Advertisement

Closing Time: Double dips for Travis Wood, Wily Peralta

You need a plan for the upcoming week, so let's take a look at the double-dipping pitchers for the period Monday-Sunday. As always, consider everything on this list tentative: sometimes pitchers get scratched, sometimes plans change, sometimes it rains.

Additional notes will follow after the pitching form.

1. Adam Wainwright (at NYM, PIT): Overdue for a Cy Young.
2. Yu Darvish (at OAK, at SEA): Won't miss the Arlington undertow.
3. Chris Sale (at DET, TB): Hope he goes deep because the bullpen is a joke.
4. Felix Hernandez (HOU, TEX): For what it's worth, April is best career month (2.51/1.10).
5. Cliff Lee (at LAD, at ARI): Clear favorite against Maholm and Arroyo.
6. Jose Fernandez (at ATL, at NYM): Gets two calls if Marlins skip fifth starter.
7. Masahiro Tanaka (at BOS, LAA): Trip to Fenway Park his first major test.
8. Justin Verlander (CWS, at MIN): Sale up front, but then gets Pelfrey cookie.
9. James Shields (at CLE, at BAL): Stuck with Royals offense, but still a no-brainer.
10. Francisco Liriano (CIN, at STL ): Career at PNC (15 starts): 9-2, 1.72, 1.00).
11. Johnny Cueto (at PIT, at ATL): Velocity up, looks 100 percent healthy.
12. Julio Teheran (MIA, CIN): Pitching to contact, but career K/9 much higher in 2H.
13. Anibal Sanchez (CWS, at MIN): Down 1.7 mph on heater but the whiffs are there.
14. Andrew Cashner (at MIL, at WAS): Raw stuff finally turning into strikeouts.
15. Hyun-Jin Ryu (PHI, COL): One terrible start, four outstanding ones.
16. Wily Peralta (SD, CHC): Andy Behrens is a believer.
17. Jon Lester (NYY, at TOR): Velocity down a spec but it hasn't held him back.
18. Travis Wood (ARI, at MIL): Regression starts the conversation, it doesn't end it.
19. Tommy Milone (TEX, at HOU): Avoids Darvish and then it's “Hello, Houston.”
20. Dan Straily (TEX, at HOU): Surprisingly, career ERA is .38 lower on the road.
21. Edinson Volquez (CIN, at STL): Ray Searage has an ultimate set of tools.
22. R.A. Dickey (BAL, BOS): The knuckleball is a cruel mistress.
23. Danny Salazar (KC, at SF): Lots of red flags, but that's a reasonable schedule.
24. Ian Kennedy (at MIL, at WAS): Legitimate buy-low: 5 BB, 23 K, more ground balls.
25. A.J. Burnett (at LAD, at ARI): Looked healthy, finally, in last turn.
26. Clay Buchholz (BAL, at TOR): Grease is the word.
27. Scott Feldman (at SEA, OAK): Ground-ball specialist, but not enough strikeouts to move needle.
28. Jason Hammel (ARI, at MIL): Unlucky with homers, fortunate with strand rate.
29. Garrett Richards (at WAS, at NYY): Easy gas, but you worry about Yankee Stadium trip.
30. Dillon Gee (STL, MIA): Whistle as the wind blows.
31. Jenrry Mejia (STL, MIA): Swing-and-miss slider, blister shouldn't hold him back.
32. Tanner Roark (LAA, SD): Ordinary stuff, but keeps walks and homers under control.
33. John Danks (at DET, TB): Career against Tigers: 4-10, 5.38/1.52.
34. Wei-Yin Chen (at BOS, KC): Modest strikeouts, but at least walk count is microscopic.
35. Jake Odorizzi (MIN, at CWS): Two Jakes: big favorite against Pelfrey, unlikely to beat Sale.
36. Mike Leake (at PIT, at ATL): He'll be an underdog in both.
37. Taylor Jordan (LAA, SD): Another pitch-to-contact guy, though grounders are plentiful.
38. Dallas Keuchel (at SEA, OAK): Crafty southpaw, average heater under 90 mph.
39. Zach McAllister (KC, at SF): A few more swinging strikes and we can talk.
40. Miguel Gonzalez (at TOR, KC): He'll be a dog in both starts, nothing special.
41. Brandon McCarthy (at CHC, PHI): Unlucky to this point, but too risky in standard mixer.
42. Jorge De La Rosa (SF, at LAD): Career in Coors: 4.24/1.37.
43. Bronson Arroyo (at CHC, PHI): Ziggy played guitar.
44. Tom Koehler (at ATL, at NYM): Pretty ERA, but K/BB shoos you away.
45. Ryan Vogelsong (at COL, CLE): Immediately disqualified for Coors start.
46. Paul Maholm (PHI, COL): Not enough strikeout upside to recommend.
47. Jeremy Guthrie (at CLE, at BAL): Just innings filler at this point.
48. Mike Pelfrey (at TB, DET) Part of a loaded draft class, but the Mets missed.

Anyone interested in Martin Perez? Arlington hasn't bothered him one bit: he threw a gorgeous three-hit shutout against the White Sox on Friday (1 BB, 8 K), on the heels of a pitch-to-contact win over Houston (8 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K). Overall he's piled up 20 strikeouts against seven walks, and he's been considered a hot prospect for several years. Obviously no one keeps a 1.86 ERA, but this isn't a smoke-and-mirror show: all of his ERA estimators are still within playable range. Perez can be added in 70 percent of Yahoo leagues. The A's come calling for his next two starts.

The Mets made our fantasy lives a little easier with their Friday trade, shipping Ike Davis to the Pirates for a minor league pitcher and a player to be named later. Now Lucas Duda figures to get a full commitment from Terry Collins, and Davis gets the anywhere-but-here change of scenery he so desperately needed. If you have both of them available to you, I'd grab Duda first – Davis could wind up in a platoon (albeit, the heavier side) with Gaby Sanchez.

Speed Round: Houston manager Bo Porter doesn't like it when opponents bunt against his team while holding a big lead, but it was peaches and cream to have George Springer steal a base in the teeth of an eight-run deficit. Unwritten rules are so damn silly. It's no crime for the other team to try to beat you, Little Bo Peep . . . Sergio Santos was a white-knuckle ride on Thursday and he wasn't much better Friday, though he got the handshake (three baserunners, two strikeouts). He'll get a maintenance day off Saturday . . . Chris Withrow lost his release point and walked the ballpark Friday, just to rain on my parade. I'm not dumping him after one bad outing. Heck, I'm a rain sympathizer . . . Juan Uribe hacks at everything, but so far, so good (.362/.361/.609). He's homered three times in his last five games. The Dodgers are going to play him, so maybe you can get .250-24-80 out of this . . . Adam Eaton tweaked his left hamstring in Friday's blowout loss. You never want to see anyone get hurt, but lower-body injuries are especially concerning to someone who needs to run for our purposes . . . Cole Hamels is confirmed to return Wednesday at LA, setting him up for two starts the following week.