Jorge Campillo - We road the Campillo roller coaster on the way up and now its going back down. Back-to-back shaky starts for Campillo who has now given up 10 ER in his last 11.1 IP. Of course, he had posted back-to-back wins right before that against two solid teams in the Brewers and the Diamondbacks. So which Campillo will we get next week? Here's how I look at it (especially for you head-to-head leaguers out there). Campillo is probably one of the better Braves pitchers out there, he's a two start pitcher against the Giants and the Cardinals, and he has shown some signs of brilliance in the past month or so. You have to figure at least one of next week's outings is a quality start, especially against one of the weaker hitting teams in the Giants. So if he gives up 5 ER in 11 IP for a 4.09 ERA, a W, and 7 K's, I'll take it for a week's work.
Jeff Samardzija - Cub Reliever (and fellow-ND alum, may I add) may get the spot-start on Sunday against the Marlins. Because the double-header yesterday plays some games with the Cubs rotation, the Cubs are considering using the former wide-receiver as their guy. Samardzija hasn't started since July 20th (for Triple-A Iowa) and has yet to start in a big league game, so you know the nerves will be there. Nonetheless, he has pitched brilliantly since joining the Cubs, posting a 1.32 ERA in 13.2 IP of relief. A pitcher's debut start is usually not the best time to be playing games with pitch-and-ditch candidates and the Marlins are a decent enough offensive team (ranking 6th in the majors in runs scored) to put up the red flags.
Doug Davis - Davis has had a rough August. In his three non-quality starts for the month, Davis has a 12.28 ERA and a 2.64 WHIP. It just hasn't been pretty and there are obvious statistical measures to pinpoint his meltdown. He was 3-for-5 in QS in July and 4-for-6 in June. If Davis is going to turn it around, now wouldn't be a bad time to make a short-term investment in him. He's a 2-start pitcher next week with one favorable match-up against the Padres and another less than optimal start against the Marlins. So, despite some attrocious outings thus far in August, we know he has decent-enough stuff to turn it around and his first start against San Diego could springboard it.
Brad Hawpe - Hawpe continues to put up some big-time numbers at the plate for the Rockies (and, perhaps more importantly, for his fantasy owners). Hawpe went 3-for-3 with a dinger and 2 doubles last night, raising his average to .289 for the season. But look at his post all-star break numbers and you see some impressive things. Since the break, he's hitting .388 with a 1.072 OPS, 19.6 HR/AB and a 0.95 FPI. Those are elite OF numbers and to think that Hawpe's ownership dipped all the way to 57% in Week 10 when he wasn't producing. Since then, he has been reclaimed in most leagues and rightfully so. He's showing no signs of letting up and could be one of the "hot" players that carry you through the fantasy post-season.
Randy Wolf - Wolf hurled a quality start against the San Francisco Baseball Giants. He went 7.0 IP and gave up 2 ER on 6 hits with 2 BB and 3 K's. The number of K's in this game was a little low compared to his average K/9 of 7.9 for the season. But the good news for those gambling on Wolf from start to start is that he now has given up 6 ER in his last 18 innings (3 outings) and this was his first QS since the all-star break. He's always a risky start unless its against poorer offensive teams, but he's usually good for K's. Proceed with risk and assess his match-up before making a start/sit decision with him.
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