Waiver Wire and FAAB Report (Week 26)
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
In this article, I cover the players using CBS’s and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change, while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. I start players being added at CBS who started the week on less than 40% of rosters.
The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by hitters, starters, and relievers.
Batters
Victor Mesa Jr.: He’s starting to break out of his platoon and become a regular with two starts against three lefties this week. In just 234 PA, he has 13 HR and 9 SB. With seven games next week, he’s a smash add.
Connor Norby and Adael Amador: The pair are splitting Colorado’s second base and DH duties, each has an OPS over .850. With three more home games, a fantasy team in each league should roster them.
Jonah Cox: Starts all the time and has been a great source of steals (13) and batting average (.295).
Coby Mayo: Started 12 straight games with nine coming as the DH. Nice power-only (24 HR) add.
Garrett Mitchell: Balanced player (.267 AVG, 11 HR, 14 SB) who starts every game when healthy.
Dustin Harris: The Padres continue to bat the speedster (9 SB in 117 PA) second with his .374 OBP.
Anthony Volpe: Since being recalled from the minors, he’s batting .296/.345/.481 with 1 HR and 4 SB in 29 PA. Also, he started in eight of nine games.
Brett Bateman: Leads off for the Jays. For now, he’s only a positive contributor in batting average (.324 AVG).
Joey Ortiz: He no longer seems to be in a platoon while being balanced this season (9 HR, 9 SB, .269 AVG).
Griffin Conine: Starts most of the time with 16 HR in 295 PA. He should be platooned with a .886 OPS against righties and .575 OPS against lefties. Next week he faces four righties and two lefties.
Hao-Yu Lee: A better real-life player (.752 OPS) than fantasy contributor. Bench bat in deeper leagues.
J.P. Crawford: Starting and leading off but only provides a little power (13 HR in 459 PA).
Christian Koss: Starts, but his production is a step or two below the other options.
Emmanuel Rodriguez: He’s struggling to make contact since being promoted, with a 64% Contact% leading to a 39% K% and .185 AVG. I’m not sure he’s ready for the majors just yet.
Richie Palacios: While providing home runs (10) and steals (14), it with a .234 AVG while playing just half the time.
Catchers
Leo Bernal: He has slowed down a bit, but still has a .323 AVG with 3 HR.
Luis Campusano: In 232 PA this year, he has 8 HR and a .267 AVG. Also, he’s been getting more playing time as the team’s DH.
Yainer Diaz: Batting .280/.308/.462 with 6 HR in the second half.
| Name | Previous Roster% | Current Roster% | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yainer Diaz | 38% | 39% | 1% |
| Garrett Mitchell | 36% | 41% | 5% |
| Coby Mayo | 34% | 41% | 7% |
| Griffin Conine | 25% | 26% | 1% |
| Hao Yu Lee | 18% | 23% | 5% |
| Connor Norby | 17% | 18% | 1% |
| Victor Mesa Jr. | 16% | 30% | 14% |
| Brett Bateman | 16% | 19% | 3% |
| Jonah Cox | 16% | 18% | 2% |
| Anthony Volpe | 14% | 17% | 3% |
| Emmanuel Rodriguez | 12% | 15% | 3% |
| J.P. Crawford | 11% | 13% | 2% |
| Luis Campusano | 10% | 11% | 1% |
| Joseph Ortiz | 10% | 11% | 1% |
| Leonardo Bernal | 9% | 17% | 8% |
| Adael Amador | 5% | 13% | 8% |
| Richard Palacios | 4% | 7% | 3% |
| Christian Koss | 3% | 5% | 2% |
| Dustin Harris | 2% | 9% | 7% |
Starting Pitchers
Ryan Johnson: I would be looking to roster Johnson if the season were going to be longer. He’s made some improvements. Over his last three starts, he has a 2.50 ERA (3.86 xFIP), 1.00 WHIP, and 9.0 K/9. And he’ll face Seattle in Seattle.
Cristian Javier: I figured Javier was already widely rostered with his start against the Royals this past week. Next week, he lines up at Seattle and at West Sacramento. His talent is similar to the starters ranked under him, but he has those two starts.
Andrew Alvarez: While his 1.27 WHIP may not be helpful, he’s a sub-4.00 ERA talent with a start against the Mets.
Drew Anderson 앤더슨: I don’t hate Anderson at Washington next week. A 4.00 ERA talent against an offense that has cooled down. Sure.
Robert Gasser: A low-4.00 ERA talent facing the Cardinals in his start. It could be a lot worse.
Dean Kremer: He’s been a just-over-4.00 ERA talent with the Twins and should face the Rangers on Sunday next week. It’s one of the better options with some talent and a winnable game.
Yusei Kikuchi: I hate ranking Kikuchi this high, but he’s got two starts at the Athletics and the Mariners. He is just a volume play because he’s going to be a negative contributor in the ratio categories (WHIP and ERA).
Jonah Tong: Tong had two starts this week, with the first one going better than expected (6 K, 1 BB, and 0 ER in 6 IP). I’m impressed with the low walk total after struggling with them over his career. I’ll need to dive in this offseason to see what changed. In the final week, he’s lined up to face the Nationals.
Erick Fedde 페디: He faces the Royals next week. I’m not sure where his talent stands with a 2.25 ERA, 4.18 botERA, and 4.96 xFIP. All narratives are open to adding or ignoring him.
Quinn Mathews: While Mathews has been good this month (2.04 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 8.2 K/9), he starts against the Brewers next week. I’d hope for a better matchup.
David Peterson: Peterson is in a two-start week, with the first start going great (6 IP, 7 K, 3 BB, 1 ER, and the Win) and a start at the Reds on Sunday. Next week, he’ll face the Red Sox in Boston. I’d prefer not.
Chris Bassitt: Bassitt has a solid 3.76 ERA in the second half. His ERA is fine. The problem is his 1.43 second-half WHIP, which is doing as much ratio damage as a 5.10 ERA. Next week, he starts against Toronto.
Jack Perkins: The strikeout king (10.4 K/9) gets one final start against the Astros. If strikeouts are the only stat that matters, start Perkins. If not, stay away.
Blade Tidwell: He has two starts lined up against the Twins and Dodgers. He can’t get out lefties with a -1% K-BB% against them and a 22% K-BB% against righties. He hasn’t been good, with all signs pointing to a 4.50 to 5.00 ERA talent.
JR Ritchie: Ritchie has shown ZERO signs of being a major league pitcher. I don’t care if he faces the Reds and Marlins next week. I’m not starting a 5.00+ ERA talent.
| Name | Previous Roster% | Current Roster% | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quinn Mathews | 38% | 52% | 14% |
| David Peterson | 33% | 36% | 3% |
| Jonah Tong | 26% | 32% | 6% |
| Chris Bassitt | 26% | 27% | 1% |
| Dean Kremer | 24% | 26% | 2% |
| Andrew Alvarez | 20% | 24% | 4% |
| Yusei Kikuchi | 17% | 22% | 5% |
| Cristian Javier | 15% | 30% | 15% |
| Robert Gasser | 13% | 15% | 2% |
| Ryan Johnson | 11% | 27% | 16% |
| JR Ritchie | 11% | 13% | 2% |
| Drew Anderson | 10% | 11% | 1% |
| Erick Fedde | 8% | 11% | 3% |
| Jack Perkins | 7% | 8% | 1% |
| Blade Tidwell | 6% | 8% | 2% |
Relievers: Saves-based Ranks
Garrett Whitlock: Great reliever who is the temporary closer (Chapman hurt).
Bryan Hudson: Average reliever who is sharing closer duties.
Jeff Hoffman: Good reliever who could be in line to replace a struggling closer.
Steven Cruz: Below-average reliever who is sharing the closer duties.
Ryan Zeferjahn: Average reliever who is sharing the closer duties.
Adrian Morejon: Great reliever is the backup closer.
Ryan Watson: Average reliever who is the backup closer.
Didier Fuentes: Good reliever could be the backup closer.
Hagen Smith: Average reliever who is a step or two away from closing.
| Name | Previous Roster% | Current Roster% | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Hoffman | 31% | 32% | 1% |
| Adrian Morejon | 30% | 31% | 1% |
| Didier Fuentes | 28% | 30% | 2% |
| Garrett Whitlock | 21% | 24% | 3% |
| Rico Garcia | 20% | 24% | 4% |
| Hagen Smith | 18% | 20% | 2% |
| Steven Cruz | 14% | 15% | 1% |
| Bryan Hudson | 8% | 11% | 3% |
| Ryan Zeferjahn | 6% | 8% | 2% |
| Ryan Watson | 0% | 2% | 2% |
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
I had picked up VMJR partly due to his improved play and partly due to his last week of the playoffs getting to hit in great parks like NYY and Philly. However, his current matchups are like a murderers’ row of who you don’t want to face: Fried/Cole/Schlittler/Painter/Sanchez/Wheeler.
Hopefully a few of those starts are either skipped or abbreviated if those teams decide to prep their playoff rotations a certain way. If they stay the way they are, I might have to downgrade my expectations for Mesa this week.
As I scan for YOLO 1 week C rentals, I noticed that Austin Wells is hitting the crap out of the ball lately and just watched his last AB today where he looked so comfortable it was like he was sitting in a rocking chair. In one league, I’m struggling to rank Wells vs Bernal vs Heim with all home games.
What about Hagen Smith’s skill set results in an “Average” classification? His performance this season is noteworthy.