Jorge de la Rosa - Jorge won his sixth in a row yesterday, holding the Giants to two runs over 7 1/3 innings, striking out seven without a walk. De la Rosa has made great strides this year in almost every facet of his game, exhibiting greater velocity, slightly better control, and sporting a K rate that is outstanding. A low strand% is keeping his ERA above where you'd expect to see it with those peripherals, but to me De la Rosa looks like a guy on the verge of a breakout. I definitely think he is undervalued right now.
Shane Victorino - The Flyin' Hawaiian picked up four more hits yesterday, and is now hitting just under .400 for the month of July. Victorino has continued to make small but noticeable progress in just about every facet of the game in his four-year tenure with the Phillies, and I don't expect any regression from his .344 BABIP due to an even higher LD% than normal. Victorino is slowly moving from a solid-average OF to a borderline star, and should begin to be valued as such.
Julio Lugo - Lugo singled twice, doubled, tripled, and stole a base in his second game with the Cards, and as long as he's going to hit like this he'll find a spot in the lineup. Lost in he disappointment of Lugo's Red Sox tenure is the fact that in very limited time so far this year he's posting his best rate stats ever. I wouldn't expect that to continue at age 33, but Lugo still offers a bit more in the middle infield than his constant panning by critics in Boston would suggest. He has a bit of speed and the ability to hit for average, and batting in front of Matt Holliday and Big Al isn't going to hurt his run totals any. I think Lugo is a very solid pickup in deeper mixed formats and NL-only leagues for the remainder of the year.
Jonny Gomes - When Jay Bruce went down and I recommended Jonny Gomes as a potential recipient of increased playing time, I forgot the lesson of Tony Womack: when in doubt, Dusty Baker will be obsessed with speed. Therefore, Willy Taveras (.591 OPS) and Chris Dickerson (.724 OPS) are playing most days, while Gomes (.948 OPS, 3 HR in 17 AB in the last 7 days) continues to play once in a while. Without Barry Bonds I don't think there's any way that Dusty Baker would be given as much rope as he has in his past two stops, but he seems to be afforded much more respect than it appears that he deserves. Gomes is the second or third best hitter on the Reds right now whether he plays or not, so he still merits consideration, but be prepared for some frustration when he sits behind inferior talent from time to time.
Kevin Hart - With Ted Lilly hitting the DL for the better part of a month, 28 year old swingman Kevin Hart is going to be thrust into the rotation as the Cubs try to take over the NL Central lead. Hart had little success in climbing the minor league ladder until he reached AAA, but in three partial seasons at AAA he has fanned 160 batters in 165 innings, so he has enough stuff to get by. His control has been the issue, but after walking five apiece in his first two starts for the Cubs, Hart only walked one against four K's yesterday in six strong innings. The Cub schedule isn't especially difficult during the month of August, but Hart's spot seems to come up against some of the tougher offenses while missing some of the easier matchups. He isn't a bad flyer in deeper leagues, but he just doesn't have enough of a track record to be a surefire pickup.
