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.

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CUETO DEALT

Reds receive: Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb, Cody Reed

Royals receive: Johnny Cueto

Cueto will continue to be a star with the Royals with health being the only concern (he’s a free agent after the 2015 season). The move to the AL hurts a bit, but he also moves to a part that slightly improves his outlook versus the ball yard in Cincy. Seems like a wash to be. Cueto is still an SP1.

As for what the Reds received, the only piece that matters in 2015 is likely Finnegan. A reliever for the Royals to this point of his young career, it sounds like the Reds want him to start as his long-term outlooks dictates he should. "Finnegan was the key guy for us," GM Walt Jocketty said. "He's a guy who has proven he can pitch in the big leagues as a reliever, but we see him as a starter." Finnegan will became at Triple-A and stretch his arm out. As of now, the Reds have Mike Leake, Anthony DeSclafani, Michael Lorenzen, Tony Cingrani and Raul Iglesias starting. When Finnegan gets stretched out you would have to think he’s added to the rotation, especially if Leake is dealt and Lorenzen keep struggling. Finnegan is a must add in NL-only leagues but you can afford to be patient in mixed leagues.

HOT HITTERS – HAVE YOU NOTICED?

Jay Bruce is finally hitting. Over his last 14 trips to the ballfield he’s batting .351 with a .377 OBP, .684 SLG and .446 wOBA. He’s also powered four balls into the seats and driven in 13 runners. That stretch has helped push his season long slash line up to .258/.341/.484. Know what his career numbers are? Try .252/.325/.468 on for size. Boom goes the dynamite, right?

Nick Castellanos is actually doing well in July. I know, who knew? In his last two games he has two homers and four RBIs. But, he’s been doing well for a good period of time if you hadn’t noticed, and we’ve established that you haven’t. In July he has a .286 batting average, six homers and 19 RBIs while toasting hurlers for a .913 OPS. He’s on waivers in a lot of mixed leagues. He shouldn’t be at the moment.

Carlos Gonzalez has five homers and 11 RBIs his last five games. Over his last 14 games he’s batting .429 with a .467 OBP and .946 SLG leading to a .591 wOBA. Eight homers, 19 RBIs and 15 runs have been part of the party as well. Don’t know about you, but I think he’s back… with a vengeance. He’s rarely looked better over a three week stretch at any point during his big league career. He’s no longer a 5-category star though in the fantasy game as he’s stole five bases his last 159 games played. He simply doesn’t run anymore, but the bat is scorching hot. Kind of like the Human Torch.

 

Ben Paulsen had two homers, four hits, and four RBIs Sunday for the Rockies. He’s first base eligible in all leagues and holds outfield eligibility in many as well. That’s nice. He’s also been a very effective performer this season. Paulsen is batting .293. Paulsen has a .350 OBP. Paulsen has a .512 SLG. Anthony Rizzo is batting .282. Jose Abreu has a .340 OBP. Chris Davis has a .484 OBP. Paulsen has been a nice little player, and with Justin Morneau (concussion) nowhere close to a return, Paulsen should remain a viable option moving forward in mixed leagues.

HOT PITCHERS – HAVE YOU NOTICED?

Mark Buehrle has a 3.29 ERA and 1.19 WHIP this season for the Jays. The following pitchers cannot match both of those numbers: Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, Jeff Samardzija, Jon Lester, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Pineda, Lance Lynn, Jordan Zimmerman, Carlos Martinez etc. Over his last 10 starts MB has a 1.78 ERA and has walked a total of seven batters leading to a 1.02 WHIP. His K/9 rate is under 4.75 the last two months so you’re not getting anything there, but he’s on one heck of a role. Is he on your waiver-wire?

Danny Duffy has a 2.18 ERA his last five starts. That’s really impressive. Don’t be fooled (I know this is a “hot” piece but I just couldn’t resist with Duffy). During those 33 innings of work Duffy has a 3.82 K/9 rate. Pathetic. His xFIP is 4.70… more than double the raw ERA. He’s been hot, but you need to be careful with Duffmiester.

Taylor Jungmann has made nine starts for the Brewers with a 2.14 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. Great stuff. He’s also 5-2 giving his owners big time production. Still… his 81.3 percent left on base percentage is too high. His .258 BABIP is likely too low. His .208 BAA is too low. With a 7.02 K/9 and 2.42 K/BB ratio there’s also some concern about his HR/9 mark of 0.31. I know he gets about 53 percent of the old batted balls hit into the ground, but that homer rate still has to go up, doesn’t it? Tread carefully in mixed leagues.

John Lackey has a 1.56 ERA over his last five outings and over his last eight outings the mark rises to only 1.75. He’s allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of those eight outings and only once time, on July 11th, did he fail to last seven innings in a start (6.2 by the way). His K-rate is just 5.88 in that time and that’s not helping anyone, but when you take his work as a whole, toss in a 5-1 record, you’ve got a vet who is rolling along at a level he can’t possibly sustain, though you would be a fool to turn away from him at the moment.

Hector Santiago has a 1.74 ERA over his last five starts on his way to a 3-0 record for the Angels. Given his work overall, it’s not a shock to say that, which is in and of itself shocking. Through 20 outings Santiago has a 2.43 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. He’s also punched out 8.52 batters per nine while walking 2.89 per nine. Here are the concerns though. I don’t know if his stuff can sustain the K-rate. His ERA is artificially low thanks to an out of this world left on base percentage mark of 87.4 percent. No one posts a mark that high. No one. It’s going to come crashing down at some point and his ERA could go up a full run. Also worried by his 51 percent fly ball rate. His HR/9 mark is 1.06, a low mark given all the fly balls, thanks to an 8.3 percent HR/F ratio. If that mark ticks up his ERA will fly upwards as well. 

 

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).