Showing His McCullers

I think it’s time we had a serious chat about Lance McCullers who once again lit up the scoreboard with a line of 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 10 Ks. Yeah, 3 ER whatever, but what everyone obviously cares about are the 6 Hits 10 Ks following a 7 K outing to start the year. Dude is looking legit and making many people adore him to the high heavens and whatnot. And sure, I don’t blame them. Now, will he get a major bump in tomorrow’s edition of The List? Ehhhh not really. We knew he would strikeout a good amount of batters – albeit not this many – but the concerns I had regarding McCullers are still there for the most part. I know he didn’t walk any today, but I can’t believe that he’s all of a sudden going to be a sub 3.00 BB/9 pitcher, and another major problem has been injuries as McCullers has had a ton of problems over the years that have kept him off the field. We give serious penalties to various pitchers all the time and just because he’s healthy right now doesn’t mean we can assume he will be for the next 24 weeks. You’re better than that.

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

Ervin Santana – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Santana can do this and it’s cool when it happens. It’s interesting, since I really like him against weak teams, but hate him against any sort of capable offense. He’s the Exxssstreeeeeeeaaaamerrrr. Did you actually approve of this joke? Obviously. Why?

Patrick Corbin – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Hahahahahaha.

Noah Syndergaard – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces gonna ace. If only you could guarantee me 200 innings this year, you’d be at #2…

Scott Feldman – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Feldman Schmeldman. Seriously, don’t put much stock into this.

Jake Arrieta – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 10 Ks. Sure, 3 ER is blegh. But a WHIP well under 1.00 and 10 strikeouts are beautiful as the velocity was back up. Dude is an ace.

Jeremy Hellickson – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Y’all know he’s the devil. Y’all also know that two strikeouts won’t feed my family. WE HAVE TO EAT, HELLICKSON.

Wade Miley – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 7 BBs, 5 Ks. How. HOW.

Hisashi Iwakuma – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. This is so boring yet beneficial that it hurts. He’s just a streamer and I think he’ll be a Panda through the year.

Johnny Cueto – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Ehhhh sure. I don’t want to give him the standard AGA title here since this isn’t dominant, but it’s pretty much what you should expect from Cueto. And that’s good, just not the “Win me my week”. You’re paying for that sweet sweet hardwood floor.

Julio Teheran – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. YOU BEST WATCH OUT PAX. Seriously, I am so happy I made that Bold Prediction and have a season long Teheran vs. Paxton battle going now. In actual news, Teheran keeps cruising despite my lack of love for the guy. Doesn’t help his case that he’s faced the Mets + Pirates thus far, but it is the NL Easy…

Jake Odorizzi – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Solid bounce back Odorizzi. There’s the not-so-exciting stuff but approved with a firm head nod.

Jose Quintana – 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. See? No need to worry about Quintana y’all.

Stephen Strasburg – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks. Why do I feel like there is a blemish in like every start from Strasburg? Whatever, that WHIP ain’t so bad, sure the ERA is, but you got 8 Ks. That works I guess.

Martin Perez – 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Hey, another half point for me! I went with Perez as a reluctant Call Boy for a possible cheap win. Sure  that WHIP is bad, but 0 ER and 6 Ks + the dub is an easy claim for victory. 3-2 for the season now.

Nate Karns – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Karns was fine today. Just fine. It’s a start that people will not remember, nor should they really as Karns isn’t a good 12 teamer and should be reserved only for those in deep leagues.

Corey Kluber – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Hey, at least it’s not the same storyline of horrendous April, right? He’s not out of the woods yet though and I expect at least one more bad start before we’re done with the month.

CC Sabathia – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks. Sure the WHIP is terrible and it’s just three strikeouts, but only 2 ER from CC against the Orioles is so much better than expected.

Sean Manaea – 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 10 Ks. Ugghhhhh, Manaea was straight dealing but then two dumb singles + a Joey Gallo bomb made everything suck, then recorded his next seven outs via the strikeout cause he’s a boss. Don’t do anything silly, this guy is going to be gold.

Daniel Norris – 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. So I wasn’t too thrilled with this outing from Norris – That WHIP is terrible – but he lasted into the seventh and the velocity was there. Now imagine if he weren’t facing the Red Sox and it’s possible the Ks come back and walks fall. I wouldn’t be dropping here.

Edinson Volquez – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Seven strikeouts are solid, everything else is typical Volquez. And this is him benefiting from the NL Easy!

Gerrit Cole – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Cole got smacked around by the Braves. Sure, I understand not being too concerned with a poor outing against the Sox, but the Barves?! Yes, The Barves! I’d be selling if someone wanted to pay near even price for him.

Kenta Maeda – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Another Maeda start, another short outing. And look, his K/9 sits at 9.00. That’s the problem with low IPS pitchers.

Clayton Richard – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. It’s the wrong Clayton. Just a prime example of why the first week of April can be super confusing.

Rick Porcello – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 11 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. This is what I called getting Singled Out as Porcello allowed a whopping 11 hits while demolishing your WHIP completely. I had a bold prediction that Porcello wouldn’t receive a single Cy Young vote this year. Two starts down, 32 to go…

Zach Davies – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. But I thought he was supposed to be the next Kyle Hendricks! Ohhh, they meant 2015 Kyle Hendricks…

Tyler Anderson – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks. It’s as if owning a pitcher who plays half their games in Coors is a bad idea. On the real though, Anderson allowing four walks is not his style and he has some history of making it still work in Colorado. At this point though, it’s not far-fetch’d (original 151 for life) that 2016 was as good as we’re ever going to see Anderson.

Marco Estrada – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Bleeeeggggghhh. Get it together Estrada if you want to be taken seriously. To be fair, even if he does poorly against the Orioles next time out – which is totally possible – I’d still roll him out there for the following start against the Angels.

Carlos Martinez – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Ouch, against the Reds as well! I still like Cmart a ton and I’m willing to let this one slide. This time…

Matt Shoemaker – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. Oh Shoe. Here’s to looking forward to your ridiculous four-week stretch, whenever that happens to be. I think I’d still start him against the Royals though.

Today’s Streamer

Tyler Glasnow vs. Cincinnati Reds – Yeah, there’s risk here too, though the Reds don’t put up much of a fight and you could escape with 7+ Ks.

Tomorrow’s Streamer

Lance Lynn vs. Washington Nations – Not a great day for streamers, so I’ll go with Lynn who is still somehow owned in under 25% of ESPN Leagues. Don’t love the matchup against the Nats, but so it goes.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Andrew Triggs vs. Kansas City Royals – I think Triggs has it in him to give you a good outing against the weak Royals offense.

Game of the Day

Tyler Glasnow vs. Brandon Finnegan – I smell a GIF Breakdown approaching…