We’re in the dog days of the season now. Every little edge you can get with a player can be a major difference. You have to manage to your standings, not just the most talented players. It’d be great to find another Tommy Pham or Chris Taylor, but there is plenty of luck involved with something like that. Instead, let’s find some skilled players who could help us in a category or two and maybe it’ll all come together for a two month stretch of their peak which has them playing like one of those out-of-nowhere superstars.

Marcus Semien (OAK, SS)

Semien has been a solid power-speed shortstop the last couple seasons, especially if you can plan around his poor batting average (averaged 21 HR, 10 SB, .247 AVG in 2015-16). He hasn’t had a real shot to improve upon those numbers this year as a bruised wrist popped up in mid-April and left him sidelined for 74 games. He’s been back since early-July and after ramping up over a few games, he has really heated up over his last 20: .306/.366/.459, 3 HR, 2 SB in 93 PA. He’s making great contact during the run with a tiny 6% soft contact rate and keeping the strikeout rate palatable at 21% (compared to 24% for his career). A shortstop with guaranteed playing time and diverse fantasy skills could be a beast for extended stretches. In June and July of last year, he only hit .238 but popped 12 HR with 7 SB.

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If you’re fishing in the bottom of the ocean, or even the middle layer, you might uncover these hidden gems…

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It’s a good time to need roster help as seemingly every day there’s a new player that falls into an every day job. Here are two of the most recent.

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I’m going to start by picking on Jon today. In a recent article on Deep League Stolen Base Options, he wrote the following in the comments:

Nice thoughts, but are any of these guys actually available in any “normal” (e.g. AL or NL-only) deep leagues? I don’t think there’s any useful way to use ESPN ownership rate as a proxy for deep league availability. I’m sure there are many players with a sub-1% ownership rate that are taken in nearly every “only” league.

I get his point that in 12-team ‘Only Leagues, there are no players on the waiver wire at 1% ownership, yet alone 5%. In Jon’s case, his best option to get steals is probably from making trades. There is a transition depending on league size where team rebalancing transitions from waiver wire pickups to trades.

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It’s getting time for some teams to start making a single category move to improve in the standings. Today, I am going to examine speedsters owned in less than 5% of ESPN leagues for owners looking for a few extra steals.

Alcides Escobar (4.7%): Escobar has nothing going for him (.230/.254/.316) except the chance he could get back to stealing bases like he previously. Since he’s a complete statistical black hole otherwise, he should probably only be used in the last week or so of the season to not kill the other categories.

Adam Frazier (4.6%): Frazier is one of the more balanced choices to help with steals going forward. Steamer has him with only five more over the rest of the season.

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Another month gone by in the ottoneu season, another edition of this article highlighting how desperate teams are for pitching. Seven out of the ten most added players in the last week are pitchers, though things are more even when looking at the most added players over the past month.

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A flurry of trades as we inch closer to the non-waiver trade deadline are going to boost the values of many players not currently on a deep league roster. But for now, I got two outfielders for you.

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Is your team not on fire? Are you trying to roll along with Brandon Guyer? Well then, it’s your lucky day, because it’s time for the weekly deep league waiver wire!

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Another compelling day of bullpen activity around the major leagues as the unofficial first half of the season comes to a close…

One day after allowing two walks and a walk-off homer, All-Star closer Corey Knebel entered in the eighth inning with a two-run lead, two outs, and a runner on second. He walked Ji-Man Choi, but retired the next batter on a ground ball to short. In the ninth, Knebel walked Brett Gardner to open the inning, but then struck out Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, and Gary Sanchez to notch his 14th save and secure the first-place Brewers’ 50th victory. The strikeout of Judge marked Knebel’s 44th consecutive appearance with at least one strikeout, which is now just five shy of the major league record for a relief pitcher set by Aroldis Chapman in 2014. Knebel’s 43 consecutive appearances with at least one strikeout to open the season is already the single-season record and the most ever to begin a year.

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If you have been searching for a Tyler to add to your Tylerless fantasy roster, you’ve come to the right place! Today, I share two Tylers with you, each of whom could very well fit all your Tyler needs.

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