Andy Dirks - Dirks singled, homered, and walked twice yesterday in the 8-4 win over Minnesota, and he's been playing every day since his return, hitting 378/442/568. Dirks has improved in every facet of his offensive game except speed the past few seasons, bumping his contact rate up to almost 89%, hitting line drives at over a 25% clip, adding some more power to his game, and dropping his swinging strike% to just over 5%. He's available in over 90% of ESPN leagues, and as an OF playing every day in a great offense and capable of hitting close to .300 with 20 HR and 10 SB, he ought to be owned everywhere right now.
Chris Getz - Getz is the starting 2B now with no strings, as the Royals have finally cut ties with Yuniesky Betancourt to open up the rest of the playing time. Getz is 28, makes excellent contact, and has some speed, so he isn't a cipher at a weak position. He could easily swipe 20 bags given the playing time, and by increasing his contact rate to 93.6% this year I'm not surprised that his AVG has become a positive as well. He doesn't have much power, but for a guy owned in 0.1% of ESPN leagues what do you want? I think Getz can help many fantasy squads right now, as a guy that can steal some bases and won't hurt your AVG despite playing every day can be rather useful.
Jose Quintana - Quintana tossed another quality start last night, holding the Jays to 8 hits and 2 runs over 6 2/3 innings, walking 2 and striking out 4 while picking up his 5th win of the year. Extremely favorable luck on balls in play and an excellent strand% have really helped Quintana perform far above his head thus far, but I'm not as bent out of shape as many about the K rate, as his swinging strike% (8.4, along with 11 swinging strikes last night on 105 pitches) has been high enough to support a better K rate going forward. He's done an admirable job thus far coming to the majors with only 9 starts above A-ball, and while some regression should be expected, he ought to be at least serviceable the rest of the way, and perhaps a bit better than that down the road.
Andrew Bailey - Bailey finally made his Red Sox debut yesterday, picking up a walk and a strikeout in the 8th inning of a 7-1 loss to Baltimore. Bailey won't be closing straightaway for Boston, but with Aceves sporting a close% of a bit under 80, the opportunity may well come about before year's end. If you're looking for a guy on the wire that might pick up saves the rest of the way, Bailey is likely your best bet in most formats.
Jarrod Parker - Parker may be tiring a bit as we hit the stretch run, as he has posted only two quality start in his last seven after another five runs allowed last night against KC. Parker was cruising along through four innings last night before his control deserted him in the 5th, but he probably could have gotten out of the inning allowing only three runs if Jemile Weeks had made a play on Alcides Escobar's grounder. Parker still looks like a future front-end starter to me, but the 23 year old is already into uncharted territory innings-wise, and is likely to struggle a bit for the rest of 2012. I am fairly high on him for 2013, however.
