Addison Reed- CHA- Cold- Reed blew his third save of the month, giving him a conversion rate of only 50% in the last month of the season. He came close to pulling it out, striking out 2 of the batters he faced before allowing a walk off 2-run homer. Reed does have more than a K per inning right now but a 3.84 ERA (or even his 3.16 FIP) is not overly impressive for a closer. He has 39 saves this year on a team that has only won 62 games so he has gotten plenty of work. Reed will have value next year, but as Joe Hettler pointed out earlier this month, he won't be in the elite closer rankings.
Manny Machado- BAL- Inj Update- Machado didn't suffer a torn ACL or MCL and will be rehabbing his knee for the next 6-8 weeks. If the rest and rehab isn't all he needs, then there is still time to do some minor surgery and still have him ready for spring training. The big question is what Machado's value will be healthy. This year he registered 710 PAs and hit 14 homers. That's not exactly stellar numbers for a corner infielder. He stole 6 bases and posted a .283 average. Neither of those numbers are world beaters. Considering that Machado had a .322 BABIP, which was in the process of suffering some regression to the mean, and that he didn't have BABIP numbers like that in the minors it would be wise to let someone else pay the big bucks for Machado next season. He is only 21, so there is time for him to develop his power potential but it would be hard to predict a sudden breakout in 2014.
Matt Moore- TB- Cold- Despite not allowing a run and picking up his 16th win Moore was definitely not on top of his game. He failed to throw a quality start for the 4th time in 5 games since being activated from the DL, allowing 3 hits and 6 walks while striking out 4 in 5 IP. Moore was extremely wild, throwing 3 wild pitches in addition to the walks and needing 108 pitches to last the 5 IP, with only 64 strikes. A winter of rest may help his elbow get to 100% but keep a watch on his control in spring training. Injuries may not be the only thing to blame as Moore has walked 6 in a start 3 other times this season.
Hiroki Kuroda- NYA- Cold- Kuroda has his picture next to the definition of "regression to the mean" in the dictionary. He allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 in 5.2 IP. The difference between his ERA and FIP went from .36 to .24 due solely to this game. Kuroda did have some difficulty finding the strike zone, with only 55 strikes in 99 pitches, but this late season slump still doesn't have me worried about his value for 2014.
Doug Fister- DET- Hot- Fister continued his late season power surge, striking out 7 in 6.1 IP. That gives him 22 Ks in his last 3 starts, covering 21.2 IP. Fister's K/9 for the year is now at 6.85, still below his 7.63 of last year but above his 6.25 career mark. His late season increase is a good sign when evaluating him for 2014.
