Well into the fantasy baseball playoffs for most leagues, and still grinding the last few weeks of Roto season, it’s all coming to an abrupt end very soon – but there’s still time to improve our teams before the end of the year. It may be a single category that will benefit you and your team the most, or maybe it’s all five categories on one side or the other that will help your team advance. Each of those scenarios requires a different approach to the FAAB wire and how your bids will look. It’s hard to imagine that many teams have a ton of FAAB dollars remaining at this point of the season, so every dollar matters. Spend wisely.
As a reminder, this column is designed to help guide those in Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB) leagues in making the best choices regarding who to target on the waiver wire. Specifically, we’re focusing on players who are between 20-25% rostered in most 12-team leagues and/or 25-50% rostered in 15-teamers. Every league is different, so we won’t be labeling player bids with any sort of recommended dollar amount but instead will use a four-tier investment rating system, ranging from a minimal spend to a potential difference-maker (or LEAGUE-WINNER, if you will).
Let’s dig in!
Investment Rating System
SEVEN GAMES: BAL, CHC, CIN, LAD, NYY, SFG, TBR, TOR
Batters
Outfielders
Michael Helman ($$): I’ve never been a mayo guy, but I wouldn’t mind picking up some Helman this weekend. The Rangers outfielder has batted 13-for-44 with four home runs over the past three weeks and has served as a catalyst for this Rangers lineup. It’s unclear if he’ll break out over a late-season week or two like Evan Carter in this Texas outfield before him, but it can’t hurt to give it a shot.
Carlos Cortes ($): Cortes has quietly been outstanding since joining the Athletics in late July. A strong-side platoon bat, the left-handed outfielder hit three home runs in his past two starts and is raking .328 in about 70 plate appearances this season. Small sample of course, but with the Athletics slated to face a slew of right-handed pitching coming up, Cortes is likely to be in the lineup.
Yanquiel Hernandez ($): A 21-year old left handed bat out of Cuba, Hernandez has more strikeouts than hits so far in his MLB career, but he’s a young lefty who plays in Coors Field and faces five right-handed starters this week. If there was ever a time to take a flyer on a young kid to break out for fantasy purposes, this might be it.
Infielders
Otto Lopez ($$$): An all-around solid hitter, Lopez has been hot for the Marlins. Batting 19-for-63 over the past several games, Lopez has three home runs, two stolen bases and 13 RBI over that stretch. If he can stay hot, that kind of all-around contribution is extremely hard to find on the wire this time of year and makes him worth a hefty bid if he’s available.
Jake Bauers ($$): Bauers is batting 10-for-23 with two home runs and eight RBI in his past several games since coming back from injury. His power plays and will be on display as the Brewers take on four right handed pitchers this week, including two in their home confines.
Yoán Moncada ($$): Moncada is 11-for-30 over the past two weeks of baseball and gets six games in excellent hitting environments – three games in Milwaukee and three more in Coors Field. He’s heating up at the right time for fantasy managers to jump aboard.
Otto Kemp ($): This is probably the first time this century that we’ve had two first-named “Otto” recommendations on the FAAB Insights column, but Kemp has done enough this week to earn a pick up in deep leagues. Batting 7-for-17 with two home runs and six RBI this past week, Kemp has been a part of a blisteringly hot Phillies lineup, and will continue to play as long as Alec Bohm remains sidelined.
Catchers/UT
Gabriel Moreno ($$): Moreno has hit four home runs since his home run less than four weeks ago. He’s driven in 16 runs, batting cleanup for the Diamondbacks on a near-everyday basis. He’s only available in a handful of leagues, but he’s the kind of difference maker at catcher that could exceed your current C2 over the next two weeks.
Moisés Ballesteros ($): Back in the majors for the stretch run, Ballesteros has shown he has the chops to hit at this level – he just needs consistent at-bats to be fantasy relevant.
Harry Ford ($): A highly-touted prospect out of the Mariners’ organization, Ford was called up this past week and earned his very first RBI to give the Mariners a walk-off win on Thursday night against the Angels. His road to playing time is murky, with the Mariners already boasting so many left-handed or switch-hitting bats and Cal Raleigh obviously holding down the catcher position. But his bat may be enough to take a risk on late in the season if he does get at-bats.
Pitchers
Starting Pitchers
Connelly Early ($$$): Early is slated for a pair of starts IF he sticks in the rotation for the Red Sox. He certainly made his case in his debut this week, ringing up 11 strikeouts in five innings in a victory over the Athletics. The swing-and-miss stuff is legit – he posted 132 strikeouts in 100 innings of the minors this season, so he ought to get another shot. Hopefully for those bidding this weekend, the Red Sox go back to him for next Sunday’s game as well.
Ryan Weathers ($$): Back in action for the first time since June, Weathers posted five shutout innings against the Nationals on Thursday. He pitches in Coors Field on Wednesday, but the Rockies lineup is weak enough to justify a flyer on Weathers. And if you’re too weak-stomached to play him in Coors, he’s scheduled for two starts the following week.
Bryce Elder ($): With his only start next week coming in an extreme pitcher’s park (Detroit in September), Elder has been good enough in his last two outings to ignore his season-long stats and hope that the Vargas Rule applies. With two-straight quality starts against the Cubs, turning heads with his 27 combined whiffs (14 on the slider), Elder is a lottery ticket. But the bold could benefit.
Relief Pitchers
Andrew Kittredge ($$$): On Friday night, with the heart of the Rays order due to hit, the Cubs turned their two-run lead over to the veteran Kittredge. Acquired from Baltimore at the trade deadline, Kittredge appears to be the Cubs’ closer after Daniel Palencia went down with an injury last week, earning each of Chicago’s last two save opportunities and converting both chances. The Cubs are a good baseball team and have needed answers in the ninth inning all season. For a long time, they leaned on Palencia but now it’s Kittredge’s turn. Counsell has shown a tendency to go with one closer – if Kittredge truly is it, he’s it for the rest of the year.
Tony Santillan ($$): Santillan has earned two of the Reds’ past three save opportunities and converted them as well. Now, both of those outings came a day after Emilio Pagán had tossed at least 10 pitches, but it stands to say that Santillan is clearly next in line and could be called upon if Pagan either struggles, gets hurt or is in need of rest again.
Jordan Leasure ($): Despite another rough season, the White Sox have looked competitive of late, winning nine of their last 13 games. If they can continue to compete at a high level, Leasure has emerged as the ninth inning option of choice on the Southside and has looked solid in high leverage situations. He’s allowed just one hit over his last eight appearances, striking out 11 batters over that span.
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