Johnny Giavotella - The 25 year old Giavotella has hit in six straight after singling and doubling last night against Chicago. It's been a disappointing year once again for a guy that I expected to run away with the 2B job by now, but once again he has been a much less patient player at the top level than he's shown in the minors. Couple that with some awful luck on balls in play for two years running, and you've got a player that's pretty underrated. I expect Giavotella to break through as a solid regular very soon, and while he doesn't have the kind of power and speed that make him an extremely attractive target, he should be able to provide double-digit homers and steals with an AVG around .300, numbers that will make him rather valuable at a fairly cheap price.
Hisashi Iwakuma - Iwakuma had his first poor start in over a month yesterday, giving up 5 runs (4 earned) to the A's over just 3 2/3 innings in a 6-1 loss. As much as I like the strides that Iwakuma has made during this season, particularly in his control, there are some causes for concern down the stretch. Iwakuma has been unfortunate as far as HR/FB goes, but he's been very lucky with BABIP and strand rate this season, so any luck normalization is probably going to be to his detriment. More importantly, to me anyway, is the remaining schedule for him: @TEX, BAL, @LAA, LAA. That's an awful lot more difficult than the stretch he just tore through in August, and it would give me pause before throwing him out there during a critical time of the year. The Baltimore start at home looks like an OK spot start for him, but I'd likely be inclined to leave him on the bench for the other three. Iwakuma remains, in general, a back-end starter in most formats, and should be expected to reprise that role in 2013.
Glen Perkins - Perkins is 7 for 7 in saves since the All-Star break, he hasn't allowed a run in more than a month, hasn't walked a batter in 10 straight appearances, and has allowed only one hit in his last 6. That's pretty much as hot as it gets, but unfortunately the Twins just don't win many games, so Perkins is stuck as the closer on a bad team. He still needs to be owned in all formats however, as the monstrous improvements that he's made in both control and velocity the past two years have turned him into an excellent relief option.
Lew Ford - After bouncing around in the Japanese, Mexican, and independent leagues the past four years, Lew Ford might be about to become the starting LF for a team in the middle of a pennant race at age 36. With Nick Markakis out for the remainder of the regular season, Ford is looking like about the only option on the roster to take his ABs right now. Ford homered and stole a base last night against the Yanks, but really hasn't shown much against RHP at all. He does have some speed left even at this point in his career, so he could offer some cheap steals, but I'd be pretty leery of leaning on him much except against LHP.
Andy Dirks - I continue to be a big supporter of Andy Dirks even though he only owns the good half of a platoon role for the Tigers, as his huge improvements in contact rate this year have helped his AVG tremendously. Throw in the solid power numbers and the fact that he bats in front of Cabrera and Fielder, and you've got a severely underrated OF bat. I think he is still very capable of helping teams in most formats down the stretch, despite the 1-16 slump he's currently mired in.
