Nelson Cruz - Just like last time he came up, Cruz returned to Texas with a bang last night, blasting a homer, double, and a single in five trips to the plate. Something to keep in mind every single time Cruz comes back to the bigs: his minor league career line is 299/371/542. He has monstrous power, and his batting eye has been improving slightly during his four years in AAA. Sooner or later he's going to put together a season in the bigs, and the Rangers have committed to playing him every day while he is up this time, so I don't see why you wouldn't take a flyer on him if you have some injury issues in the OF right now. He's 28, so the future is now.
Frank Francisco - Francisco steps into the sizable void left by Eddie Guardado out in the Ranger pen, and the slightly more than 11 K's per nine ought to give you some idea of his potential. He does walk a few too many and allow a few too many homers to be an ideal closer, but Francisco is good enough to warrant ownership now that he'll be getting save chances. Pick him up now.
Edgar Renteria - Edgar Renteria has finally shown up the past six weeks, hitting 296/350/456 since the break (or fairly close to preseason projections). Renteria hit a bit like this in 2005 as well as far as the power disappearance, but it's been compounded by a rather unlucky BABIP this season to boot. As weak as the SS position has gotten, Renteria is still a solid starter at age 33 in the midst of this hot streak, and I do believe that it would be premature to call him "done", although this is likely the beginning of his decline phase.
Jensen Lewis - Lewis notched his seventh save in as many chances by tossing a scoreless tenth innings against the Tigers last night. Eric Wedge seems content to allow Rafael Perez multiple-inning duty in front of Lewis for now, so Lewis is a must-have in 4X4 and 5X5 formats for the save chances. Lewis has tossed 11 1/3 innings this month, allowing seven hits, one run, and one walk with nine K's. His numbers are extremely pedestrian on the whole, so when the save chances start to go elsewhere it will be time to cut bait.
Armando Galarraga - Galarraga continues to survive more than dominate, as he worked his way around two solo homers by Grady Sizemore to post yet another quality start. The only lucky aspect of his performance is the .251 BABIP, but that's probably enough to discount all of his performance above the average. I think this is a very good bet to be Galarraga's best season of his career once it's over, although he does throw enough ground balls to be a serviceable back-end starter going forward.
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