Each week through the season, I’ll be looking at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 15% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) and pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

It’s been another week of Fantasy Baseball, and the waiver wire has shifted. Let’s highlight my ten favorites, roughly ordered from top to bottom.

Mike Minor (Texas Rangers) – I get the feeling Minor needs just one more outing before he’s wildly owned. He’s sporting a 2.53 ERA with a 29.3% K rate thus far, supported by a 3.38 FIP and 12.9% whiff rate. He’s locating his slider well on both sides of the plate, trusting his changeup plenty as both a strike-getter and finisher, while he’s being careful with his fastball to prevent the longball (5.6% HR/FB rate thus far). I can even see Minor improving as he gets more innings as a starter, since 2018 marks the first year he’s been handed the role since the 2014 season. April is all about getting on the right trains early, and Minor could be leaving the station soon.

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Welcome to the first 2018 edition of the deep league waiver wire! This is where I recommend two players with ownership rates that don’t exceed 10% in CBS leagues. These recommendations are geared toward deep leaguers, which is mostly mono leagues (AL-Only or NL-Only). But, sometimes I feel they are worthy of shallower league consideration, and I’ll note when that happens.

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With the questions, we may look at extending this chat another hour. -Jeff
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Yesterday, I examined the American League lineups. Today it’s the National League’s turn.

Braves

• Their lineup has been consistent with Nick Markakis hitting cleanup and Preston Tucker batting 5th. I sort of wrote Tucker off coming into the season and need to re-evaluate him and his .467 BABIP.

Brewers

• A major platoon has been used so far with Eric Thames facing righties and Domingo Santana going against lefties. Otherwise, it’s tough to find any reasoning behind some of the changes.
• I’m a little worried about Orlando Arcia’s stolen base chances as he’s getting slotted into the 8th spot in front of the pitcher.

Cardinals Read the rest of this entry »

Each week through the season, I’ll be looking at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 15% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) and pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

It’s a weird first week of Fantasy Baseball, and there are already plenty of intriguing choices on your wire. Let’s highlight my ten favorites.

Kyle Gibson (Minnesota Twins) – It still feels a little weird endorsing Gibson, but after a solid eight-game stretch to close out the 2017 season, Gibson continued his fantastic swing-and-miss ways, earning 16 whiffs in his start weekend start against the Orioles. While we should note the free-swinging the Baltimore lineup, inducing not a single hit paired with missing bats should dictate a pickup in the short term.

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I’ll prioritize questions on weekly acquisitions but will take other fantasy related questions. See everyone at 8:30 EST tonight.
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It’s the opening weekend of Fantasy Baseball, but that doesn’t mean your waiver wire isn’t already a source of help.

Each week through the season, I’ll be looking at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 15% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) and pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.

Jake Junis (Kansas City Royals) – Junis was an intriguing option last season, armed with one of the better sliders you’ll see from a player many barely know. His biggest weakness was lack of depth in his repertoire, though reports from spring training are a new knuckle-curve that he’s trusting as he enters the season. If it can be a consistent strike offering, this addition to his arsenal mixed with his fastball and slider should set the stage for a strong arm at the end of your rotation.

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It’s Opening Day, the teams are drafted and excitement is bubbling over! You have to exhibit a measure of patience to have success in fantasy baseball, but the balance is difficult to strike between that patience and actively acquiring quality players off the free agent wire. The patience should be given primarily to the core of your roster, let’s say the top 15 picks or so, but after that you should identify at least a name or two on your roster that you’re ready to cut if you find someone on the wire.

Here is a look at 10 overlooked names who could become early season waiver gems:

Addison Russell | Cubs, SS

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RotoGraphs will be hosting this chat every Sunday night during the season to help owners decided on their waiver claims and FAAB bidding. I will be the normal chat host but others may step in if I have other commitments.

The start time will need to be after 7:00 PM CST when I host so it’s at 7:30 for now. Let me know how the time works.

As for the focus of the chat, I’ll try to answer fantasy questions on waiver wire pickups and FAAB bidding. I’ll answer other fantasy questions if no more acquisition questions are in the queue.

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With just over a week to go before the end of the season, it’s past time to use the schedule to help identify smart pickups. The Rockies end the season with a six game homestand, welcoming the Marlins and Dodgers for three game sets. The two hitters highlighted here stand to benefit from the friendly environment.

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