Sorry for not posting last week. I took a little mid-week vacation. These are the players being dropped in the 38 NFBC Main Event leagues which have 23 active players, seven bench spots, and no IL.

Hurt

• Joey Wendle (31): A broken hand for a borderline rosterable player equals waiver wire fodder.
• Roman Quinn (24): It’s easy to drop someone hitting .120/.185/.120 who heads to the IL with a strained groin.
• Ryan Zimmerman (18): He has been dealing with plantar fasciitis for bit and heads to the IL to hope it improves.
• Alex Wood (15): Owners gave up on him with his latest injury setback. He’s too close to replacement level to keep on a limited bench.
• Bo Bichette (15): The combination of a broken hand the Blue Jays conservative promotion schedule had owners dumping him.
• Jordan Zimmermann (13): Elbow issues have forced him and his 5.93 ERA to the wire.
• Matt Kemp (13): A rib injury has forced the struggling (.200/.210/.283) off rosters.
• Nathan Eovaldi (12): Elbow surgery
• Alex Reyes: Meet Hunter Strickland’s stepbrother.
• Cody Allen: Horrible results (6.00 ERA, 1.89 WHIP) and a back injury.

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Welcome to another edition of the deep league waiver wire! Step right up and scoop up your favorite hidden gem.

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It’s just two big popup names this week, Griffin Canning and Carter Kieboom. And some closer darts. The rest are just some players moving up or down a small bit. It’s just not an exciting week for FAAB, but injuries last weekend’s sent the bids into a huge cluster f___. Hopefully not this week.

As usual, I use ownership rates from CBS since some of their leagues are quickdraw leagues where players can be picked up at any time. The FAAB estimates are based off 15-team mixed NFBC leagues with $1000 FAAB. First, Here are the hitters who were owned in fewer than 50% of leagues and have seen the highest jumps in ownership.
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Each week I look at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 20% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) with a few extra sub 10% discount options at the end, pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

Note: This week and moving forward, I’m going to focus more on the sub 20% and sub 10% owned arms as I expect many of the sub 30% arms are snatched up in your leagues.

Let’s highlight my ten favorite starting pitcher options that may be available on your waiver wires, roughly ordered from top to bottom:

Under 20% Owned

Trevor Richards (Miami Marlins) – When digging at the bottom of the barrel, I love chasing individual pitches. Richards’ changeup is as elite as you’ll find, boasting a 24% swinging-strike rate, 52% O-Swing, and a paltry .151 BAA across the 174 he’s thrown in 2019. With the slow ball’s usage above the 35% mark, expect Richards’ strikeout rate to stay afloat well past 20%, while his ratios should help more often than not. His fastball is still questionable, but with his recent ability to elevate the pitch, Richards should be able to avoid the disasters and allow owners to frequently feast.

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Welcome to the closer speculation edition of the deep league waiver wire! We all hate paying for saves on draft day, which often results in having to chase them all season song, which also fuels hatred. So the best option is to speculate on potential closers during the season, buying current middle relievers cheaply in the hopes that they see some save opps in a couple of weeks.

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I believe there are some diamonds in the rough available this week. It’s tough to know who exactly. Will Michael Chavis grab Bostons second base job? Is Scott Kingery going to play full time? Will one of Robert Stephenson, Trevor Hildenberger, Ryan Pressly or Diego Castilla get Saves? Maybe one or two.

As usual, I use ownership rates from CBS since some of their leagues are quickdraw leagues where players can be picked up at any time. The FAAB estimates are based off 15-team mixed NFBC leagues with $1000 FAAB. First, Here are the pitchers who were owned in fewer than 50% of leagues and have seen the highest jumps in ownership.

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It’s that time to dive into the 38 NFBC Main Events to see who is being dropped in 10 or more leagues and why.

Injury

• Dellin Betances (13): He’s out until late May with a shoulder injury.
• Ronald Guzman (13): He’ll be on the IL for two to three weeks with an injured hamstring. For teams in need of hitting, he might be worth a stash.
• Franchy Cordero (12): Cordero was due for some regression with his .300 AVG fuel up by a .556 BABIP and down by a 35% K%. It’s just tough to place a finger on his true talent with on the time on the IL.

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Each week I look at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 30% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) with a few extra sub 10% discount options at the end, pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

Note: This week, I’m going to focus more on the sub 20% and sub 10% owned arms as I expect many of the sub 30% arms are snatched up in your leagues, including Mike Minor, Michael Pineda, and Max Fried.

Let’s highlight my ten favorite starting pitcher options that may be available on your waiver wires, roughly ordered from top to bottom:

Under 20% Owned

Caleb Smith (Miami Marlins) – I refuse to believe in the current 10% ownership listed for Smith, but until he’s universally praised, I’ll be forced to mention him weekly. Smith’s taken a step forward with his heater, sitting just under a 10% swinging-strike rate with his four-seamer, while earning a 17%+ swinging-strike rate on both his slider and changeup. Those worried about his future schedule should look at the teams he’s faced thus far – Mets, Braves, Phillies – and note the 2.65 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and 32% strikeout rate he produced regardless. There may be some issues on the road with his history of longballs, but his strikeout potential (14.3% overall swinging-strike rate!) paired with a 3.26 FIP should not be ignored.

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Welcome to the full-timers still owned in less than 10% of CBS leagues edition of the deep league waiver wire. With some exceptions, I expect every regular hitter to be owned in more than 10% of leagues. Here are two that should be.

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