To help you prepare for waiver claims and setting your lineups for next week, check out our two-starter lists for the next two weeks! Next Week’s Two-Start Pitchers Following Week’s Two-Start Pitchers

When you’re setting your lineup for the week, you probably have about 2/3 of your starters set in stone.  You probably have 9 Pitching slots to fill with 2-3 closers, 2-3 elite ace-type starters, and maybe a couple starters who are starting twice that week.  Obviously this varies from week to week as you might have 0-1 2-starters one week, then 4-5 2-starters the next week.  So let’s say you have 3 closers, 2 aces, and 2 2-starters… leaving you with 2 open Pitcher slots and 4-5 starters on your team to choose from.  How do you decide who to start?  Some people just pick who they think are their best 2 starters and use them.  Most probably look at match-ups, though.  There’s a few things you look at to determine which starters are the best plays in a given week: How skilled is the starter? How has the pitcher performed recently? How well does the opposing team hit lefties/righties? How good are the teams involved at Home/Away? Is the stadium where the starter is pitching favorable or unfavorable? Is it a favorable match-up for your starter against the opposing pitcher? I’m going to use examples from one of my own D&P teams (10-team league) to illustrate.  Here’s the pitchers that I have available on my team to choose from (pitchers in bold are automatically in the lineup regardless of match-up): Sergio Santos (closer) Huston Street (closer) Hector Santiago (closer) Felix Hernandez (ace) David Price (ace) John Danks (2-start) Matt Moore Chris Sale Brandon Beachy Jaime Garcia Mike Minor Mat Latos Henry Rodriguez (bench) First, I want to start 3 closers to keep up in saves (the only time I wouldn’t start 3 would be if I had a sizable lead towards the end of the season or if I … Click here to continue reading…

I predicted before the year started that this would likely be the most volatile year for closers that we have seen in a long time… possibly ever.  This was BEFORE closers Joakim Soria and Ryan Madson were out for the year, Kyle Farnsworth was out for a month and a half, Andrew Bailey was out until August, and Drew Storen was in danger of possibly missing the year as well.  There just weren’t that many closers without any question marks coming in.  In fact, you could make the argument that none of them had 0 question marks. The top closer, Craig Kimbrel, has all of 1 year of closing experience.  The next best option, Jon Papelbon, is switching leagues this season.  He’s 1/1 so far, so he looks good.  Next is John Axford, who has been a closer for just a season and a half.  He has looked pretty shaky so far, pitching poorly on Sunday, then almost blowing a save on Monday… though I’m not overly concerned.  The immortal Mariano Rivera is now 42 years-old… the wheels could fall off any day.  He’s already blown a save and is 0/1.  Heath Bell struggled a bit last season and lost the ability to strike hitters out… he’s also changing teams this season.  He’s already blown a save and is 0/1 as well.  Next is Jose Valverde – he of perfect 49/49 fame.  His xERA (3.75) was a run and a half higher than his actual ERA (2.24) – though his job is fairly secure.  He blew his first save opportunity, but closed out his second in fine form and is now 1/2 on the season.  These are the top options at closer! Then you go down a bit to Jason Motte – he looks like a solid closer, but his … Click here to continue reading…