After the first SP Roundup of the season on April 6th, I’ve written this article every day save for four across the All-Star break. Since the regular season came to an end on Sunday, this 179th edition will be the very last until 2016. It has been a fantastic time writing these, and I want to thank all of you for reading along through the season, commenting both inside articles, on Twitter, and on Reddit. There will be a bunch of content across the off-season, including a preview of 2016’s The List next week, major updates to various portions of the site, and plenty of GIF Breakdowns. I’ll be back again next season, and I hope to see all of you there.
Let’s see what every SP did yesterday one last time:
Shelby Miller – 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. He finally, FINALLY got another Win after 24 games without one. Now we’re left with a 7.50 K/9, questionable 3.20 BB/9 and a 3.02 ERA that raises eyebrows after checking out his 4.07 xFIP and 4.16 SIERRA. No I will not be targeting Miller next season.
replace
Cole Hamels – 9.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. I went deep into my thoughts on 2016 Cole last time he pitched, and I feel the same. He’s not as dependable as you’d like him to be and I don’t see drafts playing out where he’s on my squad.
Matt Wisler – 8.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Wisler could one day turn into a decent Toby. I’m sure not trusting that to happen soon, just like hoverboards actually becoming a thing. Guys, proper repulsion technology isn’t even close to being developed yet. #MagnetsAreNotTheAnswer
Tanner Roark – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. He’ll probably chill in the Nationals rotation with JZ and Fister heading to free agency, yet his upside isn’t solid enough for me to roster him. Like a national park, Roark might have a stream here and there.
J.A. Happ – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. In Happ’s final 10 starts to the season, he held an ERA under 1.50 with a K/9 near 9.75 and excellent walk rate. So now he joins Rich Hill as an old lefty who is overperforming at the end of 2015 and skewing his draft stock for next season. What do you two do during club sessions? Wonder if James Paxton and Cole Hamels will be future members?
Daniel Norris – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. So he may not be old, but Norris could easily join that club as well after having himself a solid close to the year, allowing just 3 ER in his final four starts. I was a fan of The Man in a Van in spring before he imploded, and it’ll take more than this for me to jump back on the Volkswagen.
Jacob deGrom – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. The Mets are preparing for deGrom to start the first game of the playoffs, so they pulled The Hair like a stressed gambler despite carrying a no-hitter. DeGrom is as legit as Jay-Z’s papers, but his IPG (innings per game) isn’t as solid as guys like Price, Kershaw, and Kluber, which means he’ll probably be outside the Top 5 heading into next year. Easily Top 10, but he needs that depth to make a bigger impact.
Dan Haren – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. The Deuce of Chicago was a nice stop gap for the team as they save Arrieta for Wednesday’s battle with the Pirates. He’s not going to be starting in the playoffs, and I’d be surprised if he’s still around in the MLB next year, so it’s been fun berating you all season. Safe travels.
Clayton Kershaw – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 7 Ks. He needed six strikeouts to hit 300 Ks this season, and struck out seven in eleven batters. He’s pretty good.
Matt Cain – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. It was only his 11th start of the season after heading to the bullpen after missing significant time. Sure, there’s a chance he is Abel to return to full strength next year. Should you in any way invest in it? Like someone offering you week-old sushi, just say no.
David Buchanan – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Across his 15 starts this season, Buchanan put up a 5.30 K/9 and a 6.99 ERA. Yikes.
Danny Salazar – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Nice work Salazar, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m shocked you only had seven starts above 3 ER the entire season, with only two in the second half. Did I just sell myself on Salazar? I still see him as a bit of a Cherry Bomb given his 3.50 ERA, but this helps.
Matt Moore – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Those walks, oh boy those walks…
Frankie Montas – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Montas has the K upside and I’ll be looking at him a bit more next year. It doesn’t seem to come with the polish that you want to really make an impact, but we’ll see. He has a super hard Fastball (97+!) with a heavy Slider, which could make him a spicccy meeaaatballl.
Vidal Nuno – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. I don’t like Nuno and I’d be surprised if you did too.
Rick Porcello – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 10 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. If you started him it was for some late upside to help win your year, and he did reward you with solid K performance. I’m going to have to dive into Porcello’s numbers before next season to see if this improved strikeout rate can carry over into next year, as it’s very sudden and not Porcello-esque.
Robbie Ray – 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. He was the other Call Boy outside of Porcello, and both brought the K upside, albeit both with poor WHIP totals. I think Ray is a decent sleeper for next season, as his 8.53 K/9 is weighed down by a handful of very poor outings, as he had eight games of at least 7 Ks this year.
Adam Conley – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Nope. NopeNopeNopeNope.
Chris Bassitt – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 5 BBs, 3 Ks. Bassitt may fly under-the-radar as he’s one of the best of a young-crew-not-named-Gray in Oakland, but all that means is he has deep league value where you don’t remember who he is.
Lance McCullers – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. I still have some love for McCullers, but I’m not going to get suckered in as his walk rate will be hovering around 3.00 per 9 again.
Garrett Richards – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Peeps are going to be chirping a lot about Richards next year, and I’m not going to be on his side. He’s just too inconsistent and I’m not sold he’ll be as polished as we see him becoming. The only thing keeping me questioning that notion is a 22.7% soft contact rate mixed with an elite 23.7% hard contact rate.
Johnny Cueto – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks. Yeah, he’ll be outside my Top 20. No, please don’t start doing th—You know shimmying isn’t going to help. Okay Nick…
Lance Lynn – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. An oddly barren start from Lance, who has simply been all over the place this season. I think he needs some rest to start performing like he did again in the first half, and I think we’ll see an improved Lynn come April/May in 2016. Will that last through they year? Probably not.
Chris Tillman – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. You can’t spell Win with Tillman. Alright, I think I’m going to retire that one next year as Chris actually won this game and went 11-11 this season…despite a 4.99 ERA, 3.33 BB/9, and 6.34 K/9. Well, he did have the one run in July/August that was pretty good, but that’s about it. Okay maybe I will bring it back. I dunno. We’ll talk.
Frank Garces – 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. It was a bullpen day which meant I need to now add Garces to the database even though he’s not going to have any value next year and you’ll never remember his name. Thanks for nothing.
Josh Smith – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. I labelled him as a Cup of Schmo and I stand by that assessment.
John Lackey – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Fortunately for all of us, the wheels lasted juuuuust long enough before they started falling apart.
Jorge Lopez – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. This is more-or-less the Lopez I expected in his debut, and he shouldn’t be on your radar next year.
Michael Pineda – 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. I want to rank Pineda really well next year. His walk rate is crazy good and he has excellent strikeout ability. Problem is that he had a near 30% hard contact rate, which is why his HR/FB rate sat above 15%, leading to a 70% LOB rate. That makes him sound like a super sleeper for next year, which may be the case, but it’s also leaving out his injury history as he had just above 160 IP. Stuff to think about before February.
Christian Bergman – 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 0 Ks. Bergman 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. You know, there have only been about five times this entire year where I felt obliged to write more about a Colorado pitcher. Kind of crazy how well that blurb worked.
Mark Buehrle – 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 0 Ks. If you hadn’t heard, Buehrle was given the chance to pitch two innings to end his career with 15 straight seasons of 200+ innings.
Ricky Nolasco – 2.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. Man, we’re all just soooo happy Nolasco was able to sneak in one last start before the season ended. What a relief.
Today’s Streamer
NONE – Ummm, fantasy baseball’s over guys. It’s been real.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
NONE – I PROMISED I WOULDN’T CRY.
Game of the Day
NONE – *sniff* Don’t judge me.