Slow Start Blues and Waiver Ideas

How are your fantasy teams doing? ( I really want to know). The first couple weeks of baseball season are tough. Your squad can either look great or lousy and there just isn't enough data to be certain of anything. Thus patience becomes vital. I obsess over the early box scores and beg my players to start hitting! This is when a brief distraction will do you well. You could kill a lot of time and win a few bucks at netbet.co.uk. Bury yourself in a tomb like OathBringer. Maybe give DFS a shot. The important thing is not to panic and do something you'll regret in a month or two.

In some leagues you might still have a shot at Greg Holland. After his first disastrous outing for the Cardinals he might go cheaper than expected if you are waiting to win a faab bid. I think he'll be fine. The Cards pretty apparently rushed him back and Mike Matheny's lack of game strategy didn't help. I placed a healthy bid in my leagues where he is available. Saves are saves.

Another interesting name to consider for an early waiver claim or injury replacement is Niko Goodrum. He was a second round pick of the Minnesota Twins who was a bit slow to develop. He was signed by the Detroit Tigers as a six-year minor league free-agent. The Tigers have him on the major league roster and he is getting some good playing time. He qualifies at first base and second base in a lot of leagues (a fairly unique position group). He is off to a pretty good start - batting .250/.318/.450 with a homer and three stolen bases in his first 22 plate appearances. His skills suggest he is capable of reaching 10 homers and 20 stolen bases if the playing time sticks. You could do worse.

Your league is probably catching on that Joey Lucchesi is no joke. He is not of the recent class of fireballing pitchers that dominate the propect lists but he is pretty damn good. He was the minor league pitcher of the year for the Padres who may just have the best group of prospects in the game. He has been compared to Kyle Hendricks and I like the comparison. His major league debut wasn't great (though the skills were obvious) but his last two outings including last night's six innings, eight strikeouts and zero earned runs in Colorado not excluded have been fantastic. Sign him up while you still can.

I'll be back.

Fantasy League Re-Enforcements

It is never too late for a plan to come together.

Your draft or auction is only one part of many that make your fantasy season. It is an extremely important part but still just one part. A hardworking owner even in a fairly deep league can recover from a bad draft by diligently working the free agent list and the waiver wire.

You may search your waiver wire on a particular day and see nothing but back-up catchers and utility players but it is not always the case. Players that can help your team become available all the time. It is your job to stay informed and be ready to claim or FAAB them when the opportunity presents itself.

Who are these players that become available during the season? Late signing veterans, older veterans who teams are signing to fill holes created by injuries or ineffectiveness. Sometimes it will be a bench player who gains a larger role on the team. Players returning from long term injuries are another source of talent.

You also need to keep a close eye on the transactions of your fellow owners. Maybe they released a slow starter that can help you. Did they recently activate a player returning from injury or a newly promoted rookie. Who did they release to make roster room.

Here are some players that may be in a position to help you soon.

Johnny Damon - The aging veteran is still capable of a 15/15 season or even 20/20 given health and the right role in the lineup. He should be activated any day now.


Marlon Byrd - In AL-Only leagues, Byrd has just become available. He is starting slow this season and has not been trending well but of you've been hit by one of the recent spat of injuries, you could do a lot worse. He has 20/20 potential and should hit for a better average in Fenway Park.


Freddie Sanchez - This veteran is fragile but an effective hitter when healthy. If he were healthy for an entire season he would capable of batting .300 with a handful of homeruns and steals.

Juan Pierre - He just barely made the team but has steadily gained playing time and is now in the lineup against most right-handed pitchers. He could hit for a decent average and steal 30 bases.

Francisco Cordero - This former closer had been sitting on a lot of waiver wires. With the recent injury to Sergo Santos he should be one of the most frequently claimed players this week.

Jarrod Parker - He almost made the team out of Spring Training. He has been promoted and should be able to keep a spot in the rotation. It is hard to say what a rookie pitcher will do but he has ace potential.

Tyson Ross - Few were familiar with him before this season but Mr. Ross has been an effective pitcher so far this season. Scoop him up if you are in need of quality innings.

MAY IS HERE...WHERE IS YOUR TEAM?

The drafts and auctions are over. Other than checking boxscores every hour or two, what should we do now?

A lot of owners say just let them play awhile. But that’s second division thinking. There are a couple of ways you can help your squad improve right now. Both take a considerable amount of effort, but can yield substantial results.


Step 1: Many leagues provide the opportunity for owners to add new players to their rosters, either by free agent purchases or waiver claims. Some leagues allow you to pick up anyone from your fantasy league web site, while others require that a player be active before you can bid on him or claim him. Either way, it's a good idea to study the free agent list very thoroughly.

The time to get a player at a good price is before he pops up on everyone's radar. There are usually signs that an excellent opportunity is about to take place. If it looks like a player is scuffling so badly that the club may send him down, someone stands to pick up that playing time. It might be a fourth outfielder moved into a full-time job, or it might be the guy tearing up AAA who almost made the team out of Spring Training.

Take Casper Wells as an example. It may be that the only thing keeping him from playing every day is Austin Jackson, who has been terrible so far. If Wells hasn't already been taken in your league, he might be a good speculative play, given his combination of power and speed.

On the pitching side, anticipating a change in the way a reliever is used can bring rewards. For those of you in keeper leagues, an investment of a buck or two could have netted you a great freeze in Joel Hanrahan.

Another example is Fernando Salas. The owners who grabbed last week (or who might grab him this week) are optimistic, as he has now picked up two saves for the Cardinals.


Step 2: If you haven't already done so, it can be a good idea to analyze the rosters of every other owner. Doing so will show you where the other owners have weak areas which need to be improved, as well as areas of surplus from which they might deal. I make notes of my impressions of each of the other teams, and pull out those notes when a trade opportunity comes along.

Many owners just aren't very proactive when it comes to trading. The odds of making a deal with one of these passive owners can be increased significantly if you can demonstrate how your trade proposal can help his team. "You have plenty of pop on your roster, probably the most in the league. It looks like you could use a little speed, though. How about I give you X for Y. X might be good for three or four points in the standings, since stolen base totals are so closely grouped". It never fails to amaze me how many trade offers I receive that would do absolutely nothing to make my squad better. My usual response is "How would this help my team?"


Step 3: Even though every owner knows that it is still April, there's still a psychological tendency for some owners to hit the panic button when three or four of their players are hitting .160, or their team ERA is over 6.00 and rising. This can create some excellent opportunities to help your squad. I realize that everyone says "buy low" and "sell high", but doing so successfully requires finding the player who is badly under-performing now, but who should get it rolling any time.

Buying low also requires finesse. If your approach makes it obvious you are looking for a motivated seller, you may frighten away your prey. Similarly, if you are trying to trade away your $5 outfielder who is playing like an MVP, but is bound to come down to earth soon, be careful how you approach. Everyone has a different approach to trading, and sometimes the approach which is best depends upon owner across the trading table.


In summary, a vigilant owner can help his team this time of year. Lineups and pitching staffs are still shaking out. A free agent you buy now can help you for five more months, as opposed to a player purchased in August. Stay calm, but if others around you are growing impatient with their players, be ready to step in with a trade offer.

Well, that's it for this week's article. I hope your teams have gotten off to a good start, but if they have stumbled out of the gate, there are ways to get them back on track.

Good luck, and have fun!

The Great Thing About June Prospects...

The latest edition of the (Waiver) Wire has been posted at Crucial Sports. This week we take a look at the early call ups. June is always better in my opinion for prospects. For one, you can actually have them in your lineup long enough to make a difference. Two, the teams calling these guys up actually want and need them to contribute to the rotations and lineups they have just joined.

A sample:

Brignac was once a top prospect of the Devilish Rays but he never quite produced or defended the way they wanted. He has shown the ability to hit for power and the ability to steal bases. He should receive plenty of playing time with Akinori Iwamura and Jason Bartlett both on the disabled list. His problem as a hitter was always strikeouts but so far this season he is showing improved patience and discipline at the plate. This is an excellent player to take a chance on in AL-only leagues.

and another sample:

The Mets lineup has more than its fair share of problems right now. Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and Ryan Church are all on the disabled list. Carlos Beltran is playing banged up, and rookie Daniel Murphy is experiencing some of the downs that young players do. I believe that all of the previous mentioned players will bounce back strongly, well except Church. It seems obvious to me that manager Jerry Manuel is not a big fan of Ryan Church. He benched him for rookie this spring (Murphy) and encouraged the Mets to pick up the remains of what was once Gary Sheffield. So how easy is it to believe that he will plug the Mets highly anticipated phenomenal prospect into the lineup and never take him out? Not hard at all.

The (Waiver) Wire

You can read this week's edition of the (Waiver) Wire at Crucial Sports. Today, as it usually will, the article features several players available in various types of leagues.

Check out the (Waiver) Wire

...With DeWayne Wise sent to the disabled list, the Chicago White Sox once again return to Brian Anderson and Jerry Owens as options. Anderson will receive the first opportunity to solidify himself as the regular center fielder. Anderson was well thought of as a prospect but failed to live up to his potential. At best, he should hit for average with middling power. He does not have much above average speed (if at all) but will steal bases given the opportunity and manager Ozzie Guillen is likely to demand it of his leadoff hitter. Jerry Owens does not have the skills that Anderson has shown at times but he definitely has superior tools. Those tools are what make him a constant stolen base threat when he can find his way on base. Scott Podsednik signed a minor league deal with the White Sox after his late spring release from the Colorado Rockies. Podsednik was an effective leadoff hitter for the ChiSox a few years ago and should Anderson and Owens fail to deliver, Guillen would not hesitate to call for Podsednik’s return...

Read More

The Waiver Wire

The Waiver Wire is a blog written by one of my RotoJunkie brothers. The site is very different from a lot of fantasy baseball blogs that you may have experienced. Most of the articles are just short hits on players and different game strategies. It is a blast to read.

One of my readers commented on my post on Mike Pelfrey that he's a similar pitcher to Armando Galarraga. I don't completely agree that they'll put up similar stats, but they are probably about equally good pitchers. Galarraga has a slightly better K/BB ratio (6.5 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9) and is doing it in the tougher league. Pelfrey makes up for that by doing a better job of keeping the ball on the ground - Galarraga had a 43.5% groundball rate last season...not bad, but significantly worse than Pelfrey.

The Waiver Wire is dedicated to helping you manage your team throughout the season with strategy advice and player profiles, with a focus on leagues with daily transactions.