Bryce Harper - Harper returned from the DL last night after spending more than a month on the shelf with a knee injury. Harper picked up his 13th home run of the year in the contest but went just 1-for-4 overall. As long as there are no lingering effects of the injury (and it's possible there will be, particularly in his stolen base total), Harper should be an excellent fantasy option the rest of the way.
Chase Utley - Rumor has it that the Dodgers are interested in trading for Chase Utley ahead of this month's trade deadline. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. recently said that he viewed Utley as "a Phillie for life," but it wouldn't surprise to see him dealt. If he is, however, a move to the Dodgers may be a value downgrade given the move from a hitter's to a pitcher's park and what is likely to be a negative move in the batting order. Utley has been batting second for Phillie, but newly minted superstar Yasiel Puig has that spot locked down for LA. Utley could lead off, where current second basemen Mark Ellis and Skip Schumaker have been batting, but Carl Crawford is due back relatively soon, which could mean Utley would be destined for the sixth spot.
Eric Young Jr. - EYJ went 2-for-5 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI in last night's contest against Arizona, continuing his hot streak as a Met and raising his batting average to .327. He was also caught stealing, which isn't really relevant except that it was just his second stolen base attempt as a Met. As I've mentioned before, Terry Collins is the stingiest manager in baseball when it comes to letting his players steal, and Young's Stolen Base Attempt Percentage as a Met is just 12%--well below his 37% mark in Colorado.
Steve Cishek - Cishek retired a single batter to notch his 15 save of the year last night, his 9th since the second week of June. As I said in May, Cishek's pace was bound to pick up, and those that abandoned ship are likely to be kicking themselves right now. It doesn't matter how bad the team is, all teams should be expected to generate a reasonable number of saves. Even if a team is so bad that it only wins 50 or 60 games, those games are likely to be close enough that a large percentage result in save chances. Cishek is a quality fantasy stopper.
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