Fanning Your Feathers

The Astros elected to move Mike Fiers to the bullpen and give Brad Peacock a proper chance as their #5 and he gave Houston a 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks line against the Twins yesterday. Peacock was killing it for the first four frames, then the wheels came off in the fifth, where he allowed the OBP cycle (single, double, triple, walk) with all four baserunners scoring on a passed ball and the bullpen failing to bail him. It does make you question if his lack of stamina at the moment will make him not an effective add, but then again he’s holding a 13.9% whiff rate and in both starts he’s held eight strikeouts in under five full frames. I think he’s an add in all 12-teamers and while it may take some time to see him comfortably cross the 85 pitch mark. his upside is way too big to pass on in this thin SP landscape.

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

Tanner Roark – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Not going to lie, I’m a pretty big Roark hater. 7.71 K/9, 3.03 BB/9, 3.86 ERA and 4.06 xFIP don’t make him a solid add in my book. I will tell you though that his last two starts have looked elite against the Mariners and now Giants. It’s two starts and not the strongest of offenses, but take that information as you’d like. I still see him nowhere close to Top 40.

Robert Gsellman – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Gsellman finally gets a solid start under his belt. He’s also acted like something under the belt this season and this start doesn’t let me forget that just yet.

Carlos Carrasco – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Some wanted Strasburg above Carrasco in The List yesterday and I get that. Pretty even these days.

Ervin Santana – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Alright guys. He has two starts left, against the Angels and Giants, where I expect Santana to keep riding this hot steak. But then it’s going to end. You can mark me down for this one as he hits the Mariners, Indians x2, and Red Sox. With all the comments I get about Santana, I’m sure you can get a pretty penny for him and it’s what I’d be doing, but feel free to wait until after the SanFran start to fully unload him.

Edinson Volquez – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Even with this start, it’s still a 4.44 ERA and 5.30 BB/9. No thanks.

Randall Delgado – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Delgado went a little longer in his second start and showed up with eight strikeouts this time. I wouldn’t be shocked if some people got excited given his 8.67 K/9 and 1.49 BB/9 with a 3.47 FIP and 3.29 xFIP. Why do I smell a but? Because you’re a dog and that’s what you do. Alright, you caught me, those numbers were for the entire season, which included nearly 30 innings of being in the pen. Doesn’t really count in my book. Now, I do like his strike-throwing approach and he clearly has whiffability here, but I’m not sold that this is going to carry over completely. Not to mention, will he stick in the rotation when Taijuan Walker shortly? (He’s throwing a simulated game today.) If Delgado gets that start against Miami over the weekend, I think I’m cool rolling with him. That could easily be Walker’s though, so I think you resist the pick up for now.

Trevor Williams – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. That’s nice Williams, enjoy your Birthday Party.

Matt Moore – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Good to see Moore take a step in the right direction, but one step behind him is his ex-girlfriend’s place so there’s a ways to go here.

Rich Hill – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. After allowing seven walks last time out, Hill settled down and looked more like his normal self here. Kinda. It’s still just four strikeouts and five innings. I’m still wondering if holding onto Hill is worth the massive effort. I mean, how much more time will we get of Hill? And what’s the reward going to be? The super studly 7 innings of 8 strikeouts with a stud ERA/WHIP seem lost these days, especially when the Dodgers just don’t know what to do with all their pitchers.

Marcus Stroman – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Solid bounce back from Stroman. Problem is that I think he’s going to be a rubber ball all year. I kinda like that, a Rubber Ball is a guy that will have 2-to-1 good to bad starts. Two solid outings, a poor one, then bouncing back. It’s a fun time overall but he hits walls somewhat regularly.

Dylan Bundy – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. And we’re back to April Bundy where you’re wondering what it means. To be fair the Yankees are pretty dang good offensively and we’ll all take this. But three Ks? Come on Bundy, this is starting to hurt.

Mike Leake – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. 4 ER is much closer to what Leake should be doing, but that 1.00 WHIP and 6 Ks sure are surprising as well…I’m thinking this is like the Nicotine patch to ween you off instead of the major slap to the face we normally see, i.e. a term I haven’t used all year: The Balls Have Dropped. That normally applies to young arms that no one knows about who have one good start, get people hyped, then slow down. Totally missed that opportunity with Amir Garrett…Anyway, back to Leake. I think you still roll with him, but that window to sell for more is probably closing fast.

Julio Teheran – 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. A 0 ER outing against the Pirates and 3 ER against the Trout-less Angels. Next he gets Cincy and I’m hesistant. Sorry Teheran, I just hate having anything to do with you.

David Price – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. This was a DLH situation but those owning Price should be happy with this outing as his velocity looked good and he looked pretty solid in his brief time on the hill. Remember, the White Sox are one of the best teams in the majors against lefties…somehow. It’s possible he crawls back to Top 15 this year, we’ll see how this goes.

Daniel Norris – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Ehhhhh I want that start to make me fall back in love with Norris. Until then, I’m sitting this one out.

David Holmberg – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. The White Sox turned to reliever Holmberg with Dylan Covey injured in his last start. It was a tough void to fill, but Holmberg did his best Covey impression and left us wishing we had our time back for looking into Holmberg.

Jarred Cosart – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 5 BBs, 2 Ks. Five walks and four innings? Never change Cosart, never change.

Jeremy Hellickson – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. A combined four Ks + BBs in six innings is so Hellickson and still mindblowing to me.

Jordan Montgomery – 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. A pair of unearned runs and getting Singled Out did Monty in here. He’s an interesting case of someone with a solid repertoire that is still working on that final bit of polish to be a sturdy finesse arm with solid strikeout upside. I think he’s good enough right now to trust as your final 12 teamer add and I like his start against Toronto next. I’m taking a tie on this one as the ERA and Ks are fine but the WHIP isn’t. Streamer Record 25.5-17-8.

Matt Garza – 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Good to see Garza fully excepting his role of making owners feel like this.

Kyle Hendricks – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. After 8 ER over his last six starts, of course Hendricks is going to stumble against the Padres. How could I not see this coming. Some days you just have to throw your hands up in the air and move on like nothing happened.

Jason Hammel – 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks. Remember when Hammel was fantasy relevant?

Martin Perez – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. So Perez wasn’t able to get lucky and prevent over 80% of his baserunners from scoring. This is what happens Larry, this is what happens when you put too much faith in the baseball Gods.

Sam Gaviglio – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. I labeled him a Cup of Schmo before and I’ll do it again. Where is it? It was implied, you get it.

Ricky Nolasco – 2.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. It was a laborious third inning that included an error, escalating the game to a 6 run third that got Nolasco removed early. So tragic give how many owners I’m sure ran with Nolasco.

Erasmo Ramirez – 2.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. I feel bad for featuring a subtle Mona Lisa smile after reading this line as I want Jose De Leon to take his spot in the rotation. I know he just got sent down, but please bring him back up soon so we can all scrutinize the hell out of him.

Daniel Mengden – 3.1 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. Let’s be honest, we missed your mustache. What about my numbers? Why would we miss those?

Tyler Chatwood – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. The Mariners like right-handers and it’s hard not to enjoy Coors. I’m actually totally cool with this since it means I can grab Chatwood for his next start in PetCo with ease. Sweet.

Lisalverto Bonilla – 2.1 IP, 6 ER, 3 Hits, 5 BBs, 0 Ks. It’s too bad when you see an arm that actually has decent stuff struggle so much. Like an ultimate PEAS (a UPEAS? Nah). Anyway, stay away, of course.

Today’s Streamer

Tyler Anderson vs. Seattle Mariners – Seattle doesn’t like LHP and Anderson is on a roll.

Tomorrow’s Streamer

Dan Straily vs. Philadelphia Phillies – I hate this one, but Clevinger and Godley are both over 25% owned now and I can’t pick em. I’m taking a half point here – hopefully the last you’ll see so I can get rid of it in the record. Watch, you’ll lose and now you’ll have two of em. DON’T SAY THAT.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Chase Anderson vs. New York Mets – I don’t want to trust Chase either, but 11 Ks against the Dbacks are no joke and the Mets are the…Mets. I’m going to be clear: This would be a half point, but I want to get rid of those completely. If Straily works out well, this is a full point. If Straily doesn’t, then I’ll need to continue the masquerade long enough to remove them = half point. That sounds super dumb Nick. WHATEVER I DO WHAT I WANT.

Game of the Day

Justin Verlander vs. Kansas City Royals – I want to see Verlander dominate a weak offense. Please Jimmy V, do it for me.