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Ray, Jason, and I have been busy posting our final positional ranks as Spring Training begins. Fantasy drafts are starting for many of you, and we want you to be as prepared as possible, so make sure that you check out our other rankings (also available on this spreadsheet). Below are my top 125 starting pitchers, as well as some explanations and thoughts on several of the players.
1. Roy Halladay, PHI
2. Clayton Kershaw, LAD
3. Justin Verlander, DET
4. Tim Lincecum, SF
5. Felix Hernandez, SEA
6. Cliff Lee, PHI
7. CC Sabathia, NYY
8. Cole Hamels, PHI
9. Zack Greinke, MIL
10. Dan Haren, LAA
11. Jered Weaver, LAA
12. David Price, TB
13. Jon Lester, BOS
14. James Shields, TB
15. Yovani Gallardo, MIL
16. Madison Bumgarner, SF
17. Matt Cain, SF
18. Ian Kennedy, ARI
19. Stephen Strasburg, WAS
20. Adam Wainwright, STL
21. C.J. Wilson, LAA
22. Josh Beckett, BOS
23. Matt Garza, CHC
24. Matt Moore, TB
25. Yu Darvish, TEX
26. Ricky Romero, TOR
27. Mat Latos, CIN
28. Tommy Hanson, ATL
29. Michael Pineda, NYY
30. Daniel Hudson, ARI
31. Josh Johnson, MIA
32. Brandon Beachy, ATL
33. Cory Luebke, SD
34. Derek Holland, TEX
35. Jordan Zimmermann, WAS
36. Brandon Morrow, TOR
37. Gio Gonzalez, WAS
38. Jaime Garcia, STL
39. Chris Carpenter, STL
40. Anibal Sanchez, MIA
41. Max Scherzer, DET
42. Shaun Marcum, MIL
43. Ervin Santana, LAA
44. Scott Baker, MIN
45. Wandy Rodriguez, HOU
46. Jeremy Hellickson, TB
47. John Danks, CWS
48. Ubaldo Jimenez, CLE
49. Neftali Feliz, TEX*
50. Ted Lilly, LAD
51. Colby Lewis, TEX
52. Johnny Cueto, CIN
53. Vance Worley, PHI
54. Brandon McCarthy, OAK
55. Edwin Jackson, STL
56. Hiroki Kuroda, NYY
57. Bud Norris, HOU
58. Chris Sale, CWS*
59. Ivan Nova, NYY
60. Justin Masterson, CLE
61. Mike Minor, ATL
62. Chad Billingsley, LAD
63. Trevor Cahill, ARI
64. Jhoulys Chacin, COL
65. Tim Hudson, ATL
66. R.A. Dickey, NYM
67. Doug Fister, DET
68. Clay Buchholz, BOS
69. Ryan Vogelsong, SF
70. Ricky Nolasco, MIA
71. Gavin Floyd, CWS
72. Juan Nicasio, COL
73. Derek Lowe, CLE
74. Henderson Alvarez, TOR
75. Josh Collmenter, ARI
76. Matt Harrison, TEX
77. Mike Leake, CIN
78. Chris Capuano, LAD
79. Erik Bedard, PIT
80. Tim Stauffer, SD
81. Ryan Dempster, CHC
82. Brad Peacock, WAS
83. Jacob Turner, DET
84. Jake Peavy, SD
85. Francisco Liriano, MIN
86. Jon Niese, NYM
87. Wade Davis, TB
88. Kyle Lohse, STL
89. Carlos Zambrano, MIA
90. Edinson Volquez, SD
91. Danny Duffy, KC
92. Drew Pomeranz, COL
93. Randy Wolf, MIL
94. Jeff Niemann, TB
95. Luke Hochevar, KC
96. Rick Porcello, DET
97. Joe Saunders, ARI
98. Aaron Harang, LAD
99. Jonathan Sanchez, KC
100. Jeremy Guthrie, COL
101. Bruce Chen, KC
102. Phil Hughes, NYY
103. Chris Narveson, MIL
104. Carl Pavano, MIN
105. Mark Buehrle, MIA
106. John Lannan, WAS
107. Travis Wood, CIN
108. Jordan Lyles, HOU
109. Brian Duensing, MIN
110. Alfredo Aceves, BOS
111. Philip Humber, CWS
112. James McDonald, PIT
113. Brett Cecil, TOR
114. Jason Vargas, SEA
115. Dillon Gee, NYM
116. Bartolo Colon, OAK
117. Jair Jurrjens, ATL
118. Bronson Arroyo, CIN
119. Randy Wells, CHC
120. Hector Noesi, SEA
121. Aaron Crow, KC*
122. Julio Teheran, ATL
123. Alexi Ogando, TEX
124. Johan Santana, NYM
125. Brett Myers, HOU
*Indicates the player was formerly a relief pitcher and is being converted to the rotation.
- I've ranked some pairs of teammates in the "wrong order," according to consensus. I truly believe that Dan Haren (K's should rebound, other stats were luck-neutral) will finish above Jered Weaver (unsustainable strand rate & BABIP), and I similarly expect Madison Bumgarner to take a step forward and move past Matt Cain.
- Injured players Adam Wainwright, Josh Johnson, and Juan Nicasio get slight bumps based on good reports so far in Spring Training.
- Again, I'm very high on Derek Holland. I believe he can harness those flashes of brilliance into a consistent, breakout season. Maybe there's some homerism shining through, but a look at his second-half numbers might make you into a believer too.
- If I had to pick one player to outperform his rank, it might be Anibal Sanchez. Then again, I'm a sucker for strikeouts.
- Tim Hudson's rank is contingent on him only missing 1 month. Obviously you'll want to monitor his rehab progress.
- I believe in Derek Lowe and his career 62.6% groundball rate.
- Things really start to thin out about 75-80...I'd definitely want at least 5 or 6 starters by the time all of these guys are gone.
- I came into this exercise knowing I was down on Jair Jurrjens. After I ranked the players, I went and compared my list to some other lists, and my ranking of Jurrjens (117) is apparently an extreme outlier. He's got some serious problems in his plant leg (He had surgery on his right knee after the 2010 season and still missed 44 games because of it in 2011), and almost none of his performance numbers are sustainable. If you want to rank him a little higher than I do on your personal list, I won't be mad at you, but please don't be the person who reaches for him because you recognize his name.
- I included Brett Myers at the end even though he's taking over closing duties in Houston to make a point about his value in certain leagues. If your format makes the distinction between starting pitcher and relief pitcher, Myers is the rare guy who will qualify at SP while still earning you saves.
I'm happy to talk about any player, discuss any ranking, or defend any snub, so comment away.