Strike A Jose

(Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)

I’ve discussed Jose Berrios a fair amount this year and after last night’s 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 6 BBs, 5 Ks poor effort against the Indians, there’s something new to say. Normally when we see Berrios falter, it’s on the back on his curveball, a pitch that has transformed from a decent offering to a sharp weapon this season. However, as Berrios has allowed 11 ER across his last three starts with 12 walks, the problem was his fastball, which simply hasn’t been as polished as we’ve seen it. Normally I say there’s a trend to believe in or if you can add/drop a guy, but this is different. I think we’re getting a good sense of who Berrios is – a 3.60 ERA/1.15 WHIP pitcher with a 25% K rate. That’s great but it has more variance than you’d like for H2H leagues. Roto? Pffft no problem. Just don’t forget the stress of owning Berrios when considering him for 2019.

Let’s see how every other SP did Thursday:

Anibal Sanchez – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 1 Ks. Anibal left this one after getting struck by a liner in his calf. Nothing to worry about y’all.

Tyler Anderson – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Great to see Anderson pull a Matt Foley and get back on the right track. Is that Glossary worthy? Anyway, keep going with Anderson as he did this in Coors against the Dodgers. That’s what’s up.

Gio Gonzalez – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Hey, Gio wasn’t terrible! Today…Yes that means I don’t much faith in him moving forward still. He’s just not the same.

Ross Stripling – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. This was a DLH + Coors situation for Stripling and he didn’t care. This is great as we can feel confident about Stripling moving forward. I’d be starting him against the Giants next time out.

Robbie Erlin – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. If you forgot who Robbie was, it’s okay. He’s been fantasy irrelevant for a while.

Junior Guerra – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. That WHIP hurts, but it’s a solid ERA and you feel weird. Just breathe, everything will be fine as we stay neutral. Neutral as neutral can be.

Ivan Nova – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. I didn’t like this stream but Nova didn’t care as he went mostly Super Nova for a Quality Start. This is pretty much the ceiling, which makes it easy to understand why you don’t want to flip the coin each time he starts. Streaming Record: 70-38.

J. A. Happ – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 9 Ks. A PQS with 9 KS and a sub 1.00 WHIP? Yep, I’m game. Enjoy your Gallows Pole with 16 whiffs as everyone else we expected to win it was all kinds of lame.

David Hess – 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. For disappointment this year, the Hess Truck’s here!

Andrew Suarez – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. I’m completely out on Suarez these days as I don’t even consider him a Toby. He just doesn’t provide enough, like only three episodes of Sherlock constituting one season. But each are a movie on their own! Yeah yeah yeah, but it was such a hard wait!

Hunter Wood – 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. A standard False Start here for Wood, oddly enough with Yonny Chirinos coming in after, who did a solid job with five frames of 63 pitches. Nothing to see here, though.

Ryan Borucki – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 9 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Borucki got the Sawx and we give him the shrug of sympathy. I thought that was a legend. Oh, the shrug of sympathy is real. And it will save this land from its dark times. I think that’s enough, Nick.

Corey Kluber – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 7 Ks. Like a standard radio station, the hits keep coming, this time Kluber takes the fall via a Jorge Polanco longball in the sixth. Only 10 whiffs on 117 pitches is a little startling but ultimately I won’t judge Kluber for this one.

James Paxton – 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Awww, why couldn’t this be the DLH start? He almost pulled of the Quality Start, but two runs in the sixth ended the evening on a sour note. Like a G#. No one likes you, G#. Well, it’s the major third in E so it’s actually pretty sweet of a–STOP. PLEASE.

Ariel Jurado – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks. Ariel, I don’t want to be a part of your world. I mean, come on. One strikeout? HAISTFMFWT?!

Rick Porcello – 4.0 IP, 7 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. After destroying the Yankees, Porcello labored heavily against the Blue Jays. Because baseball is easy to predict and not hard at all. Why do I do this.

Justin Verlander – 2.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. This was a night of disappointment as our studs all slipped today. It really wasn’t Verlander’s night with just 8/39 CSW on four-seamers. That ain’t right y’all. That ain’t right. We move on and stay strong.

Today’s Streamer

Jose Urena vs. New York Mets – It’s between Urena and Austin Gomber vs. Kansas City Royals and I’ll bet against the Mets offense + Urena’s propensity to go a little deeper into games. Derek Holland vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – I originally thought this was happening on Saturday, but it looks like he’s going Friday and is still owned in under 20% of leagues. Works for me.

Tomorrow’s Streamer

Dan Straily vs. New York Mets – It’s the Mets and there is some upside in the Straily tank. Yes, I’m scared too.

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

Joey Lucchesi vs. Philadelphia Phillies – The Phils don’t scare me and Lucchesi had his Churve back last time out. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t go Fugghesi.

Game of the Day

Dylan Bundy vs. Nathan Eovaldi – I’d love to see Eovaldi continue his righteous path and hopefully Bundy doesn’t falter against the Sawx.