Alex Gordon never quite turned out to be the rookie-of-the-year candidate everybody thought, but he has shown some signs of greatness throughout the season. He hit 2 HR against the Twins yesterday, giving him 14 for the season. His 0.54 FPI (the highest of the season for him) is modest for a typical 3B in a mixed league, but despite his "non-superstar"stats in his rookie debut in 2007, I expect him to really make a big splash in his sophomore season. And, it wouldn't surprise me to see him turn it on for the last month of the season. If your league allows free agent pickups throughout the end of the season, I would keep an eye on Gordon this week to see if his dingers yesterday will lead to a hot streak.
Brian Bannister is on cruise control right now. He has four straight wins and five W's in his last 6 outings. Another solid performance from the youngster yesterday included a pitching line of 8.0 IP, 1 ER and he now has 8 quality starts in his last 9 outings. Some more good news? According to ESPN and CBS Sportsline, he's only owned in about 60% of all leagues. The bad news is that he plays for the Royals and his next start comes against the Yankees on Saturday.
Hank Blalock returned to the Rangers lineup on Sunday and make a big splash, hitting a grand slam in last night's game. He has been sidelined for much of the season with a nerve issue in his shoulder and neck (I believe the medical term for the condition is thoracic outlet syndrome - that's a new one). While Blalock is known for his power having hit 30+ HR in 2003 and 2004 and 25 in 2005, his power dipped significantly in 2006 with just 16. And, with a recent drop in power combined with a shoulder injury that will probably limit his power, I would stay away from him unless you're really desperate for a corner infield position fill-in.
Just because Rich Harden is eligible to come off the DL this week doesn't make him a sure thing to be back pitching with the A's. This situation is more of the same: nobody knows what's going on. His status is still in question and my guess is that they'll shut him down "officially"over the next week or so. Antoher disappointing season for Harden and fantasy owners. This was supposed to be the year of production and prosperity for both of us. Instead, he'll end up not even cracking the 50 inning mark for the second straight year. He'll be the Kerry Wood of next year's draft - take a chance late and hope for the best.
AJ Pierzynski was in a bad funk - going 0-for-17 until he broke out yesterday with a big 4-for-5 day in Cleveland. I think AJ's numbers are zeroing in on what we can expect from him year-in and year-out. He's averaging a HR/AB of 31.1 over the last 3 seasons, OPS of .700, and an FPI of 0.46 with a variance of no more than 0.03 during his time with the Sox.
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