Trendspotting: Brett Myers, Justin Verlander

These two may seem like an odd pair - Myers is a converted closer while Verlander is one of baseball's young studs. Nonetheless, both have struggled this year. Are they buy-low candidates, or is it time to get out while you still have the chance?

 

Brett Myers: Myers had a crazy season in 2007. He spent time in the rotation and bullpen, and struggled with arm problems from overuse. He returned to the rotation this year, and his past gave every indication he'd be successful there. He had 397 strikeouts combined in 2005 and 2006, along with an ERA of 3.81 (combined) and a two-year WHIP in the neighborhood of 1.25. So how to explain his struggles so far? His velocity has fallen from the mid-90s to the upper-80s. The Phillies are calling it a conditioning problem and saying he can build up arm strength between starts. I'm not convinced, but at the same time, there are many pitchers who succeed with upper-80s stuff. You're not going to get anything for Myers in a trade, but he's still worth stashing on your bench for another few starts to see if he starts ironing out his issues. If you don't have him, he's not worth more than a marginal pitcher in a trade right now, because I don't see him as a stellar buy-low candidate.

Justin Verlander: Verlander is a very peculiar case. His velocity is unchanged from previous seasons, and control hasn't been a major issue this year. He made a slight adjustment to his arm angle, suggesting that perhaps his pitches were too side-to-side, but after getting a win against Texas he struggled against Los Angeles on Sunday. In his early games, he seemed to tire out, pitching well for five or six innings before giving up runs. I checked, though, and his innings in 2006 (including post-season) were actually greater than his innings in 2007. That doesn't indicate any reason for him to be tiring out. Detroit is going to need Verlander for many years; they have plenty of reasons to ensure that he's healthy rather than pitching through an injury. Personally, I don't see any reason for Verlander to struggle the entire year. Jim Leyland was optimistic after the loss to the Angels. I'm trying to buy-low on him and convince the owners in my league that he's going to have a Jake Peavy 2006 (Peavy's ERA was 4.09 at season's end) type year. There's simply no reason to believe that Verlander, or the Tigers in general, will be this bad all season. I'd definitely buy here.