Yangervis Solarte (3B-SD) - Solarte will apparently be the everyday third baseman and #2 hitter after coming over in the Chase Headley trade. Normally that's a prime spot in a lineup ahead of the team's best hitter, but instead, Solarte is hitting behind a leadoff man (Amarista) with a .283 OBP, a solid #3 hitter (this year at least) in Seth Smith, and two spots ahead of a "cleanup" hitter batting .212 (Grandal). Historically-bad lineup aside, Solarte has some value in deeper formats given he'll be receiving regular at-bats, and after going 0-for-4 with a walk in a game in which the Padres somehow scored 12 runs, Solarte is batting .254/.339/.385 with six home runs. Solarte doesn't run much, and he failed to show more than 10-12 HR power in the minors, so limit your expectations (though you probably have done this already).
Henderson Alvarez (SP-MIA) - Alvarez restored at least some of my faith in him, allowing just two runs over eight impressive innings to defeat the Braves Thursday. Alvarez walked one and fanned four in lowering his ERA to 2.62. The 24 year-old had allowed seven runs over 7.2 innings in his last two starts, so this was a good one to see. Alvarez's 5.4 K/9 of course limits his upside, but the 1.6 BB/9 helps, and 54% of Alvarez's batted balls are hit on the ground, so he is a guy who needs good defenders behind him, and for the most part this year, good defense he's gotten. Alvarez does average 93.6 mph with his fastballl, so there could be more strikeouts in his future if he improves his breaking stuff and makes less of an effort to pitch to contact. He has All-Star upside.
Matt Garza (SP-MIL) - Garza held the Mets to a run on two hits over eight impressive innings Thursday to even his record at 7-7 and drop his ERA to 3.87. Sure, it was the Mets, who rolled out a lineup with one regular having an OBP greater than .340 (Lucas Duda), but after allowing five runs and recording a solo out in his last start, this was a nice bounceback for Garza. Garza is seeing his K/9 trend down the last couple years, dropping to 6.6 this season versus 8.3 and 7.9 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. We'd certainly prefer to see a few more strikeouts, but Garza should be in line for finishing with his usual sub-4.00 ERA once again.
Dillon Gee (SP-NYM) - Gee was hit hard for the second straight start Thursday, allowing six runs in five innings in a 9-1 Mets loss against the Brewers. That's 10 runs in 10 innings over two starts for Gee, though his 14 strikeouts are certainly encouraging. The nine homers in 69.2 innings is a number that has been Gee's Achilles' this year, but his ERA remains a decent 3.49 ERA in 11 starts. He's also walked just five over his last five starts after doling out 13 free passes in his first six, so I'm not too concerned about the last couple starts. Simple regression to the mean.
Ruben Tejada (SS-NYM) - If you're in OBP leagues, we supposed you could do worse than Tejada as your SS/MI option, but only in pretty deep leagues. Tejada is set to return to the lineup after being held out a couple games due to a concussion. He's batting just .235, but a stellar 14% BB% gives him a .358 OBP to go with his two homers and one stolen base. Again, not the best option, but the OBP is solid, and at 24, perhaps he'll eventually grow into some power. It's probably best that he lose some weight and focus on being more of a threat on the basepaths, but it would be a stetch to predict that happening any time this year.
