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September 7, 2012

Weekly Planner

Week 24

by Paul Sporer

With expanded rosters, rotations are far from stable, and I don’t expect them to be the rest of the way, so please keep that caveat in mind more than ever.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Auto-Starts: Doug Fister

It’s really only been about health with Fister this year; otherwise he has been nails. He has been healthy since the All-Star break, and, unsurprisingly, that has yielded a 2.48 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 62 strikeouts in 69 innings. He is one of the most unheralded starters in the league, but he’s been great in 2012.

Starts
Hiroki Kuroda (@ BOS, vs. TB) – A couple of modest outings (four earned in each of his last two outings) aren’t going to derail this train. Kuroda has been the underappreciated rock that helped this team build the huge lead they have pissed away. His six innings last time out snapped his streak of going eight-plus innings, but he has still gone six-plus in each of his 11 outings since the All-Star break. He has a 2.66 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in that span too.

Dan Haren (vs. OAK; @ KC) – Like Fister, it has really been a matter of health more than anything else with Haren. He has tried to labor through back pains at times, and it hasn’t gone well, leaving Haren with elevated numbers relative to his true talent. He appears to be back on track of late, though, with three strong starts in a row. He is actually just a third of an inning away from three straight quality starts, going 5 2/3 in Detroit but then seven and six innings in the subsequent two starts. All told, he has a 1.45 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 17 strikeouts, and just three walks in the 18 2/3 innings.

Ryan Dempster (vs. CLE; vs. SEA) – He was absolutely pummeled twice as a Ranger (eight earned each time) and yet still has a 4.36 ERA in 43 1/3 innings with them, which tells you how well he has pitched in the other five starts. His strikeout rate is actually up with the Rangers too; he is striking out 9.1 batters per game after posting a 7.2 mark with the Cubs.