DyLanding On Two Feet

I find it amazing how mediocre Dylan Bundy has been this season. He’s a constant topic for discussion on our podcasts as he’s acting a bit like a PEAS, but had been producing enough to make him owned in your 12-teamers. Now he went 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 8 Ks and we’re all confused once again. To put this in perspective, including this outing, Bundy’s last 13 starts have induced a super low 6.33 K/9, which is atrocious to say the least. In that time, he’s held a 4.18 ERA, 5.46 FIP, 5.63 xFIP, 3.39 BB/9…and why on earth have we been liking him? Well, his stuff is much better than these numbers indicate. His new Slider is a great whiff pitch that should be more effective. He’s shown how filthy his Changeup can be, and his Curveball can be a strike earner early in counts. The problem has always been two things: poor Fastball command and just a really bad approach. I can’t tell you how many texts I got last night from Alex Fast telling me all the times he threw terrible 1-2 pitches. He just doesn’t have the ability to make the right pitch to put guys away constantly now. Can he get there? Sure, I think so. Does that matter right now? Not really as it will take some time and with his injury history + innings limit (I’d be shocked if he threw more than 180 innings this year), I can’t see him being someone you want to bank on for the second half. Don’t drop, but keep trying to sell as he will fall a good amount tomorrow.

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

Corey Kluber – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 13 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Like, for real. Kluber is known as a streaky arm, though, and while he’s definitely #4 ROS, it’s not going to be like this all year, of course. Just remember these great moments when he has a tough back-to-back go of it later.

Jacob deGrom – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Aces gonna ace. He’s back y’all. HE’S BACK.

Clayton Kershaw – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Kersh gonna Kersh. I’m happy to see our Podcast listeners voted Kershaw over Scherzer 60-40 as #1 ROS. Because man, this tough schedule against the Rockies really brought him down.

R.A. Dickey – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. “I told you I was going to have two straight stud starts after giving up 8 ER.” No you didn’t. Don’t Trust A Knuckleballer.

Anibal Sanchez – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Ohhhh boy. Sanchez got the Padres and did some good work. Nope, not buying this, not for a moment.

JC Ramirez – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. I’ve been giving up on JC as his schedule gets tougher and here he is laughing in my face as he cruised through the Red Sox. Now he gets the Dodgers and you should not risk the fate of the entire city by riding this hot streak.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Digglerx maneuvered his way through the Yankee lineup to give owners the Grave Mistake they wanted. Now he has a 3.68 ERA with a 5.26 xFIP. I think we have the latest TEEs who is taking Colby Lewis‘ place on the Rangers roster. Sidenote: If you guys are into xStats – which you should be – his bbFIP, which is FIP but also uses Statcast batted ball data, is actually super low at 3.77. However, his scFIP – essentially xFIP but instead of compared to league average it’s looking at the player’s statcast data and seeing if they should have allowed more HRs or not – is 5.11…which is still super bad. Pair that with a K/9 well below 6.00 and you really want none of this.

Joe Ross – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Soooo can we trust Ross yet? Not too many whiffs on his pitches yesterday, his Changeup is still pretty bad…I’m not buying. He’s still a gamble in my book and not a guy that has figured it out.

Lance McCullers – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Welcome back kiddo. Was this a DLH? I think it was…? Maybe, I don’t know. Probably depended on your team situation in H2H. Anyway, great to see the zero walks and he was pulled early because this was his first start back.

Johnny Cueto – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Cueto has fanned just 16 batters in his last four starts as he’s faced the Brewers, Royals, Braves, Mets. I’m not sold just yet.

Daniel Gossett – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Well hot diggity dang. I actually ran with Gossett in the staff league and I’m a bit surprised this turned out as well as it did. Maybe like 2 ER and a 1.20 WHIP but not 0 ER and 1.00 WHIP. Lovely. I don’t think he’s all too legit, but he gets the Braves next and that’s a bit tempting after two solid performances…still not in love just yet. Streamer Record 41-26-11.

Gerrit Cole – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. That’s three straight solid outings from Cole after his horrid 23 ER stretch in four games. Can’t say I’m totally buying yet, though. Just 13 Ks in these starts with a 4.19 FIP, 4.33 xFIP…but he is getting 33.9% soft and 28.6% hard in that time as well…He gets the Giants and Phils next, which should help him out as well. Alright, he gets a bump tomorrow.

Dinelson Lamet – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks.  Hey, I’ll take a slightly lower K total for a good ERA/WHIP across six full frames. Against the Tigers? Niiiiice.

Jon Lester – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. It’s not studly, but what you pay for with Lester is a good floor with a handful of glorious upside. This fits the mold.

Marco Estrada – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. Ehhhh this is a slight step in the right direction, but those four walks are making me sit on my hands if I want to raise Estrada at all. I think he can get there, but we’re stuck waiting now. You’re supposed to take advantage of the Royals, duder.

Jacob Faria – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Faria is really impressing me by not walking batters and continuing to get whiffs – 16 in this game! – though it should be noted that the Orioles are free swingers. Do I believe in him long term? I have my concerns that his Fastball is really really bad and he doesn’t have that proper strike-throwing second option, but in 12-teamers there is little reason not to hold until the bottom falls out. His Slider/CH are both legit swing-and-miss pitches.

Jason Vargas – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. As I mentioned with Digglerx before, Vargas’ scFIP is a lot better than his xFIP (3.25 vs 4.66), which makes me a little more of a believer that he can be like this for a little longer. Nevertheless, he just isn’t this good and at some point he will fall back down into the guy who is about a 3.70 ERA without enough strikeouts to make you satisfied.

Luis Cessa – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. This is a much better start than I expected from Cessa, but that doesn’t mean I’m banking on another.

David Price – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. I’ll take it. Good to see Price provide legit production and feel confident with him moving forward.

Robbie Ray – 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. Ehhhh, those walks are back and that’s not good – and this was the Phillies! If you haven’t sold yet, I really encourage you to do so now as his schedule is going to get much tougher.

Sam Gaviglio – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Giviglio is a Cup of Schmo or a Tees or anything that isn’t someone you want to roster, okay? Okay.

Matt Garza – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. It’s a PQS without much else, so if you’re in a standard league, he made some owners feel like this.

Kyle Gibson – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 1 Ks. Even when Gibson allows just 1 ER it’s still bad. Why? Because he’s bad. Oh.

Justin Nicolino – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. This Just in…Nicolino isn’t fantasy relevant.

Ben Lively – 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 0 Ks. You can’t blame the scorpion for being Raggedy Ann.

Tyler Chatwood – 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 Hits, 8 BBs, 3 Ks. This is why Home/Road splits are silly. Chatwood facing the Dodgers in any park isn’t something you want to do – he even walked in Kershaw on four pitches with the bases loaded. Hoooo boy that’s rough.

Lance Lynn – 5.2 IP, 7 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. That’s two straight 7 ER outings as regression is hitting Lynn harder than a baseball smacked by Aaron Judge. He hasn’t gotten through the sixth in six straight starts now and I’m dropping in all 12-teamers if you haven’t yet.

James Shields – 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. DLH + Shields = DeShields Bench, duh.

Homer Bailey – 1.2 IP, 8 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. This Bailey start was as clear of a DLH situation as there could be as Homer Bale was on the DL recovering from TJS and he had to face the Nationals in his first start back. Sorry not sorry for my lack of empathy if you ran with him. Sorry.

Today’s Streamer

Jordan Zimmermann vs. San Diego Padres – It has come to this. If you need a Win on Sunday, also consider the following: Hector Velazquez vs. LAA, Francisco Liriano vs. KCR and Josh Tomlin vs. MIN

Tomorrow’s Streamer

German Marquez vs. San Francisco Giants – Not a big fan, but there’s nothing else. Marquez is out of Coors and the Giants aren’t good, so if he’s going to do well, this is how he can do it.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Sean Newcomb vs. San Diego Padres – Yes please.

Game of the Day

Doug Fister vs. Los Angeles Angels – I’ll be honest, today’s games are pretty lame. But hey! Doug Fister is back! The man who is the king of Pitcher List puns. So that’s cool.