Michael Wacha - One of St. Louis' top prospects, Michael Wacha, was stellar in his MLB debut last night, striking out six Royals and walking none of seven one-run frames. He doesn't have top-notch stuff, but it's still solid and comes with a workhorse body. My initial concern about his relatively little experience at the upper levels hasn't been alleviated yet, but this is definitely a nice start. He's worth a pickup in deep-ish mixed leagues to see how he looks over his next couple turns, which could decide if he stays up for good. Just be wary: his K/9 at Triple-A this year was a paltry 5.8.
Juan Francisco - In a shocking move, Atlanta designated Juan Francisco for assignment yesterday, which led me to express my disgust over Twitter. ("Can someone get a hold of J. Walter Weatherman for me? I need to teach the Braves a lesson about why you don't DFA Juan Francisco"... hey, you should follow me on Twitter! My mom says I'm funny. I promise.) The move really makes no sense from Atlanta's perspective, and it absolutely demolishes Francisco's fantasy value. Hopefully another team sees the error here and gives him a shot at everyday at-bats (the White Sox come to mind as an excellent destination). I love his power, so if you own him in a deeper league, hold tight and see how this situation plays out.
Chris Johnson - Juan Francisco's loss is Johnson's gain. With Francisco DFAed and soon to be run out of town, the third base job in Atlanta now belongs solely to Johnson. Those at-bats alone add a lot to his value (he'd previously been in the lesser half of a timeshare with Francisco), and he should be capable of providing double-digit homers with a decent enough batting average. He's no Francisco, but Johnson will still hold value in deep mixed leagues.
Carlos Marmol - Don't look now, but Carlos Marmol has posted a 1.08 ERA with a 9.7 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 since May 5. And that comes with a 1.96 ERA since April 8 (albeit with a higher walk rate). Manager Dale Sveum said yesterday that he hopes he doesn't have to use Marmol as his closer again this season, but c'mon... aren't we all waiting for the other shoe to drop on Kevin Gregg? And with Kyuki Fujikawa done for the year, Marmol is pretty obviously next in line. Yup, he's still Carlos Marmol (as distinguished from 2008, when he was Carlos Marmol), but he could still be a serviceable fantasy closer.
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