I remember the night Joe Musgrove made his MLB debut last season, showcasing his One-Seam Fastball across 4.1 innings of shutout ball against the Blue Jays. With Colin McHugh's injury, he's had a secure role in the rotation and I was hoping he could use his good movement and command to return solid 12 teamer value. After today's disappointing line of 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks against the Rays, it's time to assess what to do with the kid. On the plus side, he's been inducing 25% soft contact with nearly identical hard contact, suggesting his .333 BABIP entering today was a bit skewed against him. Still, he's getting very few whiffs from his Slider, and while his Changeup is looking impressive (near 25% whiff rate thus far), batters have been teeing off the heater...which is a little odd given his good command of the pitch on the outside corner down and away to right-handers. I guess I'm not fully convinced he's going to be a lackluster option through 2017, but I don't think you should be holding on tight for his breakout at this point. Let him go if you have any sort of decent streaming options in a 12 teamer and wait to see if his Slider starts being the effective pitch it can be.
Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:
Thoughts on the wheeler start?
I’m an idiot. He’s there now!
“What a painful first inning. Wheeler barely hits the first batter, then an infield single on what would normally be a double-play ball (albeit, Rendon running), a groundball through the hole into left field, then a Daniel Murphy grand slam on a pitch down in the zone at 96mph. He got one out in the meantime, but essentially this start is 6.2 IP, 1 Hit, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. I think Wheeler is closer than you think on becoming a solid #5 for your team.”
No blurb for Mccarthy?
Weird, that one got deleted somehow. Here it is:
“That’s four starts of 2 ER or fewer from McCarthy to begin the year, and that includes the Cubs + dbacks twice. I’m happy to see him lower his walks after 3 in each of the last two games and I’m all for his next start against the Phils.”
Why not RYU as a streamer today?
Yeah, I’m thinking he’s right in line with Anderson if not a little moreso. I do worry about how shaky he has been thus far, but Ryu is getting his first weak opponent of the season.
I’m fine with it.
No Scherzer?
Whoops, my bad! He’s there now:
“Aces gonna ace. A pair of HRs kept this from being a truly stud start, but that WHIP and Ks grant him the AGA label.”
Nova blurb got cut off. I’m dying to know what kind of offense he’s yet to face…
Looks like the article is showing an earlier version of the post. I think I’ve caught all the cut-offs now, thanks for the heads up!
Here’s what that blurb reads:
“And Nova just keeps cruising. He pretty much doubled his season strikeouts today, now totally 15 on the year. That’s under four per start and he has yet to face an offense that I’d normally give hesitation to…and he won’t get that until June? Wow. Nova may have the best schedule of any starter around, which certainly warrants a boost as he’s displayed the ability to handle weaker offenses. It’s weird since I don’t think Nova has the repertoire nor skill to be a Top 40 guy, but that schedule could help him look like one in the first half. Weird.”
Thanks Nick!
Interesting that you didn’t have Corbin as a streamer for tomorrow. He looked pretty good against the Pads in the last one. He’s not great, but on a day with not much available, he’s sufficient I think.
It will take a lot more than one good start against the Padres to convince me to roll with Corbin…
Any consolation on Musgrove’s start in that he gave up all 4 runs in the first and then appeared to settle down after that? That was also on the heels of a mechanical tweak he made during the week.
I have Sonny Gray coming off the DL soon. If Musgrove doesn’t look much different in his next couple of starts, would you feel comfortable dropping Musgrove for Gray?