Tom Milone - Milone picked up win number three on the young season yesterday, allowing two runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out six. His control has been great, as usual, but with 28 runs of support in three starts he hasn't had to pitch all that well to pick up the victory each time out. Milone is a back-end starter that relies on deception and impeccable control to succeed, and with his flyball tendencies is a classic spot-starter for most teams. If someone is willing to pay more than that for him, selling high is definitely the way to go.
Luis Jimenez - The Angels have a patchwork infield going on right now with both Erick Aybar and Alberto Callaspo nursing injuries, which has resulted in increased playing time for Andrew Romine and call-ups for journeyman Brendan Harris and prospect Luis Jimenez. Jimenez can only play 3B apparently, and while Callaspo is not going to play today or tomorrow in Minnesota, that's about as far as Jimenez's playing time can be forecast. That's a bit disappointing, since while Harris has a touch of power and Romine a bit of speed, Jimenez has decent power, average to slightly better speed, and possesses a career minor league AVG of .303. He's already 5-12 with a pair of doubles for the Angels, and wouldn't be a bad stopgap with some decent upside potential if Callaspo has to go on the DL with his calf strain. I like him, but it's less than 50/50 that he remains with the club past Thursday at this point.
Ian Kinsler - Kinsler homered again Friday, giving him 4 on the year to raise his line to 292/370/542. Kinsler's value seems to be driven by HR/FB rate more than anything else, and as Drew noted last week he seems to really like the odd years as far as power goes. Kinsler typically underperforms his peripherals, as by contact rate, speed, LD rate, and walk rate he ought to be one the most valuable players in the game most seasons. Still just 30, I believe him to be undervalued in most formats.
Ryan Dempster - Dempster has been surprisingly solid through three starts with the Red Sox this year, even though both his velocity and control have been off. He's getting a ton of swings and misses from his splitter, and I can't help thinking that as teams see him a second and third time that they'll be able to lay off that pitch more and more frequently. I would be exploring ways to sell him high as we move through the month of April.
Brett Lawrie - Lawrie is expected back in the Jays lineup tonight, and contrary to initial thoughts that he would slot in at 2B, he is expected to be right back in his customary 3B spot, pushing Jose Bautista to RF. The Jays have used Munenori Kawasaki at SS the past few days, but I expect to see a lineup with Maicer Izturis at SS and Emilio Bonafacio at 2B more often than not during the next 10 weeks or so that Reyes is on the shelf. I am immensely excited to see Lawrie this year, as I expect a big step forward from the 23 year old this season. He should provide at least average production across the board, and is one of a handful of players that could legitimately post a .300-20-20 season.
