White Sox outfielder Dayan Viciedo may have started living up to the hype. Viciedo was signed out of Cuba in 2008 as a power-hitting outfielder. While the pop has shown up in spaces, Viciedo’s poor plate discipline and low batting averages limited his upside. Even entering 2014, it appeared Viciedo would platoon to open the season. An injury to Avisail Garcia opened the door, and Viciedo has responded with his finest performance since his rookie call-up.
Today’s edition features another injury beneficiary and a man we had all but forgotten about attempting to make a comeback.
If you regularly read my work, you may have noticed that I write an awful lot about Astros prospects. The reasoning behind this is two-fold. The Astros have one of the best minor-league systems in baseball, with loads of talent at pretty much every level. Furthermore, I happen to live less than a half-hour away from their Triple-A facility in Oklahoma City, and I’m lucky enough to be able to see these guys play pretty much anytime I want to.
I’ve already written plenty about Jon Singleton and George Springer, and today feels like as good a time as any to discuss Domingo Santana. The 21-year-old came into 2014 as the No. 8 prospect in Houston’s system according to our own Marc Hulet, a ranking more indicative of Houston’s organizational depth than of Santana’s talent.
Injuries and demotions are a deep league owner’s best friends, as long as they don’t occur to your players. But really, it’s one of the few ways to improve your roster since trading seems like an impossibility in such leagues. Both players in this week’s waiver wire are the beneficiaries of these two events.
To some extent, sure, pick up George Springer in all leagues. Dude obviously has power, and he’s supposed to have speed, and he’s got enough upside to be owned in all leagues. And yet, if you’re talking about buying him, or it’s a shallow league and the dropper is someone with a decent track record… there are still reasons to doubt that he’ll be a star in all leagues.
Today’s waiver wire features a recent tradee and a middle infield speculation. As usual, these recommendations are geared to mono leaguers.
Ah, May, that time of the year in which the baseball season is no longer new, or young, but rather, established enough where players are beginning to lose their jobs and the injuries are starting to pile up, clearing the way for younger talent to make their mark on the fantasy radar. That’s where we find our two contestants this week, one of whom has benefited from playing time thanks to an early-season flameout, and the other suddenly pertinent in fantasy due to his newfound opportunity.
Read the rest of this entry »
With injuries starting to compile across many a fantasy team, the waiver wire is becoming an attractive place to find some value on your rosters. While many have already started on this boat, I wanted to do a bit of an analysis on A.J. Pollock as he is someone I have recently added to fill in, at least for the time being, while some of my better players are on the disabled list.
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s another truly deep dive in this week’s waiver wire adventure. Since I’ve been asked several times, the deep league edition of the weekly waiver wire is typically meant for Mono league owners. Or perhaps if you play in a 20-team mixed league, you could use these recommendations as well.
This month’s updated rankings will be tiered alongside my favorite pizza styles. Now I’m probably opening myself up to a ton of criticism — even more than usual — because my tiers will be severely bias in favor of midwestern pizza. Sorry New York/Brooklyn style, I just don’t love your pizza like my Chicago deep dish. As always, this is a ranking based on my rest-of-season thoughts.
Chicago style deep dish
New month, new set of rankings, and still no surprise here at the top. As noted by the tall, handsome and brilliant Jeff Sullivan, Trout is striking out a bit more this season than what we’ve seen form him before. I’m not concerned with the uptick in strikeouts yet. He isn’t flailing at offerings outside of the zone as his 25.8% O-Swing% is in line with his career 24.6% mark. For a specific restaurant, Giordano’s is the place to go.
Read the rest of this entry »
