Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Sunday 5/22/11

Saturday Spot Starter One's Stats - Clayton Richard - 5.0 Innings Pitched - 2 Strikeouts - Loss - 5.40 ERA - 1.60 WHIP
Saturday Spot Starter Two's Stats - Mark Buehrle - 7.0 Innings Pitched - 1 Strikeout - Win - 2.57 ERA - 1.00 WHIP
Week Seven Starters' Stats - 39.1 Innings Pitched - 15 Strikeouts - 3.43 K/9 - 1 Win in 6 Starts - 2.75 ERA - 1.12 WHIP
Cumulative Starters' Stats - 382.1 Innings Pitched - 281 Strikeouts - 6.61 K/9 - 23 Wins in 61 Starts - 3.72 ERA - 1.22 WHIP
Starter Stats Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

One good and one bad start combine for an average day here Saturday.  Clayton Richard got beat up by Seattle in a surprise of a start.  It wasn't long enough or bad enough to kill your ERA or WHIP, but there weren't enough strikeouts  to make up for it.  Luckily, Buehrle gave a solid start with basically exactly what you've come to expect from him.  You can't bank on him for strikeouts, but his ERA and WHIP are passable on the year and good against certain matchups and he picks up a decent amount of Wins with the White Sox.  Not enough strikeouts to own him regularly, but hes always good in matchups.

Week Seven has been a slow strikeout week, but we've been churning along the ERA and WHIP.  Have a pair of guys going with more strikeout potential on Sunday coming up...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Saturday 5/21/11

Thursday's Spot Starter's Stats - Chris Narveson -7.1 Innings Pitched - 4 Strikeouts - No Decision - 0.00 ERA - 0.68 WHIP

Fridays's Spot Starter's Stats - Ryan Vogelsong - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 5 Strikeouts - No Decision - 1.50 ERA - 1.00 WHIP

Week Seven Starters' Stats - 27.1 Innings Pitched - 12 Strikeouts - 3.95 K/9 - 0 Wins in 4 Starts - 2.31 ERA - 1.06 WHIP

Cumulative Starers' Stats - 370.1 Innings Pitched - 278 Strikeouts - 6.76 K/9 - 22 Wins in 59 Starts - 3.72 ERA - 1.22 WHIP

Starter Stats Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

First, I'd like to apologize for Friday's lack of a column.  Didn't get it done before work, and couldn't gut it out after work.  I'd understand if you weren't confidant in the prediction, even though it worked out.  But first lets talk about Thursday's spot starter, Narveson, who delivered a gem.  7.1 innings of no run ball with a 0.68 WHIP is great for a free agent pickup.   The four strikeouts weren't anything to write home about, but nothing to complain about either, and he just didn't luck into the win.  The same thing happened with Friday's starter, Vogelsong, who went six innings but let up a single earned run leading to him not earning a decision.  The early spot starts in the week by Joel Pineiro and Brandon McCarthy weren't great, but they were good enough for Vogelsong and Narveson to bring the ERA and WHIP to great numbers.  You'd like more strikeouts, but there's always the new day.  As always, the recommended starters are available in more than fifty percent of ESPN leagues.  Saturday means the weekend, and the weekend means a pair of spot starters....

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Monday 5/16/11

Sunday's Recommended Starter One's Stats - Carlos Zambrano - Rained Out
Sunday's Recommended Starter Two's Stats - Mark Buehrle - 6.1 Innings Pitched - 6 Strikeouts - Win - 4.27 ERA - 1.58 WHIP
Week Six Starters' Final Stats - 54.2 Innings Pitched - 39 Strikeouts - 6.42 K/9 - 5 Wins in 9 Starts - 4.45 ERA - 1.45 WHIP
Cumulative Starter's Stats - 343 Innings Pitched - 266 Strikeouts - 6.98 K/9 - 22 Wins in 55 Starts - 3.83 ERA - 1.23 WHIP

Starters' Stats Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Zambrano was our best starter option but he was rained out, and I failed to provide an alternate catchup starter for rain-outs yesterday.  Luckily, Buehrle came through and delivered exactly what you expect from Buehrle.  I thought he'd go a little deeper into the game with the Sox' light bullpen, but you expect something around a 3 or 4 ERA and he's always a bit of a WHIP risk.  He balance out the ERA and WHIP by delivering nearly a strikeout per inning and picking up a win to get me to five wins in nine starts on the week.  It wasn't a great ERA and WHIP week, but managed to pick up a bunch of wins from my spot start choices.  The deep league starters have been good as well, and if you played Capuano you got Buehrle's day with better ERA and worse WHIP.  A great start in a deep league.  Monday's starter recommendation to kick off week seven coming up...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Sunday 5/15/11

Saturday's Recommended Starter One's Stats - Chris Narveson - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 5 Strikeouts - Win - 1.50 ERA - 1.33 WHIP

Saturday's Recommended Starter Two's Stats - Tyson Ross - 7.1 Innings Pitched - 8 Strikeout - Win - 2.46 ERA - 0.95 WHIP

Week 5 Starters' Stats - 48.1 Innings Pitched - 33 Strikeouts - 6.15 K/9 - 4 Wins in 8 Starts - 4.47 ERA - 1.43 WHIP

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 336.2 Innings Pitched - 260 Strikeouts - 6.95 K/9 - 21 Wins in 54 Starts - 3.82 ERA - 1.22 WHIP

Starters' Stats Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

The two best start since Travis Wood on Monday, here on Saturday night.  Took a pair of solid spot pitcher choices here, and both paid off with great pitching perfomances and were lucky enough to pick up a win.  Narveson just gave up just one run that the Pirates sacrificed two batters to get across the plate, and Ross rolled with eight strikeouts and just let up a two run home run to the red hot Paul Konerko.   If you went with Alex White in your deep league, he caught a rain delay, and I can't be held responsible for the weather.  Going for another pair of strong starters on Sunday for all those chasing in head to head leagues...

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 4/11/11

Sunday Pitcher Stats-
Aaron Harang - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 2 Strikeouts - Win - 1.50 ERA - .83 WHIP
Gavin Floyd - 8.0 Innings Pitched - 8 Strikeouts - Win - 0.00 ERA - .63 WHIP

Cumulative Stater Stats - 74.1 Innings Pitched - 65 Strikeouts - 7.87 K/9 - 7 Wins in 12 Starts - 2.91 ERA - 1.13 WHIP
Starter Stat Spreadsheet Here

A nice way to wrap up the first fully head to head week.  Two pitchers with that ERA and WHIP are great for your overall totals and Floyd made up for Harang's minor absence of strikeouts.  Curiously enough, both pitchers I selected on Sunday had a run cross the plate that wasn't charged to their ERA because of an error even though in both cases, the pitchers themselves were charged with the error.  I feel like, because the error is on the pitcher the run should probably be charged to the pitcher, but who am I to argue with it as it helps my pitcher's ERA, right?  Anyways, ranking Monday starters available in more than 50% of mixed leagues coming up right after the jump....

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Wednesday 4/6/11

Tuesday's Starter Stats - Gavin Floyd - 7.0 IP - 5 Strikeouts - No Decision - 5.14 ERA - 1.29 WHIP

Cumulative Starter Stats  - 36.2 IP - 28 Strikeouts - 3 Wins - 3.19 ERA - 1.15 WHIP
(Full Starter List With Full Stats Here)

Floyd was my first big miss so far this year.  The five Ks weren't bad, but any ERA over 5.00 has to be considered a failure.  Buehrle had a worse ERA, but that was only because he was left in too long with the White Sox having a double digit lead.  I apologize for Floyd, but if you've been taking my starter recommendations since I've started it shouldn't affect your ERA too much.  Anyways, just click through the jump break to find out who I like today.

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickup For 4/1/11

Any good fantasy baseball player knows that acquiring free agent pitchers is huge for any kind of fantasy team.  If you drafted a lot of relievers, streaming starters can be a great way to accumulate innings and strikeouts and even if you have great starters, picking up the right free agent pitcher can be great help on days when your starters have bad match ups.  Everyday I post my recommendation for starting pitchers to pick up for the next days games.  If you read this space yesterday for today's (3/31) games you would have picked up Derek Lowe and got great value out of him.  Lowe pitched 5.2 innings of no run ball with just three hits and two walks...picking up six strikeouts and a win with a slick 0.88 WHIP.  Lowe had a great day but won't have another good matchup for a while, so you can drop him for tommorow's (4/1) pickup if you need to.  So who do I recommend for Friday?  Find out after the jump....