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
DFS MLB Playbook
HOW GOOD IS JOSE IGLESIAS?
I get a note from a fella about once a week extolling the talents of Jose Iglesias. Dude thinks Iglesias is a star. I get press clippings about his defense, which is admittedly impressive though that has nothing to do with fantasy baseball, and the fact that Iglesias is hitting .337. That’s great. Agreed. But seriously guy. Here’s the rest of the story you are leaving out.
(1)Iglesias has one homer this season and five in his career (605). That’s horrible.
(2)Iglesias has nine RBIs this season. Nine. Jed Lowrie who has been on the DL since April 27th has 10.
(3)Iglesias has scored 13 runs this season. Hector Gomez has 13 runs scored.
That effort puts Iglesias on pace for two homers, 22 RBIs and 32 runs scored. That’s horrible. Not good, not average, but horrible.
The two areas that he’s having success in.
(4)Iglesias is batting, as mentioned, .337. Hard to think he holds on to the .370 BABIP of the 26 percent line drive rates. Those are massive numbers. His career mark is .293 in the batting average category.
(5)He has eight steals. That’s nice. He’s been caught five times. That’s not good. He also has one theft in 18 games and if you remove his first game of the season he has six thefts in 54 contests.
Given expectations coming into the season he’s been great. In an AL-only league you’re pumped. In a mixed league that’s one hollow batting average.
ANOTHER CALLUP NEARING?
Miguel Sano is right there as a power prospect with guys like Kris Bryant and Joey Gallo. The 22 year old slugger missed last season after Tommy John 
surgery, but the 6’4”, 260 lbs beast is starting to hit. After a slow start, he was batting .163 on May 6th, Sano has hit .320 with seven homers in 33 games at Double-A (he has less than 450 at-bats above Single-A in his life). The Twins seem impressed by how he is carrying himself right now, and there are whispers, OK actual words, suggesting that he might join Byron Buxton at the big league level soon. Maybe. “It’s a realistic thing to ask about when you have people who can come up and help you,” manager Paul Molitor said. “Every day that goes by, he’s closer to getting here. That’s kind of a general answer, but whether it’s in a couple weeks or September, we’ve been looking for him to get consistency.” He will strikeout a ton, one a game if not more could happen making him a Pedro Alvarez type, but the power will play. Unfortunately, it’s not clear where Sano would play if called up. Trevor Plouffe figures to stick at third which might mean that Kennys Vargas would take a seat with Sano filling the DH role though the Twins need to establish who Vargas is before they move on from him (in my opinion).
For a call up date I would say late second half, but what do I know. Seems like teams simply can’t wait to replace established big leaguers with talented youngsters so perhaps the Sano call-up will happen much sooner than that.
A RETURN IS NEAR
Been getting some questions about Ervin Santana from folks. The righty of the Twins is eligible to return on July 4th from his 80-game suspension for PED use. Sounds like he has a pretty good shot of being called up at that time.
Santana will make a start at Triple-A Saturday, the first of three planned starts before he joins the Twins as long as he’s physically right. “I would think that if his starts go well in terms of health, and not so much results,” Molitor said, “when it’s time for him to come here and pitch, that’s what’s going to happen.” Santana will certainly be part of the rotation, zero doubt there. Ditto Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson, which leaves Trevor May, Mike Pelfrey and Ricky Nolasco to vie for two spots. Nolasco is dealing with ankle woes right now in his attempt to return to the bump, so he’s the obvious guy on the outs at the moment. Two things.
(1) Santana had made at least 30 starts in 40-straight seasons before his suspension. He’s settled in as the quintessential innings eater. Four times in his last five seasons his ERA has been 3.95 or lower, and three of the last four seasons his WHIP has been 1.27 or better. Those are solid numbers, though not much different than replacement level. It’s interesting to note that he struck out 8.22 batters per nine last season, a full batter above his career mark. Thanks can to go his 11.8 swinging strike rate which was a career best rate. Only twice in the last six years has he bad a mark over nine percent which makes sustaining that level a bit dubious to expect. He was dead on his walk rate last season at 2.89 per nine (career 2.82), but the key might be the big fly. Last season his HR/9 mark was 0.73. That was the first time in five years the mark was under 1.00 (career 1.17). According to Park Factors Target Field is the 9th best park to hit a homer at in 2015 (the stadium was 14th last season). Target Field isn’t exactly a homer haven, but it does allow a few more homers than the general fan believes. Bottom line is the park really isn’t going to be doing Santana many favors.
Do you add Santana in a 10 team mixed league? I would not. In a 12 or 15 team league it would depend who I was dropping and what my need was. Santana could easily be a solid second half innings eater, so if a 3.75 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 7.0 K/9 mark appeal to you, have at it. Of course, missing half the season should make you a bit dubious that will happen.
(2) How in the world is Pelfrey doing this? Through 12 starts he has a 3.18 ERA, though SIERA (4.53) and x FIP (4.50) point to the impending doom that a 4.33 K/9 mark, 1.55 K/BB ratio, and 78 percent left on base percentage portend. Even if you’re in an AL-only league you’re operating on borrowed time here. Even if he somehow sustains some level of success the dearth of strikeouts hammers his roto value.
WHEN A LEFTY IS ON THE HILL…
For those people who play the daily game, or if you’re in an AL-only league, you already know all about the guys I’m about to mention. However, if you play in mixed leagues you may not. Let’s meet two guys that should pretty much always be in your lineup when there’s a lefty on the bump.
Ryan Raburn plays for the Indians. Though he used to qualify in the infield it’s all about the outfielder for him at this point. He barely plays against righties, he has only 13 at-bats this season against them, but when there is a lefty on the bump he mashes like his hero is Miguel Cabrera. This season, over 90 plate appearances, Raburn is batting .313 with a .398 OBP and .550 SLG. That’s elite level work indeed. The numbers are quite as good for his career, but per 500 at-bats against lefties, he has 977 actual at-bats, he’s hit .259 with 23 homers, 78 RBIs and a .809 OPS. He’s Brandon Moss when a lefty is on the bump.
Danny Valencia qualifies at third base and outfield in most leagues. His overall numbers this year are eye catching (.322/.340/.511). However, he has 90 at-bats all season while hitting only two homers with two steals, so chances of him being rostered in most mixed leagues are pretty small. However, in the 42 at-bats he’s bad with a lefty on the hill he’s been channeling his inner Ty Cobb hitting .405 with a .432 OBP and .524 SLG. He’s no one year wonder either. In 552 career at-bats against lefties, pretty much a full season worth of work, Valencia is batting .333 with 14 homers and 85 runs scored. He’s also gotten on base at a .373 clip while producing a .504 SLG.
These two men crush lefties.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).