Boxscore Bits: July 22nd, 2022

We’re back!

Took a little time and then the All-Star break, but it’s good to get back to the grind. There is still so much time left in the season. About 3 weeks ago, I was lamenting to Justin about a dip in our Main Event standings. I had fallen to 14th after sitting in the 4th-7th range for a bit and thought I was making a move. He – sitting in 1st at the time – gave me the pep talk about how much the standings move day-to-day and that I could be back up just as quickly as I fell with a couple good days. I entered the break in 8th, 2 points ahead of Justin in 9th.

I don’t bring this up to roast Justin in any way, but to underscore just how much many league’s standings are still shifting day-to-day. Every league is different and sometimes there just aren’t enough gettable points in the roto standings. But oftentimes, we let go of 8th-12th place teams that are still very much in contention with some quality play and diligent management. I like to go through the standings and count the realistic points I could acquire if my team plays well.

That exercise also helps me assess categories I might consider attacking via FAAB (or trades if your league allows – the Main Event does not). There are definitely some teams that are buried at this juncture often due to a rash of star player injuries, but don’t count yourself out just because you might be in the bottom half of the standings right now. With 70-some games to go, there is still so much to be decided!

A few thoughts on the pitchers from Thursday’s games:

FOR STARTERS

Notable Gems: The standouts who merit some extra attention

• Tarik Skubal – Oakland is a perfect Rx for any ailing pitcher! He wasn’t too bad in his 2 starts before the break outside of one bad inning at KC. With Thursday’s start, he has a 3.00 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 21 Ks in 18 IP, going exactly six in all three! Skubal draws a challenging 2-step next week with SD and at TOR and I’ll be using him in all formats.
• Jon Gray – I’d have probably put this in Biz as Usual if it wasn’t a short slate coming out of the All-Star break because he’s been rolling over his last 10: 2.34 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 24% K-BB rate in 61.7 IP. He has arrived as the stud we hoped he would be once getting out of Coors! If his health cooperates, he is an all-formats must start going forward. He heads to SEA next week.
• Luis Garcia – The bevy of Luis Garcias in the league makes it hard for me to find when I last wrote about the Astros pitcher. Our player linker link the Garcias to this page so then the articles where I mention the Astros pitcher aren’t on his profile page. I was able to manually find my last mention of him on June 23rd and I highlighted his third time through issue. He had a .978 OPS in 58 PA through his first 13 starts before bringing it down to a capable .765 OPS in 18 third time through PA over his last 4 starts. His follow up to last year’s breakout has been excellent and he’s an easy start in all formats.
• Jordan Montgomery – JorMont has had a really nice season, posting a 3.24 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 108.3 IP. Despite going at least 5 IP in 17 of 19 starts on the best team in baseball, he has just a 3-2 record! That’s wild. The 3 Ws and modest 20% K rate have held him back a bit, slotting him 52nd among starters on the Razzball Player Rater, but that’s still playable across all formats. Even last year he has just 13 decisions (6-7) in 22 starts of 5+ IP. Maybe just some natural variance will boost his win total the rest of the way assuming the Yankees remain a force atop the league.
• Frankie Montas – It was only 3 IP, but he still gets gem status because the shortened outing was by design in his return from a shoulder issue that him sidelined since he left his July 3rd start early. His velo was back up and he notched 5 Ks with a 15% SwStr rate in the abbreviated outing. I imagine many put him back in the lineup facing DET but if for some reason you sat this one out, you can comfortably get him back in next week.
• Zach Logue – Logue did pretty well here (6 IP/2 ER… 3 R total), but he was the 27th man for the doubleheader so I’m not sure if he’s staying up or not. If he does, he’s still just a deeeep league play at best as his 17% K rate and 1.8 HR/9 are a dastardly combination!

Decent Enough: Mostly biz as usual but with some commentary

• Mitch White – Only giving this a Decent tag because of the 1 K in 5 IP. I like White and really want him to be successful, but I don’t know how much longer he will be in the rotation with Andrew Heaney working his way back and the Dodgers almost certain to acquire an SP at the deadline.
• Cristian Javier – Javier survived despite 4 BB and just 3 Ks in 5 IP. It’s a far cry from the 7 no-hit IP with 13 Ks in the Bronx last month! I am a bit concerned about the 10 BB in his last 3 starts, but not enough to pull him from the lineup, especially with a trip to OAK next week.

Duds: The worst of the day from fantasy relevant arms

• Carlos Rodón – The 7 Ks softened the blow a bit, but a 3-run third inning sank the outing. At least the offense took him off the hook for the loss if you’re in a points league where that gets counted as a negative.
• Pablo López – Lopez has sprinkled three duds over his last seven, but it feels like standard regression more than cause for concern. His skills have waned a bit, too, with a 2-point drop in SwStr rate to 12%, 3-point drop in K rate to 22%, and 4-point drop in BB rate to 11%. His velo is fine and we haven’t heard anything about injury so I’m not worried.
• Domingo Germán – Well, that’ll mitigate FAAB prices this weekend! Tough landing with a trip to HOU for your season debut. He did have a 0.44 ERA and 0.49 WHIP in five rehab starts, but a .161 BABIP did a lot of the work as he had just 11 Ks in the 20.3 IP.