RADIO
Blake Sullivan dives into weekly Points League strategy for your fantasy baseball leagues and looks at MLB players to target on the waiver wire or drop in week 24 of the 2018 season.
Welcome back for another week of advice for points league waiver wire moves. This segment will include waiver wire adds, drops, and streaming pitchers for the upcoming week. This article will be geared specifically toward points leagues. Every points league is different, so keep that in mind. Walks and extra base hits are more valuable, whereas AVG and ERA are not important, so consider that as well.
Some players will be suggested as streamers (while they are hot), or as rest-of-season adds (ride them all year).
As always, feel free to follow and message me on Twitter @BlakeSullivanFF for any fantasy advice or for further reasoning with this segment. Without further ado, let's take a look at some players that you should either add or drop.
Points League Players to Add
Luke Voit (1B, NYY) - 30% owned
First baseman Luke Voit has been hot for the New York Yankees, and they've needed a hot bat with Aaron Judge still injured. Voit is hitting .317 with seven home runs over his last 20 games. He also has 12 runs and 15 RBI in that time. Voit will continue to get the starts at first base over Greg Bird unless he goes into a slump. He has looked very steady, and even hit home runs in three consecutive games this week. Voit makes a solid play at a corner infield or first base spot on your roster for the fantasy playoffs.
Francisco Mejia (DH, SD) - 10% owned
San Diego Padres catcher and designated hitter Francisco Mejia made a splash in his second game as a Padre. He hit two home runs in four at-bats. Mejia doesn't have much of a record in the majors to go off of, but he has been touted as one of the best overall prospects in the game. He has shown why in just a short time. He's best suited as a waiver claim in keeper leagues, but he has great upside in redraft leagues if you have enough room to roster a high risk, high ceiling player.
Adam Frazier (2B/OF, PIT) - 12% owned
The Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Adam Frazier was on this list last week, but is ownership remains low while his production has held steady over the past week. Frazier has infield and outfield eligibility, and is a trustworthy play in the fantasy playoffs. He has a hit in his last six starts. Frazier boasts a .348 average over the second half of the season. He has six hits in his last 11 at-bats. Make sure to put him in your lineups this week.
Points League Pitchers to Stream
Jakob Junis (SP, KC) - Monday 9/10/18 vs. CWS - 27% owned
Kansas City starting pitcher Jake Junis has been one of the hottest pitchers over the last few starts. His last two starts were good for 16 innings and 13 strikeouts while only allowing two runs on eight hits. Junis has a 4.32 ERA thi year, but he has a much better 2.75 ERA in the second half of the season. He gets a two-start matchup this week with a favorable start against the Chicago White Sox on Monday to give your fantasy team an early lead.
Wade Miley (SP, MIL) - Monday 9/10/18 vs. CHC - 16% owned
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Wade Miley doesn't have a great matchup against the Chicago Cubs, but he'll have a two-start week and will likely pitch deep into the big divisional game against Chicago. Miley has a very impressive 2.12 ERA this season. Miley has good run support and a good bullpen behind him. He should be in line for two wins this week, so he may not get a ton of points in either game, but he should spread out a solid number of points twice throughout the week.
Jaime Barria (SP, LAA) - Monday 9/10/18 vs. TEX - 13% owned
Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Jaime Barria has won five of his last six decisions. Barria has a 10-8 record with a 3.30 ERA. He gets two starts this week, and one of those is against the Texas Rangers who should let Barria get quite a few points. He has been even better of late as he had a 2.73 ERA in August. He's looking to continue to close out the season strong. His 6.93 K/9 is a little lackluster, but he makes up for that by stranding 82.6 percent of runners.
Points League Players to Drop
Brian Dozier (2B, LAD) - 94% owned
It seems silly to drop someone that has such high ownership, but it's getting late in the year and you have to lose all the dead weight. The Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Brian Dozier has been cold lately, and he's even been losing playing time because of it. He hasn't even recorded a hit in his last 18 at-bats. He's hitting just .220 this year with 20 home runs. Enrique Hernandez has taken some of his playing time, and that could continue to happen more often than not.
Maikel Franco (3B, PHI) -41% owned
Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco is dealing with a wrist injury that will keep him out of the starting lineup. He's supposed to be available to pinch hit. and he could be back in the starting lineup soon, but it seems like too much of a gamble for the reward. Franco is hitting .267 this year with 22 home runs, but he has no upside for speed with just one walk, and his .46 BB/K is nothing spectacular.
Rafael Devers (3B, BOS) - 48% owned
Rafael Devers is going to be splitting playing time at third base for the Boston Red Sox with Eduardo Nunez. Neither one of them should be on your roster going forward as they are too unreliable from night to night. Devers is especially on the bad side of this as he tries to come back from injury before the playoffs start. As far as the fantasy playoffs are concerned it's very bad timing as it'll hurt both players values. Devers is hitting just .242 this year with 16 home runs. He's worth hanging onto in keeper leagues if you keep your whole roster, and if you have a deep enough roster to win your playoffs this year.
