Fantasy Baseball: Daily Pitcher Rankings (June 2nd)

By Muntradamus

 

BEAST DOME NATION.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend, and the great weekend content Beast Dome has to offer.  Any fantasy baseball questions feel free to ask at the bottom.

 

ELITE STARTERS:

 

1. MATT CAIN VS. CHC

The Cubs offense is at the worst point it has been all season.  Alfonso Soriano is literally carrying the tam.  Cain owns an amazing 1.85 home ERA, but more importantly a career 2.16 ERA against the Cubs in 11 starts.  Despite Matt allowing not pitching his best, he is coming off of a great 1 ER in 6.2 INN performance against a hot Marlin team in Miami.

 

2. JEREMY HELLICKSON VS. BAL

Hellickson has been very solid this season with his 2.83 ERA.  He limited the AL East all season, and owns a 2.97 ERA in his last four starts.  The Orioles offense is as cold as it has been all season.  Now is a perfect time for Jeremy to do a sneak attack and work on that career 2.51 ERA against the Orioles.  It also helps Jeremy owns a 1.83 ERA at home this season.

 

3. COLE HAMELS VS. MIA

Cole has been great with a 2.36 ERA at home.  The Marlins offense does have some momentum thanks to Giancarlo Stanton.  When Hamels faced the Marlins on opening day he gave up 3 ER in 5.1 INN.  Hamels and these Marlin hitters have faced each other many times, do not look for him to get away with what he usually does.  Still you should expect elite numbers.

 

GOOD STARTERS:

 

4. BRANDON BEACHY @ WAS

Beachy just faced the Nationals in his last start to give up 1 ER in 5 INN.  It was a big bounce back game for him to get after allowing 4 ER to the Reds.  The Nationals offense has been hotter in the past, and I expect Beachy to continue to stay right on path to be one of the great fantasy sleeper pitchers of this season.

 

5. DANIEL HUDSON @ SD

Hudson looked semi-healthy in his last start allowing 2 ER in 5 INN to the Brewers.  In Hudson’s career he has only allowed the Padres to a 1.72 ERA in 5 starts.  Because of those good numbers, you have to expect Hudson to be clutch and put up the QS.

 

6. STEPHEN STRASBURG VS. ATL

Stras struggled in his last start, and it so happened to come against the Braves where he allowed 4 ER in 5 INN.  In his career he has not been great against the Braves with a career 5.28 ERA.  The Braves offense is ready to hit everyday of the week, and even though Strasburg always will be elite.  He really is a bit risky.  Dan Uggla has been a Strasburg killer.

 

7. YU DARVISH @ LAA

Darvish has been elite against every team besides the Mariners, Angels, and Jays.  The Angels offense does have some momentum, but not enough to expect their offense to just go nuts on Yu.  Darvish has failed to go past 5 INN in his last two starts.  The Angels offense could keep momentum carrying that way, but Darvish could just as easily turn it on again.

 

8. ERIK BEDARD @ MIL

Bedard has been great this season, and the Brewers offense is pretty cold.  Bedard has been a bit shaky of late with poor starts in 2 of the last three appearances.  This would be the first time he faces Milwaukee, I expect a QS.

 

9. WANDY RODRIGUEZ VS. CIN

Wandy has been elite at home with a 2.33 ERA.  The Reds have done okay against Wandy in his career scoring 63 ER in over 137 INN.   That comes out to a 4.12 ERA, but he did hold the Reds to 2 ER in 6 INN earlier this season.  I like Wandy to get back on track despite his recent hiccup against the Rockies in Colorado.

 

10. SHAUN MARCUM VS. PIT

Shaun has been up and down all season, and despite the easy start…You may not get the results you are looking for.  Shaun owns a 4.88 ERA at home, with his only quality home start being against the Cubs when they were cold.  Andrew McCutchen seems too hot, and he could do some serious damage for the Pirates.

11. C.J. WILSON VS. TEX

Wilson is pitching the best baseball of his season allowing only 1 ER in his last 14 INN.  The Rangers are always a threat to blow-up every game, but C.J. did do a nice job holding them to 2 ER in 5.2 INN.  Still you cannot always expect success against that offense.  Wilson is a great pitcher, who could just have a bad game, against a great team.

 

RISKY STARTERS:

 

12. EDINSON VOLQUEZ VS. AZ

Edinson has not lasted more than 6 INN since May 1st.  The D-Backs offense is not very good right now, which could lead to Volquez repeating his 2 ER in 7 INN performance in his first start of the season. Edinson is heading in the wrong direction, but this could be the game to bring him back.

 

13. LANCE LYNN @ NYM

Lynn is trending in the wrong direction with a 4.32 ERA in his last 4 starts.  The Mets offense is pretty hot and did a lot of damage to Adam Wainwright.  Lynn has not faced any of these Mets for more than 3 ABs, though this start is more challenging than you are lead to believe.

 

14. MAT LATOS @ HOU

The Astros offense is always capable of making noise these days, but the fact they did little against Leake does show that Latos has a chance to shut this team down.  Mat gave up 5 ER in 5.1 INN to the Astros back in April, and he has also struggled with a 4.72 ERA  in his last 4 starts, and a 5.11 ERA on the road.  I expect him to bounce back.

 

15. BRIAN MATUSZ @ TB

Something to remember about TB, they cannot hit lefty pitching.  After scoring 5 runs in the 1st, thanks to walks from Chen.  He shut them down the rest of the way.  Brian has already pitched well allowing 2 ER in 5.2 INN against the Rays back in May.  He owns a 3.48 ERA in his last three starts.

 

16. JUAN NICASO VS. LAD

Despite giving up 11 ER in his last 10 INN, Nicaso has had two great starts against the Dodgers already this season.  The Dodgers offense is on it’s way down, and that makes Juan a great bounce back candidate.  Andre Ethier has had success against Juan with a HR, but no Dodger can really hit him this season.

 

17. R.A. DICKEY VS. STL

Dickey has been on point all season besides two starts.  He owns a 6.75 ERA against the Cardinals, but Carlos Beltran is the only Met to have taken him deep.  It is a bit risky to start him against the Cardinals, but you have to roll the dice with his home 1.83 ERA and season total of 3.08.  Just don’t expect Johan Santana numbers.

 

18. MATT GARZA @ SF

Garza has been really struggling allowing 13 ER in his last two starts, both on the road to Houston and Pittsburgh.  San Francisco does not have a great offense, but it is definitely better than both those teams.  Garza owns a 6.84 road ERA, and this simply looks like another start where he could falter.

 

19. KYLE DRABEK VS. BOS

Drabek owns a 1.75 ERA at home this season.  He dominated the Red Sox in his first start with 1 ER in 5.1 INN.  The Sox offense does have some momentum, but keep in mind Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz each have 2 HRs against Drabek.

 

20. BRANDON MCCARTHY @ KC

Brandon is back after a right shoulder injury.  So far this season he has been shaky on the road with a 4.19 ERA, and now faces a semi-hot Royals offense that could prove he came back too soon.  Brandon owns a 4.94 career ERA against KC, but did hold them to 2 ER in 6 INN earlier this season.  Billy Butler is a threat to do some damage as he has taken Brandon deep before.

 

21. FELIX DOUBRONT @ TOR

Felix is the real deal, and he has had QS’s in his last 4 appearances.  Felix will have a bit of a challenge being a lefty against a stacked right handed hitting Blue Jays.  Felix could surprise us, but this could also be the start where we start to doubt him.  Either way, he is too hot to bench.

22. P.J. WALTERS @ CLE

Walters has been so good this season with an ERA under 3.00 in his first four starts.  It is a little hard to get excited about a banged up Indians offense to do some damage.  The Indians did get some momentum off of Pavano, but I expect P.J. to weather the storm and keep his great season in-tact.

23. RICKY NOLASCO @ PHI

Nolasco comes alive on the road with a 2.97 ERA.  That stat is inflated as he did face the Padres, Giants, and Mets on those starts.  Struggled against solid teams such as the Braves and Reds.  Hunter Pence does have 3 HRs against Ricky, but he also has a .190 average.  Ricky has not had a QS since May 5th, and this one could get bad.

 

24. JOSH TOMLIN VS. MIN

Tomlin has been horrible at home with a 5.73 ERA.  He has also been pretty lousy against the Twins with a 5.40 ERA.  However none of these Twins have done much damage.  I would not start Tomlin with confidence, but he could surprise us as the Twins offense has been inconsistent.

 

25. GAVIN FLOYD VS. SEA

Floyd has been horrible with a 13.30 ERA in his last three starts.  Seattle’s offense is two games removed from their 21 run episode against Derek Holland.  They have also crush Gavin in his career as he comes into this one with a 4.44 ERA in 12 starts.  It also helps that Floyd owns a 5.14 ERA at home.

 

26. LUKE HOCHEVAR VS. OAK

Luke owns a 9.87 home ERA, but those starts came against solid teams such as; Baltimore, Yankees, Indians, White Sox, Tigers, Angels.  The A’s offense may be one of the coldest in baseball, which makes this a deceivingly good time to use Luke.  He does have QS potential in him, but he could also open the flood gates for the A’s offense to start hitting.

 

27. AARON HARANG @ COL

The Rockies offense is red-hot.  Harang owns a 4.86 ERA on the road, which included 5 ER in his last road appearance at AZ.  The nice thing about Harang is he only allowed 1 ER in 8 INN to the Rockies in Dodger Stadium.  Aaron will not be so lucky this time around, especially after seeing Chris Capuano get rocked.  There is no reason to think this offense will slow down anytime soon.

 

28. HIROKI KURODA @ DET

Last time Kuroda faced a quality road team, he allowed 7 ER in 5 INN to Toronto.  He owns a 4.50 Road ERA, and a poor 4.55 ERA against the Tigers in his only start from Inter-league play.  I do not like the momentum Kuroda has, and I do like the momentum of the Tigers offense.  I would avoid Hiroki in this start.

 

BAD STARTERS:

 

29. RICK PORCELLO VS. NYY

Porcello has not had a QS since the first week in May.  Porcello owns a 5.56 ERA against the Yankees, and there is a good chance that number rises quickly.  Nick Swisher is the only Yankee to hit a HR off of Porcello, and I doubt it stays that way when this one is over.

 

30. HECTOR NOESI @ CWS

Hector really has problems getting outs against the White Sox.  He has allowed 7 ER in 2.1 INN to the Sox in his career.  The White Sox offense is very hot coming into this one, and Hector has been great with back-to-back 8 INN/3 ER performances.  Still that did not stop the Sox from scoring 6 runs against him earlier when he was coming off of an 8 INN shutout.