Welcome to the Waiver Wire Picks, our daily fantasy baseball article that looks at the best players in baseball that you should be adding to your rosters. We’ll look at the players that are likely to be available in most leagues, as well as some deep league waiver wire options. We’ll also look at the most added players in fantasy baseball across the major sites and let you know which players to add and which players you can leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
Randy Rodríguez (SFG), RP (36% rostered on Yahoo, 12% rostered on ESPN)
A couple of weeks ago, I did a little dive into Randy Rodríguez as one of the top setup men in the game for the Using PLA to Evaluate Pitchers series. I was surprised at how excellent Rodríguez’s stuff was, as I felt he had the tools to be one of the game’s best closers. Now, he’s going to get that opportunity, as the Giants shipped off Camilo Doval in a fairly surprising move to the Yankees, where he joins one of the better bullpens in baseball.
Rodríguez is pretty much a strict four-seamer/slider guy, as he has completely shelved the changeup and sinker he debuted with. His four-seamer is one of the best fastballs, stuff-wise, in the game, as he sits 97 mph with it while it also has solid extension, great vertical movement and comes in at a flat attack angle. If Rodríguez can locate this pitch higher in the zone more consistently, it could be one of the most untouchable pitches in the game. And speaking of untouchable, Rodríguez has a devastating slider. The slider has an incredible strike rate, and its high gloveside movement makes it one that fools batters a lot.
Rodriguez is not only likely to get the closing role in San Francisco moving forward, but he has the potential to be one of the best closers in the sport.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
The trade deadline has come and gone, and now many players find themselves in new roles with their teams. The most added players on Yahoo reflect this, as
It’s pretty crazy how many people added Dennis Santana following the trade deadline, though it makes sense. Many were wondering whether he would also be shipped off to a closer-needy team, though it appears that the Pirates are good with keeping him around for the ninth-inning duties. Santana is a big slider guy, as the pitch makes up almost half of those thrown by him. He’s not a huge strikeout arm, largely because he doesn’t get many fastball whiffs, but he has excellent ratios, which are a product of his excellent control. He throws very few non-competitive pitches and hits his spots regularly.
Cade Horton took on the Baltimore Orioles and put up a solid performance. He only went five innings, but he didn’t allow any earned runs while keeping the WHIP at 1.00. It was a pretty standard Horton start. He has decent stuff, but needs to polish it up and find a bit more consistency. He gets plenty of swings and misses but hasn’t gotten the strikeouts that you’d hope for, though the ratios have been decent, and he’s on a winning club.
Jack Perkins is a popular add right now as he appears to be the pitcher in line to replace Mason Miller, who was traded to the Padres in a huge deal that not many people expected. Now the A’s have the question on their hands of who gets to replace Miller? It’s pretty much impossible to replace a pitcher of THAT quality, but Perkins might be up to the challenge. He pairs a high-velocity fastball with a pretty solid sweeper for decent results. Let’s see if this is the route that the A’s end up going down.
Tyler Anderson versus the White Sox is the classic streamer matchup between the solid guy who is always available and the team that is worth streaming against. He was overall kind of meh. He went six innings but allowed four earned runs with five strikeouts. At least the WHIP was fine. You continue streaming Anderson against the weakest opponents, but that’s about it.
How Nick Kurtz isn’t at 100% rostered is beyond me. Kurtz is one of the absolute best first basemen and seems to be a lock for Rookie of the Year. He’s absolutely mashing to the tune of a 178 wRC+. The strikeout rate might be a bit high right now, but that’s splitting hairs for one of the best players in the game. This guy is potentially a future first-round draft pick in fantasy and will probably get quite a few MVP votes over his career. It also helps that he’s going to be playing in the hitter’s paradise of West Sacramento for at least a few years.
Kyle Stowers again? Yeah, he’s still on here. Stowers has been one of the better hitters in baseball, lending his talents to a scrappy Marlins team. He currently has a 160 wRC+ and is absolutely destroying right-handed pitchers right now. He also almost has 4 fWAR, which, while not fantasy relevant, is very indicative of how good a player he’s been. He’s been one of the best hitters in baseball this year, and it’s been exciting for all of us to watch. It’s been especially fun to watch both him and Trevor Rogers find their place with their new squads. Rogers has been one of the better pitchers in baseball since getting called back up to the big-league squad in May, and
Matt Shaw had a lot of fantasy hype surrounding him when he got called up early in the season, but unfortunately, he was unable to deliver. The good news is, he has been red-hot since then. Now there is one issue, and that’s the acquisition of superutilityman Willi Castro. Castro joins from the Twins and looks to slot in at various sports around the diamond, though it’s of note that the Cubs have seen the least consistency at third base and will perhaps start him there. It will be interesting to see what direction this is headed.
Michael Harris II was, without a doubt, one of the worst players in the majors to start the year. Nothing was going right for him, and the lack of production led to him being dropped in pretty much every league. However, as has been the case in every other year of his career, has has heated up spectacularly since the All-Star break. He has been nothing short of one of the best hitters since the Midsummer Classic, which has led to many people picking him up with the hopes that he will continue to play at the high level he has in recent weeks.
Category Specific Players to Add
José Caballero (NYY), 2B, 3B, SS, OF (16% rostered on Yahoo, 9% rostered on ESPN)
It’s weird writing “NYY” beside José Caballero, yet the move makes sense. He brings speed, defense, and versatility to a Yankees team that definitely could use those things. Caballero in fantasy might not be the most sought-after player due to the fact he’s platooned a fair bit and doesn’t have a lot of pop in his bat, but he is valuable for people who need stolen bases and runs, as he leads the majors in steals and he is sure to score a lot more in a balanced lineup like that of the Yankees.
Streaming Pitchers
WAIT! You haven’t read Nick Pollack’s starting pitcher streamer rankings for today? Get on that pronto. He ranks every expected starter for each day, highlighting who you should start, sit, and claim off waivers. The whole series of these can be found here: https://pitcherlist.com/category/fantasy/sp-streamers/
In terms of whom I would recommend you pick up? One name comes to mind.
Ben Brown (CHC), SP, RP (9% rostered on Yahoo, 7% rostered on ESPN)
I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest believer in Ben Brown, and I think we all thought he’d probably lose a rotation spot with the trade deadline. Still, I see some value in this start against the Orioles. Baltimore traded away two of their best performers in Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano to San Diego, and also unloaded Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías, and while neither is having a career year or anything, both players have the potential to do something on a given night. This leaves a barren lineup for a team that is well out of contention now.
Speculative Adds
Ke’Bryan Hayes (CIN), 3B (4% rostered on Yahoo, 3% rostered on ESPN)
All-in-all, Ke’Bryan Hayes has little fantasy value and honestly, hasn’t had much since he came into the league. He’s always been a defense-first type who occasionally puts together some stretches of performance. This year in particular is arguably his worst, as he has a -18 batting run value per Baseball Savant. With that said, going to Cincinnati is an interesting move for him. It marks a fresh start in a hitter-friendly park with an organization that, at the very least, does better with hitter development than the Pirates. I’m not saying he’s someone you should rush towards, but it feels like he could bounce back a bit on a new team in a much better environment for performance.
Kyle Bradish (BAL), SP (12% rostered on Yahoo, 3% rostered on ESPN)
It looks like Kyle Bradish is due to return! Bradish has made a couple of rehab starts thus far, and he has looked pretty solid in both of them. It’s easy to forget how good Bradish was with the Orioles for a couple of years, as so many great pitchers come and go. The fact is, though, that Bradish, armed with a solid sinker and one of the best, most GIF-able sliders in the game, was a full-fledged ace at points. Grab him now before he slides back into the Baltimore rotation and gives that team some optimism that they will have at least one great arm for next season.
Deep League Targets
Tyler Locklear (ARI), 1B (6% rostered on Yahoo, 1% rostered on ESPN)
One of the major prospects moving at the deadline was Tyler Locklear. Locklear had a brief stint with the big-league club last year in Seattle but struggled a bit. Now he’s moving from an environment that suppresses offense like crazy to one where he could potentially get the chance to be a productive bat. He’s looked solid in AAA, with 19 home runs and a batting average well-north of .300. He also has shown off his wheels a bit, as he has 18 stolen bases, which is pretty impressive, as he was not a highly graded runner. It will be interesting to see if the Diamondbacks give him an opportunity to work towards becoming a full-time player.