Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals - After dominating the Marlins last time out, Stephen Strasburg was roughed up Tuesday by the Fish and lasted just four innings with an ugly line of 6 runs on 8 hits while striking out 5. While Strasburg's traditional stats look rough (6.00 ERA), his advanced stats show he is pitching much better this year than people might think. His FIP is 3.27 and he is striking out 14 batters per nine, but his walks per nine have taken a slight jump to just under four. If you are in to coincidences Strasburg has alternated good and bad starts this season, but his next start does come against the Cardinals as he faces off with Shelby Miller. Strasburg's two starts following that slate up to be against the Padres and Phillies so those shape up to be great matchups for the righty.
Arizona Diamondbacks Rotation - This rotation is just bad. That's all that can be said at this point in the season as they entered Tuesday's game with a 7.18 ERA between the group. The number jumped to 7.92 after Bronson Arroyo gave up nine runs on ten hits in just 3.1 innings of work. Out of everyone who has started a game for them this season, Wade Miley is the only pitcher that should be considered at all for a roster spot in mixed leagues and maybe even NL only leagues. He owns a decent K/9 at 6.84 and has a 3.77 xFIP, which matches his 2013 xFIP when he had a 3.55 ERA (5.07 in 2014). Owners just need to wait for Archie Bradley to get called up before touching anyone from this rotation.
Neil Walker, Pittsburgh Pirates - Neil Walker is currently the NL leader in homeruns with seven. He is now 44% of the way to his career high of homeruns of 16 that he posted last season. Three of those homers have come in the past two days at the Great American Ballpark where the ball was taking off at a ridiculous rate (12 homers in two days). He has always posted nice power numbers for the second base position with double-digit homers from 2010-13 but so far his power is at another level. His LD% has dropped 7% and his FB% has jumped nearly 10% with 20% of those fly balls leaving the park. While it's likely the power numbers will slow down with Walker having a career .153 ISO, 20 homers are very well in reach will makes him an excellent second baseman for the rest of the year.
AJ Burnett, Philadelphia Phillies - AJ Burnett was diagnosed with a hernia Tuesday and rather than undergo surgery and miss 7-8 weeks he is going to attempt to pitch through the pain. Burnett was already having a poor season with the lowest strikeout totals of his career and a 5.69 FIP (3.96 ERA) and this could be the final nail in the coffin for this year. He has walked 14 batters in 16 innings this year, including six in his last game where the pain was at its peak. He is probably worth getting rid of in most leagues with him pitching injured combined with being on one of the poorer teams in the league. There are definitely better options out there worth owning.
Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies - With the departure of Dexter Fowler in the offseason Blackmon has been given the reigns to centerfield and has run with it exceptionally well. He is currently slashing .468/.480/.681 while scoring and driving in nine runs. He has already amassed a 1.1 WAR, better than any season he has had to date and we are just 14 games in to 2014. His three steals tacked on to his hot start provide an even nicer value for owners. Can he keep this up though is the real question? Blackmon does not walk or strikeout very often and relies almost solely on putting the ball in play to carry his offense. He also is not much of a power hitter (although playing in Coors Field will help) but did steal 10+ bases at four different stops in the minors. While there is regression to be had in his average to around the .300 mark, he can still provide you with a nice season thanks to his hot start and no competition to take playing time away from him.
Josh Sperry - @jsperry1991
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