Brad Lidge (Closer - Phillies) - Deep breath for Lidge owners. He came in last night to shut-the-door on the Braves with a 3-run lead. He recorded the one out he was called to get, throwing three pitches and recording an "easy" save, his 23rd of the season. Lidge has basically been atrocious this season, posting a shocking 7.21 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, and 8 blown saves. Manager Charlie Manual has provided a vote of confidence for Lidge and his fantasy owners, saying that Lidge is definitely his closer. And Lidge has indicated he feels as good as he has in at least 2 years. I've actually seen some owners drop Lidge out of frustration. If you've had to suffer through the blown saves and the inflated ERA/WHIP figures, the frustration is warranted. But Lidge will continue to get save opportunities for one of the best teams in baseball and deserves fantasy ownership in every league. If he's floating around, don't let him pass you by.
Russell Martin (C - Dodgers) - .261 and declining. That's Martin's average through Sunday as it continues to be an extremely frustrating season for fantasy owners. What happened here? I'll leave the speculation to the readers, but take a look at these stat comparisons. This is the player you drafted: 2008 = .291 avg, .808 OPS, 18 SB, FPI of 0.69. Not bad for a catcher. Here's the player you got: 2009 = .261 average, .681 OPS, 9 SB, FPI of 0.51. That's right - a negative 0.18 FPI decline in just one season. Martin is still owned in just about every league, simply because catcher is a weak position and there's always the hope of one breakout month. But at this rate, I find it very unlikely for us to see one good month out of Martin after 5 really bad ones. He'll likely emerge in the 2010 draft as an upside late-round catcher with some fantasy players taking a risk earlier than warranted.
Jorge De La Rosa (SP - Rockies) - It wasn't an official quality start (he was one out shy of reaching the 6.0 inning mark), but De La Rosa earned his 11th win of the season on Sunday with a 1-run performance over the Marlins. His line was 5.2 IP, no earned runs, 7 hits, 9 K's, and 3 BB's. His 11 wins have come in the last 14 starts dating back to the beginning of June. His season ERA is high on the surface with a 4.58 ERA and 1.39 to his name, but take away a 7-run blow-up against the Phillies a few starts ago and you see one of the hottest pitchers of the summer. Take away that start and Jorge has a 3.43 ERA and 1.33 WHIP since June 1st with a 9.5 K/9. He's posting K's and putting the Rockies in a position to win every time he takes the mound. Why he isn't owned in more leagues is beyond me. The K's alone provides enough reason for ownership.
Hunter Pence (OF - Astros) - Pence is on a HR tear, hitting 4 HR in the last 5 games and a total of 5 for the month of August. That brings his season total to 18 for a rate of 24.2 AB for every HR. He's right in-line with his career average of 24.8 in about 1,500 AB. Last season he was slightly better at 23.8, but we could see this season's rate continue to drop if he can keep his HR swing going through fantasy Week 20. At this rate, he's on pace to end the season with about 25 HR for the year. If you would have told me that Pence was a guarantee lock for 25 HR, .290 average, and 15 SB this year, I would have been happy with that on draft day.
Adam Dunn (OF - Nationals) - One of the statistical stories that I will be watching this season is if Adam Dunn can post 5-straight season of exactly 40-HRs. Its a meaningless round number, but a pretty weird anomoly to see the exact same number of HRs every year for 5-straight years. He's currently sitting on 31 with a AB/HR of 12.8. That forecasts his HR total to be about 42. The last thing I will be rooting for is for Dunn to slowdown this tremendous HR rate, but seeing him end on 40 HR again would be pretty amazing. Either way, Dunn continues to be a great fantasy player. While a low average has typically underestimated Dunn's true value (he's good for a .400+ OBP just about every year), he has addressed the average part of his game this season by hitting .281 and posting an overall .985 OPS. Aside from stolen bases, Dunn has done it all this season.
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