You shouldn't start Jake Peavy on your fantasy team

Jake Peavy had a decent year last year, so it would have been reasonable to think that he would have a similarly decent year this year. Unfortunately for Giants fans, this has not been the case. Yesterday's game dropped his record to 1-3, and his ERA is at exactly 9.00. These poor numbers are two indicators that you should not start Jake Peavy on your fantasy team.

When you are playing fantasy baseball, your objective is to select the best baseball players, so that you can amass positive contributions from them. If this is your goal, then Jake Peavy would be a very poor choice, as his statistical numbers are actually subpar for a major league baseball player. If this is not your goal, then you are probably not playing fantasy baseball, so whether or not you would have start Jake Peavy on your team is an irrelevant hypothetical.

I touched on Peavy's poor numbers earlier, but it is worth going into a little depth on them. A 1-3 record does seem bad, but what is the context? Well, the Giants have played one sixth of their games, so he is on pace for a record of 6-18 over a full season. Even if you don't play in a rare fantasy league that uses losses as a stat, this is still a very poor record. Here is a partial list of major league pitchers who are on pace to have more than six wins this year: Jered Weaver, Francisco Liriano, Ian Kennedy, A.J. Griffin, and Jimmy Nelson. If you are looking for wins, all of these pitchers would be better.

But it's not just wins. Indeed, Jake Peavy's ERA is also very bad. His ERA is 9.00, which, just for context, is literally twice as large as an ERA of 4.50, which is itself not a very good ERA. ERA is another of the categories in which you are looking for good performances from your pitching staff, so the fact that Peavy's ERA is so poor is just another sign that you shouldn't start him on your fantasy team.

Other categories typically included in fantasy leagues are saves, WHIP, and strikeouts. Peavy falls short in all three categories, especially saves. Jake Peavy has not recorded a single save in his major league career, which falls well short of the number that an elite closer would put up. His WHIP is also poor, as WHIP measures the number of hits and walks against the pitcher per inning, and Jake Peavy has given up a large number of baserunners. As for strikeouts, Jake Peavy has been adequate, though this would not seem to make up for his poor statistical showing elsewhere.

Furthermore, there are rumors that the Giants are interested in signing former starting pitcher Tim Lincecum. While they have publicly stated that they plan for him to be a long reliever, it is possible that instead, he will take Jake Peavy's rotation spot. In that case, Peavy would be a very poor choice indeed for your fantasy team, as he would not pitch at all, so he would be unable to compile the statistics that would help your team. All in all, starting Jake Peavy on your fantasy team would not be a smart move.

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