It’s been a season of undisputed aces not looking like the single spade on their cover. The latest of the bunch to raise eyebrows is Zack Greinke who put an outing of 6.2 IP, 7 ER, 11 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks after producing 11 ER across his first two outings. Should you be selling Greinke for peanuts as his ERA now chills at 6.16 with just a 7.04 K/9? Nah. Like Archer, he has the stuff to power through this and make the adjustments he needs to make to not suck so badly. Wow, what a poet. Let’s also not miss the fact that his LOB rate is just 63.2%, with a .333 BABIP (.298 career), and allowing a 13.5% HR/FB rate. It’ll come back to normal and while you’re not going to have a Syndergaard on your hands, Greinke will be an anchor in your rotation during those summer niiiiiiiiights.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Nathan Eovaldi – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Eovaldi isn’t this good. The balls went his way today like the stereotypical nerd playing dodgeball. Poor fella, he deserves better.
Chris Archer – 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 10 Ks. His xFIP now sits at 2.49 with a K/9 of 13.33. Just sayin’. Guys like Archer figure it out over time.
Taijuan Walker – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 11 Ks. Hot damn Walker! Look at you being all awesome. Looks like I’ve been severely underrating you, though I have my cautions in trusting your command. But your peripherals are sexy through and through. To the Top 30 you go!
Rick Porcello – 6.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t go with Porcello vs. the Braves as – at the very least – a secondary Call Boy given my abnormal love for him so far, but whatever. He doesn’t have the prettiest schedule, getting teams like the Giants, Rangers, and Royals on top of the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Orioles through the rest of the first half. Still, if he’s out there in a 12 teamer, I’d be rushing to grab him.
Jeff Locke – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. Don’t know how it happened, don’t care. No, it doesn’t affect Glasnow’s path to the bigs because he wasn’t heading up here any time soon and by the time the Pirates would consider adding him Locke will be bad again.
Garrett Richards – 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 5 BBs, 5 Ks. A 5/5 K per BB is not a good omen for the future. Just saying guys, he’s never going to be Top 20 material at this rate, I don’t care if he kept the Royals off the scoreboard.
Julio Teheran – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks. This is what we call a One Night Bland. He almost imploded in the seventh after allowing a solo shot, but escaped with the bases loaded on his 114th pitch. Please don’t buy into this.
Kevin Gausman – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. I have a rule where I don’t start pitchers on their first day back from an extended DL stint unless they are A) Top tier or B) Near Top 40 with a great matchup. Gausman didn’t have either and he impressed me against the Rays. Still, I’m cautious given that Gausman’s second pitch is a Split-Change, which is one of the more unreliable pitches in the game. That’s ignoring the fact that his Slider still needs work as his #3 pitch, completing the messy painting of Gausman’s repertoire as inconsistent. I could see him breaking Top 50, but it’ll take a lot of solid outings first.
Madison Bumgarner – 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces gonna ace.
Wei-Yin Chen – 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Yep, that’s why you drafted Chen.
Noah Syndergaard – 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces gonna ace. I don’t care about the runs Cincy got by stringing together singles in the seventh. He’s the coolest of cool and I don’t why I waited until last week to put you at #5. I mean, I was still much higher than most pre-season but I should have expressed my love sooner. It’s all my fault.
Jordan Zimmermann – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. JZ is exhibiting his classic Grave Mistake style this year. Did you know that was his first ER allowed all year? Crazy, especially when he holds a 4.32 xFIP for the season. Make like a prison and SELL SELL SELL.
Doug Fister – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 7 BBs, 2 Ks. If we’re making the compromise, then you can’t walk SEVEN BATTERS. What responsible manager allows that to happen?
Marcus Stroman – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Okay, I know I have more love for Stroman than most and it’s starting to hurt a little. Keep in mind, he was absolutely dealing til it was single city in the seventh, and he’d allowed just 1 ER until Cecil allowed all inherited runners to score. Blegh. Anyway, I think Stroman will increase the strikeouts eventually, as he’s currently reserving his nasty hook in favor of generating quick outs with his lively heater. I see that changing soon as his approach hasn’t been all too successful and he has the stuff to be dominant.
Chad Bettis – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Bettis has limited upside, pitches his home games at Coors Field, and doesn’t deserve a spot on your team. This should be the blurb for every Colorado starter.
Tommy Milone – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Nothing is coming up Milone.
Danny Salazar – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks. The king of the Cherry Bombs had his first blow up of the season, which could have been a lot worse. He’s still Top 25.
Cesar Ramos – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. You may remember Ramos as a reliever for both the Angels and Rays, where he featured a sub 90 MPH Fastball. As a reliever. That’s all you should need to hear.
Raisel Iglesias – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. Iglesias settled down after allowing a quick trio of runs to the Mets. That K upside is alive and well, but dude chill on the WHIP for realsies.
Ross Stripling – 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Our Call Boy was a big pile of blegh. Yeah, he’s a Toby alright.
Drew Pomeranz – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. The Dirty Cheerleader wasn’t so dirty tonight against a tough opponent in the Giants. I think he rebounds a little against the Dodgers + Mets next.
Jaime Garcia – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Blegh. This is Garcia at his worst and it’s no fun at all.
Ian Kennedy – 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks. Is it safe to say The Balls Have Dropped? Maybe, maybe not. The Angels aren’t a big threat unless Pujols and Trout do their thang…which they did with 3 HRs among the pair. Fine, I’ll wait and see how Kennedy performs next time out.
Miguel Gonzalez – 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 11 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Imagine an Italian food critic entering Miguel’s restaurant. After taking a bite, Miguel looks at the critic for a possible glowing review. The man responds: Miguel……no.
Kendall Graveman – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 10 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. You guys realize how hard it is not to make the obvious joke right? I don’t know how those dogs have that self control not to eat the treat on top of their head. I’d sooner head to the grave before letting it eat me alive. Like Graveman. He’s in a grave. Because he’s bad.
Today’s Streamer
Bartolo Colon vs. Cincinnati Reds – The Big Apple still has some quality starts under his belt and could pull off a Win without the heavy repercussions.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Josh Tomlin vs. Minnesota Twins – How he’s owned in just 10.2% of ESPN leagues is unknown to me, but now you can be a part of a minority and feel awesome about it. Sweeeeet.
Game of the Day
Max Scherzer vs. Vincent Velasquez – I’m curious to see if A) Vince can produce against a strong(ish) team in the Nats and B) If Scherzer can throw a no-hitter.