Waiver Wire: June 14th
Here are three players with low ownership rates who could pay immediate dividends in fantasy leagues:
Pat Burrell, San Francisco Giants (owned in 2% of Yahoo! leagues)
It must be the National League cooking. In his last time in the senior circuit, Burrell put up a 33 HR season with a combined 160 R + RBIs. His time in the American League with the Rays is better off forgotten. But now back in the NL with the Giants, Burrell is batting .375 with 8 R + RBIs in 9 G. He has only hit 1 HR in that span but has earned additional playing time. And if Burrell gets the at-bats the HR will come sooner or later. He only has a 9.1 HR/FB rate this year (similar to last season’s mark) but in his career Burrell has a 15.9 percent rate.
Travis Hafner, Cleveland Indians (owned in 3% of Yahoo! leagues)
He has 3 HR in his last 5 G, including Sunday when he turned on a Stephen Strasburg fastball clocked at 99.7 mph. (R) ZiPS projects 10 HR for Hafner in 240 ABs. Both of those totals could be on the low side. He will not give you anything in SB and is unlikely to be helpful at all in AVG. But Hafner has big-time power and could contribute in three categories for the remainder of the season.
Ryan Spilborghs, Colorado Rockies (owned in 1% of Yahoo! leagues)
In 9 G this month, Spilborghs is batting .481 with 3 HR. Right now the only thing holding back Spilborghs is playing time and with the Rockies playing an Interleague series on the road against the Twins, Spilborghs should see lots of action in the week ahead. Previously, he has crushed LHP and been poor against RHP. But this season, Spilborghs has a .297 AVG with 4 HR in 64 ABs against righties.
What, if anything, does that mean for faithful Seth Smith owners?
It means its time to drop his butt unless you’ve got room to stash a player who isn’t playing…
Seth Smith is an awesome platoon bat to have on your fantasy team. You can just drop him and pick him up at will, since he’s barely owned in either yahoo or espn.
I’ve been considering cutting bait on berkman to pick up hafner? Is that a good idea?
I don’t know about Hafner’s other two home runs but I saw the one against Strasburg. It was like the fastball did all the work; Hafner didn’t hit it or swing very hard and it barely cleared the fence. But Hafner is the type of hitter whose b.s. fliners can go over the wall sometimes. Take that FWIW.
Yea, I saw that HR as well, the fastball may have done all the work, but at least it was a well hit line drive. I guess my question was more about whether or not Berkman’s done.
holy small sample size–i wouldn’t take those 64 spillboroughs ABs to the bank.
I love these waiver wire columns but I do have a suggestion – please put the positions for which the player typically qualifies next to their name. For many players I know the answer but specific outfield qualifications can sometimes be unexpected. Sometimes I’ll have to look this up.. do pat the bat or pronk qualify anywhere besides DH? I had to look it up.
Thanks, even if you don’t take the suggestion – these are helpful
Now that’s the deep-league waiver wire column, worthy of your competitive readership! I should have jumped on Spilborghs, but whiffed. Hafner’s been gone. Too bad, I need power. Just dropped Scott Hairston & CoJack for Burrell & Bernadina in a deep bench 15 team league that uses OBP instead of AVG.