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
DAVIS vs. BRUCE
I keep getting questions about Khris Davis, and while I get it, I don’t. I think the perception of who he is, or rather who he could become, is kinda off. To that end, I’ll simply compare him to Jay Bruce, you know the guy everyone hates and doesn’t want on their team. Here are each fella’s fantasy numbers this season.
Bruce: .228-26-84-71-9
Davis: .246-.26-65-51-6
There is no debate, Bruce has been better. Of course, that’s not the whole story. Bruce has 557 at-bats while Davis has a mere 370. That’s a massive difference. Davis also has a nearly ninety point OPS edge as well (.830 to .739). On a per at-bat basis Davis has been the better hitter, there is no question about that. However, does that mean Davis is a soon to be fantasy star? Who is Davis?
Davis is a career .249 hitter who is batting .244 this season.
Davis is a career .315 OBP fella has a .322 mark this season.
Davis is a career .495 SLG guy who has a .508 mark this season.
Add it all up and for his career Davis has a slash line of .249/.315/.495. Over the course of his career the average hitter in the National League has a .259/.323/.411 slash line. Davis has a huge power advantage over the league average hitter, but as you can see is below the league average in the other two measures. Have to be a bit worried about his ability to maintain his current 24.8 percent HR/F ratio as well. A 30 homer season next season could certainly happen, but it will be accompanied by a handful of steals and a poor batting average. Hello Jay Bruce. If that excites you go for it. Just don’t go expecting him to hit 40 homers with 100 RBIs in 2016.
ANGELS CLOSER SITUATION
Huston Street injured his groin Saturday and he is done for the rest of the regular season. Joe Smith is still out with an ankle issue and things are so rough he’s even been trying on all kinds 
of shoes trying to find one that will allow him to pitch. For now, it’s a no go, though he might have found a high top cleat that will help. Still, it’s extremely unclear if he will be able to pitch the final week.
So who do the Angels have close the final week? Say it with me… we have a committee on hands. "It's going to take every arm we have down there, it's not going to be one guy moving into the closer's role," manager Mike Scioscia said. Guess that means we could see Mike Morin, Cesar Ramos, Fernando Salas or Trevor Gott get the look. With so many arms, and so much uncertainty, I won’t even attempt to suggest an arm to grab since, if I’m being honest, I just don’t have a read on this situation. Problem is, I don’t know if the Angels do either.
HOW CAN YOU TRUST PAXTON?
As good as James Paxton might one day be, the fact is that the guy simply cannot stay on the field. His latest setback has to do with a torn fingernail. Really? Paxton won’t make his start Wednesday and that likely means he won’t pitch against this season. He will end the year at 3-4 with a 3.90 ERA and 1.43 WHIP over the course of 67 innings. I’m not buy in any league next season.
Also, if you missed it, teammate Taijuan Walker has been shut down for the year (we think) so you will need to go in another direction in the final week of the season.
BRITTON BACK
Zack Britton threw an inning Sunday in his return from a lat issue. The lefty would appear to be ready to close this week over Darren O’Day. Has there been a better late inning duo in the American League? Maybe, but these two guys have been tremendous.
Britton: 2.01 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, 5.5 K/BB, 34 saves
O’Day: 1.44 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 6.0 K/BB, six saves, 14 holds
Here is an explanation of why O’Day, who throws 87 mph, is so successful.
HILL OUT OF CONTROL
Have you seen the role Rich Hill is on? It’s absolutely stupid time right now. The highlights.
(1) Over three starts this season for the Red Sox he has a 2-0 record, 1.17 ERA and has 30 punchouts with two walks. (2) Hill is the only pitcher in the American League, over the last 100 years, to record at least 10 strikeouts in each of his first three starts with the team. (3) He is the first pitcher in Sox history to have a streak of 3-straight starts of seven innings with at least 10 strikeouts and one or fewer walks. (4) Hill has a 1.15 ERA over 54.2 innings over the course of his Red Sox career. That’s the lowest ever for a Red Sox hurler, ever (minimum 25 innings). (5) Hill also owns the Red Sox Record with 15-striaght scoreless appearances without allowing an earned run out of the bullpen (back in 2010-11).
The 35 year old Hill will be a free agent this offseason and the last time he made 15 starts at the big league level was in 2007 with the Cubs.
He has one more start this week, and I can’t think of a single reason why you wouldn’t start him at this point.
STILL HITTING
Just checking in… Starlin Castro is batting .407 with four homers and 18 RBIS over 21 September games. He’s also sporting an impressive 1.149 OPS for the Cubs.
HE'S NOT FAST BUT…
Evan Gattis is hitting .245 with a .281 OBP. Those are two pretty downright brutal numbers. No one cares though as he’s hit 26 homers with 86 RBIs and 64 runs scored. No one cares though since he qualifies as a catcher this season. Will he qualify there next year? No he won’t. He hasn’t appeared once as a catcher this season. He’s also appeared in only 11 games in the outfield meaning that he will qualify only as a designated hitter/utility option next season in the fantasy game. That will totally kill his fantasy value.
One last fact… Gattis hasn’t stolen one base but he’s hit, get this, 10 doubles. That means he has 26 homers, 20 doubles and 10 triples. How many guys have gone 25-20-10 this season? Gattis is the only one. In point of fact, no other player in baseball has gone 15-20-10.
CY YOUNG WINNER?
Most thought it would be Zack Greinke, but check it. Since August Jake Arrieta has a 0.44 ERA. I’ll dig into this at a later date, but just wow. How is this for one more amazing stat. Since the starts of late season Arrieta has a higher extra base hit rate as a batter (5.51) than he has allowed as a pitcher (5.13). That boggles the mind.
Finally…
It’s the last week of the regular season. Be careful you aren’t expecting two starts out of every guy who takes the hill Monday. Also, be careful with teams that are already set for the playoffs and have their spot on lockdown. Later in the week those teams might choose to rest their starters, or perhaps let them go but in a very limited fashion (either in terms of innings or pitch count). The most obvious examples are the Mets, Royals, Cardinals and Dodgers.
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