The waiver-wire never seemingly gets easier, especially when you’re desperate for players to help you make a playoff push or even a last piece to a championship caliber team. We’re getting closer to playoffs with each passing day, so it’s crucial you hit on your free agent pickups. We’re going to help you HERE!
10-Team Leagues
Danny Salazar, CLE SP (62% ownership), FAAB Bid -$20 – We’re sure a lot of owners gave up on Salazar after he pitched poor and landed on the DL. We’re here to tell you to buy in NOW! Salazar is about ready to start a rehab assignment, so we should see him sometime in the middle of July return to the bigs. His peripheral numbers suggest he’s pitched decently this year. His K-percentage against right-handers alone is 36.6 and 30.9 against both sides of the dish for the year, so he’s still missing plenty of bats. He’s also allowed less than 30-percent hard contact, which is another red flag as to why we should the Salazar of old – health permitting – when he returns from the DL.
Carlos Gomez, TEX OF (39% ownership), FAAB Bid - $17 – In the six games Gomez has been back from injury, he’s been en fuego. He’s belted five homeruns in the aforementioned six games, helping him post an extremely gaudy 1.087 SLG and 1.527 OPS. If this recent stretch of baseball is any indication he’s reverting back to the player his was for Milwaukee from 2013-’14, than fantasy owners need to add him immediately.
Ben Gamel, SEA OF (17% ownership), FAAB Bid - $16 – We understand ownership percentages aren’t accurate because some people stop paying attention and things of that nature, but Gamel only being 17-percent owned is insane. Whoever thought this cat would slow down is wrong, as he’s hitting .407 over his last 30 days. In june alone he’s hitting .411 and has posted a .999 OPS, .426 wOBA and .493 BABIP. The BABIP suggests he’ll come back to earth sooner rather than later, but he’s lightning in a bottle right now.
12-Team Leagues
Trey Mancini, BAL 1B,OF (45% ownership), FAAB Bid - $13 – Boom Boom as they call him has honestly been the brightest spot in the Orioles lineup all season long. He’s striking out at a 27.1-percent clip, which is something we expected, and that isn’t good, but he’s hitting for the power we also expected AND he’s hitting for average as well. His slugging percentage to date is .564, which would rank him seventh in the entire American League if he were qualified. When he makes contact with the ball he hits it hard. 15-percent of the time he’s hitting the baseball soft compared to 35-percent hard contact.
Curtis Granderson, NYM OF (24% ownership), FAAB Bid - $7 – Look who’s beginning to heat up! Granderson has flown way under the radar over the last 30 days, hitting .338 with five homeruns and 11 RBI. In June alone, his numbers across the board have skyrocketed. Granderson’s keen eye at the dish has always been a large part of his success, so seeing his BB rate in May at 11.8 was less than ideal, but in June it’s north of 20. His slash line alone is .313/.450/.688 with a 1.138 OPS and a .467 wOBA. If Granderson can continue to produce at this sort of level, he deserves to be owned in all formats.
Sean Newcomb, ATL SP (20% ownership), FAAB Bid - $7 – The Braves rookie has been impressive as hell over his first three Major League starts, posting quality outings in all three. He posted a sub-3.00 ERA at Triple-A before his call up, so this isn’t a fluke. There are two things that Newcomb has done since being called up that make the start he’s on seem sustainable. He’s induced 49-percent of contact made on the ground and only 22-percent of it is hard-hit. Also let’s note that all three starts have been made at the very hitting-friendly SunTrust Park, so he may even improve going forward.
15-Team Leagues
Huston Street, LAA RP (16% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5 – The good old speculation saves add can be pain in the ass, but if you’re hurting in the saves department it’s one way to approach the situation. Bud Norris is currently on the DL, but should be back sometime at the end of June or beginning of July. The Angels have already come out and spoke on Street having to earn high-leverage innings, but the 324 saves he’s notched throughout his career says he won’t have much of a problem doing so.
Nick Pivetta, PHI SP (3% ownership), FAAB Bid - $2-4 – After getting off to a really rocky start in 2017, Pivetta has really settled in in June. He’s struck out 19 batters over his previous two starts (13 innings) and has posted a 2.41 and 2.71 FIP in those two contests respectively. After allowed a .482 wOBA in April and a .408 mark in May, he’s limited opponents to an impressive mark of .290 this month. He was the Phillies 12th ranked prospect coming into the season, so he had upside, it just took him a bit to showcase it. He’s definitely a dart in deeper formats and if you’re really desperate, he could be someone worth streaming his next start, which falls on Monday versus the Diamondbacks.
Paul DeJong, STL 2B, 3B (1% ownership), FAAB Bid - $2 – When Kolten Wong comes back after the All-Star break, it’s likely that DeJong will slide into a reserve role or even back to the minors. That being said, it’ll be hard not to get him into the lineup if he continues raking. After his blast on Friday night, he’s now homered in two straight games and four times over his last seven contests. DeJong’s pop isn’t a fluke either, as he hit 35 homeruns between Double and Triple-A in 2016. What does him in and something he needs to work on is his strikeout rate. He’s striking out at an awful 34.8-percent clip on the year.
*ownership percentages courtesy of Yahoo
** FAAB bids based on $100 budget