Brandon Wood - After two homers last night, Wood has three in his last three games, so maybe he's finally adjusting to the big league level. The 23 year old has seen his plate discipline deteriorate in each of the past two years in the minors, and it's gotten to the point now where I wonder if he will make enough contact at the big league level to consistently produce, but the Angels do owe it to themselves to see if his career minor league line of 283/351/533 will translate to the majors. They've been getting by with little production from SS and 3B all season anyway, so I wouldn't say they have much to lose. Wood clearly has excellent power....101 extra-base hits as a 20 year old just plain doesn't happen. Ever. He's going to be at least an average player due to his power, but a slight improvement in contact rate could turn him into a superstar. His upside is enormous, but you need to make sure that he's going to get the PT down the stretch once Aybar and Kendrick come back to justify playing him full-time. For the time being he's worth a starting spot, and he's certainly worth having for 2009.
Aaron Cunningham - Cunningham has started his major league career out well, hitting 330/440/476 in his first six games. His minor league numbers have ranged from solid to excellent over roughly three full seasons, but his strikeout numbers bother me to some extent. He has enough power and speed to be a 20/20 threat, but a K every 4.5 AB's in the minors is going to translate to close to 200 playing every day in the bigs. Not many guys can produce adequately putting the ball in play that infrequently. Much like Adam Jones, I'd consider Cunningham a high-risk start the rest of the way this year, and a reasonable prospect in keeper leagues. The A's have nothing to lose by playing him, so I expect he'll get the PT required to produce for you, it's just a question of making contact enough to take advantage of his skill set.
Alfredo Aceves - The 25 year old Aceves will make his major league starting debut in the Yankees' house of horrors in Anaheim tonight, culminating a rocketship ride through the Yankee system after being purchased from Monterrey in the Mexican league prior to the season. Aceves had a bit of trouble with the long ball at AAA (6 allowed in 42 innings) after completely dominating A and AA hitters, but as Paul mentioned the rest of his line was extremely solid. He has looked very solid in two relief appearances, although he clearly has a starter's repertoire with five pitches at his disposal. Anything could happen with tonight's start for Aceves, so I suppose the best description of Aceves for the remainder of the year is a high-risk starter with some upside due to his solid K rates and control.
Gary Sheffield - Sheffield hit two homers last night to give him 496 for his career, making it a bit more likely that he could get to 500 before the year is out. I've seen comments from scouts recently that allude to Sheffield swinging the bat more like he used to, but I'm not seeing it. He hit two homers yesterday off a kid that has allowed 21 this year between AAA and the bigs, and he's still only slugging .428 since the break. For a guy that supposedly hits more line drives than anything else, an LD% of 12.8 is a clear sign that the end is near. Sheff may have a slight bounceback in 2009 if his health is sound, but I certainly wouldn't bet on anything approaching his pre-age 35 levels of production.
Asdrubal Cabrera - I keep saying the same things, but Cabrera has reached base in every game this month, batting over .500 and showing much better plate discipline. He's hitting 287/381/412 since his return from the minors almost two months ago, and he is so good defensively that the Indians are going to give him a long leash at either 2B or SS going forward. His BABIP has started to normalize with this .500-plus AVG so far in September, but it's still a bit under what you'd expect. He's a worthwhile start in just about all formats the rest of the way, and in my mind he shold be expected to put up at least this sort of a line in 2009.
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