This season has been an excellent case study in valuing hitters over pitchers on draft day. None of the most consistent starters for the past three to five seasons have been themselves. Cliff Lee is one of those starters. Lee has already missed some time due to an oblique problem back in April and aside from that has been cheated in run support from the powerless Phillies. He has not received the kind of fielding behind him and has shown his displeasure openly with teammates. Yesterday he finally got over the hump and improved his record to 1-5. 

From a numbers standpoint, Lee hasn't been as good as he was last year, but he has still been really good. He's striking out more than a batter each inning, the strikeout to walk rate is close to 5, and his line drive rate is down compared to last season. He has simply been a victim of awful luck in the season's first half, but if the Phillies can get healthy and stay healthy there's no reason to believe he can't have one of those months where he simply carries a fantasy pitching staff for a while. 

Yesterday, I was posed a question on Twitter: What's going on with Jon Lester? I had some initial thoughts on the answer to that, but wanted to see if I could find the right data to back it up.

It happens every year at this time of the season. Contenders are scanning the rosters of teams looking to rebuild, and bullpen arms are probably the easiest movable part. The contender can always get better in this department and given the low level of annual commitments to most relievers, rebuilding teams are happy to get anything in return for a bullpen arm. Here are some arms that could get moved or could see a change in their role.  no comments

Dusty Baker and Joey Votto were not pleased that teammates Johnny Cueto and Brandon Phillips were not selected to the National League All Star roster that Tony La Russa selected. Let's look first at the case of Cueto. Here is how he stacks up with the other starting pitchers on the roster:

This past Thursday, Diamondbacks top prospect Trevor Bauer made his big league debut. Fantasy GMs across the land had been waiting intently for that moment, but in the end were disappointed with what transpired. Bauer lasted only four innings, surrendering two earned runs while walking three, beaning one and striking out three. While one game does not a season make, there are a couple of things we can take away from the outing that can help us gauge what his near future might look like.

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Franklin Morales went 7 innings for the Red Sox last night and gave up only three hits against the Mariners. Yes, it was against the Mariners, but Morales has looked good in all three starts that he has made this year for the Red Sox. He has struck out 24 in only 18 innings and has been able to go further in each game that he has started. From a standpoint of get them while their pitching well, he is a must add. It may just go beyond that too. no comments

The Orioles got off to a fast start this year, but have been coming back to Earth of late.  Still, the club is second in the American League East, and seven games over .500.  Not too shabby for a team expected by most to be the doormat of the division.  It's unlikely they'll remain second in the division, but if they want any hope of doing so, they'll need better starting pitching.  Jason Hammel has been excellent by all measures.  His ERA is 3.29, and supported by a 3.33 FIP, 3.40 xFIP, 3.53 tERA, and 3.49 SIERA.  The only other starter with an ERA under four is Wei-Yin Chen, who got pummelled on Thursday, and has no advanced measures that support his 3.73 ERA.  Starter Jake Arrieta has been the anti-Chen.  Arrieta's 5.55 ERA is more than a full run above his FIP, xFIP, and SIERA.  The rest of the rotation, Brian Matusz and Tommy Hunter, have been bad by both standard measures and advanced measures.  Eventually, the failures of the back of the rotation should open the door to Chris Tillman, who is having his best season since 2009. 

Chris Young was hitting .410 with an OPS of 1.397 back on April 17th. The season was very young, but he was looking at a career year. Then he crashed into a wall, hurt his shoulder and had to go on the disabled list. He returned a month later and has been awful ever since. Before yesterday, he had not homered in 102 at-bats, had a .147 average, and a .433 OPS since May 18th. Perhaps he is still hurt, but Kurt Gibson made the fairly simple decision at this point to bench Young. Young did not play in the series finale against the Cubs on Sunday, the team had the day off Monday, and Young did not play on Tuesday either. Young had three days off heading into last night's game and finally came in the game as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning. He proceeded to hit his first home run since April. 

That home run is enough to keep Young on a roster for now, but he isn't far from being tossed into the waiver wire depending on the league. He has never hit for average (a career .239 hitter), but when the home runs and steals fail to come in too there are issues. To date Young has just 2 steals after stealing more than 20 each of the last two seasons. The shoulder shouldn't be forcing him to stop running, but the more likely reason that he doesn't have more steals is that he hasn't been getting on base. 

Tonight the Diamondbacks will face Jair Jurrjens and the Braves. Young is 2 for 10 with a home run off Jurrjens in his career. Other noteworthy items from around the league: