DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting new offering from the Alarm is here! It’s 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).

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BRAVES ROTATION NEWS

Trevor Cahill stinks. Seems like everyone but the Braves understood that. No matter. At this point the club is doing the prudent thing and sending Cahill to the bullpen in favor or Mike Foltynewicz. By the way, Cahill is barely worth holding on to in NL-only leagues as he’s sporting a 9.42 ERA and 2.02 WIHP over his first 14.1 innings. As for Mike – you really don’t think I’m going to attempt to spell that last name again do you? – here’s the lowdown. The 24 year old righty is of sturdy build (6’4”, 210 lbs.), he owns a big presence on the bump and he has elite arm strength that can hurl the pelota in the high 90’s. Alas, he often has little control, when he throws his heater up in the zone it gets “flat,” and sometimes he fails to finish his curve ball which can lead to a rolling pitch instead of a sharp breaker. Ranked as the 77th best prospect in baseball by MLB.com, the righty was 0-3 at Triple-A this season with 30 strikeouts and 10 walks through 21.2 innings. Think Danny Salazar talent and Danny Salazar inconsistency. You can take a shot on Mike in mixed leagues, the arm is huge, but his ability to stick in the rotation, and to be consistent, is extremely difficult to feel confident about at the moment.

Julio Teheran worries are rampant right now. Here’s the lowdown. (1) He says that he is fine physically. (2) He doesn’t know what the problem is that has led to a 7.20 ERA, 20 hits allowed and seven walks his last 15 innings. Here’s what his manager Fredi Gonzalez had to say. ““I am a little bit (concerned),” he said. “Because that’s not him. He’s usually a guy you give him a lead, he’s a bulldog and you have to go try to get the ball out of his hand in the eighth inning with a 12-run lead. So yeah, I’m a little concerned. Lot of home runs. I think the stuff is there, the miles per hour is there, but the location is not…” So there is concern. Enough for me to recommend freaking out and doing something rash with Teheran? No.

Shelby Miller has made five starts. The result is a 2.17 ERA as he’s yet to allow more than two runs in an outing. Consistency thy name is Miller. He finally found the strikeouts Thursday night as well with nine in seven innings against the Reds. I continue to maintain he is in line for a strong season. Going back over his last 10 starts he has crushed it to the tune of a 5-1 record, 1.82 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 7.43 K/9 mark over 59.1 innings. The only thing missing from his game is going deep into games.

METS CALL UP INFIELDER

David Wright sounds like he might be a week or slightly more from returning from his hamstring issue. The Mets have decided to do something until then to try and boost their offense. They’ve moved Daniel Murphy to third base and called up Dilson Herrera to play second base. Herrera is 21 years old and he’s got all of 20 games of experience above Double-A ball. Those 20 games are at Las Vegas this year, and he’s hit very well with a .370 average and .908 OPS. A career .300 hitter in nearly 400 minor league games, Herrera is currently ranked 46th by Baseball America and 82nd by Baseball Prospectus heading into 2015, so he’s one of the better offensive prospects in baseball. Who would I compare him to? Daniel Murphy perhaps? Right?


ARM NOTES

Gerrit Cole struck out 7.67 batters per nine as a rookie. In year two he struck out 9.00 batters per nine. Through five starts this season he’s at 10.27 per nine. An elite talent who only need to make 30 starts this season to prove it to everyone.

Jacob deGrom has made five starts. The results have not met preseason expectations. Well, they have for me, but not for others who were expecting greatness. He has a 3.34 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in the early going. That works, but not up to the hopes of legions. He’s only walked seven guys in five starts, that’s great, but the lack of strikeouts with only 23 in 29 innings has hurt his value as that’s a loss of more than two and a quarter strikeouts per nine from last season. I’m not predicting doom and gloom, but give his Player Profile a read.

T.J. House seems likely to lose his starting spot with the Indians. Patience is one thing, but a 13.15 ERA and 2.54 ERA through four starts just isn’t acceptable. Hopefully if the Indians make a move it’s to Zach McAllister and not Bruce Chen. Did I just recommend McAllister? It’s only because of how bad Chen is.

Mike Leake has a 3.03 ERA and 0.90 WHIP through five starts. He’s just solid. Nothing great, but solid. In fact, since the start of the 203 season he’s been a rock: 26-21, 3.50 ERA, 1.22 WHIP over 69 starts. Don’t love the 6.33 K/9 mark but the 2.20 BB/9 rate has allowed him to post a solid 2.88 K/BB ratio. How many times did I just write solid?


Stephen Strasburg has a 4.60 ERA and people are doubting him. Bad start. Absolutely. Doom and gloom? Don’t think so. Still more than a K per inning and less than 2.50 walks per nine. Also only allowed one homer in five games. Check out the SIERA (3.49) and xFIP (3.58) – he’s pitching a bit better than it seems on the surface.

Get over the Fantasy Alarm MLB Player Rankings page for the updated list as of May 1st.

INJURIES

We had been hearing that Josh Hamilton (shoulder) could return to action by mid-May. Oh well. Sounds like late May is more likely according to GM Jon Daniels. Hard to stash him unless (A) you have DL spots or (B) you’re in an AL-only league.

Justin Verlander is has missed April. He’s almost certain to miss all of May as well – in a best case scenario. This according to Jon Morosi. “If Justin Verlander is fully cleared next week -- and then needs a "full spring training," so to speak -- he'd be looking at a June return.” Total waste of time that guy.

Matt Wieters was supposed to be fine in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. He was supposed to be back by Opening Day. Not so much. He had a setback, described as minor and nothing to worry about. Yet, here we sit on May 1st and guess what? According to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun it’s likely that Wieters won be back until Late May or early June. Flipping great. Continue to expect Caleb Joseph to be the main starter behind the dish for another month in Baltimore.

MINORS UPDATE

Corey Seager was promoted from Double to Triple-A. Shocker after he crushed Double-A pitching to the tune of five homers, 15 RBIs and the following slash line over 19 games: .375/.407/.675. Seager spent the majority of the time at shortstop, but he also appeared in four games at third base. The Dodgers could call him up shortly if he hits at Triple-A, but with the roster as currently constructed it’s hard to see a clear path to the bigs for Seager so I wouldn’t be rushing to the waiver-wire to add him.

 

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).