Seattle Mariners: Fantasy Value for M’s Arms off of Hot Start
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Off to a hot start, Seattle Mariners have been poached off of fantasy baseball waiver wires for the last week. In Part 1, we looked at their lineup. Here, we look at the pitchers.
On the Bump
- Pros: Year in and year out, King Felix is a Top-10 SP in fantasy.
- Cons: Hernandez has always lacked offensive support, which has cut into his win column numbers and fantasy value in some formats.
- Pros: He is coming off of a stellar fantasy year. His injury could make him a nice buy low target.
- Cons: His success and fantasy value relies on his command, as he does not throw hard at all. Some pitchers, like a Greg Maddux, make a career out of painting corners, but many pitchers find it hard to continue that skill from one season to the next. His current injury could help serve as a catalyst for the latter.
- Pros: A solid SwStr% in his first stint in the show, which was replicated by his first outing in 2014. Has shown above average command at most stops in his professional career.
- Cons: A very small sample size of success in the show and is light on innings. I think his best innings will come before July.
- Pros: A hard throwing lefty that had a K/9 north of 9 in four of five stops in the minors.
- Cons: He is a young arm. We have seen it annually where young arms have a great first half and fizzle, get shut down, or injured down the stretch. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just do not get attached and be prepared to deal Paxton by the break.
- Pros: See James Paxton but change from a lefty to righty.
- Cons: See James Paxton and increase because of Walker’s shoulder issues. Trade ‘im if you got ‘im.
Pros and cons in the Seattle bullpen can be found here.
Much like the hitters, there’s decent value with the pitchers. But before you put too many hopes on them, wait a few more weeks to find out what these arms offer before sending them a “come as you are” invitation to your fantasy team.