Generally through the year I don’t like to think about innings limits until August when teams start mapping out the rest of their seasons. I’ve seen owners trade away young studs in July worried about a shutdown only to find themselves with a worse seed for the playoffs and out of it when the guy was still in the rotation. Additionally, there are often other young arms to fill the void at the same time, such as Jose Berrios who should be called up shortly for the Twins making it an easy transition when to time comes for a shutdown. Why bring this up? Well, the Phillies have stated that they don’t intended to surpass last year’s 171.2 innings of Aaron Nola, who after last night’s luscious outing of 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks now has 159 innings logged in 2015. Those fortunate owners who own the rookie should make plans – if you have a comfortable seed for the playoffs trade him or drop him for someone like Berrios – or ride out the last two starts like the musicians on the Titanic. There is a small chance that Nola sticks around for longer, but given that the Phils are way out of contention I’d be surprised if they suddenly elected to stretch out their prized prospect.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Clayton Kershaw – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 14 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Seriously, when is he going to finally get that perfect game?
Cole Hamels – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 4 BBs, 10 Ks. Great seeing Hamels get into his groove as a Ranger. We knew it was coming – he’s too good – and now the Rangers 1/2 a game up in the Wild Card. What.
Matt Harvey – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Yeah, he’s back on track now.
Trevor Bauer – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Here’s that upside you’re chasing for from Bauer. Can’t escape those walks, but the BABIP gods were generous tonight. Don’t get comfortable with it though.
Taijuan Walker – 6.1 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Nice bounce back for Taijuan as he is our poster child for Cherry Bombs everywhere.
Taylor Jungmann – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. Tonight featured a lot of bouncebacks as Jungmann was able to recover after a questionable start last time out. I still like him quite a bit and think he has a solid floor heading into September ball.
Raisel Iglesias – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 10 Ks. Dang Raisel, save some of those Ks for later! Keep in mind, the Reds will most likely shut him down in a few starts like Nola.
Scott Kazmir – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Not his best but still decent from Kaz.
Ian Kennedy – 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 5 BBs, 7 Ks. Another choice for the stream and while the walks are not ideal by any means, he still gave you solid numbers across the board. I’m still hesitant to go all out for Kennedy but you best be rolling with him as he’s hot.
Andrew Heaney – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. This is the ideal for Heaney. The Ks won’t be there and you’re praying the Regression Angels are busy fixing their poker game when Heaney pitches.
Kyle Gibson – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. Many voted him to win the MFRTSPA. I guess if he’s holding onto this 4.00 ERA he may win it. Even with that 6.32 K/9…shudders.
Masahiro Tanaka – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Not bad at all, just one too many ER for us to be totally satisfied. I think Tanaka is a great add for all staffs, though. The Ks will be around, not many walks and if he can avoid the longball – 1 tonight – he’s golden.
Edinson Volquez – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Blegh.
Max Scherzer – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Wow Scherzer, you gotta get them home runs in check. That’s seven allowed in your last four starts now. Yikes.
Michael Wacha – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Yup, that’s Wacha.
John Danks – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Danks didn’t completely stink but there’s no reason to say “hey, let’s start Danks!”
R.A. Dickey – 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Dickey once auditioned to be Aladdin in his school play. However, in a crucial scene on the magic carpet, he reached out his hand for the Jasmine actress, who took it and…fell to the floor. Don’t trust a knuckleballer. I hope some of you got that.
Chase Anderson – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Ehhhhhh.
Sonny Gray – 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. See, I’m not all too shocked that Gray did something like this. But if someone like Harvey did, I’d be a little surprised. Those little differences separate the top tier guys.
Francisco Liriano – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. That’s now four straight with at least 3 walks, and his sixth straight with 5 Ks or fewer. This is code red and you’ll see a major drop in Liriano on Monday. I’m taking into the 30s, this kind of blegh attitude cannot be tolerated in September!
Henry Owens – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. If I’m going to grow confidence in a finesse guy like Owens, I’m gonna need to see fewer walks.
Jason Hammel – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks. He was cruising through the first five innings, and the bullpen couldn’t get one out before allowing a pair of inherited runs scoring. It’s clear Hammel isn’t the same guy he was in the first half, and if you need the space for a higher upside guy, don’t shy away from giving him the ole drop.
Mike Leake – 6.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. He had a tough matchup against the Cards, but really only had one tough inning in the fourth. The sixth inning got all baseball purists aroused after a simple single would up scoring following tagging up twice in row + a wild pitch. Oh baseball…
Adam Conley – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. I like you better when I thought your name was spelled Conely. Just imagine Dan Akryod pitching in Conehead 4!
Kevin Gausman – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. The thing about Gausman is that with just the two-pitch combo of Fastball/Split-Change he’s not going to be able to simply dominate on a given night. He needs another pitch to turn into a major upside play, especially with the incredible difficulty of throwing a Split-Change with precision.
Erasmo Ramirez – 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. I very rarely look at other people’s rankings as I don’t want to be biased for The List, but I came across a weekly updated list that featured Erasmo Ramirez near #50 and ahead of his teammate Nathan Karns. I’m not exactly sure why – if recency bias was a major factor, wouldn’t Karns still be more favored? – but hopefully this outing is the equivalent of sending a pair of thugs to push over a bookcase or two.
Jon Gray – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Gray 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.
Matt Boyd – 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks. There is upside here, and he’s a big Hail Mary play, but at least you can see the giant risk involved.
Williams Perez – 1.2 IP, 8 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Sir W doesn’t deserve a spot on your team. At all.
Today’s Streamers
Kris Medlen vs. Tampa Bay Rays – Medlen has a solid floor, even though he’ll still be limited to around five innings given that it’s only his second start since 2013. Take note for those in QS leagues.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Lance McCullers vs. Minnesota Twins – He’s back on the hill and still owned in under 5%0 of leagues. If you need a deeper streamer, you can go with Josh Tomlin against the Angels or Nathan Eovaldi against the Braves to help win your week.
Game of the Day
Corey Kluber vs. Garrett Richards – Kluber can, you know, be Kluber, and we get to see if Richards can figure it out.