H2H Points League Pickups, Waiver Adds: Week 5

by Nicklaus Gaut

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Nicklaus Gaut's H2H points leagues waiver wire pickups for Week 5 of the 2020 fantasy baseball season, identifying free agents to add and pitchers to stream.

We almost had it. With the return of the St. Louis Cardinals, we almost had the full league in action. Not so fast, suckers! The pandemic struck again, this time snipping the Reds right out of the schedule.

But all we can do is march on and try to win each week. Oh, and trawl the wire for players that prove your league-mates aren't playing enough attention. I have bad news; the season is a third of the way over. A third! That means every week left is about 15% of the games remaining. There is no time to wait to see if these waiver wire darling will turn into pumpkins. You gotta make your moves now.

We'll be doing this roundup of point league happenings every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver-wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform, so we'll make sure to highlight where players are the best and worst fit at. We know point players get neglected and we're here to help. Let's get to Week 5.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

Playing For Points Through a Pandemic

While the number of games has changed, the way that points are scored on each platform has not. You must account for, as precisely as possible, how a player performs under your particular scoring system. Don't be fooled into believing you can just make rough adjustments in your head, bumping up guys with high on-base percentages and low strikeout-rates. Every point, in every category, counts. For example, ESPN and Fantrax are virtually identical in their scoring for hitters and roster size. The only difference is that stolen bases are worth one more point on Fantrax and ESPN subtracts one point per strikeout. That's the difference over Ronald Acuna Jr. being a top-five batter versus a top-25 batter.

If your league uses standard settings, then great! Turn to page 94 and you can skip ahead to the leaderboards. If you play with custom settings, it'll still be fine. Go back to page 43 and look below at the scoring systems of the four major platforms. I bet there's a chance that you'll find that your league's scoring is very similar to one of the four (well, not Yahoo's), even if it's not the platform you actually play on. For example, my home league started on a now-defunct platform before moving first to ESPN and is now at Fantrax. But our scoring is basically ESPN standard but with two points for stolen bases and a handful of other minor adjustments.

If you look above, you'll likely find a suitable mirror to your own system. While every point counts, as long as they aren't seismic changes you can get away with some "close enough". IE. If everything is the same except for HBP (or something similar), you're probably fine.

All of the following charts are updated prior to Saturday's games, on stats and ownerships. Clicking on a chart will open a new page with a magnified version.

First Base Leaderboard

First Base Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Starter)

Dominic Smith (1B/OF), NYM

If you don't know by now, Smith absolutely has to be owned in all leagues. He's playing every day and is as hot as it gets, with home runs in four straight games heading into Sunday's action.

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Corner Infielder)

Jesus Aguilar, MIA

Mitch Moreland, BOS

Rowdy Tellez, TOR

These guys are all in the same position, giving good production but only when they play. And none have a full-time gig and will sit according to their platoon weaknesses. As a stream, they're great but you don't want to rely on them as plug-and-play CI.

Second Base Leaderboard

Second Base Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Starter)

Wilmer Flores, SF

Nick Solak (2B/3B), TEX

Flores is made for point league play and just keeps hitting. Solak is figuring things out and heating up. Your time to roster him is running out and I'd make a strong bet that he's not in this space next week.

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Middle Infielder)

Tommy La Stella (2B/3B), LAA

Jonathan Schoop, DET

Cesar Hernandez, CLE

Tim Lopes (2B/OF), SEA

Second base continues to be really deep on the wire and if I had to play any of the above as my starter for a period of time, I wouldn't think I was in the worst position. Lopes is probably the shakiest but he's playing every day and has a 108 wRC+, albeit on a tragic Mariners offense.

Third Base Leaderboard

Third Base Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Starter)

Maikel Franco, KC

Rio Ruiz, BAL

The curious case of Maikel Franco. He's striking out more and walking less than he ever has before, and making less contact while swinging the same amount. That shouldn't equal the best start he's had in years and yet, here we are. I hold no illusions that this is some new and improved Franco but he's playing every day and has hit five home run in the first third of the season. What if he stays relatively hot for the next 20 games? In a regular season, who cares? But in a 60-game season you have to ride and find out. And just be ready to drop him at the first sniff of a 1-for 23.

I'm not that interested in the long-term prospects of Franco but Rio Ruiz is more than interesting. He plays his home games at a high school park and plays in a division littered with hitter's parks. And he seems to have mostly taken over the cleanup position, with no competition for playing time. He's staying in the top-ten of scorers for a reason.

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Corner Infielder)

Colin Moran, PIT

Todd Frazier, TEX

Yandy Diaz, TB

Shortstop Leaderboard

Shortstop Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Starter)

Asdrubal Cabrera, WSN

Between Starlin Castro breaking his wrist and Carter Kieboom continuing to be a dud, Cabrera has no competition for playing time and is penciled in to bat in front of Juan Soto. Cabera was already off to a great start but now gets a lineup upgrade and is a must-add in all formats.

Add in 12-Team Leagues (Middle Infielder)

Nick Ahmed, ARI

Chris Taylor (2B/SS/OF), LAD

Not much to see here, both are playing a lot and putting up their same boring production. If you need an injury fill-in, either is fine. And always keep an eye alert for when Taylor is facing a sinkerball pitcher.