#2xSP (4.24-30)

Sorry for being so late on this one friends. I had Twins coverage the last two days that pushed into my time. Also, this was one of my least favorite weeks in what’s now I think four years of doing this. A limited slate on Monday and a rather ugly one on Tuesday has left me with some options I don’t particularly love, but I do hope through a mix of matchups and other things we have a good one here.

Here’s how we’re doing so far this season (through half of Week 2):

2-1 record
2.40 ERA
8.7 K/9
2.1 K/BB
1.31 WHIP
5 quality starts

Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses):

LHP Wei-Yin Chen – 4.7% ESPN – @PHI (96), v. PIT (81)

I don’t love Chen — especially since he’s pitching with a partially torn UCL — but he has a couple fairly solid matchups this week. Chen has looked alright so far with a 3.94 ERA (4.04 FIP) and 10-3 K/BB ratio in 16 innings, with two solid starts serving as the wafers with a rough start against the Mets (six earned in three innings) the creme filling if Chen’s season was an Oreo cookie. So far, one thing Chen has been better at is limiting home runs (1.1 per nine after 1.3 and 1.6 the last two years). In Philly may be a good test for that.

RHP Robert Gsellman – 13.5% ESPN – v. ATL (96), @WAS (124)

He certainly hasn’t been good, but I like the Braves matchup and don’t think he can pitch much worse than he started the season. He’s striking out everyone in sight (10.2 K/9), getting grounders and his FIP (3.48) loves him a lot more than his ERA (5.09) does. Give me some positive regression, baby! The fact is, he’s too good not to pitch better than this. He’s got a good fastball, the nasty Warthen slider and strikeouts and grounders. I don’t think he’ll be this low in ownership again this season.

LHP Patrick Corbin – 8.2% ESPN – v. SD (81), v. COL (69)

This one feels almost like being a predator, as it’s two matchups that jump off the page for Corbin, who has been decent but not great so far this season. He’s a bit behind strikeouts wise (6.1 K/9), but he’s not really walking anyone and inducing grounders in excess of 50 percent while posting a 3.27 ERA. That’ll play. San Diego isn’t particularly good and the road Rockies are traditionally very bad. Give the lefty a spin this week.