AL Player Notes - June 16, 2008

Robinson Cano - Keep holding on to the hope of a second-half break-out. Cano might have ended another slump with a 2-for-4 performance yesterday, but you never can tell if one game is the official "breakout" point. Let's break down Cano's monthly production for the first two months of 2008 and mid-way through June. First, the averages: .151, .295, .246 for a current .225. That's 77 points off his career average. Through June 15th, Cano only has 12 multi-hit games in 69 games (17% of his games). When's the statistical correction going to happen? 2008 looks eerily reminiscent of 2007 that leads all "regression to the mean" theorists that Cano will make a comeback in the 2nd half. Taking a look at 2007, Cano's first half was not nearly as poor as this year's, but it was still a drop in production. Pre-All star break 2007, Cano hit .274 with a .741 OPS. Post-All star break, he hit .343 with a .953 OPS. Pre-break, 17% of his games played were multi-hit games (like this season) compared to over 42% in the 2nd half. Try to weather the storm for now and maybe even make a deal for Cano if you're looking for a 2nd half average boost. Hitting .314 over 3 seasons is not a fluke - he's too good of a hitter for this to last too much longer. Kenny Rogers - Putting my personal hatred for Kenny Rogers aside (for too many reasons to account for in this column this morning), Kenny Rogers is an intriguing 2-start pitcher for the upcoming fantasy week. First, the match-ups.... he'll be on the road pitching in interleague play in two pitcher ballparks against San Francisco and then against San Diego. The Giants and the Padres are 2nd and 3rd to last in runs scored in the National League (with just the Nationals scoring less). Rogers also has four quality starts in a row with a 0.93 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 29.0 IP during that span (lasting at least 7.0 innings in each of those starts). Versus lefties, the Giants are hitting .268 and the Padres just .237 (compared to their righty split of the Giants hitting .260 and the Padres at .250). Joe Saunders - Can you name all of the 10-game winners in the league? You probably pick Brandon Webb right away, but its doubtful anyone could rattle off Cliff Lee, Aaron Cook, Mike Mussina, and Joe Saunders as the other four. Saunders has quietly put together a nice All-Star caliber season - 10 Wins, 3.06 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a K/BB of 2.0. Maybe its the low K totals that keeps him relatively obscure in the popular press (K/9 of just 4.4), but he has 9 QS in 14 starts and has gotten some run support help from the Angels to get him to the double-digit win mark. Daniel Cabrera - I could probably scroll through the archives and simply cut-and-paste an old Daniel Cabrera entry. This one wouldn't be the "he looked great, but watch out for the walks" entry. This one would be "Cabrera's wildness continues to hamper his fantasy potential." Cabrera walked 5 and only struck out 2 on Sunday while giving up 4 ER in 6.0 IP. He now has 3 consecutive Non-QS in his 3 starts in June with 9 walks and only 8 K's in 17.0 IP. Typically, Cabrera is a trade-off pitcher... you'll give up WHIP for K's. But this season, he's only posting a 4.8 K/9, a HUGE drop from 7.3 last season. This season, he has a WHIP of 1.36 but that doesn't include the 11 HBP he has also allowed. I really don't see any reason to have Cabrera on your team if he's not at least putting up big K numbers. Casey Kotchman - For a change, Casey Kotchman decided to bring his bat to the game last night. Its been a rough stretch for Kotchman and fantasy owners, but he finally broke his homerless streak with a dinger in last night's game. Having not hit a homerun since April 23rd, Kotchman saw his HR/AB drop from 15.3 in April to its current level of 33.9 with 6 HR in a total of 237 AB. We have also seen a huge drop in FPI from Kotchman going from 0.83 in April to just 0.50 in May (despite hitting .300) and only .33 this month as he hits .222 with a .604 OPS. I don't expect Kotchman to put up big-time power numbers like his April, so consider his fantasy value pretty weak out of the 1B spot. 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.