Let's talk SP.
Listen, if anything, Yordano fighting through 7 innings, not letting himself get beat up emotionally and losing complete control of himself, should encourage us. Don't know if you guys remember, but that's what Shields starts were like. Occasional dominance, but mostly just durability and innings, allowing the team to stay in the game. I really think Yordano will be fine. He keeps giving up homeruns, and that's killing him. He needs to quit that.
Also, we should be concerned about the amount of walks Volquez gave up the last 2 starts, but across the board on the season, his stats are really similar to last year's.
ERA WHIP BB/9 K/9 K/BB
2014 3.04 1.23 3.3 6.5 1.97
2015 3.19 1.16 3.6 7.0 1.94
He's going to be good, and right now his numbers are tracking to end up similar to 2013 Ervin Santana. We'll all take that.
Guts? Man I don't know. He located his pitches on Saturday, but its not like he ever overpowers hitters. I think its reasonable to expect an ERA in the mid 4.00s, and hope that we get a few miracle games where guys swing early in counts and he goes deep into games. Right now he averages 6 innings a start, which is the most important stat for him. If he gets close to 7 IP per start, at around a 4.5 ERA, I think his role on the team will be a solid one. I don't think that's unreasonable. We'll win plenty of J-Guts games if he does that. (we're 4-2 in J-Guts games thus far FYI). With Vargas out, and Duffy in a free fall, Guts isn't going anywhere, so let's hope he remembers that Lorenzo Freaking Cain plays CF for him and throws strikes.
Young:
Get a good look at his mug:
Last year he threw 165 innings at 3.65 an he looks like this year's DITR. I have a feeling he's not going back to the pen. Great pickup.
Duffy:
This is bad. Very, very bad.
I think the staff will be good enough to make the playoffs. EVERYONE besides Young will improve their numbers. If we trade for Hamels or Kazmir or anyone, then all of a sudden we have great depth and are poised to be a dangerous playoff team again.
#teamHope
