Who Should I Draft?
Jesus Luzardo or James Karinchak (2021)
Experts' Pick | ||
| Jesus Luzardo SP,RP - OAK  | James Karinchak RP - CLE  | |
Expert |
80% Recommended by 40 of 50 experts |
20% Recommended by 10 of 50 experts |
| Rankings | ||
| ECR | # 33 | # 49 |
| Best Rank | # 20 | # 28 |
| Worst Rank | # 66 | # 117 |
| ADP | ||
| Composite | # 101 | # 102 |
| Best Rank | # 85 | # 94 |
| Worst Rank | # 112 | # 129 |
| Projections | ||
| Strikeouts | 144 | 99 |
| Wins | 9 | 3 |
| Saves | 0 | 22 |
| ERA | 3.73 | 3.23 |
| WHIP | 1.21 | 1.19 |
| Misc | ||
| Injury Alert | - | - |
| Expert Ranks | ||
| Andy Behrens Yahoo! Sports | # 33 | # 58 |
| Scott Pianowski Yahoo! Sports | # 49 | # 68 |
| Steve Gardner USA Today | # 32 | # 55 |
| Site Projections RotoChamp | # 50 | # 51 |
| Grey Albright Razzball | # 30 | # 40 |
| Greg Smith The Fake Baseball | # 39 | # 60 |
| Jeff Boggis Fantasy Football Empire | # 38 | # 44 |
| Dalton Del Don Yahoo! Sports | # 37 | # 56 |
| Dave McKay The Fantasy Sports Brain | # 24 | # 49 |
| Andrew Gould FantasyPros | # 33 | # 55 |
| Tim McCullough Baseball Prospectus | # 36 | # 37 |
| Rudy Gamble Razzball | # 43 | # 49 |
| Wayne Bretsky BretskyBall | # 57 | # 61 |
| Chris Meaney FTN | # 28 | # 58 |
| Andy Singleton Expand The Boxscore | # 34 | # 40 |
| Adam Ronis Fantasy Alarm | # 24 | # 100 |
| Mario Mergola Sporfolio | # 20 | # 40 |
| Nick Pollack Pitcher List | # 38 | # 82 |
| Nick Mariano RotoBaller | # 35 | # 43 |
| Mike Maher FantasyPros | # 34 | # 43 |
| Michael Waterloo FantasyPros | # 27 | # 117 |
| Donkey Teeth Razzball | # 37 | # 38 |
| Dan Harris FantasyPros | # 29 | # 53 |
| Pierre Camus RotoBaller | # 24 | # 47 |
| Andrew Seifter FantasyPros | # 26 | # 92 |
| Max Freeze Freeze Stats | # 39 | # 62 |
| Dennis Sosic Fantasy Six Pack | # 30 | # 56 |
| Mick Ciallela Fantrax | # 33 | # 43 |
| Michael Petropoulos BRoto Fantasy | # 38 | # 54 |
| Ariel Cohen FanGraphs | # 40 | # 45 |
| Ryan Amore Pitcher List | # 29 | # 33 |
| Jacob W. Dunne New Life Fantasy | # 35 | # 43 |
| Carmen Maiorano FantasyPros | # 29 | # 40 |
| Jordan Eisen Field of Vision Sports | # 24 | # 61 |
| Nate Miller FantasyPros | # 45 | # 48 |
| Brad Camara FantasyPros | # 23 | # 34 |
| Staff Rankings Roto Ranks | # 33 | # 47 |
| Chris Clegg Fantrax | # 29 | # 60 |
| Joe Pisapia FantasyPros | # 28 | # 98 |
| Nicklaus Gaut RotoBaller | # 35 | # 65 |
| Brendan Tuma FantasyPros | # 31 | # 28 |
| Heath Capps Fake Teams | # 38 | # 36 |
| Lucas Spence Pitcher List | # 38 | # 31 |
| Todd D Clark The Fantasy Fix | # 38 | # 35 |
| Jake Ciely The Athletic | # 41 | # 32 |
| Joe Bond Fantasy Six Pack | # 44 | # 40 |
| KJ Fantasy Team Advice | # 46 | # 43 |
| Luke Gloeckner Mr. Cheatsheet | # 46 | # 45 |
| Muntradamus Beast Dome | # 51 | # 47 |
| Corbin Young FantasyData | # 66 | # 37 |
| Jesus Luzardo SP,RP - OAK | James Karinchak RP - CLE | |
| 2020 Stats | ||
| Games Played | 12 | 27 |
| Games Started | 9 | 0 |
| Innings Pitched | 59.2 | 27.0 |
| Wins | 3 | 1 |
| Losses | 2 | 2 |
| Saves | 0 | 1 |
| Blown Saves | 0 | 3 |
| Holds | 0 | 8 |
| Hits Allowed | 57 | 14 |
| Earned Runs | 25 | 8 |
| Home Runs Allowed | 9 | 1 |
| Strikeouts | 59 | 53 |
| Walks | 17 | 16 |
| ERA | 3.81 | 2.67 |
| WHIP | 1.25 | 1.11 |
| Jesus Luzardo SP,RP - OAK | James Karinchak RP - CLE | |
| 2021 Projections | ||
| Games Played | 27 | 61 |
| Games Started | 26 | 0 |
| Innings Pitched | 141.6 | 61.3 |
| Wins | 9 | 3 |
| Losses | 7 | 3 |
| Saves | 0 | 22 |
| Blown Saves | 0 | 9 |
| Holds | 0 | 6 |
| Hits Allowed | 130 | 40 |
| Earned Runs | 59 | 22 |
| Home Runs Allowed | 19 | 7 |
| Strikeouts | 144 | 99 |
| Walks | 41 | 32 |
| ERA | 3.73 | 3.23 |
| WHIP | 1.21 | 1.19 |
| Jesus Luzardo SP,RP - OAK | James Karinchak RP - CLE | |
| News | ||
| Jesus Luzardo took the no-decision Tuesday against Arizona, allowing five runs (all earned) on six hits over 2.2 innings with one strikeout and two walks. Ari Koslow Wed, Apr 14th | Cleveland reliever James Karinchak struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning in a 3-2 loss to the Reds on Saturday. Matthew Terelle Sat, Apr 17th | |
| Jesus Luzardo took the no-decision Wednesday against the Dodgers, allowing two runs (both earned) on five hits over 5.1 innings pitched with six strikeouts and four walks. Ari Koslow Thu, Apr 8th | Cleveland reliever James Karinchak threw a scoreless 10th inning to nail down his first save of the season. Karinchak struck out one in the outing. Matthew Terelle Wed, Apr 14th | |
| Jesus Luzardo took the loss Friday, allowing five runs (all earned) on eight hits over 5.0 innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. Ari Koslow Sat, Apr 3rd | Cleveland reliever James Karinchak threw a scoreless eighth inning to pick up a hold in a 5-2 win over the Tigers. He struck out three and walked one in the inning. Matthew Terelle Sun, Apr 11th | |
| Athletics starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo will start for Thursday's game against the Rangers. AJ Schullo Tue, Mar 9th | Cleveland reliever James Karinchak struck out the lone batter he faced in a 3-0 loss to the Royals on Monday. Matthew Terelle Mon, Apr 5th | |
| Jesus Luzardo's velocity impresses A's manager Bob Melvin. Jack Mannis Tue, Feb 23rd | ||
| Notes | ||
| Luzardo's 2020 campaign wasn't terrible, but it certainly left fantasy managers wanting more. The strikeouts were there, but not quite at the level that was expected. He rarely went deep into games. And he was just more hittable than he ever was in the minors or in his brief time as a reliever in 2019. Luzardo throws four quality pitches and is working to improve his arsenal as we head into the 2021 season, so there's little reason to downgrade your opinion of him too much from where it was prior to the 2020 campaign because of one nine-start stretch. He's an incredibly high-upside pitcher who carries with him plenty of injury risk, and the combination leaves him as a solid SP3 for fantasy leagues. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | Karinchak is expected to be Cleveland's closer after Brad Hand moved on to the Nationals, though it's not a sure thing yet. Yes, he walks too many batters (5.33 per nine innings), but you can get away with it when you strike out nearly half the batters you face and hitters bat .151 against you overall. Karinchak has two absolutely devastating pitches: a mid-90's fastball (.184 batting average against, .151 xBA) and a power curveball (.140 batting average against, .114 xBA). Cleveland may not have a ton of success this year and hence save opportunities may be limited, but Karinchak can be a dominant fantasy reliever if he gets the job. Monitor reports out of the spring to see when and if Terry Francona formerly anoints him as the closer. If he does, he should vault to being a top-6 or 7 reliever. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | |
| "Special K" used the third-highest rate of elevated four seamers to produce a dominant season out of the bullpen. 53 strikeouts in 27 innings led to the second-highest strikeout rate in baseball (behind only Devin Williams). Karinchak was blocked for saves by Brad Hand during the 2020 season, but his departure this offseason opens the door for Karinchak to handle ninth inning duties. Assuming Cleveland doesn't sign a "traditional" veteran closer, then I'd aggressively draft Karinchak as a top-three reliever for fantasy baseball purposes. Brendan Tuma - FantasyPros | ||
