One to watch

Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane is known for his trading acumen and ability to recognize young talent. These skills have helped him transform the A's from the Hudson-Mulder-Zito era into a new age also founded on strong starting pitching.
In 2007, Beane traded ace righthander Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks for six players, one of whom was lefthander Brett Anderson. At the time, Anderson was a mid-level prospect with considerable upside. Two short years later, Anderson is one of the game's most promising young pitchers. Thursday night, the lefty turned in another fine performance against Texas in what has been a tremendous second half of the season.
Just 21 years old, Anderson has won 11 games with an ERA of 4.12 and a robust strikeout rate of 7.6 per nine innings. Walks, usually the Achilles' heel of young hurlers, haven't been much of an issue for Anderson. He's allowed 2.4 per nine innings and just 2.2 over his last 90 innings of work. The fact that he's increased his strikeout rate while simultaneously shaving walks is a great indicator of future success. Just as AL hitters should be figuring him out, Anderson has instead kicked his game up and become more dominant.
Scouts attribute the improvement to a simple increase in velocity. Anderson began the year working his fastball at about 90-91 mph. By June, he was throwing it at 94-95. That heater, coupled with a devastating slider, has made Anderson exceedingly difficult to hit. Once he begins to incorporate an effective change, this young man will dominate the American League.
Billy Beane doesn't always get his man. But this time, with young Brett Anderson, Beane has found a building block for the A's next postseason run.

Roll of the Dice-K

Diasuke Matsuzaka had become a forgotten man in the Boston Red Sox starting rotation. Worn down from the World Baseball Classic, Dice-K performed nowhere near his career norms prior to being sent to the disabled list at mid-season. Matsuzaka returned with a sharp performance last week and followed that up with another solid start Sunday night.
The impact of Dice-K's return cannot be over stated - the Red Sox are now the favorites to win the American League pennant. A four-man front of Dice, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz far exceeds that of the other three playoff teams. In addition, the Red Sox have hit at a .287 team clip over the last month and have scored almost five runs per game. Boston is on fire and only stellar pitching by their opponents stands between them and the World Series.

Return of the Jake

28-year-old righthander Jake Peavy returned to the mound Saturday night and made his debut with the Chicago White Sox. Peavy got the win in a solid if unspectacular outing. He threw 73 pitches over five innings allowing three runs on three hits and striking out five. One of the hits was a bomb off the bat of Kansas City's Billy Butler. Still, Peavy looked good. He topped out at 91-92, down about 4 mph from his usual self. But his fastball had its signature late life, inducing a fair amount of swings and misses. Most importantly, number forty-four looked confident and pitched aggressively, several times brushing batters away from the plate. Word is the White Sox will give him about 75 pitches a start in his next three outings to close out the season. Peavy is poised to become Chicago's ace in 2010, moving lefty John Danks down to the number two slot in the rotation and Mark Buehrle to the third spot. With Gavin Floyd perhaps the major's best number four starter, the ChiSox have the makings of an excellent rotation next year. They have to be considered one the favorites heading into the season. Look for GM Ken Williams to trade closer Bobby Jenks for a bat, possibly a first baseman. With the Sox' payroll expected to be high next season, the team could use a bat that won't add much to payroll. An potential match might be the Texas Rangers who could send free-swinging slugger Chris Davis to the south side for Jenks.
Either way, seeing Peavy attack hitters as he's done for six years was an encouraging sign for White Sox fans and fantasy owners lucky enough to own "Peav."