Weekend Warriors

Kevin Correia – A big name free agent signing Correia was far from that for the Pirates, but the veteran has been everything Pittsburgh could have expected and more. In 10 starts this season Correia has a solid 3.84 ERA and has lowered his BB/9 from 3.97 in 2010 to an impressive 1.85 early into the 2001 season.  Correia is seems to be in more control, getting batters to drive the ball into the ground at a 49.1% rate, in what appears to be the best season of his career. Heading to Wrigley Field on Saturday seems like a daunting task, but Correia’s 2.79 ERA on the road combined with the lack of lefties in the Cubs lineup makes Corriea a solid matchup play. In NL only leagues and h2h leagues start Correia as he goes for his seventh win of 2011.

Juan Rivera – In Toronto the talk has been Jose Bautista, but the off-season acquisition of Juan Rivera is slowly starting to pay off. Rivera is currently riding a eight game hitting streak and has raised his BA. 22 points as he appears to be a regular in the Blue Jays lineup going forward. While Rivera is not the ideal fourth hitter, if he remains in that he could be looking t a career high in RBI. Even if he’s batting fifth it’s apparent that he’s going to be receiving at bats in one of the league’s most productive lineups. With eligibility at 1b and OF, riding Rivera’s hot hand with your players on the DL or in a slump could put you over the top this weekend. It was as recent as 2009 when Rivera had a .287BA and 25HR so don’t sleep on the veteran who is 4% owned in Yahoo leagues.

Matt Harrison – The Rangers crafty lefty has been rolling of late. With three quality starts against some of baseball’s best lineups (the Yankees, White Sox and Phillies), Harrison is solidifying himself in the Rangers rotation. After getting into the ninth inning at Philadelphia, the 25 year old is now 4-4 on the season to go along with a 3.62ERA. Harrison has number two starter material, for him it’s all about getting it under limiting his walks, as he will likely run into trouble by allowing free passes. (12 in the last three games) Knowing this, Harrison has been extremely impressive and is a must own in AL only leagues from this point forward. The Royals come to Arlington on Saturday so Harrison could be hot commodity for teams needing a win over the weekend.

Mike Morse – Ray mentioned Morse earlier this week, and I am going to piggyback off him and hop on the bandwagon. He was a fantasy sleeper before the year, but with a pedestrian April he fell off the radar quickly and to the Nationals bench. With Adam LaRoche on the DL, Morse is getting regular at bats at 1B and has been productive with 4HR and 10RBI in May. LaRoche’s injury appears to be serious, so there is a chance Morse could win the 1B gig for the remainder of 2011, and if he does that, he is a legitimate 20-25 HR threat. In 195 at bats post all star break Morse hit 11 HR, so if he can approach 400-450 you could be looking at a waiver wire pick up to make up for Nick Swisher and Travis Snider’s lack of production. Add Morse for what should be a feast against Tim Stauffer and Dustin Moseley, and monitor his production going forward as he still has time to live up the pre season hype.