Funny story, before Gerrit Cole’s start yesterday I read a stat telling me that Cole had allowed more than 3 ER only once all season. You can blame that guy for his line last night of 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BB, 5 Ks…or can you? Over the last two months (11 starts), he now holds a 3.66 ERA (3.15 FIP, 3.46 xFIP) with only a 7.70 K/9. Those numbers aren’t bad, but I find it tough to consider Cole a Top 10 pitcher these days. I’d be looking to swap him out with a big bat and ride with a guy like Price/Greinke/Bumgarner instead.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Danny Salazar – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BB, 5 Ks. A oddly boring but productive outing from Salazar. Weird. Anyway, this is his fourth start with 1 ER or fewer, and he hasn’t had a legit blow up since July 5th. I think he’ll be ranked near the Top 20 for some next year, and I’ll probably be sticking him around 25 or later. I just can’t believe that he’ll figure it out for an entire season and the headaches are real.
Carlos Rodon – 8.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Is he figuring it out? It’s possible, but the 3 walks aren’t helping. He gets two favorable starts in a row against Seattle, which I would at the very least take for game 1.
Michael Wacha – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BB, 6 Ks. Yep, that’s Wacha. A solid ERA/WHIP with a good – not great – amount of Ks.
Chris Tillman – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Hits. Tillman needed a start like this after being shaky last time with an ankle problem. He’s back to being a decent streamer right now, and I’d be snatching him up for his game against the Twins.
Andrew Heaney – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BB, 4 Ks. Yeah, that sounds right. Decent rate stats but the Ks will never really be there.
Jeremy Hellickson – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BB, 4 Ks. Don’t be tempted, Frodo.
Cole Hamels – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 8 Ks. Hamels had two horrific starts to open his tenure in Texas, which makes this a step forward despite the 1.50+ WHIP and 4.00+ ERA. Will he be sticking around in the Top 20? Not sure yet.
Justin Nicolino – 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. There hasn’t been a time that I’ve thought “aww yeah, Nicolino is starting!” and I doubt there will be.
Colin Rea – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BB, 4 Ks. Ehhhh, there has been a lot of hoopla surrounding youthful pitchers this year, but I wouldn’t cook up a storm around Rea.
Chris Heston – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 5 BBs, 4 Ks. He’s been very middling and lame his last four starts, were he hasn’t fanned more than 4 batters, and held nearly a 1:1 K per BB. To be fair, he hasn’t had the best matchups – this one was against the Cards – but it doesn’t get better as he faces the Pirates then St. Louis again.
Erasmo Ramirez – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. Blegh. I can understand starting him in an Al-only league, but he’s really blegh with a disgusting floor.
Sonny Gray, 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. His night was made difficult by a Sogard error that led to a 3-run blast in the 4th. It wasn’t Gray’s sharpest, but it’s okay. Be glad that his floor is good enough to turn an off night in a decent one for you.
Bryan Mitchell – 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. The Yankee starters needed an extra day of rest, so Giradi made it a bullpen game. Mitchell then wound up getting a line drive to the dome, so if you had the poor notion that you would be starting Mitchell again, now you definitely won’t.
Taijuan Walker – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 10 Hits, 1 BB, 3 Ks. He’s the best example of a Cherry Bomb around, and he kinda messed you up last night. Could have been worse, but this only hurts you.
Williams Perez – 6.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks. Despite holding one of my favorite nicknames, Sir W. (stands for Double Surname for those who don’t remember) has been unrosterable after his first few starts. Poor fella.
Matt Barnes – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. There is some decent upside of Barnes, but this doesn’t look like an extended stay in the Red Sox rotation and he’ll most likely head back to the pen shortly.
Kyle Gibson – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Believe it or not, there were moments Gibson was looking alright against the Yankees. He gave up some long balls and almost all of his baserunners came in to score. Welcome to the Twins.
Matt Garza – 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Garza is back to making owners feel like this.
Scott Kazmir – 5.1 IP, 6 ER, 9 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks. It may be time to stop expecting great things from Scotty. His 2.43 ERA is weighed down by a 3.42 FIp and 3.76 xFIP in a more hitter friendly home park since the trade to Houston, his walk rate is climbing toward 3.00 and his K rate is under 8.00. That glint in the sky isn’t a plane, it’s the regression angels.
Today’s Streamers
Kevin Gausman vs. New York Mets – Okay, so let’s be honest here. I understand that the Mets have improved their offense – not to crazy levels, but better – and Gausman hasn’t been solid like a rock, but he did have 8 Ks last time and the other streaming options are pretty lackluster. Chase Anderson @ Pitt? Yeah right. Feldman Schmeldman against Tampa? Ehhhh. I’d prefer to flip the coin with Kevin.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Nathan Karns vs. Houston Astros – Karns can put up a sizeable amount of strikeouts on a given night and the Astros hand them out like candles for Shabbat.
Game of the Day
Jacob deGrom vs. Kevin Gausman – Who doesn’t enjoy watching deGrom pitch these days? You also have the added benefit of seeing if Gausman can get it together.