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Posted at 10:30 AM EST.

8:05 PM EST. Derek Holland goes for the South Side here and there is a great chance that he’ll get his ass handed to him because he’s not very good. Holland hurled a decent game against Texas on July 1st but will have a harder time on the road this time around (6.11 away xERA). If Holland has a decent game here, we’ll be just as surprised as anyone but that’s not the issue here. We’ll live with whatever Holland comes up with because Martin Perez cannot be favored in this range against anyone because he’s just as bad as Holland and maybe worse.

Perez has crashed back to earth after a hit%/strand%-fueled mirage kept his head above water for a brief stretch.  Other signs are ominous too, as he doesn't miss enough bats to reverse his K-rate slide. Perez has 18 K’s over his past 36 innings and his poor xERA has held steady all year. What Martin Perez is capable of is throwing lots and lots of bad innings. His 1.56 WHIP is weak and his year-to-date xERA of 6.50 is also weak. Pitchers like Stephen Strasburg and Chris Sale are priced in this range and while we understand that Holland is weak and that the South Side struggle to win games, Martin Perez favored in this range is absurd. The White Sox are loaded with young and enthusiastic players that are playing their hearts out because of the opportunity to play in the big leagues. What the South Side lack in talent, they make up for in effort and enthusiasm while the Rangers are a veteran team playing for nothing. Chicago has split the first two games of this series with a 9-8 loss on Thursday and a 4-3 win yesterday. They continue to compete and therefore we’ll gladly gamble with this takeback today.

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