Capricorn 2021 Pitchers
While Capricorn has some top tier batters anchoring their lineup, the Sea-Goats always seem to have outstanding pitching depth to go along with them. In 2021, only Gemini had more starting pitchers with 1,000 or more fantasy points. However, this year’s crop of Capricorn hurlers includes one particularly controversial name, and we don’t have to go too far down our in-depth list to get to it.
A lot of things had to break right for the Giants to win 107 games in 2021, and Kevin Gausman excelling after accepting a qualifying offer was one of the big ones. Gausman had the sixth-highest fantasy point total among starting pitchers, but he was first among Negative Polarity signs. Max Fried proved his mettle in the 2021 postseason, twice going six innings in starts for the Braves, the last of which clinched the World Series. After the season, he won both the National League Gold Glove AND Silver Slugger awards for pitchers. Dylan Cease is emerging as a frontline starter for the White Sox. Next in full-season fantasy points is lefty Alex Wood, a real-life 2021 teammate of Gausman in San Francisco.
Here we come to the most controversial player in fantasy astrology baseball. Throughout this feature, I’ve talked about players potentially coming out of retirement (Ryan Zimmerman) or playing out of position (Max Muncy) in order to participate in this hypothetical offseason tournament. But Trevor Bauer is currently on extended leave while the league investigates some truly heinous sexual assault allegations. I’m still counting his 2021 stats towards Capricorn’s official point total, since the season is already in the books, but it’s out of the question to have him participate in any future events, hypothetical or otherwise. To fill out Capricorn’s fifth starter spot, we have a battle between Blue Jays rookie Alek Manoah and Yankees lefty Jordan Montgomery.
A trio of lefties headline what would be the Capricorn fantasy astrology Triple-A rotation. Tyler Anderson split 2021 between the Pirates and the Mariners. Mike Minor returned to one of his former teams, the Royals. Ryan Yarbrough has settled in as a bona fide starting pitcher after the Rays had been using him as a bulk pitcher following an opener. Michael Pineda didn’t break 1,000 points on the season, but he had a higher points-per-game average than the above three pitchers. Panamanian Paolo Espino and Venezuelan Jose Suarez were mostly starters, but had a handful of relief appearances for the Nationals and Angels, respectively.
Chris Paddack was once hailed as the ace of the future for the Padres, but so far he has failed to deliver on that promise. Veteran Jon Lester just finished his 16th season in the majors and hasn’t made any noise about retirement. Dallas Keuchel had a forgettable 2021 season on the mound, but did come away with his fifth AL Gold Glove award. Kansas City stalwart Danny Duffy had a strong start to the season, but wasn’t able to pitch following a midseason acquisition by the Dodgers. Diamondbacks rookie lefty Tyler Gilbert is the only other Capricorn starter to break 200 fantasy points.
Raisel Iglesias scored the most fantasy points of any Negative Polarity reliever, but what’s perhaps more interesting is that he shares a sign with the only other major league player to share his last name. Drew Steckenrider accrued 14 saves for the 2021 Mariners after missing the entire 2020 season. Another part time Seattle closer was Diego Castillo, although he was acquired in a midseason trade rather than on an offseason minor league deal. Dylan Floro was the last Capricorn reliever to break 1,000 points, as he saved 15 games for Miami, after being acquired in the previous offseason in a trade with the Dodgers.
Alex Colome signed on with the Twins after finishing the shortened 2020 season with an ERA under 1 for the White Sox. But although he picked up 17 saves, his ERA ballooned up to the highest of any of his full seasons (4.15). Jarlin Garcia was a very important lefty weapon out of the Giants bullpen last season. The next four Capricorn relievers on the fantasy point scoreboard all averaged between 10 and 11 points-per-game: Rockies part-time closer Carlos Estevez, Blue Jays lefty Tim Mayza, Twins setup man Tyler Duffey, and Heath Hembree, who split 2021 between the Mets and the Reds.
Getting into the lengthy part of the Capricorn bullpen, Padres rookie Nabil Crismatt was used mostly in multi-inning relief stints. Reynaldo Lopez had a handful of starts for the White Sox, as evidenced by his points-per-game average of nearly 30. Jhoulys Chacin has been a starter for most of his career – he will be returning to the Rockies for next season on a one-year deal. Jeff Hoffman started 11 games for the Reds after spending all of the shortened 2020 season as a reliever. Mitch White, Jharel Cotton, Riley Smith, and Randy Dobnak are other Capricorns who probably have starting in their future.
Rounding out the relief corps, Miguel Castro pitched a lot of innings for the 2021 Mets. Joe Jimenez was in the conversation for Detroit’s closer of the future at one point. Noe Ramirez and Junior Guerra have proven themselves to be useful bullpen pieces. Michael Lorenzen has two-way aspirations, although he didn’t play much on either side of the ball in 2021. Rafael Dolis is another pitcher who had some saves in his career. But the prize for most famous ex-closer goes to Zack Britton, who will hopefully return to full health following September elbow surgery.
The next sign on our list of in-depth looks is surprisingly Aquarius, traditionally a bottom-dwelling FABL squad. But before we get into the Water Bearers, I’m going to take a look at the connection between the current sign (Sagittarius) and the mystical divinatory art of the Tarot.