SP Skills Decliners

Last week, I decided to compare the SIERA marks of starting pitchers over the last 30 days with what they posted in April. The idea here was to identify potential RoS breakout candidates whose ERAs still might be hiding major improvement over the last month. Today I will look at the opposite side of the coin, those starters whose skills have declined over the last month. These pitchers might still have good ERAs and may still command a nice return in trade.

Well, so much for Kyle Drabek, who now may undergo Tommy John surgery. I wonder how long his elbow has bothered him and how much it could be blamed for his control issues.

Only a couple of weeks ago, Mike Minor’s SIERA made him look like the unluckiest pitcher in baseball. While his ERA has dropped recently, it has come along with a rising SIERA, which is not want you want to see. He has managed to allow just two runs over his last two starts, but that came with a weak 8/6 K/BB ratio, so it was really just some good luck for a change offsetting all the bad he had experienced. While his ERA will undoubtedly continue to drop from above 6.00, his chances of delivering any mixed league value this year are getting slimmer and slimmer.

Edwin Jackson really hasn’t pitched all that differently since 2010, yet his ERA has come down significantly each season. Given his checkered history, it is doubtful you could successfully sell high on him given his low 3.00 ERA. His SwStk% and F-Strike% are both at career bests, so he would seem to have some additional strikeout rate upside, while the control improvement appears to be for real. We don’t have monthly splits for those metrics unfortunately, but it does appear both of them were down a bit over the last 30 days compared with April. I would view him exactly the same way you did before the season.

I always become suspicious when a pitcher posts peripherals much better than they did in the minors, and this was the case for Anthony Bass in April. Now they look normal and sustainable after an expected regression over the last month, but the luck Gods overcompensated and now his ERA sits a full run above his season SIERA. As evidenced by his 2-7 record, the measly Padres offense won’t do him any favors in the run support column. But he does have a solid strikeout rate and PETCO Park should help lead to some better luck. He’s best left to NL-Only or very deep mixed leagues and should generate some value in those the rest of the way.

Do I really have to talk about Edinson Volquez again? Is it just me, or does it seem like when he’s on the mound and walking hitters as usual that he’s smiling/laughing and just think it’s all a fun game? It’s as if he knows his control is terrible and it’s just so darn hilarious how he just has no command to speak of. You can get away with walking five batters per nine when you’re also striking out nearly a batter per inning, but when that bad control becomes even worse and suddenly your strikeout rate falls to just above 6.0, suddenly you’re not even a Major League quality pitcher. As expected, PETCO Park has helped so far, as he has posted a 3.17 ERA at home, but a poor 4.46 mark away. I stubbornly continue to hold onto him in a number of leagues, but I’m losing my patience.