Jesus Guzman (1B, Padres) – 17% owned. The Friars’ new first baseman has started 22 games this season and has more than one hit in 11 of them.  For those of you scoring at home, that’s 50% of the time.  Obviously that won’t last (can you imagine having 80 multi-hit games a year?  Not even Ichiro does that), but Padre Jesus owns a .336/.376/.582 slash line with 26 RBI and 17 runs.  And it’s not like the Padres have tons of great hitters waiting to take Guzman’s playing time.

Brandon McCarthy (SP, Athletics) – 14%.  He’s 4-0 with a 2.78 ERA in his last five starts, and owns a very good 3.31 ERA on the season.  His wins aren’t great (he’s just 5-5 on the year), but the most impressive stat is the fact that he’s walked only 16 batters all year, in 108 innings.  He’s always had potential, and has shown flashes of brilliance in Texas, but could never stay healthy.  Maybe the move to Oakland has done him some good, and he’d do your team some too.

 The Call-ups: Brett Lawrie / Johnny Giavotella / Trayvon Robinson (2B and soon-to-be 3B, Blue Jays; 2B, Royals; OF, Mariners) – 29%; 0% and 0%, respectively.  Lawrie is the most well-known since he was the centerpiece of the Shawn Marcum trade last winter, and has made the most of his debut.  In his first 3 major league games, the converted third baseman has gone 5 for 11 with a home run and 2 RBI.  He’s almost certainly gone in keeper leagues, but he should be plenty useful for this year as well. 

The other two – Giavotella and Robinson – were not on their teams’ 40-man rosters at the beginning of 2011, and are therefore waiver adds in Yahoo leagues (though CBS included them, as did ESPN).  Johnny G has been crushing AAA pitching this year to the tune of .338 average and an OPS of .871, and hasn’t stopped since he reached the majors last week, hitting the same .455 with one home run as Brett Lawrie did in his first three games.  Trayvon, acquired by the Mariners two weeks ago in the Erik Bedard deal, has seemingly flipped his stats from last season.  In 2010, he hit .297 with a whopping .401 OBP, 37 steals and 9 homers in AA.  This year, against AAA pitching, Trayvon hit .293 with a whopping .563 SLG (130 points higher than last season), 26 homers, and just 8 steals.  So we’re still not sure what kind of player he is, but regardless of whether he steals 40 bags or hits 30 bombs, he’s worth owning, especially in keeper leagues.

Yuniesky Betancourt (SS, Brewers) – 14%.  Every year, Yuni goes on a hot streak where he’s eminently ownable, even in mixed leagues.  With Jose Reyes straining his hamstring (again!) yesterday, Yuni becomes a worthwhile pickup.  As the Brewers have gotten hot over the past month, so has Yuni.  A .371 average, 12 runs, 19 RBI and 3 homers all combine to make Yuni a top 5 shortstop since July 1.

Mark Buehrle (SP, White Sox) – 33%.  Speaking of hot streaks, the last time Mark Buehrle gave up more than 3 earned runs was April 22.  In fact, he did it three times between April 1 and April 22, and not once since.  You’re running out of time to help your ratio stats (ERA and WHIP), but with ERAs of 2.57 in May, 3.06 in June, 1.85 in July, and zeros so far in August, Buehrle can help out.  He isn’t pretty, and still hasn’t figured out how to strike people out, but he’s got one loss since June 1 and is pitching as well as anyone in baseball right now.

AL Only Special – Frank Francisco / Mike Adams (RP, Blue Jays and Rangers, respectively) – 38% and 35%, respectively.  Neither is a closer as of today, but both could be soon.  Adams has the harder road, obviously, since Neftali Feliz is in front of him, but he could definitely vulture a save or three down the stretch.  Francisco, on the other hand, has the dreaded “closer stuff” but has not shown he can be a consistently effective closer in the majors.  He’s been lights-out since demoted a month ago (K per inning, 0.87 ERA/0.58 WHIP) while Jon Rauch has been horrible (5.56 ERA/1.56 WHIP and a rare double blown save on Thursday in Oakland).  And since a save or two can make up the difference between winning and losing, he’s worth the speculative add.

NL Only Special – Scott Hairston (OF, Mets) – 0%.  With Daniel Murphy out for the year with a torn MCL, the Mets will need to find a starting first baseman, and I’m thinking it will be Lucas Duda (last week’s NL Only special).  If Duda goes to first, Scott Hairston probably becomes the primary right fielder.  With 7 homers in 110 at bats, Hairston has flashed some pop, and with regular at bats (as you know, that’s the important thing in single leagues), could be worthwhile down the stretch.  Unless, of course, Nick Evans becomes the regular first baseman, keeping Hairston on the bench…

Written exclusively by Jesse Mendelson for www.thefantasyfix.com.  And lo and behold, Jesse joined Twitter.  Follow him @jessemendelson immediately. 

(February 22, 2011 – Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images North America)