Vernon Wells (OF—Blue Jays) Talk about hot! Vernon Wells crushed two more home runs on Tuesday for his 26th and 27th of the year. He has hit four home runs in the past three games and is just mashing the ball of late. Wells has an excellent chance to hit the 30 home run plateau which is a feat that he has not done since 2006. In truth, it was easy to overlook Wells at the start of the year as he has dealt with some injuries in the past couple of season and with just 15 home runs in '09, he slipped pretty far in drafts this season. But Wells will certainly be a hot commodity next year if he continues to stay healthy. It is highly possibility that some may be wary of drafting Wells too high in next year's draft as owners have been burned in the past. But if he produces anything like this year, he could come very cheap and be a great option. Keep him active in all formats.
Jake Arrieta (SP—Orioles) The pitching match-up certainly looked pretty one-sided going into Tuesday's game. On one side you had C.C. Sabathia pitching at home and gunning for his 20th win of the year. On the other side you had rookie Jake Arrieta just trying to get his ERA below 5.00. Well, not only did Arrieta get his ERA below 5.00, but he collected his fifth win of the season and took down the might Yankees and C.C. Arrieta pitched 6.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on 8 hits and a walk. It wasn't a dominant performance, but Arrieta was able to induce two double plays to work his way out of trouble. At this point in his career, Arrieta is a hit-or-miss pitcher. One outing he'll be great, the next outing not so great. His strikeouts are unimpressive with a K/9 of 4.50 and his walks aren't great either with a BB/9 of 4.70. And he has been allowing better than a hit per inning. Having said that Arrieta has long term keeper value as he possessed a ERA of 2.89 in three season in the minors with a K/9 of 8.9 and a HR/9 of 0.6. It may be a little time before we start to see those types of numbers on the Major-League level, but Arrieta is someone to keep an eye on down the road.
Jeff Niemann (SP—Rays) Well, I'll give myself a little pat on the back as I had predicted that Jeff Niemann's struggles would continue. I had recommended that he take a spot n the bench against Jon Lester and hopefully you followed this advice. Niemann was shellacked by Boston, having pitched just 1.2 innings and allowing 6 earned runs. Again, these types of outings were to be expected as Niemann's BHIP is getting a little closer to normal ranges and is now at .270. And on another sour note, the two home runs he allowed the other day now gives him 23 homers allowed on the season. Niemann had been getting pretty lucky for a while and there still may be another rough outing out there...maybe two. The downside to this is that he may be in danger of losing his spot in the rotation with these types of inconsistencies. Be very cautious with Niemann. He should be taking a seat right now on your bench.
Billy Butler (1B—Royals) Royals first baseman Billy Butler exited Tuesday game early with a bruised right hand. The good news was that x-rays on the hand came back negative. But Butler will probably find himself on the bench for a game or two until the hand starts to feel a little better. Butler has been a consistent hitter all season long with a .313 batting average. Butler did an amazing job this year with greater plate discipline. His EYE jumped from 0.56 in '09 to 0.92 this season. His strikeouts have been way down too. Dropping from 16.9% last season to 12.3%. As a result of the increased plate discipline, Butler's OBP has improved as well. But it seems that the trade off here is that Butler's power numbers have gone down. He has just 11 home runs on the year after finishing 2010 with 21. Interestingly enough his fly ball rate is almost identical from last season to this season ('09—34.6%, '10—34.7%). It looks like some of that muscle just wasn't there. Perhaps next season, Butler will be able to keep the good OBP and get back to the weight room and add that power. For now, daily leagues will want to explore other options as Butler will be resting his hand for a bit.
Shin-Soo Choo (OF—Indians) There is little question that Shin-Soo Choo is the best hitter on the Indians right now. This is kind of a backhanded compliment considering the state of the Indians hitting. But in honestly, I don't mean it that way. Choo has many fine qualities as a baseball player and if he were playing in any other city than Cleveland (OK, and a few others), he would be receiving far more attention than he has. It will be tricky, but Choo has an outside chance for his second consecutive season of being a 20/20 guy. With just 4 home runs to go and 2 stolen bases, there is certainly enough time to get there. But along with the power and the speed, Choo has been an on-base guy with an OBP of .390. Keep Choo active in all formats and don't overlook him in next year's draft. He's been providing a big upside for fantasy owners the past couple of seasons. No reason to believe he won't continue.
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