DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting offering from the Alarm is the DFS Playbook Pro. We have four coaches for football (QB, RB, WR and TE). Yours truly writes the QB piece each week, by the way. We also offer weekly DFS Rankings and Optimal lineups.

HITTERS

Jose Abreu lost .027 batting average points, .036 OBP points and .079 SLG. That means his OPS went down  .114 points. He also hit six fewer homers and had six fewer RBIs even though he had 57 more at-bats.

Xander Bogaerts was much better than I thought he would be. The seven homers and 10 steals, exactly what I expected. The .320 batting average? At least .040 points higher than I thought.

Michael Brantley went 15/15 with a .310/.379/.480 slash line despite a back situation. Last season he was at .327/.385/.506. He was really good in 2015, even if he wasn’t great.

Miguel Cabrera hit .338/.440/.534. He’s really good. His career marks are .321/.399/.562. He may have only hit 18 homers with 76 runs batted in over 119 games, but he was every bit the hitter he’s always been.

Josh Donaldson had 123 RBIs and 122 runs scored. Those are massive numbers. Don’t expect him to ever reach them again in the same season.

This is what we should really use Jello for.

Eric Hosmer may never be a star, but he’s still really good. In 2013 he went .302-17-79-86. In 2015 he went .297-18-93-98. The power will never grow, but that’s still a potent bat.

Brett Lawrie finally stayed healthy… and was less productive than I thought he would be. He appeared in 149 games, hitting 16 homers, good stuff. Alas, he had just 60 RBIs, 64 runs scored a .260 average and .706 OPS.

Jason Kipnis hit nine homers with 12 steals. Way below the 15/15 expectations I had for him. Honestly, 15/25 was what I was hoping for. At least he has a solid slash line (.303/.372/.451).

This hammerhead really didn’t like that kayak.

Manny Machado had 35 homers and 20 steals. The talent certainly was there for that type of effort. At the same time it’s amazing how quickly things coalesced. He had 33 homers his first 289 games with 10 steals. I know, right?

Kendrys Morales had 22 homers, 106 RBIs and 81 runs scored. I didn’t think he had that in him after years of middling work.

Kyle Seager can be on my team every year. The last three years he’s hit between 22 and 26 homers. He’s hit between .260 and .268, with an OBP between .328 and .338 each of the last three years. His SLG the last two years were .454 and .451. He’s also appeared in 160, 159 and 161 games.

 

Please watch this video from Jeff Mans. I just can’t stop laughing.
 

PITCHERS

Dellin Betances had 131 punch-outs in 84 innings. What an arm.

Marco Estrada got a lot of outs this season on his way to a 3.13 ERA and 1.04 WHIP over 181 innings. Shocked his fly ball arm accomplished that in that home ballpark.

Kyle Gibson had his best season. Yippee. He was virtually the most average of all hurlers across the board: 11-11, 3.84 ERA, 145 Ks, 1.29 WHIP over 194.2 innings.

Ubaldo Jimenez made 32 starts. Kevin Gausman made 17. Dylan Bundy made none.

Nathan Karns made 26 starts. He struck out 145 batters in 147 innings. He had a 3.67 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.

Have you had the special A1 bun for Halloween at Burger King? Please run out and try it.

Corey Kluber wasn’t as good as last year, but he was still very solid. He won a mere nine games and lost 16, but those record things don’t mean much to me. He had a 3.49 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 245 punch-outs. Keep the faith.

Colby Lewis won 17 games. Who knew?

Jake Odorizzi won nine games over 28 starts. He won 11 games over 31 starts in 2014. He dropped his ERA from 4.13 to 3.55 and his WHIP from 1.28 to 1.15. Lost 24 strikeouts though. Next question. Can he last 200 innings? At this point, it certainly doesn’t seem like there is a strong chance.

Jose Quintana was, well, the guy I said he would be. Not exciting but still impressive. I think. Here are the numbers: 9-10, 3.36 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 177 Ks over 206.1 innings. Solid is as solid does.

The Guide to the Chilies of Mexico.

Michael Pineda hurled 160.2 innings as health woes limited him. What I expected. After a hot start his performance also stunk late eading to a 4.37 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. His value is inflated because he has a NY on his hat.

Rick Porcello won nine games while losing 15. He also threw just 172 innings, his lowest total in five years. His 1.36 WHIP was a direct match to his career mark and his 4.92 ERA, well that was awful. For some reason folks continue to believe he will break out. He won’t.

Carlos Rodon made 26 appearances with 23 starts for the White Sox. Over his last eight starts he allowed two or fewer runs each time out to leave him with a 3.75 ERA and 139 strikeouts over 139.1 innings. The 1.44 WHIP is an issue and he has to do a better job with the walks (4.59 per nine). Great arm. Great.

Chris Sale is great. He had 274 strikeouts. That was 22 more than Chris Archer's who only threw 3.1 more innings. Tremendous work.

I’m very surprised that Garrett Richards was able to throw 207.1 innings coming back from his knee issue. I’m not surprised by the results – 15 wins, 3.65 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 176 Ks - though others seem to be since they expected more.

 

THE FANTASY ALARM PODCAST IS AVAILABLE (TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EACH WEEK). MANS AND FLOWERS TALK FOOTBALL, LADIES, BOOZE, DFS... YOU JUST NEVER KNOW.