Brian McCann is heating up just in time for the fantasy home stretch. His power numbers have been down all year from his 2006 breakout season, but he has managed to raise his totals slightly over the past week. He has homered in three consecutive games, giving him 15 HR for the season and bringing his HR/AB to 25.9. A bit down from 18.4 in 2006, but still respectable for a catcher. His FPI is obviously way down from 2006 as well, posting a 0.59 in '07 from 0.81 in '06. I don't think anyone expected him to be the same catcher as he was last year, but he is still a bit off from his preseason projected FPI of 0.75. Either way, his hot August continues with a .314 average, .905 OPS, and 11 RBI. I don't think it's a coincidence than McCann's bat heated up just as Mark Teixeira's bat was injected into the Atlanta offense. That spark seems to have had a ripple effect throughout the Braves' lineup and McCann is certainly seeing the benefits.
Sure he's still flirting with the Mendoza line (his average is way up to .214 now), but another dinger by Andruw Jones last night gives him 24 for the season and 82 RBI. Not bad considering his disappointing season. So just how "disappointing"has it been for Jones, the Braves, and for fantasy owners? Here's some perspective. In the previous two seasons, Jones averaged a HR/AB of 11.5 and 13.8. This season he's at 19.3. That's way down, basically adding an extra game of homerless AB into the mix. The big kicker is his FPI. After posting 0.70 and 0.69 in 2005 and 2006, he's at just 0.50 this year, driven by his low average, his drop in HR and RBI production.
Corey Hart remained out of the Brewers lineup on Wednesday for the third straight game with an injured elbow. The Brew-Crew is off on Thursday, giving Hart one extra day of rest before the weekend series against San Francisco. I expect him to be back in the lineup on Friday, but consider him day-to-day just to be safe. There's no question Hart has had a tremendous breakout season, but his last two months have been a little less than desirable. After hitting .331 with a .955 OPS and a 0.91 FPI in May and June, Hart has come back to the crowd hitting .220 with a .723 OPS and a 0.48 FPI in July and August combined. Look for a little resurgence in the final month of the season, but don't underestimate the effect of this elbow injury on Hart's swing over the next week or two. It could have more of an effect that we may think.
I started to wonder yesterday if age and another long season was starting to take its toll on the future hall-of-famer. With another blown save yesterday (his 2nd of the month), he had given up 10 hits and 5 ER in his last 5 outings. But Trevor Hoffman bounced back like he usually does, successfully converting his 32nd save of the season by getting the final two outs in the 9th. He has had another nice season, posting a 2.45 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and a 1.99 BAA.
Tom Gorzelanny posts another quality start. This time, he goes 6.0 IP while giving up just 1 ER and 6 hits against the Rockies. He gets the W to win his 3rd game in his last 4 starts and bring his record to 12-7, his ERA to 3.40, and his WHIP to 1.27. Those are pretty solid numbers for just about any league, yet he still seems to bounce around the wires from time to time. His K/9 rate of 6.0 is nothing great, but he manages to keep his WHIP in check and still could end up with a 15-win season.
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