Daniel Nava - Nava has continued to hit the past few weeks, helping push Jackie Bradley back down to AAA once David Ortiz was healthy, and now appears poised to play most of the time for the Sox in LF. Nava is an extremely patient hitter that ought to be expected to have a better AVG with the number of line drives that he hits, but he's really gotten the attention early this season for a couple of critical homers to help win games for Boston. I don't think Nava is much more than a 15-HR guy, but he gets on base a ton, and it wouldn't be surprising to me if he hit at least 30 points higher than in his first two big league stints......his approach is pretty solid but, for lack of a better way to put it, his luck has been wanting. He is absolutely starting to look like a guy that could contribute in all formats toward the bottom of an OF rotation.
Matt Moore - Moore was terrific yesterday against the Yankees, but come on, Francisco Cervelli batting fifth? There may have been four legitimate starters in that lineup, and that's only if you believe in the Vernon Wells renaissance, of which I'm necessarily a tad skeptical. Moore has some great stats to start the year, but there have still been control issues, the swinging strike% is down, and the main reason his ERA is so low through four outings is that hardly any batted balls have dropped in for hits. I like Moore a lot, but you can look at this year's velocity two ways: either he's learning to pitch without max effort, much like Johnny Cueto a few years back, or the combination of that and the control issues mean he's not 100%. I tend to lean toward the former, but let's not go crazy about discounting the possibility of the latter either.
Kyle Seager - Seager homered for the second straight day to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, bringing his slash line up to 276/337/487 in the process. It's always dangerous to try and draw conclusions from two to three weeks worth of games, but since everybody wants something to read at the beginning of the year we all try and do it anyway. Seager is showing even more patience at the plate in the early going this year, cutting his swinging strike% by almost a full percent despite swinging 8.7% less often. With only two full seasons of minor league time prior to his call-up to Seattle, Seager is a reasonable bet to continue to progress a bit in his mid-20's, to the point where I'm not sure I'd bet against a .270 AVG and 20 homers, which is a pretty solid for the hot corner at this point. Throw in a handful of steals and you have yourself a solid, albeit unspectacular, 3B in 5X5 leagues.
C.C. Sabathia - Sabathia overcame an ugly first inning to keep the Yankees in the game last night against Tampa, ending up on the losing end of a 5-1 score. His fastball velocity was the highest it's been yet this year, topping out around 93 mph, and his command was fairly solid....just a few mistakes in the first inning. I'm not all that concerned about the big guy at this point....his stuff is down a touch from his prime years but, as they say, health is a skill and Sabathia has always had it. Things do change, but recognizing that possibility and forecasting for it are two completely different things. Folks were concerned about C.C.'s velocity last spring, and his performance was down a small notch but still fairly decent, so I think that's the likely eventuality here.
Josh Donaldson - Donaldson knocked a pair of doubles last night in the A's 9-6 loss to Boston, giving him 8 XBH on the year as he continues to improve on last year's showing. He continues to show a solid LD rate despite what the AVG says, his contact rate seems to be steadily improving, the BB rate is definitely getting better as he's cut the chase% down....all in all it's been a solid start to the year for Donaldson. I'm gradually warming up to the idea of him as a reasonable 3B in most formats, as I think there is .270-20-80 upside here.
