Unfortunately, not one of our buys from last week had stellar showings. Kris Medlen and Kevin Gausman turned in tepid performances, and while Ian Kennedy logged another quality start, he also walked five batters.
As for the sells, Jeff Samardzija and Andrew Cashner continued to be terrible, but Ervin Santana had his best game of the season. Sometimes you eat the bear...
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
Raisel Iglesias (CIN)
Even before posting double-digit strikeouts in his last two outings, Iglesias was on my radar - though regrettably, not enough to crack previous iterations of this column. He just finished off an awesome August, pitching to a 2.27 ERA and 0.76 WHIP with a 45:10 K/BB in 39 innings. Kind of incredibly, both of his 10+ K gems saw him saddled with the loss. Unlike their last Cuban import, Reds officials seem committed to giving Iglesias every chance to stick in the rotation. He's looked like he belongs so far.
Drew Hutchison (TOR)
While his 13-2 record is stellar, Hutchison's ugly ratios (4.87/1.41) prove that 2015 wasn't the breakout year many expected. But like seemingly every other player on the Blue Jays, he's been getting it done recently. Hutch won all four of his August starts, compiling a 2.45 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with 23 strikeouts against only five walks. Most analysts worth their salt will caution you about the utility of home/road splits, and Hutchison is a textbook example. His home park is a hitter haven, yet he's posted brilliant numbers there while his road starts have been bad enough to violate the Geneva Conventions.
Josh Tomlin (CLE)
A lot has been written in this space about other Indians hurlers, and now it's Tomlin's turn. Though his track record is middling, the right-hander has been excellent in four starts since joining the vaunted Tribe rotation. Despite allowing seven homers in that time, he's managed a solid 3.08 ERA thanks in large part to issuing only two walks while striking out a batter per inning. Those in shallow leagues can look elsewhere, but in deeper formats, Tomlin has at least earned streamer consideration.
Starting Pitcher Sells
Hector Santiago (LAA)
Santiago is no stranger to being featured here, and now that the regression chickens have finally (finally!) come home to roost, fantasy owners are beginning to bail. He's still notching strikeouts at a good clip, but the home run rate and BABIP have normalized and the ludicrous strand rate has dropped significantly. Santiago's return to earth is just one of a cadre of issues contributing to the Angels' incredible free fall over the last six weeks (artist's rendering). The prospect of counting on any player on that team right now is frightening. Even Mike Trout looks human these days.
Gio Gonzalez (WAS)
Despite ranking outside the top 100 starting pitchers for pretty much the entire season, Gonzalez continues to be almost universally owned in Yahoo leagues. It's time to let go, folks. There's no excuse to still be carrying a guy with an ERA over 4.00 and a WHIP close to 1.50 on your roster, especially since those numbers have been even worse over the past month (5.46/1.60). Gonzalez, like most of his fellow Nationals, has been a tremendous disappointment in 2015.
Francisco Liriano (PIT)
The former king of Jekyll and Hyde pitchers, Liriano's enjoying his third straight solid season in the Steel City. He's been a lot riskier of a play lately, however. A huge spike in walk rate contributed to a 4.94 ERA and awful 1.65 WHIP in August. The veteran has a favorable matchup with the Brewers on Thursday, but anyone who's been playing this game for a while knows how dangerous any team can be when Liriano's control issues rear their ugly head.
MLB & Fantasy Baseball Chat Room
[iflychat_embed id="c-12" hide_user_list="yes" hide_popup_chat="no" height="400px"]