Argument for argument's sake: Corbin is not nearly as bad as we seem to think, based on comments on the forum.
Corbin has made 17 starts.
- 8 of these have been "quality" starts by the traditional definition.
- 5 starts have not been "quality", but have been adequate by modern expectations of starting pitchers (5 to 5 2/3 innings, 3-4 runs allowed) and Corbin in fact won two of those. In two others, the offense scored only one run of support.
- 4 starts have been dumpster fires.
But of the four bad outings, three were in April and one was in the recent Dodgers series where hardly anyone looked good. Take out April, and Corbin's ERA goes from 5.40 to 4.32, in the range of Ross (4.02) and Fedde (4.53) (and Strasburg (4.57)). We appear to have stopped judging Bell and Schwarber by their early season woes. Is it time to reassess Corbin?
There are obvious counterarguments, of course, most notably being that Corbin is paid to be a No. 3 who can step up to be a No. 2 when Strasburg is injured, so being comparable to Ross and Fedde is hardly enough. Also, Corbin's regression from his career numbers.
So, ...