We've seen plenty of waiver wire arms pop up out of seemingly nowhere to have themselves a great outing and the latest to catch everyone's eye is Jesse Hahn who put up a dazzling 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks against the Angels last night. I watched this outing and can see why some are excited - A lively Fastball with movement that induced a ton of groundball outs and a big hook that earned whiffs. Unfortunately, there are plenty of reasons that this just won't work. 1) I don't trust Hahn to live down in the zone for strikes nearly as much as last night...not to mention how often the Angels batters rolled over pitches that were well over the plate 2) He doesn't trust his Changeup and I doubt it will become a proper third pitch 3) This was the Angels who are Trout and little else and, maybe most importantly 4) There isn't room for him in the rotation. Sonny Gray is expected to return in the next two weeks or so and Kendall Graveman is nearly back. Mix that with Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton, and Andrew Triggs, and you have a full rotation that doesn't include Hahn. It's possible Triggs theoretically gets the boot, but with the way he's performed outside of his last start I think he stays. All in all, Hahn just isn't a great investment to make and there might just be one more start left with his name on it that I don't love since he's not playing the Angels again.
Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:
I think the best indicator for Keuchel’s success is how low he can get his Zone% while still having a good K/BB ratio. He is majorly succeeding at that this year, but if they raise the zone mid season (which is in discussion) he will be boned.
Definitely, there’s been a ton of ink spilled about Keuchel not getting the calls around the edges last season that he did in 2015 and he’s been getting them more often this year as well.
Not sure I believe they will change the strike zone mid-season, but I think the bigger question is if he’ll sustain the trend he has already set in April.
Would you do Bregman for Duffy if you needed a 3B?
I wouldn’t. That’s not enough for Duffy.
Would you trade Bundy for S. Marte? Already have really good hitting though. Currently in 1st place in my league so I can afford to hold him. Rest of my staff is Manaea, Cmart, Taillon, Carrasco, Pineda, Gsellman ,Vargas / 12 team redraft (QS instead of W)
Definitely not. I understand that he’ll benefit in the second half, but that’s a major overpay given the amount of time he’s missing + a wasted spot on the bench.
Ervin Santana has allowed 3 ER or less in 38 of his last 42 starts, 237 of his last 265 innings, he has a ~2.50ERA in that span. I’m not sure what else he needs to do to get some love
I get that his periphals suggest that he’s getting lucky but he’s consistently outperformed them for a good while now, if he’s only gonna have 5 bad starts out of every 40 then I’ll take that, no pitcher is immune from the occasional clunker. Even Kershaw has 4 starts out of his last 40 where he allowed 4 or 5 runs
You’re not wrong here at all in that Santana has had one heck of a stretch and I’d be rolling with him.
I’m essentially treating this like Santana had one full season of being great and we’re looking now at the season ahead. Imagine it’s February and we’re talking about Santana. Are we going to say “he’s going to stay the same” or are we going to say “2017 is going to be a regression year” ?
That’s what I’m getting at. In his last 23 starts, Santana has a 2.03 ERA and a 4.03 xFIP + 4.08 SIERA. A .230 BABIP that is no way sustainable. A 7.51 K/9 that is fine, not studly. This doesn’t scream someone that should be a Top 20 pitcher in 2017, and that’s where a lot of people are coming from.
I still have Santana in the Top 50 and there’s a small chance that if those immediately in front of him struggle that he’ll be in the Top 40. But that’s it. I have to assess these guys from this point moving forward and I can’t expect Santana to look like an ace ROS 2017.
Yo Nick! Who you think turns it around quicker? Gausman or Maeda?
I’d bet on Gausman since the Orioles are going to keep trusting him + it’s hard to imagine his career ability is suddenly gone with his Fastball.
Hey Nick! So I’m following the advice of not trusting Santana ROS so I want to sell him high. Problem is my pitching staff is Scherzer, Quintana, A Sanchez, Happ, Kennedy, McCarthey, Oh, Kelley, K-Rod.
I have an offer for Adam Jones and one for Kyle Seager.
Are these good trades for me or should I holster Santana?
I would love to get Kyle Seager for Santana. I’d imagine once he returns (probably tomorrow or Friday) you can flip him for a more secure starter than Santana, like Taillon, Fulmer, Paxton, etc.