Koji Uehara (RP—Orioles) It's so difficult to find a closer that will stick. If a closer's name isn't Mariano Rivera, it seems that the job is a revolving door. With Alfredo Simon struggling as the Baltimore closer, Koji Uehara may be seeing some opportunities presenting themselves where he is the guy handling the 9th inning. Since the All-Star break, Uehara has an 0.77 ERA with just one earned run allowed. Batters are hitting .228 off of him for the year and he has a K/9 of 10.02 and a BB/9 of 2.18. The bets part: he hasn't allowed a home run all year. Uehara has some lively stuff and his situation should be monitored closely. There's a good possibility he is the next close in line so you'll want to grab him him quickly from your waiver wire if he is still available.
Jason Kubel (OF—Twins) If you've been on the fence as to whether to pick up Jason Kubel or not, you might want to take advantage of his hot hitting right now as he has been burning it up for the month of August. Tuesday, Kubel went 2-for-2 with 3 walks, for runs scored and has 3 RBI including his 16th home run of the year. Fir August he is batting .419 with 4 home runs and 13 RBI. He still struggles considerably more against left-handed pitchers where he has hit only 2 home runs against south paws and his batting just .216. On the flip side, he is hitting .295 against righties and has 14 knocks. He's been in there playing everyday but if you are in a weekly league, you may want to watch the pitching matchups against the Twins. For daily leagues, get him in there when the team isn't facing a lefty. He's been on fire and can do some damage.
Kila Ka'aihue (1B/DH—Royals) It looks as though Kila Ka'aihue will finally be given the opportunity to get some consistent at bats to show what he can do. One of the issues that had been a sticking point with Ka'aihue was his inability to play a position, having been primarily used as a DH in the minors. But the Royals have given him some time at first base in Triple A and he's already been seeing action at first on the Major league level. This postional flexibility will certainly make him more attractive from a fantasy standpoint. Hitting-wise, Ka'aihue had big power. He hasn't been able to find his groove yet batting .100 with the parent club, having logged just 20 at bats going into Tuesday's game. However, in the minors, he hit 37/17/24 home runs in 2008/2009/2010. But the intriguing part about Ka'aihue is that he doesn't appear to be one of those big bopper, home-run-or-strike-out guys. He has a good feel for the strike zone as he had 673 walks and 689 strikeouts over the course of 9 minor league seasons. He also has a very good CT% of 87% which could translate to a solid batting average and high OBP. Ka'aihue should be picked up in long term keeper leagues, but it might be premature to grab him in other formats as he is still getting his feet wet. Watch him closely as he has the potential to put up big numbers.
Adrian Beltre (3B—Red Sox) There's little doubt that Adrian Beltre much prefers Fenway Park to Safeco Field. He's batting .325 on the season at Fenway with ten home runs. He's been on fire this month with a slash line of .387/.394/.806 that includes 4 doubles and 3 home runs. He's also got a BHIP of .360 for August. You gotta figure with a BHIP that high he must be hitting line drives like crazy, right? Well, that would be a bet you would lose. His LD% this month is just 3.6%. Whereas his FB% is 60.7% Typically numbers like that indicate that that BHIP is awfully lucky and his average should start to cool off. Still, Beltre has reinvented himself this season with the Red Sox and despite some indicators that suggest he should be slowing down, he has been a must start all year in all formats.
Joe Mauer (C—Twins) It would be tough to say that a player (much less a catcher) who is batting .325 is having a down year. But if fantasy owners were expecting a similar type of year from Joe Mauer as he had in 2009, his MVP season, they were probably setting themselves up for disappointment to a degree. Yes, he is the top catcher and the distance between him and the #2 catcher (whomever that might be) is as wide as the Grand Canyon. And despite his elite catching status, he is a top tier player regardless of the position. But Mauer won't come close to the .365 average and 28 home runs he had in '09. Still, despite briefly dipping below the .300 mark, he will more than likely be battling for the batting crown. He's been smoking the ball of late, batting .455 in August with a .567 OBP. Yet, despite having a OPS of 1.112 this month, something is lacking. Where's the muscle? His ISO for August is .091 and for the year it's .151. going into Tuesday's game and he was able to hit one out for his 7th home run. Hopefully, Mauer will be able to get half as many home runs this year as in '09, but it will be tough. He hasn't hit one out of Target Field all season. Still, he's a fantasy stud despite the slide in long balls from last season.
There are over 100 player news blurbs posted in the member area each morning. Members can read the rest of today's player news by clicking here. Not a member? Join today.
You can follow Richard all season long on Twitter at @rsgross
