Scott Olsen
Just a kid being a kid, or is there something more here? After getting suspended for reportedly arguing with teammates and a clubhouse attendant, Olsen came out and pitched brilliantly for seven innings in beating the Reds on Friday. How does he celebrate? By getting drunk (ok, not exactly unheard of for 23 year-olds), driving (uh-oh), speeding, pulled over, and then belligerent with the police. Nice work Scott. Whatever good feelings there were after his last start are completely out the window. Hopefully, this is "just"a kid that needs to grow up and perhaps attend a few AA meetings, but with Olsen's history, you have to wonder if there aren't some more deeper psychological issues. The mental health stuff aside, Olsen has as much talent as any pitcher in the rotation, but at this point you have to wonder if they won't be forced to trade him. At the very least, it would seem another suspension would be in order here. Olsen has a world of upside, but in his second full year, the results are disappointing. Walks are up (4.4 BB/9 vs. 3.7), strikeouts are down (8.3 K/9 to 7.0 this year), and he has a pattern of looking brilliant for a start or two and coming back with a 4 IP, 5 ER type outing the next time out. Hopefully he can find a mentor on the team to talk some sense into him.
Matt Kemp
Dear Grady Little, what more do you want to see here? Please play Matt Kemp every day. Signed, Dodgers fans. Kemp received his third consecutive start on Saturday and went 2-for-4 with his sixth home run (third this week) and three RBI. Kemp is now batting .381/.403/.602 on the year and has 23 RBI in 112 at-bats. Project his line over 550 at-bats and you get this: .381-29-112 with 15 SB. No he's not going to hit .381 all year, but the power is legitimate (and then some) and when you factor in that Kemp has been hitting eighth in the games in which he's started, and the numbers could look even better. Now there's also the possibility you might say that hitting eighth would lead to his receiving better pitches to hit, as pitchers want to get Kemp out to end innings and begin the next with the pitcher, but I've seen probably 90% of the Dodgers' innings this year and Kemp is pretty much hitting everything, including breaking stuff more frequently than he did last year. Luis Gonazlez has an .832 OPS and Andre Either is on fire, so someone has to sit (note to Grady Little: it should be Juan Pierre) every third game, but Kemp should be starting more often than this. To the Dodgers credit, they at least made the right call in getting James Loney in there every day (took too long), and the same should happen with Kemp and soon.
Juan Pierre
Pierre remained red-hot on Saturday, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI in a win over the Mets. Pierre has now hit in 12 in a row and 23 of his last 25 games to raise his average to a season-high .290. He's now batting .347 this month, though his two walks limit the all-important OBP to .363. With zero home runs as expected, the power isn't and never will be there, but then again, the Dodgers didn't sign him and fantasy owners didn't draft him for his power. With 40 stolen bases, Pierre is on pace to reach or surpass his career-high of 65 and unlike in past years, he's stealing bases at an acceptable success rate (81.6%). He still doesn't deserve to start every day while one of Andre Ethier or Matt Kemp rides the pine, but when you give a guy $44 million, I guess you have to play him.
Jose Reyes
Yes, even the great ones can't be on top of their game 100% of the time. Witness Albert Pujols' April and now Jose Reyes' July. Reyes was 0-for-4 on Saturday against the Dodgers and his now batting .234 in April and at .301, the average is in danger of dropping below .300 for the first time since he opened the season 2-for-8. Perhaps more surprising is the drop-off in power. Reyes' XBH's by month starting in April: 16, 7, 5, and 6 this month. He's also stolen just one base since July 12, though on a positive note, his EYE has been consistently at the 1.00 mark for most of the year. Thanks to a 29-point increase in his OBP, Reyes' OPS is down just 15 points from last year's MVP-caliber season, but we'd like to see a little more power (he's also hitting more groundballs this year) and an uptick in the average. Reyes is a great
player and should be able to do both, but he's just in a little funk.
Tim Lincecum
I saw a great pitcher pitch on Saturday and his name is Tim Lincecum. Lincecum was masterful, powerful, dominant, etc. in tossing eight shutout four-hit innings against the Brewers. He walked one and struck out eight in lowering his ERA to 3.96. Expect that ERA to fall drastically in the second half. Lincecum has a 1.05 ERA in his last five starts while striking out 41 batters in those 34 1/3 innings. After a little four-start hiccup there in June, Lincecum has performed like a top 10 fantasy starter and at this point, that's what you have to consider him. I'd still like to see him cut down on the walks and be more efficient with his pitches, but you can't exactly argue with the results right now. Perhaps after years of giving away first round picks by signing the likes of Michael Tucker, the success of Lincecum will put that practice to rest.
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