While you’re sitting down today with your family to enjoy your Easter dinner, there will no doubt be plenty of baseball on. It’s not a holiday in MLB with a full Sunday slate of games. So you shouldn’t take a day off with your Draftstreet teams either. As you look for pitchers to fill your lineup today, you may want to consider these cost-effective options.
Best Bet
Robbie Erlin – $11,304
After two good appearances to start the year, Erlin had to work a bit harder his last time out, and it didn’t entirely work out. He couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning against the Rockies, allowing three runs on six hits. It wasn’t the worst start in the world, but it still led to a loss. Colorado, though, has the best offense in baseball through the first three weeks of the season, so it really could have been worse. Before that game, Erlin had a perfect two-batter relief appearance, and a six-inning, one-run start against Cleveland. The one constant for Erlin throughout the season so far is his strikeout ability. Even in his worst start, he still picked up the K. In 11.1 total innings this year, he has 14 strikeouts. Today, he faces a struggling Giants team that is on a three-game losing streak, while scoring one run in each game. Feel good about starting him.
Double Down
David Hale – $11,270
Hale has had a pretty successful start to his major league career. He had two starts for Atlanta last season and has had two more this year after being named the Braves’ number four starter. And he’s yet to lose as a major leaguer. In his four starts, he has thrown 20.1 innings and has a 1.77 ERA with 20 strikeouts. Most of the damage to that came in his last start. Against the Mets, he gave up three runs in 4.1 innings. It was the first time he had allowed more than one run in a big league outing. He has had plenty of rest to recover from that, too. It’s been 10 days since that game. Coincidentally, it’s the Mets again whom Hale will oppose. New York is hitting an N.L.-worst .214 against righties this year and has struck out more against righties than all but three teams. Hale will be looking to get back at the Mets for his last start and should be able to do it.
Roll the Dice
Roberto Hernandez – $11,520
Hernandez has made three starts so far this year and has yet to give up more than three runs in any of them and he’s yet to lose. It hasn’t all been easy, though. In his last start against the Braves, he labored through six innings and 118 pitches. He still only ended up allowing two runs which came on a two-run homer in the sixth after he started to tire. If his day was cut shorter by about 15 pitches, he would be entering this game off of a shutout performance. So Hernandez has been very good before running out of gas, so if Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg manages his pitch count a bit better, that will help keep things from getting more out of hand later on in his outing. And that could happen against a Rockies team that is on a three-game winning streak during which they’ve scored 18 runs. Hernandez will have his work cut out for him.
