Garret Anderson - Not only is Anderson hitting as he did at his peak (after 3 1/2 years of visible decline prior to July), but he's walking more than he ever has before to boot. Anderson is hitting 316/376/564 since the break, and last night typified this "new" model of the Angels slugger: two singles, a double, and two walks in five trips to the plate. Anderson is never going to be confused with Bobby Abreu, but this newfound patience could serve him very well in extending this decline phase of his career.....if it sticks. The man is 35, but he could very well have a few more years of productive performance in him.
Edinson Volquez - Volquez pitched extremely well against the Twins last night, holding them to five hits and one earned run (plus one unearned) over six innings, walking one and fanning six. Thus far in 2007, Volquez has two good starts against weak hitting teams and two mediocre to poor starts against solid hitting teams. Sounds like an average pitcher to me. Volquez has almost always been able to sustain modest success in the minors despite substandard control, but as he has seen in all three major league trials, that doesn't work consistently at the top level. Even last night, where he only walked one batter, his ball/strike ratio was slightly worse than 3:4. It's very possible that he is one mechanical adjustment (or even one mental adjustment) away, but until then he remains a very risky proposition as a starter.
Josh Fields - It looks like Josh Fields is in Chicago's plans for next year......as their potential starting LF. That makes his abysmal OBP and AVG that much more of an albatross for fantasy purposes, something even his post-break ISO of .226 can't offset. He might be worth a reserve slot in deeper leagues next year, but that's probably about it.....one strikeout every 2.9 AB's just isn't going to work.
Dustin McGowan - There aren't many guys hotter than Dustin McGowan right now. McGowan went the distance against the Red Sox last night, holding them to just five hits and a run while striking out nine. McGowan has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 11 of his last 12 starts (he allowed four to the Yanks last time out). His line for the last five starts reads: 37 IP, 24 H, 11 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 36 K. With a WHIP that far under 1.00, he probably should have had an even easier time keeping runs off of the board. He is a must-start down the stretch, and looks like an easy keeper choice for 2008.
Jhonny Peralta - Peralta had two homers and three walks in last night's huge win over the Tigers, and he's now batting 271/341/434 for the season. Earlier in the year there was a lot of talk about how the Peralta of 2006 was gone, but his 256/317/356 line since the break has reinforced that his 2005 performance may very well have been as much of an outlier as 2006. The strikeouts keep piling up with no improvement in his walk rate, and his power numbers are much closer to 2006 levels than 2005. (ISO of .163 in '07 vs. .128 in '06 and .228 in '05) Add in the defensive decline that he's suffered over the past few years, and you've got a situation where the Indians have locked up a decent SS for the long-term, but not a budding star.
