Chris Snelling
Snelling appears to have taken the LF job from Kory Casto, at least until Nook Logan returns. Snelling made his third straight start on Saturday, going 1-for-3 with a walk, his first homer of the year, and three RBI. With Kory Casto just 5-for-28 with no extra-base hits and an 8/2 K/BB, Snelling will probably play regularly for a little while, giving him some NL-only and deep mixed league value. Snelling has always been a good hitter (.312/.396/.479), but his inability to avoid injury has held him back. With Logan not exactly an established major leaguer (same with Ryan Church), this is Snelling's best opportunity yet to become a regular. He doesn't have a lot of power, but with a 0.75 minor league EYE, a guy who can hit .300, get on base, and hit 15 homers while stealing 10-15 bases, has some value.
Carlos Ruiz
A relative unknown outside of hardcore baseball fans and fantasy players, Ruiz is quickly becoming one of the surprise stories of the season. With the Phillies bringing in Rod Barajas this offseason to seemingly handle 80% of the catching duties, Ruiz was pretty much an afterthought. Ruiz's relatively undistinguished pedigree (non-drafted free agent signee back in 1998) and career minor league performance (.278/.329/.428) could not have foreseen an excellent start to 2007. After going 2-for-4 with a walk, double, and two RBI on Saturday against Houston, Ruiz is now batting .310/.310/.483. Note the on-base percentage as reflected by a 6/0 K/BB and there's cause for concern here, but Ruiz does have a minor league EYE of 0.65, so there should be some walks in his future. Ruiz has started seven of the Phillies' 11 games, and with Barajas off to a 1-for-13 start, there should be plenty more starts in his future. Don't expect him to hit .310, but given 350 at-bats, a .280-15-60 season is possible, making him one of the NL's more productive and lesser heralded backstops. As a nice bonus, Ruiz even swiped a base on Saturday.
Jason Schmidt
Watching the LA-SD game Saturday, it was pretty clear that something was wrong with Schmidt. Schmidt, whose velocity has been down anyway, sat at 82-86 with his "fastball", topping out at 87 while allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits in just two-plus innings. He left several fat pitches right out over the plate, and the Padres simply didn't miss many of them. Schmidt now has a 7.36 ERA and has managed just 11 innings in three starts while posting a solid-enough 13/5 K/BB. The strikeout rate won't be sustainable if he keeps pitching like he did on Saturday however. If there is something wrong with Schmidt's historically-troubled shoulder, it's likely Mark Hendrickson would replace him in the rotation. Schmidt's K/I has declined from 0.96 in 2005 to 0.84 last year and it will probably worse this year for the 34 year-old. It's too early to say whether this was a waste of $47 million of owner Frank McCourt's money, but it bears watching. Perhaps it's simply that his hamstring is still bothering him (he hurt it last time out).
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Kouzmanoff, off to a 3-for-26 start entering Saturday's game, went 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk against Jason Schmidt and the Dodgers. With a viable alternative in Russell Branyan off to a 4-for-11 start, Kouzmanoff would be best-served having a couple more games like Saturday's effort. A guy who hits .379 in Triple-A as Kouzmanoff did last year can certainly hit, so there's probably nothing to worry about here. The Padres wouldn't have traded Josh Barfield to give up on Kouzmanoff after 30 at-bats, but Branyan could still see a few starts against tough right-handers should Kouzmanoff's struggles continue.
Juan Pierre
A valid explanation for the Dodgers giving Pierre a five-year $44 million contract has yet to be offered, but he certainly wasn't expected to be quite this bad. Pierre didn't start Saturday's game (though he did make an appearance late, going 1-for-2). For the year, Pierre is hitting a miserable .205/.217/.227 with one extra-base hit (a double) in 44 at-bats. His value of course lies in the stolen base, and he does have three this year, but a .217 OBP isn't going to help Pierre reach 50-60 steals again. There really isn't much to like about Pierre's recent trends: decline in his EYE from 1.57 in 2003 to 0.84 last year (0.25 in 2007), a decline in his walk rate from 7.5% TO 4.3% over the same time frame, and OBPs of .330 and .326 over the past two seasons. The Dodgers would clearly be better off keeping Russell Martin in the #2 spot in the lineup with Pierre 8th, but $44 million says that won't happen. He'll be better than .205, but further decline from the last two seasons' levels appears possible.
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