We are officially a week into the season! This is the time where everyone likes to overreact to things that have happened. I would like to remind you that fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint! That being said, I think we can all just crown me champion of every league that I am in and save all of you the trouble of having to keep up with me. Now that we got that out of the way...
Things That Make You Go “Hmmmm…”
Michael Conforto will be activated from the DL on Thursday. Conforto traveled with the team to Washington for their upcoming series with the Nationals. Conforto, who had offseason shoulder surgery, returned much faster than anyone had expected from the DL. He should be good to throw back into your lineups now.
Patrick Corbin was outstanding versus a good Dodgers team. He struck out 12 in over seven innings of one-hit ball. He got a ton of swinging strikes on his slider which was excellent. However, Corbin is a sell-high candidate for me. He only has two pitches and really struggled the two times he threw his curveball, both landing in front of the plate. Without this third pitch, he will get exposed eventually.
Brandon Phillips hopes to play for a Major League team this season, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. The 36-year-old is open to a utility role to continue his career. Phillips isn’t the player he once was, but could still be a valuable MLB piece if an injury presents itself. He isn’t worth stashing right now, but keep an eye on where/if he signs.
Zack Cozart walked off the Indians in 13 innings yesterday. He has been good this year, but more importantly for fantasy, he has played all over the diamond, racking up starts at second and third base. By May he will likely have eligibility at second, third and shortstop, making him a very flexible player that will get full-time at bats in a potent lineup.
According to Andy McCullough, Kenta Maeda may pitch out of the bullpen for the rest of this week. The Dodgers, who are playing at San Francisco this weekend, are potentially looking at 1-2 rainouts and do not want to take Clayton Kershaw off of his regular five day schedule, so they may look to skip Maeda in the rotation. There also may be some gamesmanship going on as well. Maeda has an incentive laden contract that gives him $1,000,000 for his 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, and 32nd start in a season as well as $250k for every 10 innings pitched after 80 innings. Last season, Maeda pitched only 134.1 innings and started 25 games and only went six innings or more in 6 of those games. It may be difficult for him to top that this year.
Jack Flaherty was optioned to AAA. The Cardinals made the move to activate Adam Wainwright from the DL. Flaherty was impressive in his first start of the season and will likely be up as soon as needed in St. Louis. Keep Flaherty stashed, if you can, as there is a bit of risk to a number of the Cardinals starters. Wainwright is not fantasy relevant at this point.
What We’ll Be Watching Today
- Paxton vs Gibson. James Paxton struggled in his first start, while Kyle Gibson was fantastic. Can Paxton turn it around? Will Gibson turn back into a pumpkin? This matchup is probably the second most intriguing of the day behind deGrom vs. Strasburg.
- Martin Perez makes his season debut after missing the beginning after hurting his elbow in an incident with his bull. That’s right, an incident with HIS bull. Don’t worry. He reportedly ate the bull responsible.
- What are the Reds doing with their outfield rotation? Billy Hamilton has also yet to steal a base this year.
- Can Robbie Ray pull it together? He was awful in his last start, but the talent is there.
- How bad is this oblique injury that Christian Yelich suffered?
Baseball. Lots of baseball.