The D'backs have said they plan to go with Josh Collmenter, Rubby De La Rosa, Jeremy Hellickson, Chase Anderson and Trevor Cahill as starters to being the year. That all changed when Cahill was dealt to the Braves for outfielder Josh Elander. That means that Archie Bradley becomes the 5th starter. Bradley holds a 1.61 ERA in 22.1 innings this spring, and he's roundly regarded as one of the 10 or so best pitching prospects in baseball so it's not like he lacks talent. Bradley is a must own in NL-only leagues and vaults well up the Player Rankings in a mixed leagues to the point that he also has to be drafted in mixed leagues in the reserve rounds.

Rusney Castillo produced a .928 OPS this spring, after signing a 7-year, $72.5 million, and the Red Sox still assigned him to Triple-A Pawtucket to start the season. Maybe Shane Victorino will be dealt or he'll end up hurt. So strange what teams do sometimes. 

Felix Doubront has signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. He can walk the house at times, but he does have a 7.93 K/9 and a 43.5 ground ball rate for his career. He can have success when he's locating his pitches. File his name away AL-only leaguers.  

Let me bring some sanity to the Jose Fernandez hype. Coming back from Tommy John surgery, some folks seem to think he will be back out on the bump in June. I can't support that position at all. Here's what the Miami Herald is reporting. Fernandez is at least a month away from facing hitters. The Marlins have a plan in place, and they are comfortable with it, but the fact is that it's always been likely that Fernandez wont be back until July, potentially after the All-Star game. He's really only draftable in a mixed league if you have a DL spot. 

Carlos Gomez will bat leadoff for the Brewers. That's not great for his fantasy outlook, is it? How many of you, and stop me if you've read this before, realize he's never had 25 homers or 75 RBIs? Gomez is not a leadoff hitter. Bad decision Brewers' brain trust. 

Lance Lynn threw six shutout innings Thursday. He's so much better than you think he is. Check out The Big 3 from March 31st, 2015 to find out how unappreciated Lynn is. 

Daniel Murphy is dealing with a hamstring issue. While the thought was that he would start the year on the DL, it now seems likely he  could avoid that fate and be ready for Opening Day. Murphy homered in an inter-squad game Thursday and expects to play Friday. Don't know how many noticed, but the last two years an average Murphy effort is about .288-11-68-86-18. Those are pretty dang good numbers. 

Would you wait in a line for five or more hours to get a beer?

Michael Pineda allowed one run and struck out six over 5.1 innings in a split squad game Thursday. People love Pineda. Why? Over the last t h r e e seasons Pineda hasn't thrown 80 innings in the big leagues. How can you trust him? For more see his Player Profile

Words C A N N O T describe how awesome an invention this is.

Christian Vazquez does indeed need Tommy John surgery. That means the Red Sox will be going with Ryan Hanigan and Sandy Leon to handle catching chores. Blake Swihart, one of the top-20 prospects in baseball, will continue to hone his game in the minors. Not really a bad idea at this point since Blake has just 307 games of professional appearances with only 18 games at Triple-A. His production also hasn't been crazy good, his .768 OPS and 11 homers per 150 games don't speak to a fantasy star anyway, at least not right now. 


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Justin Verlander has been placed on the DL with his triceps injury. Remember back when it happened and he said he was fine? Remember when the team said he was fine? Well, not so much. They are still saying it's no big deal and they hope he will be able to start April 12th. Even if he does, is he worth it? See The Big 3 Video from April 2nd for more of my thoughts.

The Yankees got some good news Friday. Dellin Betances hit 97 mph with one pitch, and was often hitting 94-95 mph on the gun. The velocity was better than it had been. At the same time he walked two batters and it took 28 pitches to complete one frame. Still not out of the woods is Betances.