Adam Lind is a major leaguer again. It’s probably because the Vladimir Guerrero thing didn’t pan out, or because the 25-year-old David Cooper doesn’t have the same power upside, or because Lind might actually be a better defensive first baseman than Edwin Encarnacion (or “E5”). It could be because of any of these things. But fantasy players may be tempted to think it was because Lind hit .395/.451/.669 in Las Vegas, and are probably ready to give Lind another shot. Should they?

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Today marks another installment of American League Outfield Stock Watch.

Bullish:
Cody Ross – After missing over a month of the season with a broken foot, Ross has finally returned to action. Though it has only been 24 plate appearances, Ross has already smacked three home runs and three doubles. His RBI chances should continue, as he has hit either fourth or fifth in four of the six games he has played in. Even if he is hitting from the seventh spot, he should be able to gather RBI’s. Boston has the fifth best team OBP  and have scored the second most runs. There should be no shortage of available runners on base to drive in for Ross, regardless of where he hits. With a seasonal line of .277/.349/.581, he has been one of Boston’s top hitters. Expect him to have very solid showing in the July rankings. For now, his Yahoo! ownership is at 34% and climbing and his ESPN rate is already 56%. If he is available, I’d pick him up immediately.
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Sifting through your waiver wire can be a daunting task at this time of year.  I mean, let’s face it…unless your league has such a limited bench or no DL spots to use, the majority of guys left out on the wire are there for a reason.  Some can’t hit, some can’t run, some don’t play regularly, whatever their faults may be, the bottom line is that they are sitting there because no one else wants them.  And very few of them have the ability to stay in your lineup on any kind of permanent basis if you do happen to grab one.  So rather than just arbitrarily find you a moderately warm body to insert into your lineup for some indeterminable amount of time, let’s talk about two guys whose current performance and presence on the wire make them a hot topic amongst emails received over the past two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s official: this is the most boring deep league waiver wire to date. The combined age of the recommended players is an elderly 71. <cliché>But these guys still have some gas left in the tank!</cliché>

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A thousand pardons for this being late, I know you all planned your Monday’s around this.

Bullish:
Ryan Kalish – With recent sidelining of Ryan Sweeney to the 15-day disabled list with a stress fracture in his toe, the Boston Red Sox have called up Kalish to take his spot. Pre-2010, Kalish was a good prospect, even ranking in Baseball America’s top 100 in 2008. He hit well at every level and was promoted to the big leagues in late July of 2010 at the age 22. Unfortunately, injuries in 2011 to his neck and shoulder threw off his trajection of staying in the big leagues. He is now healthy and back in the majors. As for his fantasy relevance, he is currently OF eligible, but he may soon be CF eligible as well. He was never much of a power threat in the minors, but he offers some walks with gap power. He runs a little bit too, and in his 179 plate appearance performance in 2010 he managed to nab 10 stolen bases and was caught just once. Keep an eye on his strikeouts though, as his Triple-A strikeout rate has never been below 20%. If you need outfield help, or are just replacing Sweeney, Kalish could be a decent bet. I have a team that has been ravaged by injuries, so I’m taking a flier on him. He is owned in 1% of both Yahoo! and ESPN leagues.

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Today’s deep league waiver wire highlights an outfielder I am somewhat shocked still has such a low ownership percentage and a pitcher who you should get an early jump on.

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Maybe fans should retort “NoMo LoMo” next time Logan Morrison quips “no homo” on twitter — especially if they’ve been laboring along with the Marlin outfielder on their roster. He’s still owned on 48% of Yahoo rosters, but that number might drop in the coming weeks if we can’t find hope in his statistical line. Let’s give it a shot — even though my Bold Prediction, that Lucas Duda would outshine him in every roto-relevant way, looks like it’ll come true no matter what.

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Right along the fringe of most leagues, there’s a class of mostly-replaceable, mostly-interchangeable, mostly-lefty, definitely-still-useful platoon outfielders. If you only play them when they have the handedness advantage, and act cutthroat about them when you face a roster crunch, you can get the most out of them while reducing your risk. It’s a tried-and-true strategy in most head-to-head leagues on the pitching side, where streaming is ubiquitous. Maybe it makes sense to have a semi-streaming spot on your offense in your tighter, more active leagues — and if that’s the case, it probably makes sense for that player to be a first basemen or outfielder.

Here are some guys in the National League that fit the description of a fantasy-platoon outfielder. Either their complete offensive upside is only above replacement when they have the platoon advantage, or they legitimately seem to have a platoon situation going on. If there are so many of this type in one half of the league, maybe they truly are replaceable in your standard mixed league.

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Per usual on Mondays, here is the latest news on some of the American League outfield eligible players.

Bullish:
Colby Rasmus – As noted in the comment section of my last AL OF Tiered Update Ranking, Rasmus decided to go on a tear as soon as I dropped him down to tier eight. Over the past 14 days, Rasmus has a .320 average, three home runs, 10 runs and even eight RBI’s. The RBI production is surprising because over that same 14 day time span, he has hit from the number two spot eight out of twelve games. Rasmus has broken broken my heart in the past, but I might get sucked in his tools yet again. He is only owned in 40% of Yahoo! and 67% of ESPN leagues, go grab him while he is hot. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s waiver wire brings you two rookies who have come into more important roles of late, one an outfielder and one a relief pitcher.

Norichika Aoki | OF | Brewers | Owned: 3% Yahoo! and 1.7% ESPN

Aoki turned 30 years old earlier this year, but technically he’s a rookie after coming over from Japan. He opened the season as a reserve player with Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, and Carlos Gomez/Nyjer Morgan entrenched in the outfield, but he’s seen more playing time lately because Mat Gamel’s season-ending knee injury has forced Hart to play some first base. It wasn’t just Gamel’s injury though, Aoki earned his spot.

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