I've been as optimistic as I possibly could given his production to date, but enough is enough. After becoming just the second former Cy Young winner in baseball history to give up five earned runs or more six times in a span of seven starts, following Gaylord Perry in 1975, Justin Verlander belongs on your bench in Fantasy.
And unfortunately, that may be where he stays for a while. If you can still find someone eager to "buy low" on him after Monday's disaster against the Royals, you may still get a decent return, but most Fantasy owners, being the opportunistic weasels they are, will be looking to fleece you. And you don't want to let your disappointment in Verlander result in a fleecing.
Why not? Well, the rest of the Gaylord Perry story goes this way: After that horrible stretch in 1975, he went 12-4 with a 1.88 ERA in 17 starts. A pitcher with Cy Young potential is never a lost cause, especially when, as in Verlander's case, there hasn't been an injury to severely diminish his stuff. According to FanGraphs.com, he still has the 14th-hardest fastball among starting pitchers.
His issue is location, and as I mentioned on Tuesday's Fantasy Baseball Today, poor location is often the result of a mechanical flaw, which is always correctable. It's not always corrected because it's not always so easy to spot and fix, but if Verlander spots and fixes his, I wouldn't be surprised to see what would be the 2014 equivalent of a Gaylor Perry finish.