Dylan Cease (SP - TOR) - I don't mean to suggest that Dylan Cease is "bad" by any stretch of the imagination. I merely think that he's pretty significantly overvalued due to the fantastic swing-and-miss stuff. Cease took the loss on Monday against the Red Sox, once again falling one out short of a QS as, stop me if you've heard this before: one of his walks came around to score. He ended up allowing 4 runs on 7 hits over 5 2/3 innings, walking 3 and striking out 5. The GB rate remains up a sizable amount, and he's 2nd in the league in swinging strike rate and 1st in K/9. The issue here is that Cease was drafted as SP19. He's supposed to be your #2 SP, and there are many who think that he's potentially a #1. His control (4.9 BB/9) simply prohibits him from consistently offering that kind of value. He can't pitch deep enough into games to rack up quality starts, and that same issue has him far too reliant on his bullpen to save wins for him. Thus, he's currently 1-1 with 1 QS in 6 despite striking out more batters than any other pitcher in the game. K's are great, and they certainly have value, but I've been on the Dylan Cease train plenty of times, and I simply will not pay that price for him. He's 30 years old and in his 6th full-time season, and there has been one year in which he was clearly a top-20 SP. If anything, his control is even worse so far this season: his zone rate is down 5.5%, and it's 3% lower than it's ever been before. You cannot be a consistently successful major league starting pitcher walking almost 5 men per 9, even if your whiff rate is approaching 17%. That ERA is still pretty gaudy....you could certainly find reasons for optimism in the GB rate and slightly increased velo, but I see it the other way: I'm a seller.
Travis Bazzana (2B - CLE)- The Guardians announced after Monday night's game that they will be promoting 2B Travis Bazzana to the majors in advance of Tuesday's game with Tampa. The 23 year old is a relatively small left-handed hitter with excellent plate discipline, very good contact ability, average power, and good speed. He was hitting 287/422/511 at AAA with 11 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, and 8 SB through the first 24 games. With the weaker nature of the 2B position, Bazzana should be an immediate target in all formats with his well-rounded skill set. He profiles as a top of the order hitter eventually, although it's very possible that the Guardians will start him out toward the bottom. From what I can tell, this is most likely to negatively impact the playing time of Daniel Schneemann, who has actually been off to a great start. He should continue to play in a utility role, but Bazzana's arrival just gives them one more mouth to feed in terms of playing time, so I expect a game or two a week to be cut from Schneemann's PT.
Jack Kochanowicz (SP - LAA) - Kochanowicz was solid again on Monday, going 6 strong innings against the White Sox and allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits with 1 walk and 5 K's. Since a rough first outing of the season, the 25 year old has rattled off 5 straight solid outings, allowing 3 runs or fewer in all of them and logging at least 5 2/3 innings in each as well. The control is the biggest issue, and that's something that has actually looked better the past two starts. He doesn't miss a ton of bats, which is fairly common for a sinker-heavy SP, and as you'd expect that GB rate is hanging around 60%. With the Mets and Blue Jays coming up next, I'm inclined to ride Kochanowicz for a bit here. The raw stuff looks pretty good, and he seems to be improving as we watch this year. Control-challenged pitchers can always implode, so there's plenty of risk here, but he actually showed pretty decent control in the minors so I don't think that it's beyond his ability to do so at this level as well. I think he could be a credible back-end SP.
Luis Castillo (SP - SEA) - After a very impressive outing against the Yankees to start Castillo's 2026, the 33 year old has rattled off 5 straight non-QS, and perhaps the most troubling of them was on Monday against the Twins. Castillo took the loss while allowing 7 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings, walking 2 and fanning 3 to drop to 0-2 on the year. His velocity was down 1.5-2.0 mph during the outing, which we could possibly chalk up partly to the mid-50's, drizzly evening, but it just adds another layer of concern. We've been on a steady downward trend of fewer swinging strikes since 2019 (with one obvious rebound in 2023) with Castillo, and the vastly improved control from 2022-25 seems to have deserted him as well. The quality of contact against him is becoming an even bigger problem than last year as well, which means that he's average or worse at the three primary facets of pitching now. Seattle is such a friendly home environment for pitchers (he has been good 2/3 at home) that I could still be talked into streaming him, but the number of outings I'd be comfortable with is shrinking by the week here. He has KC at home and the White Sox away coming up next, and I'd be lying if I told you I was entirely comfortable with either one, although they both appear on paper to be fairly benign. I think I'm almost entirely out here at this point....there are so many better options available in most formats.
Chase DeLauter (OF - CLE) - DeLauter hit 3 more line drives on Monday evening against the Rays, ending up 2-4 with a double in the 3-2 loss. He's definitely cooled off from the first few weeks of the season, but don't let that dissuade you here: the plate discipline and contact ability are fantastic, and the 24 year old looks to have plus power as well, even if the exit velocities are more in the average range thus far in 2026. There has been a lot of pull/flyball BBE that have suppressed the AVG a bit, but Statcast says that he's almost 40 points unlucky in that area so far, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's a plus hitter for AVG and even moreso for OBP. My only question here is health, as he is already almost halfway to a career high in PAs despite being a 2022 draftee. If there has been a bit of a dip in his perceived value, I would be buying that dip.
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