Seth Smith - The red-hot Smith only managed two hits Sunday after missing the cycle by a homer and a single respectively the past two days, and he's now hit in 8 straight with 7 doubles, 3 triples, and a homer over this incredible run. Smith is now hitting 330/419/575 on the year, and is doing so on the strength of the best in-zone contact rate of his career (over 90%) combined with his 2nd-lowest chase rate. The 31 year old looked about a step away from done last season and is benefitting from some good fortune through BABIP, but he looks strong enough right now to justify a spot in many formats, particularly those of an OBP bent....especially when you consider this week's schedule involves trips to Cincinnati and Colorado.
Robbie Erlin - Erlin tossed his 3rd straight quality start on Sunday, this time holding the Marlins to just 4 singles and a double over 6 1/3 innings, striking out 7. Erlin is a fairly consistent spot starter as a flyball pitcher with solid command, and the fact that he's bumped his swinging strike% up to 10 this season bodes well for his future. Unfortunately, he's probably only usable for one week of the next three, as road trips to Colorado and Arizona loom as potential disasters for a pitcher of his style and stuff. I like Erlin more than half of the time, and he certainly should be owned in deeper leagues, but aside from a projected outing at home against the Cubs on 5/23, the rest of May could be difficult for him.
Shelby Miller - Miller continued to struggle on Sunday, picking up his 5th win despite allowing a pair of runs on 4 hits and 4 walks over 5 1/3 innings. Miller has managed to muddle through this stretch due primarily to a strand rate over 90% and a BABIP of .259, but the inability to generate swinging strikes has contributed to a horrible increase in BB rate that seems destined to cause some poor results in the near future. Even with Atlanta up next on the schedule, I'd be a bit leery about Friday's outing.
Aaron Harang - Harang tossed another quality start Sunday, holding the Cubs to 2 runs over 6 innings to move to 4-3 on the year. Harang fanned 9 in the outing, once again exhibiting a swinging strike% that we haven't seen since his 2005-07 prime. There's been a fair bit of good fortune involved, mostly through HR/FB rate, but Harang does look like he's capable of being a solid spot-starter right now, which is certainly not something that you could say last season. The 36 year old heads to St. Louis for his next start Saturday, and for all of the talent that the Cards possess, they're currently 26th in runs scored. I'd be inclined to run Harang out there in most formats.
Alex Guerrero - There's a chance that Guerrero could be headed to LA any minute now, as the Dodgers are mulling moving Jose Uribe to the DL with his hamstring injury. Guerrero did not play at AAA on Sunday, furthering belief that he is already en route, and he's hit in his last 7 games to bring his AAA line to 341/398/588. Guerrero offers more pop than the average MIF, and his contact rate at AAA has been better than I expected it would be, so there is some upside here if he gets the call. With no early games Monday, there may be time to look at the news flow to decide on Guerrero, who wouldn't be a bad injury stopgap for players such as Ramirez or Uribe.
