Indians Carlos Carrasco to the DL, top five fantasy baseball replacements
With a 2016 fantasy baseball draft ADP of SP-16 and 96 percent ownership clip, plenty of us are frustrated this Monday after Indians’ starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco popped his hamstring covering first base. He hits the disabled list with a 2-0 record, 8.18 K/9 rate and 2.45 ERA.
#Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco could miss 6 weeks with strained hamstring. OF Michael Brantley activated.
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) April 25, 2016
Here are some widely available waiver wire options for Carrasco:
Rick Porcello – Red Sox (available in 58 percent of leagues on FS.com)
Shortly after I added Porcello to my fantasy baseball roster a few days ago, Boston Herald Red Sox beat writer Evan Drelich published this piece defending Rick Porcello. His support for Porcello shared some of the same reasoning as to why I picked him up. His K/9 rate is 11.17 this season with an xFIP nearly two runs below his current ERA, which suggests some bad luck. Balancing the bad luck theory and pessimistic outlook for the Red Sox rotation in its current state is a challenge I admit. However, Carrasco to the DL three weeks into the regular season doesn’t present a ton of options. If you want to recoup some of those missing strikeout totals, Porcello is a great choice.
Ervin Santana – Twins (available in 82 percent of leauges)
Although he’s dealing with some back soreness, for the sake of argument let’s assume Santana misses just the one start. He owns a career K/9 of better than 7.0 and it’s just north of 8.00 this season through four starts. The 3.60 walks per nine innings isn’t great, but the Twins are starting to hit a little better as of late. By no means is Santana a long-term solution, but can fill up the strikeout roto bucket.
Rich Hill – Athletics (available in 73 percent of leauges)
Wanna get weird? The 36-year-old Hill walks too many batters – 4.26 per nine (19th in MLB). However, he’s struck out 26 in his last three starts. In four starts with the Red Sox last season, he posted an 11.17 K/9 rate. This could be considered a hail Mary acquisition, but would you believe even with the heavy walk clip, Hill’s xFIP is 2.90. Just saying.
J.A. Happ – Blue Jays (available in 58 percent of leagues)
He’s four-for-four in quality starts this season with back-to-back seven-inning outings. Happ will get the run support some other pitchers – like Carrasco – deserve. His strikeout totals are down this season about three K’s per nine. With 175 career starts under his belt – and career 7.56 K/9 - the strikeouts will come. One warning sign of early-season regression in the future is the 86 percent left-on-base percentage, which has aided Happ’s 2.42 ERA. Ray Searage – the pitcher whisperer – is a wizard.
Jimmy Nelson – Brewers (available in 68 percent of leagues)
Nelson’s coming off a game where he allowed 10 hits to the Twins. Before that start – in which he actually picked up his third win – he had allowed six runs in 19 1/3 inning pitched with 13 strikeouts. The 6.58 K/9 rate won’t jump out and punch you in the face, but it’s down about a strikeout per nine from what Nelson should finish the 2016 season. One of the top prospects in the Brewers’ organization a few years ago, he now has 47 starts under his belt. Needs to keep the walks down and, like Happ, quit playing with LOB-percentage fire (89 percent!)
Bonus: Angels’ Hector Santiago has struck out 17 batters in his last two starts (13 IP).
