Fantasy owners would love to be able to come up with the holy grail of statistics, that one number that they can look at and instantly decide whether or not a player is on his way up or is headed for a jump off the proverbial cliff in terms of future performance.

Of course, life does not work that way. Things are never that simple. However, at least when it comes to pitchers -- especially in points leagues -- there is one number that can serve as an early warning system of sorts. If you're looking for one of the biggest red flags in the fantasy world, look no further than a starting pitcher's K/BB rate.

A quick look at the top ranked pitchers in terms of ESPN standard scoring thus far in 2012 and the large gap between the number of strikeouts they've tallied in relation to the free passes they've issued to hitters this season and you'll see nary a slacker in the group:

Name W L ERA K/BB Points

R.A. Dickey 14 2 2.83 4.45 403

Justin Verlander 11 6 2.60 4.06 400

Matt Cain 10 3 2.80 4.81 365

Felix Hernandez 9 5 2.79 3.73 364

David Price 14 4 2.57 3.02 348

Clayton Kershaw 8 6 2.95 3.67 345

Stephen Strasburg 11 4 2.76 4.72 335

Chris Sale 12 3 2.61 3.68 332

Jered Weaver 13 1 2.26 3.42 328

Johnny Cueto 13 5 2.39 3.12 322

Cole Hamels 11 5 3.31 3.54 322

Madison Bumgarner 11 6 3.10 4.48 320

The only pitcher with a somewhat disappointing K/BB in this group is David Price, but looking at his recent run of seven games with a 6-0 record and 1.82 ERA, over those games he's had a 4.0 K/BB. In his prior seven starts, where he went 3-3 with a 3.57 ERA, that number was only 2.39.

It's not a direct indicator of success or failure, but more often than not there's at least some semblance of a correlation between a K/BB of 2.0 or lower and poor performance, not only in real life but especially so in points leagues.

Take a look at the top 50 pitchers who come closest to the 2.0 K/BB mark and you'll see some pitchers who have been struggling:

Name W L ERA K/BB Points

C.J. Wilson 9 7 2.88 1.92 284

Yu Darvish 11 7 4.05 2.16 245

Ryan Vogelsong 8 5 2.22 2.21 289

Matt Harrison 12 6 3.19 2.25 251

James McDonald 10 5 3.38 2.3 280

Jason Vargas 11 7 3.76 2.34 263

Tim Hudson 10 4 3.68 2.34 204

Wei-Yin Chen 9 6 3.65 2.44 245

Using C.J. Wilson as an example, the All Star is 0-3 with a 4.23 ERA in July and his K/BB has been a "below the threshold" 1.79. Prior to that, he was 9-4 with a 2.36 ERA and a K/BB of 1.98. That's still not great, and it may speak to his style of pitching as his career K/BB is 2.12. But the worse that number gets, the fewer fantasy points a pitcher will accumulate. Plus, last season when Wilson finished sixth in AL CY Young voting, he did post a career-high 2.78 K/BB. It's not like he "can't" do better than he's doing.

So, if you're looking to see which pitchers might well be headed for a fall, let's finish up our discussion on K/BB by listing some pitchers with an ERA under 4.00 and a K/BB under 2.00. As the fantasy trade deadline continues its fast approach, perhaps these are the "Hemingway" pitchers: the kinds of arms you might want to bid a fond farewell to before the bottom drops out.

Name W L ERA K/BB Points

Edinson Volquez 6 7 3.30 1.6 234

Aaron Harang 7 5 3.39 1.83 213

Barry Zito 8 7 3.89 1.37 208

Jarrod Parker 7 4 3.38 1.95 203

Trevor Cahill 8 9 3.86 1.86 189

Jeremy Hellickson 6 6 3.23 1.8 187

Ted Lilly 5 1 3.14 1.63 108

Neftali Feliz 3 1 3.16 1.61 94

Nate Eovaldi 2 6 3.94 1.77 60

One final note before we get into this week's hot commodities: After last week's column which outlined the difficulty of weighing the value of hitters relative to pitchers and vice versa, I decided to adjust the top 100 rankings a bit in order to get them a little more in line with that process. As a result, you will see a lot fewer starting pitchers in the list and those that remain have been scaled back a bit in terms of weighing their past production versus future projections. Hopefully, this "new" format will be more helpful in terms of making lineup decisions going forward. Practice what you preach!

Pointing Up

Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Washington Nationals: Since the second-half started, Zimmerman has been on fire with a .384 batting average and 1.198 OPS in his last 18 games. That's not to say it has all been roses and sunshine. Zimmerman did go through a midweek stretch in the last scoring period where he went 2-for-12 with no extra-base hits and six strikeouts, however as Eddie Izzard would say, "If you start strong and end strong, nobody remembers the middle bit."

Shane Victorino, OF, Philadelphia Phillies: I won't begin to try to read Victorino's mind, but if he's trying to do all he can to make himself appealing to other clubs as the trade deadline approaches, he couldn't have had a better week. In his five starts, he went 8-for-19 (.421) and even stole three bases in four tries -- more running than he'd done in the previous 19 games combined. If not for the one game he left after one at-bat due to an elbow injury, he'd have a nine-game hitting streak working. The Hawaiian is Flyin' yet again.

Chris Perez, RP, Cleveland Indians: It's two straight scoring periods now where Perez has had at least 24 fantasy points, thanks to retiring 18 of 21 batters faced since July 13. At that success rate, it hardly matters how many save chances he gets. Perez is 5-for-5 in saves in his past six appearances, even though the Tribe is only 6-11 since the break. Whether or not Cleveland ends up righting the ship or not, Perez's value remains solid.

Denard Span, OF, Minnesota Twins: A seven-game hitting streak where he hit .414 with two steals and eight runs scored has seen Span's value skyrocket. Span's power numbers (3 HRs, 32 RBIs in 2012) leave a lot to be desired, but at least with five doubles in the last week, he's showing some pop that wasn't there in his previous 18 games, when he managed just two doubles and a .275 batting average.

Adrian Gonzalez, 1B/OF, Boston Red Sox: Gonzalez is hitting .405 this season against the New York Yankees, including a 6-for-13 series last week where he homered and drove in four runs. Boston still has nine more games left on the schedule versus the Bronx Bombers later this season, but for now, Gonzalez's owners can smile in the knowledge that his next 10 games come at Fenway Park where he's hitting .312 this season.

Wade Miley, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks: Keeping with our K/BB theme, Miley has been...