Here I was thinking that Julio Urias had the eye of the tiger and wouldn’t break down under pressure, but nooooo he had to go 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks in 81 Pitches against the Mets. Yeah, I know how he faltered in his first start after jumping up each level in the minors, I just wanted it not to be like this, you know? I’ll have a GIF Breakdown of the outing up Saturday afternoon, but I don’t think it will be all that great, just because it won’t give the right impression of Urias. It’s like judging the attractiveness of someone from a picture where they are in that exact moment of transition from “everything is normal” to “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” Anyway, the bad news here is that Urias isn’t going to be a regular starter since the Dodgers are being ultra careful with his innings in 2016 and beyond. That means he might not be all too valuable on your roster, praying he gets his chances to start through the year. I see a little more than 10 starts from him moving forward, and it could disrupt his ability to get into a groove. I hope not since his stuff is super legit.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Masahiro Tanaka – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Maybe I should just put Tanaka in the Top 30 regardless of the injury questions. The guy is killing it.
Michael Fulmer – 7.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Fulmer is throwing his Changeup with confidence and it is working so dang well. I don’t care if he just faced the Rays and A’s, I love the guy moving forward.
Christian Friedrich – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. This is a One Night Bland. Move along.
Matt Shoemaker – 8.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 11 Ks. Good news: Just look at that line as Shoemaker hit gold two times in a freakin’ row. Bad news: He gets the Tigers next and I don’t see that going well. Extra Good news: He gets the Yanks/Indians after which could be much better. I know I’m going to get a lot of people freaking out about Shoemaker now. Just remember he has been flippity-floppity since the start of 2015 and he’s done this before. It doesn’t last more than a few weeks if even one week but you ride that shizz out until you see Ashton Kutcher show up and tell you you’re on camera.
Jacob DeGrom – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Hot damn, is deGrom back? IS HE BACK?!
Tyler Chatwood – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Chatwood 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 not named Gray and maybe even Gray.
Pat Dean – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. In 142 minor leagues, guess how many Dean had at least 8 strikeouts. I don’t have time to sit here and listen to you think silently. The answer is nine. Just NINE times. That’s a near 6.5% chance. Jeeeez that’s bad.
Chris Archer – 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. Archer also gave up three unearned runs, but who cares! Well, it meant he got the Loss. Well whatever, if you’re an Archer owner you’re damn happy about this.
Jon Lester – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. Way to trounce all over the Phils. Do you feel good about yourself Lester? DO YOU?
Jaime Garcia – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Yep, that’s Garcia alright. Good stuff fella.
Jonathon Niese – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. This would be the Grave Mistake. Normally I make the Please-Don’t-Suck-More-Than-Lewinsky Compromise with Niese, so I’ll take it.
Aaron Sanchez – 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. I guess I’m okay with this, but can you allow like 1 fewer ER next time? K thx.
Max Scherzer – 7.0 IP, 5 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. Scherzer was walking people like they were dogs and got burned by a Grand Slam that he well deserved to give up on a hanging Slider. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to stick him at #7 behind Stras and JoFer, but I have to believe the HR problems will fall and those walks will disappear so that’s not going to happen this week :-/
Matt Cain – 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 0 Ks. Cain left the game with a hamstring?! Whatever will we do?!
Williams Perez – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Sir W. is still pitching and being lamer than Joe Theismann’s leg.
Miguel Gonzalez – 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Miguel…No.
Trevor Bauer – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Bauer does what Bauer do.
Sean Manaea – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. It was the battle of the pitching prospects as Manaea faced Fulmer in O.Co. Guess who won? I already read the Fulmer blurb. Oh. Well, Fulmer won. Yeah. We know. LET ME HAVE MY MOMENT. Ahem, back to the point: Manaea is super droppable these days. Womp womp.
Danny Duffy – 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. This experiment was never going to work, let’s be rizzle. We’re mixing water with mountain dew. That doesn’t sound like a great plan. This isn’t where I wanted my tax dollars going. Well you can’t have everything bucko.
Mike Wright – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. If this is Wright, then I want to be wrong. You’ve said that before. And I’m saying it again. Why? BECAUSE I LOVE IT. Calm down. I’M CALMER THAN YOU ARE.
Adam Conley – 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. That moment you realize the Conley Cruise Ship ported in the Jersey Shore.
Zach Davies – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Davis Shmavies. Rolls right off the tongue.
Felix Hernandez – 6.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Uh-oh. The fall may have begun. But I wanted to skirt by at the skin of my teeth for the whole season!
Robbie Ray – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. Dang, if Ray can’t keep the WHIP/ERA in check against the Pads, there’s little reason to believe the future blows will be softer. After all, we don’t have any other Pads left. That was a stretch. So is your face. Fair point.
Joe Kelly – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks. This is why we can’t have nice things, Kelly.
Cole Hamels – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. There’s no beating around the George W here, Hamels just didn’t look good against the Pirates. That walk rate is still creeping up, but the grounders/strikeouts/xFIP is still good enough for you to be satisfied with Hamels as your #3.
Adam Morgan – 4.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. And we used to call you Captain O’ Captain! No we didn’t. And we never called you Captain O’ Captain!
John Lamb – 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. It looked like it could work out on paper, but Lamb hasn’t come out like a lion in a long time and it didn’t return tonight.
Mike Fiers – 3.2 IP, 7 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. Fiers has been completely droppable for a long time, and hopefully this is a major wake up ala SOAD or RATM or Arcade Fire or The Vamps or whatever.
Today’s Streamers
Chase Anderson vs. Cincinnati Reds – There are only three considerable choices today, with the worst being Wade Miley against the the Twins. The other two are Chase against the Reds, which is decent given Chase’s okay production lately and the Reds being, well, the Reds. Also out there is Matt Moore against the Yankees, which definitely holds more upside as Moore has well underperformed his peripherals, but it’s a huge risk given his vast amount of clunkers this year.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Nathan Eovaldi vs. Tampa Bay Rays – There are a good amount of leagues where Eovaldi is still available and he’s a good bet for a solid outing given his recent success and the Rays’ general lack of it. Discount options include Jimmy Nelson against the Reds and conversely Brandon Finnegan against the Brew Crew, though the latter has a bigger risk attached given his ever growing walk rates.
Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer
Nate Karns vs. San Diego Padres – He’s owned in under 30% of ESPN leagues and I see Karns feasting away against the Padres. Ervin Santana against the A’s is a good discount option as well.
Game of the Day
Yu Darvish vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – Awww snap, he’s back!