Chris Getz & Grant Green: Deep League Waiver Wire

Are you desperate for a second baseman or middle infielder in your deep league? Then you’ve come to the right place! I’ve got a pair of possible free agents ripe for the picking just for you.

Chris Getz | 2B TOR | CBS 2% Owned

Boy have the Blue Jays gone through some blah second basemen. In the preseason, it was a battle between Ryan Goins and Maicer Izturis for the starting job. Then Izturis hurt his knee and is expected to be out the majority of the season. Rather than celebrate with his newfound job security, Goins continued to not hit and was eventually demoted to the minors. Jonathan Diaz had an opportunity to take over, but he couldn’t hit either. So now it’s Chris Getz’s chance. Yeah, the same Getz who wOBAd .280 on the White Sox and Royals.

He has no power to speak of, but he does possess two attributes attractive to fantasy owners. First, he makes excellent contact. His career SwStk% is a minuscule 3.9%, which has led to a pretty good 11% strikeout rate. So while his career .252 batting average fails to excite, he shouldn’t kill you in the category unless he runs into some really bad luck (which of course did indeed happen last year).

Moving on from the batting average is Getz’s primary fantasy contribution — speed. He has stolen 89 bases over 1,563 career plate appearances. On a 600 plate appearance pace, that equates to 34. That’s not too shabby for a guy who is likely wading in your free agent waters. Considering their lack of any other quality options, you would think Getz would have a pretty long leash at the moment. It should be noted that recently Brett Lawrie has been starting games at second, with Juan Francisco at third. However, because these games were played in National League parks without the DH, it was just an effort to keep Francisco’s bat in the lineup. Lawrie isn’t going to suddenly become the every day second baseman.

Grant Green | 2B LAA | 6% Owned

With both Josh Hamilton and Kole Calhoun on the shelf and Raul Ibanez looking like a fossil, the Angels decided to call up Grant Green late last week. Given that banged up outfield and the very real possibility that Ibanez gets DFA’d, there are plenty of at-bats available for Green if he performs. The 13th overall pick of the 2009 draft, Green has been a solid, albeit unspectacular, hitter in the minors. He’s shown some power and some speed, but doesn’t appear to have any real standout skills from an offensive standpoint.

In addition, he’s never been much of a walker, which further cuts into his value at the plate. The good news is that he has always maintained a high BABIP, so his batting average is likely to be a bit better than you might expect given the mediocre contact skills.

His versatility in the field should help him stay with the big club. He played at least one game at second, shortstop, third, and left field this year. A super utility player that offers at least some semblance of power and speed is valuable for both real baseball teams and deep fantasy league teams.





Mike Podhorzer is the 2015 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Baseball Writer of the Year. He produces player projections using his own forecasting system and is the author of the eBook Projecting X 2.0: How to Forecast Baseball Player Performance, which teaches you how to project players yourself. His projections helped him win the inaugural 2013 Tout Wars mixed draft league. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikePodhorzer and contact him via email.

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Sam
9 years ago

Green’s AAA numbers in 2013 and 2014 are far better than “solid but unspectacular”. He’s been one of the best hitters in the minors the last two years (though is a tad old for AAA).

Mario Mendoza
9 years ago
Reply to  Sam

He turns 27 in September. His ISOs in the PCL at an advanced age were .150-.170.

Color me skeptical.

Matt
9 years ago
Reply to  Mario Mendoza

The bar is pretty high in the PCL, and he’s on the old side. What Rizzo did there was spectacular. Green not so much.

Matt
9 years ago
Reply to  Mario Mendoza

That was meant as a reply to Sam.

Emcee Peepants
9 years ago
Reply to  Mario Mendoza

Agreed, somewhere between his ZiPS and Steamer projections (for rate stats) seems reasonable. 2B eligibility is really his only appealing aspect.