Michael Bourn & Michael Feliz: Deep League Waiver Wire

If you were dying to roster a Michael, today’s deep league waiver wire gives you two options. Given that Michael is the world’s best name (I’m obviously not biased), then why wouldn’t you be racing to the free agent pool to dive in and catch one?

Michael Bourn | OF ARI | CBS 4% Owned

What happens when your star center fielder gets hurt in spring training and is likely to miss the rest of the season? You scramble for a replacement. Popular sleeper Socrates Brito didn’t work out, so now it’s up to Chris Owings to hold down the fort. With a .330 wOBA and excellent defense, he’s done an admirable job so far. Will it last? I wouldn’t count on a .354 BABIP being sustained. Besides, Owings’ natural position is at shortstop, though he’s been up and down defensively there. Nick Ahmed is doing his standard good defense, terrible offense thing, so Owings is going to find himself at short every so often.

That opens up an opportunity for the recently signed Bourn. Yes, he’s still alive. And despite him being at the ripe old age of 33, he has already swiped three bases over just 36 plate appearances. Speed is the one thing we know wanes with age, but maybe Bourn’s hasn’t dried up just yet. In nearly every game he has started, Bourn has been slotted into the two hole. That’s probably a silly decision, but it will certainly boost his value.

Although Bourn isn’t exactly the type of hitter to be greatly affected by his home park, this is the first time in a while that he has called a hitter friendly park home. At the very least, maybe it will lead to his first home run since 2014!

Michael Feliz | RP HOU | 6% Owned

Head on over to the leaderboards, click on Pitching, Relievers and then the Advanced tab, before sorting by K%-BB%. The top two are no surprise as the pair of Yankees are established dominators at this point. The third pitcher might be a mild surprise, but Hector Rondon has simply taken an already strong skill set another notch higher. It’s the number four guy that might result in a collective “WHO?!?!?!”.

Thanks to a near 40% strikeout rate and sub-5% walk rate, Feliz finds himself fourth on the list which is a pure measure of underlying skill. His SIERA stands at 1.50. His SwStk% is a robust 13.5%. This is from a guy who pitched as a starter over the majority of his professional career. We know that strikeout rates tend to rise going from starting to relieving, but Feliz’s has skyrocketed compared to his minor league rates. He’s doing it with a fastball-slider combination that both get well above average whiffs.

The funny thing is, you would have no idea how fantastic Feliz has been if you’re just browsing through ERAs. It’s absurd that his ERA sits above 4.00, but it’s what happens when your LOB% is a lowly 54.1%, partially due to an inflated 23.1% HR/FB rate.

I rarely recommend middle relievers who have little chance of closing, but in deep leagues, middle reliever do have the chance to earn reasonable value, even with nary a save. When your choice is a strong middle reliever or Mike Pelfrey, you should choose the right Mike or Michael.