Bartolo Colon - Colon didn't have much last night, giving up eight baserunners (including three homers) and several other hard-hit outs in just four innings of work before leaving with a stiff back. Colon has had a very favorable schedule thus far, facing the Mariners twice, the Orioles twice, and the Royals once before squaring off against the Phillies last night, so his stats should be taken with a few grains of salt. His next few outings are against the Cards and Astros though, so he might be able to keep this solid stretch going if he heals in time to make his weekend start. I would feel fairly comfortable using him as a mid-rotation starter even after his struggles the past few seasons, as his velocity is back up 2 mph on average, and his K rate is at its highest level since 2001. I don't think he'll return to ace level by any means, but he has shown he can be solid (especially with a good offense behind him).
Jeff Clement - Clement was called up after the game, adding to the laundry list of changes made in Seattle yesterday. Unlike the rest of them, this one could actually help the team. Clement was destroying AAA pitching even though he showed little in his two-week trial in Seattle earlier this year, so I'm guessing he's ready to hit if they'll be patient with him. He should be picked up immediately in all formats, although his lineup status would be determined by your depth to start with. The M's did say that they plan on having him continue to catch some, so he should become eligible there in all formats very shortly. In deeper leagues he's worth starting immediately, and in the rest he likely will be before too long. He easily could be their best hitter the rest of the way.
Dana Eveland - Expanding on Thomas' comments from last week, there are two other items of concern regarding Eveland. Number one is the BABIP of .280, which is probably 20-30 points low for his LD%. That's some more negative regression on the way in all likelihood. The second thing is even more important, in my estimation. His schedule hasn't been easy by any stretch, but he's also only faced one team twice (TOR), and that team lit him up for 11 hits and 7 runs the second time they saw him. As we get into the second half the element of surprise will be gone for him, and I'd expect some big numbers to come up from time to time. He isn't a bad pitcher, but he is a solid sell high candidate.
Dan Giese - 31 year old journeyman Dan Giese may very well be the first choice to replace Chien-Ming Wang in the Yankee rotation, which is interesting mostly because Giese had the first ten starts of his 10 year pro career this year in AAA. Giese has excellent control but not much else, so I'd be very wary of starting him in any format, but with the Yankee offense clicking better of late there are always some people that need wins desperately enough to give it a shot. You never know where the next Aaron Small might pop up I suppose, but I'm not feeling too optimistic about Giese's chances.
Chone Figgins - Figgins has picked up right where he left off since coming off the DL, hitting in all four games and reaching base a total of nine times. His OBP is .431, so he's gold in progressive leagues just for that, but he's also batting .312 and running a decent amount. Figgins seems to really be maturing as a hitter this year, focusing on his strengths (hitting the ball on the ground 56% of the time) and working the count more than he ever has (BB% and K% at career highs). He is an excellent leadoff man and should be back in your active lineup in all formats.
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