Waiver Wired: Waiver Wired: Travis Time
Memorial Day weekend is upon us. This is often referred to as the first major barometer of the season. Teams are more than a quarter of the way through their respective schedules, so we’re getting past the point of small samples and seeing real trends develop. Depending on where you sit right now, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.
We’re looking at a bunch of players differently than we did back in March. Probably the biggest theme of the season so far has been struggling big-name pitchers. If you have Dallas Keuchel, Matt Harvey, Chris Archer, Sonny Gray, and Michael Wacha, you know this very well. We might be witnessing breakout seasons from post-hype players like Jackie Bradley, Jr., Marcell Ozuna, Nick Castellanos, and Drew Pomeranz. Shiny new toys are nice and all, but progress isn’t always a straight line with young players.
These early-season performances are shaking up my going-forward rankings, but a lot can change between now and September. At the very least, now is a good time to take a look at your roster and recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Oh, and also to maybe sit on the beach and/or have a cookout with friends and family. See you back here next week.
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MIXED LEAGUES
Trea Turner 2B, Nationals (Yahoo: 33 percent owned)
It’s almost time. Hopefully, anyway. We’re getting close to the time where the Nationals will ensure Turner won’t get a full year of service time this season. It seems sort of silly for a team who is fighting tooth and nail with the Mets to win the National League East, but what can you do. Danny Espinosa has a solid glove and has been drawing walks, but he’s batting just .199 with a .581 OPS in 46 games. Meanwhile, Turner continues to impress with Triple-A Syracuse by batting .306/.372/.447 with 15 extra-base hits (including three homers) while going 15-for-15 in steals over 43 games. Steals are down in MLB this year, which makes his arrival that much more exciting. He’s worth owning, but obviously he’d be a lot more interesting near the top of the order and that’s probably not going to happen right away.
Michael Saunders OF, Blue Jays (Yahoo: 42 percent owned)
OK, so maybe I was a year late on Saunders. Coming off a lost season due to a freak knee injury, the 29-year-old has been Toronto’s best hitter so far this season. That’s quite a feat in a lineup which includes the likes of defending AL MVP Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Troy Tulowitzki. Saunders went deep again on Wednesday and is now batting .312/.379/.567 with nine home runs through 41 games. This includes four home runs in his last seven games, which has earned him a promotion to the cleanup spot. I was intrigued to see what he could do in a better hitting environment and we are finally getting to see it. It would be nice to see the home runs translate to more RBI (he has just 17 of them so far, but the Jays’ offense can’t be this underwhelming forever, right? There’s an injury history here, but Saunders should be owned in most leagues at this point.
Kevin Gausman SP/RP, Orioles (Yahoo: 47 percent owned)
Gausman is still in search of his first win, but don’t let that distract you from what really matters. He’s been excellent so far. Flashing big-time velocity, the 25-year-old owns a 2.70 ERA and 30/8 K/BB ratio in 36 2/3 innings through his first six starts. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five of them. The control has been better than ever and he’s inducing plenty of swinging strikes. The split-change is a huge weapon for him and he’s showing flashes with his breaking ball. Sure, the league and ballpark makes his task more difficult, but he appears ready to take off. This might be last call for him in mixed leagues.
Will Smith RP, Brewers (Yahoo: 16 percent owned)
Smith seemingly had all the momentum to begin the season in the Brewers’ closer role, but he tore the LCL in his right knee late in spring training and Jeremy Jeffress got the opportunity instead. Jeffress has done just fine in his absence, by the way. He has a 2.05 ERA in 22 appearances while going 12-for-13 in save opportunities. You’d like to see some more strikeouts (he has 15 in 22 innings), but he’s throwing strikes and inducing plenty of grounders. Despite Jeffress’ success, I think it’s worth stashing Smith. The southpaw began a minor league rehab assignment on Tuesday and should join the Brewers’ bullpen by mid-June. Brewers manager Craig Counsell talked about playing the matchups in the ninth inning prior to the injury and there’s a chance we could see that when Smith returns. The rebuilding Brewers could also seek a trade involving Jeffress as we move closer to the deadline. Smith can help fantasy teams even if he isn’t getting saves. Only six relievers (min. 50 IP) had a higher strikeout percentage last season. That matters if you are trying to maximize your innings.
Devon Travis 2B, Blue Jays (Yahoo: 29 percent owned)
I recommended stashing Travis four weeks ago and it’s worth mentioning him again after he was officially activated from the disabled list on Wednesday. The Blue Jays brought him along slowly after multiple shoulder surgeries, but he swung the bat well on his minor league rehab assignment and Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said that he’s expected to play pretty much every day at second base now that he’s back. While he batted eighth in his return Wednesday, Gibbons indicated that he could quickly move to the top of the lineup. The Blue Jays have gone through some surprising struggles recently, but this would obviously be an appealing situation for him. In case you forgot, the 25-year-old batted .304/.361/.498 with eight homers and three steals in 62 games as a rookie last season.
Julio Urias SP, Dodgers (Yahoo: 15 percent owned)
It’s happening. Alex Wood has been pushed back to Monday due to left triceps soreness, so the Dodgers are calling up Urias to make his major league debut Friday against the Mets. One of the game’s top prospects, the 19-year-old Urias has posted a 1.10 ERA and 44/8 K/BB ratio in 41 innings through seven starts and one relief appearance this season with Triple-A Oklahoma City. This includes 27 consecutive scoreless innings. He’ll be the first teenager to pitch for the Dodgers since Fernando Venezuela in 1980.
The Dodgers have been extremely careful about Urias’ workload — he has never thrown more than 87 2/3 innings in a season — so the thought had been that he would come to the majors as a reliever. That’s almost certainly where he’ll wind up soon, as it’s unlikely he’ll see a significant jump in innings this year. Look at him as a stop-gap, especially with Hyun-Jin Ryu (Yahoo: 19 percent) nearing his return. By the way, Ryu makes for a nice stash if you have a DL spot open. I’m not dropping anyone super important for Urias, but it will be fun to give him a try while we wait to see how things shake out.
Leonys Martin OF, Mariners (Yahoo: 31 percent owned)
I liked Martin going into this year as a cheap speed option, but here he is with a career-high nine home runs in just 165 plate appearances. This includes a walk-off homer against the Athletics on Tuesday night. What the heck is going on here? And more importantly, are we just looking at a hot streak or a legitimate progression? As Jason Churchill points out, Martin’s set-up at the plate looks different that his days with the Rangers. While he’s striking out more, he’s drawing more walks and generating a ton of power and hard contact. Sure, maybe his 21.4 percent HR/FB rate (per FanGraphs) isn’t sustainable, but that his fly ball rate is up to 43.8 percent (nearly 14 points higher than his career average) suggests that maybe we are looking at a different player. By the way, Martin still has that speed that I mentioned earlier and he’s been hitting leadoff in recent days. He’s worth a buy in most formats at this point. Hopefully his hamstring issue from Wednesday turns out to be a minor one.
Joey Gallo 3B/OF, Rangers (Yahoo: 39 percent owned)
I stashed Gallo in the Yahoo Friends and Family league as soon as I heard about his call-up. My team could use some power, especially from a corner infield spot, but I really have no idea what to expect here. The promotion came as a bit of a surprise, as the 22-year-old just returned from a hamstring injury last week, but the Rangers needed a bat with Shin-Soo Choo and Drew Stubbs both hitting the disabled list. I don’t really need to introduce you to Gallo here. We all know about the massive power, but he struck out in 46.3 percent of his plate appearances over two stints with the Rangers last season. He struck out a 39.5 percent clip in Triple-A. We have at least seen some progress on that front this year, as he posted a .265/.415/.639 line batting in Triple-A while striking out in 22.6 percent of his plate appearances. The big question is how much he’ll play. Well, he hasn’t made a start yet. But with Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland struggling, something has to give here eventually. Gallo is a fun lottery ticket.
Michael Fulmer SP, Tigers (Yahoo: 11 percent owned)
You never know what you are going to get with young pitchers, but wow, Fulmer was pretty amazing in his last start against the Rays. Acquired from the Mets in the Yoenis Cespedes deal, the 23-year-old struck out 11 batters over seven innings of one-run ball while allowing just four hits and one walk. Comfortably sitting in the high-90s with his fastball, he induced 20 swinging strikes. Perhaps the most encouraging part of his performance was the heavy usage of his changeup. I think we’ll continue to see ups and down here and the Tigers will be careful with his workload, so he might not have a steady rotation spot, but I think it’s worth giving him a whirl on Friday against the Athletics.
Shopping at the five-and-dime:
(Players owned in under 10 percent of Yahoo leagues)
Brandon Guyer OF, Rays (Yahoo: 9 percent owned)
Guyer had a sneaky good season last year, so I was disappointed to see that there were real questions about his role coming into this season. The 33-year-old made the most out of limited playing time in April and has thrived as Tampa Bay’s regular leadoff man this month with Logan Forsythe sidelined while putting together a strong .318/.417/.542 batting line with five home runs and 13 RBI through 127 plate appearances. After leading the AL with 24 hit-by-pitches last season, he’s tops in the majors with 13 of them so far this year. What, your league doesn’t have hit-by-pitches as a category? Get with the program. Seriously, while Guyer has mostly been known as a lefty masher during his career, maybe it’s time to see what he can do with regular playing time.
Wilmer Flores 2B/3B/SS, Mets (Yahoo: 2 percent owned)
The Mets were dealt a difficult blow earlier this week when it was revealed that Lucas Duda is suffering from a stress fracture in his lower back. There’s no clear timetable for his return, but David Wright dealt with a similar issue in 2011 and ended up missing around nine weeks. In other words, it’s going to be a while. Eric Campbell has received most of the playing time this week, but Flores is expected to be the primary option at first base when he’s activated from the disabled list this week. The 24-year-old was batting just .180 with one home run and a .535 OPS in 19 games prior to hitting the DL with a hamstring strain earlier this month, but don’t forget that he had 16 home runs in 137 games last season. His pop and multi-position eligibility should be useful in deeper leagues.
Alex Bregman SS, Astros (Yahoo: 3 percent owned)
Many fantasy owners (your humble host included) have been counting down the days before A.J. Reed will make his way to the majors, but it’s now possible that Bremen will beat him there. Closing in on his one-year anniversary of being drafted No. 2 overall, the 22-year-old has shown surprising power at the Double-A level this season while batting .333/.432/.683 with 12 home runs and 32 RBI over 33 games. He has more walks (18) than strikeouts (12) and has also swiped three bags. Most importantly for our purposes, he has made five straight starts at third base, so he might not be long for the minors. Whether we see a call-up in the near future depends on how that transition goes and what Colin Moran does at the major league level. But this is an intriguing situation to speculate on, especially considering the eligibility at shortstop.
