Vernon Wells - Wells has had a horrible first half, but perhaps last night's 4-5 performance will jumpstart him. Wells' AVG this season is about 20 points below his career worst, and after posting four straight years with ISO's between roughly .200 and .250, this year's figure (.179) is back down to his age 23 level. I can't imagine that he'll end the year with numbers worse than he has right now, so to me he is clearly an acquisition target for the second half, at least if you can get him at a price lower than what he would have cost you in April.
Santiago Casilla - Let's not forget that Casilla was once a very highly touted pitching prospect known as Jairo Garcia, and with the A's bullpen in tatters due to injuries, if Alan Embree turns back into the guy that we all know and love on the East Coast, Casilla could very easily be next in line for the closer's spot right now. He's certainly worth stashing away in leagues with larger reserve rosters, and he's worth using if set-up men have any value at all in your format.
Shannon Stewart - Stewart is on fire, tacking on three hits last night to give him 19 in his last eight games (2.375 per game if you're counting). He even has three homers over that span, which would seem to be about two months worth at this point in his career. He is still a hitter driven by batting average, but when he's this hot it's hard to keep him out of a lineup in deeper leagues.
Andy Phillips - Phillips is back in the Bronx and seeing some playing time, and with the only alternative at 1B (apparently) in the person of Miguel Cairo, I would hope that Phillips is going to get quite a bit of playing time. The OBP may hurt you a bit, especially relative to most 1B, but Phillips has enough pop that he could provide an interesting temporary fix for any injuries you're facing in deeper leagues. Last year's 240/281/394 is probably the worst-case scenario, I would guess. Something like 280/340/460 would be the slightly optimistic outlook.
Rafael Perez - I know there aren't many leagues out there that use set-up men, but Perez is gaining more and more trust from Eric Wedge, as evidenced by his entrance last night in a one-run game with bases loaded and none out. Three batters later, the Indians had successfully defended that one-run lead and were an inning away from blowing the game open. Perez has had an excellent last few years in the minor leagues, and although his BABIP against is a bit lower than you'd expect, he still should be expected to post quality numbers the rest of the way. Unfortunately, he's behind Betancourt in the "closer-in-waiting" line, so the set-up role is his future here for the time being.
