Ray’s Ramblings: Who Can You Trust?

The Braves brought in yet another veteran arm to help stabilize their rotation. For my thoughts on each guy they have added this offseason click on the link after their name: Bartolo Colon (LINK), R.A. Dickey (LINK) and Jaime Garcia (LINK).

Will the Royals deal Jarrod Dyson? Reports suggest that folks are interested if they are willing to part with the speedster. Why wouldn’t they be? Dyson is a good defender and can be one heck of a spark plug off the bench. He also has dynamic speed. In his last five seasons with the Royals the 32 year old has stolen at least 26 bases each season. In all that time he failed to generate 300 at-bats in any year. The Royals won’t consistently play him. Maybe someone else would?

Jung Ho Kang is a disaster of a human being apparently. Did you see his most recent mess, with his DUI arrest in Korea? If you own him in a keeper league you need to begin, immediately, to find a replacement.

Steven Matz has been cleared to start throwing after having a bone spur removed from his elbow. The report suggests he will also have a “normal” offseason. Uh huh. Matz dealt with elbow AND shoulder woes last season and is seemingly always in the news for something physically. He c a n n o t stay healthy. Only, and I mean only, add him at a greatly reduced rate. The last three years here are his innings totals: 140.2, 141 and 132.1. That’s a troubling trend of being unable to take the ball 30 times. Why am I the only one who sees that?

David Phelps is going to remain in the bullpen in Florida, that is if the Marlins have their wishes filled. The Marlins added Edinson Volquez, and are continuing to scour the market for starting pitching so that Phelps can remain where he was so effective last season. Phelps saw his velocity increase more than three mph last season on his heater with the move to the pen as he posted the best ratios of his career (2.28 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 11.8 K/9). He was a heck of an NL-only add last season.

Taijuan Walker had 10 bone spurs in his right foot last season, a crap ton, which is why he was limited to 134.1 innings last season with the Mariners. "It just happened early in the year," Walker said of when the pain began. "I guess I had an extra bone in my foot and I guess that broke off and it was rubbing against my Achilles tendon, and every time I pushed off I would be in pain -- and even walking, too. I had surgery on that right after the season, and it turns out I had 10 bone spurs in my foot that they took out." Obviously Walker couldn’t push off as needed, had to rely more on his upper body, and that led to a loss of velocity and command. Walker should be fully healthy for Spring Training and he is also looking to add a sinker to help combat the one issue that is hounding him, the big fly. That’s something he will need to add to his arsenal since the move from Seattle to Arizona is certainly a negative for a guy who can be beat by the big fly (1.36 per nine for his career). I like the arm a lot by the way.

RAYS UPDATES

What a great name for a team, right?

Matt Duffy had surgery on his left heel, and he’s ahead of schedule and already out of his boot. Duffy went on a tear for most of the season in 2015 with a .295-12-77-77-12 line for the Giants. It was an out of nowhere effort for a fella who was viewed as being, just a guy. He turned out to be just a guy in 2016 with a .258-5-28-41-8 effort in just 91 games as he simply couldn’t stay healthy for the Giants or Rays. The hope is that the surgery will allow him to become the player he was in 2015 (I’m not buying it). He played 70 games at third last season, just 18 at shortstop, but one would think Duffy would get a chance to start on Opening Day at shortstop if he is healthy. I would only look his way in AL-only setups.

The Rays really like what they saw out of Nick Franklin last year and that he will have a big role in 2017 due to that effort, and his flexibility (Nick did play everywhere last season appearing nine times at first, eight times at second, five times at shortstop and 25 times in the outfield). Nick turns 26 in March, and it’s taken the former 1^st round draft pick a while to “arrive” at the big league level (he was taken 27^th overall in 2009). Let’s not get crazy here though. He only saw action in 60 games last season and hit .270 with six homers and six steals. Like Duffy, he’s AL-only fodder at the moment.

Steven Souza had left hip surgery, and he is going well with the expectation being that he will be ready for Spring Training. Souza will turn 28 next April, and with each passing season it becomes clearer and clearer that it’s just never going to happen for Souza. There’s certainly talent here, but the coalescing of that talent just hasn’t happened. Again, this guy will be 28 years old next season, it’s not like he’s a youngster, and after a season that was cut short by surgery there will be no push at all to add Souza in 2017. Do you see any growth in his numbers the last two seasons? I certainly don’t.

Just like his two teammates, Souza should generate nary a modicum of interest in mixed leagues.

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).