On a day where one of the biggest names on the trade block came to them, the Angels lost to the Rangers on another good start by Tommy Hunter. Hunter went 6 1/3 innings of 3 run ball en route to his 8th victory of the season. There are read flags all over this one to me, and I just am not a believer at all. If it were me, I'd be looking for some way to move him as fast as possible for any reasonable value.
Alex Rodriguez went 2 for 4 with 3 runs batted in before leaving the game after being hit by a pitch on the hand. If this turns out to be an actual injury and not just a precautionary measure, I think Rodriguez could potentially see a drop in his production. Something to monitor over the next day or two to be sure.
Buster Posey just continues to hit. He went 4 for 5 yesterday with 2 doubles, and is now hitting .371 on the season. He is now in the midst of an 18 game hitting streak, and seems to be extremely locked in at the plate. I think at this point, he may be the 2nd most valuable catcher the rest of the season.
Coco Crisp stole 2 more bases yesterday, and now has 11 on the season despite missing so much of it due to injuries. He looks like he can be a definite help to you if you are still looking for steals in your league.
Wade Davis had a nice start yesterday, and looks like he might be getting closer to the form he had at the start of the season. He went 6 1/3 innings, striking out 4 and allowing 2 earned runs. Granted, it was against the Indians, but their lineup is definitely improved with both Shin Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera back in it. Someone to watch closely in his next start.
Brett Cecil went 7 innings yesterday, striking out 6 and only allowing 2 earned runs in the no-decision. Cecil seems like someone who could be shut down towards the end of the season to make sure he doesn't rack up too many innings, especially since there are a lot of replacements available to the Blue Jays both out of their bullpen and in AAA.
Matt Wieters returned from the disabled list yesterday with a 1 for 3 day against the Twins. I think it is still too early to give up entirely on Wieters if you're in a keeper league, but I want to see more 1 for 3 days before I'd want to roster him in standard leagues.
Jeff Francis had a good start yesterday, striking out 6 over 5 innings and allowing 2 earned runs. They are committed to Francis, and I think that as long as you temper your expectations a bit, you should get a nice spot starter. This line is probably similar to what he's going to do the rest of the year.
One more good start, and I think I'll be a firm believer in the idea that Wandy Rodriguez is back. He went 7 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 hit and 2 walks to go with 7 strikeouts against the Reds. The strikeouts seem to be back, which is really what I wanted to see out of him. That was his 3rd start in his last 4 with 6 or more strikeouts.
Rickie Weeks hit his 20th homerun of the season yesterday, and also has 64 runs batted in. I'm saying it now (with the full expectation of it happening tomorrow) - I think this may finally be the season where he stays healthy all season and we finally see what he can do.
Jose Bautista hit his 27th homerun in the second game of the doubleheader yesterday, and I think that he is probably the only player at this point who has a reasonably good chance to hit 40 homeruns this year.