Working The Waiver Wire: Week 7
Happy Cinco De Mayo fantasy world! Hope you are enjoying your margaritas and such as we have come to the end of another week of fantasy baseball. Need help on your team? Sit back, have a siesta, and find out who you should be adding this week.
Hitters
Alex Verdugo, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers. Verdugo was already pushing A.J. Pollock for playing time when he was healthy, and now with Pollock landing on the DL, Verdugo is a guy you absolutely can grab. Hitting an impressive .346 with four homers, 17 RBIs, and a steal in 33 games, Verdugo showed a nice mix of speed and power in the Minors that he can bring to you in the Majors. He is far from being a league leader in either category, but he should bring nice steady production across the board and if you need outfield help now, that is a direction I would look at.
Yordan Alvarez, OF, Houston Astros. The Astros keep saying that they are going to be conservative with their prized prospect, but how much longer can they keep this kid down? He is absolutely killing the ball in the Minors with an absurd .418 batting average and 12 homers and 36 RBI in just 25 games! Wow! I mean obviously that’s an unsustainable pace, but even the great Tim McLeod said on our podcast last Thursday that a call up must be coming soon. If you can afford a place to stash someone, Alvarez deserves the stash.
Nate Lowe, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays. In the beginning of the year I was high on Brandon Lowe of Tampa, and now they brought up another Lowe in Nate who I also am banging the gong for. There is a chance that he might not be up for good, so keep that in mind, but he did have 27 homers and 102 RBIs across three levels of the Minors last season. He hasn’t gotten off to a ridiculously hot start, but the talent is there and I expect him to start putting baseballs in the bleachers any day now.
Franmil Reyes, OF, San Diego Padres. In the Spring it was wondered with a crowded outfield if Franmil would get enough playing time to warrant fantasy consideration. Then he wasn’t getting off to a good start with the batting average. However, he has now raised his average nearly 50 points since April 28 and he has eight home runs on the season. Most importantly he is playing every day. I know this article is heavy on outfield suggestions, but Reyes is another one to consider.
Pitchers
Luke Weaver, Arizona Diamondbacks. The main piece in the trade that sent Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals, Weaver is actually paying dividends right now. I am cautiously optimistic that this can continue. I mean he was one of the top pitching prospects for the Cardinals, despite his abysmal 2017, and while his 3.29 ERA this season isn’t eye popping, his eight strikeouts over seven innings allowing one run yesterday certainly got my attention. Even after that start he is still only owned in 30% of leagues and I expect that number will go up quickly.
Mike Soroka, Atlanta Braves. One of the Braves top pitching prospects, Soroka missed most of Spring Training due to injury and fantasy players left him on the wire. Well, he has been fantastic of late allowing just three runs in four starts with 27 whiffs in 23 innings, and if you are in a league where he is available I would definitely pounce. He didn’t throw many innings last year, so there’s a real chance that Atlanta might use him sparingly or at least cautiously so keep that in mind as well, but hell get the production out of him while you can and worry about a potential problem if/when it happens. Soroka is the real deal and should be owned.
Tyler Skaggs, Los Angeles Angels. This one is really close to 50% of leagues, but I’m including him anyway. He pitched pretty well his first two times out but then got bombed right before he missed two weeks to a sprained ankle, and it looks like a lot of fantasy players didn’t show him any patience (or they are in leagues with no DL spots). However, he is back and allowed two earned runs total in his two starts combined, while striking out ten in 11 innings. He did walk six over that span which is concerning, but you aren’t picking up Blake Snell off the waiver wire these days, so Skaggs is someone you can target.
Gio Gonzalez, Milwaukee Brewers. It was a long offseason without a job for Gio, and then he was picked up late by the Yankees. He didn’t pitcher particularly well for them in the Minors and he ended up with the Brewers. And while many have written off the 33 year old, he has come out with two really solid starts for the Brew Crew. Now I can’t say with supreme confidence that I expect him to replicate his previous start where he struck out seven and allowed one run over 5.1 innings, but I think Gio will be a serviceable, end of the fantasy rotation kind of guy. If you need a little help and are in a deeper league where there’s not a lot of pizzazz on the wire, I kinda like Gonzalez.
Aaron Sanchez, Toronto Blue Jays. The knock on Sanchez has always been his health, particularly a blister problem that has plagued his career. However, when healthy he has always been a steady, yet unspectacular pitcher. So far this season he has been healthy, and has been steady, yet unspectacular as expected. He got knocked around a little his last time out, and has been putting too many guys on base, but while he is healthy you can do much, much worse than Sanchez.