Carlos Martinez is a talented pitcher with a bright future in the majors, and now that Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia are both on the DL with shoulder injuries, he has a rotation spot to call his own. Given his relief pitcher eligibility, you'd think I'd take this opportunity to hype him to the hills.
But with Chase Whitley only 56 percent owned, I don't see the point.
He's the more attractive SPARP (starting pitcher as relief pitcher -- Head-to-Head owners know what I mean) right now, having dominated in 13 starts before the majors and minors so far. Considering he entered the season with only eight career starts as a professional, we haven't really seen him fail in the role.
But while Whitley has issued just 0.9 walks per nine innings, which would rank second among starting pitchers if he had the innings to qualify, Martinez has issued 3.9 overall and 5.0 in his two starts. He's a talented pitcher with a bright future, sure, but he's also a work in progress.
So while adding him certainly isn't a problem if you have ample roster space, I wouldn't consider it a top priority right now -- not with some of the pitchers, SPARPs included, available on waivers.