Freddy Garcia:
With reports of severely declining velocity and multiple teams passing on Garcia after showcases earlier this season, I was pretty skeptical of his return to the White Sox rotation; but after four starts things look pretty good for the veteran. His velocity has stayed in the high 80’s where it’s been since 2005 and despite facing the Red Sox twice and Yankees once in his 4 outings, he’s posted 3 quality starts. The one non-quality outing came against the Royals, go figure. Since returning he’s posted a healthy 18:6 K:BB Ratio in 22 2/3 innings, while also keeping a GB Rate above 50%. Early on in his return he’s been throwing his slider far more often than his curve-ball something that was evident back in 2005 when he had his most successful season. I had no confidence in Garcia upon his recall, but the 3 consecutive solid starts against the Red Sox and Yankees makes me a believer as a back-end spot starting option and someone with obvious value in AL only formats.
JP Howell:
I think we’re back to the days of closer-by-committee in the Tampa Bay bullpen. JP Howell started warming up in the 7th inning of last night’s game and was brought in during a tie game in the Top of the 8th. He got out of the 8th but surrendered the lead in the 9th, which was only made worse by Randy Choate and Russ Springer after him. Howell’s peripherals started to decline in August as his BB Rate spiked and he started giving up HR’s at an alarming rate. The HR’s have since subsided but the BB’s continue and I’m of the opinion he’s now been removed from the closer’s role. We likely won’t get an official word from Joe Maddon as he tends to play his cards close to his vest with his bullpen arrangement, but don’t look for many Saves from Howell the rest of the way. Dan Wheller would be the favorite to get the first crack at the next set of opportunities, but Maddon will most likely continue to play matchups down in the pen the rest of the way.
Chris Perez:
We haven’t touched on Perez a lot since he was removed from St. Louis where he had the tag of future closer and sent to Cleveland where the Indians have a couple years committed to Kerry Wood. After a rocky start in which Perez allowed 4 ER’s in just 2/3 of an inning in his 2nd outing, Perez has allowed just 2 ER’s in the last 2+ months, spanning 21 1/3 innings. During that span he’s posted a stellar 26:4 K:BB Ratio and even converted the 1 save opportunity he was given. The Indians ownership has openly talked about cutting costs having something to do with the trade deadline moves, and Kerry Wood’s salary would seem to be next on the list if they could find a taker in the off-season. Perez appears to be next in line and is someone worth holding onto through the offseason for keeper league owners just in case a shakeup happens in the Indians pen.
Matt LaPorta:
After putting together a 10 game hitting streak upon recall in which he went 16-39 with 8 extra base hits, LaPorta has cooled, picking up just 2 hits in his last 16 AB’s. LaPorta’s shown good power so far at the major league level (11.7% XBH Rate), but his EYE and BB Rate haven’t been as strong as they were at the minor league level. The inability to draw walks so far is making LaPorta a bit streakier than fantasy owners would like, but there remains more good than bad for fantasy owners to invest in. LaPorta never posted a full season OPS below .900 at the minor league level and will hit and hit a ton at the major league level. He’s already flashed the good power, when the patience comes he’ll take off. I expect this will happen next season and view his path as similar to Adam Lind. Keeper league owners should place a premium on rostering LaPorta.
Neftali Feliz:
So it appears I was wrong when I said Feliz had little chance of offering value out of the middle relief role in the Rangers pen and this is coming from a guy who values MR’s! I’m not sure anyone expected Feliz would burst onto the scene with this kind of dominance but he continued it on Friday with 7 up, 7 down and 2 more K’s to pick up his 2nd save of the season. He’s now got a 28:1 K:BB Ratio in just 22 innings in one of the most dominant starts to a career we’ve seen. Someone may want to consult the PCL hitters who found a way to actually hit Feliz since he only posted a 3.49 ERA and 1.28 WHIP at that level working as a starter. Out of the pen he’s featured all of his stuff but in different games sometimes coming in and blowing away hitters with high 90’s gas and then other outings coming in and slipping nasty curve-balls on the outside corner. I’ve been blown away by his stuff and the looks hitters have been giving him. His future role remains uncertain with the Rangers as they face the usual reliever-starter dilemma we see with every prospect that comes up in the pen (could we see the Neftali Rules?), but the Rangers will eventually want him in the premium role out of the rotation. Whether that comes immediately in 2010 will be dependent on how the other starters perform. As an elite ratio contributor, Feliz will hold value the rest of the way for owners looking to protect the ratio categories.
