David DeJesus, Royals

As I climb out of the bottom of a glass full of Bushmills—yes, I know it’s a Protestant whiskey, McNulty—it occurs to me that this column still needs to be written.  It can be easy to forget such things when you watch your Chiefs lose at home to the hapless Raiders, hang on each fantasy at-bat in a head-to-head playoff format in which your team needs to make up ground in seven categories, and wander through the world of HBO comedies. 

 

Now, as if I needed to add any more to this mix of suspense and nausea, there was a false ending in the Sunday night game with Ryan Ludwick presumably driving in the winning run on a ground out/should-be double play with one out in the bottom of the ninth only to have that run erased after it was ruled that Matt Holliday slid too far out of the base path in trying to break up the throw from Ryan Theriot to Derrek Lee at first.

 

If you were curious, the aforementioned Bushmills has disappeared.  In its stead is a fresh glass of Bulleit Bourbon, distracting me every time my gaze drifts from the computer screen.

 

Needless to say, when you are sitting around hoping for a bottom of the 11^th that would consist of Carlos Marmol recording one out on the way to loading the bases for Matt Holliday to have him hitting a walk-off grand slam, thus swinging OPS and WHIP in your favor while bringing home runs to a tie, you are hanging on for dear life and driven to the bottle.

 

Anyway, none of that happened and my season and months of work have been for naught.

 

As for this column, I suppose I should get cracking…

 

Nevermind. 

 

One thing.  A couple weeks back, I recommended the addition of Rajai Davis.  He is the top rated player in Yahoo over the past month.  Imagine me putting that feather in my cap.

 

Now.  Column.

 

 

David DeJesús – LF, CF, RF – Kansas City Royals (32% Y! Plus, 15% Y!, 56.2% ESPN)

If there was a player who better represented the five months of garbage baseball followed by a one-month fury laced with absurd production and false hopes for the future that has been the Royals’ season, it would be David DeJesús.  Just as the Royals decided to resurrect some semblance of respect from an otherwise shameful performance, of Jesus has decided that he is going to make sure his end-of-year numbers look respectable. 

 

Now, while DeJesús’ surge won’t be costing him Bryce Harper, they will be costing owners something…  Owners who don’t own him!  Ohhh! 

 

Since August 7^th, DeJesús has hit .340/.395/.529/.925 with five homers, 28 runs and 21 ribbies.  That quantitative production over 38 games is too much to pass up at this juncture.

 

 

Brian Duensing – SP, RP – Minnesota Twins (34% Y! Plus, 11% Y!, 2.9% ESPN)

Since being promoted to the starting rotation, Duensing has been giving the Ron Gardenhire and the Twins more than they could possibly have hoped for.  In six starts, he is 4 – 0.  In those starts, he has pitched 37.1 innings, allowing 32 hits and 10 walks while striking out 27.  His ERA of 1.45 over that time is certainly palatable, as well.  While it would be nice to be getting some more strikeouts out of him, you cannot complain about the results so far, and at this price it’s worth taking him for a test run.

 

 

Drew Stubbs – CF – Cincinnati Reds (23% Y! Plus, 7% Y!, 4.2% ESPN)

His average may be a bit pedestrian over the past month (.262), but he’s got those tools that the kids are talking about.  Well, maybe not those tools, but he has stolen seven bases and slugged seven long balls (in honor of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) for a rather yawn-inducing Reds team. 

 

The key here is that this power/speed threat is getting a ton of playing time right now.  In a time of the year in which a lot of these potential adds find themselves scrambling around for at-bats with recent expanded roster call-ups, Stubbs has managed 122 ABs over the month.  It is safe to say that he is playing a ton, and he is clearly doing everything outside of filling out whichever ratio categories your league may be utilizing.  If you can afford the hit there (and we’re not talking Corey Patterson circa 2008, here), then Stubbs could make the difference for you in other close categories.

 

 

Juan Uribe – 2B, 3B, SS – San Francisco Giants (49% Y! Plus, 27% Y!, 20.6% ESPN)

Up until this past month, the last thing Juan Uribe was able to hang his hat on was that spectacular catch in the stands along the third base line in the 2005 World Series.  Now that he’s hitting .323 over a month down the stretch in a pennant race and OPSing 1.033 over that same stretch. 

 

If you pare his numbers down to the past 22 games (since August 26^th), Uribe is hitting at a .359/.425/.705/1.130 clip with six homers, 16 runs and 17 RBIs.  If your team cannot use that, your team is better than mine was.  Since mine ranked in the top two in all but one of the six offensive categories in my league with fellow Grumbler, Damian Schaab, I doubt your team cannot use this production.  With his middle infield/hot corner eligibility, there has got to be a hole he can fill.  

 

 

Josh Duggan welcomes your comments at mister.josh.duggan@gmail.com.  If you are going to heave insults in his direction, at least be funny and creative.  He is also the author of a Kansas City Royals blog, Royalscentricity (which is also syndicated at Bleacher Report, where he is a featured Royals columnist), and a pop culture blog, Inconsiderate Prick, and is a dues paying member of the FSWA.