I wish I had good things to tell you about Mike Clevinger after his 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks outing against the Red Sox, but I don't. Just six whiffs across 81 pitches, velocity hovering at a mediocre 91.8mph, he allowed HRs off a poorly placed Fastball and a massively hung Slider, and four walks in under five innings is flat out terrible. I just don't know what to do with him. On one hand, I know he can show up and dominate - he did so across multiple stretches this year - while he often looks flat out lost in starts and makes you question why you were ever a fan in the first place. He's turning into a PEAS right in front of eyes, but I'm willing to ease off that full label and give him the Cherry Bomb name first. Here's to hoping he can be sweeter more than destructive against the Royals next time out. My gut is saying he can help you there, but that's a tough bet to make.
Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:
Yeah, Wood is probably getting placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation ?. By the way, love the late night article! Really helps third shift go by faster.
Lance McCullers and James Paxton just became available and I swooped on Paxton. Lance’s past 5 starts haven’t been great would you drop Jon Gray or Castillo for him? I’m in first place with a bye so no meaningful weeks til Sept 11.
I’d rather own McCullers than Gray, sure.
You’ll probably be dropping Castillo after that first week, but don’t make that move until it’s definitive.
Hamels actually went 7 IP 3 H 2BB 3K 2 ER
Yes he did, thanks!
You did mention ‘Icarus’ situation but I feel like it’s a bit unfair to not mention this: Cole pitched six shutout innings (6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 K) against the Dodgers lineup. So that 4 H, 1 BB and 5 ER came from 7th inning when Hurdle completely misjudged.
I meant it’s still a bit unfair — since he was really sharp and good for those six innings, escaping the bases loaded jams twice (once in 2nd inning created by himself but the sixth one was because of fielding error)
Clevinger looks like a bullpen arm to me…always has. He has so much trouble going deep into games and he doesn’t have overwhelming stuff. I feel like if he threw more strikes (went deeper), then the Ks would dry up and he can’t afford to lose any more velocity. He does put together the occasional gem though…