The ups and downs on the mound in 2014 continues  for the pitchers around the game of baseball. This has been the case in 2014 with pitchers around the game of baseball as we have seen some of the games best pitchers headlines the list of league leaders while others have taken a big step back. This has also been the case for some of the games lesser known starters as well this season.

The first area you notice a big change in the pitchers that are leading the way is with earned run average. If you look at the list of top 10 earned run averages in all of baseball from both this year and last the entire list has ten different pitchers on it including some sleepers none of us might have expected. This gives us a chance to look at pitchers who have impressed this season and the ones that have struggled.

Top Performing Pitchers in 2014:

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds: Cueto’s win/loss record doesn’t justify how well he has pitched in 2014. In 63 innings this season Cueto has allowed 10 earned runs while striking out 68 batters. This comes after a season in which Cueto only made 11 starts due to injuries. Cueto has pitched at least seven innings in all eight starts and has allowed no more than two runs in any start. Cueto currently leads the majors with a 1.43 earned run average and only trails Jose Fernandez in strikeouts.

Mark Buehrle, Toronto Blue Jays: The Blue Jays lefty is currently tied for the major league lead with six wins this season. Buerhle has also pitched to the fourth best earned run average in baseball at 1.91 in seven starts this season. This comes after a 2010 season in which he finished with a 12-10 record and 4.15 earned run average.

Tom Koehler, Miami Marlins: Koehler has dominated for the Marlins this season in seven starts pitching to a 1.99 earned run average. The downside for his fantasy owners is the Marlins have struggled in games he has started scoring less than two runs in four of his seven starts.

Francisco Rodriguez, Milwaukee Brewers:  Rodriguez leads the league in saves with 15 while only allowing one earned run in 20 innings pitched.

Top Under Performing Pitchers in 2014:

Bartolo Colon, New York Mets: After finishing the 2013 MLB season with a 18-6 record and a 2.65 earned run average Colon left the A’s to sign with the Mets. Unfortunately for the Mets, they haven’t received the same results as Colon is 2-5 with a 5.36 earned run average in seven starts in 2014.

CC Sabathia, New York Yankees: Sabathia has struggled with velocity in 2014 and it has shown up in both his wins and earned run stats. Sabathia is tied for tenth for most losses  with four while allowing the sixth highest earned run average in baseball at 5.28. The alarming stat is his 32 strikeouts over 44.2 innings this season.

The 2014 Major League Baseball season is entering the third week of May with a few of the games tops stars struggling. The struggles have not only hurt the teams they play on but their fantasy owners as well. Among these stars the list includes the slow start by Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Chris Davis and Mike Trout.

Now when you look at these four players along with other key fantasy players around the league not all of them have struggled as bad as the other. In Los Angeles Mike Trout has put up some solid stats hitting seven home runs along with nine doubles, three triples and 22 runs driven in. The area of concern comes with his stolen bases and batting average in which he is only hitting .273. Last season Trout finished with a .323 average in 157 games a year after he hit .326 in his first full season in the Majors. In 36 games Trout has only swiped four bases after posting 33 last season and 49 in 2012.

The same can be said in Detroit as Miguel Cabrera has put up solid numbers, but nothing like we have seen the past two seasons from the MVP. Cabrera is among the league leaders in the American league in runs batted in but failed to make the top ten in batting average and home runs. The positive for Cabrera owners is his bat is starting to heat up hitting .333 over the last seven days with three home runs and 10 runs driven in.

The same can’t be said for Chris Davis and Prince Fielder as both has struggled with their power and run producing. Fielder, who was traded to the Texas Rangers this off-season is batting just .226 with three home runs and 14 runs batted in. Davis, who was just activated from the disabled list in Baltimore picked up two hits raising his average to .263. The concern for last season’s home run leader has been his two home runs in 23 games this season.

Other key players struggling early on in 2014:

Chris Johnson, Atlanta Braves: One home run along with seven runs batted in and a .279 batting average in 35 games for the Braves.

Allen Craig, St. Louis Cardinals: After hitting .315 last season for the Cardinals, Craig has seen his average drop to .221 in 35 games this season.

Raul Ibanez, Los Angeles Angels: Ibanez, who put together a terrific 2013 season is batting just.140 in 32 games for the Angels this season.

J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles: The league leader in home runs by a shortstop last season has yet to hit one in 2014 for the Orioles.

The Houston Astros are a mess. Fans understand that they are rebuilding but it doesn’t seem like they are on any sort of path. They have lost 106, 107 and 111 games from 2011-13. They are on pace to lose 111 games again this season and have the youngest team and lowest payroll in the majors. Their farm system is loaded with talent and that is key for a small-market team trying to rebuild. They need to develop their own players and pitchers in order to compete with the richer clubs in the league. Young players need to gain experience and learn what it takes to win. Dealing with failure and adversity is all part of the process. But, if you put a bunch of young players out on the field, who lack chemistry the only result will be a negative one. A youngster may look solid one game and poor in the next, and that goes for everyone on the Astros roster. The talent is there, but the consistency isn’t.

They need to acquire some experience to help these young kids get better and teach them how to act as a professional. Mentally, veterans can help the youngsters adjust and approach the game in the right fashion and stabilize the environment. Players like Mourneau, Byrd, Loney, McGehee, Uribe, Kuble, Arroyo, Haren can all help. They won’t break the bank but can help this team rebuild and finish the season with respectable numbers. Eventually the Houston Astros will have to “step up to the plate” and restructure the team if they want to bring back the MLB  honor.

Jose Abreu is off to a terrific rookie season and is just one of many players who have emerged as key fantasy players in 2014. Abreu, who signed with the Chicago White Sox this off-season currently leads all of Major League Baseball in home runs with 13. The White Sox first baseman has also driven in 37 runs, putting him only behind Giancarlo Stanton.

The list of top offensive stats is filled with the game’s top stars such as Stanton, Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez. A few new names have appeared as some of the game’s top offensive stars including Colby Rasmus, Brian Dozier, Charlie Blackmon and Dee Gordon. The production from these lesser likely stars have made it easier for fantasy owners to build rosters to compete.

Here is the list of “sleepers” who have produced in 2014:
 

 
Dee Gordon, Los Angeles Dodgers: Gordon has been talked about for a few seasons, but is now living up to the hype for the Dodgers. In 145 at bats this season, Gordon leads the majors with 24 stolen bases and seventh with his.331 batting average.

Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies: Blackmon has been given a chance to be the starter after the team traded away Dexter Fowler and he has impressed. Blackmon is currently tied for second in runs with 34, third in hits with 51, sixth in home runs with nine, seventh in runs batted in with 29 and second in batting average with a .352.

Brian Dozier, Minnesota Twins: The Twins second baseman has emerged as one of the top power hitting second basemans in the game. Dozier currently leads all second baseman with nine home runs in 143 at bats this season. Dozier has also added 17 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases for the Twins this season.

Colby Rasmus, Toronto Blue Jays: The Blue Jays have a very powerful lineup that can hit for power that includes Rasmus. Rasmus is tied for the lead with nine home runs on the Blue Jays and second with 11 doubles.

Seth Smith, San Diego Padres: Smith has put together a solid 2014 season hitting .330 with 11 doubles, three triples and three home runs for the Padres in 2014. Smith has picked up 14 hits in his last 28 at bats, including five doubles, three triples and a home run.

Chris Colabello, Minnesota Twins: Colabello joins fellow teammate Dozier on this list of players who have emerged as key fantasy players this year. In 140 at bats Colabello is tied for fourth with 30 runs batted in along with 10 doubles and four home runs.

Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox: The White Sox first baseman not only has himself in the running for the rookie of the year award he has played himself into the AL MVP talk early in the 2014 season. Abreu currently leads the league in home runs with 13 and is only behind Giancarlo Stanton in rbis with 37.

Bad news for the Toronto Blue Jays as Brandon Morrow was placed on the 60-day disabled list and may require season-ending finger surgery. The club can pick up the $10 million dollar option for next season, but is he worth it ? Due to the fact that he is injury prone, the Jays and Morrow need to decide if it is best to be a reliever or starting pitcher. To be a starter you must have stamina and durability. You have to be able to take the ball every five days and perform and there are different demands compared to being a reliever. It’s clear that he is not healthy enough to be a starter since he has made only 30 starts once in his career. This has put strain on the Jays’ rotation because their replacement has never been as good as Morrow. The club needs to address the depth issue and that is one of the reasons why. If his role was altered and he became a reliever he would pitch in shorter spurts and can bounce back day-to-day while maintaining his stuff. At the moment, Morrow has been mentally draining for manager John Gibbons.

Brandon Morrow

Being a reliever would be better for Morrow. Physically he can’t cope with being a starter, and it would be best to sustain his career. He lacks in aggression and confidence and has walked 17 batters in 27 innings. His fastball ranged from 90-93 MPH against the Pirates because he was pacing himself. His counterpart, Garret Cole threw 95-97 MPH and attacked the batters. As a reliever Morrow could simplify his secondary pitches and can up his aggression.

If I were Alex Anthopoulos, I would not exercise that option since it is too much of a risk to take. Instead I would offer Morrow a reliever’s salary with bonuses based upon how many games played. A pay-for-play type deal might be on the cards.

In other news, Mariano Rivera created some controversy when he mentioned in his book that he would take Dustin Pedroia over his former teammate Robinson Cano in a must-win game. Everyone knows drama and conflict help to sell books, but is Rivera right in his assessment ? Known for his class and sportsmanship it is unlike Rivera to make such a statement and might have gotten caught in the media trap. Rivera began by mentioning how talented Cano is. No one can doubt his talent, but Rivera states that he doesn’t have the fire or passion to be a hall-of-famer. His desire to win gets questioned because of his demeanour on the field. Rivera’s evaluation of Pedroia is spot-on. He goes hard all the time and never lets up. He says, “It’s a special thing to see.  If I have to win one game, I’d have a hard time taking anybody over Dustin Pedroia as my second baseman.”

Rivera was right on both players, but is so uncharacteristic of Rivera to criticize a fellow professional that it makes it wrong.

 
Key Pitchers

Mike Leake

Last season was a break-out year for Leake despite the poor finish to the season. Many doubted whether he can replicate the form that saw him go 14-7 with a 3.37 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. But, through seven starts this season he has proved the doubters wrong with a 3.40 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, and is showing signs of improvement in the K/BB department.

Tom Koehler

Koehler will try and improve his stats against the Dodgers even though they have one of the most potent offences in the majors. In his last start against the Dodgers he went seven innings giving up no runs. Koehler has allowed just runs or less in six of his first seven starts and will look to continue to give his team a chance to win.

Drew Smyly

Smyly has been inconsistent so far this season, but once he settles into the routine of starting every five days he will perform better for the Tigers. When you look at his career thus far his numbers are actually pretty impressive. In 202 2/3 major league innings Smyly is 12-5 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with 198 strikeouts. The potential is there to be a quality starter and contribute to the rotation.

Not So Key Pitchers

Tim Lincecum

Tiny Tim has not looked like a Cy Young award winner this season with just two quality starts in his first seven tries this season. He’s allowed a whopping 50 hits in 35 2/3 innings. Both his starts this week will come at home against Atlanta and Miami. You might think that the start against the Marlins would favour Lincecum, but then you realize that the Marlins are second in runs scored in the National League. Not exactly a hot commodity for your fantasy team at the moment.

Mark Buehrle

Buehrle is similar to Koehler because you know a regression is around the corner you are just waiting for it come. The Angels are third in the American League in runs and rank second in homers. You also have to have a bad feeling against the Rangers who are generally a team to avoid for non-elite pitchers. If he can get through this week with a win it would add to his impressive accomplishments thus far.

Colby Lewis

Lewis can be a source for strikeouts for fantasy playes. Also, he’s only given up five walks through his first 25 innings. However, he’s still rusty from his injury and is too hittable. Fantasy players should pass on him this week especially since he’ll be playing a potent Jays offence later in the week.

Michael Reed, OF, Brevard County Manatees (Brewers prospect), 6 G, 12-for-21 (.571/.700/1.048), 1.748 OPS, 2 HR, 9 R, 5 RBI, 3 SB

Not only did Reed make headlines for starting a triple play on April 14, but he’s having the hottest week of any Minor League hitter. Last week he reached base 21 times in 30 plate appearances, hit six extra base-hits and stole three bases while playing for Brevard County. He leads the Florida state league with 15 steals and is second in walks and on-base percentage. He’s the son of former NFL defensive end Benton Reed, Michael is a right fielder with improving power and a strong arm.

Marcus Stroman, RHP, Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays Prospect), 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO

Stroman has been really impressive and earned his call up from Triple-A. He gave up one run in two-thirds of an inning in relief in a win over the Pirates to mark his debut in the big leagues. He had his best outing against Louisville striking out 10 in six innings and walking just one batter. He’s 2-2 with a 1.69 ERA for Buffalo and led the International League in strikeouts at the time of his Blue Jay call-up. Stroman is a first-round pick and went 22nd overall in the 2012 draft. He has the potential to be a starter for the Jays regardless of his small frame (5-foot-9,185 pounds). Stroman has one of the best sliders in baseball, along with a lively low-90s fastball and a solid cutter and change-up.