Going into the season we ranked Ian Kinsler as our top pick at second base. Though you could still argue this late in the year that Chase Utley might have deserved an edge on the Rangers' second baseman, you can't fault the fine contribution Kinsler has made: 97 runs and 85 RBI through Thursday (to Utley's 112 and 93), and 31 home runs and 30 stolen bases (where Utley has 31 and 23). Kinsler's entry into the 30-30 club makes him the second Ranger to record the feat, and only the third second baseman to do it in major league history.

All the same, it's strange to say that Kinsler has managed all this with the worst batting average of his major league career. Granted, he only has a .280 career average to begin with, but this year it dropped to .253, and it shouldn't take long to figure out why:

Signed by the Angels as an amateur free agent in 2002, Erick Aybar has played with no other organization since, and stepped through the minors year by year, one league at a time, until making his major-league debut, aged twenty-two, on May 16, 2002. Aybar showed himself to be a fair, if not great hitter in the minors, with an above-average fielding ability and exceptional speed--in his five full minor-league seasons, Aybar stole a total of 169 bases, and over 30 every year from 2003 through 2006. 

Signed by the Blue Jays as an amateur free agent in 2001, Alfredo Aceves played in the Dominican and Mexican leagues thereafter, until the Yankee signed him as a free agent in 2008. Aceves made his debut in the American minor leagues in the Yankees organization, and soon made his first appearance with the major-league club on August 31st of that year, pitching two innings of scoreless relief against, in one of baseball’s many pleasant coincidences, the Toronto Blue Jays.

It's the last weeks of the fantasy season, and you may be finding yourself scrambling for starting pitchers. The problem is that all the ones you know are good are long since taken, and even most of the gambles for success--be they Justin Masterson or Carl Pavano--are snapped up on someone's roster.

So you start to sift through the many pitchers with short resumes and low ownership rates, and you look at the impending roster expansion as a chance to finally see some more pitching options. But before September 1st rolls around, there's a pitcher on the Seattle 25-man list that might be worth your time.