Waiver Wire: July 17th

Coco Crisp, Athletics (Owned in 8% of Yahoo leagues)

For Covelli Loyce Crisp to be relevant in fantasy circles, he does have to, you know, stay on the field. That has been a problem in recent years — the former Indian, Red Sock and Royal was limited to 215 plate appearances last season because of surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder, and he was shelved this season until late May after fracturing his left pinky finger. Then, Crisp strained his right intercostal muscle, costing him another month’s worth of games. Recently, he has been battling a sore left hamstring .

While durability is a serious issue, Crisp does have something to offer owners. The 30-year-old has .372 wOBA in a very small sample (81 PA), with five stolen bases in six tries. Both his ZiPS (.250/.321/.400) and CHONE (.270/.345/.400) projections suggest he’s capable of being adequate offensively, and Crisp still possesses the speed to make some noise once he gets on base. He’s unreliable, but he can help out in the SB department without making outs at a Willy Taveras-like clip.

Brett Myers, Astros (22%)

Myers endured a disastrous 2009 season, missing a big chunk of time following right hip surgery in June and then straining his shoulder upon returning in September. His peripherals weren’t terrible in ten starts and eight relief appearances (6.37 K/9, 2.93 BB/9, 4.32 xFIP), but Myers coughed up a mind-boggling 2.29 homers per nine innings — 23.4% of the time a batter hit a fly ball against him, it left the yard. Philly’s 1999 first-rounder had long posted lofty HR/FB rates (15.5% prior to 2010, compared to the 11% MLB average), but that ’09 rate was absurdly high.

Over the winter, the Astros inked Myers to a one-year, $5.1 million deal with a mutual option for the 2011 season. The 29-year-old righty has already earned that cash, and then some — with 2.2 WAR, Myers’ performance has been worth $8.7 million. He has gone to his breaking stuff (a mid-80’s slider and a high-70’s curve) even more than usual this season, and that game plan appears to be working — according to Pitch F/X data from TexasLeaguers, Myers is throwing his slider for a strike 67.9% of the time (63.5% MLB average), and his curve is getting strikes 62.6% (58% MLB average).

He’s got 6.49 K/9, 2.72 BB/9 and an xFIP of exactly four in 129 innings. That HR/FB figure has plunged to 8.3%. That’s likely going to rise, and with it, so will Myers’ 3.35 ERA. But he’s capable of remaining an above-average starter. CHONE (4.60 neutralized ERA for the rest of the season) is skeptical, but ZiPS projects a 4.25 FIP. I’d lean more toward the latter projection.