Waiver Wire: March 30th
With the season rapidly approaching and spring injuries are popping up all over the place, it’s time to make some of those last minute tweaks on your roster. If you find yourself looking for a little power boost, here’s a couple of guys with whom you might be interested…
J.P. Arencibia |C| Ownership: 22% Yahoo; 31.3% ESPN
Grabbing some extra power from behind the plate is always a huge bonus and Arencibia just might be worth a stash on your bench to start the year. He’s had a pretty rough spring hitting just .185 with 17 Ks in 54 AB, hence his ownership percentages, but the Blue Jays are committed to him. Sure, Jose Molina will get some starts here and there, but Arencibia is the primary and based on his ISO numbers throughout the minors (nothing below .200 since ’07) it looks like it’s just a matter of when, not if, his bat starts to explode. Down on the farm he had a fairly respectable K%, so I think once he settles in, the strikeouts will come down, but you’ll likely have to deal with batting average issues most of the way. Still, if the guy can pop you 20+ HR and knock in 50+ runs, he’s falling in ahead of most. If you’ve got the room on your bench and you’re not thrilled with your primary, Arencibia could be worth a look. Once his bat gets going, he’s going to fly off your waiver wire.
Kila Ka’aihue |1B, DH| Ownership: 14% Yahoo; 11% ESPN
More power and yes, at the expense of batting average, however, if you’re in an OBP league, Ka’aihue could be a solid pickup. He proved last season that he was done with Triple-A, banging 24 HR while posting a slash line of .322/.465/.601 and a very impressive 21.1 BB%. When he was called up, that BB% dropped and he looked a little anxious at the plate, but he also had a very unlucky .238 BABIP, dropping his average to .217 in just over 200 AB. Still, he knocked 8 out of the yard and posted a .178 ISO, so it’s just going to be about getting the work in and getting comfortable. He’s been ripping the cover off the ball this spring hitting .411/.476/.875 with 7 HR and 5 doubles and is slated to receive regular at bats between first and DH this season. I like Bill James’ projections, but I actually think Ka’aihue has the potential to go 25-30 HR this season if he can carry this spring momentum into the regular season. Now if only we can get him a nickname to stick…current suggestions are Kila Monster and Serial Kila, both good choices.
Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over 10 years on a variety of websites. In addition to his work here, you can also find him at his site, RotobuzzGuy.com, Fantasy Alarm, RotoWire and Mock Draft Central. Follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or for more direct questions or comments, email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com
Jose Morales?
whoops. thanks Kongos. corrected
Definitely Kila Monster. Definitely.
Should I stay away from JP in an OPS (instead of batting average) league? I know the slugging will be there, but when looking at his minor league stats he had poor OBP in 3 out of 5 years.
in 1,110 plate appearances at AAA, kila’s OBP has been .424. what exactly concerns you about his OBP? his age 22 and 23 seasons? those seem kind of distant…
I saw .309, .344, .302, .284, .359. None of those approach .424. I looked at his page on fangraphs for my stats. Then I see that Bill James has him projected at .272 for the season.
oh crap, thought you were referring to kila. comprehension fail. my bad
If you use Arencibia, you will definitely be sacrificing the category a bit, whether it’s BA, OBP or OPS. If you can handle that, then he could make for a nice pick up if you’re looking for a little extra pop from behind the dish.
The Royals faithful has christened him “Hawaiian Punch”
I like Hawaiian Punch, although I’m sure the Politically Correct Police will have something to say about it. Didn’t someone deem that character as offensive at some point?
Incidentally, gu03alum was asking about JP,not Kila.
serial kila probably won’t go over well with those same police
With his body type, maybe Cereal Kila is more appropriate.
Can we call him the “Kila from Manila” even though he isn’t from the Phillipines?
What about the “Slammin Samoan”? Or the “Hulking Hawaain”?
Why is it that everyone seems to think that Kila’s not going to have a good batting average?
I see his career line in the minor leagues, but look at the inconsistency during that time period.
While in 2009, he had a bad year with the .252 AVG.
In 2008, he posted a .315 AVG between AA and AAA. In 2010, he posted a .319 AVG in AAA.
So, if you look at his career numbers, it’s not good. However, if we look a little bit closer, then I think we’re looking at a hitter who was still figuring things out.
He doesn’t really strikeout at a huge rate that makes you say “oh… he’ll have a bad average”. Maybe I’m missing something, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see good power, good OBP, with a .280 batting average.
Should I drop Barton for Kila in a league that uses OPS in addition to the normal 5 categories.
I would consider it. With what you lose in potential BA, you should easily make up for it in the power totals and likely OPS.
Ghostface Kila
Here’s what everyone has to remember about Kila and basically all Royals minor league prospects.
The Royals AA minor league parks are all extreme pitchers parks, in pitchers leagues. Wichita and Wilmington have a HR factor of .84 and Wilmington posted a .69 year in 2006, with a 3 year weighted from 04-06 of .72. They are some of the toughest places in the minors to hit which is why Moustakas ‘and Hosmer’s numbers are so amazing. If you have a .500+ Slg in Wilmington you are a badass. That said, Omaha plays neutral and NW Ark is a hitters park and Kila obviously hit well both places.
The problem is that Kila is a TTO guy and Kaufman is the 2nd worse park for LH HR hitters (.72 HR index 2010), and that robs him of 1/3 of his value. He just doesn’t hit many doubles. This probably has much to do with KC holding him back for so long because he’s really the wrong guy for that park. If he comes out of the gate hot I expect KC to move him quickly and call up Moustakas and possibly Hosmer who’s skills are more adaptable to that stadium. In Philly or Arizona or Colorado Kila would be a monster.
Walk off HR tonight. That’s a good start for the KilaMonster.
I just bought the rights to the Kila Monster vs Godzilla movie…
I’m feeling good about picking up JP now.
How could you not? 3 for 5 with 2 HR, 5 RBI and a triple? A spectacular debut. Just keep your expectations in check as he started off in similar fashion during his call up last year and then tapered off dramatically. However, he is on three of my 6 fantasy rosters this season…