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The two-start pitching options just aren't great for Week 14. If you're lucky, you have a stud like Max Scherzer, Zack Greinke or Carlos Carrasco set to take the mound twice this week, in which case your decision is easy.
Or maybe you have a more fringe-y option like Kenta Maeda, Kyle Hendricks or Masahiro Tanaka; most weeks, they're starting for you, but they aren't slam dunks. This week, they probably are, so that's an easy call.
However, if you are looking for two-start options on the waiver wire, it's a bit harder to get excited. Among the "relatively available" (owned in 70 percent of CBSSports.com leagues) crop of pitchers, there just aren't a lot of options. Matt Moore is someone I might look at in a two-start week, but he has to go against the Red Sox in his second start in Boston, and I'm not touching him with that kind of matchup looming. The same goes for A.J. Griffin, who gets the Red Sox at Fenway, before a soft landing back home against the Twins in his following start. Even a solid matchup like that can't make me buy into Griffin.
The two-start guys I might go out and get don't have the best situations either. Junior Guerra continues to pitch extremely well, as he finished off a strong month of June in which he had four quality starts in five trips to the mound, with a 3.00 ERA. He doesn't have the best matchups in the world on the way, with games against the Nationals and Cardinals, but he has held his own against some strong opponents in the past, including quality outings against the Cardinals and Cubs in May, making him a more interesting two-start option than he might otherwise seem to be.
However, the standout on this week's rankings might be one that makes me sound crazy: James Shields. Shields currently sports a 5.85 ERA for the season overall, including an 11.07 mark since getting to the White Sox. I advocated dropping Shields a few weeks back, and many followed that salient advice.
However, you might actually want to scoop him up for this week. Shields is coming off his best start in more than a month, and gets a nice pair of matchups to build on that with. He starts off the week with the slumping Yankees, and then gets the punchless Braves, two teams he should be able to handle even in his much-diminished current state. Shields has been a disaster for more than a month, but if he was ever going to turn it around, Week 14 is his chance.
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| Rank | Pitcher | Start 1 | Start 2 | |||||
| 1 | Max Scherzer, WAS | vs. MIL | @ NYM | |||||
| 2 | Carlos Carrasco, CLE | vs. DET | vs. NYY | |||||
| 3 | Danny Salazar, CLE | vs. DET | vs. NYY | |||||
| 4 | Zack Greinke, ARI | vs. SD | @ SF | |||||
| 5 | John Lackey, CHC | vs. CIN | @ PIT | |||||
| 6 | Aaron Sanchez, TOR | vs. KC | vs. DET | |||||
| 7 | Carlos Martinez, STL | vs. PIT | @ MIL | |||||
| 8 | Matt Harvey, NYM | vs. MIA | vs. WAS | |||||
| 9 | Dallas Keuchel, HOU | vs. SEA | vs. OAK | |||||
| 10 | Lance McCullers, HOU | vs. SEA | vs. OAK | |||||
| 11 | Gio Gonzalez, WAS | vs. MIL | @ NYM | |||||
| 12 | Kenta Maeda, LAD | vs. BAL | vs. SD | |||||
| 13 | Kyle Hendricks, CHC | vs. CIN | @ PIT | |||||
| 14 | James Shields, CHW | vs. NYY | vs. ATL | |||||
| 15 | Masahiro Tanaka, NYY | @ CHW | @ CLE | |||||
| 16 | Jordan Zimmermann SP, | @ CLE | @ TOR | |||||
| 17 | Taijuan Walker, SEA | @ HOU | @ KC | |||||
| 18 | Jake Odorizzi, TB | vs. LAA | @ BOS | |||||
| 19 | Rick Porcello, BOS | vs. TEX | vs. TB | |||||
| 20 | Steven Matz, NYM | vs. MIA | vs. WAS | |||||
| 21 | Tom Koehler, MIA | @ NYM | vs. CIN | |||||
| 22 | Junior Guerra, MIL | @ WAS | vs. STL | |||||
| 23 | Jameson Taillon, PIT | @ STL | vs. CHC | |||||
| 24 | Jake Peavy, SF | vs. COL | vs. ARI | |||||
| 25 | Kendall Graveman, OAK | @ MIN | @ HOU | |||||
| 26 | Jerad Eickhoff, PHI | vs. ATL | @ COL | |||||
| 27 | Mike Foltynewicz, ATL | @ PHI | @ CHW | |||||
| 28 | Daniel Norris, DET | @ CLE | @ TOR | |||||
| 29 | Matt Moore, TB | vs. LAA | @ BOS | |||||
| 30 | Mike Leake, STL | vs. PIT | @ MIL | |||||
| 31 | Tim Lincecum, LAA | @ TB | @ BAL | |||||
| 32 | R.A. Dickey, TOR | vs. KC | vs. DET | |||||
| 33 | Yovani Gallardo, BAL | @ LAD | vs. LAA | |||||
| 34 | Chris Young, KC | @ TOR | vs. SEA | |||||
| 35 | Edinson Volquez, KC | @ TOR | vs. SEA | |||||
| 36 | A.J. Griffin, TEX | @ BOS | vs. MIN | |||||
| 37 | Jonathon Niese, PIT | @ STL | vs. CHC | |||||
| 38 | Christian Friedrich, SD | @ ARI | @ LAD | |||||
| 39 | Nick Martinez, TEX | @ BOS | vs. MIN | |||||
| 40 | Erik Johnson, CWS | @ ARI | @ LAD | |||||
| 41 | Eddie Butler, COL | @ SF | vs. PHI | |||||
| 42 | CC Sabathia, NYY | @ CHW | @ CLE | |||||
| 43 | Tyler Anderson, COL | @ SF | vs. PHI | |||||
| 44 | Wade Miley, SEA | @ HOU | @ KC | |||||
| 45 | Jered Weaver, LAA | @ TB | @ BAL | |||||
| 46 | Sean Manaea, OAK | @ MIN | @ HOU | |||||
| 47 | Cody Reed, CIN | @ CHC | @ MIA | |||||
| 48 | Ricky Nolasco, MIN | vs. OAK | @ TEX | |||||
| 49 | Tommy Milone, MIN | vs. OAK | @ TEX | |||||
| 50 | Zach Eflin, PHI | vs. ATL | @ COL | |||||
