Zack Cozart had his season cut short last year with a knee injury (53 games). He jacked up the knee the other day and the worst was feared. You can exhale… it’s not that bad. John Fay reports that Cozart is fine and that it’s merely tendinitis in his knee. Of course that could news should be mitigated by the fact that Cozart isn’t a very good hitter despite his remarkable start. His .369 BABIP is light years beyond his .278 career mark. Ditto his current 25.4 percent line drive rate (he’s at 18.8 percent for his career). I fear that this knee issue will remind Cozart who he is – league average at best with the bat in his hands. Meanwhile his teammate, Homer Bailey, is being shut down for about a week. Bailey had a setback after his last outing with his wing. Tis the deal when coming back from surgery. He had hoped to return at the end of this month. Have to think it’s June now before we see him back on the bump.  

Yu Darvish was throwing 94-96 mph with his fastball Sunday, and the reports are glowing. He will make his next start Friday at Triple-A Round Rock. It sounds like his recovery is going well and that he might be pitching in the bigs by the end of the month.

Ender Inciarte has been out for a month with a hamstring issue and it’s about time for him to get back out on the field. He will start a minor league rehab assignment in a day or two as he works his way back into true game shape. The club hopes that he will be able to return this weekend or early next week. You have to figure that he and Nick Markakis play every day leaving one outfield spot open for Mallex Smith it would seem. Smith has six hits, including three doubles, his last two games and he should continue to see significant playing time with Hector Olivera’s ongoing off the field issues that have seemingly no definitive end in sight.

Carlos Gomez (ribs) did some light work Monday as he will miss his 3rd straight game for the ‘Stros. The club expects Gomez to return against the Twins this week, so it sounds like he is close. Gomez currently stinks to high heaven with no homers and two steals, with a .213 average, through 22 games. He’s walked just twice against 24 punchouts. People are dropping him. He shouldn’t have fallen that far in your eyes yet, even with his pitiful work to this point.

Jason Heyward isn’t playing Monday because of a sore wrist. Turns out Heyward has been dealing with the wrist issue since the first week of the season. Joe Maddon said that Heyward will be out of the lineup today and Tuesday to try and get right after going 0-for-17. Heyward might have talent but he just can’t seem to escape talk that he is soft.

People are really this stupid? Guess so.

Lance McCullers threw 4.2 innings Monday in an extended Spring Training game as he works his way back from a shoulder issue. Throwing 62 pitches Monday, McCullers is likely set to start a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. The dynamic arm will likely need a couple of starts before being activated, so we’re looking at a late May return if I had to guess.

Devin Mesoraco was on my don’t draft unless he falls 100 spot past his preseason ADP list. I know no one bothered listening to me. That is expect for you, the smart folks who follow my work at Fantasy Alarm, right? You can find more on those rankings below by the way. As for Mesoraco, he’s appeared in a mere 16 games, is batting .140 with no homers and an RBI. He’s been flat out atrocious. Now he’s dealing with a wonky shoulder that has caused him to miss four games and sent him to the DL. Can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Glen Perkins is out with a shoulder that he is working on right now. He’s yet to throw as he continues to try and strengthen his wing. This was supposed to be a two-week thing. Clearly it’s going to be much longer than that. Those of you that rostered Kevin Jepsen could be looking at an extended run of 9th inning work.

VIDEO ME

I’m doing three videos a day now. You know I like to look at my mug. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do. Here’s what you can find Monday.

The Daily Dive takes a look at three performances from Sunday with hot takes on Eric Hosmer, Chris Carter and Madison Bumgarner.

A review of three hitters who recently have upped the ante on their fantasy value: Derek Dietrich, Melky Cabrera and Geovany Soto.

A review of three hurlers who all had nice outings Sunday: Vincent Velasquez, John Lackey and Julio Teheran.

UPDATED RANKINGS

It’s the first of the month, well yesterday was, and with that we’ve updated the 2016 Fantasy Alarm Player Rankings. There are 650 players ranked there so you can continue to put your club together in the best manner possible. In order to access the rankings all you have to do is to sign up for our DFS Seasonal Pro Package at Fantasy Alarm.com.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).