- This look says it all!
Jake Peavy continues to be a borderline bust in 2010 providing many fantasy owners with nothing more than a rash of headaches, while Baltimore newcomer Jake Arrieta’s first two games in the majors, has offered fantasy owners some much needed fantasy love.
And who in the blue hell is Sean Rodriguez you ask? Well, we gotcha covered!
As we approach the All-Star break, many of you are ready to join your second chance leagues, while the rest of you are continuing to grab the latest research on as many players possible, in an effort to keep yourself one step ahead. Not everyone mentioned this week will be available on the waiver wire, but some of them may serve as exceptional trade bait (should you own one of them) while they continue to peak.
The Big Three
Andrew McCutchen – OF – PIT: McCutchen was a very hot commodity at the end of the 2009 season ,and had a huge upside for this year’s 2010 fantasy year; so far he hasn’t been all that bad batting a modest .314/.381/.479 with 7 HR, 20 RBI, and 17 SB.
June as also been very kind to McCutchen as he is enjoying .319/.377/.532 line with a solo homer, 6 RBI and 5 pilfered bases.
McCutchen is the type of guy who does have a ton of value, but when you actually get to enjoy it, is sometimes a guess—a lot of that being attributed to him being a bit streaky—but if you can conger up a trade deal worth your while in the long run, McCutchen is definitely top notch trade bait in a vast sea of OF’s. If you choose to hang onto him, just make sure you pay strict attention to that streaky side.
Kevin Kouzmanoff – 3B – OAK: ‘Kouz’ is having a stellar June outing as he is currently enjoying a 15 game hit streak where, in that time, he is hitting .458 with 3 moon shots, and 11 RBI. In addition to that, his last seven games, six of them have been multi-hit games.
I started talking about Kouzmanoff heating up back in May.
Kouzmanoff is a guy that wasn’t supposed to be anything other than average, on a team that wasn’t supposed to be anything special (Daric Barton anyone?), but his performance thus far in 2010 has been a pleasant surprise for most. He is yet another great player to keep your eye on in a shallow collection of 3B waiver options. He has an average 17% ownership in most leagues and even warrants a pick up with his recent explosion.
Billy Butler – 1B – KC: Butler has caught fire yet again this past week as he has 10 hits, a solo homer, 5 RBI and 4 runs scored in his past three games. As if that wasn’t enough for ya, Butler is hitting .340/.385/.511 with 16 total hits, 8 total RBI, in the month of June.
Everybody is crying over the fact that Butler hasn’t built upon last year’s end of season homerun breakout where he sent 14 long balls into orbit. But what they aren’t saying is that from April to the END OF JUNE in 2009 Butler only hit 7 homeruns before his explosion (one more than he has now and it’s only June 16th) so yeah, don’t worry about him. But if there is someone willing to buy into the hype and get rid of him, take advantage of it and make that trade!
HOT:
Jake Arrieta – P – Bal: In his first two starts, Jake Arrieta has given fantasy owners a lot to raise their eyebrows over beating both the vaunted Yankees, and those pesky Giants with two quality outings: 13 IP, 2.77 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 HR.
Arrieta has shown he’s worth a shot in AL leagues only, but at this point Arrieta is also showing himself to be a viable mix league option as well. He faces Florida, Washington and either Oakland or Boston in his next three outings.
Sean Rodriguez – 2B – TB: Rodriguez has utterly exploded in the month of June hitting .400/.426/.733 with 3 homers, 12 RBI, and 3 SB making him a very tasty waiver option right now.
If you mentioned Rodriguez as a fantasy option in April or May, you probably would’ve been laughed at, tar and feathered, and ostracized by your peers as he was just awful (.184 in April and .255 in May), but with Jason Bartlett going down, Rodriguez has been soaking up a lot of playing time and it’s obviously paying off.
You can— as many have tried— make the case that his .441 BABIP has a lot to do with his recent success, but then you would have to cleverly explain why he had a .414 BABIP in May and still stunk. Grab him if you can, and ride the wave all the way to the AS break.
John Buck – C – TOR: Buck had another multi-homer night on Monday hitting (2) raising his dinger collection to 3 for the month, and 11 for the season.
Buck isn’t the kind of guy who will impress you with his OPS, but he is a guy who will provide you solid power numbers along with good support. Like I said, he has already hit 11 homers (more than what he hit in 2008 and 2009) and he is on pace to break his career high of 18 in 2007. He is a solid waiver pickup especially for those of you looking for a quality Utility man.
COLD:
Prince Feilder – 1B – MIL: Fielder managed to hit a two-run homerun on Tuesday vs. the Angels which, at this point, is astonishing! Fielder is quickly becoming a candidate for bust in just about every league format as he is resting on 13 homeruns and 26 RBI thus far—his worst cumulative output since coming to the bigs.
It’s an absolute mind-boggling situation that Fielder has seemingly hit a wall of this magnitude, but let’s not forget, this is the same guy who hit 46 homeruns last year and 50 in 2007. For now, I would sit him if you have another quality option at first until after the AS break; where Fielder usually heats up in the second half of the MLB season anyway. Just keep him on a short leash for now.
Mark Reynolds – 3B – ARI: Reynolds has begun to feel the effects of that nagging quad as he has produced an anemic .184/.327/.474 line with 3 homeruns and 6 RBI in the entire month so far.
Reynolds, at one time, was one of the hottest power hitters out there but each month he has declined in BA (.241 in April, .214 in May, .184 in June), homeruns (7 in April, 5 in May, 3 in June), and RBI (21 in April, 18 in May, 6 this month). It may be time to finally get rid of some baggage, and find a quality replacement or trade.
Jake Peavy – SP – CWS: Peavy is currently experiencing “some things with his arm” according to Ozzie Guillen which could explain his horrid 5-5 record and 5.62 ERA.
Look, I know you thought Peavy coming back to Chicago was going to reinvigorate his career, but it’s time to face facts; put a fork in him, he’s done. The guy has been nothing but injury trouble the last couple of years and he just isn’t the same. Sure, he still has a pretty nice 7.6 K/9 rate, but what use is it if he can’t stay healthy or grab wins? Get rid of him before he does any more damage to your team.
Got a hot bat or arm you feel should be highlighted? Be the first to leave a comment below and get the discussion going, and as always, thanks for your support!
