Fantasy Baseball: Two-start pitcher rankings for Week 23 identify Clay Buchholz, Junior Guerra as sleepers

Used to be we'd see 35-40 pitchers in line for two starts in a given week. With the extra off days built into this year's schedule, it's been more like 35.

This week, it's 30. There's the potential for 31 if Eduardo Rodriguez doesn't return over the weekend, allowing Brian Johnson to start twice, but either way, it's a low number.

And more than half of them are too high-end to qualify as sleepers.

Generally, the sleeper cutoff is 80 percent ownership in CBS Sports leagues, which is pretty generous but necessary in weeks like this one. Clay Buchholz, Kyle Gibson, Zach Eflin and Trevor Cahill are all in the gray area between 75 and 80 percent, and they're all easy choices even though Gibson, Eflin and Cahill are coming off terrible starts. So does that make them sleepers? Again, it's a generous application of the term.

Junior Guerra, meanwhile, is owned in less than 60 percent of leagues, which I guess makes sense given the way he has stumbled since the All-Star break. The overall numbers are still respectable, though, right down to the strikeout rate, so he's the pitcher in Week 23 (Aug. 27-Sept. 2) I'd come closest to calling a sleeper.

If you're feeling unusually brave (or desperate), you could roll the dice on Sam Gaviglio, who's only 10 percent owned and has dream matchups this week. He also has an ERA near 5.00 for the year, but three of his past four starts have been pretty good. It'd have to be a points league for me to consider it, though. In fact, I'm not sure I'd start anyone outside of the top 15 in categories leagues.

*RP-eligible