Homer Bailey is coming back from elbow surgery. He's won't break camp with the Reds but the expectation is that he will be on the bump for the Reds by the end of April. He tossed five innings in a minor league game Wednesday though the results were poor (five runs). 

Trevor Bauer has appeared five times in spring with a 4.57 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. So-so results. A reason to be intrigued though: try on for size 18 strikeouts and one walk. This might be the season he finally puts things together.

Kyle Gibson has had a solid spring with a 2.75 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over 19.2 innings. Add in 17 strikeouts and maybe "solid" isn't a strong enough word. Still, be cautious with Kyle. Dude is wildly inconsistent and through 41 career starts his numbers do not hint that a breakout is coming in 2015, that's what we say about a guy who has a 4.92 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 5.31 K/9 mark. 


Roberto Hernandez has been named the Astros 5th starter. You shouldn't care.


Tim Lincecum finishes his spring training work with a 6.27 ERA. He's been named the Giants 5th starting pitcher. Ryan Vogelsong and Yusmeiro Petit are lurking. 

Tyler Matzek and Jonathan Gray. I could care less. Don't know why anyone in a mixed league would care either. No matter how talented those young arms might be they will be pitching half of their games in Colorado at Coors Field. 

Erasmo Ramirez has been dealt to the Rays for Mike Mike Montgomery. Don't pay much attention to the lefty the Mariners picked up. Let's talk Erasmo though for a moment. He will finally, it appears, be given a chance to pitch every five days by the Rays, something the Mariners have never were willing to let him do. Through 206.2 big league innings though, Erasmo has averaged 7.19 K/9, 3.14 BB/9 with a 4.62 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. Those numbers are blahtastic. He could certainly better those ratio levels, but he's still not worth an immediate add in mixed leagues. AL-only leaguers add away if he's available. 

Carlos Rodon will be demoted to the minors to continue working as a starter. He was on point yet again Wednesday allowing one run in 5.1 innings. He will be brought back up at some point, potentially early in the year if an injury strikes a White Sox hurler. The hope is that when he is brought to the bigs it will be to fill the role of starting pitcher and not to be a lefty out of the bullpen. If he's in the pen his fantasy outlook would be severely muted. 

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Masahiro Tanaka will need elbow surgery at some point. The team, and player, are hoping that they can put off that surgery as long as possible through exercise and rest, but it's coming. It's why I'm not recommending anyone buys Tanaka at anywhere close to actual value. He allowed seven hits and three runs over 4.1 innings in his last start, and that may not be the most concerning part. According to MLB.com, Tanaka's fastball was sitting at 87-90 mph. His average heater last season was 91.2 mph. Be careful.

Julio Teheran was lit up for seven runs in four innings Wednesday. That effort pushed his ERA up to 8.00 for the spring. While I'm no alarmist... that's clearly not good (such a smart statement). It's also concerning that he's allowed 25 hits in just 18 innings. Keep an eye on his early season production, but there is no indication that he's hurt so don't be losing sleep, for now. Not to be left out, Jordan Zimmermann allowed seven earned runs in his four inning outing Wednesday as well. His ERA was 1.37 in five previous outings. Felix Hernandez gave up seven runs in his outing Tuesday while he recoded all of five outs. His ERA for the spring is 10.22 and the results just haven't been there. He's healthy and that's all that matters. He'll be fine. Invest. 

Justin Verlander has never been on the DL. It sounds like he might begin the season there because of a triceps issue, though it's not believed to be a long term concern. I tried to warn you away from him in his 2015 Player Profile.


Adam Wainwright has been named the Cardinals Opening Day starter. Had to know it was gonna be that way. Have to think that he's in really good shape physically or why would they let him go in their first game?