#2 – Mike Leake
Leake was traded to the 2014 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, this season. Cueto’s former teammate in Cincinnati is a 27-year-old righty from San Diego, California, making it easy for anyone to think that maybe Leake would want to re-sign with the Giants, a team that’s relatively close to home.
Having the same issues as Cueto, being on a bad team, Leake posted a record of 9-6 and a 3.53 ERA, with 105 strikeouts, so far this season. On August 7th, the Giants had to put Leake on the 15-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain, but reactivated him on the 22nd. In his last seven appearances, Leake is 4-1 with a very attractive 1.66 ERA and 36 strikeouts to only eight walks in 48.2 innings.
Leake’s projection is 12-9, a 3.64 ERA, and 131 strikeouts in 193 innings. His pitch types include six different styles: a four-seamer clocked at 90,5 mph, a sinker, a traditional slider, a knuckle curve, a changeup, and a cutter. Leake relied on his fastball about 45% of the time, but gives batters a good mix with the rest of his pitches.
Currently at $9.78 million, Leake likely will not ask for nearly as much as Cueto, Zimmerman, or Samardzija, as the hype has not been as heavy for his services as for the rest. However, with a post-All-Star- Break opposing batting average of .156, with a .263 against lefties and a .212 against righty bats, maybe he will start to think very highly of his worth. Likely other teams will, too.