NL Player Spotlight - May 29, 2008

Oliver Perez - Another disappointing outing for Perez. He's now just 2-for-5 in QS this month with a 5.58 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and an atrocious BB/9 of 5.87. While walks and wildness has been his weakness, the long-ball was his enemy last night, giving up 3 HR and 5 ER in 6.0 IP. He has allowed 8 home runs this month alone and has a HR/9 rate of 1.56 for the season. Its been quite the fall-off from last year's "break-out" year with the Mets. Let's take a look at his 2007 to 2008 differences and decide if its just early season troubles or something we can expect for the long-haul. First, his 2007 season-ending figures: 3.56 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, HR/9 1.12, K/9 8.85, BB/9 4.02, and GO/AO of 0.53. This season's totals: 4.83 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 1.36 HR/9, K/9 7.54, BB/9 6.18, and GO/AO of 0.84. The bright spot is that he still has a decent K/9 despite a slight drop from last year's rate and he is actually improving the way he is getting outs, forcing more groundball outs. If the Mets can turn the ship into the right direction, I think you'll see Oliver Perez do the same over the full season. I expect continued upside from the young lefty and would consider him a calculated risk to acquire in a trade if you have the opportunity. Derek Lowe - The good news for Lowe owners is that he continued to pitch his way out of the funk that's been plaguing him for the last month or so. In the first four games of May, Lowe did not throw a single Quality Start and put up a 9.28 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, and H/9 of 12.7. His last two outings have both been quality starts, lasting 7.0 innings with 5 K's and 2 BB's in each of the games against the Cardinals and last night against the Cubs. His performance last night was stellar, pitching 7.0 shutout innings on just four hits before being removed by manager Joe Torre for Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito. Of course, one of the better 8th/9th inning combos in the game still blew the Win opportunity for Lowe and his fantasy owners (no, I'm not bitter). But the bright side is that Lowe looks to be back to form after scaring his owners for the last month or so. Lowe will be a 2-start pitcher next week against the Rockies and the Cubbies. Takashi Saito - Saito never walks guys. He led the majors in K/BB with 6.00 last season (anyone with over 50.0 IP or more) and is already posting a decent 3.7 rate this season, striking out 26 and walking 7. Of course, one of those 7 BB was a leadoff walk in the 9th inning in Cubs game last night that led to the tying run for the Cubs, the blown save for Saito, and the blown Win opportunity for Derek Lowe (yes, still bitter). Its Saito's 3rd blown save already this season after only blowing 4 the entire season in 2007. There's no job risk here yet, but if it starts to become an epidemic, Jonathan Broxton wouldn't be a bad insurance policy. Chase Utley - Just a quick stats analysis on Utley's power evolution over the past four years. Hitting his league-leading 17th home run of the season last night, Utley brings his HR/AB to 12.4 for 2008. In his previous 3 season from 2005 through 2007, Utley averaged a HR/AB of 19.4, 20.6, and 24.1. Of course, some wrist injuries were mixed into those numbers, but he's definitely blasting his way through those rates. This could be the MVP/career-year that we all knew Utley would achieve at least once in his career. With the top of the Phillies lineup of Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, and Ryan Howard all playing well, Utley should continue to see plenty of pitches to hit and get run/RBI opportunities to add. Truly a fantasy stud. Adam Wainwright - Unless you have Wainwright on your team, its likely that you may be in the dark about his season. But the facts speak for themselves: he's having a helluva season. He's 8-for-11 in quality starts with a 2.86 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 6.2 K/9. He's 5-2 and is has only pitched less than 6.0 innings in any given outing once the entire year. He's averaging over 7.15 innings per start and is posting a K/BB of 3.15. With other marquee NL pitchers (like Brandon Webb) putting up Cy-Young numbers through the first couple months of the season, Wainwright flies under the radar. But if he can continue to pitch effectively through the All-Star break (and I think he will), his name will start getting more coverage in the popular press. There are over 100 player news blurbs posted in the member area each morning. Members can read the rest of today's player news by clicking here. Not a member? Join today.