Jim Henderson (ESPN: 3 percent owned; Yahoo!: 41 percent owned)

The closer carousel is a fickle ride at the best of times, but it’s seldom worse than it is during the first few weeks of the season. Some closers are obviously safe, but even established closers can find themselves vulnerable with a single bad week…if the cries of “throw the bum out!” from the fans are to be believed.

Normally, closers don’t find themselves back in the general reliever pool this early in the season if they’ve had the job for more than a few months, even if a replacement is available. The Twins ran with Matt Capps until late June last season, even though Glen Perkins was a logical successor, and while Addison Reed recorded 29 saves last year, he didn’t get his first until May. Clubs generally have more patience than fans this time of year and with good reason. Read the rest of this entry »

Fantasy owners should never make drastic decisions based on just a few games. With opening week in full swing, it can be tough to adhere to that sentiment. As late-round fliers get off to poor starts, it can be tempting to cut bait for a player who has clubbed a couple home runs just a few days into the season. The point is, generally, you don’t want to give up on your guys this soon. If you have to make a move, or you’re already looking for a DL fill-in, it’s wise to try and target potential high-reward guys. You shouldn’t necessarily be picking up players based on their performances, you should consider whether you considered them to have decent upside before the season started. Tyler Flowers and Patrick Corbin are two players that fit that bill less than a week into the season.

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In truth, I am not in favor of a lot of roster movement this early in the game. Unless you totally botched a series of draft picks or have gotten hit early and hard by the injury bug, I’m more of a “trust your draft instincts and let the team marinate for a little while before you start the overhaul” type guy. But between the possible bad luck and all the jumpers out there, there is an early call for waiver wire suggestions. Since I won’t encourage the jumpers, this week’s waiver piece from me will focus on replacing the injured Ryan Ludwick who dislocated his shoulder and will now be out for three months. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the deep league waiver wire. Join me every Wednesday morning decked out in your scuba gear ready to dive into the free agent pool searching for hidden treasure. I have limited the pool of players to those owned in 10% or less in CBS leagues, which should be deep enough for most. Unfortunately, Only leaguers sometimes have to choose between any Major Leaguer with a roster spot or going empty, so it’s a much easier decision!

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Another year has begun and, as always, ottoneu players are actively working the free agent pool, searching for that missing piece that can put them over the top. Or maybe we are all just busy trying to find replacements for those guys we really didn’t want but got stuck with at the auction.

With the auction-wire red hot right now, I thought I’d take a look at the six players who are in the most active auctions at the moment.

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I am doing the streaming pitchers dumpster diving edition. As Eno just pointed out, tomorrow looks like the day to mass stream. I will only be looking at pitchers owned in 10% or less of all leagues at Yahoo.

Notice – Don’t worry about streaming pitcher’s hurting a team’s WHIP values. It is the last few days of the season and players are really not care too much about winning, except those on a few teams. The players are hacking away and walk rates drop by about 10% over the last few days of the season.

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In a special edition of the deep league waiver wire, I identify some pitchers who are widely available and have a decent matchup next week. It’s your last chance to gain ground in wins and strikeouts, though of course you must consider the potential damage to your ERA and WHIP.

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It’s the final full week of the regular season, which means it’s championship week for a whole lotta fantasy leagues out there. Here are two positions players — one infielder, one outfielder — who could help put you over the top…

Gordon Beckham | 2B | White Sox | Owned: 12% Yahoo!

Beckham, 26, has been a colossal disappointment since the ChiSox selected him with the eighth overall pick in 2008, producing just an 84 wRC+ in over 2,000 career plate appearances. I suppose the good news is that time is on his side though, since he (theoretically) has yet to reach his peak years.

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Positional flexibility is a handy thing to have when rosters aren’t particularly deep with bench space. But this time of year, I find it awfully useful to have one, if not two, players that have multi-multi position eligibility in my daily transaction leagues where I’m trying to maximize games played.

Why? For some reason, I always seem to have amnesia about this little late-season problem, but as teams start to fade into Bolivian, they tend to be more careful when little aches and pains crop up rather than risk some kind of catastrophic injury. Other players might see extra rest, just because it seems like a good idea. See Giancarlo Stanton, Dexter Fowler, Darwin Barney, Carlos Gonzalez, among others.

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With just about 2 weeks left, this is your final chance to pick up some standings points and make strategic start/bench decisions based on your position in each category. If you need speed, these are your guys.

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