The Braves are messing aces up left and right and the latest victim is Jose Quintana who gave owners a line of 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks on Saturday. But I wouldn’t give the Braves the credit for this outing as Quintana has been on a downward trend over his last four starts. I did some digging and discovered that his Curveball – his money pitch – isn’t getting nearly the vertical drop that it was earlier in the season. The result is a spike in batting average as hitters are simply not getting fooled on the pitch nearly as often. It’s a bit concerning and it’s definitely possible that he gets it back – the break might do him some good – but it’s not like this is just bad luck coming his way. Keep that in mind if someone is interested in buying Jose at a discounted rate.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Max Scherzer – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces gonna ace. That’s why he’s #1.
Kendall Graveman – 8.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. NICK! Graveman has a 2.65 ERA in his last six starts! Don’t care, he also has a 4.58 K/9 and a 4.63 xFIP in that time. Dude is a total TEEs.
Rick Porcello – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Porcello has been pretty solid lately, not spectacular, but good. Very serviceable with a super low walk rate (1.67 BB/9 on the year!) helping his good floor and I don’t see that changing in the second half
Nick Tropeano – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks.Well lookey here. Tropeano is doing his best to remind me why I ranked him in the Top 100 in the preseason. I have to hand it to the kid, this was against the O’s and if he sticks in the rotation during the second half, I’m completely fine rolling with him in a 12 teamer given a pretty average schedule ahead. Just keep a short leash.
Carlos Martinez – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 11 Ks. It’s great to see Carlos show us some K upside finally. It’s too bad it came with four walks and a 1.60 WHIP while against a super weak opponent (the Brew Crew), but hey I will certainly take this.
Matt Boyd – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. I’m still Boyd watching as this came off of 6 ER and 7 ER outings. Don’t be hasty.
Adam Conley – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Our Secondary Call Boy was pretty solid against the Reds. I know some of you may want to hold him through all his
John Lamb – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks. No Lamb, it was Jake who was a potential All-Star this year, not you.
Brandon McCarthy – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. Our Call Boy was kinda blegh against the Pads. Sure the WHIP is fine and the Ks are okay, but a trio of ER? You just had allow that two-run bomb in the first to Solarte, didn’t ya? Anyway, I still like Brandon and think you should be rolling with him in all of your 12 teamers.
Tyler Anderson – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks. Anderson 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 not named Gray and maybe even Gray. Well okay, I’ll talk about Anderson for a second as he’s becoming a popular add. I’m pretty impressed by his numbers – high GB rate, 22% soft contact, K/BB looking solid, it’s all there really. There are two issues though: 1) After watching him, I don’t trust that he’ll be able to keep up his impeccable command of nipping the corners with backdoor Cutters/Sliders B) It’s a pretty small sample size and he still pitches in Coors. I understand going after him if you need the help in a 12 teamer, but I still don’t trust him at home and I think this isn’t going to last too long, even with the solid FIP/xFIP. His BAA with men in scoring position is .161 as a .327 BABIP with a 81.2% LOB rate just doesn’t seem right.
Aaron Sanchez – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. He danced around the Detroit lineup and was serviceable. Pretty Toby-esque but you’ll take it.
Edinson Volquez – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. You’ll need to do a lot more than this Volquez.
Robbie Ray – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. The K upside is pretty much always there, but he clearly has a lot more kinks to work out first.
Matt Moore – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. I’m not a Moore fan and this doesn’t do anything to change my mind.
Chase Anderson – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 5 BBs, 5 Ks. Jeez this is so belgh. That WHIP is horrendous and makes it tough even consider Anderson again. I know, I know it’s the Cardinals and I’ll get over this, but lord that is terrible.
Yovani Gallardo – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks. Gallardo gets away with 10 baserunners in five innings because he loves living on the edge. What a baaaad dude.
Logan Verrett – 6.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 Hits, 5 BBs, 3 Ks. This is what the Mets season crumbling looks like. But they are one game up on the Pirates/Marlins! Dude, it means their pitching staff is falling apart. Okay, okay.
Luis Perdomo – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. He throws heat and that’s about it. Not someone you want to chase.
Jake Peavy – 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Blegh. Peavy is as lame as Jack Torrance in the hedge maze.
Ricky Nolasco – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. That’s nice Ricky. I guess you keep your job for now…?
Lance McCullers – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. That’s a near 3.00 WHIP. Are you still on the McCullers bandwagon? I’m sure not.
CC Sabathia – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. The Balls Dropped a few starts ago, and we’re back to classic CC.
Julio Teheran – 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Welp, this was a fun ride for Teheran. Welcome to a disappointing second half.
Wade Miley – 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 10 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. #WeWantKarnsBack.
Danny Salazar – 5.2 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Uh oh. You know how Salazar has an ERA one point lower than his xFIP, a 3.96 BB/9, and a 34.7% hard hit rate? This might be the start of all those numbers gathering together at the rec center. “Hey! Yeah! YEAH! Let’s take him down!” I’ve been a little guilty favoring Salazar a little more just because he’s been successful where others haven’t around the Top 20, but this is bottle is going to burst.
Jon Lester – 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. So there is a difference between his 3.01 ERA and 3.66 SIERA, but unlike Salazar I’m a little less worried given his low walk rate and high soft contact. I wouldn’t be panic trading him.
Chad Kuhl – 2.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. Kuhl story bro.
Kyle Lohse – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Wait, Lohse is back?! I miss the LoKer TOCAL from last year, with Kershaw leading the way just because Loshe was removed from the rotation in early August. For the record, Lohse was winning 17 to 13 at the time. I should have had more stupid competitions like this in 2016. Noted for 2017.
Jerad Eickhoff – 5.1 IP, 8 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. It was a pretty easy bench given that A) it was in Coors and B) Eickhoff so heavily relies on his Curveball. For those unaware, the thin air in Coors makes it tougher to get the proper movement on breaking balls. Move past it and love Eickhoff’s second half schedule.
Today’s Streamers
A.J. Griffin vs. Minnesota Twins – It’s the last day before the All-Star Break (it’ll be super weird not doing an SP Roundup for four days…I’ll miss you guys!), and you need that Win. Go with Griffin as he faces the Twins and has a decent floor against weak teams.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
None – All-Star break is among us. It’s gonna be tough not having any fantasy stats for four days.
Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer
None – The break isn’t one day guys, yeesh. Teams haven’t announced their 2nd half rotations just yet, and here’s to hoping I’ll be able to whip up some streamers for you guys tomorrow.
Game of the Day
Steven Matz vs. Gio Gonzalez – I really want Matz to be A-OK, while I’m curious if Gio can be bad enough to possibly make way for Voth/Giolito.