Now we’re officially in full fantasy playoff mode. Let’s see if we can ever-so-slightly improve our teams.
Let’s dive in.
Adds
The waiver wire is thin with talent at this point in the year, but let’s try to find one hitter and one pitcher who can give you some help this week with your playoff matchup.
A quick reminder to give Connor Joe a look, he gets three home games this week and then a four-game series against the Phillies who have three starters who are solid matchups for opposing hitters.
Patrick Wisdom (1B, 3B, OF ChC)
I wrote about Wisdom a while back when he first burst on the scene, and he’s back at it again. Wisdom is still hovering just over 50% owned and carries a .369 wOBA and 47.3% hard-hit rate on the season, which are both well above average.
Wisdom will probably hurt your batting average in categories leagues, but he brings the pop. Since 10 August, Wisdom carries a .921 OPS, most of which comes from his .630 slugging percentage. He bats clean up for a not-so-great Cubs team, but if you’re in need of a bat for the playoffs Wisdom could provide a nice spark for you.
Carlos Carrasco (SP NYM)
Carrasco got off to a rocky start since coming off the IL but has settled in nicely recently. Over his six starts, he carries a 6.94 ERA which looks gross, but if you look under the hood the future looks brighter. His 3.81 SIERA suggests that the ERA number is inflated, and across his last two starts against two of the best teams in baseball in the Dodgers and Giants Carrasco has a 3.75 ERA with just under a strikeout per inning.
He’s still under 70% owned so he might be available in your league. He gets two starts this week one of which is against the Marlins which is a great matchup, you just have to hope he doesn’t get blown up by the hot Yankees.
Two-Start Pitchers
It’s lining up to be a thin week of two-start pitchers, but nonetheless, look at starting or streaming these guys next week.
Drops
If we’re adding guys, we need to drop guys.
This might be a hot take, but Adam Frazier (2B, OF SD)
He’s batting toward the bottom of the Padres lineup and since coming to the Padres at the trade deadline is batting .221 with a 49 wRC+. The league average wRC+ is 100, so he’s been performing more than 50% below the league average. In that same time frame, his hard-hit rate is 23.3% which is very low. I’m fine cutting ties with Frazier.
James Karinchak (RP Cle)
If his poor performance wasn’t enough to drop him, he got demoted to AAA.
Madison Bumgarner (SP Ari)
Nothing looks good for Bumgarner anymore, despite him having a good outing a few starts ago against the Phillies. The swings and misses are not there and he’s been walking a few too many batters for my liking.
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 & Instagram @SharpMoneyCo.
Photo by Rich Schultz