The Phillies will turn to rookie call-up Kyle Kendrick to take Freddy Garcia's spot in the rotation on Wednesday. In 12 games this season with the Double-A Reading Phillies, Kendrick is 4-7 with a 3.21 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and a K/9 of 5.53. He's a ground-ball pitcher, posting a GB/FB of 1.42 and a solid HR/9 of 0.33. Normally, I would say stay away from a guy like Kendrick in his major league debut, but he will be facing a struggling White Sox lineup. Combine a bad offense with the element of surprise from a rookie pitcher and Kendrick could prove to be a decent, calculated risk in today's matinee.
Bill Hall might have reached base three times in the no-hit performance from Justin Verlander, but Hall has been quite the fantasy disappointment in 2007. Hall is coming off a year posting a 0.70 FPI, 35 HR at a rate of one for every 15.3 AB, 85 RBI, and a .900 OPS. He has definitely let-down fantasy owners with a 0.49 FPI, 6 HR at a rate of 35.7, 21 RBI, and a .718 OPS. Hall was especially valuable on draft-day with position eligibility at SS, 3B, and OF. So what to do? Buy low (or hold if you have him). Hall posted 3 consecutive months of .900 OPS in June, July, and August last season, so perhaps the summer months will lead to a hot-streak for Hall. Furthermore, it can't get much worse at this point, so selling him for lesser value is not equal to the potential value you may get if he breaks-out of this rut (which I think he will at some point).
Of course, nobody got a hit off of Justin Verlander last night. But JJ Hardy has been in quite a funk after becoming the big "fantasy surprise"of the year in May. Since June 1st, Hardy is hitting just .132 with 1 HR, 1 RBI, and 5 hits. This is definitely a statistical correction, bringing his average down to .278 and slowing down his HR rate to 15.9. Despite the rough couple of weeks, Hardy is still posting an FPI of 0.63 and has plenty of lineup support around him to score and drive-in runs. You might want to shop him around to see how much value you can get from him, but the Brewers' SS should be able to break out of this slump pretty soon. Expecting another May performance again may be asking a little much from the youngster.
Adam LaRoche went yard for the 8th time this season and had a decent night at the plate, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a double. LaRoche continues to be in a serious funk this 2007 season. He's posting just a 0.46 FPI with a HR/AB of 27.8 and an average of .216. We would all love to see him return to his 32 HR, 15.4 HR/AB days again, but that seems less and less likely. At this point, you can probably find a better player off the waiver wires. Stash him away if you can afford the roster space, but it will take a lot for LaRoche to turn this ship around.
Aaron Cook hurled a quality start last night against the Red Sox, but was still handed the loss in a 7.1 IP, 2 ER game. Cook is now 8-for-14 this season in quality starts with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He has averaged 6.2 IP per start this season, so he definitely logs the innings for the Rockies. Cook is consistently mediocre and I mean that in the best of ways. You know what you get with Cook - he's not going to get you more than 4 K's in a game, he'll walk somewhere between 2 to 4 hitters, has a decent chance of converting a quality start, and will give you innings. Cook is one of my favorite pitch-and-ditch guys, but rarely holds any extended mixed league value in my book.
There are over 100 player news blurbs posted in the member area each morning. Members can read the rest of today's player news by clicking here. Not a member? Join today.
