Eduardo Nunez 2B/SS/3B - MIN - Nunez homered and doubled Wednesday, and he's now hitting 314/347/482 on the season. He's on pace for roughly 36 doubles, 16 homers, and 32 steals (figuring a quarter of the season has passed), and he likely qualifies at 2B, SS, and 3B. It's time to start taking him seriously. Yes, the AVG is likely to regress, and this HR pace is likely a bit above his capabilities. He has speed, he makes solid contact, and he's hitting at the top of the order....he definitely has value in most formats right now. A .260-275 hitter that can play everywhere in the infield but first and give you 10-15 homers and 20-25 steals is certainly valuable enough to roster.
Matt Andriese SP - TB - Andriese managed a "minimum-standard" QS Wednesday, limiting the Marlins to 3 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings, walking 1 and striking out 6. I'm having a tough time buying this start, as the K rate is still low and so is the GB rate. For a player that's been one of the hottest waiver wire pickups over the past week or two, he's held three bottom-half offenses in check while getting hit hard by the (9th-best offensively) Tigers. I'm nonplussed. He's having a bit of a velocity bump, so I wouldn't mind a speculative add in deep formats, but there are likely better arms out there in most leagues to gamble on.
Ivan Nova SP - NYY - I watched a decent amount of Nova's start against the Jays Wednesday, and as usual with him, there were flashes of brilliance in the outing. Nova induced 16 swinging strikes on 107 pitchers in the outing, finishing with 8 K's in 6 2/3 innings. A couple of swinging bunts and an untimely HBP contributed to poor run suppression, but there is enough here to make me think that Nova can contribute to a rotation in most formats. His biggest problem is that he is almost exclusively a 2-pitch SP, and if that curve isn't working he basically turns into Derek Lowe, both the good and the bad. He is best suited as an SP5 in deeper formats at present, but the combination of the control and the GB rate (60+%) lead me to believe that he should be rostered in many other formats as well.
Russell Martin C - TOR - Martin finally got off the schneid Wednesday, homering twice against the Yankees in an 8-4 win. I'm not ready to stick the fork in Martin just yet, although it was close about 3 weeks ago. The contact rate has since stabilized (31 K's in Apr, only 14 in May in more ABs), and the LD and hard contact figures are at or slightly better than his career norms to this point. Sure, he's 33 with a lot of miles on him as a catcher, so he's in decline. He's not this bad though, and in fact, I'd be willing to bet that he will provide the value of a lower-end starter at the catching position the rest of the way.
Danny Duffy SP - KC - I'm guessing that Duffy has been stretched out to about 75 pitches for Thursday's start against the White Sox, which might make him DFS-viable for the first time this year. He's struck out 8 in 7 1/3 scoreless innings in his first two short outings, and if he can get through five innings the Royals have a solid shot at the win going against Miguel Gonzalez. At just $5700 on DK, I think he's a reasonable tournament gamble. As far as full-season formats go, Duffy is posting a preposterous 18% swinging strike rate through 25 innings. How could you not take a flyer on the guy? He throws 95-97 from the left side with a solid slider. There's definitely upside.
