Week 16 Buy and Sell Starting Pitchers for the Second Half

Kyle Bishop takes a look at which MLB pitchers you should keep, drop, or trade for during week 16 of the 2015 MLB fantasy baseball season.

Another mixed bag of results from the last Buy/Sell installment. On the buy side, Erasmo Ramirez turned in a pair of quality starts and Mat Latos looked great against the Cubs. However, Latos was scratched from his last start due to a foot injury and is day-to-day. Stephen Strasburg was on his way to a third straight strong outing in his return from the disabled list before suffering a strained oblique and landing right back on the DL. Sometimes it just ain’t your year.

As for the sells, Mike Montgomery finally had a bad game, but both Marco Estrada and Kyle Gibson continued to pitch well.

Editor’s Note: to read about waiver wire options for starting pitchers, be sure to check out our famous waiver wire pickups list which is a running list that is updated daily.

Starting Pitcher Buys

Taijuan Walker, Seattle Mariners

Walker’s streak of dominant outings came to an end in his last two starts. Fantasy owners whose memories of his April implosions were still fresh have predictably panicked. If you have the opportunity to swipe him from a skittish rival, take advantage. While Walker did allow three homers against the Tigers, his start against the Angels owed more to lousy luck than performance. The most important thing to remember is that he’s still limiting the free passes. Even including his recent clunkers, Walker has a fantastic 61:4 K/BB ratio in his last 59 innings. You might not have another chance to snag him this year.

Kyle Hendricks, Chicago Cubs

Despite allowing just one run in his last four starts and posting excellent overall numbers, the second-year hurler is unowned in three-quarters of Yahoo leagues. His strikeout rate is by no means elite, but you can’t say the same about his control. That’s how you strike out only seven batters per nine and still boast a 4.65 K/BB ratio. Hendricks deserves more love from fantasy owners – including last season, he’s logged 185 MLB innings with a tidy 3.02 ERA and 3.28 FIP.

Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians

Here’s a complete list of pitchers with double-digit K/9 and sub-2.00 BB/9 rates: Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber, and Carrasco. Carrasco’s 4.07 ERA is easily the worst in that group – only Kluber has a mark above 3.00. Both pitchers have been victimized by the godawful Indians defense time and again this season. Now that prospects Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela have been promoted, there’s hope that Cleveland’s outstanding rotation will enjoy results commensurate with their talent going forward.

Starting Pitcher Sells

Yovani Gallardo, Texas Rangers 

Gallardo used to be a high-strikeout guy with suspect control. In recent years, he’s improved the latter at the expense of the former. So far this season, it seems to have worked – he’s on pace for the best ERA of his career. That 2.62 mark, however, belies a K-BB% that’s by far the worst of his career. And while the Rangers’ park doesn’t play quite as hitter-friendly as it once did, the Texas heat still takes a lot out of the men on the mound. Gallardo still has name value in many leagues – now seems like an excellent time to cash out.

Brett Anderson, Los Angeles Dodgers

Assuming he makes it through his next couple of starts unscathed, Anderson will have pitched more innings this season than in the previous three combined. In fact, outside of his rookie season, he’s never logged more than 112 frames. This is his seventh season! Anderson is a solid pitcher, but there’s too much bad history here to trust the guy. He also doesn’t strike out enough batters to be more than a streamer in roto leagues with an innings cap (otherwise known as the unassailable best fantasy format).

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

Let me be clear on this – a down season for King Felix is still better than most pitchers in baseball. He’s been consistent, durable, and dominant for many years now. It’s tough to put a price on a guy like that, especially with elbow explosions from seemingly every pitcher in the game over the last couple of years. If you own Hernandez and decide to hold on to him, it is extremely doubtful you will come to regret that decision. The king stay the king, after all, so maybe this is just a blip on the radar. But in the off chance that all those miles on the arm are starting to add up, those of us in keeper leagues might entertain the once-unthinkable.

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