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
RED SOX BULLPEN
Junichi Tazawa is the most talented arm the Red Sox could turn to in the 9th inning with the injury to Koji Uehara (see this Daily Trends article). Tazawa though has a 5.59 ERA since the Break, and it sounds like all of a sudden the Sox are concerned about his workload. Um, guys, you have run him out there the third most times of any pitcher in baseball since 2013 and now you’re worried about his workload?
In example number 2,718 of why fantasy leagues should go to SOLDS (holds + saves) and remove saves, it sounds like Jean Machi will be given the first shot to take over the 9th inning for the Sox despite a talent deficiency. There is no objective way to think that Machi is a better pitcher than Tazawa right now. The numbers.
Machi: 5.35 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 6.3 K/9, 1.7 K/BB, 0.93 HR/9
Tazawa: 3.19 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 9.0 K/9, 6.9 K/BB, 0.75 HR/9
Again, it matters not as the saves are what we crave in the fantasy game. We gotta get past saves folks. Every year we pull our hair out about it. Why don’t we start to focus on the skills of the pitcher over the role of the pitcher. Please?
A NAT IS SURGING
And it may not be the guy you think.
Gio Gonzalez is the man I’m talking about. Seriously. His last eight starts he’s been much better than you’re giving him credit for. It’s OK to admit it. Here we go.
He’s 5-0.
He has a 7.95 K/9
He has a 2.59 BB/9
He has a 1.48 ERA
He has a 1.21 WHIP
Right?
I’ve been bullish on Gio since February, and while his overall numbers aren’t going to reach what I had hoped for, there’s no debating that he is on point right now, and when he is batters have a very difficult time squaring up his pitches.
#RegressionToTheMean
A STAR, OR NOT?
Adam Jones has hit at least 25 homers with 82 RBIs each of the past four seasons. In each of the last three seasons he’s hit at least 29
homers with 82 RBIs and 88 runs scored. How many players in baseball can match that run? No one can. He’s also hit between .280 and .287 the past four years which is nearly impossible to do.
So what is Jones on pace for this season? How about .281-26-79-82. A bit down, but still nearly a direct match for what we’ve come to expect from the outfielder. However, since May 1st he really hasn’t been very good hitting .253 with a .292 OBP and .432 SLG. He’s also hit just 13 homers with 35 RBIs over 342 plate appearances. Jones will likely be there when the season is all said and done, but he’s not really been Adam Jones for a few months.
HOW GOOD IS TOMAS?
Yasmany Tomas is 24 years old, and he’s appeared 31 times at third and 42 times in the outfield giving him some nice positional flexibility. He’s also batting .299 on the year which is good stuff. Hate to break it to you, but after that it’s not so pretty.
The batting average has been driven by a .383 BABIP that simply isn’t a sustainable pace.
Even with the nearly .300 average his OBP is just .333.
Tomas has 15 walks through 89 games. That’s horrible.
He has 82 strikeouts leading to a terrible 0.18 BB/K ratio. Terrible.
The oddest thing though is the fact that he has a total of seven homers. The guy is 6’2” and weighs 250 lbs and he’s on pace to hit 13 home runs over a full season? The issue is, much like with Jose Abreu, that Tomas simply doesn’t lift the ball. His fly ball rate is 23 percent. The league average is about 34 percent. Basically, Tomas hits fly balls like he thinks he’s Rajai Davis or Ben Revere. That ain’t a good thing if you’re trying to be a run producer. This guy has a 55 percent ground ball rate. He’s got no chance to be a 25 home run hitter like people thought he would be unless he starts lifting the ball.
The average is likely to dip, he only has five steals, and without a drastic change to his swing path, Tomas is likely to be a very moderate performer the rest of the way.
Dominate your fantasy football league with the Fantasy Alarm team. This is not your typical draft guide with the same players in every rookies, sleepers and bust columns. Every Coaching System broken down. Every Offensive Line broken down. 30+ winning strategies. 500+ players ranked and updated every day. Check out the Preview Today!
FRANCO OR BRYANT?
Let’s compare the rookie third sackers.
Maikel Franco: .277/.338/.491 for a .828 OPS
Kris Bryant: .249/.360/.441 for a .801 OPS
Right? Franco has been a slightly better offensive weapon according to those numbers.
Some more…at-bats for each event.
Franco: 24.3 HR, 21.5 doubles, 6.3 runs
Bryant: 22.7 HR, 13.5 doubles, 6.9 runs
Bryant has the fantasy advantage with 11 steals to one, but with the bat in their hands, there really isn’t much difference at all.
I CAME OUT OF NOWHERE
In Texas there is quite an effort being put forth by Delino DeShields Jr. As Evan Grant pointed out, only 28 percent of players where are Rule 5 fellas stuck with their club. It’s just not that easy to do in most instances – guys like Johan Santana are the rarity – but DeShields is playing so well that he’s looking to add his name to the list (what is Rule 5 status?).
DeShields hasn’t gone deep once, and has just 22 RBIs, but through 74 games he’s scored 49 runs and stolen 18 bases in 21 attempts. Also a fan of his .355 OBP. Give him a full season at that pace and we’re talking 100 runs and 35 steals. That would play in pretty much any league, even with that .261 OBP.
STROMAN A MODERN MIRACLE
Marcus Stroman had ACL surgery in March. The assumption, based on 20 years of data, was that he would take 8-12 months to full recovery and be ready to go on Opening Day next season. Well… Stroman is back up on the hill and he’s throwing. Already. Sounds like he might be heading out on a rehab assignment soon, and as long as he continues to progress it sounds like he might be activated at some point in September to help out of the bullpen. This story isn’t likely to have any fantasy impact but it’s truly amazing that he’s rebounded so quickly.
LAST 30 DAYS
Chris Davis has 11 homers and 30 RBIs… in 24 games
Adam Eaton has a league leading 22 runs scored thanks to a .435 wOBA.
Dexter Fowler has a .427 OBP and 17 runs scored.
Carlos Gonzalez has 13 homers and 29 RBIs… in 22 games.
Chase Headley is batting .354 with a .413 OBP.
Buster Posey is batting .420. Eric Hosmer and Ian Kinsler are batting .412.
Mark Teixeira has a .477 wOBA, the 5th best mark in baseball.
Joey Votto has a .569 OBP.
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).