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PPP 759 – Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitchers To Add And Drop – 3-26-26
The Plus Pitch Podcast with Nick Pollack from Pitcher List, reviewing all Fantasy Baseball starting pitchers for today's and tomorrow's games, and outlining which pitcher's from yesterday are worth grabbing off the waiver wire.
Stay on top of everything with Nick's daily Starting Pitcher Roundup article, SP Streamer Rankings article, and weekly updates of the Top 100 Starting Pitchers at PitcherList.com.
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What is happening? Welcome to the Pluspage Podcasts and we're pitching
podcasts from pitcherlist.com. My name is Nick Pollock and today is opening day.
I don't care whatever the opening night thing was, I was ridiculous.
And yes, I have missed you all so, so much. I was planning on doing the Pluspage
Podcasts for spring training. You guys can understand that life is very
unpredictable. Lots of things all of a sudden came up and I wasn't able to do it,
but I am here every single weekday of the regular season to help you make your
decisions. And we're changing the Pluspage Podcasts a little bit this year.
You might have seen it at the end of the last season. I will be reviewing only a
few major names from last time, really with the actionable items.
Who are the guys you want to be picking up based on yesterday's games?
And then I'll be talking about today and tomorrow's games. And if you want
the streaming rankings for the day after tomorrow. So this will be for Saturday.
You got to go to the streaming rankings on the site and get yourself PL Pro.
I will have not only my streaming rankings for the day after tomorrow,
but also you will get an SP or start grid for 14 days ahead.
That is all of the players ranked via auto start, probably start question
start, or do not start way ahead of your teammates.
You can get a leg up on those matchups and making sure that you know that the guy
you're picking up will also have a good start next week.
And you might be able to plan way faster than your leamates.
Leamates that is with PL Pro. We have so many amazing things that we are
launching this year with PL Pro. So get it today 10% off with promo code podcasts.
But all right. We had opening night. If you had Logan Webb or Max Reed.
I'm sorry if you had web. I'm really am.
Doug Webb was around up today. Pretty obvious stuff of like, yes,
it was a bad second inning and he got singled out and so on.
So for blah blah blah. Don't worry about it. I am a little annoyed.
They didn't throw as many sweepers or cutters as we would have liked.
He threw one to a right hand or that sweeper. And it was the Caviaro single.
So he just stopped after that. I get it.
And when Max Reed, he was a tick down.
And we normally do see Max Reed needing a few starts to really get into a rhythm.
I've seen starts when he starts sometimes it's two, three.
And the fact that he went 6.1 on opening day.
I think it's like the longest he's gone in a long time for opening day.
Wonderful sign. Do not worry about the drop in velocity.
He threw 96 to start the game. He like he has it.
He just isn't pushing it all the way right out of the gate.
So don't worry about that whatsoever.
Now I'm now going to focus on today and tomorrow.
I think those are the most important things that I can do.
We're also going to be changing how we do the on the corner podcast.
If you don't follow that one, that is with me and Eric Somulski.
This is the plus pitch. You can you can actually subscribe to the individual feeds
of the plus pitch podcast or the OOTC on the corner podcast.
Separate from the pitch was fantasy baseball mega feed.
If you don't want all of the podcasts that we have, that's fine.
Locate the ones that you want because they all have an individual feed as well.
If you're not watching this on YouTube, you're doing it wrong.
Okay. So the guys that you should be considering picking up.
Well, look, it's Thursday.
It is real opening day.
Say for some teams, not playing.
I don't get it.
Why do we only have 11 games and not 15?
It's fine. Maybe you can say 14 with opening night.
But there are teams that didn't play yesterday and are not playing today.
I hate it.
I hate it so much.
Boy, I don't hate or all these studs going.
So Gare Crochet, Skins, Scoobal, Yamamoto, Sanchez, Hunter Brown, Logan Gilbert,
Freddie Peralta, auto starts of course Trevor Rogers, Joe Ryan,
Nick Povetta, Jacob Mizorowski.
If you have any of these guys in your lineup, just yeah, just start them.
Obviously, Nathan Evaldi, Matthew Boyd, Drew Rasmussen, as well.
I'm making all auto starts.
Now we get a little bit more interesting.
Interrap it is going against the Red Sox.
I'm going to do it.
I do get, though, if you want to be safe for one start.
Okay, treat him as if he's like an SP5 and makes his first start on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The reason I'm saying that is he had a rough spring training and he was not in rhythm with
everything. I'm not seeing drops in velocity.
I'm not seeing a real difference from last year's save that the change it was in
locating in the right spot here and there.
And that happens from time to time, especially in the spring.
So if you want to see one start from it and also is the Red Sox inside of Cincinnati,
which is in great, at least it's not Fenway where it's very claustrophobic for the picture.
Of course, in addition to the, you know, the park being really weird.
Andrew Abbott, I'm still going with, but if you want to see one start, I get that.
Matthew Libertore is going against actually Apologist Libertore is going as the raise in
St. Louis. It is not as good of a defense as it used to be.
Arinato is gone here.
Okay, you have Nolan Gorman at third.
I don't know if I like that.
And I don't know if I like Brelson at first base.
However, it's the race.
It is a nice park, pictures park in general.
Libertore is also showcased inside of spring that he's a Toby.
And I really think he can do well here.
So that is certainly a play that I would be doing for your 12
teamers today, getting that early start value.
And then maybe you can make a decision for that.
Maybe you hold on to Libertore.
A questionable start here is Tanner Bible at Seattle.
A lot of people were in our Tanner Bible.
I'm not.
I feel like he's very fringe for a 12 teamer.
I think he's too chaotic and volatile does not have good command.
There was one game that Tanner Bible did well,
which is where he had his cutter locating located consistently down
in glove side with his fastballs gang up and into right handers.
That is the way that it needs to be for Tanner Bible.
It is rare to see that.
And shortly after in the next start, it wasn't that way.
His change of has always been all over the place.
It does work at times.
Fine.
It's in Seattle.
It's at the tea, right?
If you don't remember that reference, it's just tea mobile park.
It's also you sip your tea because it's casual and easy.
It's great pitching in Seattle.
Okay, so lovely pictures park through these extra effects
that make it better for them.
So you might still want to do it.
I am absolutely shocked that Tanner Bible is more roster
than Andrew Abbott.
I'm kind of crazy to me.
And I am not going to go for it personally
because I just don't want to have Tanner Bible on my teams.
If you have him, I get it.
Have fun.
See how this works.
I'm not going to go for this full season.
I feel like he's destined to be a whip killer.
And I don't know if the E-Rade is going to be that good.
It's just the whole thing is like,
not really what I want.
Shane Smith is of consideration at Milwaukee
because Jackson Churriam has a fractured hand, fractured wrist.
I can't remember which one it was.
He's not in the lineup.
Makes it a worse lineup now.
And Shane Smith is not my favorite starter.
He was one of those late guys last year that I was targeting
because he was on the 40 man and he had extra velocity.
And it worked out.
But we all know that wasn't legitimate for another season.
And Shane Smith this spring is not really impressed me.
It's 94, 96.
He looks like he still needs to get a stamina back up.
Not to mention the second areas that kick change,
the slide of the curve are not incredible right now.
So it can work out.
And if you need another start for today,
if you really want to get those four games
four days filled up for those Yahoo leagues that are only a four day week,
I'm okay with it.
It's not the one I'd be going for.
I'll be going for a Libertor.
I'll be going for Steven Mats even over the weekend.
I would have Shane Smith over,
California, and then there's Zach Galen,
who I actually am in on a bounce back year.
But the DMX have a terrible opening schedule.
It's going to be the DMX, sorry,
the Dodgers here to start.
Not fun.
Believe it, go to the Padres next.
Ugh, not great.
And I believe that's right.
I could be wrong.
I apologize if I am.
It's just not a good opening schedule.
This one I would have on the bench.
Just don't, don't overdo it with Galen here.
It's also something standard that you will not see as many
six inning outings in general.
Zach Galen, even though it is opening day,
did sign a little bit late with the DMX.
And it might mean under 80 pitches as well.
So I don't feel like you need to do this.
And they do not start here.
I have Jose Soriano and Kate Cavalli.
Yes, Kate Cavalli is my last ranked guy here.
What normally be?
Because he does have good stuff with the curveball.
And he does throw hard.
It is what I call empty velocity.
If you don't know empty velocity,
that is where you throw 96 or higher,
but the shape of it isn't good.
He doesn't have good extension either.
And that means that those are more
hitable force emers and sinkers
than you would normally see at that kind of velocity.
It's why you see Ben Brown, for example,
not get whiffs on his force ember.
Everything throws over 96.
Kate Cavalli, same fashion.
It is a really good spike knuckle.
I should say it's a knuckle curveball.
It really is the same thing.
It's about 84.85 with good two-plane movement.
Awesome. He needs more than that.
So hopefully we see that today.
Also, I don't love the team context with the nationals.
He goes into Riggly.
It is blowing in, apparently today, in Riggly.
So that could help, but it is a good Cubs crew.
Yeah, I just don't want to do Kate Cavalli at all.
I feel like it's a hipster.
And Jose Soriano against the Astros.
Hey, that could work.
He's a heavy grounder guy.
And heavy groundball guys are so susceptible to
tons of hits.
You saw Logan Web yesterday.
Hi, Babbips.
Terrible whips.
And especially for Jose Soriano,
who does not throw as many strikes as say Logan Web,
means that he's destined to be a 125-plus whip
if not really 131-35.
It's just not the kind of start I want to go for.
Now, we have a lot of starts tomorrow as well.
And I'll tell you the guys that you should be jumping on now
if you can get them into your lineup tomorrow.
I'll tell you all that after this break.
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So Friday, all right, we only have 16 games.
Again, I hate this.
I understand the rain outs from the previous day,
but just, I hate it.
Chris Sale, Cole Reagan's Sandial Cantara.
Also, really with Cole Reagan's and Chris Sale,
easy as he's gonna ace.
Sandial Cantara's third because it is Rocky Road,
and that's just so nice in Miami.
Okay, Cam Schletler is in San Francisco.
Phenomenal situation is something 94, 95 mile per hour cutters.
Love it.
You have George Kirby who I actually have ranked higher on the list
than these two.
But lower here, why?
Because I think George Kirby overall for the year
is going to have better matchups
because he has that lovely home park.
And also just has a little bit more of a track record recently.
That said, George Kirby in this one particular situation
with Alcantara already stretched out
and going against such a good matchup.
Cam Schletler throwing those amazing cutters right now
and being healthy.
And then you have George Kirby against the Guardians.
All of them are great.
I just have a little bit lower for the aforementioned reasons.
I just feel like the ceiling is a little bit lower.
But you haven't really seen overwhelmed in the spring.
But gosh, the 87, 88 mile per hour sliders
is so much movement.
If you just, just lanes better.
If George Kirby throws inside sinkers,
he will have more whiffs on a slider.
This is something I am so upset about
that he doesn't do
because he throws sinkers away.
And what this means is that,
I mean, you saw the judge strike out last night
with Logan Web throwing a sinker inside.
That's because he was landing web where any fastball,
any pitch away from Aaron Judge
was a sinker coming back over the plate.
Anything that was inside was a sweeper
that was going to end off the plate
of the other direction.
So Aaron Judge saw a pitch coming inside
instantly land it as a breaking ball away.
And instead, it was the sinker coming in.
And that's why he swung at that pitch.
If you guys remember that,
George Kirby should be doing the same thing.
George Kirby doesn't.
He keeps his fastball away.
And then the slider is
starting inside and going away.
And that's why you don't see the whiffs that you should.
So if George Kirby just throws us
good sinker inside to right hands,
which everyone else does for the most part,
I'm sorry, like 90% people do,
he'll be so much more effective
because then guys can't decide
when they see the inside is coming into me
or is it going away.
And then you also have the four seamert
to mess around with things going upstairs.
It's just right there
and he doesn't do any drives me nuts.
That's a lot about George Kirby.
Okay, Framber Valdez goes against the Pirates.
I hope he has his curable.
If you have Framber Valdez, you're starting him.
Cool, awesome.
But yeah, I, that's it.
You also have Kevin Galsman against the athletics.
I'm going to start him if I have him.
Galsman is going to be a little volatile.
It's going to be a little knowing at times
because he is so splitter-dependent.
It's really what it is.
His four seamert splitter.
It's always been this way.
He has proven that he is more often good than bad.
And when it comes to rostering for a season,
you're not going to drop him.
He's also proven himself to be a high volume arm,
which means that you are going to get
for your roto leagues 170 plus strikeouts.
In all likelihood this year,
it can be a 120-ish whip in a 360-year array or whatever.
So that's why I have him favorable
in my rankings and all at the same time.
Just know the day-to-day is going to be a little bit more frustrating.
And against the athletics in Toronto,
it's not really the best matchup,
but I feel like if you have him, you're going to start him.
Probably start to hear.
I mean, I could put Gavin Williams in the auto-start as well,
but I do recognize that Gavin Williams is just frustrating.
Where's the point of,
I don't know what he's going to throw.
I don't know what his arsenal is going to be.
I don't know if he's going to have strikes with everything.
It was a full journey last year of one approach
and then like five others
and then going back to the same approach by the end.
And it's kind of what we've seen right now,
but he's pulling back on the cutters again.
I don't know.
It's in Seattle, so that's good.
So yeah, probably start him fine.
Mike Burrows is in Houston hosting the Angels.
And that's so good.
The Angels offense is very bad, guys.
You're going to be wanting to stream against them a ton
and you're going to be like,
hello, just kidding.
All right, Mike Burrows, new slider.
We thought that there would be some change coming from Pittsburgh to Houston.
I honestly was tepid on it
because I didn't think there'd be a big change,
but all of a sudden, yeah, there was.
And it's a slider that's much better now.
He was a change up guide first before.
Now he has two good secondaries.
The fastball is good enough.
The one concern I do have about Burrows is the longevity
and the stamina in starts.
He didn't really go six innings much last year.
And it might be something that he needs to build more into
at the same time.
If you have him, you're going to do this.
I have him above the next three
because the other three are shaky for multiple reasons.
One, Emmett Sheehan against the dialogues.
I think Dodgerid is at play.
And what that means is I don't know how the Dodgers are going to let
or how they're going to utilize Emmett Sheehan.
What we saw in spring training is that Emmett Sheehan
would have good velocity in the first couple innings
and then the fourth and fifth he would just plummet.
Like we're talking like 96 all the way to 92.
And that usually is a sign of injury,
especially when it's so drastic.
So it might be something that Sheehan is still lacking stamina
because he had this illness at the beginning of the year.
And he's not fully recovered.
I could just be as simple as that and that's why he's on the IL.
But I would imagine then the Dodgers would be very cautious of this
and conscientious of it that they would replace him earlier in the game
than you would want.
So not as high as I would want Emmett Sheehan to be.
Michael King has not been dominant yet this spring,
but we have not seen him fully locked in and it's driving me up the wall
and I push them down, down, down every single turn of the ranking because of it.
So I'm going to do it because I'm excited.
But it could be, and we could be talking about that
on Saturday morning with the Roundup.
And then you have Robbie Ray against Yankees and it's Yankees.
It's a very good offense guys.
So I understand if you don't want to do that,
Robbie Ray has a history of being chaotic and having more walks in you want.
Same time it's a very good foreseemer.
And if he has a slider and or change up end or curve working one of those for 20% at least,
hopefully it's like 50% secondary, 50% fastballs.
He can be excellent here.
So I think it's very much worth your time.
Question will start here.
You have Ryan Nelson against the Dodgers just like it is with Galen.
It's a bad magic for him.
Ryan Nelson's foreseemer is really good still.
And hopefully the cutter or slider or change up or curve,
whatever shows up for 25% usage in the effective.
Don't know.
I don't feel like I need to go for this one.
And I have Kyle Freeland here as my streamer.
1% rostered at Miami.
No one cares about Rocky's pitchers except for the first week of the season.
Because if you remember, Kyle Freeland has a history of being affected for the first week of the year.
It's because they're not in Colorado.
And they haven't been affected by pitching in Colorado.
Keep in mind, when you pitch in Colorado so much in the year,
you then expect the pitches to move a certain way.
Right?
Because he moved differently in cores than they do everywhere else.
But at the beginning of the year, we notoriously see these pictures
who have again used to not cores in spring.
Continue to pitch at a better level,
outside of cores.
And now it's in Miami.
So maybe this works.
I'm going to have him as my streamer instead of Luis Severino
or you say Kikuchi who are both in the do not start here.
Surprisingly, Kikuchi is a 30% rostered.
Don't understand that, but whatever.
And Severino is at 9%.
9% against Toronto in Toronto.
Severino is not going to pitch the same level as the WBC.
He was so amped and so into that.
And it's great.
We saw the increase velocity.
Now he's pitching for the athletics with lower morale.
And it's going to be a great offense in Toronto.
I just, I don't want to do it.
I think this is not going to be fun.
And then you have Kikuchi at the Astros.
I think the Angels have a bad defense.
It's a bad team context.
He's notoriously volatile.
It's just not worth the gamble whatsoever.
Freeland to me, at least, is like the sneaky of,
yeah, this could actually be okay.
Maybe I could put them to do not start too.
I don't really want to do any of those.
But I have them as a question.
I'll start because it's like, you know what?
I think there might be.
I just want to put my foot in the line.
I don't know.
You understand.
I want to stake that one.
All right.
We have Saturdays as well.
And I'm not going to go to the into detail with that one.
But if you know us today on the website,
where I post my daily streaming rankings for today tomorrow.
And of course, if you appeal pro,
it's the day after tomorrow.
I'm giving away my rankings for Sunday.
At least my streaming pick for Sunday early.
Same with PLBOT's picks.
That is our PLB projections who have beaten me by one
in the streaming battle for the entire year.
They won last year by one game.
And I'm so upset about it.
And I could have done it.
And I messed up the last day.
And I hate it.
Anyway, Joey Cantillo is my guy for Sunday.
Our Saturdays should not be a surprise.
Is that Seattle?
An easy one.
But there is also a slew of questionable start, guys,
that you should maybe consider
if you were really looking for that extra guy
on Saturday or extra starts of this weekend.
And you'll get that inside of the article if you have PL Pro.
But that is it for today.
So thank you all so much for joining me again for another season.
I am so excited to be talking more about the matchups
than I am reflecting on the night before.
I'll be letting you know in this podcast
and on YouTube the players who from last night are waiver ads.
I think that is the most effective thing I can do.
I'm not going to talk about the guys who are constantly rostered.
If you want detailed outlines of every single picture
from the night before, read the roundup.
It's right there for you.
It's the number one way to stay on top of this stuff.
And this podcast will be the quick hits
of the ones that are most important.
But that is it for today.
So my name is Nick Pollock.
I made your babes below.
And you're strict outside.
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