DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting offering from the Alarm is the DFS Playbook Pro. I will be doing a daily breakdown of the hitters – Hitting Coach – while Howard Bender looks into the Pitchers (Pitching Coach). You can find the link to the Hitting and Pitching articles under the DFS Playbook pro tab at the top right of the screen.
OTHER LINKS TO BOOKMARK
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BRAVES?
Shelby Miller has a 2.48 ERA, the 6th best mark in the National League. Miller has a 1.17 WHIP, the same as Jon Lester and a tenth better than Cole Hamels. Pretty darn solid. Yeah, he’s been really good. Alas since May 6th, check this out… Miller is 1-8 over 17 starts. Moreover, Miller hasn’t won since May 17th meaning he’s gone 15-straight outings, nearly half a season’s worth of starts mind you, without a victory (0-8). In that 15 game run he has a 3.16 ERA but he’s also been saddled with the lowest run support mark of any hurler in the NL during that time at 1.38 runs per game. Brutal.
Miller is still pitching well, it’s just not showing up thanks to a dismal effort by the Braves offense nearly every time Miller takes the bump. Just killing the value of Miller is that offense.
AN ACE IN CHICAGO, PERIOD
Jake Arrieta had a 2.53 ERA and 0.99 WHIP last season over 25 starts. Jake Arrieta has a 2.38 ERA and 0.99 WHIP this season over 23 starts. Here are how those ratios rank for Arrieta in that time (minimum 300-innings pitched).
Arrieta is 4th in baseball with a 2.45 ERA.
Arrieta is 3rd in baseball with a 0.99 WHIP.
Not just the ratios either.
Arrieta has a 9.38 K/9 mark, the 6th best in baseball.
Arrieta is 14th in baseball with a 4.06 K/BB ratio.
I was a bit dubious about Arrieta coming into 2015. At this point, I’m sold as should you be.
He’s inched up his ground ball rate to 51.3 percent (49.2 last year) leading to a 1.94 GB/FB ratio (1.73 last year).
There’s also these two facts.
Arrieta has five scoreless starts of at least seven inning pitched. That’s the most for a Cubs’ starter since Carlos Zambrano in 2006.
He’s also pitched a zero at the opponent in four of his last 10 outings as he’s posted a 1.23 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP over those 10 times to the bump.
WILL THE DODGERS CALL UP SEAGER?
Howie Kendrick hurt his hamstring Sunday night so it’s Corey Seager time as the Dodgers will call him up.
There’s only one problem with that plan. Seager is a 21 year old who has never played second base as a professional. As this report from JP Hoornstra stated, it would seem like Kike Hernandez would be first in line to pick up time at second base IF Kendrick were to miss significant time (at this point we simply don’t know how long Kendrick will be out). Alberto Callaspo has also played second base through the years and so has Justin Turner who should be back from his leg issue later this week. Oh yeah, there’s also Jose Peraza who could be brought up, and he’s a fair prospect who was inside the top-55 according to Baseball America and MLB.com coming into the season (yes I know he’s been seeing time in the outfield, and he’s played short, but he can certainly handle second base).
Bottom line is it’s a big stretch to think that Seager will be called up if Kendrick is out a significant period of time. Sorry folks.
WACHA TO BE SHUT DOWN?
A follower on Twitter wanted to talk Michael Wacha as he was concerned that Wacha might be shut down because of innings pitched 
concerns. A totally fair concern, and very likely to happen. The facts.
2012 Wacha pitched 21 innings as a professional
2013 he tossed 149.2 innings
2014 he threw 109 innings before his season ended with a stress reaction in his shoulder.
2015 he has thrown 132.1 innings
So how many innings will he throw this season? I don’t think the Cardinals ever said officially, but let’s take an educated guess. He’s never thrown more than 149.2 innings in a season. He hurt his shoulder last year. He’s already up to 132.1 innings a season after he threw only 109.
I would say teams don’t like to add more than 30 innings to an arm in a season for a young arm.
They are especially careful when that arm belongs to a potential ace.
They are often very cautious when that arm is coming off a significant injury.
Therefore, I would say 180-innings might be a soft/hard limit, logically speaking.
The Cardinals are five ahead of the Pirates as they look to capture the NL Central. Don’t you think the Cards want Wacha to pitch in October? Yeah, me too. Might that mean 30-40 innings the rest of the season? Seems reasonable. At this point he likely has, what, eight starts left? Even if he gets to 40-innings that’s five an outing.
It seems extremely logical that Wacha will either (A) have a start skipped here and there or (B) be shut down at some point to save some bullets for the playoffs.
We shall see.
DICKEY DEALING
Seriously, R.A. Dickey is on quite the little roll right now. Over his last six outings he’s been “quality” every time. Moreover, only once in six outings has he failed to last seven innings. Additionally, linkage everywhere, Dickey has allowed two of fewer runs in each of the six outings. Finally, he’s allowed one or zero earned runs in four of the six trips to the hill. Add it all up and he’s posted a 1.25 ERA with a 0.85 WHIP in that time. Really folks, unless your mane is Greinke, Kershaw or Scherzer, can you pitch much better than that? Dickey is always a risk, he can get bombed any time out there because of the nature of the knuckler, but at the same time when that thing is dancing, like it is right now, he’s damn near impossible to square the ball up against.
BUXTON DEMOTED
Byron Buxton went 5-for-12 on his minor league rehab assignment but the Twins decided to send the recovering outfielder to Triple-A and not promote him to the bigs. Can’t say I really blame the Twins. Buxton has been injured about 18 times since the start of last season, and in 11 games this season he’s hit .189 with a .501 OPS for the Twins. Oodles of talent but completely, immensely, unfulfilled at this point.
UEHARA SENT TO DL
Koji Uehara was hit on the wrist by a comeback last Friday and he will be placed on the DL as a precursor to his missing the rest of the 2015 season. . I would suggest that Junichi Tazawa is the guy to add, but it might not even end up being the correct call (see Machi comment below). Tazawa has 48 strikeouts over 48 innings, and he’s walking a mere 1.31 batters per nine leading to a near 7:1 K/BB ratio. Elite stuff. That 39 percent ground ball rate is too low for me, but this is one strong arm. However, there is this. The Sox are concerned about his workload given that only Seth Maness and Trevor Rosenthal have appeared in more games over the last three seasons. “Where we are right now, probably going to bring him in games where we’re either tied or ahead. Not to say we wouldn’t use down a run, but we’ve got an opportunity to manage his usage a little bit more,” manager John Farrell said.
Other options for the Red Sox:
Craig Breslow is a lefty with 6.6 K/9, 1.82 in the K/BB column, and the ratios are worse than league average (4.25 ERA, 1.42 WHIP).
Jean Machi is a nice arm who gets grounders and can pitch a lot. At the same time his K/9 rate is a mere 6.3, his K/BB at 1.69 is more than a full point below his career mark, and his ratios are awful (5.35 ERA, 1.47 WHIP). A late report suggests that Machi will get first crack at the job, even with his rough season.
Alexi Ogando has a big arm. Always hurt though. Pretty amazing he’s made 45 appearances this season. Has a 7.40 K/9 mark, 2.35 K/BB ratio, 1.18 GB/FB and has allowed an odorous 11 homers on the year.
Robbie Ross is a lefty who gets grounders. Not very appealing.
Guess you add Machi, but I wouldn't expect him to run away with the 9th inning role.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 8 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).