Brandon Lyon:
Make it 3 consecutive appearances and 5 of his last 6 outings that Lyon has now allowed at least one run. His last two appearances have come in non-save situations and you have to figure at this point the Diamondbacks would be hesitant to insert Lyon into a save situation. Lyon got the dreaded vote of confidence earlier in the week and I’m guessing his hold on the closer’s role is extremely tenuous. In leagues where I own Lyon he’ll be reserved in the upcoming week. Jon Rauch figures to be next in line if Bob Melvin chooses to go away from Lyon, but keep an eye on Tony Pena as well. Pena’s made a mechanical adjustment recently and in his last 6 appearances he’s allowed 1 base-runner (a BB) and struck out 9.
Ricky Nolasco:
I think we can officially say “he’s figured it out”. Nolasco followed up an intriguing June with a monster July and August and all of the sudden he’s thrown 14 quality starts in his last 16 outings. Since June 10th Nolasco has posted a ridiculous 107:12 K:BB Ratio in 105 2/3 innings, that’s a 1.01 K Rate and .11 BB Rate. Those numbers are better than Santana in his prime! While Nolasco’s baseline isn’t quite “that” good, his improvements are pretty remarkable and he’s quickly put himself into the reliable #2-3 fantasy starter role. Nolasco’s schedule gets a bit tougher down the stretch as he finishes with NYM, @STL, @PHI, HOU, so expect the dominant 10+ K outings to slow down, but Nolasco still warrants considerable attention down the stretch as the improvements he’s made in his K:BB Ratio put him in elite territory.
Fred Lewis:
My man Fred Lewis has been slowed a bit by a balky right toe (bunion problems), but he’s gotten hot again here in August hitting .362/.418/.522 after a 3-5 effort on Sunday. I noted the comparison to Johnny Damon back at the beginning of June, so let’s check in on it: Damon 76 Runs, Lewis 75 Runs; Damon 9 HR’s, Lewis 9 HR’s; Damon .312, Lewis .289; Damon 55 RBI’s, Lewis 37 RBI’s; and Damon 23 SB’s, Lewis 21 SB’s. Lewis gives up a decent bit of value in RBI’s and AVG, but in the other 3 categories they’re practically identical. He remains undervalued as a 4 category contributor (granted RBI’s aren’t fantastic but that’s more the talent around him than anything else) in Rotisserie formats.
Edwin Encarnacion:
Encarnacion is officially my fantasy kryptonite. After consecutive months with significant improvements in both his EYE and his power rates I thought we were FINALLY seeing the breakout I’ve expected from the talented young 3B who hits in one of the best home parks in all of baseball. But since the end of July things have fallen off at a violent pace. Encarnacion’s back to his hack-tastic ways striking out 23 times in 76 August AB’s. For the season the improvements are still there in his EYE and his Power, suggesting he IS getting better, but it doesn’t appear a light-bulb went off in June as I had hoped with Edwin. It looks like he’ll remain an inconsistent option at 3B, providing good power but in compact spurts.
Chipper Jones:
I’m such a big Chipper fan that it’s hard to knock him but it needs to be noted that the power output from Chipper just hasn’t been there since he suffered a small tear in his quad back at the beginning of June. Before that quad issues Jones posted an extra base hit rate of 12.1%, since that date he’s posted a pedestrian 7.9% Rate. Chipper’s still hitting over .300 since the injury but the significant drop in power output has hurt his overall value. With the downgrade in supporting cast, Chipper’s stock has quietly slipped. He’s barely breaking double digit Runs and RBI’s each month and basically a slightly more polished empty batting average candidate.
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