As the rosters expand every September, there are some pitchers who will catch your eye and make you question if their upside is worth the risk. Despite coming up in August, Tyler Duffey is one of those guys and cemented his enigma with a line of 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks yesterday. This is his best outing thus far in a big league uniform but keep in mind, the Astros have been striking out a TON lately. His K production with come down moving forward, but he has a a decent schedule against the ChiSox, Angels, and Indians ahead of him that can pay dividends to owners who need a high risk/decent reward guy. I still have a small feeling Duffey may make a case for the MFRTSPA as we close out September, and make a choice based on where you stand.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Gerrit Cole – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Aces gonna aces. Hopefully with fewer walks next time.
Cody Anderson – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Ehhhhhh I don’t like Cody at all and think this isn’t going to end well.
Dallas Keuchel – 8.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 12 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Haven’t see a major K performance from Keuchel in a while and it’s good to see he’s still capable for those in the playoffs.
Hector Santiago – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 6 BBs, 3 Ks. I feel like he had to bribe the baseball gods after allowing six walks and only 1 hit. That’s Edwin Jackson levels of luck.
Eduardo Rodriguez – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Our Call Boy got the job done – phew – and he will be a great upside pick deep into drafts next season.
Hisashi Iwakuma – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Yeah that works, I guess. Just make up for it with a bunch more Ks next time, cool?
Kyle Hendricks – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Meh, if this is the upside we’re chasing with Hendricks after all of his poor outings, I’m not running.
Brett Anderson – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Just cut the walks and we’re solid Brett.
Steven Matz – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Good to see that Matz was able to continue into the sixth and strike out over a batter per inning. Start him errr day.
Marco Estrada – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Estrada is turning into a Toby. Who? You know, that guy who goes into work every day and gets the job done but he’s super boring and you don’t want to talk to him, like ever. You don’t even want to acknowledge that he works in the same company as everyone else.
Andrew Cashner – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. Cashed out.
Justin Verlander – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. It’s not the “NEW AND IMPROVED” Verlander you want, and this is a super mediocre start. Only 2 walks is okay though considering how far off the deep end Verlander can go.
Erik Johnson – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. A decent first start for the ChiSox rookie who went 18/23 in First Pitch Strikes. He expressed a much improved K rate in the minors this year (9.23 K/9), with a decent walk rate, and if he’s attacking batters like this he could provide some value down the stretch.
Jarred Cosart – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. There’s a reason your name backwards spells Trasoc. Is there really? Yeah, because his Dad’s last name is Cosart.
Ivan Nova – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. I still believe that Nova will come into his own next season, but he’s not going to be a steady stream before then.
Rubby De La Rosa – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Still not their yet Rubby, and you have a present under your tree labeled “Open July 2016”.
Sean Nolin – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks. A little more than a Cup of Schmo since he’ll stick around with the expanded rosters. Nothing to see here, though. He’s not the answer you’re looking for.
John Lackey – 7.1 IP, 3 ER, 10 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Lackey got Singled Out while facing a tough matchup against the Pirates. Sounds about right.
Chris Archer – 6.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Archer was getting the job done until allowing back-to-back homers in the sixth resulting in all four ER.
Michael Lorenzen – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Blegh.
Madison Bumgarner – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. One of the worst starts you’ll see from Bumgarner. Don’t worry he’s fine.
Joe Ross – 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 0 Ks. The ballad of Ross is coming to close in 2016 and no one wanted to see it end on this note. I think he’ll be a steal in 2016 drafts if he makes the rotation out of the gate – which he should.
Jimmy Nelson – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. With all of that K upside, the floor is still low for Nelson, making it tough to conceive that he’ll advance much farther than the 50s next season.
Johnny Cueto – 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. This is getting worrisome with Cueto now as he should have had a much easier time against the ChiSox. Yes he’s taking a hit today.
Yohan Flande – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Flande 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.
Colby Lewis – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 10 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Y’all know I don’t like Lewis. I don’t care what he discovered, he needed a partner to help him do it. Too bad he has to pitch on his own.
Manny Banuelos – 2.0 IP, 6 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Manny being Manny.
Chris Tillman – 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. You can’t spell Win with Tillman.
Jerad Eickhoff – 4.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. The Hoff is stuck in the past.
Today’s Streamers
Ian Kennedy vs. Colorado Rockies – He’s been on a tear lately and gets to face the Rockies outside of their hometown, which makes Colorado a bottom tier offense.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Aaron Nola vs. Atlanta Braves – It’s either his last start or penultimate start and owners have already started to jump ship. This matchup is as good as they come for Nola who may have one more great start left in the tank.
Game of the Day
Yordano Ventura vs. Minnesota Twins – I want to see if Yordano can keep up his crazy good run because watching Ventura dominate batters is a beautiful thing.