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December 1, 2008
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December, 2008
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Saturday, August 25, 2007Waiver Wire: National LeaguePosted by Derek Carty at 3:48pmMuch more to talk about in the National League than the American League this week. Rafael Soriano | ATL | CL - With the Braves designating closer Bob Wickman for assignment, Rafael Soriano should see most of the save opportunities for a while. He might go back to 8th inning duty once Octavio Dotel comes back. Recommendation - Should be owned in all leagues. Octavio Dotel | ATL | CL - Should be back within a week and could take over closing duties for the Braves. Stash him until then. Recommendation - Should be owned in all leagues. Bob Wickman | ATL | DFA - Wants to close, but I don't see any team giving him that shot. If he doesn't latch on as a closer somewhere, he loses all of his value. His 1.75 K/BB is just poor. Recommendation - Should be avoided in all leagues. Matt Belisle | CIN | SP - Was recalled today to start against the Marlins. If he stays up, he could be a decent pickup. 4.02 LIPS ERA and 1.33 DIPS WHIP before he was sent down were nice. He doesn't have a great ballpark or defense to work with, though, so use caution. Also, his 6.07 K/9 is below league average and might not be very useful. Recommendation - Should be owned in 14-team mixed leagues. Should be owned in 12 and 14-team NL-only leagues. David Wells | LAD | SP - For the past few years, Wells has relied upon his low walk rate to compensate — somewhat — for his low strikeout rate. This year, though, he's walking a lot more batters. Since the All-Star break, he's walked as many as he's struck out. He just isn't a good pickup. Recommendation - Should be avoided in mixed leagues. Should be considered in 14-team NL-only leagues. Craig Monroe | CHC | OF - Might provide a few home runs, but his batting average won't be very good and he won't get on base very much. Monroe should get some at-bats while playing left field until Alfonso Soriano returns, but then will likely only be used against lefties in right field after that. Recommendation - Should be avoided in mixed leagues. Should be strongly considered in 12 and owned in 14-team NL-only leagues. Moises Alou | NYM | OF - While healthy, Alou is able to hit .300 with relative ease. Should also get a few home runs. He hits a pretty good amount of fly balls and has some pop in his bat. Also, he's a Met and has David Wright and Carlos Delgado ahead of him, so he should get some RBIs. In addition, he should score some runs given his good on-base percentage and decent hitters behind him. Recommendation - Should be owned in deep 10, 12, and 14-team mixed leagues. Should be owned in all NL-only leagues. Mark Reynolds | ARZ | 3B/2B/OF - Reynolds is a guy in the Jack Cust mold, but less extreme. .383 BABIP will come down. With an adjustment to a .310 BABIP (reasonable given his 8% walk and 20% line drive rate), his batting average would be just .225. The drop off might not be that dramatic, though, because Reynolds is due for a power spike. His current 44% fly ball rate is great, and his 15% HR/FB is good, but it should be much better. Of the 10 home runs HitTracker has data on, 8 have went further than 400 true feet. His three furthest went 445, 459, and 467 true feet. With an adjustment to a 24% HR/FB (and .310 BABIP), he would be left with a .252 batting average and 18 home runs. Will have to do better than a 63% contact rate to ever get that average up. Recommendation - Should be owned in 12 and 14-team mixed leagues. Should be owned in 10, 12, and 14-team NL-only leagues. Matt Kemp | LAD | OF - Kemp has been picking up regular at-bats over the past 10 days. There are still four outfielders in the picture for LA, though, so that might not continue. Will play against nearly all lefties and some righties, so he has a little value. Batting average won't be very good given his 75% contact, 6% walk, and 17% line drive rates. Also has decent power, and if he adds a little muscle in the off-season it looks like he could be a pretty good power threat next year. Batting third for the Dodgers occasionally boosts his value a bit. Recommendation - Should be owned in 14-team mixed leagues. Should be strongly considered in 10 and owned in 12 and 14-team NL-only leagues. Brian Fuentes | COL | CL - If you haven't picked him up yet, do it. He should be closing again in a week or two. Recommendation - Should be owned in all leagues. Derek Carty is a student in New Jersey who loves Fantasy Baseball. His articles can also be found at FOX Sports, and he was a contributor at Rotoworld this past season. He was the champion of the FOX Sports Experts Fantasy Baseball League this past year. He welcomes questions via e-mail. Waiver Wire: American LeaguePosted by Derek Carty at 12:00pmShort American League Waiver Wire this week. Not really a lot going on, and not really a lot of notable guys. Hopefully next week will be better. Chris Carter | BOS | OF - I was asked by a couple of Red Sox fans to talk about Carter, so here you go. Carter has put up some impressive numbers in the minors. His contact rate has consistently been in the high 80s and his walk rates have ranged from 9% to 13%. He hit 18% line drives in AAA last year and 24% this year. He shows good contact hitting promise. He also has some power, showing a 16% HR/FB last year and 15% HR/FB this year. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have anywhere to play in Boston right now. He should get called up in September, but he doesn't figure to be much of a fantasy option because of his lack of at-bats. Recommendation - Should be avoided in mixed leagues. Can be strongly considered in 14-team AL-only leagues. Ervin Santana | LAA | SP - Santana is back in Anaheim, but he isn't the best pickup. He might be able to get a couple of wins and a decent amount of strikeouts, but his ERA and WHIP don't figure to be very good. Still, in his two starts since being recalled, he has a 9/1 K/BB ratio in 12.1 innings. Watch him carefully; I don't see him keeping up very good peripherals. Recommendation - Should be avoided in mixed leagues. Should be owned in 12 and 14-team AL-only leagues. Jon Lester | BOS | SP - Demoted to Double A, but Lester is expected to be back in a couple of weeks. Still, he isn't very good and loses a little value, but he shouldn't be dropped in any leagues you were reasonably owning him in. Julian Tavarez | BOS | SP - Could get lucky and pick up a win while Lester is in the minors, but Tavarez really isn't that good. If you're absolutely desperate, you can give him a try. Recommendation - Should be avoided in mixed leagues. Should be considered in 14-team AL-only leagues. Clay Buchholz | BOS | SP - The Lester demotion shows that the Red Sox don't have complete confidence in him, raising Buchholz's value a little bit. He can be stashed in deeper leagues in case he gets some starts in September. Recommendation - Should be owned in 14-team mixed leagues. Should be owned in 12 and 14-team AL-only leagues. Josh Fields | CHW | 3B - Batting average won't be very good, but — as we went over last week — he has some power. Has been batting second lately, so he could also score some runs. Recommendation - Should be considered in 14-team mixed leagues. Should be owned in 12 and 14-team AL-only leagues. Jason Bartlett | MIN | SS - Back from the DL, Bartlett is a useful middle infielder. Batting average should increase as his BABIP does, but don't expect better than a .280 average. He should help out with steals and runs. Recommendation - Should be considered in deep 10 and owned in 12 and 14-team mixed leagues. Should be owned in 10, 12, and 14-team AL-only leagues. Derek Carty is a student in New Jersey who loves Fantasy Baseball. His articles can also be found at FOX Sports, and he was a contributor at Rotoworld this past season. He was the champion of the FOX Sports Experts Fantasy Baseball League this past year. He welcomes questions via e-mail. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
