next week. |
| 65 | Chris Bassitt | Blue Jays | I dropped him in ‘Perts out of spite and the need to change things up. FWIW, he threw 7 scoreless. And somehow the Jays scored 9 runs for him. |
| 66 | Alec Marsh | Royals | Pitching well. Holding here. |
| 67 (76) | Reese Olson | Tigers | See the Crochet blurb above. Olson snagged his first win of the year last week in a 2-1 victory against…the Blue Jays. |
| 68 (51) | Justin Steele | Cubs | At least the walk rate is decent. Ya, I can’t say much else after three bad outings in a row. Justin Steele is Justin Deep Doo-Doo. NFG. |
| 69 (70) | Triston McKenzie | Guardians | First time giving up more than 2 ER in 6 starts, but only 5 IP won’t often get you a W either way. 5 Ks. |
| 70 (67) | Christopher Sanchez | Phillies | Did nothing to warrant a drop this week…other than recording just 2 Ks. |
| 71 | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | Could start a rehab assignment this week. Mid-June at the earliest. |
| 72 | Reid Detmers | Angels | 4 BB and 8 K through 5 innings yesterday (at the time of writing). |
| 73 | Jordan Hicks | Giants | Another Player Rater darling. Moved up to 27 from 42 last week. |
| 74 | Jack Flaherty | Tigers | Call me stubborn, and the strikeouts are still way up, but he’s here for now. If he can keep the walks in check, (just 9 this year), he’ll move up next week. |
| 76 (68) | Cristian Javier | Astros | I wondered last week if he would fall victim to the Jo Adell Show. He didn’t, but Luis said Ren-GTFO. 4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 K. |
| 77 (86) | Brandon Pfaadt | Diamondbacks | 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks at LAD?! If you started him, be careful not to ‘Belvedere’ yourself when you sit down today. |
| 78 (87) | Marcus Stroman | Yankees | Three straight starts with less than 2 earned. The ratios look good. |
| 79 | Nathan Eovaldi | Rangers | Another groin injury for an SP. Supposed to throw a rehab start “soon”. |
| 80 (61) | Jon Gray | Rangers | 15-day IL with a groin strain. Expected back after his time is up, but groin strains/tears can linger. Here until he shows he’s healthy. |
| 81 (75) | Taj Bradley | Rays | I want this guy to be good. It’s kind of like my appreciation for Brayan Bello. If only there was a pun to be made about how Bradley…er badly…he pitched last week. (Pitched well yesterday, though) |
| 82 (78) | Robert Gasser | Brewers | Knocked around for 10 H at MIA. Will throw today vs CHC. My belly doesn’t feel so good after all that beer and bratwurst. If you’re activating Gasser, grab some antacids. |
| 83 (91) | Ryan Weathers | Marlins | Batten down the hatches! Trim the sails! Ryan weathers the storm and posts another strong outing! |
| 84 (80) | Trevor Williams | Nationals | Player Rater darling. Good but not great. |
| 85 (92) | Mitchell Parker | Nationals | Nothing too exciting. Just good starts. Maybe sit him today at ATL, though. |
| 86 (85) | Kyle Harrison | Giants | Rough start at NYM last week. |
| 87 (97) | Ben Lively | Guardians | Touched up for a homer by Nido. His only earned run. More of this moves him even higher in the next few weeks. |
| 88 (84) | Hunter Brown | Astros | He has a long way to go to regain fantasy managers’ trust. |
| 89 | Aaron Civale | Rays | Has thrown 6 innings in just 3 of his 11 starts. |
| 90 (83) | Dean Kremer | Orioles | In the words of the great American philosopher, AdRock-rates, “I like my sugar with coffee and Kreme(r)”…but not with 5 ER in 4 IP. |
| 91 (88) | Erick Fedde | White Sox | 6 IP, 5 ER, 2 Ks against the Jays last week? Fedde Flop! (He did have a good start Friday vs BAL though). |
| 92 (NR) | Andrew Abbott | Reds | Frequent flyer on the MarmosDad list, Abbott has given up 2 or fewer ER in each of his last 4 starts. 7 shutout innings last week. |
| 93 | Zack Littell | Rays | Holding here until he does something to justify the leap-frogging of others above him. |
| 94 (97) | Ben Lively | Guardians | Back-to-back wins and was well on his way to a third straight yesterday. Should move up soon. |
| 95 (96) | Christian Scott | Mets | No falling apart by any means, but also not running with the job. Needs to stand out to avoid being reassigned to AAA. He’s better than he’s looked. |
| 96 (NR) | Albert Suarez | Orioles | Proved he could hang with the big boys already this year, and now should take over for Means (at least for now). |
| 97 (98) | Luis Severino | Mets | Luis or a new name? Severino gets one more week until he gets…severed from the list. A good start last Saturday. |
| 98 (94) | Jameson Taillon | Cubs | The ratios aren’t bad, but there’s not much to get excited about here. |
| 99 | Jose Soriano | Angels | Feels like a poor man’s Berrios. Pitching well, but if he can’t get through 6 innings the wins will not be there. |
| 100 | Alek Manoah | Blue Jays | Going to get the axe next week if he can’t bounce back. |
BIGGEST DUMPERS: With apologies to Cal Raleigh, these are some of the biggest dumpers (in value, not pants size).
Zach Eflin 45 (30) – He was already moving down the list and had slipped out of the Top 20 a while ago. The walks are still very low (0.61%), but that K% is at 6.71%. With a 4.12 ERA and .271 BAA, an ‘ineffective list’ stint would have been understandable. That he’s headed out with a back injury? Let’s just say that there are a lot of other types of injuries that one would prefer to read about for their SP2. The 2-4 week time frame for a return seems optimistic at best.
Framber Valdez 50 (35) – As great as the War Room was at predicting the successes of Jose Berrios, it was equally wrong about Framber Valdez. Sure, the quality starts last year would have made you more likely to draft him high in leagues with that as a category. But the overall swamp ass that Framber is dealing out these days makes him look like…well, it makes him look like Jose Berrios did two years ago. Following up a 7-inning gem with an 8 ER 4 IP flop? And giving up 3 homers to the Angels!? Barf emoji.
John Means NR (82) – I know I’ve linked the Keelin AL East preview more than a few times this year, but we were bang on with the John Means prediction in this one (start at 14:36). It’s frustrating that a guy with this kind of talent continues to end up in the ambulance more often than not, but it was something that we saw coming from a long way away. When the 5-year injury log is more repetitive than one of Drake’s lyric sheets…ya, that’s not great.
BIGGEST JUMPERS: Who’s got hops? These are some of the biggest jumpers in value this week.
Jesus Luzardo 27 (40) – 14 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11K in his last two starts. This is an aggressive move back up, but he was ranked even higher in our first few weeks. Jesus has returned, (and it’s not even Easter Sunday).
Luis Gil 34 (62) – What the …? I slotted Clarke Schmidt into our 30s range last week as a new arm that I hadn’t given much attention to and it looks like Luis Gil took exception. Why does this guy deserve the attention? Well, he’s 6-1, has an 11.39 K%, a 2.11 ERA, and a 1.012 WIP in 55.1 IP. The walks are holding him down for now (4.72 BB%), but if people are still saying that Rodon, Schmidt, or Stroman (yuk!) have stepped up as the ace of the Yankees while Cole has been sidelined, they haven’t been paying much attention to this guy.
Sonny Gray 37 (46) – A dumper last week becomes a jumper seven days later. Rostering Sonny Gray is starting to feel like we’re sticking our tongue on the end of a D battery each week. “Did you get zapped? Yes? Ok, don’t throw this one out”. Last week was a kick in the Quality Start groin with just 5.2 innings but it was a good outing (1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K).
Bryan Woo 47 (67) – A pretty aggressive boost here. Woo gave up a homer to Joey Gallo in his start yesterday, then Woo’s bullpen (Ryne Stanek) let Woo’s two inherited runners score on a 3-run bomb by CJ Abrams. 6 IP, 5 H 3 ER still isn’t a bad line. The 1 K isn’t great, though.
Gavin Stone 61 (77) – I watched the first half of his start against Arizona and he did not look bad. The command was there (1 BB), and Stone spotted his 94 MPH fastball well. He coughed up 2 earned runs early on and was victimized by a Christian Walker HR in the 6th, but looked good otherwise. With Bobby Miller throwing rehab innings now, Stone needs to keep pitching well to hold on to his rotation spot. If Miller were to return today instead of in a week or two, (expected back in early June), I think Stone has done enough to remain the 5th starter over James Paxton.
OOF!
The following players dropped off the list this week.
- Casey Mize – Just here to mention that the removal last week was warranted.
- Matt Manning – The return of Kenta Maeda means Manning moves to the minors…again.
- Garrett Whitlock – Sounds like he’ll miss the rest of 2024 with UCL surgery.
- John Means – that creaky sound in your arm means it’s time to shut it down.
- Spencer Turnbull – hasn’t started a game since April 30th. Strictly relief appearances.
WHEE!
The following players launched into the Top 100 this week.
- Shane Baz (58)
- Andrew Abbott (92)
- Albert Suarez (96)
That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, I’ll post the Top 100 Starting Pitchers with some write-ups on some of the arms that I think need a bit more attention than others. Then, I’ll try to keep cherry-picking names to highlight throughout the list as we progress through the season.
And I feel like I need to include this clip just as a shout-out to the title. I can recount the first time I saw them at Lollapalooza in 1993 some other time, but if you ever get the chance to check them out…
Drop some comments in the chat if you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here. Have a great week!
Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social
