Showing posts with label Max Scherzer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Max Scherzer. Show all posts

Monday, March 24, 2014

Yu Darvish (neck) doubtful for Opening Day

Whether or not staff ace Yu Darvish (neck) will be ready for Opening Day is unclear at this point.

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com writes: "Darvish played catch on Monday but is still dealing with a stiff neck. The Rangers aren’t sure when he’ll get back on the mound and it appears more questionable if he’ll be ready for Opening Day. General manager Jon Daniels said it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Darvish gets pushed back."

The Rangers open the season with a series against the Phillies that begins on Monday, March 31st.

In his second season with the Rangers, Darvish finished second behind Max Scherzer in A.L. Cy Young voting with a 13-9 record, 2.83 ERA (fourth-best in AL) and league-best 277 strikeouts.

Darvish is ranked second in my 2014 starting pitcher fantasy baseball rankings behind only Clayton Kershaw.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Max Scherzer rejects "substantial, long-term" offer from Tigers

Detroit Tigers starter Max Scherzer rejected a "substantial, long-term contract offer" from the team, according to team's Twitter feed.

In addition, the Tigers official statement indicates there will be "no further in-season negotiations" with Scherzer, who is due to become a free agent after the 2014 season.

Last year, Scherzer won the A.L. Cy Young award with a 21-3 record, 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 214.1 innings. Scherzer led the league in wins and WHIP (0.970) and finished second in K/9 (10.078) behind Yu Darvish (11.890) after leading the league in 2012 with an 11.1 K/9 rate.

Scherzer is my SP7 in my 2014 fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

MLB Midseason Awards: A.L. Cy Young Award

Now that we are at the midway point (or a little past it), I will post my choices as midseason leader for Cy Young and MVP in both leagues at the All-Star Break.

The perennial choices for AL Cy Young are either Justin Verlander or Felix Hernandez, who have consistently been two of the game's top pitchers over the last several years.

A couple of other guys like David Price (last year's winner) or Jered Weaver are usually in the discussion as well, along with a surprise or two that pop up every year.  Last year, Chris Sale was the guy who emerged, and was the favorite to win the award heading into the second half of last season.

This year, Bartolo Colon makes a strong case at 12-3 with an ERA of 2.70, currently third in the AL.  Colon's connection with PEDs, however, may be what largely accounts for his return to the dominance of his prime at the age of 40.  Nonetheless, he has not yet been suspended, and has a legitimate claim to the midseason AL Cy Young award.

I'm going to go another way, though.  Max Scherzer, who is not even the best pitcher on his own team, is leading the pack at the midway point.  With an ERA just a shade over three (3.19 at the moment), Scherzer is an incredible 13-1 in 19 starts.  He is averaging more than a strikeout per inning (10.55 K/9), and has a WHIP under one (0.98).

I'll take Scherzer for my midseason AL Cy Young award winner/leader.

[Editor's note: This post is by John Trifone (@JohnnyT0122), who also contributes at our NFL site: Eat, Drink and Sleep Football (see John's archives).]