April didn’t treat Blue Jays ace Marcus Stroman very well, as he failed to collect more than five strikeouts in a single game, held an ERA of 4.37 and looked a bit lost overall. Well, throw all that out the window because he just went 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 9 Ks. THE STRIKEOUTS HAVE RETURNED. It looks like he changed his approach, throwing Curveballs for 22 of his 93 pitches, despite holding a 9.3% usage rate thus far in the season. Wait a second. That sounds familiar…”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.” That’s what I said after Stroman’s last start. I think we’ve seen him turn a corner and that’s a damn good thing. I’ll wait to see if he can do it again versus a team not based in Tampa Bay before giving him a major boost in The List, but I love what I’m starting to see.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Clayton Kershaw – 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 14 Ks. Aces gonna ace. More like Kershaw gonna Kershaw. I’m surprised this wasn’t a perfect-o against the Padres, honestly. Okay not that surprised, but there was a part of me that believed it could be one of those days. Yes, I think Kersh was more dominant in this outing than in Arrieta’s no-hitter.
Julio Teheran – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 9 Ks. Oh no. No no no no. Against the Cubs? Ugh. Fine, I need to acknowledge that Teheran stepped it up against one of the best offensives around after doing well against the Sox the previous week. I really don’t like Teheran though. It’s a sample size of two and I feel a lot better trusting the plethora of games before these two. I’ll concede that he probably deserve a spot on The List after this, but I really don’t want to do it. We’ll see how I feel when I wake up tomorrow.
Max Scherzer – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces gonna ace. And here I was considering dropping you to #5 on The List. Well, you’re still heading to #4 with Sale being absurdly good, but hey this is fantastic.
Jake Odorizzi – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Don’t look now, but Odorizzi has a 3.05 FIP, 7.79 K/9, and a 1.82 BB/9. That’s solid material.
Drew Pomeranz – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Our Call Boy was brilliant against the Dodgers that are having trouble hitting a wall with a rock. Yes I’d be grabbing Pomeranz in 10 team H2H leagues if you somehow haven’t already.
Vincent Velasquez – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. Ehhhhh I want to like this but those four walks are like the goons surrounding you as you sign an awesome contract. I mean, yeah you’re not getting screwed but it feels like you are.
Madison Bumgarner – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Aces gonna ace as Bumgarner slowed down the hot Mets offense. Does this spell two weeks of winter for New York? Nah, they get the Braves and Padres this week.
Danny Salazar – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. This is a fantastic outing for Salazar. It’s on the edge of being pretty mediocre or really great (+/- a walk and/or ER), which seems like the dance he’s going to playing most of this year.
John Lackey – 8.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Sure, if I own Lackey I’m thrilled with this. I find myself losing faith in Lackey often, though the Wins will be there and he has a much better floor than we give him credit for. Did I just describe a Toby? Yes, I believe I did.
Tim Adleman – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. This isn’t the pitching prospect you’re looking for. Pretty average stuff all around with a decent hook. He’ll get a few games given that Raisel Iglesias hit the DL, but I wouldn’t invest in him.
Jeff Locke – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Look at Locke, trying to fool some naive owner into picking him up. This is probably a Top 5 start of the year for Jeff and it came against the Reds.
Doug Fister – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Too many Ks for the Grave Mistake, and I’ll take it. Well, I won’t because there was no way I was rostering Fister and I have zero interest in changing that now.
Rich Hill – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 5 BBs, 4 Ks. Okay, so the Hill has to have some bumps in it, right? Still like him for his next four starts against the O’s, Rays, Rangers, and Mariners.
Ian Kennedy – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Well, now you’re back to being productive. Well, it was against Seattle. Well, he gets the Indians after this. Well, I’m going to stop talking to you now like you’re my diary and throw a penny down you for good luck.
Chris Sale – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. Aces kinda gonna ace. Sale has been pretty dang amazing out of the gate, and I think he deserves the #3 over Scherzer.
Carlos Martinez – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Finally CMart shows off the strikeouts, but it came with a heavy Price. Did David get fat? Dude no, I was referring to his 4 ER, but maybe that explains Price’s struggles…
Taijuan Walker – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. It’s not bad enough for me to stop the Walker train. To the Top 30 you go!
Noah Syndergaard – 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Here’s a funny thing. Thor gave up a trio of runs in the fourth inning. 1st and 3rd, one out, and Syndergaard throws the 2-2 pitch in the dirt. Why is that important? Because it starts the runner from first, making the grounder hit to Walker on the very next pitch not a double-play, scoring the first run. Then Hunter Pence smacks a HR to right-field for a quick crooked inning. The nuances of baseball…
Chad Bettis – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 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.
Garrett Richards – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Richards was pulled after four as a precaution due to cramping and dehydration. Sounds like us after enduring the longitudinal wave that is Richards.
Shelby Miller – 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks. I took Miller off The List in preparation for tomorrow’s article and I have zero regrets. What about that time you got so drunk you fell on your face after dancing on the bar? Zero Regrets.
David Price – 7.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. He holds a 2.66 xFIP, 12.03 K/9, and a 2.21 BB/9 after this start. Did you know that his LOB rate is under 60%? Yes I’d buy low.
Ricky Nolasco – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. “Two solid starts in a row don’t mean squat versus a history of more suckage than a vacuum cleaner going in for the kiss.” It’s the night of quoting myself so here’s what I said after Nolasco’s last start. I hope you guys took that to heart, and I apologize for the poor analogy. It wasn’t my night.
Cole Hamels – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Blegh. I still love me some Hamels and I’m just going to ignore this one like Staten Island as a whole.
Mike Pelfrey – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Is Pelfrey part of the Anti-List? It’s possible.
Nathan Eovaldi – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 10 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Eovaldi will never be Top 60. Never. He really shouldn’t be rostered outside of deeper leagues, honestly. Too much variability.
Ubaldo Jimenez – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks. I still can’t believe he got a $50 million contract to pitch like this. Obviously it wasn’t to pitch like this. Yeah, but he is. And he’s getting $50 million. To pitch like this. Good talk.
Wily Peralta – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 13 Hits, 1 BBs, 0 Ks. Stop being so Wily!
Tom Koehler – 2.1 IP, 8 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 0 Ks. If Koehler does this against the Brewers, how can you honestly trust him against anyone?
Today’s Streamers
Bartolo Colon vs. Atlanta Braves – The Big Apple gets a great matchup as the Mets are rolling. Yes please!
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Nick Tropeano vs. Milwaukee Brewers – Not much to go with here, so we’re turning back to Trop for a stream against the Brewers that can only score if they face Koehler.
Game of the Day
Jose Berrios vs. Houston Astros – I’m very interested in seeing how Berrios develops and this could be a major launching pad that gets people really excited about the Twins rookie.