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Matt Wallach outlines his favorite week 6 waiver wire pickups and adds for deep leagues, and AL-only or NL-only fantasy baseball leagues for the 2020 MLB season.
The waiver wire is as busy as ever these days, with injuries and underperformance leading some managers frantically scrambling towards the waiver wire. For deeper leagues, this means that the pickings are as slim as ever for some viable options, with the cat finally being out of the bag on some of the hidden gems from previous weeks.
This week, the focus is mainly on veterans with solid, boring production that is perhaps being underlooked but could still be quite handy.
This article will be a look at players that are under 15% rostered in Yahoo leagues that are options to be considered in deeper leagues, or in the case of the Year of Coronaball, injury replacements with upside that have the possibility of sticking on rosters even beyond a few games or couple of weeks.
Corey Dickerson (OF, MIA)
12% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul.
Dickerson certainly falls in line with the theme of solid, boring production. Dickerson does, however, have a track record of above-average Major League success, and did manage a nice .304/.341/.565 triple slash in about a half season's worth of games a year ago. He has not yet matched that production in 2020, with just a .276/.329/.421 line so far this year, but he does hit in the middle of the Marlins lineup and plays regardless of pitcher matchup.
He has a solid track record, and may he may be starting to figure things out. After a slow start, he's slashing .393/.414/.607 in his last seven games, and an .827 OPS in the last 14 days. As a bench player or reserve on fantasy squads, there aren't going to be many better options at this point. Dickerson is hot and has a good record of success. Pick him up.
Justin Smoak (1B, MIL)
5% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a few weeks.
Smoak had some intrigue around draft seasons as a sleeper coming off a weaker 2019 season that looked primarily BABIP-fueled. He got off to a dreadful start, and many rightly cut bait. There is now an opportunity though, for managers to jump back in if a first baseman is needed.
In the last 14 days, Smoak is slashing an excellent .273/.333/.659, with four home runs and five doubles, as he appears to be coming out of his early-season funk. He still is playing mostly every day, sitting just once in the last seven games, and in the middle of the Brewers lineup, as they don't exactly have many other options. Like Dickerson, Smoak has a good track record of success the past few seasons, so a bounceback doesn't seem so outlandish. Add him and see if he can continue to right the ship.
Evan Longoria (3B, SF)
5% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a few weeks.
Longoria was recommended back in week three of the season, right when he came off the injured list that kept him out at the beginning of the season. That was bad advice at the time, as hitters take some time to get re-acclimated to Major League pitching. Longoria rightfully scuffled at the plate, and fantasy managers dropped him.
Well, similar to the two previous hitters, it looks like Longoria is starting to come around at the plate. He has a .873 OPS over the last 14 days, with two home runs and three doubles. Overall, he's barreling up more pitches at a 10.8% clip and has a 40.5% hard-hit rate. Statcast has been a fan of Longoria, even with the slow start to the season, with a .310 expected batting average, a .587 expected slugging, and a .400 expected wOBA. If Longoria can keep doing what he's doing at the plate, he should continue to get good results like he has over the last two weeks or so, and make us question what year it is. He's in a similar position to Smoak-add him to see if this performance sticks.
Joey Wendle (2B/3B/SS, TB)
5% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a few weeks.
While Wendle is not an everyday player due to an obvious platoon matchup with the lefty-mashing Mike Brosseau, Wendle is still going to be in the lineup most days as the stronger-half of the platoon. His versatility is an added plus, with him eligible at three infield spots, and many managers dealing with injuries all across their squads.
Wendle's offensive upside is likely limited, but he is having a good season so far, nearly matching his 2018 breakout at least in terms of the triple slash with a current .288/.350/.425 line. Don't expect too much power, but he should continue to be a plus in batting average, and even in on-base percentage, if those types of leagues are more your thing. He will definitely have more value in daily leagues, but that shouldn't stop weekly league managers from dipping in. Wendle is a nice all-around player that is being under-rostered right now.
Evan White (1B, SEA)
4% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a few weeks.
Let's change things up with a more speculative play. If you need something more consistent, feel free to skip over White, but if you have some flexibility, White is an intriguing option. He only has a .143/.210/.352 triple slash and has struck out 43% of the time. That's far from ideal, but the main attraction right now is his batted-ball metrics.
White has a 57.1% hard-hit rate, which is in the 98th percentile of all hitters at the moment, and elite barrel and average exit velocity marks that also have towards the top of the league. He is absolutely crushing the ball, which in turn has helped him hit five home runs and have a solid .209 isolated power. If he can continue to maximize his contact, he should continue to keep hitting the ball well and get great power output to go along with it. The strikeouts may make him unplayable in his current state, but as a bench option, he could be a nice player to monitor for a few weeks to see if things start to click. He should get plenty of opportunities, with the Mariners falling out of the race and looking to move more veterans like Daniel Vogelbach, White should remain in their lineup nearly every day.
Jacob Stallings (C, PIT)
2% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul.
The catching landscape looked grim coming into the season, but Stallings was maybe one option that got overlooked. There were definitely reasons to be skeptical, as he hasn't had a strong track and has struggled to get everyday playing time the past few seasons for the Pirates. He's now getting the opportunity and is currently posting an extremely solid .300/.386/.400 triple slash.
He's not offering much power at all, but the .300 batting average is very nice, especially coming from the catcher position. In fantasy, especially in deep leagues, unless you end up with one of the consensus top options, stability from the catcher position is key. Stallings is at least a player who won't tank a manager's batting average, and while he likely won't provide much else, can provide modest home run pop as well. He's also been raking as of late, with a .421/.476/.579 triple slash in his last 7 games. It's not a sustainable effort at all, but he is showing himself to be more than competent at the plate. It's not a glamorous profile at all, but at the shallow catching position, Stallings should be more than 2% rostered.
Looking Back on Last Week's Picks
At the end of each week's post, we'll end with a brief look back on last week's picks along with a brief recommendation on what to do with the said player for the future.
Willy Adames (SS, TB)
Last week: 13% rostered. This Week: 18% rostered.
Adames had a good week last week, hitting .333/.417/.571 in his last seven games. He's walking a lot more, and it looks like he is selling out for more power due to a higher pull rate. He is being propped up a bit by a .442 BABIP, but as long as he's doing well he's going to stick around on fantasy teams. Current Recommendation: Hold.
Brian Goodwin (OF, LAA)
Last week: 11% rostered. This Week: 10% rostered.
Goodwin did not have a good week, and he is not looking too great at the plate at the moment. He has just a .718 OPS in the past two weeks which is just not going to cut it as a platoon player in fantasy. He still is playing every game against righties, so he may snap out of it, but he was dropped to ninth in the batting order on Tuesday. This is a drop. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Aaron Hicks (OF, NYY)
Last week: 11% rostered. This week: 10% rostered.
It is a shame that the Yankees lost out to three games last week due to positive COVID tests on the Mets, as we don't have as much to evaluate Hicks on. Hicks is still performing fine overall, but his on-base percentage has dropped from the previous highs of .400. The reasons for rostering Hicks are still there, now just hope that the Yankees actually get to play their games. Current Recommendation: Hold.
Jake Cronenworth (1B/2B/SS, SD)
Last week: 10% rostered. This week: 53% rostered.
What a difference a week makes, as last week Cronenworth went from being rostered at just 10% to now being the new talk of the town. He's still playing well and Statcast supports the breakout to this point and hopefully, you didn't miss out. This is an obvious hold. Current Recommendation: Hold.
Todd Frazier (1B/3B, TEX)
Last week: 10% rostered. This week: 7% rostered.
Frazier was in consideration to be included with the recommendations yet again for this week, but his performance has really dipped as of late. It's just a .576 OPS for Frazier in his past 11 games, and he had just three hits in his 22 at-bats last week. He still is mashing lefties, but that's not enough for him to worthy of a roster spot for fantasy purposes. There's always a chance he comes back around, but this is a drop right now. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Erik Gonzalez (SS/3B/OF, PIT)
Last week: 3% rostered. This week: 2% rostered.
Gonzalez was featured here last week with the advice of "ride the hot streak". Well, it's over and I hope you enjoyed the ride. Gonzalez had an absolutely dreadful week at the plate, with a .304 OPS and zero walks. He went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. This game is cruel sometimes. It was a fun story for a little bit and it would have been cool if it lasted for a little longer, but it's over. Current Recommendation: Drop.
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