Moving To Green Energy

My relationship with Gerrit Cole has been a troubled one. I’ve called him the King of Really Good, put him in the Top 20, had him in the 30s come preseason, and overall just don’t like the cut of his jib. Now that he went 4.2 IP, 7 ER, 11 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. against the Marlins, he’s now allowed 23 ER over the last four starts. Jeeeeeez that’s terrible. The biggest problem is elevated pitches, which is pretty apparent when he’s had groundball rates under 43% in each of his last four games (often near 30%!) after this guy has been a 50%+ groundball fella for ages. Just like I do with Tanaka, I don’t think Cole will be like this all year and should be a productive pitcher for your second half and, more importantly, your playoffs. You have a decision to make. Bench him like he’s a DL guy or flat out drop him if there is a pitcher out there that will help you now. There is no one-size-fits-all here. Would you rather have a stronger second half or do you need help now?

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

Joe Ross – 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 12 Ks. Oh lord. This is hilarious. I watched some of this start and to my legit surprise, Ross didn’t really pass the eye test. I felt like he’d get the call on the corner out of sheer luck at times instead of him having the command we always dreamed. Nick, that sounds so biased. Yeah, I know what it sounds like but I think some of you will know what I mean there. His Slider didn’t have the absurd bite we’ve seen either, but hey the Orioles without Machado may be a really bad offense. But so were the Athletics and Padres! Very true, and this does make me consider Ross as a two-start option for next week. If I owned him and someone is hoping to get on his bandwagon, I’d be selling here. There will be more clunkers in Ross’ future.

Edinson Volquez – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. Boy am I looking forward to answering questions about Volquez today during the weekly Reddit AMA. I really want to say Blame it on the Pirates, but this is just 1 ER now in his last three games, with 22 Ks and six walks to boot. Is there a significant change? Kinda, yeah. He’s throwing fewer Sinkers in favor of more breaking balls and Changeups, but I think it’s too early to say that Volquez is now a must add. I don’t mind adding him in a 12-teamer as a flier, just have a short leash here.

R.A. Dickey – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Dickey told me he’d allowed 1 ER or fewer earlier in the year. He hadn’t. Don’t trust a knuckleballer.

Lance McCullers – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. TRUMPETS PLEASE! On this day, June 9th of 2017, Sir Lance Mcfreakin’Cullers has been awarded his first Aces Gonna Ace. Please clap.

Michael Pineda – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. No HRs = a good day for Pineda regardless of anything else. Keep it coming Pineda.

Scott Feldman – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Feldman Schmeldman. Next start will be 4 ERs and you’ll bang your head on the wall again. It’s what he wants.

Jason Hammel – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Whooaaaa Hammel! You lowered your ERA to 5.43 and xFIP to 5.24! Congrats!

Tyler Chatwood – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. I said I wouldn’t do it, but I didn’t have a choice and went with Chatwood. That’s baseball Suzyn. Still don’t like starting him against above average teams. Streamer Record 31-19-10.

Kyle Gibson – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. If you own Gibson, do yourself a favor and cut-him-away from your life. I think we have a winner for your worst joke of the day. Noted.

Christian Bergman – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Don’t put your faith in this Christian.

Jake Odorizzi – 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. This is Odorizzi’s upside, right? A hefty amount of strikeouts, but still an ERA and WHIP that makes you feel a little dirty for enjoying it. A classic Dusty Donut.

Ben Lively – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. I really cannot get Anne out of my head. Just like the precogs said I would…Lively, you are just going to have be known as Anne forever now. Good ole Raggedy Anne. I’ll admit, I kinda love that nickname.

Patrick Corbin – 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks. The one time I wanted Corbin to do really badly, he does well enough that the Diamondbacks will probably leave him in the rotation instead of demoting him to the bullpen. The reason I care about this is with Taijuan Walker’s return coming up, Randall Delgado and Zack Godley need rotation spots. I want both them of them over Corbin, even with this eight strikeout start. JUST GIVE THEM A CHANCE ARIZONA.

Johnny Cueto – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Ugh, those four walks aren’t helping at all here. He’s been a bit unlucky with the longball – 16.3% HR/FB rate – leading to a 3.65 xFIP, though I still worry about his overall polish. Mid 20s you’re staying for now, though I’m putting him behind the Banged-Up-Top-Tier-Titans (BUTTs?) of Madison Bumgarner and Noah Syndergaard.

Jon Lester – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Now that’s a 4.13 ERA on the year with 13 ERs in his last three starts. Can Lester retain it? Possibly, though he’s taking a hit this week as it’s getting harder and harder to believe he’ll return.

Clayton Richard – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. It’s the wrong Clayton!

Paolo Espino – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. There’s a chance he gets another start inside the Brewers’ rotation, either way though, he’s a Popeye (is that a thing now?) as he is what he is. A Cup of Schmo.

Mike Leake – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 10 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Holy Wade Boggs’ Mustache that’s a high WHIP in five innings! I think that regression I’ve been talking about for the past month has fully come through.

JC Ramirez – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 10 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. It was Ramirez against the super good Tigers lineup, not much of a surprise here. Can’t say I’d consider Ramirez anything more than a guy to consider if you need a start against a bottom half offense.

Alec Asher – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. That Fastball has good movement, but there’s oh so much more left to being a good starter in the majors.

David Price – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Do you see that over the horizon kids? That’s opportunity. Price is a perfect buy-low right now for owners that are worried that holding onto him for so long isn’t going to pay off. Sure, he gets the Astros in two games, but his next six games will also include the Phils, Angels, Twins, Rangers, and Rays. I like to believe once Gary Sanchez is removed from the picture and he a handful of starts under his belt, Price is easily Top 20.

Michael Fulmer – 4.1 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 0 BBs, 1 Ks. Bleeeeegh. I watched this one and nothing stuck out to me as Fulmer being a bad pitcher. His command was fine, but he did make two mistakes in a horrid fifth inning including a Fastball up for an RBI single and a Changeup to Kole Calhoun smacked into right. Still, he jammed another for a bloop single, got his double play ball that turned into an infield single…yeah I’m still rolling with Fulmer pretty much blindly still. I didn’t see anything that stuck out and made me concerned he’ll have these innings frequently. Just baseball being dumb.

Derek Holland – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 9 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. The Dutch Invasion strikes again. Man, it’s like he was super lucky or something before.

Today’s Streamer

Randall Delgado vs. Milwaukee Brewers – This is a tough call, but I think I’ll go with Delgado and his solid approach against the Brew Crew.

Tomorrow’s Streamer

Jeff Hoffman vs. Chicago Cubs – Hoffman has the stuff to show up in Wrigley and light up the scoreboard.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Dinelsom Lamet vs. Kansas City Royals – But he looked terrible against the Diamondbacks! Yeah, and now he faces the Royals.

Game of the Day

Dylan Bundy vs Jordan Montgomery – Please Monty, keep going in the direction I know you can go.