Dustin Moseley
Save to say that after Tuesday, Moseley has a good shot at replacing Ervin Santana in the rotation while Bartolo Colon is out. After Santana surrendered five runs while retiring just one batter, Moseley saved the day, working 5 1/3 scoreless two-hit innings in relief. Mike Scioscia's move to push Moseley to the pen in favor of Santana was questionable when it was made last week and he's certainly rethinking that decision today. Moseley hasn't gone more than the 5 1/3 innings since making two six-inning starts in April, so he may still need to be stretched out, but with the Angels in a pennant race, they can ill-afford many more Santana starts. Moseley's 4.5 K/9 and sub-2:1 K:BB hardly inspire much confidence, but he's still just 25 and maybe there's more upside there.
Andy Pettitte
You win some (Pettitte) and you lose some (Igawa, Mussina, and (?) Clemens). Pettitte is almost single-handedly keeping the Yankees in the Wild Card hunt right now, tossing seven innings of three-run ball to beat the Red Sox on Tuesday. It marked the tenth consecutive start in which he's allowed 10 or fewer runs and his record since the break is a strong 8-1 with a 2.79 ERA. It's pretty easy to see how he's doing it this year - slightly fewer walks (2.8/9 vs. 2.9 last year), and most importantly, about a 40% drop in his HR rate (.67/9 vs. last year's 1.1). In addition, while I'm not a firm believer in historical first half/second half splits being a reliable predictor of a pitcher's future performance, over the last three years, Pettitte's second half ERA stands at 2.35 vs. a first half mark of 4.22. Take from that what you want, but there's nothing here to suggest he won't be a top 10 AL pitcher the rest of the way. Pettitte has a $16 million player option for 2008 that at this point, the Yankees have to be hoping he exercises.
Joey Gathright
Just two days after it was reported that Gathright would be the team's leadoff hitter, Wednesday found him hitting eighth, and when you have the .140-hitting Jason LaRue behind you, you're not going to get much to hit. Gathright promptly struck out in all three of his at-bats, though he's still batting .338, thanks in large part to a 7-for-11 effort in three games against the A's a couple weeks ago. Gathright's 6.7% K/AB rate is holding him back from being trusted as a leadoff man, though last year, that same ratio was 11.3%. Gathright still has just one career homer (thank you Joel Pineiro) in close to 800 at-bats, but the Royals aren't playing him for his pop. They just need him to get on base, something he's doing far too infrequent via the walk.
Jeff Mathis
Mike Napoli is still probably a week to 10 days from returning from a hamstring injury, so Mathis has a rather short window to make some headway on determining where the Angels go with the catching position next year. Wednesday certainly helps Mathis' cause, as he went 2-for-5 with a homer off Felix Hernandez. Mathis was 2-for-3 with a double and walk on Tuesday, so a good sign for him indeed. It still leaves him at .222/.281/.370 on the year, but this is a guy formerly thought of as one of the minors' top catching prospects, and some develop slower than others. He's still just 24 and though his 30:9 K:BB is a concern, Mathis could be a sleeper AL-only catcher the rest of the way. I can see him sharing the job with Napoli should his bat stay hot.
Vernon Wells
You have to like Wells' glove, but after taking $126 million of Toronto's money this offseason, I think the club was expecting more than .256/.309/.428. Most disturbing besides the lack of contact is the plunge in his power - 15 homers, a .172 ISO (worst since 2001), and a drop in his stolen bases (17 to 9). Wells had an .899 OPS last season in his contract year, and with the decline to .737 in 2007 and his turning 29 in December, you have to wonder if the decline phase has already begun. No, I don't expect him to be this bad next year, particularly if the Blue Jays spend some money on a left-fielder (hint, hint, Reed Johnson isn't the answer) to give Wells some protection in the lineup, but he'd make my all fantasy bust team right now for this year.
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