Waiver Wire Report (9/11/22)
A cold hit me hard about the time I started this week’s report. I completed the rankings and just added small notes when I deemed them necessary. -Jeff
In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (about 40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters.
Batters
Bubba Thompson: He’s still starting (10 straight) and stealing bases.
Spencer Steer: Playing all over. Power and average profile.
Triston Casas: Five straight starts.
Nick Gordon: Playing with balanced production.
Oswald Peraza: Started six of seven.
Jake Fraley: Not facing lefties but six righties on next week’s schedule.
Lane Thomas: Leadoff for nine straight.
Brendan Donovan: Started in only five of the last seven games.
Luis Garcia: Batting second versus lefties.
Elvis Andrus: Leading off and not embarrassing himself.
Jose Siri: Starting about 80% of the time. At a 25 SB pace.
TJ Friedl: Not facing lefties but six righties on next week’s schedule.
Corey Dickerson: Only faces righties with the team facing six next week.
Romy Gonzalez: Has a .333 AVG with a 29% K% and .439 BABIP.
Seth Brown: His value is linked to the righties he’s facing. Five on the schedule for next week.
Keston Hiura: He has cooled off hitting .172/.194/.276 in September.
Nick Pratto: Losing playing time with Vinnie Pasquantino off the IL.
Ildemaro Vargas: He hasn’t been playing with César Hernández at third. A .552 OPS in September.
Michael Toglia: Only five road games next week.
Gavin Sheets: Starts only against righties. Faces three next week. A drop
Cavan Biggio: Six starts in the last 10 games.
Lewis Brinson: Starting against lefties and has three on the schedule for next week.
Catchers
| Name | Prev Roster% | Current Roster% | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan Donovan 3B STL | 40% | 45% | 5% |
| Kyle Farmer SS CIN | 40% | 42% | 2% |
| Joey Meneses RF WAS | 36% | 51% | 15% |
| Carson Kelly C ARI | 36% | 39% | 3% |
| Cal Raleigh C SEA | 35% | 49% | 14% |
| Seth Brown 1B OAK | 31% | 33% | 2% |
| A.J. Pollock LF CHW | 30% | 34% | 4% |
| Jake Fraley LF CIN | 29% | 31% | 2% |
| Josh Jung 3B TEX | 28% | 35% | 7% |
| Triston Casas 1B BOS | 27% | 40% | 13% |
| Oswald Peraza SS NYY | 20% | 23% | 3% |
| Yadier Molina C STL | 20% | 22% | 2% |
| Nick Pratto 1B KC | 19% | 21% | 2% |
| Luis Garcia SS WAS | 17% | 20% | 3% |
| Keston Hiura 1B MIL | 15% | 18% | 3% |
| Nick Gordon LF MIN | 14% | 24% | 10% |
| Lane Thomas LF WAS | 14% | 21% | 7% |
| Gavin Sheets RF CHW | 14% | 17% | 3% |
| Cavan Biggio 2B TOR | 12% | 14% | 2% |
| Bubba Thompson LF TEX | 11% | 17% | 6% |
| Christian Bethancourt C TB | 10% | 12% | 2% |
| Michael Toglia RF COL | 9% | 13% | 4% |
| Elvis Andrus SS CHW | 8% | 20% | 12% |
| TJ Friedl CF CIN | 8% | 18% | 10% |
| Jose Siri CF TB | 5% | 9% | 4% |
| Corey Dickerson LF STL | 5% | 7% | 2% |
| Spencer Steer 1B CIN | 4% | 12% | 8% |
| Michael Taylor CF KC | 4% | 10% | 6% |
| Ildemaro Vargas 3B WAS | 1% | 5% | 4% |
| Lewis Brinson CF SF | 0% | 2% | 2% |
| Romy Gonzalez 2B CHW | 0% | 2% | 2% |
Starters
Hunter Brown: Great in his debut and get’s Detroit for his next start.
Bailey Falter: Been fine with a 4.02 ERA, 4.30 xFIP, and 1.20 WHIP. Two starts versus Miami and Atlanta.
Brayan Bello: Walks are destroying his upside.
Kyle Bradish: A low-4.00’s ERA talent. Streaming option.
Ryne Nelson: Leaned (67% usage) on 95-mph fastball in his debut. No walks in the start after a 3.1 BB/9 in AAA. Before his July 22nd AAA start, he had a 3.7 BB/9. Since then a 1.9 BB/9. High flyball nature (36 GB% in AAA, 28% in MLB start) but no MLB homers yet. Faces the Dodgers and Padres next week.
Ken Waldichuk: I’m not sure if there is any upside.
Wade Miley: He was acceptable in his first start off the IL and faces the Giants on Sunday. I’m not sure where his talent is right now.
Bailey Ober: Might join the Twins this week. In his last rehab start, he was at 52 pitches.
Adrián Martínez: Shut out Baltimore but has not been good otherwise. A junk 94-mph sinker (5% SwStr, 40% GB%) but his slider (14% SwStr%) and change (14% SwStr%) are decent. Faces Houston this week.
Cody Morris: Too many walks (4.5 BB/9). Limited to 54 and 61 pitches in his first two starts.
Aníbal Sánchez: Four starts with good results (0.84 ERA, 0.80 WHIP) but bad underlying stats (5.5 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 4.97 xFIP).
Glenn Otto: Too many walks with too few strikeouts.
Patrick Corbin: He threw 79% sinkers in his last two starts.
Louie Varland: Demoted back to AAA but a very interesting arm and if promoted again, a solid starter.
| Name | Prev Roster% | Current Roster% | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Lyles SP BAL | 38% | 41% | 3% |
| Roansy Contreras SP PIT | 33% | 37% | 4% |
| Dean Kremer SP BAL | 32% | 35% | 3% |
| Jose Suarez SP LAA | 22% | 28% | 6% |
| Brayan Bello SP BOS | 22% | 24% | 2% |
| Mitch Keller SP PIT | 20% | 23% | 3% |
| Ken Waldichuk SP OAK | 20% | 22% | 2% |
| Hunter Brown SP HOU | 18% | 55% | 37% |
| Patrick Corbin SP WAS | 15% | 17% | 2% |
| Kyle Bradish SP BAL | 13% | 27% | 14% |
| Wade Miley SP CHC | 11% | 13% | 2% |
| Glenn Otto SP TEX | 8% | 11% | 3% |
| Mike Minor SP CIN | 8% | 11% | 3% |
| Bailey Falter SP PHI | 7% | 27% | 20% |
| Cody Morris SP CLE | 6% | 8% | 2% |
| Ryne Nelson SP ARI | 3% | 11% | 8% |
| Adrian Martinez SP OAK | 1% | 4% | 3% |
| Anibal Sanchez SP WAS | 1% | 3% | 2% |
| Louie Varland SP MIN | 0% | 4% | 4% |
Relievers: Saves-based ranks
Jimmy Herget: Good reliever who is the closer.
Pete Fairbanks: Great reliever who is getting most of the Save chances.
John Schreiber: Great reliever who has gotten the last two Save chances.
José Leclerc: OK reliever who might now be the closer.
Dylan Floro: OK reliever who might now be the closer.
Nick Martinez: Below-average reliever who was temporarily the closer but might be losing his job.
Adam Ottavino: OK reliever who is now the backup closer.
Héctor Neris: Below-average reliever who got a random Save and is now a ways from closing.
| Name | Prev Roster% | Current Roster% | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Fairbanks RP TB | 33% | 37% | 4% |
| Nick Martinez RP SD | 31% | 35% | 4% |
| John Schreiber RP BOS | 15% | 21% | 6% |
| Hector Neris RP HOU | 12% | 14% | 2% |
| Adam Ottavino RP NYM | 10% | 12% | 2% |
| Jimmy Herget RP LAA | 9% | 19% | 10% |
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
Love your reports, and your work. Get well soon. Also, Hector Neris is VERY GOOD for “below average”. He has 70 Ks and 15 walks in 59.1 Innings, with 2 homers alowed all year. Lefty batters have a .220 OBP vs him.