Chris Archer is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA. Some folks are worried. Three reasons not to be overly concerned. (1) He has an xFIP of 2.62. (2) He’s struck out 17 batters in 10 innings. (3) He has the worst BABIP in baseball at .478. Patience folks.

Johnny Cueto entered his start against the Dodgers with a 2.52 ERA during day games, the second best in baseball for a current starter with at least 40 games started in that time (Clayton Kershaw). Cueto allowed five runs to the Dodgers in the first inning but he settled down and allowed one run over his next six innings in the outing. Note that in his first two starts with the Giants that Cueto has walked just two batters, he has gone seven innings in both outings, and emerged from both trips to the bump with a victory for the G-men.

Cole Hamels has had few issues with AL batters in two starts. He’s holding batters to a .207 BABIP and has an 8.31 K/9 rate. At the same time his 4.15 walk rate per nine needs work. Pretty sure it will given that his walk rate per nine has been under 2.65 the last nine years.  

Felix Hernandez leads baseball, since 1913 at least, with a 2.60 ERA in games in which he didn’t pick up a win or a loss. In his last outing Felix, for the 9th time, went at least seven innings without allowing a run while being saddled with a no-decision. Just nuts.

Did you see the report of the guy who caught five foul balls in one game?

Dallas Keuchel walked 1.98 batters per nine innings last season. This year, in two starts, the mark is 7.11. Pretty sure that’s coming down. Oddly, even with all the walks his K/9 rate is up, two full batters over his career mark, at 9.24 per nine. Ah, sample sizes.

Kenta Maeda has allowed no earned runs in either of his two starts. He went at least six innings in each outing. That means he’s just the second Dodgers hurler to go six innings while allowing zero earned runs in his first two career starts. Great start (duh). We shall see how he holds up over the course of the season, but with each passing start I become more impressed. Still a bit worried about that arm though. So were the Dodgers. Check out Maeda’s contract details to show just how cautious the Dodgers wanted to be.

Not all of them are dirty, but some seem to have questionable morals.

Aaron Nola looks fantastic through two starts. He’s 0-1 but look at the efforts he’s put out there. In both started he’s lasted seven innings. In both starts he’s struck out at least eight men. In both starts he’s avoided a walk. He’s allowed two homers, and that’s an issue, as is the fact that he doesn’t figure to pile up wins for a junky Phillies team, but that’s a young starter to watch in 2016. It’s why we had him listed as an SP5 in mixed leagues heading into the season.

Noah Syndergaard induced a whopping 26 swings and misses last night. Context. That’s the most by a Mets hurler in 15 years. Through two starts he has 21 punchouts over 13.0 innings with a 19.9 percent swinging strike rate. Can’t keep up either of those numbers but note that over the course of 26 career outings Noah ha a 12.8 swinging strike rate with a 10.33 K/9 mark. He could maintain those paces though, and they are elite.

Where are the world’s best toilets? Seems like some folks care.

Through two starts Justin Verlander has an 8.71 ERA. It’s actually way worse than that. In his first start he threw five scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the 6th. That means Verlander has allowed 10 runs over his last 5.1 innings. Can we please, as I’ve been imploring you all to do for years now, admit that Justin Verlander is just a guy at this point? What else do you need to see? Check out his Player Profile.

It's too early of course… but Adam Wainwright ain’t looking like his old self. Of course, he didn’t last year either. Over his last six starts dating back to last season, and again a small sample size, Wainwright has a 3.00 ERA and 1.26 WHIP but he’s struck out only 5.77 batters per nine and his 2.77 BB/9 rate is half a batter above his career mark. Check this last one out too. Over his last 38 starts, covering 266 innings, Wainwright has a 6.90 K/9 mark. #JustSaying

 

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 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).