Fantasy Baseball's Top 10 Pitchers (Through 7/4)
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by user The shark
As promised last week, here are the top 10 Fantasy Baseball pitchers so far this year. For purposes of this list, you should know that my league is a 7x7 format, meaning that in addition to wins, saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP, my league tracks appearances (meant to bolster the importance of set-up men) and K/BB (as a way to penalize guys who walk a lot of batters).
Anyhow, here is the list for your perusal:
TOP TEN (overall pitcher rankings)
1 Jonathan Papelbon - This youngster is money and the season is beyond the point where he might be considered a fluke. 25 for 26 in save opportunities, and only two earned runs surrendered all year. His ERA (0.48) and his WHIP (0.70) are both the best in MLB. And he has thrown more than one inning six times already this year.
2 Johan Santana - Well, what can I say about this guy that his numbers don't say for him? Here they are - 124 IP, 9-4 (.692), 131 K, 23 BB, 0.99 WHIP, 5.70 K/BB. Simply, the most dominant pitcher in baseball. And my front-runner for AL Cy Young Winner.
3 B.J. Ryan - I'll admit that I was among a large majority of folks who thought the Jays overpayed for this guy. My thinking? He had one solid year under his belt and really hadn't proven anything. Well, every now and then, I get to be wrong about something. Beegee is a stud - 23 saves, 0.86 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, and 6.63 K/BB. In his second year as a coser, he is among the top 5 in baseball.
4 Francisco Liriano - In my worst move ever in Fantasy, I traded him for Jason Varitek in mid-April. And seeing as how I'm in a keeper league, I'll likely be regretting it until 2013. 9-1 (.900), 94 K in 81.1 IP, 1.99 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. And my front-runner for next year's AL Cy Young Award.
5 Joe Nathan - Three Twins in the top 5, eh? Not really a surprise, I suppose. But how did this guy get left of the All-Star roster? Nathan has 5 wins, 15 saves, a 1.80 ERA, a 0.80 WHIP and the best K/BB ratio in MLB (10.00).
6 Curt Schilling - But strangely, like Nathan, no All-Star Game appearance. Are you listening, Ozzie? 10-3 (.769), 3.63 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a K/BB ratio of 7.79. AL Comeback Player of the Year?
7 Scott Kazmir - Need I remind you he is a former Met? Didn't think so. 10 wins, 118 K's in 109 IP, and a 3.29 ERA. And his numbers would be considerably better if he could face the Red Sox every time out.
8 Mike Mussina - By far the Bombers best starter this year. Outside of Chien-Ming Wang, perhaps their only effective one. Moose has revived his career with a 9-3 record (.750), an impressive 3.17 ERA and a microscopic WHIP of 1.04.
9 Bobby Jenks - For all of the Spring Training talk of Jenks being unmotivated and out of shape, he has certainly answered all criticism with his dominant performance so far this year. 25 saves, 2.41 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 43 K's in 37 IP.
10 Brandon Webb - The likely NL Cy Young Award winner is enjoying his break-out season. Webb is 9-3 (.750) with a 2.72 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and K/BB ratio of 4.85. Can he keep it up? I believe he can.
So there you have it. The top 10 Fantasy Baseball pitchers as of the half way point. Good luck in the second half.
Date
Wed 07/05/06, 11:15 am EST
