THREE DEALING WITH HEALTH ISSUES
Steven Matz has been placed on the DL with a left shoulder sprain in yet another in a series of never ending injuries with the hurler. The shoulder is said to be structurally sound, but come on, do you buy that he’s ok? He has a shoulder issues at the moment and has also missed work with elbow woes (bone spurs) this season. He hasn’t pitched since August 14th, so the Mets could back date his DL stint to then, but with all his health woes is it possible that he will be back on the bump before the end of August? Can’t think that the answer is a yes there. Matz elbow issues will not go away, and it’s possibly that the shoulder issue is related to the elbow injury. It’s possible, though far from anything official, that he’s thrown his last pitch this season. The Mets want to win, but with the elbow and now the shoulder barking, does it make sense to keep running the youngster out there at this point?
James Paxton seems likely to return to the Mariners’ rotation this week after he missed two weeks with a bruised elbow. He felt good after three scoreless in Triple-A Saturday as he felt no pain or tightness in his arm. Paxton had been rolling his last four outings with a 1.59 ERA, and on the year he has made 13 starts, the third straight year with exactly that many. For the third straight year his ERA has been in the three’s, this year it’s 3.53, but a 1.32 WHIP isn’t a number that impresses despite a mere 18 walks all year long. His BABIP remains elevated at .340 and should continue to creep down as the innings pile up, but hits have been the reason his WHIP is elevated, not the free pass. Hard to trust him since he too has long had ups and downs with health.
Stephen Strasburg allowed nine runs in his last outings and said he was fine. He’s really not as he’s been placed on the DL with right elbow soreness (this is the second time he’s been on the DL this season, last time it was back woes). It’s not panic time, but it certainly is concern time. The good news though is that there is nothing structural wrong with his arm. Still, Strasburg heads to the DL with the Nats holding an 8.5 game lead in the NL East, so they certainly don’t have much incentive to rush him back. His release point changed of late, and that has led to some poor recent production (14.66 ERA, 2.57 WHIP with six walks and 24 hits allowed over 11.2 innings). Yet another health concern with Strasburg. Why folks continue to count on him baffles me.
Mike Leake has been himself, an inconsistent pitcher in baseball. Jeff Samardzija’s new curveball almost got him a ho-hitter. Marcus Stroman has been dynamic as of late. See the Daily Dive Video.
SINCE THE ALL-STAR BREAK
Danny Duffy is a remarkable 7-0 in his eight starts with a 2.05 ERA since the All-Star Game. Though his K/9 rate is 9.54 for the season, it’s actually down more than a full batter in this run of success at 8.37 per nine. Two others have won six games: Rick Porcello and Jason Hammel. The duo has ERA’s of 2.25 and 2.18. Those are fantastic marks, but not the best in the game as six men have marks under 1.95 since the Break: Kyle Hendricks (1.33), Jake Odorizzi (1.64), Cole Hamels (1.85), Corey Kluber (1.89), Jose Quintana (1.91) and Justin Verlander (1.93).
Eight guys have allowed at least two homers a game. I’m not gonna list all of them but I will highlight Vince Velasquez who has a 2.23 home runs per nine mark leading to a 6.25 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and 0-4 record since the break. VV is likely to only make a couple of more starts before being shut down.
Robbie Ray leads baseball with a 12.45 K/9 mark. Heartening to see his BB/9 rate down at 2.11 per nine which is why so many folks are running to the wire to add the big lefty from the Diamondbacks. Only one other arm in the game has a K/9 rate over 10.95 in the second half and that is Yu Darvish (11.84).
There are six hurlers with 10 saves to lead the way: Zach Britton, Aroldis Chapman, Roberto Ozuna, Seung Hwan Oh, Jeurys Familia, Francisco Rodriguez. Only one hasn’t blown a save – Britton – while only one has three blown saves (Familia).
Jameson Taillon has a walk rate in the second half of 0.95 per nine, the best in the game. Masahiro Tanaka is second on the list with a 1.02 per nine mark with Kenta Maeda coming in third at 1.09 per nine. Elite stuff. The fourth man on the list is Michael Fulmer with a 1.10 rate which is again elite stuff. Alas, Fulmer has just one win in seven starts and his K/9 rate is all the way down at 5.88 per nine. Fulmer is having his next start extended a couple of days out to give him seven days between outings as he will start Saturday for the Tigers. His workload is an growing concern, and now somewhat the performance though it’s not going to tarnish what has been an excellent season for the Tiger youngster (10-4, 2.58 ERA, 1.08 WHIP).
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).