Tyler Chatwood - Chatwood was solid again yesterday against the Dodgers, tossing a complete-game four-hitter but falling on the losing side of a 1-0 score. Chatwood has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 10 of 12 starts for Colorado, leading many to believe that he can be relied upon consistently now. That is possible, but I can sum up Chatwood's 2013 thus far in three points: sizable control improvement, slight improvement in missing bats, and substantial increase in good luck. Chatwood has cut his walks by a third while maintaining his fantastic GB rate, but if you just look at his IP, H, BB, and SO totals they look much more like a back-end starter than a guy with a 2.74 ERA. He's a tough guy to spot-start since his skill set is designed for a tough park in the first place, and I always have a tough time having confidence in guys where out of BB rate, K rate, and GB rate, only the GB rate is above average. That being said, I think he has to have shown enough to be an option to rely on in deeper leagues to this point. I'm skeptical that he will be able to keep his ERA within 0.75 of where it is now by season's end, but even that might be enough to have some value in many formats.
Jose Tabata - When Tabata went on the DL back in May, he'd lost his starting spot and was back to being a 4th OF for the Pirates. He's come back from the DL to a starting OF spot and proceeded to hit in 9 of 10 games, batting 382/432/559 in the process. It's easy to think that something has changed with Tabata, but the reality is that he's hitting the ball on the ground almost 60% of the time like he always does, he's just getting better results from it right now. Tabata is only 24 and still has time to improve, but this hot streak is not, at this point, indicative of anything that should cause us to upgrade his future prospects at all. He remains a player that really needs to make some style changes to be a viable starting OF, but he has enough potential to be a possible reserve option in deeper formats.
Zack Greinke - Greinke gave us all hope for a big second half last night, shutting out the Rockies while allowing just a pair of singles and a walk, tallying nine strikeouts in the 1-0 win. Despite an up-and-down first half, I'm optimistic that we're starting a good stretch for Greinke, as aside from the 16 straight scoreless innings he's been able to generate a swinging strike% of better than 10.0 in each of his last three starts. He's won his last five decisions, and I'm not sure there are 20 pitchers that I'd rather have for the 2nd half of the year.
Dan Haren - OK, so Haren has now made it through two starts without allowing a homer, and lo and behold he hasn't gotten blown up either, allowing 10 hits and 2 runs over 11 innings with 4 walks and 14 strikeouts. He still can't get a win, as the Nationals managed to blow the game in the 9th to lose their 10th straight start of Haren's. Most owners should have cut bait with Haren by now, but in my deeper leagues I'm stubbornly hanging on and spot-starting him every once in a while....like this week for example, when he was heading to Miami in a tailor-made spot for him when healthy. That may be the key here, as (commencing cherry-picking of data) if you throw out a very shaky 1st inning back from the DL earlier in the week, Haren has allowed 7 singles and 2 walks in 10 innings with 12 K's. He says he feels better, and a small amount of results show that he's been better, so there is a glimmer of hope for stubborn folks like me that love the great control and solid K rates that Haren can provide. He's still a huge risk, but those in deeper leagues may want to keep him around for a bit longer just to see if he's rediscovered something, as he is a huge boon to WHIP and a minor one to K's when he's right.
Darin Ruf - Ruf went 3-4 with a double and a homer in game 1 yesterday, followed by an 0-4 with 3 K's in game 2 as his personal highs and lows were illustrated quite nicely. Ruf is almost 27 years old and getting his first legitimate chance at the big league level, following a 4 1/2 years minor league career that saw him hit 299/380/502 while being quite a bit older than the average competition at every level. Ruf has a ton of power with a ton of contact issues, no speed, and a first baseman's defensive chops. The sustainability of any sort of average is the big question here, because although he's likely to hit some homers, he may not make enough contact to maintain any sort of playing time. He has a pretty large window here with Ryan Howard likely out through the end of August, and in deeper leagues he's certainly going to be worth a flyer. I am in the camp that doesn't believe he can make enough contact to be worth a slot in the majority of formats, but at the very least he should be snapped up as a reserve if you have a spot on the off chance that I'm wrong there, as the power will certainly play if he can just keep the K rate in the palatable range.
