John Lannan - John Lannan's (likely) final start of the season ended his quality start streak at five with a 5 2/3, 4 run outing against the NL East champs last night. Lannan's seasonal line looks like the same guy from 2008 and 2009, but since the All-Star break Lannan has actually shown significant improvement. In the 11 starts since the break, Lannan has doubled his K rate and halved his BB rate from the first half, lending some credence to his 6-3 record and the 3.42 ERA for the second half. He's shown a little bit of a velocity uptick as well, enough so that I could see him having some relevance toward the back-end of a rotation next season. Having just turned 26 yesterday, Lannan has the look of a deep league sleeper for 2011.
Brooks Conrad - In the "better late than never" category, Brooks Conrad looks like he'll be in the starting lineup all week at the hot corner after Martin Prado's hip injury yesterday. Conrad has done what he always does this season despite sporadic playing time: hit for power. Conrad has deserved better than he's gotten over the years, as the 30 year old has played like a homeless man's Mark Reynolds for quite a while now, yet has never gotten consistent playing time at the MLB level. It's likely too late for him now (although Emil Brown picked up some starts in his 30's, so you never know), but for this week he's a solid desperation power source in NL-only and deeper mixed formats.
Tim Stauffer - Stauffer has been huge for the Pad people down the stretch, generating a slew of grounders while exhibiting at least average K and BB rates. His five starts for San Diego in September have resulted in 28 IP, 21 H, 7 R, 9 BB, and 18 K's, and he's 3 for 5 in quality outings for the month. He has become a quality back-end option, and should still retain that status next spring if he is able to keep his rotation slot.
Daniel Descalso - Dan Descalso has been getting most of the PT at 3B for the Cards the past week or so, so he certainly could be worth a look in NL-only formats for the last few days. Drew covered his attributes fairly well, and if the Cards would only let Skip Schumaker go Descalso could potentially improve upon that spot in the lineup, but unfortunately Schumaker is under contract for next season and Descalso is likely inferior to David Freese over at 3B, so therefore Descalso is likely to spend another season either in AAA or picking up spare AB's as a utility player. Descalso may have some value in the AVG and SB categories come 2012 (or via injury), but he's likely not worthy of a roster spot next year.
Carlos Zambrano - Big Z continues to roll, as his 10th start since his exile was as good as any of the 9 before it. Zambrano is 7-0 in those 10 starts, hasn't allowed more than two runs in any of them, has an 0.78 ERA in September, and basically looks as good as he ever has. I wouldn't hesitate at all to reanoint him a #1 starter for 2011.
