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
BLUE JAYS AND ROCKIES DEAL
Rockies acquired SS Jose Reyes and RHPs Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro, and Jesus Tinoco
Blue Jays acquired SS Troy Tulowitzki and RHP LaTroy Hawkins.
Wow.
Yeah, to say this deal came out of nowhere is an understatement. Let’s break down this blockbuster of a deal.
Reyes is still an effective offensive performer. He’s 32 and can still steal a base, he leads all shortstops in steals (16) and has been caught only four times in his last 50 attempts. Alas, 30 steals, and not 50, is his upside. He doesn’t have much power, a move to Coors isn’t going to turn him into a 20 homer bat, and for all his talents he just doesn’t get on base as much as a table setter should (he has a .322 OBP this season and it was .328 last season). The move to Colorado is obviously a good one, but the Rogers Centre is a good place to hit and the Blue Jays had one hell of an offense so the move really doesn’t do much to aid Reyes in terms of his outlook.
Hoffman is a 2014 first round draft pick who has already undergone Tommy John surgery. He’s got a live arm, reports suggest he’s hit 100 mph on occasion, and Baseball America had him listed as a top-35 mid-season prospect in all of baseball. His future is bright, even in Colorado.
Castro is just 20 and he too has a live arm. He saved four games for the Blue Jays early on and could always factor into the 9th inning this season (see below for more on the Rockies’ bullpen situation). Castro can reach the upper 90’s with his fastball and his changeup is a passable pitch. Still working on the slider though. He often struggles with his control and we saw that early on with six walks in 12.1 innings with the Jays. He could work in the 9th inning mix, make a few starts, or stick in the minors until September.
Tinoco is a righty who is working at High-A ball this season. He’s just 20 years old but could be in the Rockies rotation in a few years.
Tulowitzki is the big fish in this deal. He’s the best hitting shortstop in baseball, and his combo of offense and defense paint him as the top shortstop in the 
game. After a slow start to the year he’s got his numbers back up to all-star levels (.300-12-53-46 in 87 games). While it’s not fair to call the California born player a product of Coors Field… he kind of is. In 526 home games he’s hit .321 with 106 homers and a .951 OPS. In 522 games on the road those numbers are .276 with 82 homers and a .817 OPS. The good news is that Tulo goes from one of the best hitting parks in baseball to --- one of the better hitting parks in baseball in Toronto. Here are the Park Factor numbers (per ESPN).
Coors Field: 1st in runs, 9th in HRs, 8th in doubles
Rogers Centre: 20th in runs, 10th in HRs, 14th in doubles
Even if the move in parks is a bit of a step down, Tulo enters a dominating offense. The Blue Jays have scored 528 runs. The next highest mark in baseball is 456 by the Yankees (the Rockies are third with 444). The Jays have 196 doubles, the most in baseball. The Jays have 130 homers, the third best mark in baseball. The Jays have a .772 OPS, the best mark in baseball. The move to Toronto shouldn’t squash the offensive production of Tulowitzki.
A bit worried about the astroturf am I, and so should you be given Tulo’s track record of ill health.
Hawkins gives the Blue Jays another late game option. Since a return from the DL Hawkins has a 1.10 ERA with 13 strikeouts and two walks over 16.1 innings. Of course, he’s not that type of pitcher and doesn’t possess anywhere near the stuff that Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez do, so it’s entirely possible, I would say likely, that Hawkins settles into a mentoring role working as a setup man.
AXFORD BOMBING
John Axford has 16 saves. He’s blown four chances this season including three of his last four, has a 4.80 BB/9 rate and has seen his WHIP swell to 1.47. With LaTroy Hawkins now dealt to the Blue Jays, who is the fall back option for the Rockies who seem close to making a move with Axford’s struggles?
Tommy Kahnle is a second year arm who has been dominating batters with an 11.51 K/9 mark. Alas, he’s struggled just like Axford though with the walk, he’s been even worse, at 5.56 per nine. That’s Carlos Marmol territory. As a result of all the walks his K/BB is terrible at 2.07 and his 1.46 WHIP is also an anchor. Truth be told, his performance to date isn’t discernable from Axford’s.
There’s a chance that Rafael Betancourt gets into the mix. The closer for the team in 2012-13 before he hurt his elbow, Betancourt has returned to action with some success. He has 31 Ks in 30.1 innings and he’s walked just seven batters all season. His BABIP is elevated at .337, ditto his crazy high 27 percent line drive rate. Those numbers come down and his underlying skills suggest success.
Of course, the team could just turn things over to the recently acquired Castro, though they may choose to stretch him out as a starter, so I likely just wasted all that space writing about Castro, Betancourt and Kahnle without really knowing what I wanted to say. Add Betancourt and hope if you’re prospecting.
CARLOS GONZALEZ BOMBING TOO
Carlos Gonzalez has 20 homers overall, one less than Joc Pederson and Adrian Gonzalez. The total isn’t surprising… that is until you realize that he’s hit 10 of those homers over his last 61 at-bats. CarGo has hit four homers his last two games, has six in four, and seven in five. He’s killlllllling it. Over his last 15 games he’s batting .459 with a .492 OBP and 1.033 SLG. His slugging percentage is over 1.000, not his OPS. Oh yeah, he’s also scored 17 runs and driven in 23. He’s out of control good. Sounds like the Rockies might deal him and that won’t help. Doesn’t seem like it matters at the moment. Not running any more, but his bat makes Bryce Harper and Mike Trout look like paupers.
KRIS BRYANT STRUGGLING
Kris Bryant is on a 150 game pace for about 24 homers, 100 RBIs and 90 runs scored. He’s also sporting a solid .358 OBP. Still, the homer pace is much lower than people were expecting from the phenom, and his struggles are starting to concern. If we take things back to July 5th we see an 84 plate appearances span of time in which he’s hit .167 with a .274 OBP, .333 SLG and 28 strikeouts in 72 at-bats. It might just be a sample size issue. It might just be a slump. It might be a natural leveling off after he started off so well. It might be the league has found a weakness. The bottom line is that he’s been extremely productive. Will he be moving forward? We’ll keep an eye on things but the slump is concerning.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).