Painful pitching problems
ONE OF the more common debates heading into fantasy baseball draft season was whether or not to invest early in starting pitching or bats.
Today, even that contingent will now tell you that focusing on the offensive categories is the way to go, and if you are sitting on an elite arm, you may want to think about selling high right now.
The number of pitchers currently on the injured list is enormous — Spencer Strider, Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, Blake Snell, Framber Valdez, Bobby Miller, Justin Steele, Eury Perez, Merrill Kelly, etc. The impact of losing a high-end starting pitcher you drafted in the first or second round is mammoth. If you lose a hitter, you can cobble together help in the various offensive categories. For pitching, it is much different. To lose someone like Strider, it is nearly impossible to regain the strikeouts while maintaining strong ratios.
But you still need a decent rotation to win your fantasy league, so identifying the issue and learning how to avoid it is paramount. The problem is that there is greater demand for pitchers to throw as hard as they can on every pitch and with as much spin as possible. There is no holding back.
You also have the issue with former pitchers like current Red Sox GM Craig Breslow and pitching coach Andrew Bailey demanding their starters throw breaking balls almost exclusively. The strain that puts on an arm is the reason they’ve already lost Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock and Brayan Bello. If you are riding Kutter Crawford right now, be afraid.
Boston is not the only culprit here. The Diamondbacks, Astros, Dodgers and the Rangers are all guilty as well. This isn’t to say you need to unload all your pitching for lesser talent. You are simply going to have to work the trade phones steadily. It takes some extra effort, but certainly less effort than trying to find any sort of talent on your waiver wire once the injuries pile up.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy baseball news and advice.