h2h Corner ~ Back to the Future, Week V h2h Preview

This column will predict how awesome/bad your team can be during next week’s contest. It will prove invaluable for those of you about to set your lineups in weekly leagues.

However, it will also help daily league owners because some leagues have started with weekly move caps to cut down on the nefarious streaming pitchers strategy. This makes it important to maximize your move allotment on two-start pitchers and key hitters who will have good matchups.

When making roster moves, it is important to focus on the categories you want to win. For 5×5 h2h leagues, you only need to win six categories a week. I focus on runs, HRs and SBs for hitters, so I lean to the rare combinations of power and speed. For pitchers, I focus on saves first and foremost – there is safety in quantity. Then I let the early returns from my starters do the talking. If they start off great in ERA/WHIP, I focus on diligently tracking my ratio categories and keeping those down. If they give up a ton of runs and walk a bunch, then I throw all my pitchers into the mix and go for wins and strikeouts. By focusing on these four categories and letting your starters figure out the other two, you can get yourself a handy winning percentage near .600.

You will most likely get the best returns on moves from adding starting pitchers, as they can – hopefully positively – impact wins, Ks, ERA and WHIP. If you are in a weekly league, you need to decide which two-start pitchers you are inserting into your line-up. Here’s a handy, dandy, ranked list:

1. Johan Santana – New York Mets – at Atlanta & home against Pittsburgh
2. Yovani Gallardo – Milwaukee Brewers – at Pittsburgh & home against Chicago Cubs
3. Zack Greinke – Kansas City Royals – home against Chicago White Sox & at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
4. Felix Hernandez – Seattle Mariners – home against Texas & at Minnesota
5. Tim Lincecum – San Francisco Giants – at Chicago Cubs & at Los Angeles Dodgers
6. Doug Davis – Arizona Diamondbacks – at Los Angeles Dodgers & home against Washington
7. Adam Wainwright – St. Louis Cardinals – home against Philadelphia & at Cincinnati
8. Aaron Harang – Cincinnati Reds – at Florida & home against St. Louis
9. Matt Garza – Tampa Bay Rays – home against Baltimore & at Boston
10. Erik Bedard – Seattle Mariners – home against Texas & at Minnesota
11. Ryan Dempster – Chicago Cubs – home against San Francisco & at Milwaukee
12. Max Scherzer – Arizona Diamondbacks – at Los Angles Dodgers & home against Washington
13. Josh Beckett – Boston Red Sox – at New York Yankees & home against Tampa Bay
14. Edinson Volquez – Cincinnati Reds – at Florida & home against St. Louis
15. Javier Vazquez – Atlanta Braves – home against New York Mets & at Philadelphia
16. Josh Johnson – Florida Marlins – home against Cincinnati & at Colorado
17. A.J. Burnett – New York Yankees – home against Boston & at Baltimore
18. Jon Lester – Boston Red Sox – at New York Yankees & home against Tampa Bay
19. Joba Chamberlain – New York Yankees – home against Boston & at Baltimore
20. Edwin Jackson – Detroit tigers – home against Minnesota & at Cleveland
21. Brett Myers – Philadelphia Phillies – at St. Louis & home against Atlanta
22. Kyle Davies – Kansas City Royals – home against Chicago White Sox & at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
23. Scott Kazmir – Tampa Bay Rays – home against Baltimore & at Boston
24. Paul Maholm – Pittsburgh Pirates – home against Milwaukee & at New York Mets
25. Sean Marshall – Chicago Cubs – home against San Francisco & at Milwaukee
26. Francisco Liriano – Minnesota Twins – at Detroit & home against Seattle
27. Cole Hamels – Philadelphia Phillies – at St. Louis & home against Atlanta
28. Aaron Cook – Colorado Rockies – at San Diego & home against Florida
29. Chris Volstad – Florida Marlins – home against Cincinnati & at Colorado
30. Ian Snell – Pittsburgh Pirates – home against Milwaukee & at New York Mets

Two-start pitchers are hot this week. So, at this point, you’d probably do best to grab one of the above instead of trying to maximize one start from a comparable pitcher. Still, if you need to stream later in the week and need to maximize one start from a likely available starter, I’d look to:

1. Justin Masterson – Boston Red Sox – home against Cleveland
2. Kyle Lohse – St. Louis Cardinals – at Cincinnati (they cant hit)
3. Randy Wolf – Los Angeles Dodgers – home against Washington
4. Joel Pineiro – St. Louis Cardinals – home against Pittsburgh
5. Joe Saunders – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – home against Kansas City
6. Scott Richmond – Toronto Blue Jays – at Oakland (have you seen their line-up? Richmond profiled here)
7. Jon Garland – Arizona Diamondbacks – at San Diego (aside from Adrian Gonzalez, they cant hit)
8. Anibal Sanchez – Florida Marlins – home against Atlanta (pitchers pitch better at home, typically)

As I’ve mentioned, leagues are starting to limit the amount of moves you can make on a weekly basis. So, if you are looking to maximize your moves, while boosting your offense, look to the following teams (players).

• Colorado Rockies (home for two games against San Francisco, three against Florida). Players potentially available: Dexter Fowler, Todd Helton, Clint Barmes.
• Baltimore Orioles (home for two games against Minnesota, three against New York Yankees). Players potentially available: Luke Scott, Melvin Mora.
• Chicago White Sox (home for two games against Detroit, three against Texas). Players potentially available: A.J. Pierzynski.
• San Francisco Giants (at Chicago Cubs for two games, at Colorado for two games). Players potentially available: Aaron Rowand, Fred Lewis.

The players mentioned above should be available in most 12-team leagues. This is simply an endorsement for an increase in their value for this week – do not make long-term roster plans based solely on this.

However, those are slim pickings, so if you are desperate for some hitting help, try grabbing:

• Kendry Morales (for AVE/RBIs);
• Russell Branyan (for HRs/RBIs);
• Bill Hall (for HRs/RBIs); and
• Ryan Spilborghs (for Runs/RBIs/AVE).

If you have any questions about weekly roster management, feel free to post a comment or DM me on Twitter.

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