Waiver Wire Adds
Hitters
Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B Pit
I’m really excited to add Hayes right now. Ideally, I would’ve added him last week before he made his return from the IL but he’s still available in some shallower leagues. Hayes had a ton of hype coming into the season and started off looking great before finding himself on the IL after just two games. He’s come back with a bang already, going two for four with a triple in his first game back. I’d add him anywhere he’s available and go hard after him in terms of FAAB, the upside of getting him off waivers is league-winning potential. For reference, I think I’m going to try to add him in a redraft 12 team H2H points league and drop Josh Donaldson for him. Just a great, diverse skill set with Hayes.
Tyler O’Neill OF StL
Tyler “beefcake” O’Neill is sabermetric proof that having big biceps and tattoos leads to more power. In all seriousness, he is absolutely slugging this year. He also has perhaps the most 2021 Statcast profile of all-time, crushes the ball but strikes out 35% of the time. There are a bunch of injured outfielders right now so if O’Neill is available in your league scoop him up.
Jonathan Schoop 1B, 2B Det
I’m a little wary of advocating to add Schoop everywhere as we pretty much know who Schoop is at this point, but in deeper leagues, with deep rosters (think middle and corner infield spots) I think Schoop is worth an add. He’s going to strike out a lot but offers up some power, and he appears to be dialed in at the moment.
Starting Pitchers
Luis Garcia, Framber Valdez, and Jose Urquidy (Hou)
I’m tripling these Astros up, but if any and all are available in your league add them ASAP as possible. I’d rank them Valdez, Garcia, then Urquidy. I think Valdez and Garcia should be owned in all leagues and Urquidy in points leagues. The way the Astros’ rotation is shaking out I think these three are safe mainstays. Garcia has been pitching extremely well against top-tier teams as well. Urquidy just went six innings with nine strikeouts against the Red Sox in his first start back from the IL. Valdez has rewarded anyone who stashed him on the IL this year by posting 14 strikeouts in 11 innings against the Padres and Red Sox in his first two starts of the season. Whatever they do with pitchers in Houston it works, and save your foreign substance jokes for now.
Honorable mention: Alek Manoah (Tor). He’s widely owned, but he got roughed up a little bit by the Marlins in his second MLB start so if someone in your league panic dropped him or if he’s still available I’d grab him for his upside.
One of the most added pitchers I see is John Gant. Please don’t fall for the John Gant trick, in fact if you own him sell high on him if you can. He has a 5.65 SIERA compared to his 1.60 ERA and he has a K-BB% of 2.2%. The league average SIERA is around 3.94 and league average K-BB% is around 15%. These are really bad indicators of what could come for Gant. Unless he’s just breaking everything we know about what makes a pitcher good and sustainable, but I’d bet not.
Two-Start Pitchers
Robbie Ray (@ ChW, @ Bos)
Elieser Hernandez (Col, Atl)
Framber Valdez (@ Bos, @ Min)
Adbert Alzolay (@ SD, StL)
Dylan Cease (Tor, @ Det)
Drew Smyly (@ Phi, @ Mia)
Nick Pivetta (Mia, Tor)
Matthew Boyd (Sea, ChW)
Martin Perez (Hou, Tor)
Desperation only:
Jon Lester (@ TB, SF)
Kris Bubic (@ LAA, @ Oak)
Antonio Senzatela (@ Mia, @ Cin)
Closer Speculation
If you’re in a deeper categories league where you need to speculate on saves and are desperate, look at the Orioles bullpen. Cesar Valdez has been struggling and got demoted from the sole closer role. Take a look at Cole Sulser and Paul Fry. Sulser got the most recent save but it’s going to be a closer by committee. This is dangerous because it implies that the Orioles have to actually win a game, but I feel the pain of the closer speculators out there so give Sulser or Fry a shot.
Drops
Ozuna was arrested for aggravated assault by strangulation and battery and usually with these types of deals there’s speculation one way or the other but the police literally witnessed it happened, so I think it’s pretty safe to assume Ozuna won’t be playing baseball anytime soon. Keeping this to the theme of fantasy baseball Ozuna is a pretty easy drop. He’s facing multiple years of jail time so even in dynasty leagues I’d consider dropping him.
He had some elbow inflammation on his ramp up from Tommy John recovery so my guess is he’s done for the year. If you were IL-stashing him, let him go.
As mentioned above, he’s no longer the go-to Orioles closer.
Buy Low, Sell High
Buy low hitters
I’m putting Paul Goldschmidt on notice, there’s only so many more weeks I can keep calling him a buy low for underperforming.
Buy low pitchers
I think Luzardo is a great buy-low candidate. He just came back off the IL and still isn’t in the rotation but has looked really solid in his relief appearances and I’d bet he’s back in the rotation soon. Also, check out that K-BB% on Barnes.
Sell high hitters
Sell high pitchers
I simply cannot stress enough how big of a sell-high John Gant is. Sell sell sell!
Photo by Justin K. Aller
Fantasy expert, Adam Gruttadaro, is a guest contributor for Bat Flips and Nerds. Check out his website for more fantasy tips and follow him on Twitter.
While you’re here … check out the excellent podcast with John in conversation with Blue Jays & Twins hitting machine, Chris Colabello. Click on the photo below
