Boxscore Bits: July 25th, 2022

I’m curious if there are specific things you’d like to see me do beyond the pitcher review. I still haven’t figured out a good Monday one. Maybe the pitcher review is enough, but I’m open to ideas if y’all would like more stuff besides the weekend streamers and FAAB picks which are the two that have really stuck around the most consistently on Thursday & Friday, respectively.

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

FOR STARTERS

Business As Usual: Nothing actionable

• Sandy Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani (1 bad IP), Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Zack Wheeler, Zac Gallen, Alek Manoah, Dylan Cease, Brandon Woodruff, Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes, Kevin Gausman, Clayton Kershaw (it was a dud, but I’m 0% concerned), Charlie Morton (he’s back – 3.05 ERA/0.99 WHIP in L9 starts), Logan Gilbert, Logan Webb, Nestor Cortes, Joe Ryan, Kyle Wright, Chris Bassitt, Tyler Anderson, Framber Valdez, Tyler Mahle, Triston McKenzie, Drew Rasmussen, Marcus Stroman, José Urquidy, Johnny Cueto

Notable Gems: The standouts who merit some extra attention

• Madison Bumgarner – Did you realize MadBum has a 3.71 ERA on the season? I definitely didn’t until look at his profile this morning. That 1.17 ERA in five April starts is still aiding his bottom line, but his 4.43 ERA in 15 starts since then isn’t too bad for deeper formats, though the 1.39 WHIP is pretty high. Be careful with that ERA if you can’t take on the WHIP. Even tightening the scope a bit to his last eight starts during which he has a 3.80 ERA still comes with a 1.42 WHIP! Bumgarner is still just a streamer in 12s and deeper for me and I’d pass this week at ATL.
• Cole Irvin – Is Irvin getting enough love? He has quietly put himself into legit streamer status. If you’ve got your Ks handled throughout the rest of your rotation, Irvin’s strong ratios (3.08 ERA/1.07 WHIP) have been a big boost for teams! At the very least, he can be used exclusively at home. He has a 3.02 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 143 IP at the Oakland Coliseum.
• José Quintana – While Q hasn’t been as good as Irvin on the whole, he also has a sharp home/road split and will almost certainly be dealt out of Pittsburgh by the deadline so don’t go making long terms with him on your roster. While he only has 5 QS in 19 starts, he has 6 others with 3 or fewer ER that fall just short on the innings (5-5.3 IP). I’m using him at home against PHI this week and then just playing it by ear if he is traded.
• Sonny Gray – Few remedies more bankable for SPs than a start v. DET or OAK! Three uninspiring starts heading into the break had some nervous about Gray coming into the second half. That’s where the Tigers come in… just a quick trip to Motown got him back on track with just 2 hits and 1 walk allowed en route to a gem.
• Braxton Garrett – Oh yeah, include PIT in those pitcher remedies! Garrett didn’t need fixing or anything, but back-to-back gems against the Pirates put him firmly on the shallow league radar. He is still rostered in just 23% of Yahoo! leagues and 12% of ESPN leagues, though the rush to roster him might be slowed by a pending trip to CIN this week. While that is a difficult venue, I’m starting him across the board this week. Even if you opt to pass on this week’s start, roster him now and reserve him so you can get the two-step v. CIN and at CHC next week.
• Brady Singer – Singer rebounded from a 7 ER dud v. HOU back on June 3rd with a solid 3.61 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in his subsequent 8 starts thanks in part to a favorable schedule with 2 starts v. both OAK and DET, the 29th and 30th teams in wRC+ v. righties. He is a Team Streamer who should be ticketed for the bench this week with a date in the Bronx coming up on Thursday.
• Martín Pérez – Perez has allowed 6 ER twice in his last eight starts, each time rebounding with a pair of gems including 7 strong at OAK this weekend. He has to get traded, right? His bullpen and lineup support will no doubt improve, but his home park could get worse. That said, he’s been great on the road: 2.37 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 45 Ks in 60.7 IP.
• Reid Detmers – OK wait, this is the Detmers I drafted! Can I have him back from the teams that picked him up after I waived him??? I don’t regret the cut. He had a 4.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 19% K, and 10% K-BB in 58 IP and ticketed for the minors. He made just one start in Triple-A during which he fanned 14 in 6 IP! The strikeouts have returned to the majors with him, posting a 29% K rate in 17 IP in part by doubling his slider usage to 33%. Even in draft season I acknowledged he could be a summer breakout, but I wanted to draft him just in case he was ready from the jump. He certainly wasn’t bad prior to the demotion, either, especially with that WHIP, but the lack of swing-and-miss was concerning and had me wondering if he could maintain such a low BABIP. I’m back in to ride this while he is cooking because the upside is remaining rosterable in all formats the rest of the year.
• Lance Lynn – Is there a corner being turned here? He had a meltdown inning at MIN the start before this but was great in the other four and now six scoreless against CLE. He also has a 12% SwStr in three of his last four and the BB rate has been a sharp 5% all year. I was ready to make an irrational cut of Lynn after his July 11th outing and even would’ve been open to it after the start at MIN had there been anyone worth picking up. My co-manager and I both like Lynn so we didn’t just want any arm so absent a legitimate arm available, we held. He gets OAK and KC in his next two so he’s not leaving the lineup for the foreseeable future.
• Blake Snell – Outside of a Coors dud which you absolutely should’ve sat out in leagues where you can have a reserve roster (some leagues require an outright cut to replace someone), Snell has great in his other three July starts and against stiff competition. He fanned 12 Dodgers in LA, 11 Giants at home, and then 5 Mets in 5 shutout innings on Saturday. Even with the 5 ER in 3.7 IP at COL, he still has a 3.20 ERA in July. It comes with a 1.47 WHIP because of the Coors outing, but just a 1.19 in the other three. Snell is someone I’m starting everywhere but Coors.

Injury-Shortened

• Max Meyer – A right elbow sprain ended his day after just 10 pitches. It’s a re-injury of the elbow that sidelined him for a bit in the minors. I’ll park him on the IL where I can, but otherwise it’s an easy cut in non-keeper formats.
• Steven Matz – It was a great return to the mound for Matz after two months off, but he was felled by a knee injury that will sideline him for a while, ranging as high as the rest of the season. He is a cut everywhere unless you can park him on an IL spot just in case he gets back in September.

Duds: The worst of the day from fantasy relevant arms

• Ian Anderson – Did you fall for that 2.30 ERA over his last three starts before this one? The 1.47 WHIP kept me buying back in. Yes, “back in” because I cut him in my Main Event league after his last 7 ER dud back on June 30th. I’m honestly not sure he should stay in the rotation for the contending Braves at this point and he is a cut in all non-keeper formats (I’m not out for the future so I’d be open to buying low in dynasty/keepers).
• Nathan Eovaldi – Since 2020, only Kyle Hendricks (6) and Germán Márquez (5) have more 7+ ER duds than Eovaldi’s 4. Three unearned runs saved him from his first 9-spot back in May (9 R/6 ER in 1.7 IP v. HOU), but he laid the groundwork for TOR’s 28-run explosion with 9 ER in just 2.7 IP. Eovaldi’s velo was down 2 mph for the second straight start since returning from a back injury. I’m not cutting him yet, but I’m open to benching him.
• Paul Blackburn – Annnnndddd just like that, Blackburn’s ERA is 4.35! Only July 7th, it was 2.90, but then 21 ER over his next three starts have undone a lot of his good work. The worst part is that two of the duds have come against Texas! He’s a mid-to-high 4.00s ERA guy the rest of the way which relegates him to mostly 15-team leagues and deeper.
• Lucas Giolito – It looked like Giolito was coming out of his funk with all of one bad inning in four starts prior to the break, but he had nothing against CLE on Friday. And now he gets a trip to COL this week! I’m not cutting him, but I’m benching him across the board and jumping back in next week for a two-step v. KC and at TEX.
• Kyle Gibson – Gibson started the season looking strong with a 3.83 ERA/1.20 WHIP in 10 starts and many fantasy managers realistically missed his lone dud of the bunch at LAD. Since then, things have gone south. Five of his last nine starts are quality starts, but the other four bad enough to erase the good. He allowed at least 5 ER in each of them and failed to reach even 5 IP in any of them. He is firmly back in streamer status, and I’d pass this week v. ATL.
• Brayan Bello (pronounced Bay-OH) – At the risk of overrating three starts, it just doesn’t seem like Bello is quite ready yet. He has the raw stuff, but little else to make it work. Don’t forget him, but there’s no reason to hang onto him in redraft formats.
• Patrick Sandoval – Sandoval has raised his ERA by a run over his last four starts and it’s not that He had a 1.37 WHIP in his first 12 starts and there was just no way he could sustain such a lower ERA with that many base runners. The floodgates opened on him over these last four starts with a 7.11 ERA and 2.00 WHIP in 19 IP. The walks aren’t particularly new, but their impact is exacerbated by a .347 BABIP that has him allowing hits at 9.4 per nine clip! I’m still holding him in most formats just because the lack of talent on many waiver wires, but he is far from a must start anywhere.
• Jameson Taillon – The Yankees got Taillon out before he could finish 3 IP as the O’s had run his pitch count up to 67 in 2.7 IP with 7 base runners and 2 runs. It was clear he didn’t have it, so they didn’t push him. A start v. KC gives him a great shot to rebound this week, though he has fallen back into Team Streamer status with his ERA surging from 2.70 to 3.93 over his last 6 starts.
• Adam Wainwright/Miles Mikolas – The Reds got to both veteran righties, but I’m not worried. Each suffered a 4-run inning which ensured a less-than-stellar outing. Both will remain in the lineup across all formats.