Fantasy Baseball Sleepers 2012: Starting Pitchers You Shouldn't Count out

The start of the 2012 season is drawing nearer and nearer, and it seems like the closer it gets, the more pitchers are dropping like flies.

Rockies reliever Josh Outman strained his oblique while vomiting. Yes, it's true.

Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey should be out until at least the All-Star break with a thumb injury.

More important than having solid relief guys like them, though, is making sure the starters on your roster are built for the long haul. And way back in the draft order behind the Tim Lincecums and the Clayton Kershaws are the back-of-the-rotation steals that will keep your team afloat as the long season wears on.

Here are some starting pitchers you shouldn't count out heading into the 2012 season.

Andy Pettitte, SP, New York Yankees

After sitting out the 2011 season, Pettitte announced during spring training this year that he is signing up for the big leagues once again, coming out of retirement to join the Yankees.

Because he got to camp later than most pitchers, he might take longer to make it into the Yankees' starting rotation, but he'll be there, maybe as soon as May. He'll make his spring training debut on Wednesday against the Mets, where he's scheduled to pitch one frame.

Though he'll be 40 in June, Pettitte is still a good fantasy bet, given the stats with which he exited in 2010. In 21 starts, he went 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA, 101 strikeouts, 41 walks and 7.0 K's per nine innings.

Though he's not projected to throw more than 100 innings in 2012, he still should be good for 18 starts and more than six strikeouts per nine innings.

Stephen Strasburg, SP, Washington Nationals

There's been an insane amount of hype surrounding Strasburg since he was drafted with the first pick in the 2009 draft, but thus far, his blazing fastball has been overshadowed by his inability to stay healthy.

Still, his fantasy potential is tantalizing: Among all starters who pitched 90-plus innings in the past two seasons combined, he has the most K/9 (11.35), he ranks first in WHIP (0.98) and he ranks fourth in opponents' batting average (.207).

Still, he's been able to make just 11 starts since having Tommy John surgery, and he has yet to prove that he'll be reliable for the duration of the long major league season. If he stays healthy, he could be good for 27 starts, a sub-3.00 ERA and over 10 strikeouts per nine innings.

Clay Buchholz, SP, Boston Red Sox

Buchholz is one of those risky acquisitions who is really on when he's on but when he's not, he's an absolute disaster.

It seems like scouts have been waiting for years for him to fulfill the potential he showed when he threw a no-hitter in his first major league start, but thus far, he's been riddled by injuries and over-thinking.

If he is healthy, Buchholz should be, at worst, a middle-of-the-rotation starter, and at best, he'll be borderline-brilliant, like he was in 2010 when he went 17-7 with a 2.33 ERA and a career-best 120 strikeouts and a 1.203 WHIP.

He made only 14 starts last year, but all indications out of Boston's camp are that he's healthy this year, so he should be able to make all his starts and is on pace to register more strikeouts than ever.