Chris Archer is 7-17 and his season is going to go down as a disappointment. But, he’s actually been “Chris Archer” for a while now. Over his last seven starts Archer has a 2.62 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 11.28 K/9 and 1.81 BB/9. I take that back. He hasn’t been Chris Archer of late… he’s been Max Scherzer. Archer has only allowed three homers the last seven outings as well as things have really started to coalesce for the oft dominating righty.

Andrew Cashner has made five starts in August. He’s allowed seven, zero, four, one and one earned runs. The result? Try on for size a 5.48 ERA with a 1.83 WHIP. Toss in an 0-3 record, and a sickly 5.06 BB/9 rate and you have more of the same from Cashner – a talented arm you cannot start with any degree of confidence, ever.

R.A. Dickey has made seven starts since the All-Star break with a 2-4 record, a 5.97 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. It’s not great at all. It’s not even passable if being frank. However, knuckleballers do often find themselves and role for long periods when things fall into place, and Dickey has allowed one, one and two runs in three of his last four outings. For what it’s worth too, he’s pitched much better this season on the road as he’s posted a 3.39 ERA with a 1.27 WHIP and a .317 wOBA away from Toronto.

Jaime Garcia is falling apart. He’s never on my list od adds, you all know that by now, and after a great start to the season he’s crumbling like blue cheese on a side salad. In three of his last five starts he’s allowed at least five earned runs, and his last two times on the bump he’s permitted 14 hits, including five homers, and 11 runs over just nine innings. His ERA is up to 4.37 and his WHIP to 1.34. He’s also up to 146.1 innings, his highest total in five years. Tick-tock.

Kyle Gibson is a 28 year old righty with lots of talent. Alas, he’s just a bum when it comes to the results. I’ve gone back and forth a bit with a certain beat writer of the Twins the past two years about Gibson as he kept saying something like ‘if you catch him on the right day…’ Problem is, he has a whole lot of those other days getting in the way. Through 18 starts this season he’s 5-8 with a 5.09 ERA and 1.54 WHIP with a mere 6.37 strikeouts per nine innings. He also has a three year high with a 3.31 walk rate per nine innings. His numbers in August: 6.59 ERA, 1.92 WHIP, 5.65 K/9. He’s not even a league average arm. Move on.  

Reynaldo Lopez is a nice talent. His average heater this season is coming in at 96.1 mph according to PITCHf/x and it has helped him to a total of 28 punchouts over 25.1 innings. Alas, he’s also walked 4.62 batters per nine, a terrible mark, leading to a pathetic 5.33 ERA and 1.70 WHIP. Three times in his five starts he’s also failed to throw even 4.1 innings. Moreover, despite all the strikeouts, in two of his last three outings he’s struck out two and two batters. He’s just not “there” yet, and it’s still uncertain how he will be used the rest of the way.

I spoke about Matt Boyd, Yu Darvish and Kendall Graveman in this edition of the Daily Dive.

Kenta Maeda has allowed three of fewer earned runs in each of his last six outings, and seven of eight. Over his last six trips to the bump Maeda is 5-0 for the Dodgers. That’s good. He’s also avoided getting blown up. Can’t get upset at the 30 strikeouts over 33.2 frames and he’s walked just seven guys leading to a 4.29 K/BB ratio. That’s terrific. Because he keeps the walks down, he also keeps the WHIP down (1.04 the last six). He’s allowed six homers in that time which has caused his ERA to bloat a bit to 3.74. Even when he doesn’t dominate he pitches well enough, something so many others cannot do.

Sean Manaea has been a very good pitcher in six of his last eight starts. Even with a couple of speed bumps, Manaea still has posted a 3.14 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 8.01 K/9 and 1.57 BB/9 in those eight starts. Those are impressive numbers. Toss in a 46 percent ground ball rate and we seem to have a young pitcher who is dialing in his game at the big league level. In four of those eight starts he’s also walked zero batters. The only negative is when he gets the ball up as the homer has been an issue (nine in eight games at 1.41 per nine). If he keeps the ball in the yard he could really take off.

Tyler Skaggs was called up amidst all kind of hype. Here’s what I wrote in his Player Profile. “There are easily a handful of way to think that this blows up in Skaggs face, not the least of which being his league average work as a big leaguer to date… Just understand that that odds of Skaggs staying healthy appear to be low, just as the odds of him dominating big league hitters are low.” Through six starts Skaggs has a 1-3 record, 5.70 ERA, 1.67 WHIP while walking 4.20 batters per nine innings. Through 37 big league starts he’s 9-14 with a 4.86 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. So I ask again, why the excitement?

Dan Straily has allowed three earned runs in 10-straight games. Nine of those games have been qualify starts (he tossed 5.1 frames one time out). In those 10 outings he’s gone 6-1 with a 2.43 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. He’s not Max Scherzer, despite what it looks like. His homer per nine rate in that time is elevated at 1.29. His FIP in that time is 4.12. His xFIP in that time is 4.79. His SIERA in that time is 4.45. He’s been impressive and remarkably consistent. He doesn’t own the skills to be counted on to be this guy however.

Taijuan Walker returned to the Mariners rotation Tuesday and he allowed four runs, three earned, over 5.2 innings against the Yankees. He’s now allowed a homer in 4-straight starts (six total homers), and the last time he struck out more than five batters in an outing was back on June 8th. He’s a great talent. I’m going to be drafting him next year. I’m not counting on a big final month from him this season.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).