Curtis Granderson (OF - Yankees) - Overall, its been a disappointing season for Granderson and his owners. Afterall, there were huge expectations for him moving to NY, having the short porch in RF, and plenty of lineup protection. At least that’s what we’ve been told. Sure, some injuries have plagued his year so the volume numbers still aren’t there, but his performance this year is actually spot-on with his 2009. As of today, Granderson’s average is exactly the same as 2009’s at .249, OPS is .790 vs last year’s .780, and with two more HR last night, his AB/HR has actually improved from 21.0 to 20.4. That’s all good for a flat 0.61 and 0.61 FPI for the two years. He has certainly swung a hot bat of late with a .290 AVG and .397 OBP in September and 11 HR since August 1st.
Joe Mauer (C - Twins) - Its natural to be nervous about this one. Manager Ron Gardenhire is playing it off that he’s not worried and team doctors aren’t worried, but Mauer is getting an MRI today on his sore knee to determine if its anything serious. He was kept out of the lineup yesterday and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out again today. Mauer has had issues with this knee before. Dating back to his rookie season of 2004, Mauer was limited to just 35 games when he went under the knife to remove a torn meniscus from that knee. We will wait and see what the MRI reveals, but for now you should have a backup for at least today’s game. The Twins are cruising to the playoffs and will not push their star catcher unless they absolutely have to... expect plenty of days off between now and the end of the season and hope he gets some AB as a DH.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (SP - Red Sox) - It wasn’t a terrible outing for Dice-K, but it wasn’t a quality start either. That makes 7 starts in a row without a QS dating back to the beginning of August. Last night he allowed 4 ER in 6.1 IP on 6 hits, 5 BB, and 4 K’s. Again, Dice-K’s control continues to be an issue. In his previous two starts he walked 4 each and has now allowed at least 4+ walks in 9 of his 23 starts this season. He’s sputtering to the finish line and I would not take a chance on him against the Yankees this weekend.
Rajai Davis (OF - A’s) - He doesn’t get a ton of fantasy attention, but Rajai Davis still ranks 3rd overall in SB and should finish 2nd with a recent injury to Michael Bourn. Davis was 2-for-5 yesterday and now has a modest 6-game hitting streak. He’s 6-for-9 for the month in SB and if he could just figure out how to walk more, he’d have more opportunities. Unfortunately for him, a low BB rate (BB/K of just .31) leads to a low OBP of .306 which leads to few SB opportunities. It is quite a drop from last year’s .360 OBP, but its looking like last year may have been the anomaly. Davis turns 30 this October, so I don’t see a miraculous turnaround in 2011.
Brian Duensing (SP - Twins) - Four quality starts in a row for Duensing. He wasn’t super sharp last night, giving up 3 ER in 6.0 IP with 4 BB and 6 hits, but the Twins gave him plenty of run support and he earned his 3rd win in as many starts in September. The Twins are going with a 6-man rotation this week, which bumps Duensing out from the two-start status. His next start should come with a favorable match up next Monday against Kansas City.
