DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting new offering from the Alarm is here! It’s 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
D’BACK, MARINERS DEAL
D’backs receive: Dominic Leone, Welington Castillo, Gabby Guerrero, Jack Reinheimer
Mariners receive: Mark Trumbo, Vidal Nuno
Player by player.
Leone is 0-4 with a 6.35 ERA and has been a mess with nine walks in 11.1 innings. He was pretty strong last year with a 2.17 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 9.50 K/9 and 55 percent ground ball rate. If he were to right the ship it’s possible he could see some save chances at some point. Hey, the 9th isn’t set at all with the D’backs with Brad Ziegler and Addison Reed vying for end of game work. A solid NL-only add is Leone.
The D’backs lost Tuffy Gosewisch for the year with a tear to his ACL. The club brought in Jarrod Saltalamacchia to be the lead guy behind the dish and they added Castillo in this deal. Castillo has actually hit .300/.366/.465 against lefties in his career in nearly 300 plate appearances. That’s elite level production. Salty has a .253/.326/.449 career slash line against righties in what looks like a potentially strong offensive duo behind the dish. Peter O’Brien is still hanging around, though this deal solidifies what everyone knows; O’Brien can’t really catch and is likely to be shifted to the outfield full-time moving forward. The dude can mash though as he’s hitting .333 with 12 homers and 47 RBIs in 50 games at Triple-A this season. He could get a call up at some point to help out in the outfield, but as Trumbo leaves Arizona Jake Lamb is nearing a return to health so there is likely no immediate push to call up O’Brien as the club can slot Yasmany Tomas back into the outfield if need be with Lamb at third.
Guerrero and Reinheimer are nice prospects. Guerrero was 5th in the Diamondbacks organizations player rankings according to MLB.com, and Reinheimer was a 5th round selection in 2013. Neither figures to be even a league specific option this year. MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo breaks down the prospects.
Trumbo brings a power bat to the Pacific Northwest and he will see some time at both corner outfield spots. He will also work at first base and DH at times as well. Per 162 games for his career Trumbo has averaged 32 homers and 100 RBIs, and the three seasons in which he’s had 525 at-bats he’s hit 39, 32 and 34 home runs with at least 87 RBIs each season. He’s also a career .248 batter who owns a .298 career OBP so he’s clearly a limited batter, no way around that, but he’s one of the best at what he does – and that is mash balls. While there is no disputing that Trumbo is moving from a strong homer park to one that doesn’t aid the batter, it’s not like Safeco is going to contain him. Just look at this graphic from ESPN that shows how all of his homers this year would have easily gone out in Seattle.
Trumbo is the same guy he has always been, and the Mariners now have a solid group of four bats who could cause a lot of damage if they all get going at one time: Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Trumbo and Kyle Seager. Trumbo is worth a huge bid in AL-only leagues. It’s better to have him for four months than to wait for a “better” bat to be moved at the trade deadline that will only give you two months’ worth of work. Note that Logan Morrison has an 11-game hitting streak as well though he could stand to lose a lot of playing time if Trumbo sees the majority of his work at first base.
Nuno may or may not be in the rotation at some point. He told press that he was told he would have a shot at a starting role though it’s hard to see how that will happen right now. Still, James Paxton and Hisashi Iwakuma are on the shelf likely until July, so there’s a chance Nuno will make some starts here and there. Most likely he’ll try to establish himself as the swingman of the Mariners staff. He’s worth an add off waivers in AL-only leagues, but not in the mixed setup.
RODNEY STILL CLOSING
Fernando Rodney is not pitching as well as Carson Smith. Period. Truth is though, it doesn’t seem to matter to Mariners managers Lloyd McClendon. Read his words.
“I think people talk very lightly about changing closers. And that’s fine, but you have to have somebody to do it. You just don’t throw anybody in the ninth inning… “I know people point to the kid, Carson Smith. But he’s a young kid, and we have to be careful with him, particularly with his innings, particularly with back-to-back-to-back. I’m not sure if he can do that. I think his velocity goes down quite a bit…I think part of him doing a nice job is the fact that we put him in situations where he can be successful.”
The fact is that the team doesn’t trust Smith in the 9th inning at the moment. There is also real concern about his ability to consistently go out there as it sometimes takes him a couple of days to recover after pitching on back to back days.
Rodney is close to an implosion, and you can roster Smith in most leagues. Just know that even if Rodney is demoted that it’s not at all certain that Smith would be named the full-time closer for the Mariners.
RENDON IS BACK
Anthony Rendon is finally ready to return to the Nats lineup. He’s been activated off the DL and is expected to play second base this evening. Rendon has been slowed by multiple issues this season delaying his start to the year by two months. In time he should be fine, but it’s pretty hard to trust him right now given that his eight games at the minor league level this season included no RBIs, one run and a .250 batting average. Hopefully he doesn’t take too long to find his swing. He’s gotta be looked at as a top-10 second base option with the ability, obviously, to climb much higher moving forward (don’t forget he’s also qualified at third base).
HAMILTON INJURY – UP GOES GALLO
Josh Hamilton lasted a week before yet another injury. A hamstring has felled him this time, and it sounds like he could miss a month of action. Shocker. 
Well, at least the Rangers can turn to Joey Gallo now. A few days ago it looked like Gallo would be around about three weeks until Adrian Beltre returned from his thumb injury. Now there’s an opening in the outfield and all of a sudden it looks like Gallo could stick with the big league club. Let me repeat a few things I wrote the other day.
- Gallo has as much raw power as any player in baseball.
- Gallo blasted 40 homers in 111 games in 2013.
- Gallo socked 42 homers in 126 games in 2014.
- Gallo has two games above Double-A.
- Gallo has a total of 379 at-bats above Single-A ball.
- In 1,177 at-bats in the minors Gallo has struck out 478 times. Perspective. That’s a pace that would net him 203 strikeouts in just 500 at-bats. If he were to pile up 575 at-bats the mark would swell to 234 strikeouts.
Gallo has been magnificent through two games with two homers, five RBIs and four runs scored. Note however that he’s also struck out four times in eight at-bats. He could be anywhere from Chris Davis to Mark Reynolds. Remember that.
HOW GOOD IS ALEX GUERREO?
Alex Guerrero is hitting .297 this season with a massive 10 homers in 101 at-bats. Here comes the reality check.
- Guerrero has struck out in a quarter of his at-bats (25 times).
- Guerrero has a 0.20 BB/K ratio, half the league average.
- For his career, and it’s only 114 at-bats, he’s hit .272 with a .306 OBP. Hello league average.
- There is no chance he will hold on to his 28.6 percent HR/F ratio. Just ain’t happening. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that number sees a 50 percent reduction moving forward.
TULO… FINALLY
Troy Tulowitzki is finally producing with the bat. Over his last five games he’s socked four dingers, driven in 10 runs, scored seven times and hit .500. Now that he’s hitting does that mean the inevitable injury is close at hand?
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).