Midseason Waiver Wire All-Stars
With the All-Star break upon us, we finally don’t have to worry about our fantasy teams for a few days. It’s always nice to have that little break, especially when you run multiple teams. Rather than the usual daily waiver wire shtick, let’s take a look at four players who have gone from undrafted and afterthoughts to key contributors in all formats.
Carlos Ruiz | C | Phillies | Preseason ADP: 290 | Owned: 89% Yahoo! and 100% ESPN
Chooch has been, my far, the best hitting catcher in baseball this season. He came into the year with a .265/.357/.393 career batting line which is solid but not exactly worth a fantasy roster spot. The 33-year-old Ruiz carries a .350/.412/.584 (!) line into the break this summer, having already hit a career-best 13 homers with 21 doubles that are just eight shy of his career-high. He’s moved into a more premium lineup spot — fourth or fifth depending on whether or not Ryan Howard plays — and the result has been 46 RBI that are the second most among qualified catchers and eight short of his career-high. His 523 ottoneu points lead all catchers by a significant margin.
Ruiz’s production will likely step back for a number of reasons in the second half, mostly because catchers tend to wear down in August in September. A .362 BABIP and 18.3% HR/FB don’t exactly scream sustainable either. That said, Chooch’s first half production is already in the bank and anyone who grabbed him off waivers in April is surely thrilled.
Josh Reddick | OF | Athletics | Preseason ADP: N/A | Owned: 82% Yahoo! and 100% ESPN
The 25-year-old Reddick always had power, with four 18+ homer seasons to his credit (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011) between the Majors and minors combined coming into 2012. No one saw this coming, however. Reddick moved out of friendly Fenway Park and into the cavernous Coliseum in Oakland, and has somehow managed 20 homers in the first half. He’s also stealing some bases (8-for-8), drawing more walks than ever before (10.6%), and hitting lefties (.391 wOBA). Put it all together and you have a .268/.348/.532 batting line and 546 ottoneu points, ninth most among outfielders.
Reddick is an extreme fly ball hitter — 48.5%, fifth highest rate in baseball — and only five of his 20 homers qualify as “Just Enoughs” per Hit Tracker, so it’s not like these are sneaking over the fence. The power is very real though the ability to mash lefties may not be. We need more than 114 plate appearances to know either way. Reddick isn’t just one of the best waiver wire fantasy pickups of the year, he’s one of the game’s best young power hitters.
R.A. Dickey | SP | Mets | Preseason ADP: 229 | Owned: 93% Yahoo! and 100% ESPN
Only Justin Verlander has been a more fantasy dominant pitcher this season than the Mets knuckleballer. Dickey, 37, pitched to an excellent 3.08 ERA (3.71 FIP) during his first two seasons in Flushing, but he wasn’t really on the fantasy radar because he didn’t win a ton of games (19 from 2010-2011) or strike guys out (5.59 K/9 and 15.0 K%), plus you always had to be skeptical about his WHIP given the history of knuckleball guys and their propensity for the free pass. He was an ERA booster for the back of the rotation, that was it.
Obviously Dickey has taken his game to the next level this season by apparently becoming the first man in baseball history with the ability to command a pitch that is, by definition, unpredictable. His strikeout (9.23 K/ and 26.6 K%) and walk (1.95 BB/9 and 5.6 BB%) rates are just silly, as was his eight-start stretch from late-May through the end of the June. Who knows how long this will last, but I hope it lasts forever. Dickey represents all that is right with baseball.
Ernesto Frieri | RP | Angels | Preseason ADP: N/A | Owned: 76% Yahoo! and 99.9% ESPN
If you were putting together a list of middle relievers who had a chance to pick up saves before the start of the season, Frieri probably would have been one of the last guys you considered. From 2009-2011, the 26-year-old right-hander had the fourth lowest gmLI (0.66) in baseball (min. 90 IP). The Padres just never used him in a big spot, but now he’s become the late-inning extraordinaire following the trade to the Angels.
In 26.1 IP for the Halos, Frieri has allowed just eight hits and none have been for extra bases. A .205 BABIP sounds unsustainable, but we’re talking about one of the most extreme fly balls pitchers in baseball (55.0% career). Only ten of the 105 batters he’s faced with Anaheim have hit a ground ball. When you have Mike Trout and Peter Bourjos roaming the outfield and a pitcher friendly home park, having the opposition put the ball in the air in a damn fine strategy. Add in a boatload of strikeouts (15.38 K/9 and 42.9 K%) and you have a dominant reliever. Frieri has been splitting save chances with Scott Downs depending on the matchups, but he’s been worth a roster spot simply because of the brutal effectiveness.
Preseason ADPs courtesy of Mock Draft Central.
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
Not sure what it says about my draft strategy that I own three of these guys and am only in 4th…haha
I have 3 of them and I’m in 8th!! That’s what I get for drafting Upton and Reyes with my first 2 picks.
I feel your pain. i drafted upton and reyes my first 2 picks and i’m in 9th
i’ll continue the commiseration. my first two were upton and halladay in a 15 team league. i also drafted madson, storen and danny duffy.
also nilbog is goblin spelled backwards!
I have Ruiz and Frieri in one league and also drafted Upton in the first round, but I’m in a very strong second.
I must be doing something right. Drafting Wright and Trout probably helped, as well as trading Ethier for Gio.
I was able to snag RA Dickey and Allen Craig off waivers. Both have done well for me.
Lynn. also Encarnacion was probably on a lot of waiver too, but I drafted him for $3 in a keeper league.
Nice job but, F. Rodney is the clear choice among waiver wire RP.
Don’t forget Edwin Encarnacion. He and LaHair were carrying my team for awhile.
Jose Altuve. Does Trevor Plouffe count? James McDonald? Dillon Gee? Tom Tilhelmsen? It’s so tough with pitchers as the margin of draft/not-draft is all over the place based on league size
I have to agree with David, James McDonald has been absolute gold as far as pitchers go.
A number of players could be added to this list, including Allen Craig and Jed Lowrie, not to mention a slew of closers. Would be nice to see the ADP on these guys, or % of drafts where they were drafted to see how far they’ve come.
Allen Craig; agreed. I don’t have him but wished that I did. [/unhappy R. Weeks owner]
Best waiver wire pick up had to be Kipnis! I know he was drafted in many formats but in most common 10 team mixed leagues we was a waiver wire pick up
No! No he should not have been!
The problem with this article? It inspires a torrent of useless ‘i got player x in the 15th round, bro’ response comments. Cool story bro’s, thanks for adding to the discourse.
Agreed. Nobody cares about your fantasy teams, who you drafted, dropped, traded, etc. Stop wasting space on this site.
I got Moustakas in the 17th.
!
I’d rather hear someone rant or bragg about their team or their draft than hear you losers bitch and moan about other posts!
I had pocket aces and lost to ace-king! I got my last 75 cents (!) in on the J63 flop, and won’t you know the Q hit the turn, and the T the river! fml!
Goldschmidt for $5! Such a great buy!
How dare you talk about your fantasy baseball team on a fantasy baseball team website.. get real, jagoffs… Noone cares about your disgruntled sh!tty disposition.. if you don’t want to read comments about other peoples teams then go to a different site
Ruiz has been making such solid contact that I could see his BABIP staying somewhere up close to what’s he done so far, but probably not that high
I schlepped my way to getting Frieri. I made a two-for-one deal and the other manager was forced to make a drop (Frieri) well before Frieri had the closing gig. I picked him off waivers simply because I liked his K per 9. What’s funny is that one of the players he wanted badly from me — and a player he got — was Broxton.
In My 12 team AL only keeper league, I traded Felix Doubront for Frieri before he got the closer job. If you pay attention to a player’s peripherals, you can find some gold out there!
I guess everyone plays in a 1C, 8-team mixed league.
Look out we’ve got a badass over here… I play in a 5C, 45-team AL West-only league. How about that huh?
These guys (with the possible exception of Frieri in a holds league) were on the bubble at best to be drafted at the beginning of the year in a 12 team mixed league (a “basic” league, probably the most common depth format out there). That puts them on the wire and accruing stats from the first game of the year in most leagues. There are challengers (Plouffe, etc.), but these guys deserve the recognition for being among the highest return among the low percentage draftees.
I picked up Mike Trout off waivers in my 12 team mixed yahoo league. I don’t know how available he was in other leagues, but he has been the best player on my team since I picked him up. I also picked up Dickey, Frieri, and Ruiz. I dropped Ruiz and picked up Jesus Montero stupidly about a month ago though thinking Ruiz would not be able to keep it up. I’ve got Grandal now. I’m hoping he can be on the waiver wire pick up all stars by the end of the year.
Trout should have been drafted and was drafted in most mixed leagues, 10 team or more. I grabbed him in the 23rd round in my league, 12 teams.
Ruiz was drafted in the 20th round, and Dickey was drafted in the 24th round.
Rodney I picked up off waivers and is easily the best RP waiver wire add, not to take anything away from Frieri.
Casilla should also be in the mix there.
No way Trout was drafted, or should have been, in most 12 team mixed leagues. No one really knew exactly when he was coming up, and he was no sure thing, just another rook. I love snagging guys like this off the wire, but only managed Trout in one league.
In some cases I do draft guys like this, but that depends on whats available at the end of the draft. With all the injuries this year, I’d have probably dropped him anyway to clear space.
Alex Rios
was a solid starting OF going into the year with a history of bouncing back after a bad season. So?
So, his drafting manager (I’m sure along with many others) dropped him and I (and I imagine a lot of current owners) picked him up off waivers… probably not in fitting with the theme of the article, since he was likely drafted in most cases more than the names listed, but still a great waiver wire pickup.
Same with Trout, a great waiver wire pickup, probably not drafted in redraft leagues, but not playing to begin the year, so not quite in the same class as those in the OP.