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Week 6 Fantasy Pitching Planner

The Fantasy Baseball Pitching Planner is your guide to setting your rotations for the upcoming scoring period. Every week, we'll give you the latest on all of the matchups, highlight two-start options and much more. NOTE: The Planner will be updated with the latest rotation information every Sunday prior to lineup deadlines.

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Enough time has elapsed this season so that we can introduce a new feature into our weekly Pitching Planner .

In the right-hand column of our interactive tool below, there is a color-coded bar that shows you the likelihood that a pitcher has either overperformed or underperformed. The length and color of the bar is determined by the difference between a pitcher's ERA and his xFIP, which is a measure that estimates what an ERA would be if you only took the things that a pitcher can control into account. A red bar indicates that a pitcher has probably overperformed so far, while a green bar indicates that you can probably expect improvement in the future.

Due to space limitations, we are no longer showing a pitcher's flyball rate in any of the table's columns, but you can still filter out the extreme flyball and ground ball pitchers by using the slider in the upper right corner.

Jason Hammel , Colorado: You have to pick your spots with Hammel, but with favorable matchups against the Mets and San Diego, he is a good pitcher to pick up to give your mixed league team some additional starts. There is a good chance that Hammel is available, as he is currently owned in only 26 percent of leagues.

Tim Hudson , Atlanta: Hudson's six-pack of strikeouts against the Brewers on Wednesday were a season high. He is starting in 80 percent of leagues, so most owners know that his contact-pitching ways won't hinder his productivity in Fantasy. With a two-start week ahead, owners in the other 20 percent of leagues should think about getting Hudson in their lineups.

Edwin Jackson , Chicago White Sox: The inconsistent Jackson is probably the most controversial pick among these advisable two-start pitchers. The gap between Jackson's ERA and xFIP of one run plus change shows that Jackson has been a bit unlucky, as he really hasn't been all that bad aside from some wildness. He could struggle against the Angels, but his second start against the A's should cushion his week's stats enough so that he can still help owners in standard mixed leagues.

Hurdle defends aggressive approach - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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Pirates manager Clint Hurdle understands baseball strategy. He was taught the game properly.

But he also won't back off what may be aggressive play just because conventional wisdom might suggest otherwise, and he won't apologize for it, either.

"We're not a conventional team," Hurdle said before Monday's game against the Washington Nationals. "That book that everybody reads? Show me a copy, I'll read it with you. ... That book, if you look at the foreword, it says, 'This is a manager's cover-his-backside book. If you stick to this book, you can never be second-guessed. Merry Christmas.' That more or less, is what it's for. My opinion."

The conversation came up during a discussion of the last out of Sunday's game, in which Andrew McCutchen attempted to score from third base when Jose Tabata hit a fly ball to right field with two outs and the Pirates down by three runs.

But adrenaline and an aggressive mentality sometimes take over in a game, and Hurdle said at least they have a better understanding for when they can run and when they can't -- at least when it comes to the depth of a fly ball.

"Take (Jason Werth's) arm: Was it a gamble? Absolutely," Hurdle said. "Did it not work out? Absolutely. Am I pleased with the aggressive mentality? Yes, absolutely."

Hurdle said he didn't ask whether McCutchen decided to go on his own or whether third base coach Nick Leyva sent the center fielder.

"I trust my third base coach implicitly," he said. "My guess is (Leyva) told him to go, and my guess is Andrew was going. I expected him to go. I would have been more shocked if he hadn't gone. Because one thing I told Nick in spring training is I don't ever want to wonder if he'd have been safe."

Quotable

"It was just good to get some sleep. I was a little short on that, but I caught up (Sunday) night. I might have had 11 hours (Sunday) night.