Dayan Viciedo (OF-CWS). Viciedo went 1 for 4 with a run against the Rays on Friday night, running his season totals to .370/.413/.548. The season-ending injury to Avasail Garcia makes Viciedo potential relevant in at least deep mixed leagues, as he is virtually guaranteed playing time in the White Sox OF (his only competition being the underwhelming Jordan Danks). Viciedo pretty much fell off the fantasy radar after a disappointing 2013 campaign, but his early season performance indicates that Viciedo could provide positive contributions to fantasy teams in 2014. For starters, Viciedo is displaying much better plate discipline so far this year than he has in the past, with a 14.5% K rate (21.1% career) and a 7.9% BB rate (5.3% career). Small sample size caveats apply, but if Viciedo can maintain these plate discipline gains, we could see a BA more in the .275 range, as opposed to the .255 and .265 marks he has posted the last two years. Other encouraging signs are that Viciedo is hitting the ball in the air more this year (44.1% in 2014 as opposed to 33.5% for his career) and is also showing a return to the power potential he showed in 2012 with a .188 ISO as opposed to a .161 mark in 2013. Viciedo is currently owned in only 17% of ESPN leagues, which is far too low for someone who could potentially hit 25 HRs while posting a .270 BA. Owners in need of power or a replacement for someone like Josh Hamilton should consider adding Viciedo.
Chris Davis (1B-BAL). Davis left Friday night's game in the fifth inning with an oblique strain, which likely means Davis will be making a trip to the disabled list. Ryan Flaherty took over the 1B duties, and is likely to get the majority of the playing time at 1B if Davis does hit the DL, as the Orioles don't have much depth at this position in the minors. Brett Wallace (most recently waived by the Astros) and Chris Marrero are the most likely call-ups to replace Davis. None of the possible replacements is fantasy-relevant.
Brett Lawrie (3B-TOR). Lawrie's early season performance has been perplexing to say the least. After an 0 for 3 night on Friday, Lawrie's season numbers sit at an awful .151/.213/.326. However, Lawrie has provided positive contributions to his fantasy owners by hitting [5] HR and driving in [18] runs, albeit at the cost of a significant hit in the BA category. Lawrie's BA is being suppressed by a .125 BABIP, but his average is also being impacted by a 20.0% K rate (4% higher than Lawrie's career average) and a 22.2% infield fly ball rate (which is almost double Lawrie's career rate). These latter numbers are concerning but are likely at least partially small sample size driven. Lawrie got off to a slow start last year and rebounded to post a solid .279/.333/.411 line in the second half, with 6 HR and 7 SB. Lawrie is not likely to continue to hit HR at his current rate (which is the result of an 18.5% HR/FB rate, almost double Lawrie's career average), but his BA should stabilize at least into the .260 range. By year's end, Lawrie should have between 15 and 20 HR to go with double digit steals, which is right where most projections (including ours) had him pegged.
Mark Buehrle (SP-TOR). Buehrle's hot start came to a screeching halt Friday night against the Red Sox. Buehrle lasted only 5.1 innings, giving up 6 ER on 12 hits and 3 walks. Even worse, Buehrle did not manage a single strikeout. This is what's known as regression to the mean with a vengeance. The outing raised Buehrle's season ERA from 0.64 to 2.16. The regression monster is not likely finished with Buehrle, either. Even after tonight's outing, Buehrle is still benefiting from an 81.9% strand rate, although his BABIP has normalized to a slightly above league average .302. Buehrle's FIP is 3.20 and his xFIP is 4.00, so expecting him to finish with an ERA lower than the high 3s is unrealistic. Despite his hot start, Buehrle's relevance remains limited to AL-only and extremely deep mixed leagues, due to his low K rate (5.13 this year, 5.19 career).
Rick Porcello (SP-DET). Porcello had a nice outing going against the Twins for five innings on Friday night, but ran into trouble in the 6th, failing to record an out in that inning, and finished with a line of 5 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 ER and 4 Ks. It's outings like this that keep Porcello from attaining status as a desirable fantasy pitcher, as, after coming in with a nice 3.15 ERA, supported by a 2.95 FIP and a 3.09 xFIP, he proceeds to put up a clunker against an offense that's not exactly the second coming of the 27 Yankees. As a result, it's impossible to stream Porcello with confidence, because you never know what you're going to get. Porcello's underlying numbers are solid, as he is posting a 54.2% GB rate and a 1.35 BB/9 rate. However, Porcello has regressed as far as strikeouts are concerned, as he is posting only a 5.4 K/9 rate in 2014, after having increased that number to 7.22 in 2013. Unless he can recover those strikeout gains, Porcello is unlikely to be useable in mixed leagues.
