Another solid outing for Andy Pettitte without the support from the Yankee offense. He has pitched four quality starts this season while earning a no-decision or loss. He's 6-for-8 in quality starts and is 3-for-3 in May. Little has been mentioned about Pettitte's return to the American League and its affect on his numbers. We could write an entire page on the subject, but one key stat to review is strikeouts. His K/9 has dropped from 7.47 to 5.19 and K/BB from 2.54 to 1.45. Not a good trend for the lefty, but he has still managed to keep his ERA below 3.00 despite a hefty 1.41 WHIP.
Bobby Abreu is quoted on Sunday as saying "I feel I haven't been doing my job." Really Bobby? Is it the .236 average that makes you feel that way? Or maybe it's the 1 HR? Or how about the career-low OBP of .312? You hit 3rd in one of the best offensive lineups in the game, between Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. You are obviously going to see plenty of pitches to hit and have plenty of RBI opportunities. Fantasy owners continue to maintain hope that he will break this awful slump, but at this point, to what extent will he break-out? It will quite a month to reach the 0.80+ FPI level where he belongs.
Quite a day for Gary Matthews Jr. - 3-for-4 with 2 HR and 4 RBIs against his former team, the Rangers. After a modest start in April, Matthews is hitting .311 in May with 4 HR, 12 RBI, and a 1.017 OPS. He's forecasted to perform at a 0.64 FPI level and is actually at 0.74 more. He's a bit of a sell-high candidate, in my opinion. I feel like the value of his name (because of all the press time he gets, both good and bed) exceeds his fantasy value.
Ian Kinsler was in a serious slump before hitting his 10th HR of the season yesterday. It was his first home run of the month and just his second extra base hit of May. Our preseason forecast for the young 2B was an FPI of 0.70 and sure enough, he's spot-on at 0.70. Of course, a smooth performance over the last month and a half would be preferred, but Kinsler is showing that he has more power than everyone anticipated. His HR/AB of 11.9 will be difficult to maintain, but he finally looks like he's breaking out of this terrible slump and should rebound to outperform his preseason projection.
If you haven't been taking advantage of Jack Cust's production over the past week, its time to hop on the bandwagon. Last week I wrote about his power potential and the fact that he wouldn't last long on the free agent wires. Sure enough, his ownership % has jumped to almost 50% upon hitting 5 HR with 11 RBI over the last seven games. The important thing is he'll continue to get AB. Not sure how long this hot streak will last, but take advantage while you can. He won't be a fantasy staple this season - remember Chris Shelton? Ok, Cust is a little more established and the power isn't quite as much of a surprise, but this will all slow down soon enough.
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