Fantasy Baseball: Nate Eovaldi and Jason Hammel Worth Adding In Points Leagues

As many of you know, points leagues can be an entirely different animal.  In nearly all head to head and roto leagues, A strikeout artist such as Ian Desmond or Justin Upton won’t hurt you much.  A strikeout is just an out.  However, in points leagues, the strikeout costs you a point in those leagues.  You have to come up with a different evaluation of risk/reward with hitters who strike out a lot.  This weekend, I will focus on targets specifically for points leagues, and reveal places where you may be leaking points.

Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Conversely for pitchers, a strikeout is worth essentially two points.  One for the out, and an extra for the strikeout.  This makes guys like Yu Darvish and Felix Hernandez that much more valuable.

I play in a 16-team points league that starts one of every position, three outfielders, and a utility slot.  There is also a five start maximum per week, and only one RP slot.  My drop/adds will mostly be based on deeper points leagues because of this.  Here are some names who are still very valuable in standard scoring leagues that are often overvalued in points leagues.  And of course, I will offer a couple of replacement ideas for each.

Most points leagues have a start limit, and for good reason.  There is no better way to rack up points than with great starting pitching.  This also means that you run into a lot of struggling pitchers who can’t be dropped, but you also don’t trust them on the mound.  You see more benching of middle tier starting pitchers in leagues like this, and more streaming of lower tier guys against bad lineups.

The same goes for relief pitchers.  There are 30 guys who regularly get saves, but all 16 teams have only one slot that can accrue saves on a given day.  There is always a handful of acceptable replacements on waivers, so you don’t have to deal with a guy like Grant Balfour who has been struggling lately.  The overvalued players are not necessarily ones you should drop, but they are definitely ones that you should bench if they face a tough lineup, or just can’t seem to put together a good start.

Here are the first part and second part of the series!

Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Starting Pitchers:

Overvalued

Matt Cain, Giants: Cain has not been sharp, as evident by his 31 hits given up and 10 walks.  The 0-3 record won’t do you any favors either.  Cain is no longer a must-start, especially in points leagues.  Choose your matchups wisely.

Hiroki Kuroda, Yankees: Kuroda is not a strikeout pitcher, which makes him dangerous to use when he is in a funk like he is now.  He is giving up way too many hits and runs to be counted on.

Homer Bailey, Reds: If he didn’t have a good number of strikeouts (29), he would be droppable.  That’s how rough Homer has had it lately.  Don’t run him back out there until he shows he can be the pitcher he was last year.

Francisco Liriano, Pirates: Liriano has not been that bad this year.  He is still putting up a strikeout per inning.  The bad part is that the Pirates haven’t been scoring runs for him, running his record to 0-3.  Another thing with Liriano is that he always seems to have one inning in every game that just kills him.  I wouldn’t start him against good offenses right now.

A.J. Burnett, Phillies: Burnett has walked almost as many batters as he has struck out, and the Phillie offense is doing him no favors either.   He needs to get his control back to make you want to start him every time.

Undervalued:

Jason Vargas, Royals: Vargas has pitched very well so far this year, and it is mostly because of his control.  He has only walked six batters on the season, and has a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio.  As long as he keeps pitching like this, he is worth using because he is not losing you points.

Jason Hammel, Cubs: The fact that he has been able to win three games with the Cubs is impressive in itself, but I’ve got a better tidbit for you: Hammel has allowed just 14 hits in 27.2 innings.  While he is likely due for an adjustment at some point, keep using him until the weather gets hot in Wrigleyville…..

Alfredo Simon, Reds: Simon has as many strikeouts as hits allowed.  He has a quality start every time he has taken the mound, and has been quite a find in points leagues.  I understand if you’re nervous – he doesn’t exactly have a history of pitching this well – but use him until you have a reason not to.

Nathan Eovaldi, Marlins: Eovaldi has walked just four batters in 31.1 innings.  Put that together with his 30 strikeouts, and he has been a points league stud.  Even if he doesn’t pick up many wins, he is not going to hurt you, or himself for that matter.

Wily Peralta, Brewers: None of his numbers are spectacular, but all of them are good, meaning he is a big asset for your team right now.

Mandatory Credit: Rob Leifheit-USA TODAY Sports

Relief Pitchers:

Overvalued:

Grant Balfour, Rays: He should add an extra “l” to his surname considering he has already walked nine in just 10.1 innings pitched this year.  That doesn’t take into account the points he has lost for hits and earned runs.  There are better options on waivers than the struggling Balfour right now.

Fernando Rodney, Mariners:  Rodney’s problem isn’t so much the walks as the hits.  The big issue is lack of save chances in Seattle, and he has blown one chance so far.  You can do better.

Steve Cishek, Marlins: Its not that Cishek has done poorly.  He has actually done pretty well, but he has only had five save chances all season, and has blown one.  Until he sees more chances, you can probably find something a little better.

Undervalued:

LaTroy Hawkins, Rockies. It was widely assumed that Rex Brothers would take Hawkins’ job sooner rather than later.  All Hawkins has done is converted all seven of his save opportunities.  He is worth throwing out there until he proves he can’t handle it.

Joakim Soria, Rangers: Soria emerged as the closer for the Rangers, and has converted all five of his save chances.  The Rangers have also been willing to use Soria in tie games in the ninth, give him a chance for a win here and there as well.

Huston Street, Padres: Street has struck out more than a batter per inning, and has converted all eight save chances.  Yes, the Padres have given him that many save chances.  He is worth targeting if you want to trade a bigger name closer for an upgrade somewhere else.

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