Joel Hanrahan- PIT- Cold- After going 8 games without allowing a run, Hanrahan has been scored on the last two games. He has given up 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 1 in 1.2 IP. Hanrahan threw a total of 52 pitches in those games and has pitched 3 straight days. Some regression to the mean might be catching up with Hanrahan, who has a .280 BABIP, but probably won't tonight as he will probably not be available to pitch.
Ryan Dempster- CHN- Caution- Dempster had a quality start yesterday but he struggled with control and had a very high pitch count. He walked 6 in 7 IP and threw 71 of his 128 pitches for strikes. Dempster has thrown quality starts in 9 of his last 10 outings. He had a 120+ pitch appearance and also walked 6 in that stretch. But yesterday was the first time he did both. The Cubs want to get Dempster across the 200 IP mark no matter what and it could be a bad thing his next time out.
Mike Leake- CIN- Hot- Leake finished out the season without experiencing the regression to the mean that it looked might have been coming last month. In fact he had better luck in his last 3 starts, with a .203 BABIP for September. His .269 overall BABIP should be taken into consideration when valuing Leake for 2012.
Dan Uggla- ATL- Hot- Uggla hits his 34th homer, a career high with a couple of weeks left in the season. He seems to be more back to his normal self after the hideous BABIP he had earlier in the season killed his average. A very encouraging sign for 2012 is that Uggla's Batting EYE is .53 so far this month so he may have regained the strike zone control he seemed to lose when he was trying to overcome his bad luck earlier.
Brad Hand- FLA- Rookie- Hand showed some progress last night, striking out 5 and only walking 2 in 5.1 IP. The marlins are high on hand, but he still has a K/BB ratio below 1 and in his last 2 starts his GB/FB ratio is 6/25. Hand looks very raw and it would take a stellar Spring Training to make him worth taking a chance on owning in 2012.
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