AL OF Stock Watch

Per usual on Mondays, here is the latest news on some of the American League outfield eligible players.

Bullish:
Colby Rasmus – As noted in the comment section of my last AL OF Tiered Update Ranking, Rasmus decided to go on a tear as soon as I dropped him down to tier eight. Over the past 14 days, Rasmus has a .320 average, three home runs, 10 runs and even eight RBI’s. The RBI production is surprising because over that same 14 day time span, he has hit from the number two spot eight out of twelve games. Rasmus has broken broken my heart in the past, but I might get sucked in his tools yet again. He is only owned in 40% of Yahoo! and 67% of ESPN leagues, go grab him while he is hot.

Mark Trumbo – I know it’s hard to be much more bullish on him but I can’t help it. I see him have another two home run game (not to mention two walks yesterday too) and I get that old fashioned warm feeling about him. He is now up to 14 homers on the year and has more RBI’s than the likes of Nelson Cruz, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols. Trumbo’s BABIP is still unreasonably high and that is inflating his numbers quite a bit, but his walk rate is up to 7.7%, almost double from last years 4.4%.

Kendrys Morales – Morales has had a nice set of games in the past two weeks. He is hitting a robust .361 with four dingers, eight runs and 11 RBI’s. With interleague once again in full swing it will be tough to find him steady playing time in the short term, but Albert Pujols did start at third base on Friday, giving Morales the ability to start at first. Sporadic first base playing time aside, Morales is going to be the DH for the foreseeable future. He is owned in a mere 68% of Yahoo! leagues and 69% of ESPN formats. I’d definitely pick him up if he is still out there.

Bearish:
Brett Garder – Gardner apparently suffered a set back in his rehab assignment and now his target return date is some time after the All-Star break. He was supposed to be on track to come back as soon as the interleague series against the Mets over this past weekend, but that clearly did not happen. With what looks like could be a full month before we see Gardner return to the Bronx, his ranking just took a major hit.

Marlon Byrd – Byrd was designated for assignment Saturday to make room for Daisuke Matsuzaka’s return. Byrd earned this, hitting .270/.286/.320 over 35 games with the Red Sox. Given the injury context of the Red Sox outfield, this move is a bit surprising. It is possible that we see Byrd in the major leagues once again, but his fantasy value has all but disappeared.