Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Top 10 Pickups for Week 7
The effort to make baseball fun again took a violent turn on Sunday—one that will hurt fantasy managers nearly as much as Jose Bautista.
As a result of last season's unforgettably chaotic playoff showdown, tensions between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers ran high before their weekend series. When Bautista slid late into second base, Rougned Odor responded with fists rather than flips.
This wasn't a typical baseball fight, where everyone crowds around, barks at each other and maybe throws a half-hearted strike away from the target. Odor hit the Blue Jays outfielder square in the face, and MLB is likely to respond with a lengthy suspension.
His investors will miss the budding star, who is hitting .286 with seven home runs and five stolen bases this season. Fortunately, two potential second-base replacements remain available in a majority of Yahoo Sports leagues.
This week's list of top waiver-wire adds runs the gamut from a player maturing in the minors to a 37-year-old veteran who looked finished last year. There are also the typical hot hands, returning veterans and overlooked contributors ready to help fantasy squads.
Honorable Mentions
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Mixed Leagues
Jose Reyes, SS, Colorado Rockies
Justin Smoak, 1B, Toronto Blue Jays
C.J. Cron, 1B, Los Angeles Angels
Steve Pearce, 1B/2B/OF, Tampa Bay Rays
Mark Reynolds, 1B/3B/OF, Colorado Rockies
Matt Wisler, SP, Atlanta Braves
Dan Straily, SP, Cincinnati Reds
Nick Vincent, RP, Seattle Mariners
AL-Only
Bobby Wilson, C, Texas Rangers
Tyler Naquin, OF, Cleveland Indians
Jhoulys Chacin, SP, Los Angeles Angels
CC Sabathia, SP, New York Yankees
Dillon Gee, SP/RP, Kansas City Royals
NL-Only
Jose Peraza, 2B, Cincinnati Reds
Gordon Beckham, 2B/3B, Atlanta Braves
Alen Hanson, 2B/SS, Pittsburgh Pirates
Michael Bourn, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Junior Guerra, SP/RP, Milwaukee Brewers
10. Tony Cingrani, RP, Cincinnati Reds (27 Percent Owned)
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This lukewarm recommendation is brought to you by the department of Saves Are Saves. In many leagues, closers of all ilks are owned regardless of their actual merits.
Tony Cingrani's 3.18 ERA is good. Everything else? Not so much.
Over 17 innings, the once-explosive starter has issued 10 walks while notching 15 strikeouts. The wildness, which vanquished him from the rotation and escalated his ERA to 5.67 from the bullpen last year, shows in his 1.29 WHIP and 4.63 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA).
He has also picked up three saves this month for the Cincinnati Reds, owners of baseball's worst bullpen by a vast margin. The most interesting option of a boring bunch at least struck out 9.82 batters per nine innings over his erratic career, and his fastball velocity has shot up this season. More strikeouts should come, but the walks won't go anywhere.
Don't expect the guy who earned a 2.92 ERA and 10.32 K/9 as a rookie, but Cingrani should get every chance to keep Cincinnati's closing gig.
9. Jameson Taillon, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates (13 Percent Owned)
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Two weeks ago, Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow topped the list by dazzling in Triple-A. While he's still a strong candidate for a promotion, teammate Jameson Taillon is also knocking on the door.
Not so long ago, Taillon was the system's hot-shot ace in waiting. The 2010 No. 2 overall draft pick then missed all of 2014 and 2015 recovering from an ulnar collateral ligament injury in his pitching elbow. Due to the lengthy absence, he faded down preseason prospect lists, as nobody knew how he'd return.
So far, he looks better than ever. The 24-year-old righty has posted a 2.08 ERA over 43.1 Triple-A innings, tallying 43 strikeouts to five walks. In his latest outing, he accumulated a season-high 11 punchouts.
So who gets called up first, Glasnow or Taillon? How about both? Jeff Locke and Jon Niese are sporting ERAs of 5.45 and 5.63, respectively. Juan Nicasio has only reached 100 innings in one season, so he might not last the entire year.
Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette predicted an early June ETA for both young hurlers and cited service time as the prevailing reason to keep superior players in the minors. At first, Taillon looked like no more than a reclamation project to stash in dynasty and NL-only leagues, but he's now commanding universal attention.
Glasnow remains the top ticket to preorder, but Taillon is also worth a look in mixed leagues with spacious benches.
8. Matt Andriese, SP/RP, Tampa Bay Rays (27 Percent Owned)
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Where do the Tampa Bay Rays find these guys?
Of all the big names permeating Tampa Bay's stacked young rotation on Opening Day, Matt Andriese wasn't one of them. He started the season in Triple-A, where he earned a call-up by registering 44 strikeouts and seven walks over six starts. A 14-strikeout gem triggered his big league arrival.
Hardly a hyped sleeper on anyone's radar, the 26-year-old has instantaneously become a household name.
After allowing one run over seven innings against the Los Angeles Angels, he defeated the Oakland Athletics in a two-hit, complete-game shutout. He only collected eight total strikeouts, but few young hurlers can effectively work deep into games. Andriese did so twice and issued three walks with a 61.1 first-strike percentage.
Don't get mad over not envisioning this. Last year, he offered a pedestrian 4.11 ERA and 1.32 WHIP over 65.2 innings. Along with sounding the small-sample siren, it's also important to note that he conquered two below-average offenses.
There's a solid chance everyone who grabs him now will throw him back to the waiver wire in two weeks. Maybe it's a flash in the pan, but Andriese at least deserves an audition on fantasy rosters.
7. Cameron Maybin, OF, Detroit Tigers (6 Percent Owned)
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Need some power and speed to round out a roster? An underrated option is set to make his 2016 debut shortly.
The Detroit Tigers, per their official Twitter page, will activate Cameron Maybin before Monday's game against the Minnesota Twins. Although hardly the most exciting option, the outfielder amassed 10 homers and 23 steals for the Atlanta Braves last season.
Last year, the San Diego Padres shipped him to Atlanta as an afterthought in the Craig Kimbrel trade. Much like Melvin Upton Jr.—sent the opposite way to San Diego—this year, Maybin reversed a seemingly insurmountable decline. Before morphing back into a quality center fielder, he hit .222 with two homers through 2013 and 2014.
Maybin now finds himself in Detroit, where he will have little trouble supplanting the struggling Anthony Gose. Instead of running away with the job, Gose has stayed stagnant with a .287 on-base percentage, 37.6 strikeout percentage and zero stolen bases.
Only the Baltimore Orioles have attempted fewer steals than the Tigers, but that's driven more by personnel than managerial philosophy. If Maybin comes back healthy and sustains last year's rebound, he'll offer a nice boost in five-outfielder formats.
6. Chase Utley, 2B, Los Angeles Dodgers (7 Percent Owned)
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Written here five weeks ago about Howie Kendrick: "He won't win a league or prompt everyone else to curse under their breaths for forgetting about him. He will, however, hit enough to comfortably use as a middle infielder in deeper mixed leagues."
Five weeks later...maybe he just stinks.
To be fair, the veteran second baseman has shown a pulse by scattering 11 hits over as many games this month. The career .291 hitter won't keep tip-toeing the Mendoza Line, but even Chase Headley is concerned about his power production. In 28 games, Kendrick has a .213 slugging percentage, owning one double as his lone extra-base hit.
Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Chase Utley can relate. He looked kaput last season, hitting .212/.286/.343 with no memorable moments outside of breaking a man's leg. Anyone who drafted the former superstar either thought it was 2010 or deserves props for competing in a hardcore league.
Like a certain Game of Thrones character, he's somehow back from the dead. Fitting, because Utley has proved we all know nothing when it comes to baseball's devious deceptions.
The 37-year-old is hitting .281/.383/.430 with a 125 weighted runs created plus (wRC+)—two points above his career average. He has drawn 15 walks to 20 strikeouts, and his hard-hit rate has skyrocketed nearly 10 points to 40 percent.
As long as he keeps bathing in the Fountain of Youth, he should play regularly against right-handed pitchers. Although no longer a premier power source, this version of Utley could hit 10-15 bombs with a strong average and on-base percentage, which would make him the enticing middle infielder instead of Kendrick.
5. Trevor Bauer, SP/RP, Cleveland Indians (40 Percent Owned)
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Trevor Bauer will probably never take the next step to joining Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar as upper-echelon starters. His 3.89 ERA and 1.24 WHIP would both represent career bests if sustained throughout the season, which he started in the Cleveland Indians bullpen.
The 25-year-old remains imperfect, but slightly less so than last year. His 3.63 walks per nine innings (BB/9) are still too many, but it beats last year's 4.04 BB/9. He has also shown progress by issuing 14 free passes in four starts, and this offers hope of him establishing workable control.
Bauer's main draw is strikeouts, and he has amassed 37 of them in 34.2 innings. His swinging-strike percentage has reached double digits for the first time, so he's helping fantasy squads even without stellar ratios.
Nobody knows why he didn't make Cleveland's Opening Day rotation, but this is the same team that sent Salazar to the minors to open 2015. Don't worry about the Indians doubling down on their foolishness. When Carrasco returns from the disabled list, Cody Anderson's 7.31 ERA will take a hike, while Bauer stays put.
Prospective owners can also take solace in a spiked ground-ball rate, up from last year's 39.2 percent to a career-high 48.4 percent. Now that he's inducing more whiffs and weak contact with fewer walks than ever before, there's reason to believe he can flourish into a steady mixed-league starter.
4. Danny Valencia, 3B/OF, Oakland Athletics (16 Percent Owned)
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Some players command patience when injuries inevitably strike. Only a fool would drop Carrasco or Michael Brantley, but Danny Valencia didn't earn the same respect.
Before landing on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring, the Oakland Athletics third baseman was still searching for his first home run. He found two on Friday and three more on Sunday, and he upped his season slash line to .342/.377/.589.
After spending most of his career as a meandering journeyman who exclusively crushed southpaws, Valencia has found his footing. Over his last 125 games, the 31-year-old is hitting .299 with 23 homers and 77 RBI. He continues to look comfortable against righties, which earned him a prominent and permanent spot in Oakland's lineup.
If he keeps hitting this well, he'll matter as more than deep-league depth. As he continues to rake away the fluke skeptics, he'll infiltrate all mixed leagues as a solid corner infielder or fifth outfielder.
3. Jonathan Schoop, 2B, Baltimore Orioles (26 Percent Owned)
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For all his strengths and weaknesses, Jonathan Schoop has performed exactly as advertised.
He has only drawn five walks, which somehow puts him halfway to exceeding last year's total. As a result, he wields a mediocre .293 on-base percentage.
That stinks, but the seven home runs do not. He's tied with Odor (and Matt Carpenter if eligible) among second basemen for the fourth-most homers behind Robinson Cano, Jose Altuve and Neil Walker.
This shouldn't surprise anyone. Since the start of 2015, the Baltimore Orioles bopper has belted 22 homers in 122 games, putting him on a pace of 29 per 162 games. Over that time, he has earned the position's third-best slugging percentage after Altuve and Daniel Murphy, who might be Ted Williams working with the Faceless Men.
Schoop is going wild this month, hitting .354 (17-for-48) with two doubles, a triple and three deep flies. The average concerns swirling around the free-swinger may eventually materialize, but he has shown enough progress to stay afloat. His strikeout percentage has dipped to 20.3, allowing him to hit .266 despite a 42-point drop from last year's .329 batting average on balls in play (BABIP).
He's not perfect, but he's a second baseman poised to produce a 25-homer campaign. That's pretty darn valuable in any league.
2. Tyler Duffey, SP, Minnesota Twins (11 Percent Owned)
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What does Tyler Duffey have to do to get noticed?
As a reward for authoring a 3.10 ERA last season, the Minnesota Twins left him off the Opening Day roster. They realized their folly before April ended, and he has reinforced their dubious decision by recording a 1.85 ERA through four starts. On Sunday, he hurled seven scoreless frames to beat Cleveland.
In 14 career MLB starts, the 25-year-old righty boasts a 2.73 ERA, 76 strikeouts and 25 walks over 82.1 innings. If a highly touted prospect like teammate Jose Berrios posted those numbers, everybody would go nuts over the next ace. Duffey, meanwhile, remains unclaimed in far too many leagues.
As noted by Inside Edge before Sunday's superb start, Duffey has pitched similarly to Zack Greinke and Cole Hamels since joining Minnesota's rotation last August. Nobody is saying to rank him as a top-25 starter. Let's just get him owned in more leagues than Anibal Sanchez, Clay Buchholz and Luis Severino.
1. Evan Gattis, OF, Houston Astros (33 Percent Owned)
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You know what your team needs? An outfielder who was sent down to Double-A hitting .203/.257/.313.
OK, not the best elevator pitch for Evan Gattis. The slugger has already crushed five homers in the minors, but of course, a 29-year-old with a career .469 slugging percentage will torch Double-A adversaries. That wasn't the point of his demotion.
According to the Houston Chronicle's Jake Kaplan, the Houston Astros sent Gattis down to give him reps behind the plate.
"We want him to get back as a catching possibility for us," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "The best way to do it is for him to go play."
Gattis went to Corpus Christi on May 7, the first day of a nine-game homestand that ended on Sunday. Never intending to keep him down for long, the Astros will now bring him back to the majors on Tuesday, according to Root Sports' Julia Morales.
Right now, a blinding lightbulb should illuminate over every fantasy gamer's head. Remember when Gattis hit 27 homers with catcher eligibility last season? Depending on the league's rules, he should regain that favorable distinction soon.
As an outfielder, he's another burly bopper with a mediocre batting average and plate discipline. Returning to the catching wasteland, he's once again a top-10 option.
Note: All advanced stats courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.
