Archive for Waiver Wire

About a month ago my Rotographs colleague, the excellent Mike Podhorzer, wrote a piece that wondered if Scott Baker was having the second breakout season of his career. Mike sang Baker’s praises…and apparently not many people listened.

At the time of that publication Baker had 4.12 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Typical for him. As I type this Baker has improved on those numbers tremendously, now sporting a 3.24 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Over his last five starts he’s allowed a total of eight runs and only four walks. The last two starts have been masterful. Baker spun a complete game, one run gem on June 11th and followed that up with a 10K, eight inning performance June 18th. Despite that run of success – he’s actually won three starts in a row to push his record past .500 – Baker is owned in just 57% of leagues. Here is a list of starters who have a higher ownership percentage:

Gavin Floyd
Carlos Zambrano
Colby Lewis
Ted Lilly
Brandon Morrow
Francisco Liriano

Yes, Liriano, he of the 4.59 ERA and 1.30 WHIP is owned in 30% more leagues than his superior teammate. Personally, I think Baker gets overlooked by most every season because he’s boring. That’s not a knock against him. He just doesn’t do anything flashy. He doesn’t have a cool name. He doesn’t have memorable facial hair. He doesn’t pump his fist or smash Gatorade coolers in the dugout in frustration. He’s just Scott Baker, and he’s trying his best to make you notice this season.

As Mike pointed out, his K/9 is at a career high. It was a bit higher when Mike penned his piece, but at 8.64 it still ranks fourth in the American League. I don’t have the Pitch f/x wizardry to tell you if he’s spotting his pitches better this season, but his fastball does have more movement this season according to texasleaguers.com. That could account for the higher rate of strikeouts despite Baker throwing his 91mph fastball more often than last season. His success this season hasn’t been lucky either, as his FIP and xFIP are each under 4.00 to go along with the 3.24 ERA.

To me Baker has always been very similar to James Shields. Both were above average, but not great pitchers the past 3-4 seasons but seem to have taken a leap this year. Every team can’t have aces in every starting pitching position. Guys like Scott Baker provide real value to your team. Add him, won’t you?

One name that has come up often this year in the fanciful world of Prospectville is the Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt. He leads the minors with 22 home runs, in case you didn’t know. That sort of thing tends to get fantasy owners’ attention. As does Kevin Towers, the team’s GM, recently hinting that the D-backs may consider promoting a few of their minor leaguers in the weeks surrounding the All-Star Game. Seems like a good time to take a look at Goldschmidt and a few others in the system.

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Alas, for the first time in almost two months, there are no really big names to cover this week. (Thanks for the break, front office folks.) As such, nobody below is likely to make an impact in mixed leagues. But there are still two new names — and a pair of old friends — worth looking at in single-league play.

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Obviously, one of the keys to making savvy waiver wire pick-ups is to do so with a specific category in mind.  Whether you have a particular need in your head to head league or you have a roto category that looks like you can make a big jump in points, you should be targeting specific players to help out in that area.  Maybe they don’t help in other categories, maybe they do, but for the immediate need, they make sense.  Stolen bases is usually that category.  It always seems to be one of the easiest to move up in in roto leagues and an easy one to match or beat your opponent in head to head.  Here’s a look at a pair of infielders that just might be able to help you make that jump right now. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s edition was supposed to look at a pair of NL outfielders, but then I realized too late that my second recommendation (Chris Denorfia) had already been profiled just a month ago. So instead, you get a super dosage of…

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Zach Sanders looked at a pair of deep league second baseman earlier today, but let’s look at a pair of middle infielders that don’t require such a deep format…

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Today’s Deep League Waiver Wire focuses on two players that are eligible at second base.

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Today’s look at the Waiver Wire is young and quick, but ultimately a little disappointing.

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Mariners top prospect Dustin Ackley will step into a major-league batter’s box for the first time when he faces off against Philadelphia’s Roy Oswalt just about 12 hours from now. You probably shouldn’t wait that long to pick him up.

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There’s news of Dustin Ackley’s debut Friday. We’ll look at the 2009 No. 2 pick more in depth for tomorrow’s post. For now, let’s rewind and point out a handful of guys who were promoted in the past week, including one who just might be more valuable than Ackley.

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