Waiver Wire Report (Week 26)

Congrats for making to the season’s end and hopefully I’ve been of some help during the season. I’ll see everyone next season. -Jeff

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (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.

Hitters

Lane Thomas: Still just hitting like crazy with Washington (.287/.383/.517 with 6 HR and 4 SB).

Gavin Lux: He’s started 12 of 13 games while hitting .421/.522/.605 in September. The key factor is to see if Lux’s playing time changes once Chris Taylor is back in the outfield mix.

Yoshi Tsutsugo: While not starting all the time (11 of last 14 games), he’s been an above-average hitter since joining the Pirates (.295/.376/.642 with 8 HR).

Lewin Díaz: Since becoming a full-time player after Aguilar’s injury, he’s been a great source of power (6 HR, .247 ISO) but not batting average (.213) and on-base rate (.247).

Nick Gordon: He’s started six straight games playing at shortstop and outfield. With 10 steals in 193 PA, he’s probably the best available speed option.

Yandy Díaz: He’s starting every day while hitting OK (.257/.356/.387 with 12 HR). His power is up in the second half (.082 ISO to .201 ISO) since he’s dropped his groundball rate from 56% to 47%.

Kyle Farmer: Nothing exciting here. He starts every day while hitting .260/.313/.409 with 15 HR and 2 SB. An accumulator.

Harrison Bader: While he’s hit better in the second half, .770 OPS vs .748 OPS, almost all the change is BABIP driven (.229 vs .339). He’s fine.

LaMonte Wade Jr.: He only faces righties and the Giants are scheduled to face five of them next week. When in the lineup, he’s an all-around contributor (.264/.339/.510 with 18 HR and 6 SB).

Jesús Sánchez: He’s providing some power (.246/.314/.493 with 13 HR) and not much else.

Sam Hilliard: He’s been on fire for the last two weeks (.400/.444/.680 with 2 HR), but has only started eight of 12 games during that time. Such a gamble.

Jose Siri: Even though he’s hitting great (.306/.342/.639 with 4 HR and 3 SB), the Astros outfield is loaded even with Brantley on the IL, so Siri sits around a third of the time.

Freddy Galvis: A consistent below-average major league contributor (.246/.307/.412 with 13 HR and 1 SB) who is at least playing every day.

Andy Ibáñez: He has just returned from the IL but is starting every day while hitting OK (.261/.309/.403 with 6 HR and 0 SB).

Hunter Dozier: He’s started 10 straight games while hitting .212/.283/.385 with 15 HR and 3 SB on the season. His early-season thumb injury might be healed since he hit a .586 OPS in the first half and .768 OPS in the second.

Tyrone Taylor: He has started twice since coming off the IL. While he’s provided some power (12 HR) and speed (5 SB), he just doesn’t play enough to provide much fantasy value.

Garrett Hampson: While the Rockies have a few more home games left, Hampson has started only two of the last three games with Raimel Tapia off the IL.

Matt Duffy: He has started eight of the last nine games while hitting .272/.345/.366. An AVG-only play.

Andrés Giménez: He was only starting about half the time before Amed Rosario came off the IL. With Gimenez’s limited production (.206/.271/.329), find another option elsewhere.

Taylor Ward: I guess there might be some reason to add him before he comes off his rehab assignment, but I can’t think of it.

Joshua Fuentes: While the Rockies are at home, Fuentes hasn’t been on the team since September 8th. Try to roster players when sober … please.

Danny Santana: What???? He is only hitting .181/.252/.345 and on the COVID IL. Why?

Catchers

Keibert Ruiz: Starting about two-thirds of the time while hitting .302/.343/.397.

Elias Díaz: The regular Rockies catcher always has value when there are home games.

Tucker Barnhart: A fine catcher. While playing about two-thirds of the time, he’s hitting .255/.325/.381 with 7 HR.

Danny Jansen: Alejandro Kirk (.083/.185/.208) has struggled to hit over the past month, so Jansen (.212/.293/.424) is catching about half the time.

Roberto Pérez: He’s starting about half the time while hitting a dismal .148/.248/.328 on the season.

Austin Nola: On the IL for the rest of the season.

CBS Hitter Rostership Rates
Name Prev Roster% Current Roster% Change
Garrett Hampson CF COL 39% 41% 2%
Gavin Lux SS LAD 35% 40% 5%
Elias Diaz C COL 35% 37% 2%
Tucker Barnhart C CIN 35% 36% 1%
Hunter Dozier 3B KC 32% 35% 3%
Keibert Ruiz C WAS 31% 33% 2%
Jesus Sanchez RF MIA 31% 33% 2%
Kyle Farmer SS CIN 31% 32% 1%
Austin Nola C SD 25% 26% 1%
Harrison Bader CF STL 23% 24% 1%
LaMonte Wade RF SF 21% 22% 1%
Lane Thomas CF WAS 19% 26% 7%
Yandy Diaz 1B TB 18% 19% 1%
Freddy Galvis 3B PHI 15% 16% 1%
Andres Gimenez SS CLE 12% 13% 1%
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo 1B PIT 6% 7% 1%
Josh Fuentes 3B COL 6% 7% 1%
Danny Jansen C TOR 6% 7% 1%
Sam Hilliard CF COL 5% 6% 1%
Jose Siri RF HOU 4% 8% 4%
Lewin Diaz 1B MIA 4% 6% 2%
Andy Ibanez 4% 4% 0%
Nick Gordon CF MIN 3% 6% 3%
Tyrone Taylor LF MIL 3% 4% 1%
Taylor Ward RF LAA 3% 4% 1%
Matt Duffy 3B CHC 2% 4% 2%
Roberto Perez C CLE 2% 3% 1%
Danny Santana 1B BOS 2% 3% 1%

Starters

Brady Singer: His .346 BABIP pushed up his 1.53 WHIP and 4.72 ERA. In September, his BABIP is at a reasonable .277 with a 1.13 WHIP and 3.86 ERA. He is lineuped up for a nice two-step at Cleveland and versus Minnesota.

Alex Cobb: He was great before going on the IL and has been great since returning. Not many pitchers have a 9.5 K/9 and 54% GB%. Great combination. He takes his 3.46 ERA and 1.23 WHIP to Texas for one last start this season.

Tyler Anderson: He is coming off a two-start week, with his last start at the Angels. He’s a fine streaming option.

Jon Lester: Lester has been a reasonable starter now that he’s not throwing his four-seamer as much.

If only someone had suggested this adjustment earlier in the season.

Lester is lined up to face the Cubs this week.

Shane Baz: In his first start, he was fine (5 IP, 5 K, 2 HR, and 2 ER) and faces the Yankees next. While he has a great future ahead of him, I’ll roster others before him.

Miles Mikolas: Last week he out-dueled Brett Anderson in Milwaukee. The two square off again but in St. Louis this week. A .256 BABIP allows him to keep a reasonable 1.18 WHIP and 4.15 ERA. I guess he’s an option, but not a good one.

Wily Peralta: It’s fun seeing him get by on just a 52% GB% and nothing else. While a .238 BABIP has his ERA down at 3.04, I trust his near 5.00 ERA estimators when he faces the White Sox next week.

Erick Fedde: Some pitch mix changes have pushed his strikeout rate up to 10.4 K/9 and his walk rate down to 0.5 BB/9 for September. While his 1.16 WHIP is reasonable, a 3.8 HR/9 has his monthly ERA up at 5.21. While he’s interesting going forward, I’m not sure I want to start him against Boston next week.

Adonis Medina: He makes his second major league start today. His last start was 69 pitches or 3.2 innings where he allow two walks and four hits while hitting two batters. The only positive is that he is scheduled to face Miami next week.

Josh Rogers: His ERA estimators are near 5.00, but .211 BABIP has his ERA down at 2.16. I don’t trust he can keep up the mirage when he faces a hungry Red Sox team next week.

Jake Woodford: He’s starting today, but isn’t scheduled to throw next week. Currently has a 4.05 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, and 6.4 K/9 as a starter.

CBS Starter Rostership Rates
Name Prev Roster% Current Roster% Change
Tyler Anderson SP SEA 37% 41% 4%
Brady Singer SP KC 30% 34% 4%
Jon Lester SP STL 25% 36% 11%
Alex Cobb SP LAA 25% 29% 4%
Shane Baz SP TB 22% 41% 19%
Miles Mikolas SP STL 22% 26% 4%
Erick Fedde SP WAS 13% 18% 5%
Wily Peralta SP DET 12% 15% 3%
Jake Woodford RP STL 3% 6% 3%
Adonis Medina RP PHI 3% 6% 3%
Josh Rogers SP WAS 3% 13% 10%

Relievers – Saves based ranks

Michael Fulmer: Good reliever who is the closer.

Joe Barlow: Good reliever who is the closer.

Chris Stratton: OK reliever who is the closer.

Dominic Leone: Good reliever who sharing the closer’s role

Drew Steckenrider: Good reliever who sharing the closer’s role.

Aaron Ashby: Good long reliever with no chance for a Save.

CBS Reliever Rostership Rates
Name Prev Roster% Current Roster% Change
Drew Steckenrider RP SEA 17% 19% 2%
Michael Fulmer RP DET 16% 22% 6%
Joe Barlow RP TEX 15% 19% 4%
Chris Stratton RP PIT 8% 13% 5%
Aaron Ashby RP MIL 6% 8% 2%
Dominic Leone RP SF 1% 3% 2%





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.

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Paul Sporermember
2 years ago

Great work this year, Jeff!!