Never Say NeVar

There were a great number of players who were on your waiver wire and exploded for studly outings last night. The first one people are going to jump all over is...

There were a great number of players who were on your waiver wire and exploded for studly outings last night. The first one people are going to jump all over is Jason Vargas who put up a line of 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks against the Giants. Nine Ks! That's 17 in his two starts! His Changeup is getting a 31.0% whiff rate through his 84 thrown and that's all kinds of silly, especially when his heater comes in at...under 87mph. Is this the second coming of Jered Weaver? Oh lord, yeah I can't buy this. Baseball is weird and we saw Miguel Gonzalez almost throw a CGSHO in under 90 pitches on Tuesday night. I totally get running with Vargas in the short term- he gets the White Sox and Twins next! - but don't act like this is your magic #4/5 guy for the year. This is is a career 6.00 K/9 pitcher who was super good in April so we put more weight on it than normal. Sure, pick him up now for those two starts just be quick to let him be free.

Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:

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Nick Pollack

Founder of Pitcher List. Creator of CSW, The List, and SP Roundup. Worked with MSG, FanGraphs, CBS Sports, and Washington Post. Former college pitcher, travel coach, pitching coach, and Brandeis alum. Wants every pitcher to be dope.

8 responses to “Never Say NeVar”

  1. Chucky says:

    What’s your beef with Justin Vargas. You wont discuss his 4 hit, 9 k, 8 IP performance, not do you even have him rated. Got pictures of you or something?

    • Nick Pollack says:

      I think I articulated it pretty well up there…

      It’s really hard for me to endorse someone who has never flashed this K upside before who throws under 87mph and performed well in back-to-back starts against two very poor offenses.

      It’s April, people want to secure “the next hot thing” and are starved for data so we all go crazy about small sample size. I don’t believe Vargas has reinvented himself and is now a must add starter. He’s fine, always has been an okay streamer against weak teams and he’s not a guy you want to be trusting consistently to warrant a long term roster spot.

  2. Jeff says:

    Small typo in Archer’s line: ‘Gret’

    Otherwise, gret as always :)

  3. RRH says:

    Hellickson v. ATL, Cobb v. HOU, Iwakuma @ OAK, Glasnow & CC (NYY @ PIT) are all available. You take any of those guys for tomorrow over Conley?

    QS & K/9 league FWIW, though I’m more worried about WHIP & ERA.

  4. Max says:

    Why do you have Daniel Norris and Joe Musgrove ranked above Michael Pineda? Is this for league’s with some kind of weird settings?

    • Nick Pollack says:

      Pineda is a volatile pitcher, always has been, always will.

      If he didn’t have those outbursts of great strikeout games – which are normally around 1/4 of his starts or so – he would be ranked much much lower.

      Due to that upside, he’s favored around Musgrove/Norris, two pitchers who I see as becoming more dependable options through the 2017 season.

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