C. C. Sabathia (Cleveland Indians)
Was awful in the playoffs and a main reason the Tribe could not close out the World Series winning Boston Red Sox but he had a great season for his fantasy owners. Went 19-7 with a 3.12 ERA. His K rate was 7.8 while his BB rate was just 1.4. Tremendous K to BB ratio of 5.6.
Brandon Webb (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Not far behind Sabathia, he too had a great regular season and was great in the Divisional Series against the Chicago Cubs but was not great in the Championship Series against the Colorado Rockies. For the season he was 18-10 with a 3.01 ERA. His K rate was 7.4 while his BB rate was 2.7. K to BB ratio was 2.7. Biggest difference between him and Sabathia was that Webb walked 35 more batters.
Jake Peavey (San Diego Padres)
Great year. Went 19-6 with a 2.54 ERA. His K rate was superb at 9.7 while his BB rate was 2.7. Great K to BB ratio of 3.60. Behind the top two because of innings pitched. Peavey had 223.3 innings pitched which was 13 less than Webb and 17 less than Sabathia. Still his owners had little to complain about this season.
John Lackey (Los Angeles Angels)
Career best year for this guy. Went 19-9 with a 3.01 ERA. Behind the top three mainly because of his K rate which was 7.2. Also logged a few less innings than the top two. Season moves him right into keeper territory even in leagues where the number of keepers is small.
Aaron Harang (Cincinnati Reds)
Followed up last season's great year with just about the same stats. Went 16-9 with a 3.73 ERA in 232 innings vs 16-11 with a 3.77 ERA in 234 innings last year. Great pitching especially considering the bandbox he pitches his home games in.
Johan Santana (Minnesota Twins)
Last season's top fantasy pitcher drops to 6th this season. Went 15-13 with a 3.33 ERA. Still maintained an excellent K rate at 9.7. That was actually higher than last season's 9.6 rate. His ERA was up from last season's 2.78 but he's still basically the same pitcher. If he ever gets into a pitchers park it would be interesting to see what his numbers would be.
Roy Halladay (Toronto Blue Jays)
Another fine year in a tough park. Went 16-7 with a 3.72 ERA. Not a big fan of his because of his low K rates, just 5.6 last season.
Josh Beckett (Boston Red Sox)
Followed up a brilliant year with a fantastic post-season for the World Series champs. Went 4-0 in the post-season with a miniscule 1.20 ERA. The reason the Red Sox won the World Series this year. In a class of the great all time post-season pitchers like Bob Gibson and Allie Reynolds.
Justin Verlander (Detroit Tigers)
Followed up his great rookie season with another great year. Great job by the Tigers getting him to the majors last season after a total of just 20 minor league starts all in AA or less. In the wrong organization he would just be getting to the bigs this season.
Javier Vazquez (Chicago White Sox)
Rounds out the top ten just beating out Fausto Carmona and Kelvim Escobar.
Most Fantasy Points Per Start
- Sabathia: 21.18
- Chad Billingsley: 21.18 Helped by some relief appearances.
- Webb: 20.82
- Beckett: 20.78
- Erik Bedard: 20.53
- Halladay: 20.32
- Peavey: 20.31
- Lackey: 20.08
- Escobar: 19.85
- Cole Hamels: 19.40 Told you he was good.
Top Fantasy Closers
- J. J. Putz (Seattle Mariners): 40 saves/ 1.38 ERA/ 10.25 K's/ 1.7 BB's
- F. Rodriguez (Angels): 40 saves/ 2.81 ERA/ 12.0 K's/ 4.5 BB's
- J. Valverde (D'Backs): 47 saves/ 2.66 ERA/ 10.9 K's/ 3.6 BB's
- J. Nathan (Twinkies): 37 saves/ 1.88 ERA/ 9.6 K's/ 2.4 BB's
- J. Borowski (Tribe): 45 saves/ 5.07 ERA/ 7.8 K's/ 2.3 BB's
Top Fantasy Closers Per Inning Pitched
- Valverde: 8.23 Got real gas.
- Hoffman: 8.20 Another meltdown in a big spot for him cost Padres playoffs.
- Jonathon Papelbon: 7.99 Saved 4 games no runs allowed post-season.
- Putz: 7.93 Second good year in a row.
- Rodriguez: 7.90 F-Rod good again.
Top Fantasy Rookie Pitchers
- Daisuke Matsuzaki: hands down. 17.0 point per start.
- Yovani Gallardo: 17.80 More points per start than Dice-K.
- Tim Lincecum: 15.20 Good rookie year for flamethrower.
- Jeremy Guthrie: 14.25
- Brian Bannister: 13.60 Royals stole him from Mets.
Also Joakim Soria was the best rookie closer averaging 4.40 points per inning pitched.
