Scott Hairston (OF-SD) – Hairston was 2-for-4 with a home run, three runs, a pair of RBI, and two stolen bases Sunday against the Brewers. He’s now batting .271/.357/.542 in a muddled outfield situation. Will Venable and Kyle Blanks have been seeing regular playing time with Hairston and his brother Jerry seeing some at-bats along with Oscar Salazar and Tony Gwynn Jr. If it were me, I would have Blanks, Venable, and Gwynn (.388 OBP) playing most every day with Hairston mixing in perhaps three times a week and pinch-hitting. However, Hairston’s SLG% is just 11 points below that of Adrian Gonzalez, so it’s very possible Hairston starts to see more at-bats, perhaps at the expense of Blanks (.194/.310/.417) or Venable (.231/.307/.474).
Carlos Lee (OF-HOU) – After a pair of hits Sunday, Lee is 8-for-26 in his last seven games after hitting just .143 through April 23 prior to his recent run. Down side? How about a 17:4 K:BB and just three extra-base hits (no homers) in 89 at-bats and five RBI? Lee of course was given a massing nine-figure deal at age 30, and for a guy with his body type, the fact that he’s struggling in year four of that six-year deal isn’t exactly surprising. Lee also used to be good for double-digit steals annually, but he’ll be lucky to notch five this year. Most guys don’t fall off the map quite this quickly, so we’ll give Lee the benefit of the doubt somewhat, but it’s very possible that .300-25-100 seasons are a thing of the past.
Alfonso Soriano (OF-CHC) – We covered Soriano yesterday, but after Soriano was 3-for-4 with a pair of homers (six now) and a double with four RBI Sunday, he gets back-to-back write-ups. Soriano is now batting .325/.382/.675. He also has a 15:8 K:BB vs. a career 0.29 EYE (0.34 a year ago), so combine that with the recent power and production and you have to like what you see. Soriano is 7-for-11 with four homers and two doubles in his last three games (all against Arizona) and he didn’t strike out once in those three games. Some reports had Soriano being benched or even released earlier this season despite his massive contract, but that talk is dead now. Soriano’s days of 40 or even 15-20 stolen bases are a thing of the past, but .280-25-80 is easily reachable.
Johan Santana (SP-NYM) – Time to dump Santana? Kidding of course, but Santana had the worst start of his career Sunday against the Phillies, allowing 10 runs on eight hits (four of them home runs) over just 3.2 innings. Santana entered the game 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA, but left the game with a 4.50 ERA. He walked two and struck out just one, but the location was awful all night. No reason to panic here however, as the Phillies are obviously an elite offense. Santana should be just fine going forward , though his velocity is down close to four mph from his peak years.
Nick Stavinoha (OF-STL) – Stavinoha was 2-for-3 with two runs scored on Sunday against the Reds. He’s competing with Joe Mather for the Cards’ No. 4 outfielder slot, and with Stavinoha batting .375/.375/.563 in16 at-bats and Mather batting just .174, perhaps Stavinoha has put himself into the position to have a bit of very deep league fantasy value. Of course Stavinoha has just a 30:4 K:BB in 157 career big league at-bats, so don’t go crazy, but in some deep leagues, he’s at least interesting.
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