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.
OTHER LINKS TO BOOKMARK
FLAMING OUT - PITCHERS
Trevor Bauer has been demoted to the bullpen, and he deserved it. On the year he’s gone 11-12 with a 4.71 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. The strikeouts are great, 165 in 168 innings, but the rest of his game is lacking (including his 4.07 walk rate per nine). Over his last seven starts he’s been even worse with a 7.63 ERA and 6.16 BB/9 rate. He deserved this demotion.
Danny Duffy has been demoted to the bullpen, and he deserved it. Duffy is 7-8 with a 4.25 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. He’s also the owner of a terrible 1.76 K/BB ratio. Over his last six starts for the Royals he is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA with a 3.90 BB/9 rate and a 1.60 WHIP. He will get a chance to make the postseason roster as a lefty out of the pen. As noted before the season began, Duffy was being impossibly over drafted based upon his ratios from last season (2.53 ERA, 1.11 WHIP). He was never going to come close to either number. No way, no how.
Shelby Miller is 0-6 with a 5.56 ERA his last six starts to drop his record to 5-15 with a 3.00 ERA on the year. He continues to soldier on, give him credit for that, but the Braves utter lack of support is likely killing him slowly. Miller has a 4.08 xFIP over the last six starts, it hasn’t been as bad as it seems during the last month plus, but he’s not helping himself out much with a 3.44 BB/9. Pretty unlucky with a .364 BABIP in the stretch and that number is .288 for the year.
Tommy Milone has been obliterated the last two starts allowing nine earned runs, 12 overall, in just five innings. He’s also walked five guys, uncharacteristic for him. Guess what? Those beatings have brought his ERA to 4.08 and his WHIP to 1.30. Do you know what his career numbers are? Try 4.00 and 1.30. Who would have thought… regression to the mean. How strange.
Garrett Richards has one victory and a 5.28 ERA over his last five starts. The K rate is still there, more than one an innings, but he’s having a hard time keeping the ball in the yard (1.17 per nine) and his walk rate is climbing (4.40 per nine). I worried about this all offseason – how would Richards finish the year after being unable to train all offseason because of his jacked up knee.
Hector Santiago threw 141.1 innings last season. This year he’s at 166, a career-high, and it seems that he’s wearing out. Over his last six starts he’s gone 1-3 with a 7.03 ERA and 1.81 WHIP. He also walked 19 while striking out only 18. He’s failed to pitch four innings in three of the starts and five innings in four of six. He’s a total disaster at the moment and cannot be started in any format.
FLAMING OUT – HITTERS
Byron Buxton has been an utter disaster for the Twins. When he hasn’t been hurt he’s done nothing. Honestly, a player with his talent being this much of a mess is a surprise. Buxton is batting .200 with a .509 OPS in 35 games. Madison Bumgarner has a mark of .760. Buxton hasn’t hit a homer. He’s only stolen two bags. An utter waste to this point throwing his 2016 outlook into 
doubt.
Eric Hosmer is batting a mere .218 with no homers the last month. He’s still scored 15 runs, but his .257 SLG is flat out pathetic.
Jason Kipnis where have you gone? Over his last 116 plate appearances the former second base star is batting .204 with a .252 OBP and a .324 SLG. He hasn’t stolen a base in 26 games either. The month long struggles have dropped his season long numbers to .300/.371/.444. Those are obviously still strong numbers, but he’s a lead weight right now.
Gerardo Parra is batting .190 with a homer and two steals over 25 games. Ugh. His luck vanished when he moved to the Orioles. Overall he’s been terrific (.295-14-45-78-11), just not for five weeks now.
Jhonny Peralta cannot be started right now. He’s got no homers, six RBIs and a .253 SLG over his last 25 games. He’s doing nothing to help a fantasy squad. Nothing.
Pablo Sandoval has no homers and a .195/.228/.276 slash line his last 21 games. It’s not really accurate to say he’s flaming out. He’s never been on fire this season.
Kyle Schwarber is batting .171 with a .256 OBP over his last 78 plate appearances. He’s hit six homers in that time, but the rest of his game is on the pullback.
INJURIES
Billy Hamilton has flown back to Cincinnati to have his shoulder examined again. I’m gonna call it – I would be surprised if he played again this season. What a terrible waste.
Desmond Jennings (knee) admitted Friday that his season is likely over. Shocker. A onetime 20/20 threat who went 14/20 in 2013, Jennings has yet to appear in 140 games in a season and was limited to just 28 games this season. An AL-only option next year is all he be.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Thursday at 8 PM EDT and Friday at 9 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).