#2xSP: 8.15-8.21

We’re off to a good start so far in the half-week that’s been Week 16, with quality starts all across the board from Tyler Anderson, Collin McHugh and Kevin Gausman — though weirdly, they’re a combined 0-2. But anyway, maybe we can get you to go ahead and forget about the Week 15 recommendations then, right? Woof, that didn’t end well, as Dylan Bundy accounted for both of our quality starts in a week where Jimmy Nelson and Kyle Gibson got completely obliterated.

But onward and upward, right?

Here are the numbers we’re working with so far this season:

34-32 record
4.00 ERA
8.0 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.31 WHIP
51 quality starts

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

RHP Ervin Santana – 38% ESPN – @ATL (79), @KCR (88)

Santana’s working on a string of nine straight starts where he’s allowed three or fewer earned runs, with seven of those starts being quality starts as he’s lowered his ERA from 5.10 to 3.62 in that time frame. Over that entire time frame, he’s pitched to the following numbers: 2.05 ERA, .543 OPS against and 44-10 K/BB ratio in 61.1 innings. Those maybe aren’t ace numbers — especially when factoring in whiff rate and a .246 BABIP — but it’s easy to see why the Twins see him as part of the solution rather than the “problem” moving forward. Sure, they’re betting on his right shoulder holding up after all those sliders in his ages 34-35 seasons, but at $27 million it’s not the craziest bet they’ve ever made. This week, he gets a couple of #OldFriend clubs, as he squares off against a pair of mediocre offenses in the Braves (whom he was with in 2014) and the Royals (2013). By team wRC+, both are in the bottom-five across MLB.

RHP Ryan Vogelsong – 6.4% ESPN – @SF (101), v. MIA (96)

Speaking of old friends, Vogelsong will get a look at some of his with a trip to San Fran to face the Giants to start the week. Strangely enough, the only two teams Vogelsong has ever known in his 12-year MLB career are the Giants (seven years) and Pirates (parts of six), though he’s had two tours of duty with each. It’s been a very strange year for Vogelsong, who has made just 14 appearances (four starts) spanning 33.2 innings as he’s worked back from a catastrophic facial/eye injury due to taking a Jordan Lyles pitch to the face in late May. But it’s just another tale in the perseverance required for Vogelsong’s career overall, as the 39-year-old righty has spun quite a tale over the last 15 years or so. Anyway, his two starts since coming off the DL have gone well — 12 innings, six hits, one earned run with an 11-2 K/BB ratio — but it is worth noting that they came at the expense of the Braves and Padres. He’ll have to ratchet his performance up for a bit of a tougher week this time around.

LHP Robbie Ray – 14.7% ESPN – v. NYM (94), @SDP (92)

I was in on Ray over the offseason, as I wrote at another outlet that I liked his strikeout potential and that he had flashed an ability to generate grounders as well. That pairing is useful anywhere, but especially in Arizona where the ball can sometimes jump off the bat. So far this year, he’s proven me right — kind of. He’s got a fantastic 11.0 K/9 so far this year and is inducing grounders a bit over the league average (45.8 percent), which has resulted in a 3.66 FIP — but an ugly 4.57 ERA. He’s gone ham on the strikeouts bit; he’s struck out more than a batter per inning in every month this season, but was bananas in July with a 43-10 K/BB ratio (and 4.71 ERA). So far in August it’s been more of the same, with a five-run outburst against the Nationals — but still, nine strikeouts — before a scoreless seven-inning start last time out. One thing worth monitoring: this is the second of a back-to-back against the Mets, though that may not matter much with the lineups Terry Collins has been writing. So far this season in my writing/research, it seems that — strangely enough — pitchers have done better in the back half of those matchups. Either way, we’ll take a chance on racking up strikeouts this week with a couple of subpar offenses on the docket.