Ike Davis & Jason Motte: Deep League Waiver Wire
Injury replacements is the theme of this week’s waiver wire. It was probably the theme of last week’s too. And the week prior. Basically, if you don’t own the guy who got injured, injuries are good! Opportunities!
Ike Davis | 1B NYY | CBS 1% Owned
Try not to laugh. Davis is actually still alive and well, and after signing with the Yankees on a Major League deal on Sunday, will be joining his fifth organization since 2014. And yet, I still can’t get past that 2012 season in which he hit 32 home runs. Last week, I featured Rob Refsnyder as a waiver wire target as perhaps the new Yankees first baseman, who at the time was going to battle Chris Parmelee for playing time. Sadly, Parmelee hurt his hamstring, which is going to knock him out for a while. So the Yankees were desperate and now it looks like Davis may have a shot at the strong side of a platoon.
Of course, he has yet to actually join the Yankees, but he will shortly I am guessing. Ever since Davis was diagnosed with Valley fever, he hasn’t been the same at the plate, as his power has disappeared. But we’re now even further away from the illness, and that right field porch at Yankee Stadium is quite inviting for a left-hander. Last year, the park tied for the highest left-handed home run park factor.
Davis is still just 29, doesn’t strike out too frequently, and has excellent plate patience, always walking at above average clips. He’s going to get an opportunity to play regularly against right-handers for the time being and has the potential to contribute in both the home run and RBI categories.
Jason Motte | RP COL | 5% Owned
With Jake McGee hitting the disabled list, the Rockies were in a position to name a replacement. Manager Walt Weiss announced that rookie Carlos Estevez and veteran Jason Motte would share closing duties, but we all know that rarely actually happens. Estevez actually converted the first save, giving him the initial leg up. The problem is, he’s a rookie, has all of 20.1 innings to his name, has suffered from control issues, walking a batter every two innings, and is an extreme fly ball pitcher in the best home run park in baseball.
Bottom line, I don’t expect Estevez to be the answer and hold onto that job for very long. So that leaves us with Motte, who has recorded 60 saves in his career. We know that means little, but managers clearly still care. While his skills have deteriorated in 2014 and 2015, his control has historically been better than what Estevez has shown so far, and for his career, he hasn’t been as extreme a fly ball pitcher. Over a tiny seven inning sample, his ground ball rate has actually surged to over 50%. Usually you would chalk that up to the sample and call it a fluke, but perhaps he has changed his approach to fit the ball park. That would give him an another advantage over Estevez.
Don’t get me wrong, Motte is no one’s idea of a dominant reliever. I wouldn’t even consider him good. But he’s a bet on Estevez not being the guy and Motte getting an opportunity soon to rack up a couple of saves. Hopefully before he does any major damage to your ratios.
Mike Podhorzer is the 2015 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Baseball Writer of the Year and three-time Tout Wars champion. He is the author of the eBook Projecting X 2.0: How to Forecast Baseball Player Performance, which teaches you how to project players yourself. Follow Mike on X@MikePodhorzer and contact him via email.
Mike: I’m in a fairly deep league (16 teams). And I currently have Logan Morrison, Trumbo (usually in the OF) and Travis Shaw alternating at CI (Santana at 1B) until Lucas Duda returns.
I’m intrigued by the notion of adding Ike Davis, both because of his plate discipline and that famously short porch in RF in Yankee Stadium.
But looking at his FB% last year with the A’s discourages me. Few flyballs generally equals few HRs. And by all reports, he was completely recovered from Valley Fever by then (which he contracted in 2012).
So do you have any information about his FB% at AAA Round Rock that would make me less reluctant to drop my other CI options? I have to take into account that once I drop either LoMo or Shaw (trade interest expressed by someone in Shaw) there’s a good chance I lose them since the league is deep. Heck, even Lind was picked up recently. And Duda is at least a month away from returning from his injury.
Unfortunately, after minorleaguesplits.com went down, I have no source for batted ball data from the minors. I wouldn’t drop either of those hitters for Davis, as his playing time is much less secure, and assuming Teixeira returns at some point, Davis will be out of a job.