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The final week has some interesting two-start pitchers and some well-rounded hitters taking off for teams needing a boost. My one caution for owners is that even though one category (e.g. Saves) could be the easiest to gain (or lose) point in, it is possible to drop in other categories if they are ignored.

As usual, I’m going to at least cover the players in demand using CBS’s (40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered by my preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters.

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American League

Angels

• Now that Jared Walsh (.328/.343/.770, 7 HR) has a chance at major league success, he’s batting second.
• Since David Fletcher has returned from the IL, the lineup has been steady.

Astros

• They have used the exact lineup for three games in a row. Just nothing to see here.

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American League

Angels

• Jared Walsh has simplified his swing.

The Angels focused on those fluid, powerful hands as Walsh remade his swing again this summer. Walsh quiets those hands and allows them to be more efficient and effective in their movements. Walsh used to be hunched over the plate, his hands in constant motion — not just pre-swing but as he loaded his hands behind his body to release the barrel, until the Angels shifted him. He’s more upright now, his hands quicker to the baseball to let them cook. The timing issues he battled in his first taste of the big leagues evaporated.

It also eased the transition for Walsh, giving him the ability to focus on pitch selection rather than simply trying to catch up. His swing has clicked, if only for a couple of weeks.

He’s doing something right by hitting .315/.328/.759 with six homers in just 21 games.
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With just a week left in the season, the drop totals are more in line with a “normal” week. I did see two trends. First, starters are not being kept if they are useless over the last two weeks. Second, many failed closer dart throws were dropped. Finally, this will be this series’s last article since next week’s won’t matter. I’ll keep the article going next season.

For this analysis, I use the NFBC Main Event because of the number of identical leagues. Additionally, the managers stay engaged longer since each spent over $1000 per team. I tried to find that sweet spot between obvious and bizarre and will focus on players dropped in six to nine leagues.
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There are just two weeks left in the season. I’m trying to focus on how to extract the most value from those 14 days. For this reason, the pitcher rankings may seem off, but if I don’t see myself starting them, I didn’t rank them very high.

As usual, I’m going to at least cover the players in demand using CBS’s (40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered by my preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters.

Hitters

1. Victor Reyes (45%): He’s about as well-rounded of an add a manager can get right now.
2. Andrés Giménez (20%): The defensive wizard and his seven steals need to be picked up in all roto leagues. So far, his profile isn’t all speed with two homers and a .287 AVG.
3. Adam Duvall (49%): While he’s not hitting at the top of the Braves lineup, he’s a must-add in all formats with his 13 homers.
4. Raimel Tapia (21%): The Rockies leadoff hitter’s value is through the roof with all home games next week.
5. Jeimer Candelario (43%): Finally, the dual position slugger (7 HR, .327 AVG) is getting some love.
6. DJ Stewart (14%): He’s hitting great (.278 AVG, 6 HR) at the top of a decent scoring lineup.
7. Rio Ruiz (16%): He started 13 straight games while hitting .302/.375/.488 over that time frame. The 26-year-old has eight homers while just batting .227.
8. Bobby Dalbec (26%): It’s home run (60% HR/FB) or nothing (47% K%) for Dalbec.
9. Brandon Belt (45%): He’s providing some power (7 HR) and average (.312) while hitting in the middle of the Giants lineup.
10. Ke’Bryan Hayes (21%): He’s in the majors because of his glove and has shown below-average power and speed in the minors.
11. Ty France (21%): The 25-year-old is hard to rank. He’s playing and hitting in the middle of a lineup. I’m just not sure he’s talented.
12. Willi Castro (7%): A BABIP (.472) fueled .354 AVG with some power (3 HR) has Castro on people’s radar. Since he’s batting 5th, he’s an interesting add.
13. Alex Dickerson (38%): The eight homers are enticing but, but sort of an average profile beyond them.
14. Daulton Varsho (14%): For the manager grinding for steals, Varsho is your catcher. While he hasn’t hit in the majors (strikeout rate way up), he did steal 21 bases in AA last season.
15. Jesús Aguilar (42%): He’s started nine of the last 10 games while hitting OK (5 HR, .271 AVG).
16. Garrett Cooper (18%): He’s been fine since returning from the IL. Besides some position flexibility (1B/OF), it’s a boring profile.
17. Jurickson Profar (35%): He provides a little of everything (power, speed, positional flexibility), except batting average (.239 AVG).
18. Chris Taylor (29%): A balanced replacement-level hitter (3 HR, 3 SB) who has started nine of the last ten games.
19. Jackie Bradley Jr. (18%): The anti-gamble. He provides steady boring production. He’s a replacement level bat.
20. Maikel Franco (44%): There seems to several of these third basemen who hitting well but not great. They seem to be decent streaming options.
21. Edward Olivares (6%): His 3% BB% fits right into the Royals plate discipline profile, no discipline. He’ playing every day with a 28% HR/FB%.
22. Miguel Andújar DH (33%): The Yankees are getting desperate to be starting Andujar again. While the playing time has been limited since his rookie season, he has sleazed his way into the Yankees lineup. He needed 87 injuries to occur before getting an opportunity.
23. Corey Dickerson (33%): Really? I wonder if managers added the wrong Dickerson.
24. Jared Walsh (5%); Started five of the last six games with five home runs so far. It’s nice to finally see the 26-year-old get a run at first base.
25. Randy Arozarena (19%): Since joining the Rays, he’s started five of 10 games, mainly against lefties. In those few at-bats, he’s hitting .364/.462/.909 with four homers. A nice add in daily lineup leagues, unrosterable in weekly leagues.
26. Manuel Margot (18%): The 11 stolen bases and .274 AVG seem enticing, but with Kevin Kiermaier back, Margot is only starting against southpaws.
27. Rowdy Tellez (23%): Out for the 2020 season.

Starters

1. Deivi García (56%): If a manager is adding any pitcher for the upcoming week, it’s Garcia with two starts versus Toronto and at Boston. The rookie has pretty much shoved since being promoted.
2. Dane Dunning (53%): While his two matchups (vs MIN, at CIN) aren’t ideal this next week, there aren’t many other starters on the wire with his talent (9.5 K/9, 1.00 WHIP, 2.70 ERA).
3. Josh Fleming (28%): Besides being home run prone (2.3 HR/9), all his stats are fine for a fourth or fifth starter.
4. Dean Kremer (16%) and Keegan Akin (10%): The prospects debuted with mixed results. I’m interested in them where he can be stashed for potential two-starts in the last week. I’d roster them now to see how their starts go this week and then possibly start him against the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the last week.
5. Luis Garcia (4%): The 0.96 is admirable but it’s not going to stay that way if he keeps walking a batter every other inning (4.8 BB/9). He looks to have three starts to end the season (Rangers x2, Mariners).
6. Cole Hamels (27%): Hamels has two-starts in the last week (Marlins Red Sox). He might be worth stash this week, observe how he pitches against Baltimore, and make the decision to cut or keep next week.
7. Johan Oviedo (11%): If a team needs a Hail Mary to get back in it next week, he’s it. His two starts are against the Brewers and Pirates.
8. JT Brubaker (5%): If he’s still in the rotation, 26-year-old righty will likely get two starts in the last week. I’m not sure how much I trust a Pirates starter to deliver. He does throw a 94-mph fastball and two breaking balls (slider and curve) with a swinging-strike rate of over 13%.
9. Tejay Antone (8%): I like him going into next season, but a single start against the White Sox this week and just one start the next week doesn’t work for me.
10. Trevor Rogers (22%): While he imploded this past Friday (8 ER in 3 IP), his 13 K/9 and 3.75 SIERA are completely workable. He lines up for two starts in two weeks at the Braves and the Yankees.
11. Yusei Kikuchi (30%): His 53% LOB% is the league’s lowest (min 30 IP). It’s the reason all his ERA estimators are under 4.00 but he has a 5.35 ERA. He’s been horrible from the stretch (10% K%) compared to the windup (24% K%).
12. Kris Bubic (12%): The rookie has been OK but he’s got one start against Milwaukee this week and one against St Louis the next. I’ll bet on other options.
13. Justin Dunn (25%): He’s gone full flyball mode (33% GB%) over his last three starts. He limited the hits (.091 BABIP, 1.0 HR/9) to post a 1.00 ERA. I just don’t think he’s work adding (vs Padres) this next week.
14. Tarik Skubal (29%): He’s looked OK at times, but the results across the board have stunk (1.50 WHIP, 2.1 HR/9, 7.27 ERA).
15. David Peterson (42%): Currently, he lines up for just one start for the upcoming weeks with next week’s start versus Atlanta.
16. José Ureña (12%): Not just no. Hell no.

Relievers (Saves based value)

1. Jeremy Jeffress (55%): An OK reliever with the closer’s role.
2. Greg Holland (31%): An OK reliever with the closer’s role.
3. Daniel Bard (39%): An OK reliever with the closer’s role.
4. Tony Watson (25%): An OK reliever with a partial closer’s role.
5. Richard Rodriguez (15%): An OK reliever with the closer’s role.
6. Devin Williams (36%): A cyborg who is next in line for the closer’s role.
7. Rafael Dolis (13%): An OK reliever with a temporary hold on partial closer’s role.
8. Yohan Ramirez (7%): There has been speculation he will get with the closer’s role.

American League

Angels

• Matt Thaiss (.566 OPS) has started three straight games while hitting second.
• Andrelton Simmons is batting leadoff since returning from the IL.
• Luis Rengifo (.461) and Franklin Barreto (.284 OPS) aren’t playing enough to matter.

Astros

• With Jose Altuve out, Aledmys Díaz has been playing second base. He’s hitting at the bottom of the lineup against righties but bats second against lefties.

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American League

Blue Jays

• Ken Giles won’t immediately be Toronto’s closer upon returning.

Giles (right forearm strain) is also close to returning, but Montoyo expects to use him “before the ninth” at first. Once he’s comfortable, he’ll move back into the closer’s role.

Indians

José Ramírez left tonight's game with left thumb discomfort. He's been battling the thumb injury for a few weeks now.

— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) September 8, 2020

Something is not adding up. Since September 25th, Ramirez has a .965 OPS. Before then, his OPS was just .762. I wonder if the time frame stated in the Tweet is off since he did struggle in August (.700 OPS). He seems to be feeling better with a .870 OPS in September.
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