Fowler & Weeks: Waiver Wire

by
August 29, 2011

The fantasy season is coming down to the wire, so let’s focus on two waiver guys that will help boost your stolen base total down the stretch…

Dexter Fowler | OF | Rockies | Ownership: 24% Yahoo!, 24.7% ESPN

It’s always a fun story when a talented player comes back from a trip to the minors and lights the world on fire. The Rockies sent Fowler down to Triple-A for about a month earlier this year, and he’s hit a gaudy .293/.389/.463 in 194 plate appearances since returning immediately after the All-Star break. He’s also stolen seven bases in ten attempts during that time, which really isn’t a great success rate but it is a useful pace. Fowler has grabbed hold of Colorado’s leadoff spot and now plays every day, so ten steals in September isn’t completely out of the question. ZiPS forecasts a serviceable .267/.364/.407 batting line the rest of the way as well.

Jemile Weeks | 2B | Athletics | Ownership: 21% Yahoo!, 60.5% ESPN

Rickie’s little brother came up in early-June and has exceeded expectations, at least according to ZiPS. Jemile is hitting .295/.330/.408 compared to the .218/.278/.311 that Dan Szymborski’s system forecast, but it’s the 19 steals that are of interest to us. His success rate isn’t great (19-for-26, or 73.1%), but he has been safe in 11 of his last 14 attempts, so he’s at least showing some improvement. Like Fowler, Weeks has established himself in the leadoff spot and plays every single day, and I think he’ll easily clear his rest of season projection of just two steals. Double digits is in play during the season’s final month too, but it’ll probably take a big game (like three steals in one game).

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Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.

6 Comments
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Newest Most Voted
mymaus
14 years ago

Need steals without killing OBP from MI. How does J. Weeks compare with Bonifacio? If I start E. Young when he starts and Nishioka when he doesn’t is that even better?

0
The A Team
14 years ago

A bit of a nitpick here, but Weeks being safe in 11of his last 14 doesn’t show improvement, or much of anything for that matter. It’s just a couple numbers. It’s nice to see a positive trend since it takes a positive trend to create a statistically significant improvement, but it’s a mistake to attach predictive value to such a small sample.

1
Tom B
14 years ago
Reply to  The A Team

Trying to garner anything about stealing bases or the ability to do so successfully requires a lot more than SB and CS results.

1
buck turgidson
14 years ago

I think Weeks has shown good plate discipline in relation to his profile – and it seems to be improving. I’d take him over Bonifacio any old day of the…

0
Alex
14 years ago

Jemile has a great swing. Id compare it to a mixture of Andrew McCutchen, with a follow-through that sometimes resembles Josh Hamilton. With that swing, he will probably have decent power production, maybe 10-15 homers. Add that to the 35-40 steals he will get, and that gives u solid 2nd baseman

0
Fred Barker
14 years ago

Fowler had 3; Weeks had 2.

0