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
JPA HAS A HUGE NIGHT
J.P Arencibia had one RBI in five games with the Rays after being called up from the minors. Boy did he have a game in his sixth outing with the club. Last night JPA hit a homer, had two singles, and drove in six runs against the Orioles. Amazingly, that effort isn’t the best of his career (he had seven RBIs in the past). There is history here though. JPA became the 8th catcher in history who hit 9th and drove in six runners. That said, he’s nothing more than a DFS play or a second catcher in AL-only leagues.
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CUETO STRUGGLING
Things started out well for Johnny Cueto in a Royal uniform as he allowed six runs over his first four starts with the team. Alas, the last the last three games have been disastrous given how good Cueto is. Johnny has only walked one guy in those three games, but he’s also allowed four homers and 16 earned runs over 16 innings. Yikes is right. Cueto has also struck out four or fewer batters in three of his last four outings. Is he wearing down after throwing a career-high 243.2 innings last season? Have we too quickly forgotten that Cueto threw just 60.2 innings in 2013 and that only once in his first five seasons that he threw 190-innings? It’s only three starts, but Cueto bares a close watching in his next outing.
EDUARDO ESCOBAR SURGING
The Twins have themselves a surging player. I’m not talking about Miguel Sano. I’m talking about Eduardo Escobar.
Facts to know.
1 – Escobar has appeared in 44 games at shortstop and 35 in the outfield. He also played 25 games at third base last season so he should qualify at three spots. That’s huge.
2 – Escobar has scored a run in 10-straight games.
3 – Escobar has four homers in 10 games.
4 – Escobar has nine RBIs in 10 games.
5 – Escobar hit .295 with a .375 OBP and .577 SLG in August. For the season Mike Trout is batting .296 with a .397 OBP and .574 SLG.
Eduardo better not be on your waiver-wire, even if you’re in a shallow league.
On the year the numbers are very moderate – 1.17 GB/FB, 19.9 line drive rate, 0.28 BB/K ratio, .308 BABIP, .747 OPS – but that doesn’t matter at this point. There’s one month left in the season and dude is hot. I can’t fathom it continuing til the season is complete, but rolling with him now certainly seems prudent.
STANTON SETBACK?
Giancarlo Stanton broke a bone in his left hand on June 26th. He was supposed to be out 4-6 weeks. This is the 10th week he’s been out. There was finally some light at the end of the tunnel as it was felt that he could return Friday. Doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen putting his return even further away. Stanton played a game at Single-A ball but seemed to suggest after the game that he’s not days away from returning. "It just didn't feel fully how it should," Stanton said.
(1) Timelines for players are guesstimates. They are NOT written in stone.
(2) Stanton is a mess. How could you possibly consider drafting him in the first or second round next season? I’m seriously (a nod to Cartman). In the last four seasons he’s appeared in 125 games one time. ONCE. That means he’s missing over a month of game action each of the last four seasons. This year he’s not even going to hit 100 games played (he’s sitting on 74 right now). I don’t know how you build your team around that. Honestly, what’s the difference between Stanton and Troy Tulowitzki? At least Tulo plays shortstop.
TEX OUT AT LEAST TWO MORE WEEKS
I don’t get it.
How can a team have all those doctors and run all those fancy tests, and not be able to tell when a guy is hurt? Apparently the Yankees’ staff of medical personal missed the point a bit.
Mark Teixeira was hurt on August 17th when he fouled a ball off his shin. He was supposed to miss a couple of days after x-rays showed him to be fine. Whoops. Since the injury he’s had three at-bats and the team is finally admitting that he’s hurt worse than they thought. “There is no stress fracture,” said GM Brian Cashman. “That was the biggest worry because he hasn't responded to it. But the bone bruise has not healed in any way, shape or form… he was on crutches initially and came off because he felt better. But they're putting him back on crutches and we're looking at weeks." Great. An injury that was gonna cost Tex a couple of days sounds likely to cost him a full month at this point. Best case would be Teixeira being back by mid-September, but that’s clearly no lock to occur. Tex most likely won’t be placed on the DL either. Now that rosters have been expanded injured players are often not placed on the disabled list.
LAST TWO WEEKS
Elvis Andrus has four steals and is batting .363.
Miguel Cabrera is batting .412 with a .464 OBP. He’s hitting .359 this season by the way.
Yoenis Cespedes has seven homers and 17 RBIs.
Robinson Cano is batting .400.
Michael Conforto has a .488 OBP.
Josh Donaldson has 17 RBIs.
Edwin Encarnacion has eight homers, 26 RBIs in 12 games.
Jonathan Lucroy leads the way with a .444 batting average. That’s four points ahead of Ben Revere.
Mike Moustakas has four homers, 15 RBIs and a .386 average.
Joey Votto is hitting .395 with a .623 OBP. That’s insane.
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).