Chase Anderson is 5-10 with a 5.40 ERA and 1.45 WHIP through 19 starts. He’s allowed three or fewer runs in 4-straight starts. He’s also thrown a total of 17.1 innings in those four outings. He’s just a guy and with a run of 7-straight starts of five innings or less, he’s really not even usable in NL-only leagues.
Jake Arrieta has 12 wins, a 2.76 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP with 135 strikeouts over 127.1 innings. While some might be disappointed with that effort after his amazing work last season, it’s some really impressive stuff. However, there are concerns. Over his last five starts Arrieta has only one game in which he’s allowed less than four earned runs and over those five games he has a 6.14 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. He’s also lost a bit in the K-column, 8.59 per nine, while continuing to walk too many (3.38 per nine), a pace that is light years above the 1.89 rate he posted last season. He’s simply not looked like “himself,” that is if you expect him to pitch at last year’s levels. Honestly, he’s looked bad for the last month – for anyone, let alone a star like Arrieta. Keep a close eye on things here as I’m concerned that he might not be an SP1 the rest of the season.
Yovani Gallardo is 3-2 with a 5.37 ERA and 1.63 WHIP as the wheels have totally fallen off. He tossed a quality start last time out against the Rockies, the third time in four starts that he’s allowed three or fewer runs. He’s also walked four men in three of four games and is nothing other than a streaming option for those of you with strong constitutions. Extremely strong.
For my thoughts on Jeremy Hellickson, Dallas Keuchel and Miguel Gonzalez see this Daily Dive Video.
Ian Kennedy has allowed a homer in 9-of-10 games since the start of June. In that time he’s gone 2-6 with a 5.89 ERA and 1.29 WHIP which seems to suggest that the wheels have fallen off the truck. Well, they really haven’t, at least not completely. Kennedy has 58 strikeouts in 55 innings. He’s also the owner of a 2.62 BB/9 rate. Those are good things. However, he’s been bombed for 18 homers. That’s simply amazing leading to a 2.95 homer per nine mark that is unconscionable. I almost can’t type that number. It’s impossible to be that homer prone, even if you are a homer prone hurler. Until he brings down the homer total you can’t trust him even with the positives he brings.
Daniel Mengden has 49 strikeouts in 48.2 innings. Good for him. He’s also the owner of a 5.73 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and 4.81 BB/9 rate. He’s also failed to last more than 5.1 innings in any of his last five starts. There’s nothing to see here in any setup. He was sent to Triple-A Tuesday.
Michael Pineda is at it again. He’s allowed one run over his last two starts. Moreover, Pineda has actually allowed one or fewer runs in four of his last six outings. However, in the other two outings he permitted 10 runs in 11 innings. That’s a 3.25 ERA and 1.00 WHIP over his last six starts with an elite 11.75 K/9 rate. There’s still those two beatings, and the track record of nausea since the start of last season. Break the seal at your own risk.
Drew Pomeranz was better in his second start with the Red Sox allowing the Tigers two runs over six innings and In two starts he’s permitted four walks and three homers in nine innings. Many folks are looking past those efforts and at the totality of what Pomeranz has done, which admittedly has been amazing given the non-existent draft day cost. I continue to maintain that the overall work he’s thrown up there this season is simply not sustainable. Even if you disagree with me on those lines, how to you counter the following? Pomeranz is at 111 innings this season. He threw 88 innings last season and 115.1 in 2014. He’s not a youngster at 27 years old, but he’s approaching his first season of 120-innings since 2012. Just how long can he keep this up before fatigue sets in, irrespective of being able to sustain a pace that we’ve never seen from him before?
Aaron Sanchez was going to start until the end of July and then transition into the bullpen, that was the plan before the season began. Made sense too given the workload’s. Sanchez threw 109.2 innings in 2013. In 2014 he threw 133.1 innings. In 2015 he threw 102 innings. This season he’s already up to 132.1 innings so now is the time to send him to pen? Well, the team has waffled the past few weeks as they appear to be leaning toward keeping him in the rotation given how excellent he has been as a starter (11-1, 2.72 ERA, 1.15 WHIP with 115 strikeouts). Well, maybe. GM Ross Atkins said the following Tuesday – that it’s an open ended question how long Sanchez will remain in the rotation. Mike Wilner, who is the Jays play-by-play guy, still thinks that Sanchez will have to be moved to the bullpen. I would agree with Mr. Wilner. We shall see what the team does but that uncertainty has to be weighing on the minds of Sanchez owners.
Hector Santiago has a 4.28 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, a poor 1.98 K/BB ratio and a terrible 1.48 HR/9 mark this season. Those numbers cause me great pause, though three of them are right on his career norms (1.32 WHIP, 2.05 K/BB ratio and a 1.25 HR/9 that was 1.44 last season). The fact is that Santiago is just slightly better than a league average option. It’s who he has been since the start of the 20133 season. Too many walks and too many homers to ever truly trust. He has been much better of late, though as you can tell I still don’t trust him. Over his last eight starts he’s posted a 2.40 ERA with a 1.17 WHIP and a 6-0 record. Seems like he is surging. Well, kinda. His walk rate in that time is abysmal at 4.25 per nine. His HR/9 rate has plummeted to 0.92. History tells us it won’t stay there. His .230 BABIP is .038 points below his career mark. His 7.95 K/9 rate is slightly below his 8.18 career mark as well. You can try to walk the tightrope with Santiago, but I’m still very leery.
DFS DIAMONDS
*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.
CATCHER: Salvador Perez has hit .305 with a .349 OBP and .565 SLG at home, and that includes 10 homers in 43 games. Perez has gone 6-for-8 with a homer against Matt Shoemaker who has allowed 1.04 homers per nine innings this season
FIRST BASE: James Loney has hit an amazing .500 against Adam Wainwright over 28 at-bats. He’s hit well against all righties this season with a .294/.354/.455.
SECOND BASE: Howie Kendrick has a hit in 9-of-10 games. He’s hit two homers the last four games. He has a 1.021 OPS in July. He’s batting .299 against lefties. He’s hit .333 in 12 at-bats against Matt Moore.
THIRD BASE: David Freese has hit .328 with a .411 OBP and .594 SLG this season against lefties. He’s hit .294 with two homers against James Paxton over 17 at-bats. Righties have hit .313 against Paxton this season.
SHORTSTOP: Carlos Correa has gone 3-for-6 against Masahiro Tanaka. Two of those hits were home runs. He’s produced five hits and four walks over his last four games. He’s hit .333 with a 1.051 OPS in 11 games since the All-Star break.
OUTFIELD: Melky Cabrera hit .321 in June. He’s hit .333 in July. He’s hit .292 against righties with a .346 OBP. He’s hit .308 with a .816 OPS at night. Jason Hammel has allowed 15 runs over 20 innings in July.
OUTFIELD: Tyler Duffy has allowed 10 runs and 15 hits his last two starts (8.2 innings). Over his last 10 starts he’s allowed 12 homers. Nick Markakis has hit .316 since the All-Star break with a .422 OBP. He’s not likely to hit a home run of course.
OUTFIELD: Anthony Ranaudo has allowed 13 homers in 58.1 innings in his career. That’s a 2.01 HR/9 mark. Kris Bryant has 25 homers this season.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).