David Price (SP - Rays) - The splits are looking pretty clear to me - Price can't pitch on the road. Another bad start away from Tampa on Wednesday against the Angels led to 5 ER in 6.0 IP, 8 hits, no walks, and 4 K's. On the road this year, Price has a 8.20 ERA, 2.01 WHIP, 1.41 K/BB, and OAVG of .321 in 26.1 IP. In a comparable number of innings of 39.7 at home, Price has a 2.72 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 2.11 K/BB and OAVG of .219. He doesn't have a single quality start on the road in 7 appearances. There are going to be some growing pains for Price as he works his way out of weird funks like this, but he has certainly shown glimmers of pure dominance (especially at home) against good teams. He'll be a 2-start pitcher next week, both at home, against Baltimore and Texas.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (SP - Red Sox) - Oh I know its tempting to see Dice-K's name sitting out there on the free agent list. With his bullpen sessions going well and an expected return at the beginning of September, it sure seems like a good gamble to take a chance on a guy like Dice-K who could return and provide your team with a final push through playoff season. I adamantly recommend staying far away from this situation. We all know what happened this year with his season blow-up following speculated overuse in the World Baseball Classic. If you've managed your team well enough to be in the playoffs in September or you're flirting with the top of your roto league, you don't want to take a risky chance like this... I would let another owner make the gamble (or if you have an empty DL spot, you can use it to block an opposing team from claiming him).
Travis Snider (OF - Blue Jays) - With Alex Rios shipped to the Windy City, Travis Snider should get his chance (again) and be recalled from the minors. Snider's tremendous potential put him on radar screens earlier in the season, but he was sent to the minors to figure out his swing after struggling at the big league level. In Triple-A, Snider is hitting .319 with a 1.064 OPS, AB/HR of 12.3, and BB/K of 0.58. He definitely regained the stroke that made him the hot prospect coming into 2009. If you play in non-keepers, Snider was likely dropped awhile ago and could still be floating around waiver wires. He's worth the claim in mixed leagues simply for his power potential and his ability to make an immediate fantasy impact upon call-up.
Junichi Tazawa (SP - Red Sox) - In his Boston starting debut, Tazawa went 5.0 IP and gave up 1 ER, 6 K's, 2 BB, and 4 hits to earn the win against the Tigers. The 23-year-old looked good and will get another start against the Rangers next week. Tazawa was decent in the minors, averaging a K/9 of 7.74 with a 2.55 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and a .219 OAVG, but it was mostly in Double-A with only a couple of starts for Triple-A Pawtucket. He might be a decent source of K's and just about any starter is a pretty good bet for a W with Red Sox run support, but I wouldn't be breaking my neck to grab Tazawa off the wires. He won't be a game changer on the fantasy level this season and is probably too risky of a move to risk ERA and WHIP at this stage of the game.
Jim Johnson (Closer - Orioles) - The Johnson experiment in Baltimore is working (so far). Johnson earned his 3rd save of the season yesterday, shutting down the A's in the 9th with a strikeout and a hit allowed. The interesting thing to look at with Johnson is that he rarely ever has a perfect inning. In fact, he has 20 straight appearances of allowing at least 1 hit in relief (his last perfect inning was back on June 7th). The long ball has been a bit of a problem too, giving up 4 HR in 14.2 IP since July 1st. Nobody claimed he's going to be the next Mariano Rivera, but he's getting the job done and is a cheap source of saves if you need them.
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