We’ve got my man Justin Vreeland debuting his 2017 Bullpen Report today, so I don’t want to steal his thunder, but I just can’t help turning my attention to the Texas bullpen and Sam Dyson’s horrific start to the season. This poor guy has made two appearances, pitched a total of one inning, taken two losses, allowed a total of eight earned runs and has been charged with one blown save. It’s the kind of start to a season upon which nightmares are built.

But before you click that drop button, keep in mind that manager Jeff Banister has come out and stated that he is not ready to lift Dyson from the job just yet. "This is a guy that's been really good for us. I'm not going to jump off after two games,” said Banister, and you, kind of, have to respect that. We preach patience to open the fantasy season all the time, so why wouldn’t a major-league manager? Obviously Dyson is struggling but Banister would rather get down to the reason as to why rather than just pull him.

Dyson is a ground ball specialist, the type of reliever a lot of managers are turning to lately. Over the past three seasons, his ground ball rate has never been lower than 63.3-percent. Where is it now? Fifty percent. Sorry, but you can’t tell me that a guy is suddenly losing roughly 15-percent of his ground balls overnight. It just doesn’t happen that way. From the looks of his current pitch mix, it looks like he’s trying to fool hitters with his changeup rather than try to get them to hack away at his slider and that’s just not working for him. Last year he was throwing his slider 11.3-percent of the time to just 18.6-percent for his change. This year, he’s thrown his slider just 2.2-percent of the time while the use of his change has spiked to 26.7-percent.

That kind of a difference either means his arm isn’t quite ready yet and he’s easing into heavier slider use or there’s an injury which is preventing him from using it. I don’t have any shares in Dyson this season, but if I did, yes, I would pick up and stash Matt Bush if I could. Jeremy Jeffress is also an option. But with the way Banister, a former pitcher, is handling the situation, dropping Dyson at this time would be a mistake. You want to throw him onto your bench? Fine. But until you hear official word of him losing his job, you don’t cut him. It’s as simple as that.

Now let’s tap into some of last night’s game action…

Late-Game Heroics

I’ve been driving the George Springer train for a while now and got much more vocal heading into this year, so why wouldn’t I toot his and my horns here after Wednesday’s heroics? With the Astros down 2-0 to Seattle in the seventh inning, Springer smacked a two-run double off reliever Marc Rzepczynski to tie the game which pushed into extra innings. A Houston bullpen meltdown helped the Mariners take the lead in the top of the 13th, but my man George wasn’t going to let his early efforts go to waste. With two men on and Mariners relieve Chase de Jong looking a little shaky, Springer crushed the ball to center field for a walk-off three-run shot. Now in his fourth big-league season, though just his second full year, Springer appears primed to take that next step. He’s shown the power and he’s shown the speed but one had always come on at the expense of the other. This is the year he flashes them both. I’m not saying he’s going to swipe 30 bags, but I’m willing to bet a 25-20 season is well within reach.

I’ll always be the first one to admit when I’m wrong. Always have been and while it doesn’t happen often, ::insert sheepish grin here:: it’s been an attribute my wife has appreciated over the years. However, I’m not quite ready to admit anything when it comes to Francisco Lindor. Not yet, at least. I’ve looked at the numbers, the scouting reports and the player profiles and nowhere has it ever said that this kid is going to hit for power. And I’ve stood by that evaluation. Well, here we go again as Lindor smacks a sixth-inning home run and then a game-winning grand slam in the ninth. I once posited the question as to whether he was just another Felipe Lopez and he’s now doing everything in his power to answer that with a resounding no.

Bumps and Bruises

While the Angels seem to be downplaying the situation, fantasy owners of Garrett Richards should be concerned after he was pulled from Wednesday’s start against the A’s. The diagnosis was a biceps cramp which seems harmless enough, but with the fact that Richards passed on surgery in the offseason and opted to treat it with stem-cell therapy and platelet-rich injections should give you pause. Obviously the coaching staff is a little nervous because with the slightest concern shown by catcher Martin Maldonado, the team was pulling Richards from the game. That doesn’t sound like confidence, does it? Be careful relying too much on Richards as it sounds like he could still be having problems throughout the season…if he makes it that long.

Mookie Betts was a late scratch Wednesday with the flu and is being considered day-to-day. No word yet as to whether or not he’ll be in Thursday’s lineup, so check with our MLB lineups page before finalizing your lineup for fantasy.

You never realize just how quickly a professional athlete ages until you start seeing things like Denard Span’s current hip injury. The Giants say that the 33-year old center fielder is day-to-day, but keep in mind that he had surgery on his left hip back in 2015 and this could prove to be a lingering issue. I’m not ready to break the FAAB bank on Gorkys Hernandez just yet, but he could prove to be a more integral part of the Giants starting lineup than expected.

On the Mend

Looks like Roberto Osuna is on-track to return to the Toronto bullpen by the home opener next Tuesday. His back has shown decent improvement, he’s thrown off flat ground without issue and the Jays are ready to get him a session or two in time for next week. They’re talking about a quick rehab appearance at the Triple-A level but it looks like you’ll be able to get him back in your lineup for the second week of the fantasy season.

Stolen Base Watch

Yesterday, I reported that 14 teams had yet to register a stolen base while 11 of those teams had yet to even attempt a steal. Today we can knock that down to eight teams without a steal with five of those eight still without an attempt. Who’s not running? The Blue Jays, White Sox, Cubs, Orioles and Braves. The Jays, O’s and Cubs don’t really surprise me all that much as they’re teams built on power. The Braves haven’t been runners for some time thanks to Fredi Gonzalez, but with Brian Snitker at the helm, we were hoping for a little bit of a boost. I’ll have to dive deeper into his minor league managing track record to really see, but the White Sox actually surprise me a little with guys like Tim Anderson and Tyler Saladino in the starting lineup. The speed tends to come in bunches, so keep an eye out, but for now, it’s a little on the ho-hum side.