Hideki Matsui (DH - Yankees) - Matsui has had a "quiet" year in a sea of superstars, but if you haven't noticed, he is putting up solid fantasy numbers. He's posting anFPI of 0.67 which consists of a .275 average, .876 OPS, and a BB/K of .90. He is averaging an AB/HR of 16.8 for a total of 24 for the year. He also has 81 RBIs. Those are pretty solid numbers for an aging DH. The lineup support surely helps as does his permanent role as the designated hitter. With his inability to play the field, that makes his playing time a little inconsistent. With the Yankees locking up the AL East and preparing for the post-season, you can be sure manager JoeGirardi will use the DH slot as a way to give some rest to his superstars. Guys like Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada have all had injuries this year and will probably play the DH role at some point in the final weeks of the season. That leave Matsui as the odd man out, unfortunately. Keep an eye on the news out of the Bronx and we'll try our best to predict any foreseeable benchings.
Derek Holland (SP - Rangers) - Holland has been atrocious in his last four outings, leading one to believe his rookie arm is showing to show signs of fatigue. With a another 5 ER + outing in yesterday's game, Holland has now allowed 27 ER in his last 18.1IP (last four games), inflating his season ERA to 6.01 and WHIP to 1.50. Prior to that string of terrible starts, Holland gave up 3 ER or less in 9 of his previous 10 starts. So, he has has definitely shown signs of being a reliable fantasy starter. Unfortunately, now is not the time to be playing games. Feel free to cut ties with Holland for the remainder of the season. His next scheduled start should be against the Angels next Sunday, but it possible could be against the A's the following fantasy week with the Rangers have a Thursday off-day.
Ian Kinsler (2B - Rangers) - Kinsler is due. Sure his .298 average in September is respectable, but he hasn't hit a HR since September 1st which is about 45 AB ago. That's about 2.5x the number of AB than his average AB/HR of 17.2 this season. TheHRs will come in due time, but the good news is he is beginning to hit for average again, hitting .306 since coming off the DL on August 15th. If you have Kinsler and he's helped carry your power categories this season, I think he'll break-out of his HR "slump" this week. He'll face a very underwhelming A's staff to start followed byKazmir, Weaver, and Lackey with the Angels. While he's only hitting .215 against those Angels starters, 4 of his 14 hits in 65 total ABs have been HR's.
Scott Kazmir (SP - Angels) - In his third start in an Angels uniform, Kazmir shined once again throwing another quality start of 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, and 2 K's. He is now 3-for-3 in quality starts in LA, but has yet to earn a W in any of his starts. Its been an overall tough season forKazmir who, even after these three great outings, is still posting a 5.32 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. He does look rejuvenated in his new surroundings and continues to be the impact pitcher you drafted back in March. However, he hardly has a cupcake schedule over the next two weeks. He'll face the Rangers next weekend and the Yankees the following week.
Joe Mauer (Catcher - Twins) - I swear this post isn't about me gushing over Joe Mauer. I'll simply talk about HRs. Mauer was going through a little HR-slump (at least by his 2009 standards), going homerless in September heading into yesterday's game. He broke that streak with his 27th HR of the season. That's pretty amazing considering he missed the entire month of April to begin the year. Barring anything too crazy, he should break the 30-mark by the end of the season. He's currently averaging a HR for every 16.8 AB. With 15 games left in the Twins' season and at 4 AB per game, that would put him at 3.58HR's between now and the end of the season. With a couple scheduled "rest" days (day games after night games, etc), he should still be able to hit 3 more at his current rate, putting him exactly at 30. Combine that with a .365 average, it certainly sounds like an MVP favorite to me.
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