Drew Smyly (SP, DET) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues; Continue Scouting in Shallow Leagues

ANALYSIS: Drew Smyly is someone I had as a preseason sleeper. I really expected him to breakout this year, and get a decent amount of wins with that powerful Tigers' offense behind him. Unfortunately, at the end of May Smyly didn't really live up to his name. He did not make me smiley at all, instead pitching to a 3.70 ERA, 7.55 K/9, and 1.29 WHIP. Granted, those are not terrible numbers but for a guy I expected to have a breakout season they were kind of disappointing.  Maybe I expected too much from Smyly after his 2.37 ERA and 9.59 K/9, or maybe it was the Tigers fault for shuttling him between being a starter and in the 'pen.

The numbers he has put up made him ownable in 12 team leagues, but not anything shallower in my opinion. Unfortunately, he hasn't done much to change my opinion.  In his last two starts he has a 2.13 ERA, 12.08 K/9, and 0.87 WHIP but that is a very small sample size. I did pick up him up in a 10-team league for now, but only because my league is oddly deep in pitching. I would love to see him maintain the pace from his past two starts, and I was impressed since one of the starts was against the Angels, a top 3 offense vs. LHP. However, I'm not fully confident that he doesn't regress more to the form he has shown through most of this season.  Enjoy the ride, but if you see him get cold don't be afraid to drop him.