Keon Broxton managed to break his nose, but if you watch this, you’ll realize things could have been much worse.

Keon Broxton hit in the face though the extra flap thankfully seemed to take *some* of the brunt. He’s out of the game. pic.twitter.com/Md2uF2ZxtO

— Paul Sporer (@sporer) April 6, 2017

With the injury, the centerfielder will not be placed on the disabled list. If something does change, Kirk Nieuwenhuis will get the start in Broxton’s place. If that’s the case, the idea of Nieuwenhuis is better than the reality.

He has guts, I’ll give him that. He swiped eight bags last season, but he’s been caught stealing a lot as well. He struggles against lefties and even if he did start against Brett Anderson, it’s Brett Anderson.

On the Agenda

1. News and Notes
2. Stump the Schwarb
3. Probable Pitchers

News and Notes

–Sonny Gray will throw a bullpen session Friday which is the next step in his rehab process after straining his lat. This is following a session he tossed on Tuesday and was reported to be returning to a major league uniform by the end of April.

-Phillies outfielder Daniel Nava hit two home runs off of Reds starter Rookie Davis Thursday. There’s no fantasy value there, but we are certainly proud of him.

–Collin McHugh left his rehab start with Triple-A Fresno Thursday after only one inning. Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee reported McHugh threw 26 pitches, but after some warm-up tosses prior to his second frame, “he called for the trainer to come to the mound and was removed from the game.”

He was supposed to throw 85 pitches, so this limit cannot be great news.

Stump the Schwarb

A healthy Kyle Schwarber is a good Kyle Schwarber. The Cubs have been having him bat leadoff, and it seems to be working. In nine plate appearances so far he’s slashing a .333/.556/.500 line with a .443 wOBA. I know, it’s a small sample size, but it’s fun for a bit to have those numbers.

Probable Pitchers for the day

Steven Wright @ Detroit Tigers

Max Scherzer @ Philadelphia Phillies

Ubaldo Jimenez vs. New York Yankees

Shelby Miller vs. Cleveland Indians

Day 2 of the season always offer a light slight because the Midwest and Northeastern venues have the built-in off day to account for potential weather problems, as we saw in Chicago with the Tigers-White Sox debut getting pushed from Monday to Tuesday. We still got nine games of action with eight of them seeing the road team emerge victorious.

On the Agenda:

1. Baseball’s Supercouple In Midseason Form
2. McCullers, Carrasco, and Arrieta with NSFW stuff
3. Dull Provides Excitement… for the Angels

BASEBALL’S SUPERCOUPLE IN MIDSEASON FORM

Justin Verlander was in Cy Young form during his 2017 debut, allowing just two runs in 6.3 innings with 10 strikeouts against the White Sox. The high fastball was instrumental in his brilliant 2016 campaign and he wasted no time deploying it on Tuesday. His 239 PA that ended on a high fastball last year were 2nd-most to Jake Odorizzi (244) and his .499 OPS and 41% strikeout rate were 8th and 3rd, respectively, among the 65 pitchers with at least 100 such PA. The Sox went 0-for-7 with a walk and four strikeouts on high heaters Tuesday.

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Leading off and playing shortstop for the Seattle Mariners on Opening Day was one of the most compelling players to watch in 2017. From 2012 to 2015 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Jean Segura batted just .266/.301/.360 with a .290 wOBA and 78 wRC+, amassing 3.4 WAR. In 2016 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he had a .371 wOBA and 126 wRC+ on his way to a +5 WAR season. What should be made of the breakout? While many people seem to expect heavy regression from Segura, there are compelling reasons to believe he is an entirely different hitter than he was in the past. Read the rest of this entry »

We don’t have a lot of stuff to go over, but real baseball is about to be played and that’s all that matters. Tell your loved ones you will see them in October.

On the Agenda

1. Beltre and Gallo
2. AT&T Parker

Beltre and Gallo

Adrian Beltre will start Opening Day on the disabled list. That means 23-year-old Joey Gallo will get the starting job for the Rangers at third base.

And just like I said to the last guy who asked me out on a date, “no, thank you.”

Gallo has unbelievable power, but that power stays in Triple-A. He hit 25 balls over the fence last season in the minors, but once he was promoted, it was a different scenario. Just one hit in 25 at-bats. I won’t go over the slash line to save you some grief, but his strikeout rate alone (63.3-percent) will talk you out of most fantasy situations. Daily fantasy wise, I would think about it. That’s a lot of raw power to be ignored.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-2017-lottery-ticket-team-hitters-edition/

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Happy April Fools Day for those of you who observe.

Tyler Glasnow was named the fifth starter for the Pirates and he had a roller coaster of a spring. His last couple of starts were solid, though. In two outings he pitched eight innings allowing nine hits, three walks, one home run, and striking out 14.

He has the velocity in his primary pitches, but when it comes to his secondary they are pretty hit or miss. No pun intended. Maybe a little pun intended. He struggles with some confidence in his changeup as well.

His minor league numbers were stellar. In Triple-A he tossed a 1.87 ERA with a 1.174 WHIP. Following his promotion, those numbers changed obviously. A 4.24 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 23.1 innings.

On the Agenda

1. Cain he do this?
2. Injury Bug Brantley
3. Will Rendon Play?

Can he do this?

Matt Cain is officially the fifth starter for the Giants which kind of bums me out because I was pretty excited to watch Ty Blach in action, but that can be on the next RR.

Anyways…

Cain in 2017 will not be the same guy the baseball world once grew accustomed to. He’s not going to be a guy to accumulate a ton of strikeouts, but his home run to fly ball ratio sits at 15-percent and it continues to increase. Batters were not only hitting him more in 2016, but they were hitting the ball further than ever off of the 32-year-OLD.

That is in caps for a reason.

Injury Bug Brantley

A slow start during spring turned out to benefit Michael Brantley which is a similar approach Sean Doolittle took, so it seems to be successful. He will be on the Opening Day roster for the Indians.

He will have resting days during the season, and the fact that he’s a target for injuries could make some nervous.

He only played in 11 games last season, but in 2015 Brantley faired well. He had a 10.1-percent walk rate with a .310/.379/.480 line and swiped 15 bags.

He’s definitely not fantasy trade bait and I’m not too excited knowing he’s going to get a lot of rest days.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/mixing-fantasy-reality-tout-wars-miller-brantley/

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This will probably be the millionth time you will see the first sentence of an article this week that reads “Opening Day is almost here.” But deal with it because I’m excited, and you’re excited and everyone is excited that baseball is actually happening.

On the Agenda

1. Vote for Pedro
2. Mr. Gray, of Coors
3. Perdomo Dude

Vote for Pedro

Pedro Alvarez did not make the Opening Day roster for the O’s. We kind of saw that coming.

He will begin the season in Triple-A. We do know he will be promoted, but it’s just a matter of when. Until then, he’s the guy who hit 22 balls over the fence for the Oriole’s in 2016 with a .249/.322/.504 line at the designated hitter position. Which is more than likely where he will stay once he’s back in a major league uniform since he doesn’t have much success when it comes to his defense. But a .255 ISO last season blankets that a little bit.

Just what the Orioles need, more bats.

His fly ball rate increased last season (36.4-percent) and he shows little to no signs of regression. Should be an interesting guy to watch during his minor league outings and we already know how he performs in a major league uniform.

I’m just not crazy about him.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-sleeper-and-the-bust-episode-437-nfbc-12-team-breakdown/

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This post was inspired by Trey Baughn’s Bargain Shopping: Five for $5 from December. With just days remaining before the start of the 2017 baseball season, most fantasy auctions and drafts are completed. However, since some will take place this week, and since most fantasy owners are always interested in making savvy moves to improve their rosters, now is as good a time as any to talk about fantasy bargains. To qualify for this list, players must simply cost less than $6 on the Ottoneu Average Salaries page (sorted by “All game types”) and be beyond rookie status. Getting right into the list: Read the rest of this entry »

In no surprise here, Stephen Strasburg has been named the Washington Nationals Opening Day starter with Max Scherzer ready, but not 100% ready for the responsibilities. This will be his fourth Opening Day start and is coming off of a 3.60 ERA in 2016.  During the offseason, he decided to pitch from the stretch no matter what the scenario is on base.

“I’m not trying to reinvent myself,” Strasburg said to The Washington Post. “But I’m trying to simplify things as much as I can.”

Doubtful this messes with his value or changes any mentality surrounding his ADP rating.

On the Agenda

1. New York Matz
2. Kipnis almost ready
3. Extensions with Lucroy

New York Matz

Uh oh.

Mike Puma reported Steve Matz will not be making his next scheduled start due to “irritation in his left elbow.”

The team is stressing he doesn’t have any structural damage, but at this point, during the spring training months, the precautionary measures are taken to an extreme. And I totally support that, because the Mets care what I think.

It’s also a bit worrisome considering the 25-year-old had surgery last October to remove a bone spur and is one of many pitchers to undergo Tommy John surgery.

He has a career 8.73 K/9 ratio and tossed a 3.40 ERA with the Mets last season.

He will not undergo an MRI but will play catch Monday to see if any additional steps need to be taken.

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The Opening Day starters are beginning to be named which means we are super close to Opening Day and that makes us really happy. So far we have Jose Quintana starting for the White Sox, Marco Estrada for the Blue Jays, Edinson Volquez for the Marlins, and so on.

Official: Bob Melvin announced A’s will have Kendall Graveman starting on the bump for Opening Day

— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) March 23, 2017

On the Agenda

1. Carlos Ro-done…not so much
2. J.D. Martinez
3. D-No

Carlos Ro-done…not so much

Okay, before you start hopping on the worry bus, at this moment in time it’s just an MRI on his biceps and it came back clean.

Carlos Rodon was scratched during Friday’s start according to Dan Hayes.

The good news so far is that the Sox “don’t seem to think he has any structural damage,” but the bad news means he could miss his first couple of starts (or maybe not after some reports say otherwise) after already anticipating a bigger workload for the 24-year-old who has a 200 ADP rating.

Rodon finished his 2016 campaign tossing a 4.04 ERA with a 9.16 K/9 Ratio in 165 innings.

J.D. Martinez

We already knew J.D. Martinez’s Opening Day status was in question, but now it’s official.

The Detroit outfielder is now out for 3-4 weeks after being diagnosed with a “sprained Lisfranc ligament in his right food,” according to Chris McCosky.

He’s coming off of an abbreviated season playing in just 120 games when he battled injury so it seems like Deja Vu all over again for the former All-Star.

Steven Moya is looking like the starter in right field at the moment. Eric Longenhagen scribed about Moya who is listed as a top-19 prospect in the system saying he “is still on this list, but the clock is ticking on the bat-to-ball skills.”

D-No

The “No” has nothing to do with his playing abilities or anything like that.

Derek Norris is signing with the Rays according to Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times adds is a “straight one-year contract.”

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This is the part where I mention the World Baseball Classic and hope someone cares. Even if you don’t, that was fun to watch and that’s all I am going to say about that.

On the Agenda

1. Hunter Renfroe is the real deal
2. Odubel HR-era
3. Luis Valbuena

Hunter Renfroe is the real deal

Padres outfielder Hunter Renfroe made a smooth transition from Triple-A to the bigs after slashing a .306/.336/.557 with 30 bombs and 105 RBI’s. He came from a hitter’s league and was able to remain dominant in the few games he played after his promotion: four home runs in 11 games for the Padres.

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