Posted By:Bretsky on June 6, 2014

Wayne Bretsky and Mark Kaplan take a look at the action around the fantasy baseball world. Mark selfishly rejoices in Carlos Gonzalez’ unfortunate trip to the DL while Bretsky makes a case to buy low. The boys discuss some of the top rookies on their way up to the bigs, outfield bats to pluck off the wire and answer some questions from the mailbag.

Hit up the guys on Twitter @BretskyBall and @DaTrueGuru to join in on the action!

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Box Score Baseball Podcast – CarGone

News and Notes

• Kendrys Morals expected to sign
• Mike Trout (back) returns to the lineup
• Joey Votto taking BP, fielding grounders
• Andrew Cashner to return Saturday
• Derek Dietrich sent down

The Good, the Bad and the Upside

• Good: Slow starters Alex Gordon and Kyle Seager
• Bad: Carlos Gonzalez’ finger
• Upside: Corey Dickerson

Cranking Up the Hype Machine

• Jon Singleton
• George Springer
• Oscar Taveras
• Gregory Polanco

Second Base Rest of Season Rankings

• Who’s on top
• Is Dee Gordon a top-5 guy
• Selling Dustin Pedroia

Waiver Wire

• Juan Francisco
• Adam Lind
• Josh Willingham
• Kolten Wong
• Michael Saunders
• David Murphy

Mailbag!

The Box Score Baseball Podcast theme is written and performed by William “Wild Bill” Hitchcock

Posted By:Bretsky on June 4, 2014

We’re two full months into the season and quite a bit has changed. This week, we’re taking a trip around the diamond and ranking each position for rest of season fantasy value. As always 5×5 rotisserie scoring is assumed.

The second base position has held up rather well depth-wise, but a few of the top-tier options have certainly been underwhelming. Jason Kipnis spent some time on the DL and was off to a rather slow start prior to the injury. While it seems ludicrous to say someone who is batting .333 through 54 games disappointing, but the expected decline in the power cats have Robinson Cano sitting outside the top-5 at the moment in terms of year to date value. Dee Gordon and Brian Dozier have, of course, ascended into the top tier while Chase Utley and Ian Kinsler show they still have a bit left in the tank, so plenty of quality options remain.

Rising

Dee Gordon: Currently a top-10 overall player, Gordon is making the most of his increased opportunities on base. The biggest reason we’re buying? Even as he’s ht just .188 over the past 3 weeks, Gordon has swiped 13 bags including five multi-steal efforts.

Chase Utley: With his knee issues keeping quiet in the background, Utley has returned to a serious run-producer, driving in 27 runs and scoring 31 times in 52 games.

Ian Kinsler: Change of scenery is playing well with Kinsler and his 120-run pace while hitting ahead of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez with 15-home-run/20 -steal  potential is making owners smile.

Brian Dozier: Do you really care if Dozier hits .240… while scoring 110 runs, driving in 80 RBI, blasting 25 homer and swiping 20 bags? Because I do not.

Falling

Bradon Phillips: We knew that his RBI pace from 2013 was a bit inflated, but a dip in walk rate (3.5% in 2014 down from 5.9% last year) and an increase in strikeouts (20.7 K% up from 14.7 K%) has exacerbated his decline. Phillips has offered a mediocre .269/.293/.397 slash so far this season with just 19 runs scored and 22 RBI. His days as a top-10 option have come to an end.

Ben Zobrist: Zobrist continues to be a solid OBP play, but the speed has dried up over the past couple of seasons. He’s batted just .247/.332/.345 around an injury this year in what has been a poor Rays’ lineup.

Dustin Pedroia: Pedroia has kept up a decent batting average, so his decline has been a soft ones for fantasy owners clinging to his previous production. Injury or not, his power is down and Pedroia is slugging just .392 over the past calendar year. You can still get elite return on his name value, it’s time to cash out.

2014 Rest of Season Second Base Rankings

Posted By:Bretsky on May 30, 2014

Widely regarded as a sleeper power bat coming into the 2014 season, Khris Davis rubbed many owners the wrong way with his pitiful start to the season. He scuffled his way through April, striking out a a phenomenal pace and drawing just a singe walk. Flip the calendar to May and we’ve seen a completely different player, reminding us all of the play who flashed a strong power bat in a 56 game sample last season.

As a rookie, Davis clubbed 11 home runs in those 56 games, providing a .316 ISO slugging that would have ranked second in the league (oddly enough behind only Chris Davis). He added 10 doubles, giving him 21 XBHs in just 153 trips to the plate.

As we approach the end of May, Davis has redeemed himself for owners who remained patient, but as he continues to turn his season around, the slugging outfielder remains available in 53% of standard yahoo leagues. Since May 13, Davis has provided a sizzling 353/.421/.765 with 5 HR, 6 2B and, perhaps most impressively, six walks compared to just 10 strikeouts in that time and if he can continue to exercise just a tiny bit of patience at the dish, he’ll be an excellent source of power moving forward.

Each week we’ll provide a position-by-position roundup of the top talent on the wire. To qualify, players must have an ownership rate below 50% in standard 12-team Yahoo leagues. For our deeper formats, we’ll also throw out names with under 15% ownership. Check out last week’s list to find a number of other options who may still be out there on the waiver wire.

Working The Waiver Wire

Catcher

First Base

Adam Lind (33%): Piping hot, Lind has posted six multi-hit efforts in his last 10 games, batting .389 with eight runs in that time.

Adam Dunn (34%): Though Dunn is hitting below the mendoza line over the last few weeks, he’s still got 30-homer pop in that bat. If you can afford to roster him and only start vs. righties, he’s a nice piece.

Garrett Jones (21%): Similar to Dunn, Garrett Jones doesn’t hit a lick versus lefties, but can provide some punch on a part time basis.

Chris Carter (20%): If you can swallow the strikeouts, the power is nice in a Pedro Alvarez type of way

Tommy Medica (4%): The 26-year-old batted .296/.370/.593 over 297 minor league at-bats in 2013 and despite struggling for much of the season at Triple-A, Medica has hit the ground running in his latest shot in the bigs. He’s hit in four straight games since being called up and racked up three hits and a home run in each of his past two contests.

Middle Infield

Kolten Wong (18%): Wong is now 16-for-48 since getting called up with 4 steals and a very nice 4:6 walk-to-strikeout ratio. If you need some speed, grab that Wong.

Jonathan Villar (43%): After batting just .097 over the past two weeks, Villar’s ownership rate has dipped below our 50% threshold here. The fact is, you weren’t rostering Villar for his batting average anyway and he’s still got 5 home runs and 11 steals over that time, quietly putting him on pace for a 17/37 season.

Derek Dietrich (4%): A relative unknown to the masses, Dietrich continue to show solid pop and improved on-base ability while taking over the heavy side of the Marlins’ second base platoon.

Stephen Drew (8%): Drew finally agreed to join the Red Sox last week and after a short tune up in the minors he should step right into the lineup on a regular basis. He batter .253/.333/.443 over 124 games last year with an impressive .284/.377/.498 versus right handed pitching.

Gordon Beckham (13%): As painful as it is to recommend adding Beckham, he’s batting .347 over the past two weeks and you gotta ride that streak!

Third Base

Chase Headley (44%): We can’t possibly expect Headley to provide anything like his phenomenal second half in 2012. Still, he’s a .253 career hitter and provides some depth at a thin position.

Casey McGehee (26%): There’s not much power in McGehee’s bat but he’s getting it done in other ways as the Marlins’ cleanup hitter. Credit an improved walk rate for his bounce-back campaign and buy the .299 average with 32 RBI in 52 games that he’s put together so far.

David Freese (19%): In nine games since returning from the disabled list, Freese is 9-for-38 with six runs driven in.

Outfield

Khris Davis (47%): Since May 13: .353/.421/.765 with 5 HR, 6 2B and hey, six walks against just 10 Ks in that time.

A.J. Pollock (46%): Bumped up to the top of the D-Backs lineup, Pollock continues to show solid on-base skills with a little bit of speed. His improved power stroke is a some icing on the cake.

Oscar Taveras (29%) and Gregory Polanco (33%): As we sti just about two weeks away from the super-two deadline, Taveras and Polanco are the next big names to likely be called up. Now is the time to scoop these guys up if they’re sitting around on the wire.

Ozwaldo Arcia (5%): Arcia is rocking a four-game hitting streak since returning from the DL with a couple of multi-hit efforts and a home run.

Josh Willingham (7%): Like Arcia, Willingham just return from a wrist injury and has immediately shown some pop, going 2-for-3 with a home run Thursday evening.

Starters

Trevor Bauer (32% owned): The strikeouts will keep us interested regardless of opponent.

Drew Hutchison (32%) Despite poor outing this past week, Hutchison holds a 3.51 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 56.1 inning pitched since April 12.

Jorge De La Rosa (30%): Jorge continues to work a solid ground ball rate (55.6%) and decent strikeout to put together a solid start to the season.

Tyler Skaggs (21%): Rackes up three quality starts in his last four outings while striking out 23 batters and walking four over 28 IP.

Closer Carnage

It will be a constant race to the wire to go mining for saves, here’s how we see it.

Go get ’em: Hector Rondon (49%), Jenry Mejia (43%), Chad Qualls (29%), Zach Birtton (51%), Ronald Belisario (19%)

Keep an eye on: Rex Borthers (26%)Jeurys Familia (10%), Adam Ottaviano (10%), Daniel Webb (5%)

Posted By:Bretsky on May 29, 2014

We’re just about two full months into the season and quite a bit has changed. This week, we’re taking a trip around the diamond and ranking each position for rest of season fantasy value. As always 5×5 rotisserie scoring is assumed.

Despite the fact that we’ve seen a couple of injuries amongst the preseason top-5 at the position, first base has become once again proven to be on of the deepest positions around the diamond. Prince Fielder‘s neck and Joey Votto‘s knee have demolished hopes for either of the pair returning draft day value, but the resurgence of Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez, the emergence of Jose Abreu and Brandon Moss coupled with the consistent dominance of Miguel Cabrera and Paul Goldschmidt keeps this position healthy. The back end of the first base ranking can also provide some value as platooning the likes of Adam Lind, Adam Dunn and Garrett Jones can make a fine stop-gap when covering from injury. Still, quite a bit has changed since draft day…

Rising

Jose Abreu: Abreu would have risen even further if healthy, but we’ve seen enough to know that this power stroke is for real.

Adam LaRoche: Averaging a consistet .250-27-90 per 162 games since the start of 2009, LaRoche continues to be an underrated asset in fantasy.

Victor Martinez: While you can’t completely expect the power pace to maintain, a professional hitter in a solid Tigers lineup belongs in the top-10 at the position.

Brandon Moss: Moss has mashed his way out of the platoon-me tier, showing an improved stroke against left-handed pitching while acing his way towards his second straight 30 homer campaign while eclipsing 100-RBI mark for the first time. He’s giving you a robust .353/.436/.676 versus southpaws after posting a meager .200/.261/.388 line against them in 2013.

Falling

Eric Hosmer: Many owners will cling to the notion that Hosmer can put together another marvelous post-break , but you won’t find us banking on a repeat. His ground ball rate reamins over 50%, not the type of number you are looking for from a masher, and while there’s certainly some poor luck wrapped up in a miniscule 1.3 HR/FB5 (career number at 11.2%), he also has an awful 9.8% infield flyball rate. That’s not to say that there may be something two his Jekyll and Hide first-half/second-half splits, it’s just not something we are willing to pay for.

Joey Votto: Votto tumbles down our rankings as he’s been forced to the disabled list with a lower quad injury and an uncertain timetable. He’s still showing excellent plate discipline, striking out just 17.9% of the time, compared tp a 19.1 BB% and despite some disappointing counting stats, Votto’s ISO slugging is actually a couple of ticks higher than it was when he slugged 24 home runs last season. He slips to the back end of the top-10 for the moment, but this remains a valuable player with a nice buy low opportunity.

Billy Butler: We can all agree that Billy Butler’s 29-homer assault in 2012 is the outlier on his career track. Still, B-But is a rock-solid .300 hitter entrenched in the middle of the Royals lineup. The run production is coming an he’s shown at least a modest improvement, batting .247 in May.

2014 Rest of Season First Base Rankings

Posted By:Bretsky on May 29, 2014

Wayne Bretsky and Mark Kaplan recap a busy week in baseball, highlighting Bretsky’s triumphant win over Mark to capture first place in a dynasty league. The boys discus Jason Kipnis’ return, Ryan Zimmerman’s outlook and the troubling diagnosis for Yordano Ventrua. The Good, the Bad and the Upside continues with a look at Josh Beckett, Chris Tillman and Corey Kluber. The guys play a little Buy/Sell/Hold, reveal their top waiver wire targets of the week and take a dip into the mailbag.

Hit up the guys on Twitter @BretskyBall and @DaTrueGuru to join in on the action!

»Listen

»Download on iTunes

Box Score Baseball Podcast – Buy When the Price is Right

News and Notes

• Jason Kipnis back from the DL
• Ryan Zimmerman (thumb) still a few weeks away, playing first base and left field
• Matt Kemp – benched for 4 straight, moving to left field — Carl Crawford (ankle) to DL
• Braves promote 2B prospect Tommy LaStella .293/.384/.359 at Triple-A
• Yordano Ventura – latest elbow victim, but can he avoid TJ surgery with “just” a Valgus stress overload?

The Good, the Bad and the Upside

• The Philadelphia Phightins led by Josh Beckett
• Chris Tillman lets down the Memphis Ballaholics
• Corey Kluber keeps it rolling

The Fixer

• Finding a reasonable target for Dee Gordon

Waiver Wire

• Bats: A.J. Pollock, Adam Lind, John Jaso, Khris Davis, Kolten Wong
• Arms: Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Drew Hutchison, Jorge De La Rosa
• Closer Carnage

Mailbag!

The Box Score Baseball Podcast theme is written and performed by William “Wild Bill” Hitchcock

Posted By:Bretsky on May 22, 2014

Wayne Bretsky and Mark Kaplan bring their dynasty league rivalry to the show with both hosts losing it over the Cubs futility. the boys recap the latest injury news while looking forward to the returns of Chris Sale and Alex Cobb.  The Good, the Bad and the Upside turns it’s focus on the slugging Chris Davis, the struggling Justin Verlander and the streaking A.J. Pollock. Bretsky and Mark review the catcher position as it stands one quarter of the way through the season and hit the waiver wire to find a couple of hidden gems. Finally, the show closes with a dip into the mailbag.

Hit up the guys on Twitter @BretskyBall and @DaTrueGuru to join in on the action!

»Listen

»Download on iTunes

Box Score Baseball Podcast – Buy When the Price is Right

News and Notes

• Alex Cobb and Chris Sale to return on Thursday, potentially with a pitch count
• Gio Gonzalez (shoulder) expected to throw this weekend, no structural damage
• Andrew Cashner (elbow) has no structural damage but no timetable for return
• Jose Abreu to the DL (ankle) return uncertain
• Joey Votto (quad) to the DL, Jay Bruce (knee) activated
• Prince Fielder (neck) remains out, did not travel with team
• Cliff Lee (elbow) to the DL with a strained elbow – initial timeline has him out for 3 weeks
• Alex Guererro could miss 5 weeks after getting his ear bitten off by Miguel Olivo
• Mike Trout out with a sore hamstring

The Good, the Bad and the Upside

• Chris Davis powers up
• Justin Verlander flames out
• A.J. Pollock turns some heads

Catching Up

• Bretsky’s top-20 Rest of Season catcher rankings
• What’s wrong with Carlos Santana
• Is Derek Norris for real?
• Joe Mauer’s value

Waiver Wire

• Bats:A.J. Pollock, Adam Lind, Dustin Ackley, Nick Franklin, Stephen Drew, David Freese
• Arms:Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Dallas Keuchel
• Closer Carnage

Mailbag!

The Box Score Baseball Podcast theme is written and performed by William “Wild Bill” Hitchcock

Posted By:Bretsky on May 21, 2014

We’re just past the quarter pole and quite a bit has changed. This week, we’re taking a trip around the diamond and ranking each position for rest of season fantasy value. As always 5×5 rotisserie scoring is assumed.

The catcher position is the most overlooked both on draft day and in season. These guys often struggle to provide impact fantasy totals and their limited at-bats can make it tough to really move the needle. Still, quite a bit has changed since our pre-draft rankings and it’s time to figure out what we’ve learned over the first seven weeks of the season.

Rising

Yan Gomes: Backing up 2013 breakout with .276-20-6-18 showing through 38 games.

Devin Mesoraco: Mesoraco is slashing an insane .443/.493/.770 while playing around a pair of DL stints. He showed 15-20 home run power in the minors while hitting for average so we’re buying the early success.

Miguel Montero: Right back on that .284-65-16-87 pace we saw in 2011-12 and, most impressively, has slashed that strikeout rate to career-best levels.

Derek Norris: Derek is doing his best Chuck impression, walking more often then he strikes out (13.5 BB% vs. 11.7 K%) and hitting just about everything with authority. While we don’t expect a .380 BABIP to last, improved contact rate and above average pop will keep his value afloat.

Falling

Carlos Santana: The walk rate remains elite and he’s suffered from a bit of poor luck, but a 42% drop in ISO slugging coupled with an increase in ground balls has crushed Santana’s production. Though better days are ahead, placing him at the top of our preseason rankings was a mistake.

Brian McCann: We’ve seen some nice pop so far (6 HR, 18 RBI) but a reduced walk rate and .221 average are hard to swallow. He’s swinging (and missing) at more pitches out of the zone than ever before.

Wilson Ramos: Came into the season with massive expectations after a furious finish to 2013. Injuries have once-again played a role in a sluggish start.

2014 Rest of Season Catcher Rankings

Posted By:Bretsky on May 16, 2014

With all the injuries piling up, it can often be a struggle to find space to capitalize on part-time players on your fantasy squad, but those of us with a little bench space to get creative can gain quite an advantage from turning to platoon bats to boost your lineup. Typically in this space, we like to highlight a player in particular who has grabbed our attention lately, but today we’ll play a little bit of the platoon game…

How about a pair of first baseman to start:

Player A: .275/.347/.514 with 6 home runs in 109 at-bats

Player B:  .253/.331/.506 with 8 home runs in 162 at-bats

Not much difference between these two guys, eh? Well Player B is universally owned Edwin Encarnacion and Player A is 8%-owned Garret Jones when right-hander on the mound.

Let’s give it a try behind the plate:

Player A: .292/.386/.467 with 18 runs and 21 RBI

Player B: .317/.400/.537 with 14 runs scored and 9 RBI

Our second group highlights everyone’s No. 1 backstop, Buster Posey. On a per-game basis, however, Posey’s numbers can’t quit keep up with John Jaso when he steps in against righties.

And one last time in the outfield…

Player A: .282/.361/.492 with 90 runs, 21 home runs, 78 RBI and 6 steals per 162 games

Player B: .285/.339/.474 with 88 runs, 25 home runs, 93 RBI and 14 steals per 162 games

We took a larger snapshot for the final comparison, taking a look at career numbers normalized on  a per 162-game basis. Of course, all this number hacking is a bit of a roundabout way to say that using the red-hot Seth Smith (22%-owned) against right-handed pitching for his career can provide you fairly comparable numbers to having 95%-owned Hunter Pence in your lineup.

So, are you truly desperate for an all-start caliber bat in your lineup? All it takes is a little bench space and some spare time to cobble you way to fantasy success. Not quite all of our pickups this week require this much care, but if you are in a league with daily lineup changes, you simply must have a look at just how good many of the guys can be.

Each week we’ll provide a position-by-position roundup of the top talent on the wire. To qualify, players must have an ownership rate below 50% in standard 12-team Yahoo leagues. For our deeper formats, we’ll also throw out names with under 15% ownership. Check out last week’s list to find a number of other options who may still be out there on the waiver wire.

Working The Waiver Wire

Catcher

First Base

C.J. Cron (15%): The rookie is making a strong impression in his first taste of the big leagues, notching 12 hits in his first 33 at-bats with a pair of dingers. He slugged .636 in Triple-A prior to a promotion this season and has hit the ground running with the Angels.

Garret Jones (8%): You’ll need to play the matchups to invest in Jones as he’s not a useful asset versus left-handed pitching. Still, the .521 SLG he’s posted in May thanks to seven doubles and a pair of home runs in his past 14 games.

Ike Davis (7%): Davis and platoon-mate Gaby Sanchez have helped turned Pittsburgh’s black hole at first base into a fairly productive lineup spot. Ike is a .313 hitter this year once we remove his 14 hitless at-bats versus southpaws.

Chris Carter (20%): Though prolific K-rate has scared off quite a few owners, Carter’s power bat is finally waking up at the dish. He’s rocking a nice little five-game hitting streak and has a .524 SLG in the month of May.

Middle Infield

Dusting Ackley (23%): Dustin Ackley the infielder did little more than disappoint fantasy owners time and time again. Dustin Ackley the outfielder is batting .323 in his last 10 games with three home runs and a solid 5:4 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Better yet? Many fantasy owners can still use this improved Ackley in that middle infield spot.

Derek Dietrich (2%): Dietrich popped his fourth home run last night and continue to garner playing time against right-handed pitching for the Marlins. He moved up into the two-hole Thursday and would see an even greater bump in value if he sticks there.

Third Base

Juan Francisco (35%): The Blue Jays have shown an affinity toward grip and rip sluggers over the past couple of season and Francisco fits the mold, pounding out seven bombs in his first 82 at-bats with the club. He’ll continue to see plenty of time at the hot corner against right-handed pitching and is a nice boost to your lineup. Francisco is a must-add in rotisserie formats for the short-term power potential and can provide some value as a stop ga in head to head formats.

Chris Johnson (41%): Johnson has picked things up in May, batting .367 over 49 at-bats after failing to find a groove in April. We’ll take the under on 15 home runs for the year but he should be good for some average and solid run production as he continue s to hit right in the middle of the Braves lineup.

Mike Aviles (15%): With Jason Kipnis ailing, Aviles is locked into a spot in the Cleveland lineup and can plug holes all over your fantasy roster, carrying 2B, 3B and SS eligibility. He always brings a decent combination of power and speed and is rocking a .366-6-1-6-1 line over his last 14 games.

Outfield

Seth Smith (22%): Smith is simply tearing the cover off of the ball and while he’s certainly a more attractive platoon bat long-term, the Padres will keep rolling him out there as they search for some kind of spark on offense.

Carlos Quentin (20%): Sticking in San Diego, give Quentin a look if you need some pop. He hasn’t yet done much and is not a great bet to stay on the field, but the power always shows up when CQ is healthy…

Drew Stubbs (6%): Yet another platoon option, give Stubs and his excellent .355/.400/.677 line against left-handed pitching a look whenever he is in the lineup.

A.J. Pollock (17%): Pollock is batting .345 over his past 10 games with a home run and five steals. He isn’t going to birng a ton of pop, but can get on base and swipe a bag every now and again.

Starters

Ubaldo Jimenez (46%): Good Ubaldo has shown up for three staright starts and he’s racked up 20 stirkeouts with just five walks over those turns. There is, of course, a blowup or two coming down the line, but when Ubaldo is on, he’s a very nice fantasy play.

Drew Smyly (39%): Smyly is finllay finding a groove with a 2.22 ERA, 1.07 WHIp and 22 Ks against 8 walks in his last 24.1 IP.

Dalls Keuchel (21%): If he were pitching in New York or Boston, Keuchel would likely be 75% owned at this point. The numbers say it all: 3.06 ERA, 1.11 WHIP to go along with strong 4.27 K/BB rate.

Trevor Bauer (14%): His name is going to stick on this list until he’s promoted or you pick him up… we’re excited about both prospects.

Editor’s Note: About 20 minutes after publication, word broke that Danny Salazar was sent to Triple-A. Presuming that Bauer gets the nod, this could be your last chance to scoop him up.

Closer Carnage

It will be a constant race to the wire to go mining for saves, here’s how we see it.

Go get ’em: Hector Rondon (38%), Joe Smith (42%), Bryan Shaw (36%), Sean Doolittle (29%), Darren O’Day (13%)

Keep an eye on: Cody Allen (40%), Brad Ziegler (12%), Zach Britton (23%), Jenry Mejia (19%), Jeurys Familia (10%), Jason Motte (5%), Jake McGee (5%)

Posted By:Bretsky on May 15, 2014

Wayne Bretsky and Mark Kaplan dive into the latest happenings in the world of fantasy baseball, covering the unfortunate rash of elbow injuries impacting both the pitchers and hitters, including Jose Fernandez, Martin Perez and Matt Wieters. The boys play discuss weather to buy, sell or hold a number of streaking stars and provide a couple of names to pluck off of the waiver wire. Bretsky tries to talk Mark into talking to his potential trade partner and The Good, the Bad and the Upside continues with Miguel Cabrera, Robbie Ross and Kevin Gausman.

Hit up the guys on Twitter @BretskyBall and @DaTrueGuru to join in on the action!

»Listen

»Download on iTunes

Box Score Baseball Podcast – Buy When the Price is Right

News and Notes

• Jose Fernandez and Martin Perez to have Tommy John surgery
• Carlos Beltran (elbow) hoping to avoid surgery
• Matt Wieters to the DL may require surgery
• Dillon Gee (lat strain) to the disabled list
• Ben Zobrist (dislocated thumb) likely headed to the DL 

Waiver Wire

• Bats: Chase Headley, Juan Francisco, Danny Espinosa
• Arms: Drew Smyly, Ubaldo Jimenez, Dallas Keuchel
• Closer Carnage

Buy/Sell/Hold

• Chris Johnson
• Garret Richards
• Billy Hamilton
• Juan Francisco
• Doug Fister
• David Price

Fix My Team!

• Mark tries to make a deal

The Good, the Bad and the Upside

• Miguel Cabrera finds his groove
• Robbie Ross crushes owners
• Kevin Gausman, come on down!

Mailbag!

The Box Score Baseball Podcast theme is written and performed by William “Wild Bill” Hitchcock

Posted By:Bretsky on May 9, 2014

In an extremely disappointing move this week, the Indians opted to roll with Josh Tomlin to fill the void left by a struggling Carlos Corrasco in the rotation, leaving fantasy favorite Trevor Bauer down in the minors, dominating his way through inferior competition.

Bauer took his latest turn at Triple-A Columbus on Thursday and continued to cruise, tossing 7.2 innings of one run ball. On the season he’s posted a 1.12 ERA and 0.94 WHIP over 40.1 innings in the minors with a solid spot start in the majors also on his resume. Across both levels, Bauer looks to have finally figured out his control issues, walking just 13 batters against 48 strikeouts in 46.1 innings.

The strikeout upside remains and it looks as though the 23-year-old has very little left to prove at the minor league level. His path to the rotation is not exactly open as Tomlin was quality in his first turn with the big club. Still, the Cleveland starters have put up a middle-of-the-pack 4.17 ERA for the season as the team finds itself slipping in the standings.

You’ll need to exercise patience with Bauer as we wait on injury or ineffectiveness to force the organizations hand, but all that means is that there is still time to scoop up the 15%-owned hurler as a bench stash. Even without a clear timeline, Bauer is worth a look in all leagues.

Each week we’ll provide a position-by-position roundup of the top talent on the wire. To qualify, players must have an ownership rate below 50% in standard 12-team Yahoo leagues. For our deeper formats, we’ll also throw out names with under 15% ownership. Check out last week’s list to find a number of other options who may still be out there on the waiver wire.

Working The Waiver Wire

Catcher

First Base

Adam Lind (29%): Fresh off the DL, Lind — like most of his teammates– took advantage of a pitiful Philadelphia bullpen and homered in his first game back. He sits against most lefties, but there’s no reason that Lind can’t duplicate his quality .288/.357/.497 line from last season.

Adam Dunn (40%): The average won’t stick, but if you need some cheap power, Dunn is your man, batting .268/.405/.485 on the season.

C.J. Cron (6%): We’ll have to see how playing time shakes out for Cron once Josh Hamilton is ready to return in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the lumbering first baseman should continue to see plenty of at-bats and has a power stroke that can make an impact in all leagues.

Mitch Moreland (3%) : If you can play the matchups game with Moreland, you’d be plenty happy with his production.

Darin Ruf (1%): A spring oblique injury cost Ruf the first month and a half of the season but the Phillies have been experimenting with new defensive alignments (Marlon Byrd to center field) to potentially open up at-bats for Ruf when he is finally able to return. Expect him back within the next week.

Middle Infield

Alcides Escobar (34%): Ten steals and a .271 average will play at the shortstop position in all leagues.

Scooter Gennet (9%): There’s not a ton of fantasy juice here with Scooter’s limited power and speed, but he’s earning at-bats with his high-contact approach and can be useful in deeper formats.

Derek Dietrich (2%): As Rafael Furcal (hamstring/quad) continues to struggle to get healthy, Dietrich is making a strong case to stay in the lineup, sporting a .254-16-3-11-1 5×5 line over 23 games played.

Rougned Odor (1%): A surprise call-up for the Rangers as they attempt to plug a hole at second base with Jurickson Profar still down, Odor brings some enticing skills to the table. He batted .305/.365/.474 last season in the minors with 11 home runs and 32 steals across two levels. He was bringing the power and speed again prior to earning a promotion smacking six dingers and swiping six bags for the Rangers’ Double-A club. It’s hard to know how long this experiment will last, but we’re gonna make the add now and assume that if Odor hits, he’ll stick.

Third Base

Trevor Plouffe (39%): Plouffe has cooled in May, batting just .132 over his last nine games with just two walks against 15 strikeouts. Still, he’s a streaky bat who could be a nice value once he’s finds that groove again.

Juan Francisco (18%): Francisco’s all-or-nothing approach at the plate fits perfectly with into the Blue Jays’ lineup and he’s certainly been getting all a lot more than nothing during his red-hot start. Francisco has five homers in just 61 at-bats and we have to consider this power legit after he belted 18 home runs in 124 games with Atlanta and Milwaukee last season. Playing time is a concern with Adam Lind now healthy and Brett Lawrie on the mend, but he’s done more than  enough to earn additional at-bats against left-handed pitching for the foreseeable future.

Outfield

Marlon Byrd (48%): Byrd is on some kind of tear, posting two hits ion four straight games and seven of his last nine contests, smacking a pair of home runs over that time. He’s bumped his season long slash line to .317/.348/.516 and looks poised to show his resurgent 2013 was no fluke.

Gregory Polanco (27%): He’s tearing the cover off of the ball in the minors… can Pittsburgh wait much longer to give this kid a shot?

Chris Young (8%): Young has long been a fantasy favorite around here as his tantalizing 30/30 upside has us repeatedly ignore his inability to hit for average or draw walks. Young has been stinging the ball for the Mets lately though, batting .321 with a .536 SLG over his last eight games. He’s also walked four times against just four strikeouts in that time.

Drew Stubbs (4%)s: Like most of the Rockies, Stubbs is off to a fast start and is getting plenty of at-bats versus lefties while Michael Cuddyer is on the DL. In deeper formats, give Stubbs a look.

Starters

Dillon Gee (47%): The results have been phenomenal (2.51 ERA, 1.05 WHIP in 46.2 IP) and he was even able to survive a terrifying matchup at Coors over the weekend. There are warning signs, however, and a mediocre 6.17 K/9 certainly caps his mixed-league upside. Still, a Saturday matchup with the scuffling Phillies offense seems like plenty of reason to continue to ride the streak.

Jonathan Niese (27%): Sticking in New York, Gee’s teammate Jonathan Niese has been equally impressive, railing off five-straight quality starts. He offers  a bit more in terms of strikeouts and is the preferred long-term add of these Mets hurlers.

Henderson Alvarez (15%): Would you believe that Alvarez leads the league with a pair of shutouts so far this season? Couple that with his no-hitter to close out last season and Henderson is on some kind of roll. The strikeouts wont always be there, but Alvarez’ power sinker will keep him in the game more often than not.

Closer Carnage

It will be a constant race to the wire to go mining for saves, here’s how we see it.

Go get ’em: Matt Lindstorm (49%), Hector Rondon (40%), Aaroun Loup (16%)

Keep an eye on: Cody Allen (28%), Chad Qualls (10%)