I can imagine those owning Kevin Gausman want to drop him so badly right now after putting up a 2.2 IP, 8 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks line following a rocky start of the year. Sure, he seemingly bounced back against Toronto last week, but Gaus now has 12 walks in 18.2 innings and just 13 Ks to his name. That's just not acceptable, especially from a pitcher who I expect to showcase a solid floor with a low walk rate from start-to-start. He increased his Splitter usage in the second half last year and for whatever reason abandoned the pitch today, throwing it just seven times among the 79 pitches total. Why he's not using his best p itch is beyond me, and to see him struggle this much with his Fastball command is very concerning. This is all without mentioning that he faced the Reds, who I wouldn't consider the cream of the crop offensively (even if they are starting the season somewhat hot). Now, he gets the Red Sox next, which is an auto-bench, duh, but I don't think I'm dropping him unless there is a clear option on the waiver wire. I think he can bounce back in a few starts, work in more Splitters and get that Fastball command back to where it was. It's still there, he's just going through a rough patch.
Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:
For your streamer record I think you can select a DFS/pts style scoring system you think is fair. Then you define what a neutral start would be, say 10pts, so 10 would be a tie, 18 would be a win and 3 would be a loss etc.
Interesting, I might write a quick article detailing it just to set the record (heeeyyyyooo) straight.
I was thinking using VPR as my metric, but DFS points makes a ton of sense as well. I guess I’d just have a point value assigned to myself by the end of it?
I don’t get it — isn’t VPR designed to measure consistency start to start? So how would that work with a one-off stream? I think you can use pts scoring and continue giving yourself a “record”. I don’t think your total pts accumulated on the season would mean much because sometimes you choose 1 streamer, sometimes 2.
What I meant by VPR was that I would use the same thresholds for Excellent/Neutral/Poor to determine if I deserved a Win-Tie-Loss for a given stream. I think I’d need to fine-tune it a little to be more lax on the Win side (Excellent is meant to be an extreme), but the end of neutral to Poor (4.50 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 5 Ks) seems like the proper threshold from a Tie to a Loss streaming wise.
I’ll think about this over the weekend.
I think points systems are generally superior because they account for innings. A 4.50 ERA for 4 innings is garbage but 6IP with 3ER and 5Ks is a decent stream and most point systems would reward it as such.
I’m with you in that regard, I meant to mention that a neutral required six innings at that ERA.
I’d call that line a Win, not neutral. You can’t set the bar that high for streamers.
Just dropped Musgrove for Daniel Norris, but Triggs is still out there and is intriguing me. I have Mike Wacha, and although I’ve been enjoying the ride with him, I had him last year and just don’t have the confidence to believe he’ll continue to pitch as well as he has. Should I try trading him or just drop him for Triggs before someone pills the trigger? Swear there was no pun intended on that last line
Hey Chris!
I’d stick with Norris. It’s a tough schedule ahead with Seattle + Houston + Detroit for Triggs, which could be beneficial but a bigger risk than we want to take.
Sorry Nick, believe I confused you there. The two transactions I made this morning were: dropping Musgrove for Norris, and dropping Mike Wacha for Triggs, and I wanted to know if dropping Wacha was smart or should I have held on longer? Believe I made the right move there, even if Wacha has been pitching well, it was really all a lie anyways, right?… RIGHT!??? Oh gosh tell me I didn’t drop a rejuvenated and revolutionized Wacha.
Oh sorry about that!
I think that’s a fine move. I don’t love Wacha right now and Triggs is a decent upside flier to go with after his start against Texas.
Streamed Shelby Miller. Great call Nick!!
Thanks Eric! Glad it worked out well.
Someone inexplicably dropped Nola in my 10-man league. Who should I drop in order to scoop him up? Gausman or Pomeranz? My other SP’s are Keuchel, Manaea and Eickhoff
I’d own Pomeranz in the short term since Gaus gets the Red Sox next.
Hey Nick, if you did a mid-week update to the List, around what number would you have Triggs now that he did something against Texas? Thanks!
Hey Charles,
Probably around the low 70s. Still not sold that he can be dependable but I like him as a flier pick more than others.
For ROS upside, how would you rank Triggs, Charlie Morton, and Shelby Miller? Thanks again!
I watched Musgrove last night and I thought he looked pretty good. Springer was a couple inches away from catching Trout’s double (hit his glove) and perhaps the Pujols homer could’ve been avoided had the Astros decided to walk him with first base open and Cron & Maybin coming up.