By now, most of you are aware of the fact that I love fantasy baseball. I think you all have to love it too if you're willing to put the time and effort into fielding a competent team week in and week out. It's an excercise in frustration and patience, and when it pays off, the dopamine hit is pretty nice. Now, I also love video games - I'm currently playing through Fallout 4 for the first time (just made it to Far Harbor), I just quit NBA 2K after months of addiction and sweat (don't play this game), and I'm getting ready to sink into Destiny 2's huge expansion next month (I've been playing Destiny for almost 9 years). But my favorite video game? Fantasy Baseball. Unlike Fantasy Football or Basketball, there's just a ridiculous amount of daily management and due dilligence required to be decent, and that's what makes it feel more like an intense management/strategy game than a simple fantasy sport. Something tells me most of you are gamers as well if you're into this and you've made it to fucking "Gerbilsports" for any kind of advice. Now, there's one thing we all love as gamers - tier lists. They're provacative and often rage-inducing, just the way we like it. So I thought it would be super fun to make one.
Let me just say. few things:
This is ranking all pitchers that I would consider rostering. Even the D-tier pitchers are still pitchers that can contribute to a winning season in deeper leagues depending on team needs. Not all pitchers will be on this tier list, even some guys who are widely owned.
It doesn't matter if someone is 90% owned or 3% owned. I don't care about ADP when determining rank.
I'm biased towards certain things. I'm not an authority of any kind. Feel free to roast me.
Legend SS: These are the pitchers that can carry any given week, and will carry most weeks. They will go deep into games, rack up tons of Ks with few BBs, and earn Quality Starts more often than not. If traded for a bat, the bat should be elite. If they throw some kind of 12+ K game, no-hitter, or CGS, you aren't extremely surprised. S: These are the pitchers that you can expect to be fantastic each week, but may come with a bit more inconsistency or a flaw that you won't find in SS. They are remarkably consistent, but may not have the same ceiling as the guys in SS. They all have the potential to reach SS, but could also move to A with a bad stretch of games. A+: This is a tier reserved for young guys with filthy stuff that have the potential to move into S or SS tier in the future, but could also wind up in B with a poor stretch of games. There's a lot of volatiliy here. They need to show more consistency, a larger sample size, or both. A stellar performance worthy of SS tier wouldn't surprised, but neither would the occasional struggle. Think of this as the high-ceiling category. A: Aces that will reliably show up most weeks and give you a strong perfromance in several categories. Some have overwhelming stuff but struggle in certain areas. Some have less impressive stuff, but are remarkably consistent and efficient. B: Guys you can expect to throw a QS or rack up Ks whenever they take the mound, but are less consistent than A tier. Some may be performing as well as the S tier pitchers, but they come with question marks that leave me hesitant, like Yu Darvish. These are still confident starts with ace upside. Some of these guys have extremely high ceilings, like Chris Sale, but come with the understanding that an injury or regression may occur any given start, for example.
C: Pitchers you feel confident starting, but understand bad starts are going to happen. There will be more quality performances than there are struggles, and benching based on matchups is plausible based on context. If they demonstrate more consistency, they can move to B. D: There are numerous reasons a pitcher winds up here: Over-performing in relation to peripherals. Coming off injury and shaking off rust. Small Sample Size.
Great stuff but needs to show consistency. Aged veteran who may or may not have more in the tank.
Some of these guys are streams, others are holds, but all have a place on a fantasy team that is struggling or looking for a breakout candidate. Justin Steele is clearly a hold, for example. He's coming off injury and there are signs he'll be good. Jose Urena would most likely be a stream, as he's been pitching well but at his age and with his track record, we regression is a possibility. Seth Lugo is a hold, but I'm extremely skeptical of his peripherals, and could be a drop in the future. Taj Bradley has remarkable stuff, but he needs to work on his control, or he may wind up sinking your ratios any given week. There's a lot of volatility in this tier, and that's why it's D tier.
Fried should be in A tier, as should Gallen.
Bradish was intended to be in B tier, and Pfaadt in C tier. Ronel Blanco and Reynaldo Lopez were left off accidentally, they are B tier. Freddy Peralta and Yamamoto were accidentally deleted.
I hope you enjoyed this tier list. It took me a while, but was a lot of fun to make. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on who should be included that may have been excluded, someone I clearly forgot, or who should be moved somewhere else! And if this is hard to read on mobile, let me help you out. Also just going to add a + next to guys I think have a chance of advancing to the next tier and a - for the opposite.: SS: Glasnow-, Wheeler, Suarez, Imanaga- S: Houck-, Burnes+, Skubal+, Ryan, Cease- A+: Woo-, Gil+, Gilbert, Ragans, Skenes+, Jones+ A: Nola-, Greene+, Kutter-, Flaherty, Kirby, Fried, Gallen - B: Kikuchi, Crochet+, Gray, Castillo, Darvish+, Pablo Lopez+, Bradish, Reynaldo Lopez, Blanco, Yamamoto., Gallen, Peralta. C: Pfaadt, Criswell-, Abbott, Lodolo+, Gore, Buehler, G.Rodqriguez, Weathers, Marsh, Ober, Soriano+, Singer, Webb+ D: Quantrill-, Lugo, Bradley+, Verlander, Assad, Manoah+, Urena, Snell+, Littell, Bibee, Hicks+, Cristopher Sanchez+
Also, I released my waiver wire piece earlier in the week, but I made the mistake of posting on a weekday afternoon, so I think a lot of people missed it. Here you go, if you did:
I considered Nestor Cortes, Montgomery, and Stroman for D tier, I just don't like their peripherals.
Disrespectful on Lugo…damn