A small sampling of today's player notes available to subscribers...
Mike FIers (SP-MIL) - It's apparently a mismatch no matter what team Fiers faces these days. Thursday was no exception, as Fiers fanned a career-high 14 over six inning of three-hit ball against the anemic Cubs offense. FIers now has a 1.29 ERA in 21 inning with a 25:6 K:BB in 21 innings. Fiers had an eye-popping 129:17 K:BB in 102.1 Triple-A innings this year, so despite his being 29 already, Fiers has some deeper league potential.
Andre Ethier (OF-LAD) - A red-hot Carl Crawford was for some reason given the day off Thursday, allowing Ethier to join the lineup against the Braves and go 0-for-4. For $17 million a season, the dodgers are getting a guy batting .243/.311/.363. Ethier has just four homers in 300 at-bats this year, and his last long ball came back on June 29. He has one extra-base hit since July 20 due to the sporadic playing time, and his .120 ISO would represent a 31-point drop over last year and a 117-point drop from his .237 peak back in 2009. Ethier hit a respectable .272/.360/.423 last year, so it's certainly possible he has a couple more solid years left in the tank, but we are unlikely to see them happen in LA.
Brandon Phillips (2B-CIN) - If you're struggling to get 2B production in your 12-team mixed league, Phillips just might be available on your waiver wire. He's scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Friday and could return to the Reds' lineup as early as Monday. Phillips has seen his production drop this year, as his .272/.308/.392 batting line would be the worst of his career should it hold. In addition, after homering exactly 18 times in each of his previous four seasons, Phillips has just seven this year.
Aaron Harang (SP-ATL) - Harang was hit hard by the Dodgers Thursday, allowing five runs on seven hits with a 3:3 K:BB over 4.1 innings. Harang even allowed a two-run home run to Drew Butera and his sub-.600 OPS. Harang had actually been pretty good lately, tossing eight quality starts in his last nine outings, though his 29:21 K:BB in those 60 innings perhaps hinted at the struggles to come. Harang overall has been a great back-end starter for the Braves, posting a 3.51 ERA and 115:59 K:BB in 153.2 innings. The key for Harang has been his pre-Thursday 0.60 HR/9, as that metric sat at 1.6 last year and is in the 1.2 range for his career. We'd expect the ERA to continue to trend up the rest of the way.
Roberto Hernandez (SP-LAD) - It took 118 pitches, but Hernandez made it through six inning Thursday against the Braves, allowing one run on just three hits in the process. The 5:4 K:BB accounted for the high pitch count, but that's now back-to-back quality starts for Hernandez since he donned Dodger blue earlier this month. In fact, Hernandez now has four consecutive QS's overall, and in his last nine starts, he's allowed more than three runs just once. With subpar ratios (5.8 K/9, 4.0 BB/9) supporting his 3.72 ERA, Hernandez seems likely to see the ERA trend up over the course of the season, but he looks like a solid back-end starter that will give the Dodgers' offense a chance to win most days.
