Fantasy baseball: Help is out there if you know where to look

Whether by injury or ineffectiveness, nearly all fantasy owners have gaps in their lineups that need to be plugged. Staff writer Tim Hubbard looks at a few players who can be cheap solutions.

Jenrry Mejia

New York Mets | SP

Talk about taking a flier, Mejia is quite a risk. He was brought up just few days ago to pitch the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, with no guarantee of a second start. On top of that, he’s already planning to have off-season surgery to have bone spurs removed from his elbow. But his strong outing against Washington (seven strikeouts, no walks in seven scoreless innings) earned the 23-year-old Dominican a spot in an expanded, six-man Mets rotation.

Chad Gaudin

San Francisco | SP

Yes, Madison Bumgarner is an All-Star. Yes, two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum recently threw a no-hitter. And yes, Matt Cain had been one of the game’s elite pitchers entering 2013. But it’s Gaudin who had been the Giants’ best pitcher in recent weeks. The 30-year-old right-hander was 4-0 since joining the rotation, with a 2.23 ERA and 0.94 WHIP, before struggling mightily against Cincinnati on Wednesday. Was that a mere bump in the road, or is Gaudin back to being the same journeyman who has been released four times?

Junior Lake

Chicago Cubs | OF

One could say Lake has made quite a splash since his major league debut July 19. The 23-year-old Dominican, who spent most of his minor league career at shortstop, is hitting .417 with two homers and five RBIs in his first eight games. Lake never hit more than 12 homers in the minors, but he has shown some speed, stealing 38 bases in 2011. Alfonso Soriano’s departure should allow the Cubs to give Lake a long look.

tim.hubbard@latimes.com