Dellin Betances is struggling having allowed six runs his last 4.1 innings. Amazingly he has still recorded nine strikeouts in that time. Think about this for a moment. Betances has 55 strikeouts this season --- in 28 innings. That means he’s recorded 84 outs this season with 55 coming via the strikeout or 65.5 percent of the outs he’s earned. Read that again. How about this one. He’s faced 112 batters and 55 have struck out. That means 49 percent of the batters he has faced this season have struck out. Remarkable doesn’t begin to describe that work.

Tyler Duffey has a 2-4 record with a 4.79 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. Those are terrible numbers. Alas, they looked great after four outings but his last four trips to the bump have been disastrous: 7.94 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 1.99 HR/9. Not usable in any format at the moment is Duffey.

Matt Harvey has tossed back-to-back quality starts allowing just one run and one walk in the process. Those efforts are why you shouldn’t have sold low on Harvey. Certainly hope you didn’t. He still punched out only nine batters in 14 innings, but his mechanics have held up while the velocity returned. Great signs the last two. The window to buy low is rapidly shrinking.

Felix Hernandez… so much for a two week return. Sounds like it could be a lot longer than that as he attempts to come back from an ankle issue. "It’s going to take some time," manager Scott Servais said. "He’s still feeling it. He’s not running or anything like that. I’d like to get his arm activated so we don’t lose too much time there." Hernandez himself even said he didn’t know how long it would be. "I don’t know, man. I’ve got to see the doctor." For now, the team will continue to turn to James Paxton who has walked only two batters but struck out 17 in 9.2 innings of work in the bigs. Paxton is worth a short-term pickup in most mixed leagues, but note that he still figures to be sent to the minors when Hernandez is healthy unless the Mariners want to demote Wade Miley to the bullpen.

Derek Holland has allowed 30 earned runs this season. Eleven of them came in one outing against the Blue Jays. Remove that one effort and Holland has a 3.00 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. Compare that set of numbers to his 4.53 ERA and 1.31 WHIP this season. Truth be told, Holland has been very solid this season and probably shouldn’t be on as many waiver-wire’s as he is. It[‘s not all rosie, not with a 4.98 K/9 mark, but he’s still be pretty darn solid.

Hisashi Iwakuma is 35 years old and far from a sexy beast in the fantasy game. He’s also rolling with a 4.13 ERA, the worst of his career. So it’s time to move on. Or is it? Hisashi has a 7.07 K/9 mark, less than a half batter below his career level. His 2.12 walk rate per nine would be a 4-year low, but it’s still an impressive mark (he’s also walked just one batter in three games). The resulting 3.33 K/BB ratio though still show that Hisashi can get it done. My biggest concern is the drastic drop in his ground ball rate. After being over 50 percent the first four seasons the mark has dropped all the way to 41 percent this year. Keep an eye on that. Iwakuma has also gone six innings in 5-straight starts. I’m still a fan.

Scott Kazmir seems to be hurt and in danger of missing his next start pretty much every week. Currently dealing with a leg that cramped up last time out, Kazmir expects to make his start Saturday against the Giants. Kazmir has racked up an impressive 72 punchouts in 68.2 innings, and his 1.24 WHIP is certainly playable. The ERA is elevated at 4.46, and I just can’t ever shake the feeling that seven runs, or an injury, is just around the bend.

Tyler Chatwood has been fantastic on the road, but don’t trust him at home. Trevor Bauer has a big strikeout arm. Mashahiro Tanaka’s strikeout rate has plummeted and it is a concern. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO.

Jose Quintana – there’s nothing wrong folks. The only thing wrong with Quintana are your expectations that he’s going to win the Cy Young award. Sure he’s slowed a bit the last four times he’s taken the bump, especially last time out when he allowed five runs and 12 baserunners over 4.2 innings, and there’s still some further regression coming. He’s currently rocking an 8.33 K/9 rate that is a batter above his career level and would be a career best. Some pull back could happen. He’s also allowed just two homers in 12 starts. He’s always keeping the ball in the yard, but in three of four seasons the HR/9 mark has been 0.70 or higher. It’s currently sitting at 0.23. This is especially true since he’s allowing a 36 percent fly ball rate which is above his 33.2 percent career mark. Solid is Quintana, just expect some slowing after his remarkable start.

Drew Smyly has seen his ERA swell to 4.94, which when placed next to his 2-7 record spells disaster to many. It shouldn’t. Smyly is still 17th in baseball in K/9 at 9.76. Smyly is also 20th in baseball with a 4.05 K/BB ratio. Those are not the numbers of a guy who should have a 4.94 ERA. He also simply cannot continue to post a HR/9 rate of 1.77, he’s allowed 14 homers in 12 starts, even if he is an extreme fly ball pitcher. Don’t give up on this lefty.

Justin Verlander allowed seven runs on May 3rd. Since then he’s allowed 10 runs in six starts. Before you get all giddy about Verlander, as I know so many are, realize that we have six awful starts to start the year (6.49 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 2.54 K/BB ratio) and six great starts of late (2.01 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 5.20 K/BB ratio). Why does everyone just assume the last six start Verlander is who he is after the least three years of league average work? It’s like when I talk about Giancarlo Stanton. People won’t face facts and always seem willing to grasp at the what could be versus what is. Realize that for half this season Verlander has been great but for half the year he’s also been awful. Why are you assuming the six great starts are who he is?

Matt Wisler allowed eight runs in four innings his last start to elevate his ERA to 3.98. He’s just not that good folks.  

 

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 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).