TIGERS FARMHAND WILL BE LIMITED

Michael Fulmer, the 23 year old righty of the Tigers, has had a rough go of it through his first five big league starts (check out his Scouting Report). In that time Fulmer does own a 3-1 record with an impressive 11.28 K/9 mark, but his 5.13 ERA and 1.63 WHIP speak to his struggles. Fulmer looked great in his last outing allowing just one run while walking one with 11 strikeouts against the Rays. Things were looking up, until reality hit us square in the face.

Just like with the Pirates who you will read about below, the Tigers are going to be cautious with their young arms. Here’s the deal. “I think you’ve gotta be on the cautious side, but you take the person and the player into account,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “The build — I think a little bit bigger pitcher can probably handle it a little better than a guy who’s a slighter build.” Ausmus might be hoping for big innings, but it ain’t gonna happen. “We were just talking about how the rotation’s going to shape up, and giving guys extra rest, stuff like that.” The Tigers would like to limit Fulmer to an increase of 20-25 percent this season, in terms of workload, and after throwing 124.2 innings last season that likely means he will be capped at 155-160 innings. He current sits at 41.2 innings. He’s not going to be going deep into games often, or if he does he will have starts skipped at best as the innings pile up (hopefully he wouldn’t just be shut down in September).

Second, Shane Greene threw 3.1 scoreless innings in his rehab start Wednesday, a solid follow up on his last outing as he works his way back from a blister. Will he be asked to relieve or will the team ask Greene to re-enter the rotation (Jordan Zimmermann has a groin issue and he might end up on the DL meaning it would be natural for Greene to take his spot and not that of Fulmer)?

As with all other youngsters who take the mound there are concerns about Fulmer’s workload and his long-term spot in the rotation.

PIRATES FARMHANDS TO BE LIMITED?

Is it going to be Tyler Glasnow or Jameson Taillon who is called up first by the Pirates? We still don’t know the answer to that question just yet. What we do know is that the Pirates are going to be careful with their young arms and that includes limiting their innings. Taillon will have his next start skipped as the team enacts their plan. "All part of the plan," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. "Taillon is strong and healthy but as we look to monitor his and other pitchers' workload to put them in a position to finish the season strongly, we will periodically look to reduce pitch counts by removing the pitcher from a game early or by skipping a start."

As for performance… Taillon has been great this season with a 1.82 ERA and 51 punchouts over 49.1 innings. Remember Taillon didn’t throw a pitch in 2014 or 2015 as he dealt with Tommy John, and hernia, surgery. Folks seem to be missing that when they talk about Taillon and his ability to contribute at the big league level. There are only going to be so many bullets in the clip this season. "The consistency and the command are as good as they've been," Huntington said. "Still some work to do, still refining some of the little things."

Glasnow, realize he doesn’t have a ton of miles on his arm either. The last few seasons includes 111.1 innings (2013), 123.2 (2014), 109.1 (2015) and 50.0 (2016). He’s going to be limited this season as well.

THE HARVEY FIASCO

Matt Harvey has another rough outing Tuesday night and he’s sitting at 3-7 with a 6.08 ERA and 1.69 WHIP, and it sounds like folks have nearly had it (after all, he is one of four starters in baseball to have made nine starts and never reach the 7th innings out of the 90 qualifiers). Last night there was talk of skipping Harvey’s next start, or potentially creating a phantom injury to send him to the DL, but come Wednesday morning the decision was made that he will make his next start against the White Sox on Monday.

The biggest concern from the team, at least what they are saying publically, is that his mechanics continue to be an issue. Last need he had a good fastball in the early going hitting 96 mph. He was then turned to his changeup which resulted in homers to Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmermann. There was then a noticeable drop in his heater velocity as his delivery was “different” later in the game. Manager Terry Collins tried to shoulder some of the blame saying that throwing a 65 pitch simulated game Saturday might have fatigued Harvey. Collins also noted that he thinks some of Harvey’s struggles might be the result of all the innings he threw last season, his first back from Tommy John surgery (216 innings). "My experience says it takes a little time and it'll come back," Collins said. "He's just got to keep working at it and not get frustrated with some things."

As a side note… there has even been some talk of putting Harvey in the bullpen. That ain’t happening, but look at the splits that are leading folks to think that way.

First: .241/.292/.373
Second: .301/.326/.518
Third: .509/.563/.764

Harvey isn’t going to the bullpen but I do know where he should be right now – on your bench. Don’t give up on him, and if you can acquire him on the cheap why not, but he can’t be started right now.

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: Carlos Perez is batting .333 with two homers and nine RBIs the past six games. Colby Lewis is always homer prone and owns a 1.53 HR/9 rate at the moment.

FIRST BASE: Travis Shaw is blasting righties with a .333/.405/.568 line and he faces off against Chad Bettis. The game is also in Boston tonight and Shaw’s hit .326/.396/.600 line at home.

SECOND BASE: Scooter Gennett has hit .302 with a .788 OPS against righties in his career. He takes on Mike Foltynewicz has always been blasted by lefties, big time, with a .335/.373/.577.

THIRD BASE: Brett Wallace takes on Jake Peavy who has been unbelievably bad against lefties this season (.403/.469/.593). Wallace has been limping against righties (.195 average though .744 OPS), but Peavy is so bad I’m going to look past it.

SHORTSTOP: Starlin Castro is batting .302 with a .817 OPS at home this season. He’s also always hit Marco Estrada well with a .444 average and .667 SLG, thanks to four doubles, over 27 at-bats against the righty.  

OUTFIELD: Kole Calhoun has a .387 average and 1.00 OPS over 31 plate appearances versus Colby Lewis. Over his last 10 games Calhoun has scored 11 times and he has a .939 OPS on the road.

OUTFIELD: Melky Cabrera is batting .299 with a .373 OBP against righties this season. When he faces Corey Kluber he’s hitting .474 with three doubles and three RBI in 19 at-bats.

OUTFIELD: Yasmany Tomas crushes lefties with a .366/.447/.659 line this season. Jeff Locke is crushed by righties with a .291/.385/.424 line.