Carlos Guillen (OF – Tigers)
Carlos Guillen returned from the DL on Friday, and started both games of a double-header. He was used at DH, and batted 5th in both contests. Guillen returns to quite an ugly .200 / .267 / .244 line. Before you proclaim him washed up, you must consider that he has been greatly hindered by a .240 BABIP that is understated by a full 100 points based on his 22.1% LD rate. Guillen is not a safe bet to stay healthy during the 2nd half, but this fact is well-known and serves to drive down his trade value. Guillen seemingly could be had for very little right now, and has the potential to sport an OPS of .800-.900 with 3B eligibility. If you need to make up some ground in short order in your AL-only league, Guillen is the type of player to go after. The more DH he plays, the more likely he is to stay healthy.
Eric Patterson (2B/OF – Athletics)
Eric Patterson was called-up and started in CF for the A’s on Friday night. Patterson has hammered the ball at Triple-A this year with a .326 / .392 / .523 line, which follows up an ’08 season where he posted a .324 / .366 / .529 line at Triple-A. Corey’s little bro is showing the A’s everything that they want to see with a 11.9% extra base hit rate, an EYE of .64, and 34 SB as the cherry on top. With the A’s firmly out of contention already, Patterson clearly deserves a shot to prove what he can do at the major league level. If he can find enough playing time, I see some serious value here in AL-only leagues at the middle infield position.
Brett Anderson (SP – Athletics)
Brett Anderson continued to look very impressive on Friday as he struck out 7 and walked 2 against the Yankees. Anderson shouldn’t have sneaked up on anybody after he ripped through the minors in just two years while posting a K/9 of 9.7 and a BB/9 of 1.9. There were certainly question marks concerning his age (21), but he has put those to rest by improving significantly as the season has progressed. Anderson currently owns a 6.61 K/9, a 2.36 BB/9, and a 48% GB rate – all of which keep improving with every start. His 4.35 ERA is slightly uncomfortable for mixed leaguers, but I expect this to fall in the 2nd half as his 65.5% strand rate begins to normalize. He’ll be an asset in all leagues in the 2nd half of the season as his ERA continues to fall due to a nice combination of regression and pitching improvement.
Placido Polanco (2B – Tigers)
Polanco went 3 for 3 on Friday afternoon to bring his BA up to .268 as he continues to march toward his typical .300 average. Polanco’s K rate (7.9%) and contact rate (92.8%) are both as tremendous as always. The major difference in ’09 has been his BABIP of .268 vs. a career number of .314. Some of this decrease in BABIP can be explained by a lower LD rate (16.5), but certainly not all of it. I’d say Polanco is a near lock to hit .300 in the 2nd half. Additionally, he is showing some extra pop at age 33 with an extra base hit rate of 9.1% vs. a career number of 7.4%. If you need some help in the BA category in an AL-only league, Placido is your man.
Jose Contreras (SP – White Sox)
Contreras took the L on Friday night, but looked very impressive while striking out 8 and walking just 1. If you remove Contreras’ worst start from his 9 starts since returning from injury, he has an astounding 8.28 K/9 and a 1.26 BB/9. These ratios combined with his 52% GB rate indicate the makings of a fantastic 2nd half from Contreras. If you take a look at these ratios while removing the name Jose Contreras from them, you would be absolutely giddy that this guy could be sitting on your waiver wire. I know, my analysis has involved a lot of component removal, but believe me when I say that Contreras has looked very, very good since the beginning of June.
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