I'm impressed with Escobar

[Quaker]

He almost had his second complete game shutout in a row. He's let up one ER in the past 17 innings, and he's been striking out a ton. Sure, he's putting a lot of runners on base, but you can't complain too much when they don't score.
I'm interested in getting him for good matchup starts, but the manager who has him is the only inactive manager in the league. Oh well.

[Greenrider]

you can't complain too much when they don't score.

I definitely complain, even when they don't score!

why? well, I subscribe to the school of thought that there's basically no such thing as "clutch" pitching and hitting, and that in the long run putting runners on base will lead to runs being scored against you no matter how "good" you seem to be at stranding them for a few starts.

case in point: take a look at Kaz Ishii. he has a godawful WHIP, and he started out last year a lot like this year - but eventually his luck ran out and he started getting hit really hard (and not just in the face). the same thing will happen to him this year if he keeps walking 6, 7 guys a game, and the same thing will happen to Escobar if he keeps allowing baserunners.

now, I should add that giving up 12 hits with 0 BB is generally a much better sign than 5 hits with 7 BB like Kaz enjoys doing, and Escobar's high K numbers are also a positive sign, but just as with Kaz, they are the only thing keeping him afloat - if he runs into a tough lineup he could get massacred very easily.

he's probably not worth too much now, but if he had another good start I would try to trade him to someone desperate for strikeouts and with a short memory about escobar's prior control problems

[Madison]

I agree that a bad whip leads to a high era. I thought the same thing about Moss earlier this year. 5-0 with a 2 something era, but a 1.40+ whip. Who cares about 1 catagory, he's winning and not giving up runs, so I stuck with him (oops!). Needless to say, Moss has been in the free agent pool of that league for the last 2 weeks. If a pitcher keeps putting men on base, it will eventually catch up to them. Just take a look at Moss's current numbers.