Confession: I never took trigonometry. Is it difficult? Is the reaction above the one you have when you do it correctly? Baseball doesn’t seem like the most difficult sport to analyze. There are general stats for everything, and scouts could always just look at player and know whether or not he’d project as a toolsy major leaguer. Well, that is until Moneyball, at least.
Remember that scene with the scouts and Brad Pitt where Jonah Hill finally spoke up? At that moment Bill James did his best Billy Madison above, and since then the perception is that Billy Beane is an accurate representation of that beautiful gif (ok, not really, but the ‘Moneyball’ idea was actually incredibly smart and innovative for the historically cemented game of baseball and it’s stats).
Fast forward nearly a decade and a half from the 2003 Oakland team and they’ve still never won a series (although, the Cubs and Red Sox have while implementing the same methodology but with massively larger budgets). But the process is the same. Cheap, young contracts attempting to over-perform their salaries. It doesn’t take trigonometry to see the reasoning in the approach. Just a few Andrew Triggs. Or is it Triggses? Triggsies?
Primarily a reliever through the minors, Triggs kept his ERA under 3.00 every stop through the minors. Last season he posted a 4.31 ERA in 56.1 IP once he reached the majors, but his FIP sat at an impressive 3.20. He’s featured an incredible K:BB % through his career, and backed it up with an 8.79 K/9 to a 2.08 BB/9. This year? 11.2 IP so far without surrendering an earned run, albeit with minimal K’s. Don’t worry, though; they’ll come. And this week? Here’s where the beautiful math comes in…he faces A.J. Griffin and Ariel Miranda. Haha, all the sabermetrics in the world aren’t needed for that easy observation: Triggs is the favorite to win both of his starts this week. Put both of them in the home confines where he dealt a 2.81 ERA last season, and he’s shaping up to be a great option for Week 3.
But he’s not the only one…here’s how the rest of the Two-Start Starters line up for the week!
Pitchers are listed in order by rank. Colors WILL represent 8 worst or 8 best opponents according to team wOBA for last 14 days, but since we’re not yet 14 days in…you get all monochrome.
THE BEST
| Player | Opponents | ERA/FIP | K9/BB9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Scherzer WAS | @ATL, @NYM | 2.13/1.43 | 12.08/2.84 |
| Yu Darvish TEX | @OAK, KC | 2.33/3.19 | 8.84/4.46 |
| Danny Salazar CLE | @MIN, @CHW | 4.63/2.42 | 15.43/4.63 |
THE REPLICAS
| Player | Opponents | ERA/FIP | K9/BB9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Stroman TOR | BOS, @LAA | 1.76/3.20 | 5.28/1.76 |
| John Lackey CHC | MIL, @CIN | 3.00/2.43 | 12.75/3.75 |
| Michael Fulmer DET | @TB, @MIN | 2.25/3.43 | 8.25/2.25 |
THE STANDARDS
| Player | Opponents | ERA/FIP | K9/BB9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Triggs OAK | TEX, SEA | 0.00/3.28 | 3.09/3.09 |
| Mike Leake STL | PIT, @MIL | 0.60/1.43 | 7.80/0.60 |
| Robbie Ray ARI | @LAD, LAD | 2.19/3.66 | 10.22/5.84 |
| Blake Snell TB | @BOS, HOU | 3.18/5.14 | 4.76/6.35 |
| Ivan Nova PIT | @STL, NYY | 2.25/2.35 | 3.75/0.00 |
| Amir Garrett CIN | BAL, CHC | 1.42/3.25 | 6.39/1.42 |
| Brandon McCarthy LAD | ARI, @ARI | 1.50/3.06 | 6.00/3.00 |
| Shelby Miller ARI | @SD, LAD | 5.06/3.31 | 10.13/4.22 |
THE KNOCKOFFS
| Player | Opponents | ERA/FIP | K9/BB9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zack Wheeler NYM | PHI, WAS | 7.45/3.24 | 7.45/1.86 |
| Lance Lynn STL | PIT, @MIL | 5.23/6.61 | 6.97/4.35 |
| Matt Andriese TB | DET, HOU | 4.50/4.93 | 8.10/3.60 |
| Jimmy Nelson MIL | @CHC, STL | 1.38/2.63 | 9.00/1.38 |
| Chase Anderson MIL | @CHC, STL | 0.69/3.17 | 7.62/2.77 |
| Derek Holland CHW | @NYY, CLE | 1.50/2.93 | 6.75/3.75 |
| Phil Hughes MIN | CLE, DET | 3.86/4.56 | 6.17/2.31 |
| Jesse Hahn OAK | TEX, SEA | 3.75/2.02 | 7.50/2.25 |
| Mike Fiers HOU | LAA, @TB | 5.40/6.43 | 7.20/3.60 |
| Mike Foltynewicz ATL | WAS, @PHI | 6.35/5.56 | 7.94/4.76 |
THE 
| Player | Opponents | ERA/FIP | K9/BB9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jesse Chavez LAA | @HOU, TOR | 5.40/4.63 | 8.10/2.70 |
| Ricky Nolasco LAA | @HOU, TOR | 5.40/5.69 | 7.56/1.62 |
| Eduardo Rodriguez BOS | @TOR, @BAL | 5.23/6.22 | 11.32/6.10 |
| Tom Koehler MIA | @SEA, @SD | 3.27/6.93 | 4.09/4.09 |
| Joe Musgrove HOU | LAA, @TB | 4.35/4.87 | 3.48/3.48 |
| Jason Hammel KC | SF, @TEX | 6.52/3.56 | 5.59/5.59 |
| Josh Tomlin CLE | @MIN, @CHW | 18.47/6.57 | 8.53/2.84 |
| Jaime Garcia ATL | SD, @PHI | 5.73/6.84 | 3.27/3.27 |
| Jordan Montgomery NYY | CHW, @PIT | 3.86/4.65 | 13.50/3.86 |
| Zach Lee SD | ARI, MIA | 0.00/4.06 | 5.06/6.76 |
| Clay Buchholz PHI | @NYM, ATL | 12.27/4.57 | 6.14/3.68 |
| Ariel Miranda SEA | MIA, @OAK | 5.06/6.59 | 7.59/4.22 |
| A.J. Griffin TEX | @OAK, KC | 6.75/6.68 | 7.71/2.89 |
| Kyle Gibson MIN | CLE, DET | 8.00/7.05 | 7.00/3.00 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez BAL | @CIN, BOS | 10.38/7.79 | 6.32/3.12 |
| Yovani Gallardo SEA | MIA, @OAK | 6.30/4.83 | 5.40/5.40 |
| Steven Wright BOS | TB, @BAL | 13.50/11.68 | 5.63/3.38 |
All pitchers are projected for two-starts as of Friday night.
Good luck in Week 3! Kkeep checking back for your weekly lineup needs. Oh, and don’t be afraid to ask your questions. On life. On pitchers. On ranks. On…well, just…
DROP THOSE COMMENTS!
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