Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Friday 7/29/11

Wednesday's Starter Recommendation - Phil Hughes - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 3 Strikeouts - Loss - 3.00 ERA - 1.67 WHIP
Cumulative Starter Stats - 640.2 Innings Pitched - 454 Strikeouts - 6.38 K/9 - 43 Wins in 102 Starts - 3.43 ERA - 1.20 WHIP
Cumulative Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Not the greatest start out there Wednesday for Hughes, but definitely not the worst.  He pitched well wnough to pick up the win, just the Yankee offense (and his bullpen later) didn't back him up on the day.  The WHIP isn't pretty, but the ERA balances it out.

Friday brings us a handful of choices, including the always interesting situation where there are two playable fantasy pitchers in one game...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Thursday 5/26/11

Tuesday Starter's Stats - Kyle McClellan - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 4 Strikeouts - No Decision - 0.00 ERA - 0.33 WHIP
Wednesday Starter's Stats - Erik Bedard - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 4 Strikeouts - Win - 0.00 ERA - 1.17 WHIP
Week Eight Starter Stats - 16.2 Innings Pitched - 10 Strikeouts - 5.40 K/9 - 1 Win in 3 Starts - 2.70 ERA - 1.20 WHIP
Cumulative Starters' Stats - 412.2 Innings Pitched - 301 Strikeouts - 6.56 K/9 - 26 Wins in 65 Starts - 3.58 ERA - 1.20 WHIP
Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Was never able to re-update yesterday's post, so I'm going to just talk about McClellan's stats on Tuesday here.  And it was a great start.  He let up a two run home run, but it was in an inning extended by an error, and wasn't charged to his ERA.  Other than that he only let up just one hit over the six innings he was in there.  He didn't catch a win, but it was an otherwise great six innings to add to your team.

On Wednesday, I had a good day with everyone i talked about.  Bedard delivered six innings of actual shut out ball (even though that doesn't matter in fantasy) but scattered six hits in a walk over that time so the WHIP was just good, not amazing like McClellan's Tuesday.  Luckily he did pick up the win that McClellan didn't.  If you couldn't get Bedard and went with Ervin Santana, you still got a win in six innings, but he let up an earned run over that time.  Deep league players got good ERA and WHIP from Mike Minor, but he didn't pick up the win in a game that went to extra innings.

No Pickup/Drop column today, as I have work early tomorrow and it's four AM as i write this.  I'm not just dodging Denard Span's hot week, as Brantley has been nearly as good.  Just very late at night.  Thursday's travel day starter coming up....

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Wednesday 5/25/11

Tuesday Starter's Stats - Kyle McClellan - N/A

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 400.2 Innings Pitched - 293 Strikeouts - 6.58 K/9 - 25 Wins in 64 Starts - 3.68 ERA - 1.21 WHIP

Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Writing this on Tuesday afternoon because I don't think I'll have time to do it late tonight, so will update with McClellan's stats either late tonight or tomorrow morning.

Wednesday there are many options available, but they aren't all pretty.  Picking out the good options from the bad for your Wednesday needs...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Monday 5/9/11

Sunday's Recommended Starter One's Stats - Erik Bedard - 5.0 Innings Pitched - 9 Strikeouts - No Decision - 1.80 ERA - 1.40 WHIP
Sunday's Recommended Starter Two's Stats - Kyle McClellan - 8.0 Innings Pitched - 3 Strikeouts - Win - 1.13 ERA - 0.88 WHIP
Week Five Starters' Stats - 55.1 Innings Pitched - 39 Strikeouts - 6.34 K/9 - 2 Win in 9 Starts - 4.39 ERA - 1.28 WHIP
Cumulative Starters' Stats - 288.1 Innings Pitched - 227 Strikeouts - 7.09 K/9 - 17 Wins in 47 Starts - 3.71 ERA - 1.19 WHIP

Bedard and McClellan both came through with great starts here to save my week five numbers.  First Bedard gave us five innings of one earned run ball with nine strikeouts...almost two per inning.  Then, McClellan pitched eight innings of great ball and picked up a win, which had been hard to come by so far this week.  Week five closes looking good, and week six is going to bring a change to the format of this column.

When I started this column, it was a good way to make myself write every day, but I spend so much time working on this column at this point, that it is making it hard for me two write anything else.  In order to get time to write more fantasy baseball stuff and continue working on other endeavors, I'm no longer going to rank all of the starters every day.  I'm still going to offer daily recommendations, but I'm just going to give the recommendation and an alternate owned in less than fifty percent of leagues, along with a recommendation owned in less than five percent of leagues for deeper players.  And don't worry, I'm still going to offer extra recommendations for head to head players on weekend.  This new format debuts right now...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Sunday 5/8/11

Saturday's Recommended Starter One's Stats - Chris Young - Start Scratched

Saturday's Recommended Starter Two's Stats - Doug Fister - 5.2 Innings Pitched - 1 Strikeout - Loss - 7.94 ERA - 2.47 WHIP

Week Five Starters' Stats - 42.1 Innings Pitched - 27 Strikeouts - 5.74 K/9 - 1 Win in 7 Starts - 5.31 ERA - 1.35 WHIP

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 275.1 Innings Pitched - 215 Strikeouts - 7.03 K/9 - 16 Wins in 45 Starts - 3.82 ERA - 1.19 WHIP

Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Chris Young got scratched from the start, which hurt because Dillon Gee looked in his place.  If it was a single starter day I would take the number two starter on my list for stats, but since it was a two start day, all I have to show for it is this rough Fister outing.  My ERA is creeping up dangerously close to the 4.00 line, so hopefully tho starts today will help bring it down.  Lots of guys available on Sunday, so getting right into it with a pair of recommendations now...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Monday 4/4/11

Sunday's Starter's Stats - Zachary Britton - 6.0 IP - 6 Strike Outs - 1 Win - 1.50 ERA - 1.00 WHIP

Cumulative Starter Recommendation Stats - 23.2 IP - 16 Strike Outs - 3 Wins - 3.04 ERA - 1.18 WHIP

As you can see, Zach Britton worked out wonderfully as a spot start yesterday and through four days worth of recommendations the total stats are very workable. Obviously could use a few more strike outs, but that total is being brought down by Mark Buehrle's 0 strike outs the other day. Going to be looking to grab more strikeouts in the future but not going to sacrifice ERA and WHIP in order to do it. Find out my recommendation for today right after you click through the jump...