JJ Hardy (SS—Brewers) JJ Hardy has been mired in a season slump where his top BA was .247 for one day back in May. His season has been so poor that he was only hitting in the .240’s for three days out of the whole year. Without a doubt, this has been Hardy’s worse season as a full time player and many preseason prognosticators had Hardy has a strong sleeper at a weak position. And in some sense Hardy really has been a sleeper this season: he’s been practically comatose. It was surprising that Hardy was sent to the minors on Wednesday but hardly unexpected. Hardy’s LD% is down over 2% from last year and is currently at 13.4% while his FB% is up more then 4% and is currently at 41% which partially explains his struggles this season. But even more telling is that Hardy has been swinging at 4% less pitches within the strike zone this year, perhaps letting too many hittable pitches go by. Also, with pitches that are out of the strike zone, he has been less successful this year, by more than 10%, at making contact and perhaps keeping his at bat alive. With Hardy being demoted and no foreseeable timetable on his return, you may consider dropping him as he may have to fight Alcides Escobar to get his job back.
Pedro Martinez (SP--Phillies) Baseball makes for good theatre. The players are like a cast of characters that fans pay to see and perform. This season has had many characters, such as the good (Albert Pujols), the bad (Manny Ramirez) and the freakish (Tim Linecum). Up until now, a key performer on the great stage of baseball had been missing and on Wednesday Pedro Martinez (the jester) made his first appearance of the year. There is no question that Martinez's skills have degenerated. At a relatively early age, his pitching arm has seen a lot of mileage and while he may not be the overpower pitcher he once was, Martinez is a crafty fox who can certainly outthink Major League hitters for a good 5 or 6 innings. Martinez notched his first victory with the Phillies by doing just enough, pitching 5 innings, allowing 3 ER on 7 hits and striking out 5. It’s this type of performance that fantasy owner who want to take a flier on Pedro should expect. He will have his good games and he will have some poor games, but he could be an adequate addition as a 5th starter for a fantasy team as he now pitches for a potent offense. Just don’t expect him to go deep into games, but given the right situation, Pedro could be serviceable for a fantasy lineup.
Adam LaRoche (1B—Braves) How happy are the Braves to have Adam LaRoche back on the club? LaRoche seems to be pretty pleased too if his offensive production is any indication. Wednesday, LaRoche belted two home runs, going 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and a walk thrown in for good measure. Since returning to his old stomping grounds, LaRoche is batting .371 and has an OPS of 1.282. LaRoche notoriously picks up his offensive game in the second half of the season and with his insertion into a better hitting Braves lineup (compared to Pittsburgh), he may start to heat up for a strong finish to the season. His BHIP total for the season has been .305, and his xBHIP projects at .316 so it would seem that some improvement may be forthcoming. Take a good hard look at acquiring or picking up LaRoche as he could be a 2nd half sleeper that is ready to really turn it on.
Ubaldo Jimenez (SP—Rockies) Ubaldo Jimenez has been coming on strong of late, pitching 8 innings of scoreless baseball on Wednesday, allowing 3 hits, 4 walks and striking out 6. With this outing, Jimenez has put together a string of 7 quality starts in a row and 10 out of his lat 14. He has a very good ERA of 3.47 which is even high compared to his xERA of 3.04. He has also been striking out 8 batters per nine innings and only allows 1 home run for every 2 games which is no small feat when playing in Denver. Jimenez has been successful in holding opposing batters to a .234 batting average and has been effective with not getting burned by allowing too many hits for extra bases where opponents are only slugging.325 against him compared to the MLB average at .419. Jimenez has been flying under the radar and has quietly been putting together a very good season on a good team that should provide run support. He looks in good shape to continue with an impressive second half.
Ricky Nolasco (SP—Marlins) Not good. Not good at all. Ricky Nolasco had his worst outing of the season where he was tagged for 10 ER over 3.1 innings on Wednesday against the Astros. Since Nolasco has returned from the minors, he has looked more like the Nolasco that we saw in the second half of last season with the exception of Wednesday’s game and one other less than spectacular outing. Prior to Wednesday’s disaster, Nolasco had a 2.58 ERA over his last 12 starts and a 6-2 record. He had opponents batting only.214 against him and was striking out better than a batter an inning. He has a good CT% of 77% and his xERA is 4.10 compared to his ERA at 5.44 which means he has pitched significantly better than his ERA would indicate. Consider his latest outing a misstep in what has otherwise been a string of fairly consistent outings with games that he has been dominant. Look for some retribution on Nolasco’s part as he will get a chance against these very same Astros in Houston for his next start.
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