Cancer 2021 Pitchers
Traditionally, at least in the last 30 years that I’ve analyzed for this project, Cancer’s offense has been much stronger than their pitchers. That trend continues in 2021, with a world class collection of infielders and designated hitters completely outclassing a Crabs pitching staff that couldn’t even field five starters with more than 1,000 points on the season. But despite this shortcoming, every sign deserves an in-depth look, so here are all the relevant Cancer pitchers from 2021.
Cancer had a situation where their true ace wasn’t their highest scoring pitcher. The latter honor goes to Lucas Giolito of the White Sox, who was drafted out of Harvard-Westlake high school, one of my alma mater’s biggest rivals. (That school also produced Capricorn Max Fried and Libra Jack Flaherty – so it was a one-sided rivalry, as far as baseball was concerned.) Next in terms of full-season points is Chris Flexen, who made a triumphant return to the majors after spending 2020 pitching in Korea. But the true leader of the pitching staff was not only the starting pitcher for the AL All-Star team, but also their starting DH: the incomparable Shohei Ohtani. No one in the history of the sport has put up his kind of numbers on both sides of the ball, and hopefully he stays healthy enough to continue that excellence for a long time.
Pitching Game 4 of a hypothetical offseason tournament would be Kwang Hyun Kim, who came over to the Cardinals from his native KBO prior to the 2020 season. The battle for the fifth starter spot comes down to two pitchers who had the exact same fantasy point total in 2021: veteran Michael Wacha, who just recently signed a free agent deal with the Red Sox, and Twins rookie Bailey Ober. If you’re willing to expand the search to primary relievers who had 10 or more starts in 2021 (and you know I am), then we can also consider Tigers lefty Tyler Alexander.
There were some top tier Cancer pitchers who were sidelined by injuries or ineffectiveness in 2021. 2019 World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg was limited to five appearances due to thoracic outlet syndrome. His real-life Nationals teammate Patrick Corbin pitched a full season, but pitched rather poorly, as he did in 2020. Promising young Padres righty Dinelson Lamet lost most of 2021 to forearm issues, and it’s unclear whether he’ll occupy a rotation or bullpen spot moving forward. The same uncertainty applies to Red Sox rookie Tanner Houck, who started the majority of his 2021 appearances, but pitched some good long relief in the playoffs.
The Angels are planning to use a six-man rotation in order to keep Ohtani as fresh as possible, which should open up more opportunities for guys like Jaime Barria. Aaron Sanchez has a decent track record, except when it comes to staying healthy. Rookie lefthander Josh Rogers had a good stretch for the Nationals after they signed him away from the Orioles midseason. Jerad Eickhoff caught on with the Pirates shortly before the lockout. Looking towards the future, 2020 first round pick Reid Detmers ranked as the Angels’ number 1 prospect as of the end of the season, while lefty Sammy Long comes in 20th on the Giants’ list.
It must be a great feeling to be on the mound for the last out of the World Series, which Cancer closer Will (M.) Smith got to experience this season. Smith also closed out the Dodgers in the NLCS, despite the efforts of Crabs top setup reliever Blake Treinen. The return of Daniel Bard in 2020 after a six-year absence from the big leagues was both impressive and heartwarming, even if he wasn’t able to maintain his success into the next full season. Giants manager Gabe Kapler leaned heavily on rookie Camilo Doval in high leverage spots during the 2021 postseason, which makes me wonder if / hope that a lot of saves are in his future.
Perhaps the Cancer reliever with the highest upside is Nick Anderson of the Rays, but we’ll have to wait until the second half of 2022 to see him in action following elbow surgery. Phil Bickford made some noise for the Dodgers in the playoffs, after being acquired from the Brewers during the season. Codi Heuer split his 2021 between the two Chicago teams, going from the AL to the NL in the Craig Kimbrel deal. Casey Sadler always seems to have pretty good fantasy point totals (for a reliever), but I guess they don’t translate into numbers that advanced metrics appreciate.
After Smith, there aren’t a lot of high-end lefty relief options to choose from. The Pirates were the fourth team in four years for journeyman Chasen Shreve. Brooks Raley had some action in the playoffs for the Astros, but he was not their top lefty option throughout the season. Steven Okert had decent numbers for the Marlins, but 2021 was his first major league action since 2018. Justin Steele is a lefty who had more relief appearances than starts in 2021 (by one), but his future is likely as minor league rotation depth. Looking further down the depth chart, Scott Alexander and Luis Avilan are veterans who have done some nice work in the past.
Austin Voth was almost exclusively a reliever in 2021, but he has pitched mostly out of the rotation in his career. Robert Gsellman has a much more reliever-heavy resume, but he does have the ability to give you some length (28 innings in 17 games in 2021). It might surprise you to hear that both Nick Vincent and Tommy Hunter averaged more than 25 fantasy points per game in short stints with the Twins and Mets, respectively. But they’re more veteran longshots than sure bets to contribute at this point in their careers.
Next time, we’ll look at the runners up in the Fire Division, the Aries Rams!