Clay Hensley (SP—Marlins) Closer Alert!! Looks like there's a new closer in town for the Florida Marlins and his name isn't Leo Nunez. Rather Clay Hensley will be taking over closer duties from the inconsistent Nunez. Hensley has never taken on the role of closer. In fact, for his career, he has never recorded a save. But this year he has had “closer-like” numbers. He has put together an ERA of .267 with 60.1 innings of work and a K/9 of 9.8. Opponents are hitting just .212 off of Hensley. He also has a WHIP of 1.14 and a HR/9 of 0.45. In high leverage situations, Hensley has done very well keeping batters to a .200 batting average and with games that are late and close, hitters are batting just .222. Hensley's fantasy value takes an immediate jump as he will be the “go-to” guy in the ninth inning. Grab him while you can.
Nyjer Morgan (OF—Nationals) Where have you gone Milton Bradley? Looks like there is a new bad boy in town and his name is Nyjer Morgan. Apparently, Morgan feels victimized by his eight-game suspension for charging the mound on Chris Volstad. But throw in another seven-game suspension for throwing a baseball at a fan and Morgan may be looking at starting his off-season very early. Yeah, the guy had speed (especially fast when running from home plate to the pitcher's mound) with 33 stolen bases, but with a .255 batting average, an OPB of .315 and with zero power, Morgan should probably be throwing punches at himself. For owners that were riding his coattails based upon his stolen base potential, they will need to look elsewhere as Morgan looks like he will miss most of September.
Kenshin Kawakami (RP—Braves) OK, I did a little research on this and the Japanese word for “Yuck” is “Ge”. Which brings us to Kenshin “Ge” Kawakami. The “Ge-San” pitched in place of the injured Derek Lowe on Friday night and took his tenth loss of the year against one win. He pitched three innings, allowed 5 ER on five hits and four walks. Kawakami's ERA bounced to 5.11 on the season. It was Kawakami's first start since July 26th and judging from the results on Friday, it may be his last for a while. His LOB% of 64.6% is doing him no favors along with an opponent batting average of .283. Kawakami's best asset right now is that he plays for the contending Braves who should be able to get him a win here and there. But it is doubtful that he will get anymore starts unless Lowe needs more time to get over his aches and pains. But even if Lowe is out for a while, the Braves may explore another option besides Kawakami. He's a risky pitching choice at best.
Mike Hampton (RP—Diamondbacks) OK, here we go again. Three major surgeries later and Mike Hampton is ready for his big comeback...again. This time he has joined the D'Backs who have called up Hampton to the parent club after pitching at Triple-A Reno. At Reno, Hampton made four appearance, pitched 3.1 innings with an ERA 2.70 and a WHIP of 1.50 and apparently is ready to take on Major-League hitters (yawn). However, Hampton won't figure into the Diamondbacks rotation as he will be working solely out of the bullpen. If I were pretending that there was potential there, I would say that Hampton could be used in deeper N.L. leagues that reward middle relievers. But my nose would grow to extraordinary lengths for lying. Rather I will advise that you take a pass on the oft-injured 37 year-old. His days of fantasy value are long past. But you gotta admire the guy for sticking in there...kinda like gum on the bottom of a shoe.
R.A. Dickey (RP—Mets) It was a rough Friday for R.A. Dickey who had his worst outing of the season against the Cubs. Dickey did make it through six innings but allowed 7 ER (his season high) on eight hits and a walk. He was victimized for two home runs which were only his tenth and eleventh allowed on the season. Overall, Dickey has had 15 quality starts out of 21 this season and is still carrying around a sub-3 ERA at 2.91. Dickey's two-speed knuckleball seems to have done wonders this year. While his strikeouts are not impressive (K/9 –5.87), he has solid XBH at 5.5% which is 2.5% below the MLB average. He has done a particularly fine job pitching at home at CitiField where he owns a 6-1 record and a 1.85 ERA. The Mets are looking at Dickey for a contract extension and while it may be tough to duplicate this year, Dickey could be a viable option for next year with tempered expectations.
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