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Week 19 Waiver Wire: Catchers
It's Week 19. New York is getting ready for another heat wave - oh, I'm sorry, that's just the intensity of the anger towards Joe Girardi for reneging on his promise to play Alex Rodriguez during the last week of his career. Anyway, Girardi, a former catcher hasn't wilted under the heat. I wish I […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 18 Waiver Wire: Catchers
We've now flipped the calendar to August. Wait. In this age of smartphones, do we still actually use flip calendars? Anyhow, the trade deadline is in the rearview mirror and the biggest name catcher to be traded was Jonathan Lucroy, who is most definitely not on our list here. This is also a rough month […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoSandy Leon (CA, BOS) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 27% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Sandy Leon's not challenging Ted Williams anymore, but he's still hitting a robust .388 this season. While he's showing signs of falling to Earth, he's gotten at least a hit in six of his last 10 games. If you need a […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoDerek Norris (CA/1B, SD) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 32% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Derek Norris has slumped in July, seeing his average drop down below .200 again. He's still got the potential to do something, especially if the Padres continue trading off people before the deadline. He could do some damage in a hitter's […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoYasmani Grandal (CA, LAD) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 31% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Yasmani Grandal has been very disappointing average-wise, but if you have one need in your two-catcher league, it's power. He's got that. When he makes contact, the ball will fly over the fences more often than not. To boot, he's even […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 17 Waiver Wire: Catchers
We're in Week 17 now - the last week of July. It's amazing - seems just like yesterday that we were all excited about baseball starting up again. Now we're trying not to melt during this heat bubble that's engulfed much of the nation. Air conditioning has been our friend. Baseball has also been a […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 16 Waiver Wire: Catchers
The All-Star break is over and it's been hard to get back into the swing of things. Well, many of the catchers have been able to use that excuse for a large portion of the season. We're back looking for gold in all this patch of dirt. Anyway, we're in the second half of the season and […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 14 Waiver Wire: Catchers
It's Week 14 of the season and it's also the final full week before the All-Star Break. I think the All-Star catcher of the waiver wire would be J.T. Realmuto. He went from being an after-thought to crossing our cutoff line not once, but twice. Keep it up, J.T.! We're proud of you here at RotoBaller. […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoKurt Suzuki (CA, MIN) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 11% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Kurt Suzuki has quietly been hitting the cover off the ball lately. Over his past 15 games, the Twins’ backstop has a .415 average, and he's got a .279 average on this season. That's much better than many of the other […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 13 Waiver Wire: Catchers
We're in Week 13 of the season. Yes, there are people out there who are superstitious and think that 13 is an unlucky number. Surveying this group of catchers, it does seem like Jason Vorhees carved out a bloody swath. The victims include people like Francisco Cervelli, who has been bouncing on and off the […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 12 Waiver Wire: Catchers
We're in Week 12 of the season. A dozen. Wow. It's actually appropriate that we're at this number since only 12 catchers are at 70% or higher ownership in Fleaflicker. Then the dropoff is steep... with the next one at 46%. Yikes. The thing is, aside from people like Jonathan Lucroy, Salvador Perez, and Wilson […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 11 Waiver Wire: Catchers
This season continues to be a grim one for those who need good catchers on their team. Sure, Buster Posey just had a good series against the Brewers and is showing signs of actually being Buster Posey, but it literally took until the middle of June for any catcher to break double digits in home […]
Michael Griffin 8 years agoWeek 10 Waiver Wire: Catchers
We're now 10 weeks into the season and the state of catching still leaves a lot to be desired. As of this writing, there still has not been a catcher to crack the 10-homer mark and the top mark of 32 RBIs was 23 behind the Major League leader. One of the main reasons I […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWeek 9 Waiver Wire: Catchers
It's officially June, which hopefully means some bats will start heating up soon. Right now it's pretty rough out there in catcher land. There's only one regular catcher with an average well above .300 - Wilson Ramos. Sure, there are a couple out there that are close, but it's still a rough situation for those who […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoCameron Rupp (C, PHI) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Deep NL-Only Leagues, Two-Catcher Leagues OWNED IN: 4% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Cameron Rupp could help a LOT of lineups as a second catcher. He's hitting .282 with 29 hits, and while his two homers show a lack of power, he's hitting better than a lot of catchers right now, many of whom are established […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoFrancisco Cervelli (C, PIT) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 34% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Francisco Cervelli’s batting average and ownership numbers keep going down a bit (he was at .267 before Wednesday's game), but he should have no problem turning things around. With the lower quality of catching stats, you should be taking a bit more of […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoMatt Wieters (C, BAL) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 30% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Matt Wieters has been lurking under the surface, and now he's looking like he's ready to strike. His batting average has been on the rise— it was .288 heading into Wednesday's action. Better grab him now before everyone else starts to realize that […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWeek 8 Waiver Wire: Catcher
It's kind of appropriate that it feels like summer as I write this today. The temperature's in the red and so are the ownership levels of catchers on Fleaflicker. Week Eight is not great. It's like a bad day on the stock market - there's red all over as people seem to be cutting catchers. […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWeek 7 Waiver Wire: Catchers
In the next week or so, we're going to hit the quarter mark of the season ("What... We're already 1/4 finished? Noooo!"). There is still time for some catchers to turn it around, but that's dwindling away. The waiver wire pickings are still very strong, though. I'm still wondering why some of them are hanging […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWeek 6 Waiver Wire: Catchers
It's hard to believe that this is the sixth week of the baseball season. It seems like I had just started doing this column and I'm already halfway to a dozen of these. Many of the catchers out there also wish that they had more time - it hasn't been a great start for any […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWeek 5 Waiver Wire: Catchers
The first month of the season is usually filled with oddities. I'm not talking weather-related ones where it still feels like winter in May. For example, there was a stretch in the late 1980s when it seemed like Yankees catcher Don Slaught would always enter May hitting around .500. Of course, he'd wind up crashing […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoCatcher Waiver Wire Pickups & Adds: Week Four
It's Week Four and the days are definitely starting to heat up while the nights remain cool in many areas. Speaking of remaining cool, there are a lot of fantasy owners who are turning up their noses at many more-than-serviceable catchers on the waiver wire. Don't be snobs, guys. All of you can't have Buster […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoCatcher Waiver Wire Pickups & Adds: Week Three
Ah. Week 3 of the Waiver Wire... when April is beginning to head into May, the weather warming up even more - unless you live in Colorado and get three feet of snow dumped on you in the middle of the month - and certain players start heating up at the plate and showing they […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoJ.T. Realmuto (CA, MIA) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 26% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Fleaflicker owners haven't been dashing to scoop up the running catcher yet. J.T. Realmuto has begun the 2016 campaign hitting .280 and driving in a couple of runs. He'll wind up with double digits in steals, so go pick him up as your CA2, […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoYadier Molina (CA, STL) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 35% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Yadier Molina just isn’t CA1 material anymore. He's been productive in terms of average and RBI, but he hasn't hit any homers. His power numbers have steadily declined over the past several seasons, and it looks like this trend will continue. Yadi has […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoFrancisco Cervelli (CA, PIT) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 37% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Francisco Cervelli is not making Bronx Bomber fans wish that he was there in Brian McCann's place, but Cervelli is blazing at the plate, hitting .370 before Friday’s game. He wound up hitting .295 in 2015. It's like a Yankees reunion party, […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoMiguel Montero (CA, CHC) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 24% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Miguel Montero is off to a fairly decent start, hitting .286 going into Friday’s game action, and he has a homer. Montero has no real competition, either, with Kyle Schwarber out for the season and David Ross backing him up. Fantasy […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWilson Ramos (CA, WAS) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 18% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Wilson Ramos has stormed out of the gate, hitting .367 so far this season. This could be the Ramos that Nationals fans have been hoping would return. He hasn't hit any homers and has driven in just three runs, but it’s still […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoTravis d'Arnaud (CA, NYM) - Waiver Wire Pickups
BALLER MOVE: Add in Most Mixed Leagues OWNED IN: 37% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Travis d’Arnaud has gotten off to a miserable start with an anemic .091 batting average going into Friday’s game, but it's still really early in the season. He's going to come around. People are getting way too impatient early on. Check out RotoBaller's […]
Michael Griffin 9 years agoWeek 2 Waiver Wire Pickups: Catcher
You'll notice that there are fewer catchers on this list than last week's edition. I decided to pare down the list to six overall and sent the other four catchers back home, just like on shows like "The Bachelor/Bachelorette." No, I didn't give any of them a rose and I don't think any of them […]
Michael Griffin 9 years ago