2010 Scott Feldman

Allen asks:

Is it OK to lose patience with Scott Feldman if you're able to pick up Sergio Santos from the waiver wire to replace him? 

I touched on this my last post, so I won't cover the same ground for too long here. Santos almost definitely isn't in line for saves in Chicago, but he should be a solid reliever in A.L.-only formats and could be a pretty strong contributor in ERA/WHIP if he keeps whiffing over a batter an inning.

As for Feldman, there are probably a lot of touts snickering and bleating "I told you so" on their respective web sites. He should improve, though expectations should likely be tempered going forward.

His FIP of 4.45 this year is not much higher than last year's 4.31. His ERA/FIP differential is 8th best in the Majors; even if he doesn't put up the solid season he did last year, he should still be a 4th starter in deep A.L.-only leagues. He's also had a lot of BABIP bad luck; his 342 BABIP is 9th in the Majors. Both the FIP and BABIP point to a turnaround.

Before you get all misty eyed, though, there are some numbers not to like with Feldman as well. His days as a ground ball pitcher are long gone and he has almost a 1.0 G/F. That's not a good formula for a low K pitcher in Arlington. The velocity is down a little on his fastball and a lot on his cutter, and Feldman's cutter was his bread-and-butter pitch in 2009. Indeed, where Feldman was 25.9 runs above average with the pitch last year, he's 11 runs below this season with the same pitch.

It seems that the results are poorer for a good reason (struggling with his plus pitch) but should be better even with those struggles. It could be that Feldman's lost so much confidence in the cutter that it is impacting his entire game plan. If that's the case then, yes Al, I would probably cut Feldman for another pitcher (if your league doesn't let you reserve him). Just don't be surprised if Feldman doesn't figure out and return to being a solid - albeit not spectacular - pitcher going forward.