Stephen Strasburg gave up 6 hits and 5 ER versus Miami last night, just when you needed him most. The Strasborg showed his human side and had a major malfunction in what should be his final home start, getting shelled by Giancarlo Stanton (2-for-5 with his 31st HR) and the Marlins.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Daily Notes
Max Scherzer is finally starting to post some non-apocalyptic ERA/WHIP results to go along with his thunderous league-leading K totals. A 7 inning / 1 ER / 9 K win against the Pujoless Angels marks his 4th straight start with a Win, 6+ IP, 2 ER or less, and 8+ Ks (this was actually his 8th straight start with 8+ Ks!).
Please, blog, may I have some more?Every day that Justin Verlander starts, you know there’s a chance of a no-hitter. You just expect it to be thrown by him and not another pitcher. Guillermo Moscoso took a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the Royals and finished with 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 4 Ks in 8 2/3 IP. He now has 8 wins in 18 starts which is as many wins as Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, and Rich Harden managed this year combined. Everything about Moscoso’s year screams fluke. His 3.63 ERA / 1.14 WHIP does not gel with 5 K/9 and 3 BB/9. But as an owner of this guy in my AL-only league, all I can say is this guy has been money against bad to average teams. He’s had 4 ugly starts – @BOS, @TAM, @DET, and home against TAM. His home WHIP is now under 1.00 in over 60 innings. His road WHIP is 1.44. There’s not much time left this season but if he has a start against a bad-to-average team at home – I’d go-go for Moscoso.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Daniel Murphy and Juan Nicasio are both out for the year – an undeserving fate that would merely be humane for the Astros (note: the Astros can go .500 for the final 48 games and they’d still lose 101 games – on the bright side, they have a magic number of 4 to best the 1962 Mets). Murphy tore his MCL making that two season-ending leg injuries for Met 1Bs (Ike Davis fractured his ankle). Hopefully Keith Hernandez doesn’t get a hip flexor applying Just for Men on his moustache. While Murphy has yet to show much power in the majors, a .320 average with 1B/2B/3B eligibility provided value in just about any league. Murphy’s MCL tear was a scrape compared to Nicasio who fractured a vertebrae in his neck after taking an Ian Desmond comebacker on the cabeza. He’s still being monitored for internal bleeding as I type but hopefully he has a healthy recovery.
Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s trade deadline time, a full baseball weekend, and Grey is at a crawfish festival asking ladies whether he has any chum in his moustache. Anyway, the Indians spoiled the Yanks and Sawx plans by nabbing Ubaldo for a bunch of prospects including their top two pitching prospects (Drew Pomeranz and Alex White).
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So Grey lost his stache in a tragic sparkler related accident, but did manage to partially recover the remnants and is having them reattached as we speak, so I’m going to fill in for him on this sacred of holidays, July 5th.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Tampa is no South Beach. His Wade-in-crime (Davis) isn’t quite as stellar. But James Shields is looking a lot more Kingly than LeBron these days. Facing the red-hot Red Sox (9 straight wins @ 9+ runs scored per game), Shields threw a 5-hit, 3-walk shutout. That’s Shields’ 6th win with a 2.60 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, and 98 Ks in 103.2 IP. His ERA is almost half of last year’s 5.18 debacle. Sure, he’s playing slightly above the talents he brought to Tampa (.269 BABIP, 82% strand rate) but his peripherals (K/BB) are as solid as anyone in the AL (including Verlander). Hold him if you got ‘em. Be confident to trade for him if you don’t. Just watch out when he starts against the Tigers – that Dirks is clutch.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Chase Utley will make his first start of the year on Monday in the Phillies’ 47th game of the season. If only the Yanks would lend out Suzyn Waldman for the occasion…Oh my goodness gracious!…Of all the dramatic things I’ve ever seen! For those of you who carried Utley on your DL since Opening Day, congratulations. The word is that Utley’s knee feels okay. I’ll put the over/under at 90 games for the rest of the regular season. I wouldn’t expect classic Utley this year (as in .300/30/110/15). I think he’s going to look a lot more like last year’s Utley (511/75/16/65/13) for the rest of his career – minus a couple of SBs. Second basemen don’t age gracefully and he’s 33 with a bad knee. If someone will trade a top 50 player for him, take it.
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June 1st is just around the corner. There are many prospects that are just waiting for that deadline for their major league call-up. From Ackley to Moustakas to Rizzo to Belt and Jennings, the fantasy world will clamor at their availability and set grandiose expectations for performance.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Last year, the only type of starts and luck that Charlie Morton had was bad. Despite good stuff and pedestrian ratios (6.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9), he put up some of the worst stats in recent history. A 7.57 ERA in 79 innings during the year of the pitcher! It was a 54 ERA+ (adjusted for park and era) which stands as the 5th worst ERA+ since 1945 for pitchers with 79+ IP. It’s hard to say how much of his .353 BABIP was because he threw down the middle or back luck but let’s just say the latter. It seemed like luck was balancing out in his first three starts this year as he went 2-0 despite throwing 6 Ks and 12 BBs in 22 innings. But excluding an ugly win in Colorado (where just about every non-ace should be benched), his last three starts – including last nights 5-hit shutout – have shown significant progress. In those 18 2/3 IP, he’s K’d 17 and walked 7. So let your league mates focus on his ghastly K:BB for the season while you get him on the cheap. I’d still bench him during bad match-ups but he looks primed to be a solid 5th/6th SP in shallow leagues.
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