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.