DEE GORDON IS A CHEATER

Over the first 621 at-bats of Dee Gordon’s career he hit .256.

Over his last 1,318 at-bats Dee Gordon has hit .308.

Natural growth or flat out cheating?

We will never know.

Dee Gordon was busted for PED’s and has been suspended 80 games for their use starting immediately (note that he tested positive for two banned substances).

What will the Marlins do? They aren’t sure yet. Sounds like Miguel Rojas and Derek Dietrich will both see some work at the position (I would favor Dietrich, but merely in an NL-only setup).

As for Gordon, he will miss half the season. Some general thoughts on his fantasy outlook.

If you can’t stash him on the DL or in an NA slot, and let’s be honest you should not be allowed to do either of those things, it’s pretty hard in many setups to hold on to him.

In a 10-team league – I would drop Gordon.

In 12/15 team leagues I can’t say dropping him is wrong. It’s really on a case by case basis. I will say that with the pressure he will be under, plus the time he will miss, makes it unlikely that he returns guns a blazing. Let’s not forget he was hitting a mere .266 with a sickly .289 OBP in 21 games this season. Merely a slow start? Was the pressure of the case getting to him? Did he stop taking the illegal substances and it sapped the edge? We just don’t know.

People cheat. They always have, and they always will. That’s just a fact. It will never change.

The follow up to that is this – you have NO idea who is cheating. I hear all the flipping time, believe me, that a player improved and that must mean he is taking PEDs. Of course, that’s about as nuanced a thought as saying women will vote for Hillary Clinton merely because she is a woman (don’t you think woman are smarter than merely voting for a chromosome? I certainly do). You DO NOT know who is cheating. You don’t. Just look at Dee Gordon. He’s about 5’11” and might, might weigh 170 lbs. There ain’t a person on the planet who would look at him and say that he was on PEDs. Not one. Yet here we are.

So please, stop sending me notes saying you know player A or B is on roids. You don’t know. I don’t know. No one knows. Until a player is caught, unfortunately, none of us do.

URIAS TO PEN?

Julio Urias might be the top left-handed pitching prospect in baseball. The 19 year old lefty of the Dodgers has the skills to get batters out in the major leagues right now. However, there are concerns about innings with the youngster, not to mention the fact that the Dodgers literally have like nine guys who could be starting for them this season. There is no need to rush Urias.

So where does the uber-prospect end up in 2016? Perhaps in the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Urias was used in relief Thursday night. That likely means one of two things.

1 – The Dodgers are preparing to get the lefty ready to help them out of the bullpen later this season.

2 – The Dodgers are merely keeping him active while closely monitoring his workload. In this scenario the Dodgers are going go skip starts or limit Urias to some work out of the bullpen here and there to keep his frames low so he can start for the big league club late in the year.

I find it much more likely that option #1 is what happens. I would not plan on Urias helping out in the big leagues this season as a starting pitcher. He’s too young and simply doesn’t have enough innings on his arm yet.

PIRATES PROSPECTS

I’m getting sooooooo tired of the unceasing questions each and every day about rookies, or more appropriately minor leaguers. I have no idea when a team will call a player up. You can ask and ask, and you incessantly do, but there’s no way I can answer the question for you. A player needs skill and opportunity. I can break down the skills for you, but in terms of opportunity – who knows? That’s the part that I don’t get. A player needs more than skill to get called up, they need an opportunity (think Sean Manaea or Jose Berrios who only got the call to the big leagues because of injury and horrible performance of others). A player in the big leagues has to come down with an injury, or perform horribly, for a minor leaguer to be called up.

All of that talk doesn’t even take into account contract status. Holding a minor leaguer in the minors until the second week of June allows the player to avoid being termed a Super 2 player which means they do not gain arbitration a year early. By that I mean that if a player is kept in the minors past the second week of June then the team can avoid having to go to arbitration for one more season. That can save a team millions upon millions of dollars.

So stop asking me. I don’t know when your favorite prospect will be called up.

Hell, even the Pirates GM is telling you to be patient. Listen to GM Neal Huntington talk about Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon and say things like “we are still conservative when moving our guys from Triple-A to the big leagues.”

 

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: in 39 at-bats against righties this season Jarrod Saltalamacchia is batting .282/.378/.795 with five homers over 39 at-bats. Over his last 31 outings Phil Hughes has allowed 31 home runs.

FIRST BASE: Robbie Ray has dominated lefties (.259 OPS) but he hasn’t been as successful against righties who are batting .317 with a .702 OPS. Mark Reynolds doesn’t have a homer against lefties this season but he is batting .292 with an impressive .393 OBP.

SECOND BASE: Rougned Odor faces Hector Santiago whom he has hit .474 with a homer against in 19 at-bats. Odor has been effective this season against lefties with a .280 average and .748 OPS.  

THIRD BASE: Tyler Chatwood has had some success this season, but he’s also faired very poorly against righties (.311/.367/.510). Brandon Drury has two hits in six of his last nine games while scoring five times in five games. Drury has also hit balls into the seats in each of his last two starts.

SHORTSTOP: Zack Cozart has a .482 wOBA the last seven days with two homers, four RBI and six runs scored. He faces Juan Nicasio who has allowed 11 walks his last three starts and who has failed to last more than five innings in two of three outings.

OUTFIELD: Kole Calhoun circles the schedule when the Angels are set to face Colby Lewis. Over 28 plate appearances Kole has hit .393 with a 1.036 OPS that includes two doubles, a triple and a homer. Calhoun has always loved to take on the Rangers (.297/.338/.508).

OUTFIELD: Jayson Werth has a .368/.458/.579 slash line over 24 plate appearances against Mike Leake. The Cards righty has allowed a homer in each of his last two outings and he’s the holder of an 0-2 record, a 5.64 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and .304 batting average against.

OUTFIELD: Hunter Pence has a .611 wOBA his last six games and that includes two homers, five RBI and seven runs scored. He’s been tearing up lefties with a .292/.414/.542 slash line against lefties this season and he takes on Steven Matz.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).