The A’s recalled Henry Rodriguez from AAA on Monday. He got knocked around a bit in his first two appearances in Oakland in May but struck out 4 in his last two innings of work in two additional appearances before being back sent down. Overall Henry saved 11 in 20 games with Sacramento striking out 31 in 21.1 IP against 9 walks and 10 hits (0.89). At 23 years old Rodriguez has been shuffled back and forth from the minors and may not stick this time either. His ML OBA is .133 this year although that’s been helped by a .209 OBHIP% which comes after seasons of a .354 OBHIP% in 08 and .366 on 09. The A’s have reason to be skeptical, but that doesn’t mean you don’t run him out there and see either, which is exactly what they are doing. Unless your league scores holds however Rodriguez isn’t particularly compelling. Follow along, but not too closely.
Rajai Davis becomes an even more viable fantasy property after Ryan Sweeney’s season ended yesterday as the result of patella tendinitis. The regular playing time he’s seen since Sweeney went down a week about just became fairly permanent. Take out a 4- for -5 performance on the 10th and Davis has 5 hits in his last 9 games over 26 ABs (.192) with a double and 1 RBI … Not good. Overall Davis is hitting .269 with a healthy .312 BHIP%. His contact skills are decent but his walk rate is down to 4.7% this year (6.2% career). He chases pitches out of the zone 35.4% of the time and basically is easy to fool. His .305 AVG last year was inflated by a .361 BHIP% so this return to mean was pretty predictable. Still his speed makes him a contributor although he’s posted just 2 SBs over his last 10 games. Davis is hitting just .212 against RHP this year although that’s a new problem as he hit .278 vs RHP over the previous three seasons. There’s reason to believe that may normalize as well. The bottom line is that if he is available in your league, Davis is a worthwhile claim for his SB contributions and the potential for a little more .
Chris Davis was 0- for -7 in 14 innings against the Tigers last night and has been just 1- for -26 since being handed the first base job in Texas. The Rangers didn’t make the move for Cliff Lee only to put up with this type of performance in the lineup. Expect them to explore the trade market for a first baseman. Two intriguing possibilities that seem to make sense are Mike Lowell in Boston who they had interest in this spring and could land rather easily especially with so little contract obligation left, and, on a larger scale deal, Lance Berkman … I know … but sit with it for a while before you dismiss the idea. It makes more sense the more you think about it. And the Rangers and Astros should be thinking about it.
Matt Garza starts against the Orioles tonight. Over his career Matt is 8-1 against the Birds in 10 starts with a 2.48 ERA, allowing just 49 hits in 65.1 IP. This year Matt is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two starts against the Birds allowing 10 hits in 16 IP. If you have daily transactions this looks like a long night for Baltimore, especially for your marginal Oriole hitters.
