There’s been a lot of back and forth about what to expect from Patrick Corbin as he returns from TJS. After last night’s 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 10 Ks, I bet there are a lot of owners ready to jump on the bandwagon and put on party hats. You can do that, I won’t blame you. Thing is though, I’m pretty shocked at this line – not as much when you realize it was against the Brewers – and while you may run to Fan Graphs and see a 9+ K/9 with a 1.23 BB/9, don’t get fooled as it’s from a super small sample size that is being bullied by this start. Look, Corbin has faced excellent matchups in each start (Mets, Colorado in Chase Field, Brewers, Giants), and he’ll continue to get some more, but I just can’t ignore the fact that his FIP is at 4.61 (yeah, I know, a 2.99 xFIP), and he has blips of being amazing mashed with many moments of bleghness. He’ll probably hover around #50 or so for the season, and that’s okay. Just don’t let your expectations go wild.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Jose Quintana – 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Almost led with Quintana instead, as it’s good to see a truly dominant outing from the ChiSox starter. It’s not typical, and he’s more a solid floor guy than a big upside player. Keep rolling with him.
Chris Archer – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces.
Felix Hernandez – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Gonna.
Jon Lester – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks. Ace…ish? Sure, I’ll take this from Lester.
Scott Kazmir – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. It was his first night in an Astros uni and he gave them a start worthy of their deal. The Astros staff is looking rather pretty right now, despite Vincent Velasquez getting demoted to the bullpen.
Chris Tillman – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. Our Call Boy did his job. You may consider holding onto him now that he’s had a solid five start run now that he gets the Braves and Oakland next. I can’t believe I just endorsed Tillman, and I have a bad feeling about it. Only do so if you’re dying for another guy.
Rick Porcello – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks. Oh gee, look at this fellas. Porcello decided to give the Red Sox some value for their $82.5 million man. Whoop de doo.
Colby Lewis – 7.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 9 Ks. To be fair with Lewis, across his last 10 starts, he’s allowed 3 ER or fewer in 9, and one with…10 ER. You could do a lot worse when you’re looking to fill in some innings, but don’t get used to these Ks. This is only the second time he’s had at least 9 Ks since 2012.
Jimmy Nelson – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. I was asked what I felt about Verlander vs. Nelson. JV has a bit of stuff to work out and if we look at him since 2013 instead of his name, it’s a lot easier to grasp what to expect. The days of him commanding ball games are over. However, Nelson has flashed some of that talent already this year, and while it’s not something to depend on, it’s upside Verlander is missing these days. When at the bottom of the pack, you go for the gum that can give you the best flavor. That made more sense in my head.
Justin Verlander – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Look up fella, didn’t mean to talk about you behind your back.
Andrew Cashner – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. It’s only the fourth time all season Cashner has allowed 1 or fewer ERs and the 10th time he’s struck out five batters or less. Yup.
Phil Hughes – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Hughes got his revenge against his former team. That’s all this was: JUSTICE.
Tim Cooney – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Cooney isn’t so bad when looking for streamers, but he’ll be displaced when Jaime Garcia returns shortly.
Ian Thomas – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. He was called up to replace Zack Greinke whose wife gave birth. Yep, that makes Thomas a Cup of Schmo.
Anthony DeSclafani – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. If you’re investing in Tony Disco, you’re living in the past.
Jake Peavy – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Speaking of living in the past…
Jerome Williams – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Jerome, stop Jeroming!
Eddie Butler – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Butler 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.
Dan Haren – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Haren got the memo that there is a new ace in town and is resigning himself to his role. *Cue Peanuts music*
Nick Tropeano – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Just a Cup of Schmo.
Jeff Locke – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. It’s always interesting to me when I see guys who have great soft contact rates (8th in the majors at 22.7%) but are afraid of getting the ball over the plate (3.41 BB/9). You would think that he would change approaches at some point to fix the problem.
Corey Kluber – 7.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. The Klubster is making me a little worried. Not incredibly, but a little. We all want his ERA to drop from 3.59 to where his FIP and xFIP tell us it should be (~2.65).
Jeremy Guthrie – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 11 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Go home Gutherie and think about what you did. Hopefully it made the Royals FO consider bringing up John Lamb. That would be cool.
Max Scherzer – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Uh oh, he’s getting scared of Kershaw. Come on Scherzer, we want a proper fight!
Manny Banuelos – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Yeah, this isn’t working out like we all wanted it to.
Michael Pineda – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Man, just like Kluber he can’t catch a break. He’s an elite guy who just can’t find the luck he needs. To be fair, he wasn’t pitching at the top of his game against the Twins yesterday.
Marco Estrada – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. It was interesting to seem him perform well while it lasted, but there’s not way you’re betting on Estrada moving forward.
Jesse Chavez – 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. Nor Chavez. So sad to see Chavez struggle like this.
Jonathon Niese – 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. I gave up on Niese being a backup streamer choice a while ago, and it just isn’t getting better. He’s one of the last of a dying breed of boring-not-young-little-upside starters for the Mets. Just think about next year…Matz, Wheeler, Harvey, deGrom, Thor. What. Do I get a special discount if I draft the entire Mets rotation in a bundle? Buy all five, get one pick free!
Today’s Streamer
Zach Lee vs. New York Mets – Sure, it’s a debut for Lee, but the Mets are struggling mightily at the plate, and Lee has been effective in the minors. Considering that other options aren’t so pretty you may as well go with Zach.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Wei-Yin Chen vs. Tampa Bay Rays – I’ll take one easy stream please. k thx.
Games of the Day
Chris Sale vs. Carlos Carrasco – Ohhhh dang this should be fun.
Zach Lee vs. Matt Harvey – Lee is the exciting young pitcher of the moment and we’ll also get a chance to peak at Harvey maybe taking a step forward today.