YTD Record here 1-1
5 Inning Plays Only
Twins -101 Baker / Scherzer
Scott Baker can have an off day, just like you, I, or anyone else and he certainly did versus the Indians his last time out. That was his first really bad outing of the season though and day in day out, long term probability; he is much more trustworthy than Max Scherzer. Scherzer is showing me the same thing he did here in Arizona and that probably is why he got traded for Edwin Jackson. The jury is still out on who got the better end of that trade but I suspect neither team is going to fall in love with Scherzer or Jackson. Anyway, Scherzer continues to miss the plate on his first and/or second pitch, frequently both, and has to pitch his way out of a hole versus everyone. He is only an OK power pitcher, not a true strikeout guy and that means he takes a lot of pitches to get out of a jam and frequently can’t do it because good obp teams like the Twins just hang in there and grind him down until he makes a mistake. Baker has a slightly better K/BB ratio and obp rate, and I think with the better offense behind him that is enough to justify laying the very small juice.
5 Inning Plays Only
Twins -101 Baker / Scherzer
Scott Baker can have an off day, just like you, I, or anyone else and he certainly did versus the Indians his last time out. That was his first really bad outing of the season though and day in day out, long term probability; he is much more trustworthy than Max Scherzer. Scherzer is showing me the same thing he did here in Arizona and that probably is why he got traded for Edwin Jackson. The jury is still out on who got the better end of that trade but I suspect neither team is going to fall in love with Scherzer or Jackson. Anyway, Scherzer continues to miss the plate on his first and/or second pitch, frequently both, and has to pitch his way out of a hole versus everyone. He is only an OK power pitcher, not a true strikeout guy and that means he takes a lot of pitches to get out of a jam and frequently can’t do it because good obp teams like the Twins just hang in there and grind him down until he makes a mistake. Baker has a slightly better K/BB ratio and obp rate, and I think with the better offense behind him that is enough to justify laying the very small juice.
