Waiver Wire: July 15th
Two blasts from the past that could give your team a little nudge in the right direction…
Freddy Garcia | SP | White Sox | 13% owned
You have to hand it to the now 35-year-old Garcia. The guy made just 23 starts over the last three seasons because of shoulder issues, but he’s returned this year and hasn’t missed a single start. The former Randy Johnson trade bait has fired off ten quality starts in his last 12 outings, and has pitched to a 3.25 ERA since late-May. No, the season peripherals don’t line up (5.57 K/9, 2.69 BB/9, 1.21 HR/9), but they have been better during this recent run of success (6.15 K/9, 1.88 BB/9, 0.68 HR/9).
(R) ZiPS understandably predicts just eight more starts with a 4.93 ERA (4.61 FIP) and 5.79 K/9 the rest of the season, but Chicago’s schedule features 13 consecutive games against the Mariners and Athletics following this weekend’s four game set with Minnesota, so there’s definitely an opportunity to steal some wins here. Plus the ChiSox never seem to lose these days (25-5 over the last month or so). If nothing else, recent history is on his side.
Corey Patterson | OF | Orioles | 10%
Yeah yeah yeah, call me hypocrite, I deserve it. Admitting your mistakes is part of the fantasy game, we’ve all been there. In my defense, we’ve reached the point of the season where legitimate bargains are nowhere to be found on the waiver wire, replaced by the usual dreck of injury fill-ins and the occasional player on a hot streak. Patterson is one of those guys on a hot streak.
Since mid-June, Patterson has fashioned a more than solid .333/.362/.468 batting line from atop Baltimore’s lineup, and best of all he’s stolen ten bags in that time. His season BABIP sits at .361, and during the recent hot streak it was an unsustainable .416, but there’s no reason we can’t ride this thing out, especially when there are stolen bases involved. (R) ZiPS calls for 204 plate appearances of utter mediocrity the rest of the way (.249/.288/.389, eight steals), but if he can chip in a half-dozen steals and not kill your AVG over the next week or two, what’s not to like?
Ownership rates are based on Yahoo! leagues.
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
Freddy Garcia and Corey Patterson? Mother of god… These articles should be called “Go DEEP!!! No DEEPER!!!……. Waiver Wire”
I thought with Pie coming back that Patterson was going to lose all of his PT?
Problem is 4 OF with 3 slots. All 3 Balto OF have been productive lately and Pie just recently reinjured himself and has been a injury-prone guy. Maybe if they trade one of their IF it’ll clear some room to DH? But I can’t see them taking Cpat’s bat out of the lineup completely.
A big key that helps Corey’s argument for playing time is that he’s been hitting leadoff.
Everyone who pays attention to the Os attributes the horrid offense this year to the sudden loss of Roberts without a legitimate backup leadoff option. Losing him was huge, and, the first 3 months is comprised of everyone in the lineup pressing to fill that gap while they groped for a leadoff solution. Everyone has been affected. Finding CPat has stabilized that loss and we’ve seen the offense level off. It’s not as potent or consistent as it was with Roberts in there, but it’s tolerable, more or less.
I know it’s counter-intuitive considering how awful Patterson’s career plate discipline has been, but he has shown better this time around. Whether that continues is anyone’s guess, but for the time being, no one managing the Orioles wants to return to April or May, so it will be hard to take him out of the lineup as long as he’s getting onbase.
…and, I don’t think Pie (assuming he’s healthy) is a likely replacement right now. He has been showing signs of being a “sparkplug” type of player, but thus far, every leadoff experiment with Pie has triggered significant slumps. Just ask the Cubs. He might be maturing enough to resist that, but I think the Os management prefers to place him in scenarios where he’s likely to succeed for an extended period of time to build off of. He is still a very young player.
I’m with you Mike. I don’t know what to say of Patterson. I warned people to stay away from him a few weeks ago in my WW article, but he’s only gotten better since. History says don’t be fooled by the failed Cubs prospects who flame a bit and as a Cubs fan, I know just how bad Patterson can get. I’m sure Oriole fans know almost as well. He’s still got too low of an Isolated Discipline in my opinion, though those SB totals might be tantalizing…