Delmon Young - One of the biggest Delmon Young supporters I know asked me yesterday about including him in a deal, so the time may very well have come to put the full-court press on his owners in your respective leagues. Young's poor plate discpline is certainly hampering his development, but he's still just 22. His walk and strikeout rates are both still in the poor category, but they have both improved thus far this season (1:24 BB:AB last year, 1:16 this year; 1:5.1 K:AB last year, 1:5.4 this year). He's running more, just not hitting for any power yet. It's possible that he turns into someone like, well, a right-handed Jacque Jones, and that's the downside. He's definitely worth having if his owner has soured on him, particularly if you're building for the future.
Wladimir Balentien - Balentien is a tough guy to figure, as he has some very positive traits (excellent power, plus speed, seemingly improved discipline the past two years), but also some severely negative ones (high K rate and its corresponding effeect on AVG, poor fit for home park). Fittingly, he's hit a couple of homers and struck out a whole passel (8, to be precise) of times in his first 21 AB's, and he looks a bit raw (even for a 23 year old). Still, the M's have virtually no other options, so they're going to trot him out there pretty much every day and see what happens. Expect more of what you've seen: modest AVG, good pop, and maybe a couple of steals thrown in once he gets comfortable (10-15/yr in the minors). He could provide league average production possibly, but if he ever left Seattle I'd be a bit more pleased with his prospects.
Dana Eveland - Eveland (typically) struggled with his command yesterday, but he battled his way through seven innings while allowing only three singles to go with teh four walks and four K's. He's been about as good as you can expect a fifth starter to be, keeping the ball down (one HR allowed through 41 IP) and striking out a reasonable number of batters (about 6.5 per 9) so that the excess walks (approx. 4 per 9) aren't killing him. His control has actually been a touch better than this in the minors, so a bit of improvement wouldn't even be out of the question, although I would imagine that a few more hits are going to start falling in to offset that. All in all, he's only been a slight bit better than I expected in the first place, so there's no reason to think he can't continue to be a productive back-end starter.
Emil Brown - At age 33, Brown is probably in decline from a pretty low peak to begin with, but he's knocking in a ton of runs for the A's thus far (and at opportune times, to boot) so his stock has been back on the rise. His strikeouts are down substantially so far this year (almost cut in half), so it's understandable that his AVG would be back up to its historical norm. The power is back a bit from last year's precipitous drop, which you'd also expect. All in all, he's basically a replacement-level corner OF bat that's having a bit of luck knocking people in. He was a nice story a few years ago, but the thing about free talent is that it's usually only free for a short period of time, and you need to know when to unload it just like you need to know when to pick it up in the first place. For what the A's needed this year, he is fitting the bill thus far, but I wouldn't be surprised if he weren't starting by year's end, and I'd certainly be surprised if they brought him back for a second year. He isn't worthwhile for fantasy purposes except in the deepest of leagues.
Dustin McGowan - McGowan was masterful last night, limiting the White Sox to just three singles and a double over 7 1/3 innings, striking out six in the 1-0 win. Since the aberration in Tampa (seven walks), McGowan has looked terrific in stifling both colors of Sox over the past week, allowing eight hits, one run, and one walk against 11 K's in 14 2/3 innings. His ratios are all virtually identical to last year thus far in 2008 (expect for a slight decline in HR/9), but his ERA, which was higher than you would have expected it to be last year given the peripherals, is down about a run and a half. Somewhere between the two is where expectations should lie, making him a bonafide #2 starter in most formats.
