Waiver Wire Report (Week 24)

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

Davis Schneider: Ride the hot hand (6 HR in 62 PA, 1.379 OPS, .500 BABIP, 33% HR/FB) while he continues to be in the lineup.

Parker Meadows: While he is hitting (.289/.386/.474), he’s doing it at the extremes (32% K%, .435 BABIP). Since being called up, he has started every day in centerfield.

Ronny Mauricio: Started for the Mets on Friday and hit ninth while playing second base. In AAA this season, he hit .292/.346/.506 with 23 HR and 24 SB. The 22-year-old has legit power. In his first 3 PA, he had a 117.3 mph batted ball which was good for the seventh hardest-hit ball this season. As for the negative, he hit too many groundballs (49% in AAA) and he struggled a bit with non-fastballs in AAA (>13% SwStr%).

Jasson Domínguez: With him hitting a home run off Justin Verlander in his first at-bat, he’s not going to be cheap where available. The Yankees seem to have quite a bit of faith in him by batting him fifth in his first game. I have tempered expectations with him hitting a combined .265/.377/.425 with 15 HR and 40 SB in 544 (507 in AA) minor league plate appearances. My worry is how his 24% K% translates to the majors. All of our projections have his batting average under .235 with some comps being Josh Rojas and Jace Peterson. He’s a must-add in dynasty formats but I’m not sold on 2023. The problem with him and most of the other rookies, there will be one chance to add them.

Josh Rojas: While productive with Seattle (3 HR, 4 SB, .290 AVG in 73 PA), he is only starting against righties.  Lucky for him, the Mariners are scheduled to face seven this upcoming week.

Luis Rengifo: The 26-year-old is an ideal bench bat. He’s qualified at second, short, third, and outfield while playing every day while being somewhat productive (14 HR, 5 SB, and a .257 AVG).

Mark Canha: A poor man’s Rengifo. Canha is only qualified at first and outfield while not being a zero in any category (8 HR, 7 SB, .252 AVG).

Hunter Goodman: While he provides no speed, he can hit for power (34 HR in the minors) and won’t be a batting average drain. He’s started in five of six games with an .850 OPS (.500 BABIP, 35% K%). Nice corner bat who hopefully sticks in the majors.

DJ Stewart: Starts against all righties and most lefties. In just 105 PA, he has 9 HR (36% HR/FB) along with hitting .270/.359/.629. He’s a heavy pull (68% Pull%) lefty and it’s possible the new shift rules helped him out. Also, he has a 92.6 avgEV this season which is a career high by over 1 mph. Not a well-rounded profile but the best power bat available.

Ramón Laureano: He continues to play (9 straight starts) while providing some speed (9 SB) and power (8 HR) but a drain on batting average (.218 AVG).

Garrett Cooper: The power-only bat continues to start with Jake Cronenworth on the IL.

Michael Brantley: Michael Brantley could be a useful hitter in a Jeff McNeill or Luis Arraez sort of way (all AVG, little power, no speed). In his AAA rehab, he posted a 106.9 maxEV and 87.7 avgEV which equates to a 94 iEV so around a 77 wRC+ should be expected from him. His projections also believe that’ll have more power.

The other issue with Brantley will be his playing time. Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle wrote the following about the situation.

How the Astros will deploy Brantley remains to be seen. Baker said Brantley will likely draw time at left field and designated hitter. Yordan Alvarez also splits time between those two spots. Brantley will likely require regular off days initially as well.

“The plan is to play left sometimes and DH sometimes. I think that’ll help him and Yordan both,” Baker said. “Just got to choose when and where … and try to have them where they can both be productive.”

Brantley said his goal is “to play as many games as I can, but at the same time I want to be healthy and know I’m going to have to work into it.” Brantley credited his family and the Astros with helping him to navigate a rehab process that extended longer than he expected.

“I’ve said this before: I am human at the end of the day,” Brantley said. “I wanted nothing more than to be out there with my team from day one. Everybody knows it in this locker room. At the same time, I thank my wife, my kids, the people that know me best for pushing me. Any player that’s been through major surgery or had troubles coming back from surgery, it’s not easy. Sometimes it’s more mentally tough than physically tough. But again, thank you to my teammates and organization for getting me to this point.”

So far that description sounds about with his usage. He started two, then sat one, and is then back in on Saturday. Expect his playing time to be similar to a strong-side platoon bat.

Carter Kieboom: Started in nine of 11 games since being promoted. I wonder if he is finally healthy. In just 36 PA he has 3 HR. Also in AAA, he hit a ball 110 mph which is career high. Finally, his launch angle is up to a career-high 19 degrees. There are signs of improvement but I’m not sure how much I buy into the small sample. An interesting player to monitor.

Kole Calhoun: Eight straight starts as Cleveland’s first baseman while hitting .263/.341/.438 with 3 HR in 91 PA.

Mitch Haniger: Since returning from the IL, Haniger has started every other day. I’m not sure what is left in the 32-year-old’s tank. So far this season he has a career-low walk rate (6%) and HR/FB rate (8%). He’s a tough start until he becomes a lineup regular.

Connor Joe: Started in 12 of the last 13 games but not doing much else with 9 HR, 3 SB, and a .245 AVG on the season. Deep-league bench bat.

Jacob Young: Six straight starts in center field. Across three minor league levels, he was hitting .305/.376/.418 with 6 HR and 39 SB. I’m not sure he’s a major league hitter but if he goes on a hot streak, I could see him steal a half dozen bases in a week.

Lenyn Sosa: The 23-year-old is a batting average (.191 AVG) and on-base (1% BB%) drain, but he can hit for power (5 HR in 119 PA). In AAA these past two seasons, he has a .296 AVG in 2022 and a .271 AVG in 2023 but a combined .173 AVG in the majors. He has been better in his last call-up with a .277 AVG but in just 49 PA.

Ceddanne Rafaela: The 22-year-old projects to be one of the most MLB-ready prospects to get promoted this week. Here are his Steamer600 (ROS) comps.

The issue right now is playing time. He’s only been in three games while only starting in one. If a regular, a must-roster.

Catchers

Mitch Garver: Continues to start every game while hitting .269/.359/.505 with 13 HR on the season.

Gabriel Moreno: Starting about three-quarters of the time while hitting .284/.327/.411 with 6 HR and 4 SB.

Austin Wells: Just promoted to the Yankees. In the minors this season, he was hitting .240/.333/.442 with 17 HR and 7 SB. It’s not obvious how much he’ll play with two other catchers on the team.

Starting pitchers

Kyle Harrison: One great start (6 IP, 11 K, 0 ER) and one clunker (5 IP, 5 K, 4 HR, 6 ER) has Harrison as a tough guy to roster. He can strikeout batters by the boatload, but his high-usage fastball (~70%) gives up a ton of flyballs so home runs can be an issue. Also, he can become predictable since the only other pitch he throws regularly is a curve.

Cristopher Sánchez: Continues to put up great numbers (3.48 ERA, 3.30 xFIP, 8.3 K/9, 1.04 WHIP, 58% GB%).

Griffin Canning: While home runs have been an issue (1.6 HR/9), the rest of his game has stood out (10.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 3.73 xFIP).

Jordan Wicks: While Wicks has struggled a bit with walks in his first two games (3.6 BB/9), he is now a must-roster in probably all formats. He’s good, going deep into games, and on a competitive team. There is not much more to ask for.

Zack Thompson: Since debuting his slider/cutter in late July, he has a 2.88 ERA (3.54 xFIP), 10.1 K/9, and 1.28 WHIP in seven games, four starts. I’m all in at this point.

Brandon Pfaadt: Since returning from the minors, he has been better by mainly dropping his walk rate from 3.5 BB/9 to 2.4 BB/9 and raising his groundball rate from 27% to 34%. He has a reasonable two-step next week (vs COL, at CHC).

Andre Jackson: In three starts with the Pirates, he has a 3.95 ERA (3.95 xFIP), 11.9 K/9, and 1.32 WHIP (4.6 BB/9). The major adjustment is throwing a curve (16% SwStr%, 80% GB%). He could double its 11% usage and even see more improvement.

Tanner Houck: He’s dealt with an unlucky 67% LOB% pushing his ERA a run higher than his xFIP (4.93 vs 3.92). While not great, there aren’t many better options available.

Tylor Megill: Before his last demotion, Megill had a 4.4 BB/9 leading to a 5.29 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP. Since his last promotion, he has the walk rate down at 2.8 BB/9 with the highest strikeout rate of the season (8.4 K/9). He’s also throwing 1 mph harder. The problem is that he is getting hit around with a 1.8 HR/9 and .378 BABIP so his ERA and WHIP are inflated. I’d like to see a couple more starts before buying in. In deeper leagues, he might have to get stashed now before others pick him up.

Slade Cecconi: Coming into Saturday, he had a 2.57 ERA and ended the day with a 4.44 ERA (6 ER and 3 IP) which is right in line with a 4.69 xFIP. So far, he looks to be a low-strikeout, low-walk pitcher. They have some use against the right opponent.

Jake Irvin: Another good STUFFF guy but his 3.7 BB/9 makes him nearly unrosterable with the 1.38 WHIP and 4.35 ERA (5.10 xFIP). Streamable against weaker teams but faces the Dodgers next week.

Mason Miller: The biggest issue with Miller is that he’s prepping to return to the majors as a glorified middle-reliever. He just had a perfect game going and was only allowed to go three innings. Having no chance for a Win and limited strikeouts makes him a tough roster.

Matt Manning: The STUFFF metrics love Manning and that he has a 3.62 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. I don’t buy the .212 BABIP will stick and expect regression towards his 5.34 xFIP.

Ryan Pepiot: While he’s thrown fine (1.29 ERA, 3.65 xFIP, 0.71 WHIP, 9.0 K/9), his status in the rotation remains up in the air. Currently, he’s back in AAA.

Darius Vines: After a great debut (6 IP, 5 K, and 2 ER), he was demoted back to the minors. In AAA, Vines posted a 2.86 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 7.9 K/9.

Brandon Williamson: On the COVID IL so he’ll miss the second start of this week’s two-step. In the first start, he was fine (5 K, 0 BB, 3 ER, and 6 H in 6 IP).

Jesse Scholtens: Another low ERA (3.97) is from when he was a reliever. As a starter, he has a 4.83 ERA (5.02 xFIP), 6.2 K/9, and 1.44 WHIP. Try to ignore.

Cal Quantrill: Hard pass on the 6.16 ERA (5.55 xERA), 1.51 WHIP, and 4.9 K/9. Not one of his six pitches has a swinging-strike rate over 10%.

Peter Lambert: I have no idea why a Rockies starter with a deserving 4.95 ERA is being rostered. None.

Relief Pitchers: Saves-Based Ranks

Tanner Scott: Good reliever who is the closer.

Trevor May: Below-average reliever who is the closer.

JoJo Romero: Decent reliever who may have part of a closer’s role.

Danny Coulombe: Great reliever who is the backup closer.

Hunter Harvey: Good reliever who is the backup closer.

Justin Topa: Good reliever who is a couple of steps from closing.