Waiver Wired: Waiver Wired: Gray Matters
Blake Snell tossed five innings of one-run ball in his major league debut on April 23 against the Yankees before being promptly sent right back down to the minors. A long wait followed for Rays fans and fantasy owners, mostly due to service time, but the 23-year-old lefty is finally back in the majors and it might be good for this time.
After bursting onto the prospect scene last year with a dominant 1.41 ERA between three levels in the minors, Snell has posted a 3.29 ERA and 90/28 K/BB ratio in 63 innings over 12 starts this season with Triple-A Durham. He struck out 13 batters in 5 2/3 innings in his most recent start last Friday. Sounds like he’s ready.
Matt Andriese compiled a 2.82 ERA in seven starts before being moved to the bullpen, so he could easily get another chance at a rotation spot depending on how things shake out in the next couple of weeks, but I’m excited to see Snell get a long look here. He’s officially owned in 50 percent of Yahoo leagues as of Thursday morning, so you won’t find him among the names below, but you don’t need me to tell you to pick him up where he’s available.
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MIXED LEAGUES
Carlos Estevez RP, Rockies (Yahoo: 37 percent owned)
Jake McGee hit the disabled list over the weekend with left knee inflammation and Estevez has quickly emerged as his replacement by going a perfect 3-for-3 in save chances. After issuing seven walks in his first 8 1/3 innings in the majors, the hard-throwing 23-year-old has walked just three batters over his last 14 innings to go along with 17 strikeouts. He has thrown a lot more first-pitch strikes in that time and has also induced more whiffs. Perhaps he needed some time to get comfortable against major league hitters. Ups and downs are to be expected for a young pitcher, but Estevez has gotten off to a strong enough start in place of McGee to be a must-pickup in all leagues.
Steve Pearce 1B/2B/OF, Rays (Yahoo: 41 percent owned)
Pearce saw his stock take a tumble after a surprising 2014, but he’s forcing his way back on the mixed league radar right now. After going 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, and a walk on Wednesday against the Mariners, the 33-year-old is now batting .338/.415/.584 with nine homers and 24 RBI over 46 games this season. He’s sporting a .999 OPS at the moment, which is second in the majors (min. 150 PA) to Boston’s David Ortiz. Even with the improved plate discipline, it’s unfair to expect the lofty batting average to last, but this is a proven power bat who qualifies at three different positions. He’s a useful player to have around in most formats.
Jon Gray SP, Rockies (Yahoo: 37 percent owned)
Two Rockies pitchers in one week? I’m not sure this has happened before in this column, but Gray is worthy of your attention. While he owns a 4.70 ERA through 10 starts this season, his strikeout percentage (27.9 percent) ranks 11th among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched. As I said in the video above, that’s higher than the likes of David Price and Jake Arrieta. Armed with a mid-to-high 90s fastball and a wicked slider, his swinging strike percentage ranks 10th among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched. I know Coors Field is scary. If you want to skip those matchups, fine. But Gray’s next two starts will be on the road, first against the Marlins on Friday before visiting the Yankees next week. And yes, Yankee Stadium still isn’t a fun venue to pitch in, but their offense isn’t exactly intimidating these days. This is the perfect time to take a chance on the promising young right-hander.
Tim Anderson SS, White Sox (Yahoo: 24 percent owned)
I have my concerns about Anderson’s plate discipline, but you can understand why the White Sox are giving him a shot over Jimmy Rollins and Tyler Saladino as their primary shortstop. The speed is nice and all, but I was wondering how much upside he’d have to offer at the bottom of the lineup. Well, he has now batted leadoff in three straight games while going 6-for-16 with two doubles and a triple. Adam Eaton has thrived out of the No. 2 spot in that time, so the White Sox figure to stick with this arrangement for a little while. This certainly helps Anderson’s relevancy in the short-term. The 22-year-old swiped 49 bases in Double-A last year and was 11-for-15 in stolen base attempts over 55 games in Triple-A this year. Speed is hard to find this year, so he’s worth a look depending on need.
Zack Wheeler SP, Mets (Yahoo: 19 percent owned)
After a strong finish to 2014, Wheeler was looking like a breakout candidate going into last year. It didn’t happen. Wheeler had Tommy John surgery in the spring and also had his flexor pronator repaired. After more than a year of rehab, the 26-year-old is set to throw a one-inning simulated game next week before going out on a minor league rehab assignment. The Mets figure to keep him in the minors for the full 30 days, so he’s on track for a return shortly after the All-Star break. I’m generally conservative with pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery and Wheeler was never a great control pitcher to begin with, but there’s enough upside here to take a flier if you have a vacant DL spot. The league and division offers plenty of appealing matchups.
Brandon Moss 1B/OF, Cardinals (Yahoo: 40 percent owned)
I mentioned Matt Adams in this space last week, but his teammate Moss continues to slug his way back into relevance in mixed leagues. The 32-year-old has six homers this month alone and 15 in just 189 plate appearances overall. No player (min. 150 PA) has homered more frequently this season. Perhaps the lofty 27.3 HR/FB rate won’t continue, but he has posted the third-highest fly ball rate in the majors dating back to 2013. The power should be there when he’s in the lineup. Just don’t look for help on the batting average front.
Trevor Bauer SP/RP, Indians (Yahoo: 35 percent owned)
Bauer has been pretty good since moving back into the Indians’ rotation, posting a 3.47 ERA and 46/18 K/BB ratio in 57 innings over nine starts. The 25-year-old has allowed three earned runs or fewer in eight of them. He has a 3.04 ERA over his last seven starts and has walked two batters or fewer in five out of his last six. The control is improved and he’s sporting a career-high ground ball rate of 46.8 percent. I’m willing to surrender a few strikeouts for this new version of Bauer. His upcoming scheduled (White Sox on Friday followed by the Rays and Braves) makes him an intriguing add in most formats.
Shawn Kelley RP, Nationals (Yahoo: 37 percent owned)
Felipe Rivero RP, Nationals (Yahoo: 5 percent owned)
Nationals manager Dusty Baker doesn’t plan to commit to one option at closer with Jonathan Papelbon on the disabled list, but the mix-and-match plan didn’t work out so well on Wednesday. Matt Belisle gave up a double to Kris Bryant to lead off the ninth inning before Oliver Perez surrendered a go-ahead two-run homer to Anthony Rizzo. The Nationals ended up winning the game in extras, with Kelley tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings along the way. Baker promises to be careful about his workload due to his injury history, but Kelley remains the logical stash in this bullpen. The 32-year-old recently hit a bit of a rough patch, but he still has a 2.52 ERA and 35/6 K/BB ratio in 25 innings. Despite the lofty ERA, Rivero makes sense as the primary alternative here. The 24-year-old southpaw has 37 strikeouts and eight walks in 29 innings and has actually fared better versus right-handed batters than left-handed batters in his brief MLB career.
Shopping at the five-and-dime:
(Players owned in under 10 percent of Yahoo leagues)
Chris Young OF, Red Sox (Yahoo: 5 percent owned)
Young has received regular playing time in left field of late, but he’s still doing most of his damage against left-handed pitching. The veteran outfielder owns a 1.294 OPS versus southpaws compared to a .728 OPS vs. right-handers. Conveniently, the Red Sox are projected to face left-handed starters seven times in the span of nine games beginning on Saturday. This includes six straight games from Tuesday through Sunday. Young makes for a useful short-term addition in deeper mixed leagues. You can even feel pretty secure using him in weekly formats. Hopefully his quad issue from Wednesday night turns out to be minor.
Tyler Thornburg RP, Brewers (Yahoo: 7 percent owned)
Thornburg has quietly been one of the most dominant relievers in the game this season. Thanks in part to a spike in velocity, the 27-year-old owns a 2.70 ERA and 36/7 K/BB ratio in 26 2/3 innings. He hasn’t allowed a run since May 12 (a span of 12 2/3 innings) and hasn’t walked a batter in his last 10 appearances (spanning nine innings). He has fanned 37.6 percent of the batters he has faced this season, which ranks seventh among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched. Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith are ahead of him on the depth chart as far as save possibilities, but he can help fantasy owners even if he remains in a set-up role.
Mallex Smith OF, Braves (Yahoo: 6 percent owned)
I sort of missed that Smith has been pretty good over the past month and a half. Excuse the arbitrary endpoints and all, but after batting just .188 over his first 16 games in the majors, the 23-year-old owns a quality .273/.331/.445 batting line in 39 games since the start of May. He has cut down on his strikeouts while drawing more walks. And heck, maybe it’s not so arbitrary. It makes sense that he would need some time to adjust against major league pitching. Speed is the main reason to pay attention to Smith and he’s 11-for-17 in stolen base attempts thus far. That’s not an ideal success rate, but he’s perfect in his last five chances and the offense-starved Braves should continue to give him a green light. If you need an extra nudge, he has batted leadoff in three straight games.
Robbie Grossman OF, Twins (Yahoo: 6 percent owned)
The Indians could maybe use Grossman in their outfield right now. Just saying. After opting out of his minor league deal with Cleveland, the 26-year-old quickly latched on with the Twins and has produced a ridiculous .318/.453/.600 batting line with five homers and 15 RBI in 25 games since his promotion last month. We know Grossman isn’t this good. He was a .240 hitter in the majors coming into this season and he’s benefitting from a .373 BABIP right now. He’s inevitably going to slow down, but he’s still showing the patience that made him interesting with the Astros a couple of years ago. He also offers some pop and speed and has hit either second or third in each of the Twins’ last nine games. Give him a shot in deeper leagues.
