It should come to no surprise that I was jumping in my Yankee PJs to see James Paxton go 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks against the Red Sox tonight. He had the Win all lined up after seven, but he was pushed past 100 pitches in the 8th and gave up a solo shot to Aaron Hill. WHAT. THE. HELL. I really enjoyed watching this outing as both EDU and Big Pax looked mighty fine, and I guess Paxton just enjoys doing well against good teams and not so much against poor teams. Obviously that’s not actually the case and as much as I put weight into future schedules, I’m so infatuated that I just can’t bench him again moving forward. I don’t care if he’s facing the stupidly hot Angels next, I’m tossing him out there. That Fastball/Cutter combo is too pretty, especially when the heater is getting dialled to 99 and he’s spotting his Cutter just off the outside corner right where he Fastball was on the previous pitch…Hnnnnnngg.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Danny Duffy – 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 16 Ks. Holy Wade Boggs’ Mustache this is incredible. There really isn’t much to say here – his velocity was fine at 95.4 mph (not amazing like we’ve seen but not close to the 94 mph scare) and he’s flexing his upside like it ain’t no thing. Obviously hold if you’ve got him, and the price to buy him will be too steep. The only question is where do I place him tomorrow…I’m hard pressed to find a reason not to stick him around #25, honestly.
Marcus Stroman – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 13 Ks. The biggest problem with Stroman this has been his lack of movement on his Sinker both vertically and horizontally. The ride isn’t fully there yet, but oh my lord that drop is there. He got an inch extra drop tonight than he’s been getting this season, and the most he’s gotten since his return last September. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. While I would be even more mega-extreme enthused if it was paired with a significant increase in horizontal ride as well, it’s a major step forward as he hasn’t come close to this amount of drop all season.
Danny Salazar – 2.0 IP, 6 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Well this sucks. Salazar didn’t look right during this outing and now he’s getting an MRI on his elbow tomorrow. The List will be out before we know it will tell us, and Terry Francona is insisting it’s to give Sally “peace of mind” so he doesn’t need to think about when he pitches. Ehhh I’m going to pull him to the backend of the 20s I think. Obviously a ton of risk right now.
Kyle Hendricks – 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. You might see 10 baserunners and freak out a little. Then you’ll notice the CGSHO he also threw. THAT’S OUR MAN.
Doug Fister – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Whoa whoa whoa. Fister had 8 Ks and didn’t allow a run in six innings? Against Toronto? What is this, Jason Heyward hitting over .270? Because I don’t believe it. I’m not buying it moving forward.
Eduardo Rodriguez – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Edu looked promising against the tough Mariners, and his sole ER came in the seventh when he really shouldn’t have still been pitching. He was locating well with his Fastball in the mid 90s with good movement, using his Changeup and Slider effectively. It’s the Rodriguez I fell in love with at the end of last season and there’s a part of me that wants to give him a major jump tomorrow in The List. But then I realize that it’s tough to buy into it that much given his floor and I’ll try to keep my emotions in check. For you guys.
Stephen Strasburg – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Aces gonna ace. He’s the only that gets that despite not even having a Top 5 outing. Weird day.
Chris Archer – 7.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. I’m liking Archer more and more these days and while this start was as weak of an opponent as any, he was looking mighty amazing through the first six frames. He’ll see a jump to the 30s at least tomorrow.
Jose Berrios – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. I’ll have a Breakdown up for you guys tomorrow afternoon on Berrios’ return to the bigs and I’ll give you the TL;DR here. The first inning looked super shaky with poor Fastball command and little confidence in his secondary stuff, leading to 3 Hits and all 3 ER. He settled down a bit, but not enough to warrant just 1 Hit across the next five frames. There’s potential here, but he lacked the true putaway pitch that guys like, say Snell or Taillon or Skaggs have that would make me pumped for him through the time he develops his heater. I know he had a 9 K night earlier in the year so I’m sure it’s there somewhere, but it wasn’t really there in this game.
Jarred Cosart – 3.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 6 BBs, 3 Ks. He came over in the Cashner deal and he had the decency to let his new family know exactly what they got.
Logan Verrett – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Verrett is easily the worst option on the Mets (okay maybe not now that Jon Niese has returned) and these starts are pretty standard.
Adam Conley – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 6 BBs, 4 Ks. Yikes this is the shakiest we’ve seen Conley all year, though it was against the Cubs, which means you most likely benched him. Remember, Conley is good against average or lower, not against anything good.
CC Sabathia – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Well yeah, we know CC isn’t doing well or else he would have been traded like the rest of the Yankee crew. I still can’t believe we got Dillon Tate. I’M SO EXCITED.
Jimmy Nelson – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Jimmy was our Call Boy. Jimmy will most likely never again be our Call Boy. This was against the Padres, which means there is pretty much no reason to hold onto him now.
Archie Bradley – 3.1 IP, 7 ER, 12 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. Yeah, that’s Bradley already. Not even cool enough to be named Milton so you won’t get any entertainment having him around.
Today’s Streamers
Mike Foltynewicz vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – This could go very poorly or very well, that’s the life of a risky upside streamer. There’s also Luis Perdomo against the Brewers, but I’m not sure he brings enough upside to the table to take the risk on his floor just yet. Too bad guys like Matt Moore and Zach Davies are owned in over 30% of leagues as they are better options.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Edinson Volquez vs. Tampa Bay Rays – Blegh this is bad. Like I was really tempted to just not pick anyone bad. This is as reluctant of a Call Boy as they come.
Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer
Matt Boyd vs Chicago White Sox – I like the way his Changeup is looking these days and I’m betting on him to continue his ride against the ChiSox.
Game of the Day
Yu Darvish vs. Dylan Bundy – Another day of great matchups, and I’ll have my eye on this game to see if A) Bundy can stack up against an improved Rangers lineup and B) If Darvish can continue to dazzle me like our first date.