Mike Morse and Seth Smith: Outfield Help on Your Waiver Wire

Looking for outfield help with some pop to spruce up your fantasy roster?  Got a guy on your team mired in a slump and could stand to ride the pine for a week or two?  Deeper league owners should already be wise to these players (if you’re not, you’re probably sitting in last and could stand to pay some attention), but if you’re in a relatively shallow league, you might want to consider grabbing one of them.  Whether it’s to replace an injured Matt Holliday for a few games or a slumping Alex Rios for a couple of weeks, both of these guys can contribute, atleast for the short run.

Seth Smith |OF|  Ownership:  ESPN – 41.4%  Yahoo – 27%

It’s tough to land a full time gig when you can’t hit lefties, but Smith still plays enough, and hits well enough, to make an impact on your fantasy roster; especially now that the Rockies are facing right-handed pitching for atleast seven of their next nine games.  Before yesterday’s doubleheader, Smith was toting a .301/.362/.519 slash line with 4 HR and 20 RBI and then proceeded to go 2-for-5 with a run scored and 2 RBI while plugging his 5th HR of the season in the opening game.  Sure, the .343 BABIP is helping to keep that average up , but we’re also talking about a guy with a career .215 ISO mark.  The power is legit and with the increased playing time he’s getting this season (bye bye Brad Hawpe), he could find his way close to the 20 HR mark this year.  If you’ve got a bench spot to give to a reserve outfielder, Smith could be a valuable guy to move in and out of your lineup.

Mike Morse |OF|  Ownership:  ESPN – 1.6%  Yahoo – 6%

You would think that with news of Adam LaRoche’s shoulder injury and Jim Riggleman’s talk of now using Morse as his regular first baseman, that waiver hounds would be all over this guy, but based on these ownership percentages, it seems that word hasn’t quite broken out yet.  Morse had an outstanding spring this year hitting 9 HR and posting a slash line of .364/.421/.818, but after a slow start to the regular season, found himself on the short end of a platoon in a somewhat crowded Nationals outfield.  Every once in a while he would stand out in the box scores, but lately, it’s been even better.  He’s now hitting .364 over the past 2 weeks and has back to back home run games, including a grand slam last night.  He doesn’t draw very many walks (3.4 BB%) and strikes out a bit too much (27.3%), but his ISO numbers over the last two seasons show that his power is still developing and could get even better.  The added bonus of claiming 1B eligibility over the next week will be huge, so if you’re looking for a band-aid for right now in the outfield and then could use a little extra corner infield help in the future, then Morse could be worth a look.