Jake Peavy (SP--White Sox) Congratulations to all Jake Peavy owners who have waited over 3 months to use the ace pitcher this season. Your patience has been rewarded. Saturday was Peavy's White Sox debut against the Royals and he was a little rusty and uneven as he allowed 3 ER on 5 innings while being limited to a pitch count of 73. It was the kind of performance, one might have expected after so much time off. However, this a great time for Peavy to come back as head to head leagues are pushing into the playoffs and roto leagues are looking for a little extra push in pitching categories that vault them into the lead and Peavy can be a terrific option to do just that. But as we saw on Saturday, don't expect Peavy to rack up big innings, but because of his ability to dominate he is a solid option even at this late in the season. Look for a healthy Peavy who should be determined to prove his health in 2010. Pitching for the White Sox will also provide better run support for Peavy than he has seen in quite a while in San Diego. And as an extra bonus, with the AL's DH, Peavy won't have to run the bases and risk another sprained ankle.
Jason Bay (OF—Red Sox) With the season coming down to the wire, fantasy owners are hoping players are able to squeeze every last hit, run or stolen base they can out of the last couple of weeks. So it’s a shame that Jason Bay with as good of a year as he has been having was scratched from the lineup with flu symptoms on Saturday. Bay has been enjoying a productive season with a slash line of .266/.386/.544. He has an excellent RC/27 of 7.8 that shows what a contributor he has been. Yes, he is a terrific player, but with striking out 25% of the time and a poor CT% of 71%, Bay will struggle to hit for average. With his impending free agency, expect Bay to be one of the central figures of focus in the offseason and a player who will be much in demand. Because of the impending hype, beware of over valuing Bay in next year’s draft.
Matt Garza (SP--Rays) Chalk this season up to somewhat of a learning curve for Matt Garza as it has been a season of excellent and poor outings, On Saturday, it was a real good one as Garza pitched 7.1 innings and struck out 10. He scattered 3 hits and his biggest blemish on the day was that he had difficulty with his control allowing 6 walks. However, as good as he was on Saturday, out of his 30 starts on the season, Garza has had only 18 quality starts which are reflected in his record of 8-10. In truth, Garza is much too talented of a pitcher to be so sporadic from outing to outing. Fortunately, his strikeout percentage is up from last year by almost 5% which is very promising from next season. But if Garza is going to take it to it to the next level, he will have to learn how to be more efficient when pitching as he has averaged 6.1 innings per outing this year with an average pitch count of 107 per start. He threw too many pitches not to go deeper into games which illustrate his up and down season. Garza has some of the best stuff on Tampa Bay but aside from benefiting from improved consistency, a little run support would serve Garza well. Expect improved performances from start to start in 2010.
Brandon Inge (3B--Tigers) There's no denying that Brandon Inge's season has pretty much melted away. His slump over that past 2 months has produced terrible numbers of .194/.257/.318. He has managed to hit 6 home runs during that span, but with no other offensive production in sight, Inge's season has taken a turn for the worse. To be fair, fantasy owners that have Inge on their roster are probably inserting him in the catcher’s position where he is eligible based upon last year numbers. His value as a catcher in the grand scheme of things is not so bad. Against other catchers, he is second to Joe Mauer for home runs at 27. His 76 RBI would rank him 4th among catchers and the real bonus is with Inge playing every day at 3B, his 502 AB's would put him 3rd behind only Kurt Suzuki and Victor Martinez. What a luxury it is to have Inge qualify as a catcher and get the consistent at bats that catchers don't often get. So despite the drop off and the poor batting average, Inge has supplied fantasy owners that use him as a catcher with some decent numbers. But...and this is a big BUT...as a third baseman, well...that's a whole different story. For 2010, Inge will no longer be catcher eligible as he made no appearances at that position this season which consequently will affect his fantasy value. For third base, there are many other options that should provide better and more consistent output than what Inge has done this year. Look for a big decrease in Inge's value next year as he will take a big drop in the draft and may actually end up as a reserve in the player pool.
Miguel Olivo (C—Royals) Let’s face it after Mauer and McCann, there is a big drop off in terms of offensive production. However, this season there have been some catchers that have raised some eyebrows this season and may be decent options going into 2010. Miguel Olivo is one of those catchers that owners may consider if they need help in the power department for next year. To finish off the season, Olivo has been doing quite well, batting .325 for September with 6 home runs and a SLG of .825. For the season as a whole, Olivo has produced a moderate .251 average, but his 23 home runs may attract attention along with a .500+ SLG. But with the power, comes the strikeouts. Olivio has awful plate discipline with an EYE of 0.11 that significantly decreases his run production as well as his ability to hit for average. His OBP of .286 is really unacceptable and needs be considered if Olivo is being looked at for anything other than a source of power. If Olivo could develop better pitch selection, his value would certainly increase dramatically. But as is, he is a one-trick pony that will offer one dimensional fantasy value.
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