Waiver Wire: Replacing Posey Edition
By now you’ve seen the play and heard the news; Buster Posey will miss significant time after tearing ligaments and breaking his leg in a collision at the plate last night. Despite a subpar start to the season (just a .341 wOBA), Posey was still one of fantasy’s top backstops and will be tough to replace. Here’s a few guys lying on the waiver wire that can help fill the void…
Ryan Doumit | Pirates | Ownership: 15% Yahoo!, 1.7% ESPN
It’s been a while since Doumit broke out with a .367 wOBA in 495 PA back in 2008, which he then followed up with consecutive seasons of sub-.330 wOBA’s. He’s righted the ship a bit this year, coming into today with a .272/.337/.446 (.342 wOBA) line and solid peripherals (8.8 BB%, 17.4 K%, .174 ISO). The rebound is coming at a good time too, because the Bucs have to make a decision about Doumit’s 2012 and 2013 options after the season. As an added fantasy bonus, he’s also OF eligible.
Jonathan Lucroy | Brewers | Ownership: 28% Yahoo!,32.2% ESPN
Lucroy missed the start of the season after breaking a finger late in Spring Training, but he’s been pretty fantastic since returning in mid-April. A 5.5% walk rate is nothing special, but an overall batting line of .321/.369/.509 (.385) with five homers sure is when it comes to catchers. Lucroy will come back to Earth a bit once his .369 BABIP regresses (and it will since he’s hitting more and more balls in the air), and a 17.2% HR/FB rate isn’t sustainable as well. ZiPS calls for a .266/.327/.396 line the rest of the way, which isn’t terrible for the position and should lead to a decent amount of RBI given the lineup he’s in.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia | Red Sox | Ownership: 8% Yahoo!,0.8% ESPN
Salty’s .240/.296/.340 (.314 wOBA) batting line is easy to overlook, but he’s been tearing the cover off the ball for more than three weeks now (.283/.333/.585 since April 30th). He’s not walking at all (6.9 BB%), but as a switch-hitter with some pop in that lineup and in that ballpark? It shouldn’t be a surprise that Saltalamacchia has put that April slump behind him to turn into a productive hitter for the Red Sox or in fantasy. It’s worth mentioning that ZiPS hates him though, pegging him for .233/.306/.395 with seven homers the rest of the way. I’ll take the over thanks to Fenway.
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
Playing time is the big issue with Doumit. He’s been productive when on the field. If I’m the Pirates, I call the Giants right now and see if anything’s possible.
Sabean has a track record with them. Morris for Davis? Alderson for Sanchez? Both those look like winners for the G-men, tho Alderson is actually striking people out this year instead of giving up dongers. Maybe Sabes can spin something filthy, like Clayton Tanner for Doutmit? The Pirates are pretty big losers when it comes to trades, so anything is possible.
don’t forget Jason Schmidt for Rios and Vogelsong…
Another option that’s available in 35% of Yahoo leagues: Geovany Soto, due back on Saturday. His 2011 line isn’t great, but the guy hit .280/.393/.497 last year. Career .265/.357/.464. If he’s available in your league, you should grab him immediately. He’s actually available in my ottoneu league and I started an auction on him yesterday morning. I think the Buster news probably will make it hard for me to get him, as that owner’s going to be desperate for catching help. -j
“Unowned in 35 percent of leagues” almost isn’t worth discussing. Those are the tiniest of leagues, the abandoned leagues. The useful cutoff is generally 50 percent.
Some ownership examples:
Carlos Santana, 94 percent
Coco Crisp, 56 percent
Eric Hosmer, 53 percent
Bud Norris, 48 percent
…Or the leagues with 1 DL slot.
He should be on this list. Saltalamacchia shouldn’t even be on a major league roster, let alone in an article championing FA pickups.
Like I said, he’s available right now in my ottoneu league, and it’s pretty active–12 team, 2 catcher league. I don’t think he *should* be available, but I can only imagine the manager wanted to free up some cash to spend elsewhere by dropping him. 65% owned isn’t that far off from the 50% mark you’re espousing.
-j
As a leading member of the “Just Lost Posey” club (in a keeper league too, which really has me fuming at this AAA loser that bowlingballed him)… I went with Arrencibia over Lucroy. I don’t trust anyone over a .350BABIP to give any sort of steady production, and I like Toronto’s offense better than Milwaukee.
Yeah I lost Posey too. Luckily, I had a brain fart during my draft and drafted Arencibia too since Posey was slotted into my 1B slot on my team during the draft and I thought I needed a catcher. I’ve been really pleased with his production so far all year. I think the average will rise to about a .260 level with regular playing time. Hopefully. And he’ll always hit for power.
Kurt Suzuki anyone? I think he’s going to be my Posey replacement, and he’s only owned in 53% of Yahoo leagues so he’s probably available to plenty of Busterless owners out there.
I had Posey and i decided to go with Arrencibia as my replacement. i agree that toronto has the better offense, and arrencibia’s numbers seem more sustainable
In response to Descender, Salty shouldnt be on a major league roster??? what are you smokin? How about Varitek shouldn’t be on that roster as a player, maybe as a coach to Salty with how to call a game for the pitchers, but def not as a player. Salty has some raw talent, and if he’s ever given a chance for a full season, like this year with the Red Sox he is going to put up average or slightly above average “Catcher” offensive numbers.
His average will never be any good, but the homers runs and rbis should be ok in that lineup. The dude has Carl Crawford in front of him for goodness sake, and he can swat t he ball. He can also swing and miss, but every blind squirrel finds a nutt every once in a while.
I too went with Arrencibia over Lucroy because I’d rather have Arrencibia’s power in the lineup and I don’t expect any catcher that I’ve barely heard about to keep hitting .320+
Boiled it down to the 2 of them to choose from though. I didn’t think Salty was really worthy of consideration yet.
+4 for Arrencibia over Lucroy
+ 5 , Arencibia has a background in minors of being a power hitter, and Lucroy ….does not!
sounds like nobody’s believing that Montero will get called up, play, and hit. I’m in a CBS league with two catchers/team so from Posey I had to go all the way down to Olivo. He’s been a pleasant surprise since he arrived though he’s a long way from Denver now.
Any views on why “not Montero”?