Ryan Sadowski (SP-SF) – The Giants have an enviable top four in their rotation, but the No. 5 spot has been a black hole this year due in large part to Jonathan Sanchez. Sadowski will attempt to plug that hole until Madison Bumgarner is ready, and Sadowski got off to a nice start Sunday, spinning six shutout innings against the Brewers. He allowed just four hits while walking three and striking out two. With a 4.14 career minor league ERA to go with a 7.7 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9, Sadowski doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence that Sunday’s effort will be closer to the norm however. He’s also 26 years of age, so while anyone with a pulse is worthy of an NL-only flier, don’t rush out to get this guy.
Nate Schierholtz (OF-SF) – Schierholtz’s playing time has never been consistent enough for the 25 year-old Reno, NV native to try and prove he belongs in the big leagues, but that may be changing. Getting his sixth start this week, Schierholtz was 4-for-5 with a homer on Sunday against the Brewers and is now batting .316/.339/.474 in 114 at-bats. The spread between his AVG and OBP is low due to Schierholtz’s not-so-good 20:4 K:BB, but then again, he carries with him a 0.33 minor league EYE, so this isn’t a surprise. Schierholtz’s playing time is coming primarily at the expense of Fred Lewis, and with Lewis in a 4-for-33 skid and Schierholtz 12-for-21 with two homers in his last five games, look for this arrangement to continue. He’s a nice NL-only play, though with that EYE and a .347 BABIP, predicting long-term success becomes difficult.
Jason Kendall (C-MIL) – Kendall was 0-for-3 on Sunday, leaving him with a typically-low .223/.314/.265 line for the Brewers this season. He’s a “gamer” though, so teams keep giving him contracts to be their starting catcher despite his replacement-level talent these days. In addition to the .579 OPS, Kendall brings no homers and a 3-for-24 slump to the table. At some point, the Brewers are going to have to consider pulling the plug, and if that indeed happens, the guy to look to is Triple-A catcher Angel Salome. Salome is hitting a so-so .291/.338/.439 for Triple-A Nashville, but in his last eight games, Salome is 16-for-35 with seven XBH’s. He also hit a strong .360/.415/.559 in Double-A last year, so we know the bat is interesting. Salome is worth targeting for catcher-deficient teams with the only question being whether he can handle the position defensively in the big leagues.
Chris Dickerson (OF-CIN) – At first glance, Sunday’s box score seemed to be flip-flopped inadvertently by ESPN, as Dickerson and his .383 OBP were in the nine-hole, with the first two hitters being Willy Taveras (.282 OBP) and Jerry Hairston Jr. (.307 OBP). Then I remembered who was managing the Reds these days, so let’s move on. Dickerson was 1-for-4 Sunday, leaving his line at .279/.383/.396 in 154 at-bats for the Reds. He has 12 XBH’s (two HR) and five stolen bases to go with a 0.63 EYE. The big problem for Dickerson has been the 41 strikeouts, a number that leaves him with a 73.3% CT%, and vulnerable to potentially losing playing tijme to Johnny Gomes, though a Dickerson/Bruce/Gomes outfield probably makes the most sense. Look for Dickerson to continue to play most every day.
Ian Snell (SP-PIT) – As we reported a couple days ago, Snell was demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis this week thanks to a 5.36 ERA and 52:44 K:BB in 80 2/3 innings. Snell to his credit however, took the demotion in stride and pitched like Sandy Koufax in his first Triple-A start Sunday, allowing just two hits over seven innings while striking out an impressive 17 batters. This start alone won’t get him back to Pittsburgh, but it’s certainly a good start. Snell has 169 and 177 strikeout seasons to his credit (2006-2007), so his success in Triple-A isn’t a huge surprise. Look for him back in the Pittsburgh rotation within the next two weeks. Don’t completely write him off in NL-only leagues.
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