This week, the Touts were asked to choose between two arms who were ranked closely (at the time) using earnings to date.
Rest of season, would you rather roster: Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Shota Imanaga? Tanner Houck or Ranger Suarez? Tyler Glasnow or Chris Sale? Bailey Ober or Joe Ryan? Cole Ragans or Mitch Keller?
Grey Albright (RazzBall, @razzball): Yamamoto, Ranger, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans
Derek Carty (RotoGrinders, @DerekCarty): Yamamoto, Ranger, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans
Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): At this point, I want the higher floor. IMO, those are Imanaga, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans.
Ryan Boyer (Rotowire, Baseball Prospectus, @RyanPBoyer): I’ve got Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan and Ragans. Ober and Ryan was the toughest call for me. Similar pitchers, but Ryan has more durability. Ragans and Keller aren’t all that close to me. Perhaps you could argue Keller is safer, but I struggle to find anything he does better than Ragans.
Fred Zinkie (Yahoo/Rotowire, @FredZinkieMLB): Yamamoto, Ranger, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans. For me, the easiest pick was Glasnow over Sale and the hardest pick was Ryan over Ober.
Eric Samulski (Rotoballer, @SamskiNYC): It would take way too long to break down WHY I’m answering how I am, but I’ll basically be looking for strikeouts and upside here. I’ll go: Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans. For me, Ragans and Keller was the easiest. Keller is a streamer at best right now and I can’t wait for Nick Pollack to see that it was a choice between these two.
Scott White (CBS Fantasy Sports, @CBSScottWhite): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans. The closest call was between Tanner Houck and Ranger Suarez. I’m genuinely confused why an ace like Cole Ragans is mentioned in the same breath as Mitch Keller, and I say that as one of the loudest Keller apologists.
Tim McLeod ( Prospect361, @RunTMcP361): Yamamoto, Suarez (either one), Sale, Ober, Ragans.
Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): Imanaga, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans.
Nick Pollack (Pitcher List, @PitcherList): Yamamoto (high four-seamers, PLEASE), Suárez and his improved changeup, Glasnow since he’s the #1 SP, Joe Ryan for his better fastball, and Ragans because you can’t spell Ragans without AGA (Aces Gonna Ace).
Phil Hertz (Baseball HQ, @prhz50): Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Keller
Michael A. Stein (Fantasy Judgment, @FantasyJudgment): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans.
Bret Sayre (Baseball Prospectus, @BretSayreBP): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans.
Matt Truss (Razzball, @MattTruss): Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans (Houck/Ranger is the closest call, and while pitching in Fenway is terrifying, Houck is a beast)
Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans.
Frank Ammirante (The GameDayHQ, @FAmmiranteTFJ): Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans
Chris Clegg (Pitcher List, @RotoClegg): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans
Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs, @jeffwzimmerman): According to my valuation Imanaga (close), Houck (tie), Sale, Ryan (not close at all), Ragans (again, not close at all)
Glenn Colton (SiriusXM Fantasy, @GlennColton1): Sometimes keeping it simple is best. M.Keller v. Ragans is simple. Keller (below avg 8.8 swinging strike and a 4.63 xERA) v. Ragans (14.5 swinging strike and a 3.59 xERA). I just chose one example to illustrate it often is best not to overthink.
Dave Adler (Baseball HQ, @daveadler01): Looking at hit and strand rates to get a sense of likely regression; also expected ERA and K-BB% rates. So, my selections: Yamamoto (Imanaga has a 95% strand rate; expected ERA over ROS slightly higher than Yamamoto). Suarez by a very slight edge over Houck (projections over ROS virtually identical). Glasnow (two injury risks, but Glasnow expected ERA a bit better). Ryan (better K-BB% than Ober, better xERA). Ragans (big K-BB% difference, despite xERA being similar. Plus, I wouldn’t want Nick P to get on my case!)
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotoBuzzGuy): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan and Ragans
Anthony Aniano (Rotoballer, @AAnianoFantasy): Yamamoto..Imanaga will come back to the pack, I believe in the Lone Ranger, Glasnow is a no brainer, Joe Ryan and Ragans
Mike Podhorzer (Fangraphs, @MikePodhorzer): I’m solely looking at SIERA/xERA, along with K%/SwStk%/CSW%. Actual results are pretty meaningless to me at this point. Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans.
Matt Cederholm (Baseball HQ, @TheBigHurtHQ): Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ruan, Ragans
Erik Halterman (Rotowire, @erik_halterman): Imanaga (basically tied), Suarez (pretty close), Glasnow (kinda close), Ryan (not particularly close), Ragans (not close at all)
Corbin Young (Baseball HQ, Rotowire, @corbin_young21): Imanaga (elite control, elite four-seamer), Suarez, Glasnow, Ober, Ragans for strikeout upside, but Keller xERA have hinted at better numbers (no bias here)
Steve Gardner (USA TODAY Sports, @SteveAGardner): Yamamoto (no one can be as great as Imanaga has been in his first 9 starts), though Suarez has been close! I’ll take him over Houck and his injury history. Glasnow over Sale, but it’s a matter of who breaks first. Ober and Ryan are both four-letter pitchers to me, so I can’t pick one over the other. Ragans will be the man over the long haul by a good margin.
John Laghezza (The Athletic, @JohnLaghezza): Imanaga, Houck, Glasnow, Ober, Ragans
Rob Leibowitz (Rotoheaven, @rob_leibowitz): Yamamoto (expecting more of a correction/regression on Imanaga as we go along, but I like them both regardless), Houck over Suarez though again I still like them both. Blitheringly happy Houck is finally having a breakthrough after getting shares of him year after year. Glasnow over Sale. Ryan over Ober – His stuff is just less hittable. Not even close on Ragans vs Keller for me.
Scott Swanay (FantasyBaseballSherpa, @fantasy_sherpa): Going with the guys who I perceive to have higher ROS “upside” (technical term): Yamamoto (team context), Suarez (team context), Glasnow (toughest call), Ryan (can’t use team context for this one), Ragans
Vlad Sedler (FTN Fantasy, @rotogut): Imanaga, Houck, Glasnow, Ryan, Ragans (last one was the easiest). Put Sale up against almost anyone else and I would have said Sale.
Ryan Bloomfield (BaseballHQ, @RyanBHQ): Yamamoto (BaseballHQ’s monthly park factors peg Wrigley as a much more hitter-friendly track over the summer, much better run support from LA); Suarez (I’m a sucker for all those groundballs); Glasnow (better chance this lasts through the second half); Ryan (great name); and Ragans.
Adam Ronis (SiriusXM Fantasy, @AdamRonis): Yamamoto, Suarez, Glasnow, Ryan and Ragans
Jason Collette (Rotowire, @): Yamamoto, Houck, Glasnow, Ober, Ragans (still don’t like, him as much as Nick Pollack)
Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola): Yamamoto, Houck, Sale, Ober, Ragans (but closer than most are indicating).
Each pairing was posted on social media with the following results:
| Pitchers | Tout% | Poll% |
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto | 79.4% | 46.9% |
| Shota Imanaga | 20.6% | 53.1% |
| Tanner Houck | 41.2% | 38.2% |
| Ranger Suarez | 58.8% | 61.8% |
| Tyler Glasnow | 91.2% | 77.5% |
| Chris Sale | 8.8% | 22.5% |
| Bailey Ober | 17.1% | 35.9% |
| Joe Ryan | 82.9% | 64.1% |
| Cole Ragans | 97.1% | 91.0% |
| Mitch Keller | 2.9% | 9.0% |