Travis Snider (OF - Blue Jays) - Snider is likely out of action until at least the All-Star break. He has a sprained wrist, but news out of the Blue Jays front office indicated they will take things slow with Snider. Snider was a brief disappointment to begin 2010, but remains a tremendous potential for power in any fantasy league. Even with his bad start of hitting just .241, he did hit 6 HR for an AB/HR rate of 19.3. Definitely keep him stashed in AL-only leagues.
Matt Wieters (C - Orioles) - I guess there were rumors floating around Baltimore newspapers that the Orioles were considering optioning Wieters to Triple-A. With his season-long struggles not really turning around (despite a big double yesterday), I’m not surprised to hear the rumors. Manager Juan Samuel denied it, but the rumors may have started in the front office. Wieters is hitting just .143 in June with an OBP of .172, dropping his average for the season to .223 with 5 HR. If it was any other position, this would be an easy fantasy decision. But Wieters potential earns him fantasy ownership at least until the All-Star game in hopes of a turnaround.
Kevin Kouzmanoff (3B - A’s) - As soon as I wrote Sunday’s post about The Kouz, he broke out of his slump. Thankfully I didn’t recommend anything too drastic with his ownership. He broke out of his slump on Sunday in a big way, going 4-for-4 with a HR. That brings his June back to “stellar” category, hitting .419 with 4 HR and 11 RBI. Obviously he won’t maintain this pace, but the power potential is there for this guy, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the SLG% continue to stay at a solid level.
Max Scherzer (SP - Tigers) - Maybe the demotion helped correct some mechanical issues. Maybe it lit a spark. Either way, Scherzer has been much better since being recalled from the minors. In his 5 starts since returning to the majors, Scherzer is 3-for-5 in QS, a 3.48 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, a K/9 of 11.9, and a K/BB of 3.7. He really only has one bad outing in those 5 games and the other non-QS was a 14 K, 5.2 IP, 2-hit shutout performance (technicalities of the QS at work). If he isn’t owned because of that one bad outing since his recall, now is the time to get him. Even if he splits a quality start for the 5 ER outing, he’ll get you lots of K’s.
Austin Jackson (OF - Tigers) - While Austin Jackson missed his 6th straight game on Sunday with back spasms, he is planning on returning to action on Tuesday against the Mets. One good sign that this is a decent possibility is that he was able to play defense late in Sunday’s game as a replacement. Jackson was one of the hottest rookies out of the gate, but since May 1st his average has dropped almost 50 points and his OPS has dropped 150 points from .917 to .764. Depending on how this back injury heals will determine if he can bounce back and maintain his average over .300. Either way, he’ll remain a decent average outfielder with little power (especially in Detroit) for the remainder of 2010.
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