RADIO
Players to watch and target on the waiver wire. Chris Doyle identifies fantasy baseball free agent adds for various leagues in Week 5 of the 2018 MLB season.
With a month in the books for 2018 we're starting to get some more clarity. We know that Didi Gregorius is the new Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole is the most untouchable pitcher in the world and everyone on the Oakland A's can mash. Ok, so we aren't really any further ahead than we thought.
Even still, it's a little bit easier to weed out the noise with a month's worth of plate appearances to look at. This is the time to be really in tune with the waiver wire; as the summer months approach, many managers will become less involved and it affords the opportunistic manager the chance to scoop up prime talent that has fallen through the cracks.
On that note, here are this week's watch list adds. There's no doubt there are plenty of players out there that can help your teams overcome slow starts or injuries, so it pays to be prepared.
Players to watch in 10-team leagues
Junior Guerra (SP/RP, MIL) - 34% owned
Guerra is throwing it all the way back to 2016 in the early-going with a microscopic 0.82 ERA through his first 22 innings. He hasn’t allowed a single home run yet, which was his Achilles heel last season. His 4.26 xFIP suggests regression is inevitable, but then again he did outperform his expected ERA by about a run and a half two seasons ago. The fact he can be slotted as an RP is a bonus too.
Daniel Robertson (2B/3B/SS, TB) - 33% owned
Robertson’s versatility is valuable, but what’s even more valuable is the way he’s raking thus far with a .344/.494/.590 triple slash. Even more promising is his newfound plate discipline: he’s walked and struck out 16 times apiece. There’s no good reason Robertson shouldn’t play everyday hitting like this. Keep a watchful eye on the 24-year-old.
Aaron Altherr (OF, PHI) - 14% owned
Just because he’s started poorly doesn’t mean you can afford to sleep on Altherr. He’s part of a crowded Phillies outfield but as we know, one injury can change all that. Despite a .665 OPS in 24 games, there are some good signs: he’s almost doubled his walk rate to 14.3%, his strikeouts are down slightly to 24.7% and he’s riding a miserable .182 BABIP with a 38.3% hard contact rate. The hits will come, so be ready to add.
Scott Schebler (OF, CIN) - 15% owned
It seems like Schebler gets overlooked an awful lot for a guy who hit 30 homers last season in just 473 at-bats. He’s hitting the ball even harder this season (42.9% hard contact) plus he’s hitting more fly balls (40.0%). His last seven days have gone like this: .323-2-10 with seven runs scored. Still just 27, there’s massive power potential here.
Players to watch in 12-team leagues
Bartolo Colon (SP, TEX) - 12% owned
It’s hard to believe we’re still talking about Colon in 2018, let alone as a viable fantasy option, but here we are. Colon fired seven innings Saturday and mostly shut down the Blue Jays, allowing three runs with a pair of strikeouts. He’s up to 51.6% ground balls this season, well above his 41.8% career average, so perhaps he’s turned over a new leaf at the ripe age of 44. There are worse options if you’re desperate for pitching.
Curtis Granderson (OF, TOR) - 10% owned
The Grandy-man has been even better than expected for the Blue Jays in his platoon role versus righties. The veteran outfielder owns a 169 wRC+ with all his damage coming against right-handers (he has just seven plate appearances against lefties). If he continues to be dispatched this way he’s a potentially sneaky power source for leagues that allow daily lineup changes.
Leonys Martin (OF, DET) - 14% owned
Martin was mentioned in this space several weeks ago and he’s continued to chug along. His HR/FB rate is rather low at 9.5% and with the number of fly balls he’s hitting - a whopping 57.5% - it’s reasonable to expect a few more balls to leave the yard if he maintains this batted ball profile.
Players to watch in deeper leagues (14-team or AL/NL only)
Albert Almora Jr. (OF, CHC) - 6% owned
Almora is definitely a deep league-only kind of player right now with limited power and speed but he’s playing regularly and he’s still young at 24 years of age. Through 515 MLB plate appearances he’s slashing .294/.335/.449 with 12 HR, 67 RBI and 69 runs. That’s not bad production for a fourth or fifth outfielder, with the added benefit of untapped potential in the equation.
JaCoby Jones (OF, DET) - 5% owned
Jones has seemingly nailed down a starting gig in Detroit and he’s making the most of it with his power-speed combination (2 HR, 3 SB). If he keeps getting the playing time he’s a good target in deeper leagues.
Mark Canha (OF, OAK) - 6% owned
Everybody is crushing the ball in Oakland these days, and Canha is no exception. He’s smacked a pair of homers with four runs and four RBI over the last seven days and should be paid attention to.
Mitch Moreland (1B, BOS) - 7% owned
He doesn’t play every day, and he’s currently in a bit of a funk with hits in just two of his last 16 at-bats, but Moreland is a solid deep league watch list add as someone who hits in the middle of a loaded Red Sox lineup when he’s in there.
Jesse Winker (OF, CIN) - 6% owned
Winker has yet to find his power stroke, but then again power was never his true calling card as a prospect. He’s a strong option in OBP leagues (16.9% walk rate in 89 PA) and if he hits ahead of Joey Votto regularly he’ll score plenty of runs.
Caleb Smith (SP/RP, MIA) - 3% owned
Smith has been up and down in the season’s first month and his overall numbers aren’t exactly pretty (0-3, 4.91 ERA, 1.36 WHIP). But, he’s struck out 36 batters in just 25.2 innings and is coming off a dominant performance Sunday: seven shutout innings with just two hits and a walk and nine strikeouts. If he can harness his control (16 walks) he could be a viable mixed league play with dual-positional eligibility.
Eric Skoglund (SP, KC) - 0% owned
Skoglund pitched well on Saturday, striking out nine over seven innings of one-run ball in which he allowed just three baserunners. More starts like that one will drive up his ownership level pretty quickly.
Nick Kingham (SP, PIT) - 4% owned
What a big league debut. All Kingham did was throw seven innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts versus the Cardinals on Sunday. The plan was for this to be a spot start before heading back to Triple-A but with that performance in the books, who knows. Keep him on your radar.
Notable updates from last week's list:
Jesus Aguilar (1B, MIL) - Well whaddya know! Just last week we highlighted Aguilar as someone who had playing time issues but some definite potential, and then Eric Thames goes down for up to two months. He’ll still cede some starts to Ryan Braun at first base but the opportunity is there for him to establish himself as a regular player for the first time in his career.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (LF, TOR) - Gurriel Jr. hit his first career home run Saturday, a no-doubter, but perhaps even more encouraging was the fact that the Blue Jays optioned the struggling Devon Travis to Triple-A and kept Gurriel in Toronto. He hasn’t hit his stride yet but he’s an intriguing player who will likely see time all over the diamond.
Trevor Cahill (SP/RP, OAK) - Cahill keeps humming along, and he’s sitting at 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA (3.11 xFIP) and 9.50 K/9 through three starts. He’s back to his usual worm-burning self, too (55.8 GB%).
