Tyler Colvin (ESPN: 7.6 percent owned; Yahoo!: 10 percent owned)

When the Rockies sent Ian Stewart to the Cubs for Tyler Colvin in one of those “my broken toy for your cracked mirror” deals, it looked as though it would end like almost all change-of-scenery deals does, namely, the issues that lead the players to be traded for one another had little to do with the scenery. If one of the players in that deal was going to actually get things to click, I would have guessed it was Stewart, who looked like a man in need of a home without the expectations that had gained him the “bust” tag in Colorado. Instead, Stewart is likely to miss the rest of the season after undergoing wrist surgery. While the Cubs surely would have liked a full season to see if the former top-10 pick could be refurbished, I can’t imagine there’s much dispute about what Stewart offers following 202 PAs that amounted to a .201/.292/.335 line and generally replacement level play. Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Thome (ESPN: 2.5 percent owned; Yahoo!: 8 percent owned)

He has been in the league since Jack Morris was a relevant figure, not just the center of a Hall of Fame debate; his career has taken him from the AL to the NL, back to the AL back, to the NL, back to the AL, back to the NL, and now back to the AL; and though it all Jim Thome does one thing: Mash taters. That’s his reputation, and it’s not wrong, but those in OBP-based leagues will also enjoy his penchant for drawing walks by the bushel. Read the rest of this entry »

Norichika Aoki (ESPN: 3 percent owned; Yahoo!: 6 percent owned)

The posting process for Norichika Aoki was not as well publicized as Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s or Hisashi Iwakuma’s, but given the choice between the three, the number of teams that would still take either of the more heralded pair over Aoki has to be pretty small. The 30-year-old former Yakult Swallow hasn’t set the world alight with his play in the Brewers’ outfield, but he’s already been worth about a win and is on pace to be worth a bit more than two wins as he’s getting consistent playing time now that he didn’t really get in April. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the easiest ways to get overlooked in fantasy is to be a slightly above-average player on a bad team. Great players from bad teams rise out of their squalid surroundings to perhaps even become overvalued. Above-average players on good teams tend to get noticed as people see them play when they’re watching for more established stars, but there’s a nice sweet spot for players who are good enough to be fantasy-relevant, but who aren’t going to draw many eyes on their own. The Cubs’ rotation may be better known for its potential to be decimated by trades in the next six weeks than for its depth, but while Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster may soon leave NL-only owners grumbling about their loss of eligibility, Travis Wood is quietly asserting himself as a functional major leaguer and a relatively unowned option for NL-only and very deep mixed leagues, as he’s available in 98 percent of Yahoo! leagues and over 99 percent of ESPN leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Jared Burton (ESPN: 1 percent owned; Yahoo!: 6 percent owned)

On Monday alone, Glen Perkins was added in nearly 9000 Yahoo! fantasy leagues as the Twins’ usual closer, Matt Capps, hit the DL with shoulder inflammation. It was a reasonable move to make, Perkins was the Twins’ set-up man both this season and last season, so it would make good sense for him to get the bulk of the save chances… except for the fact that the Twins just do not seem to trust Perkins at the end of games. There isn’t a good statistical reason for it, but when closers are involved, the numbers seldom add up. Perkins has been solid as a set-up man, striking out just shy of a third of the hitters he has faced this season and while, at 1.34, his WHIP isn’t what one might hope out of their closer, there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t do the job an inning later than he has been. Read the rest of this entry »

Francisco Liriano (ESPN: 13 percent owned; Yahoo!: 29 percent owned)

Explaining Liriano’s season to date comes down to two numbers: 1.024 and 0.923. If they were both WHIPs, the difference would be between good and excellent and he wouldn’t really be fit for a waiver wire column since his ownership would be pretty close to 100 percent. The second figure is indeed a WHIP, Liriano’s since his return from the bullpen on May 30 to be precise. The first, on the other hand, is the OPS he allowed over his first six starts of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Conclusions first: Those who drafted Zack Greinke didn’t do so to have him sitting on their bench for half of his starts. Those who have invested either the draft pick or the talent it would take in order to get him via trade, should be getting the full value out of him and starting him every time the Brewers give him the ball, because even when he’s not pitching well, he’s still seldom that far below average. His two worst starts of the season happen to have come on the road: His 3.2 IP, 8 ER effort in Chicago and his 2.1 IP, 7 ER shelling at the hands of the Diamondbacks were both aberrations even for his road struggles. While he hasn’t set the world alight in his other sojourns away from Milwaukee, he’s hardly pitched the Brewers out of those games.

Still…it’s unusual that Greinke has been so much worse on the road than he has been at Miller Park, right? Read the rest of this entry »

Casey McGehee (ESPN: 4 percent owned; Yahoo!: 5 percent owned)

After scoring the fewest runs in baseball in both April and May, the Pirates’ offense seems to have come to life a bit in June. They’re one of the 10 highest scoring offenses in baseball so far this month and while that’s not the highest bar imaginable, the fact that their offense has become more than just Andrew McCutchen and the Pips is a big part of the reason that the Jolly Roger has been raised so many times this month. While Pedro Alvarez may lead the team with four home runs this month, no Pirate has a higher OPS than Casey McGehee, whose .366/.458/.659 month so far leads the team in all three slash categories (min 3 PAs). Read the rest of this entry »

Denard Span (ESPN: 38 percent owned; Yahoo!: 19 percent owned)

The Twins’ offense finally looks like it’s heading in the right direction. Through Wednesday night’s game, they’ve scored 68 runs, the most in baseball and just 20 runs shy of their total for the entire month of April. While the Twins are trending up, their leadoff man Denard Span is heading in the opposite direction in terms of ownership. As much as I like Span, and I like Span a lot, I understand entirely why owners are willing to jettison him so quickly: He’s a tweener. Read the rest of this entry »

Last season, en route to their surprise division championship and NLCS appearance, the Diamondbacks got 24 starts out of the rather unheralded Josh Collmenter. As a starter at the back end of the rotation, Collmenter could hardly have been better for the Diamondbacks, giving them a 1.07 WHIP and 3.38 ERA over 154 innings, but he left fantasy owners in something of a conundrum. Yes, his rate stats were a great asset, but he had more than five strikeouts in a start just twice during the season; in the vast majority of his starts, he struck out four or fewer hitters. Read the rest of this entry »