Player Focus: Dustin McGowan

Just when Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan's cards started to gain value again, his pitching hits the skids. After a tough May (1-2 with a 5.90 ERA), he improved in June (3-2, 4.54 ERA) and did even better in July (2-1, 2.67 ERA). His 03 Bowman's Best Auto RC averaged just $13.33 TAC in July, and jumped to $22.29 through the first half of August, as a result of his strong pitching the previous month. Unfortunately, in his first 3 August starts, he's 1-2 with a 11.40 ERA, signaling that his RC cards could once again start to fall back into the $10-15 range.

In 9 of his 19 starts this season, he's allowed 2 or fewer earned runs; not bad for a first year full-time starter. The problem was that he also had 5 starts where he allowed 5 or more earned.

I would say that the 25-year-old McGowan's BB Auto RC is a decent buy at $10-15 TAC, and has the potential to rise to around $25-30, if he can gain some consistency. Given his pitching's current state, I would keep my eye out for some deals on his cards right now.