This article is part of our Pitching 3D series.
The next two weeks, we will take a journey through the league, tackling each team division by division, following the sun from east to west. The next two weeks will sandwich the halfway mark on every team's schedule, and the idea behind these grades is to both recognize player performance from the first half of the campaign and to understand the context as we look ahead to the second half of 2016.
Pitchers are particularly volatile, and with merely five or so starts each month their relative contexts can display a wide range of variance in the first week of the season. Context matters, and nowhere is this more apparent than the AL East. Pitching rotations are thin but lineups are extremely robust, and the first couple months this season was mostly spent with these teams beating each other up. The top two aces of the division have even been ripped, with both Chris Archer and AL East stalwart David Price going through rough roads in the first half, while upside plays from draft day like Marcus Stroman and Michael Pineda have been disasters this season yet are on opposite trajectories. Consider this environment when analyzing today's set of pitchers, because their stats might show marked improvement the next couple months simply due to playing lighter opponents.
Before we get started, I have one final note on the grades: they are on a curve. However, it's a personal curve rather than a population curve, weighted based on draft-day cost and
The next two weeks, we will take a journey through the league, tackling each team division by division, following the sun from east to west. The next two weeks will sandwich the halfway mark on every team's schedule, and the idea behind these grades is to both recognize player performance from the first half of the campaign and to understand the context as we look ahead to the second half of 2016.
The clear ace of a dreadful rotation on a first-place club, Tillman has actually shown some legit improvement this season. His average fastball velocity is the highest of his career and nearly a full tick higher than it was last season. His 22.9-percent K rate is also a career high, and though Tillman has never had a double-digit strikeout game in his career, the right-hander has been knocking on the door in 2016 with a total of nine whiffs three times in his previous 10 games.
I can think of 13 million reasons why Ubaldo continues to get written into the lineup card every fifth day, but not one of those reasons makes sense for the bottom line, let alone for a playoff team. He epitomizes the pitching problems in Baltimore, in which top-five draft picks become ho-hum relief pitchers, mediocre starters become studs under someone else's watch, and no starter on the team has an ERA under 3.50. Ubaldo should not be in Baltimore's plans.
It was no secret that Baltimore had an extremely weak rotation from the outset, but Gausman was supposed to be the one bright spot with the upside to climb the value tree. He got a late start to the year but he has been through a gauntlet of burly opponents in his 13 starts this season. The Orioles have scored the second-most runs per game in the AL this season, but teams 1 and 3 -- Boston and Texas, respectively -- have knocked Gausman around in three of his last five starts, a stretch that has seen his ERA grown by more than a full run, from 3.24 on May 26 to 4.37. Considering the context, his first-half performance should earn a C+, but the lone W on his resume kills Gausman's utility in many fantasy formats.
Here we have Ubaldo version 2.0, with an even more extreme over-the-top delivery (his mechanical posture earns a 20 grade on the 20-80 scale) with similar erraticism. Gallardo is a flyball pitcher with a penchant for homers who makes his home starts in homer-enhancing Camden Yards -- that ballpark is going to be a launching pad this summer, given the strong lineup and swiss cheese rotation of the O's. The Gallardo version of the Ubaldo software has been more buggy than its predecessor, as the Beta version in an Orioles uniform had troubles at startup and went on the shelf for several weeks. Now back in action, Gallardo is spitting out the same poor results, with too many baserunners and not enough strikeouts to be worth your time. Don't be swayed by the name brand.
Price has been more valuable in DFS this year than season-long thanks to his track record of spiking big-K starts. However, his semester grade suffers from the poor starts on his resume, which includes four starts of five or more earned runs allowed. He has since kicked that habit, keeping the tallies at three or fewer in his last eight starts since making a mechanical tweak to get into better rhythm, as since that time he has a 2.47 ERA and 56:12 K:BB ratio in 58.1 frames, encouraging his future performance, but his below-average grade reflects disappointing output in two of the four fantasy-relevant categories. He has still been excellent in two of four fantasy categories this season, and his WHIP is within reason, but for a pitcher of his magnitude and four-category upside, his 2.5-category performance is a disappointment.
Even after accounting for his season-worst turn in his last outing, Wright has been a revelation for a Boston staff that has worn its share of shiners this season. His 2.18 ERA still leads the AL, but be wary, as Wright exemplifies the limitation of the earned run distinction, with 14 of his 39 runs allowed this season deemed as "unearned" -- his RA this season is a much less impressive 3.71 mark. Unless the knuckleball proves to be infecting the fielders with poor defense, I would expect those numbers to creep much more closely together. He still earns a B+ for the value he provided in the first half and the bargain-basement cost to acquire his services.
Porcello tricked a large portion of the fantasy community into thinking his long-awaited breakout had finally arrived, but his recent struggles have cast a shadow of doubt on those prospects and it's likely he's the same mediocre pitcher that we thought he was when the season started. The numbers for the first half were a great return on investment, hence the B- grade on his midseason report card, but don't let the overall stats blind us from a tide that might have already turned.
Buchholz was an iffy proposition out of the gate and has been yanked in and out of the rotation (he five relief appearances), but the perceived upside of his youth and his occasional stretches of effectiveness in the not-too-distant past have caused managers to look into his services in deep leagues or in dire need of innings; he has punished those who have enlisted his services.
Injuries have kept Rodriguez out of the rotation until recently, but his performance has been poor enough to avoid even when he takes the hill. Rodriguez is perceived to have upside, but the skeptics will be justified until we see it translated to strong performance at the highest level.
Tanaka's grade receives a boost just due to his still being on the mound, as his known UCL tear dented his draft-day value under the risk associated with potential season-ending surgery at some point in the campaign. The elbow has held up reasonably well, and the ratios point to Tanaka's ability to be effective even with a compromised limb, but his K-count has receded and Tanaka's run prevention is his most intriguing value proposition.
The K:BB ratios remain incredible, and the common relationship between those frequencies and the ratio categories like ERA and WHIP have kept fantasy managers jumping all over Pineda to acquire his services under the promise of sunnier days ahead. Instead, the pinata has continued to give up the goods as he gets beaten by wooden sticks. At some point, K:BB ratio stops being an indicator of dominance, and Pineda past that point long ago: 98 hits allowed (14 homers) in his 83.1 innings. The fantasy community keeps looking for reasons to justify optimism, but this is a pitcher who has given up multiple runs in 13 of his 14 starts this season and has had disasters of six or more runs allowed against non-threatening offenses like those of the Rays (twice) and Royals. His strikeouts buffer his fantasy value somewhat, but in roto Pineda has essentially been a one-category pitcher.
The 7.8 K/9 is the highest of his career and is off-set by a light walk rate of a mere 2.2 BB/9, but the optimism inspired by those true outcomes is mitigated by the one true outcome that is trending in the wrong direction: homers. Eovaldi had a home run rate of just 0.6 HR/9 in his career prior to this season, a frequency that he has matched perfectly in each of the past three campaigns, but his homer frequency has shot through the roof this season with 13 bombs allowed in 80.2 innings (1.8 HR/9, triple his previous career average). He may have found another way to be disappointing, but the disappointment was expected just the same.
Sabathia has resurfaced in 2016 to prove that he still has a few bullets left, but his stat-line is unsupported by peripherals and recent performance indicates that the dam might be about to break under the weight of his own ability to keep the ball in the yard this season.
Not much was expected of Nova coming into the year, and "not much" also describes what the Yankees have gotten out of the right-hander this season in nine starts and six games out of the bullpen.
Last year's rookie revelation crashed and burned over the first month and a half of the season, and now he finds himself in the minors trying to figure out what went wrong. The Yankees need him to bounce back, but fantasy managers should have moved on long ago.
Archer has been similar to Price this season, as a pitcher who entered 2016 with sky-high expectations yet has been all over the place in the first half, spiking huge K counts interspersed with terrible starts. Where they differ? Price has addressed his issues mechanically and is at least working in the right direction, but Archer has been a start-to-start nightmare all season. His 10.6 K/9 actually leads the American League, so the weight that he brings to that category should not be understated, but strikeouts are the only category in which Archer has had a positive impact on a fantasy team's bottom line this season.
Odorizzi's value might be worse in leagues that count quality starts instead of wins as a roto category, because Odorizzi has only finished the sixth inning in seven of his 15 starts this season and has not recorded an out beyond the seventh, this despite having decently high pitch counts, including a pair of starts in which he threw 116 and 120 pitches. He struck out 10 batters in his first start, then went 11 straights turns without topping seven Ks, but now has a three-game streak of at least eight strikeouts (and 6.0 or fewer innings).
The fact that Moore has made it this far into the season in good health is a big positive, but after teasing the fantasy community with an excellent 10-K start against the White Sox in the opening weeks, Moore has crashed back to earth. He had another gem three starts ago versus the Astros, with just three baserunners but 10 strikeouts over seven frames, but the southpaw has given up a half dozen or more hits in each of his other eight starts the last two months. The expectations weren't extremely high for Moore entering the season, but they were a bit higher than this.
Smyly's perceived value has jumped all over the place, due to his penchant for high-K outings and crooked numbers. The drunken flamingo has contributed nicely to the strikeout category overall and his WHIP hasn't hurt too badly, but the ERA and W categories are have held his teams back in the fantasy standings. Smyly was a popular sleeper coming into the year, but sleeping on the job has consequences.
Snell received a spot start in April and is now in the rotation to stay, so he deserves mention due to his ability to make dents in the second half. He could be a K-monster if the minor-league strikeout rate translates to the majors, but beware of a walk-fueled WHIP.
Stroman is a really fun pitcher to watch, but I was wary of his fantasy value due to weak K rates in the majors and his preferred approach of inducing weak contact early in counts thanks to his darting sinker. I just thought that the fantasy hype was a bit high on Stroman this year, as I saw him as a three-category pitcher if all goes well. All has not gone well, and suddenly Stroman has gone from awe-inspiring fireballer to head-slapping hurler in rapid fashion. The culprit has come on balls in play, and his hit counts have been ridiculous; Stroman gave up six or fewer hits in each of his first six turns, but in the 10 games since, he has allowed seven or more hits eight times, with four games of six or more earned runs allowed. He's helping a bit in the wins category, but that's it.
Going into spring training, the question was still open as to whether Sanchez would be used out of the bullpen or in Toronto's rotation, as the pitcher has gone back and forth between the roles at various levels the last two seasons. He won the job out of camp, with the caveat that Sanchez would likely be moved back to the bullpen later in the year to manage his workload. Now the Jays have an interesting dilemma on their hands, because Sanchez has been their most potent starter over the first half of the season, but he will also surpass last season's count of total innings (majors plus minors) of 102.0 innings -- his single-season high as a pro -- in his next turn. This is a case where the grade far exceeds his projected future value, because the Jays likely will shift him to the pen or shut him down completely, a move that could be coming soon. If you own stock of Sanchez, sell.
If Sanchez gets transitioned to the pen and with Stroman scuffling, Estrada will be needed to step into the role as top dog in the Toronto rotation. He has been excellent this season, and though an MLB-low hit rate of 5.2 H/9 is supporting his stat line, Estrada also maintained an exceptionally low hit rate in 181 innings for the Blue Jays last season. For astute managers who bought into last season's ratios, they have been rewarded with a bump in strikeouts, though one that has been accompanied by extra walks. Regression is lurking.
R.A. Dickey is the reason why Steven Wright is fighting such an uphill battle for our affection. Dickey is the most noteworthy knuckleballer since Tim Wakefield, but his erratic patterns of performance personify the difficulties in rostering pitchers who specialize in the butterfly. Dickey is on a nice little run in which he hovers around the borders of each quality start, but he was unrosterable for much of the season and few likely enjoyed the good starts, given that they have come against the Rangers, Tigers and Red Sox (twice).
Happ has been useful in the first half thanks to a gaudy win total and decent ratios, but he has little margin for error and it likely to suffer the consequences in the near future.
Pitchers are particularly volatile, and with merely five or so starts each month their relative contexts can display a wide range of variance in the first week of the season. Context matters, and nowhere is this more apparent than the AL East. Pitching rotations are thin but lineups are extremely robust, and the first couple months this season was mostly spent with these teams beating each other up. The top two aces of the division have even been ripped, with both Chris Archer and AL East stalwart David Price going through rough roads in the first half, while upside plays from draft day like Marcus Stroman and Michael Pineda have been disasters this season yet are on opposite trajectories. Consider this environment when analyzing today's set of pitchers, because their stats might show marked improvement the next couple months simply due to playing lighter opponents.
Before we get started, I have one final note on the grades: they are on a curve. However, it's a personal curve rather than a population curve, weighted based on draft-day cost and first-half performance. The acquisition value of these players becomes less relevant the further we move from draft day, but a pitcher's performance from the first half is graded with this in mind, such that a mediocre pitcher won't be "penalized" with a low grade due to predictably mundane performance. But a first half like that of David Price -- which would be considered above average for a typical pitcher but worse than his personal standard -- will earn a grade that reflects this disappointment. We will also highlight the most fantasy relevant pitchers on staff, which in some cases means the whole rotation, whereas other ballclubs only have a handful of intriguing arms.
(Stats through June 26)
Baltimore Orioles
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 16 | 94.2 | 10 | 3.52 | 1.22 | 88 |
The clear ace of a dreadful rotation on a first-place club, Tillman has actually shown some legit improvement this season. His average fastball velocity is the highest of his career and nearly a full tick higher than it was last season. His 22.9-percent K rate is also a career high, and though Tillman has never had a double-digit strikeout game in his career, the right-hander has been knocking on the door in 2016 with a total of nine whiffs three times in his previous 10 games.
Grade: B
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 14 | 71 | 4 | 6.97 | 1.94 | 64 |
I can think of 13 million reasons why Ubaldo continues to get written into the lineup card every fifth day, but not one of those reasons makes sense for the bottom line, let alone for a playoff team. He epitomizes the pitching problems in Baltimore, in which top-five draft picks become ho-hum relief pitchers, mediocre starters become studs under someone else's watch, and no starter on the team has an ERA under 3.50. Ubaldo should not be in Baltimore's plans.
Grade: F
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 13 | 75.2 | 1 | 3.93 | 1.27 | 69 |
It was no secret that Baltimore had an extremely weak rotation from the outset, but Gausman was supposed to be the one bright spot with the upside to climb the value tree. He got a late start to the year but he has been through a gauntlet of burly opponents in his 13 starts this season. The Orioles have scored the second-most runs per game in the AL this season, but teams 1 and 3 -- Boston and Texas, respectively -- have knocked Gausman around in three of his last five starts, a stretch that has seen his ERA grown by more than a full run, from 3.24 on May 26 to 4.37. Considering the context, his first-half performance should earn a C+, but the lone W on his resume kills Gausman's utility in many fantasy formats.
Grade: C
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 6 | 28.1 | 2 | 6.04 | 1.69 | 17 |
Here we have Ubaldo version 2.0, with an even more extreme over-the-top delivery (his mechanical posture earns a 20 grade on the 20-80 scale) with similar erraticism. Gallardo is a flyball pitcher with a penchant for homers who makes his home starts in homer-enhancing Camden Yards -- that ballpark is going to be a launching pad this summer, given the strong lineup and swiss cheese rotation of the O's. The Gallardo version of the Ubaldo software has been more buggy than its predecessor, as the Beta version in an Orioles uniform had troubles at startup and went on the shelf for several weeks. Now back in action, Gallardo is spitting out the same poor results, with too many baserunners and not enough strikeouts to be worth your time. Don't be swayed by the name brand.
Grade: F
Boston Red Sox
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 16 | 102 | 8 | 4.68 | 1.22 | 110 |
Price has been more valuable in DFS this year than season-long thanks to his track record of spiking big-K starts. However, his semester grade suffers from the poor starts on his resume, which includes four starts of five or more earned runs allowed. He has since kicked that habit, keeping the tallies at three or fewer in his last eight starts since making a mechanical tweak to get into better rhythm, as since that time he has a 2.47 ERA and 56:12 K:BB ratio in 58.1 frames, encouraging his future performance, but his below-average grade reflects disappointing output in two of the four fantasy-relevant categories. He has still been excellent in two of four fantasy categories this season, and his WHIP is within reason, but for a pitcher of his magnitude and four-category upside, his 2.5-category performance is a disappointment.
Grade: C-
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 103 | 8 | 2.18 | 1.14 | 84 |
Even after accounting for his season-worst turn in his last outing, Wright has been a revelation for a Boston staff that has worn its share of shiners this season. His 2.18 ERA still leads the AL, but be wary, as Wright exemplifies the limitation of the earned run distinction, with 14 of his 39 runs allowed this season deemed as "unearned" -- his RA this season is a much less impressive 3.71 mark. Unless the knuckleball proves to be infecting the fielders with poor defense, I would expect those numbers to creep much more closely together. He still earns a B+ for the value he provided in the first half and the bargain-basement cost to acquire his services.
Grade: B+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 94 | 8 | 3.93 | 1.13 | 81 |
Porcello tricked a large portion of the fantasy community into thinking his long-awaited breakout had finally arrived, but his recent struggles have cast a shadow of doubt on those prospects and it's likely he's the same mediocre pitcher that we thought he was when the season started. The numbers for the first half were a great return on investment, hence the B- grade on his midseason report card, but don't let the overall stats blind us from a tide that might have already turned.
Grade: B-
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 11 | 76.3 | 3 | 5.9 | 1.44 | 52 |
Buchholz was an iffy proposition out of the gate and has been yanked in and out of the rotation (he five relief appearances), but the perceived upside of his youth and his occasional stretches of effectiveness in the not-too-distant past have caused managers to look into his services in deep leagues or in dire need of innings; he has punished those who have enlisted his services.
Grade: D
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 5 | 26.2 | 1 | 6.41 | 1.46 | 19 |
Injuries have kept Rodriguez out of the rotation until recently, but his performance has been poor enough to avoid even when he takes the hill. Rodriguez is perceived to have upside, but the skeptics will be justified until we see it translated to strong performance at the highest level.
Grade: Incomplete
New York Yankees
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 98.2 | 5 | 3.01 | 1.03 | 75 |
Tanaka's grade receives a boost just due to his still being on the mound, as his known UCL tear dented his draft-day value under the risk associated with potential season-ending surgery at some point in the campaign. The elbow has held up reasonably well, and the ratios point to Tanaka's ability to be effective even with a compromised limb, but his K-count has receded and Tanaka's run prevention is his most intriguing value proposition.
Grade: B
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 83.1 | 3 | 5.51 | 1.42 | 96 |
The K:BB ratios remain incredible, and the common relationship between those frequencies and the ratio categories like ERA and WHIP have kept fantasy managers jumping all over Pineda to acquire his services under the promise of sunnier days ahead. Instead, the pinata has continued to give up the goods as he gets beaten by wooden sticks. At some point, K:BB ratio stops being an indicator of dominance, and Pineda past that point long ago: 98 hits allowed (14 homers) in his 83.1 innings. The fantasy community keeps looking for reasons to justify optimism, but this is a pitcher who has given up multiple runs in 13 of his 14 starts this season and has had disasters of six or more runs allowed against non-threatening offenses like those of the Rays (twice) and Royals. His strikeouts buffer his fantasy value somewhat, but in roto Pineda has essentially been a one-category pitcher.
Grade: D+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 86.2 | 6 | 5.19 | 1.36 | 74 |
The 7.8 K/9 is the highest of his career and is off-set by a light walk rate of a mere 2.2 BB/9, but the optimism inspired by those true outcomes is mitigated by the one true outcome that is trending in the wrong direction: homers. Eovaldi had a home run rate of just 0.6 HR/9 in his career prior to this season, a frequency that he has matched perfectly in each of the past three campaigns, but his homer frequency has shot through the roof this season with 13 bombs allowed in 80.2 innings (1.8 HR/9, triple his previous career average). He may have found another way to be disappointing, but the disappointment was expected just the same.
Grade: C
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 12 | 69.2 | 5 | 2.71 | 1.29 | 59 |
Sabathia has resurfaced in 2016 to prove that he still has a few bullets left, but his stat-line is unsupported by peripherals and recent performance indicates that the dam might be about to break under the weight of his own ability to keep the ball in the yard this season.
Grade: B-
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 9 | 64.1 | 5 | 5.18 | 1.38 | 44 |
Not much was expected of Nova coming into the year, and "not much" also describes what the Yankees have gotten out of the right-hander this season in nine starts and six games out of the bullpen.
Grade: C-
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 7 | 35 | 0 | 7.46 | 1.69 | 27 |
Last year's rookie revelation crashed and burned over the first month and a half of the season, and now he finds himself in the minors trying to figure out what went wrong. The Yankees need him to bounce back, but fantasy managers should have moved on long ago.
Grade: F
Tampa Bay Rays
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 16 | 92 | 4 | 4.7 | 1.44 | 108 |
Archer has been similar to Price this season, as a pitcher who entered 2016 with sky-high expectations yet has been all over the place in the first half, spiking huge K counts interspersed with terrible starts. Where they differ? Price has addressed his issues mechanically and is at least working in the right direction, but Archer has been a start-to-start nightmare all season. His 10.6 K/9 actually leads the American League, so the weight that he brings to that category should not be understated, but strikeouts are the only category in which Archer has had a positive impact on a fantasy team's bottom line this season.
Grade: D+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 16 | 89.1 | 3 | 3.93 | 1.22 | 83 |
Odorizzi's value might be worse in leagues that count quality starts instead of wins as a roto category, because Odorizzi has only finished the sixth inning in seven of his 15 starts this season and has not recorded an out beyond the seventh, this despite having decently high pitch counts, including a pair of starts in which he threw 116 and 120 pitches. He struck out 10 batters in his first start, then went 11 straights turns without topping seven Ks, but now has a three-game streak of at least eight strikeouts (and 6.0 or fewer innings).
Grade: C+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 89.1 | 3 | 5.04 | 1.37 | 84 |
The fact that Moore has made it this far into the season in good health is a big positive, but after teasing the fantasy community with an excellent 10-K start against the White Sox in the opening weeks, Moore has crashed back to earth. He had another gem three starts ago versus the Astros, with just three baserunners but 10 strikeouts over seven frames, but the southpaw has given up a half dozen or more hits in each of his other eight starts the last two months. The expectations weren't extremely high for Moore entering the season, but they were a bit higher than this.
Grade: C-
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 89.2 | 2 | 5.32 | 1.24 | 100 |
Smyly's perceived value has jumped all over the place, due to his penchant for high-K outings and crooked numbers. The drunken flamingo has contributed nicely to the strikeout category overall and his WHIP hasn't hurt too badly, but the ERA and W categories are have held his teams back in the fantasy standings. Smyly was a popular sleeper coming into the year, but sleeping on the job has consequences.
Grade: C-
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 3 | 15 | 0 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 12 |
Snell received a spot start in April and is now in the rotation to stay, so he deserves mention due to his ability to make dents in the second half. He could be a K-monster if the minor-league strikeout rate translates to the majors, but beware of a walk-fueled WHIP.
Grade: Incomplete
Toronto Blue Jays
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 16 | 101.1 | 6 | 5.33 | 1.42 | 71 |
Stroman is a really fun pitcher to watch, but I was wary of his fantasy value due to weak K rates in the majors and his preferred approach of inducing weak contact early in counts thanks to his darting sinker. I just thought that the fantasy hype was a bit high on Stroman this year, as I saw him as a three-category pitcher if all goes well. All has not gone well, and suddenly Stroman has gone from awe-inspiring fireballer to head-slapping hurler in rapid fashion. The culprit has come on balls in play, and his hit counts have been ridiculous; Stroman gave up six or fewer hits in each of his first six turns, but in the 10 games since, he has allowed seven or more hits eight times, with four games of six or more earned runs allowed. He's helping a bit in the wins category, but that's it.
Grade: D+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 97.1 | 7 | 3.33 | 1.26 | 93 |
Going into spring training, the question was still open as to whether Sanchez would be used out of the bullpen or in Toronto's rotation, as the pitcher has gone back and forth between the roles at various levels the last two seasons. He won the job out of camp, with the caveat that Sanchez would likely be moved back to the bullpen later in the year to manage his workload. Now the Jays have an interesting dilemma on their hands, because Sanchez has been their most potent starter over the first half of the season, but he will also surpass last season's count of total innings (majors plus minors) of 102.0 innings -- his single-season high as a pro -- in his next turn. This is a case where the grade far exceeds his projected future value, because the Jays likely will shift him to the pen or shut him down completely, a move that could be coming soon. If you own stock of Sanchez, sell.
Grade: B+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 14 | 93.1 | 5 | 2.7 | 0.98 | 84 |
If Sanchez gets transitioned to the pen and with Stroman scuffling, Estrada will be needed to step into the role as top dog in the Toronto rotation. He has been excellent this season, and though an MLB-low hit rate of 5.2 H/9 is supporting his stat line, Estrada also maintained an exceptionally low hit rate in 181 innings for the Blue Jays last season. For astute managers who bought into last season's ratios, they have been rewarded with a bump in strikeouts, though one that has been accompanied by extra walks. Regression is lurking.
Grade: B+
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 16 | 95.2 | 5 | 4.23 | 1.33 | 66 |
R.A. Dickey is the reason why Steven Wright is fighting such an uphill battle for our affection. Dickey is the most noteworthy knuckleballer since Tim Wakefield, but his erratic patterns of performance personify the difficulties in rostering pitchers who specialize in the butterfly. Dickey is on a nice little run in which he hovers around the borders of each quality start, but he was unrosterable for much of the season and few likely enjoyed the good starts, given that they have come against the Rangers, Tigers and Red Sox (twice).
Grade: C
| GS | IP | W | ERA | WHIP | K |
| 15 | 94.2 | 9 | 3.42 | 1.19 | 66 |
Happ has been useful in the first half thanks to a gaudy win total and decent ratios, but he has little margin for error and it likely to suffer the consequences in the near future.
Grade: B-
