Refuse The Gerritocracy

I know I’m not the only one who doesn’t love Gerrit Cole. He has the stuff that makes you swoon in the mirror, but he simply doesn’t execute the way it should. After last night’s 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks, Cole holds a 4.23 ERA, 8.61 K/9, 2.46 BB/9, and 4.16 FIP. That’s pretty terrible. It’s replaceable through streaming for the most part, but more realistically his spot in your staff would have been better off chasing upside arms like Godley, Corbin, Bauer, Castillo, etc. But for next year, I am willing to bet he will be in the consensus Top 35. His HR/FB rate was 16.1% after a career under 10%! His velocity increased! He could be like 2015 again! Yep, I’ve heard it all and I don’t want to do it again. 2015 looks like an anomaly with every other year since 2014 holding a 3.60 ERA + 1.20 WHIP or worse. At what point do we stop buying into a guy “turning it on” and realize that he’s just not going to have everything go right for a full season again? I don’t blame you if you want to chase it, it might be worth the value in your draft. I simply doubt that I’ll be the one ready to pull the trigger before “the guy that loves Cole” snatches him. Because every league will have that guy. Don’t be that guy.

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

Raul Alcantara – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Alcantara got the nod as Sean Manaea was scratched last moment with a back issue. He did well n all but it’s kinda a waste, you know?

Henderson Alvarez – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Sure, whatever Alvarez. I’m still upset at you for getting rid of Nola’s two-start week. But we get one now! WHEN MY CHAMPIONSHIP IS OVER. Oh.

Jhoulys Chacin – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Chacin will do well when Jhoulyst expect it. Actually, we kinda expected this one as the Rockies are worse on the road. Not saying it was a must stream, but one of the better options of the drivel.

Jake Odorizzi – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 9 Ks. Whooooaa baby! Odorizzi is killing it and suddenly I’m not totally hating him for 2018. At some point this off-season I’ll dive into what made him so terrible for so long and if we can bank on this September (or maybe even look at hot September performances and see how often they correlate with success in the following season), but for now, be happy he’s panning out in a big way. He gets a repeat matchup next weekend and I’m game.

Eduardo Rodriguez – 7.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Eduardo is cruising, with a 1.78 ERA, 10.66 K/9, 2.84 B/9 and near 6.5 IPS in his last four starts. This was his toughest matchup inside of Cincy and he excelled, throwing plenty of strikes as he almost cleared the eighth. His final challenge is the Astros – ouch – and even with his hot streak, I’d consider playing that one conservatively if I could.

Noah Syndergaard – 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 0 Ks. Five pitches. Flyout, single, double play. STOCK IS RISING. In all seriousness, I’m stoked to get more Thor in our life and if you miss him dearly like I do, here’s a quick refresher. You don’t even need to read it, just watch it. Just stay healthy, please.

Chad Bettis – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Sure, the ER is low, but look at the location WHIP! And 3 Ks! Blegh.

Matt Boyd – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Boyd picked up where he left off by cruising through the Twins lineup, not even letting a little-league HR disrupt his flow. It’s impressive, and he’s allowed just 1 ER through three games. Is that enough to ignore a full season of mediocrity to trust against the Royals? Ehhh possibly. I’m sure there are worse streamers this week.

Madison Bumgarner – 7.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Where should Bumgarner be for next year? Does he get what I imagine will be the heavily disputed “#5 SP”? Probably not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned into a slight value pick, still being on the board after the second tier of starters (Strasburg, Syndergaard, Greinke, deGrom) are picked before him. Who am I kidding, Bumgarner isn’t going to be picked after all of them. No way, get real.

Carlos Carrasco – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Aces gonna ace. I think. Yeah, ace. Do you want Carrasco as your #1 next year? He’s going to cost you a Top 50 pick most likely and I’ll be shocked if he finds he way onto my teams. Injury risk + Cherry Bomb style is not what I want to pay for.

Miguel Gonzalez – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Well look at that Miguel. I feel dirty getting this dub – this is one of the rare times I ever went with Miguel – but baseball is dumb and I inch closer to a winning record. Streamer Record 81-58-17. Magic number is three!

Sonny Gray – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. It’s not incredible with just 4 Ks, but this is lovely Gray after you were a bit disappointing last time out.

Kyle Hendricks – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Hendricks is now sporting a 3.14 ERA with an even 50% GB rate, 7.62 K/9, 2.61 BB/9 and 5.8 IPS. Would I expect him to stay sub 3.50 next season? Not really and when paired with a meh IPS and sub-par strikeout rate, I don’t think it’s worth the investment. Ugh, another day when Hendricks killed it and Nick only has bad things to say about it. Get used to it, I have a hard time investing in finesse pitchers throwing well under 90mph that don’t give me a ton of strikeouts. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

Charlie Morton – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Morton, it’s been a pleasure being on your bandwagon the entire season, especially since you came back from injury on the 7th: 3.33 ERA, 10.11 K/9, 2.90 BB/9, 6.0 IPS. At the cost of free, that’s a beautiful thing.

Bud Norris – 3.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Nud is back and I can’t help but be reminded of the piece I wrote on him when he was killing it as a starter back in 2016.

Hyun-Jin Ryu – 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 1 Ks. Ryu. We joke a ton about you getting injured and you gave us 23 starts this year. 23! But when we needed you the most, a mosquito landed on your arm and you got pulled from the game. Nick, he took a line drive off his pitching arm. Tomato, Tomahto. No one says Tomahto. It’s been a fun ride Ryu, I feel bad for those that needed a Win or QS here.

Brent Suter – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Brent will disappoint you Suter or later. I wasn’t in favor of this start since A) Suter isn’t all too great B) He’s facing the Cubs C) He’s still one a pitch count (sub 90!) D) He isn’t too great. You said that one twice. IT’S DOUBLE IMPORTANT.

Danny Duffy – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. This is really boring and that WHIP is terrible but he got the Win with a 3.00 ERA. I guess I’ll take it even against the ChiSox.

Julio Teheran – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Blame it on the Phillies. I know, Teheran is in the NL Easy and gets to face the Phils a good amount so I should like him more. Sorry, won’t happen. Looking forward to him still being selected in the Top 50 next season as I snatch guys like Charlie Morton or Mike Clevinger.

Andrew Moore – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Andrew is the guy you meet at a 25th high school reunion and say “ohhhhh yeah, that guy. Jack right?” It’s Andrew. Sure it is. Sure it is. 

Robert Stephenson – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. This turned out way better than expected, especially the lack of extremes here. It’s super pedestrian and I’m impressed that even with 2 unearned runs to his name, the WHIP was still low. It’s nice, but I’m not rolling him out there against the Cubs next time unless I need a strikeout upside play.

Joe Biagini – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks. I wonder if I can get back on the full hype train for Biagini again. I think it’s there, surprisingly. I like his repertoire. Maybe something will click and it will be there. I sure won’t be spending on him until I see it, but I’ll still call him a Young Gun for now.

Dylan Covey – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Don’t Covey thy Dylan.

Ervin Santana – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Yep, that’s Santana alright. He faced the weak Tigers and you can’t expect anything more.

Jeremy Hellickson – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. The Devil is real and lives in Baltimore.

Stephen Strasburg – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Ehhhh I want more from Strasburg as he faced the Mets. Just five innings with 83 pitches? I understand the playoffs are coming n all but come on Dusty. This isn’t like you

Taijuan Walker – 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Walker is a PEAS and I think will always be a PEAS.

Dillon Peters – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks. After his terrible outing last weekend, I think this was an easy one to say no to as he went to Arizona. I will say that I think he can be a streamer next season – that Curveball is dope – but for now, I’m keeping my distance.

Lance Lynn – 0.2 IP, 8 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. Man, it’s like everything I’ve been saying through the summer got balled up into one start against the Pirates. It’s not cool Lynn as this definitely hurt a ton of owners who had no good reason to bench you here. It’s also not cool as it raised your ERA nearly .40 points, turning you from an overdrafted #30 pick to mid 40/50s in a heartbeat.

Today’s Streamer

Jordan Montgomery vs. Toronto Blue Jays – The Bear is fresh off a 6.0 IP 0 ER performance and I think he should be able to take care of the Jays. Nooooooope. Jaime Garcia is replacing The Bear and I’m all upset about this. Instead, I’ll go with German Marquez against the Padres away from Coors.

Tomorrow’s Streamer

Lucas Sims vs. New York Mets – I hate the streaming options on Monday. It’s terrible. Don’t destroy your week early, but if you’re desperate, Sims is my favorite choice for the day as he faces the Mets. Blegh. If Jordan Montgomery sneaks into the start on Monday, then I’d prefer him against the Royals over this.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Jakob Junis vs. Detroit Tigers – I like Junis’ K upside as he faces one of the worst offenses around.

Game of the Day

Jacob deGrom vs. Max Scherzer – This looks like a ton of fun.