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Week 3 Waiver Wire Watch List

Welcome to Week 3 of The Watch List. We introduced this piece last week, but here’s a friendly reminder for those who forgot. Each week we’ll be updating this list full of players who you aren’t quite ready to be pick up, but who need to be on your radar. We’ll look at eight players each week and keep tabs on players “graduating” into the waiver wire pickups category, as well as players demoted off the list entirely.

After the first week, we have eight graduates (congratulations guys, I know this means a lot), as those eight are now over 40 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues. We had only four players demoted from last week’s list (it’s still real early, remember), and with plenty of new names, this list is even longer than last week. Players in bold are covered this week, players in italics were covered in past editions.

Once again, if there are any names who you’d like to see highlighted next week, or even just added to the list as a whole, feel free to at me on Twitter (@FantasyBaseTurv). Let’s get this show on the road.

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

 

Players to Watch in 10-team Leagues

Travis d’Arnaud (C, NYM) 38%

After a few years of fantasy baseball flirtation, d’Arnaud is demanding your attention once again. The 28-year-old Mets' backstop has failed to meet expectations in seasons past, but he is slashing .323/.417/.645 in his first 10 games. With the catcher position as shallow as it is right now, d’Arnaud is certainly worth a look, if not an add. He’s never been a bastion of health, but his .154 career ISO accurately portrays a catcher with decent pop when he’s in the lineup. If you are currently holding onto a struggling Russell Martin, don’t feel like the drop is too steep down to d’Arnaud.

Ryan Schimpf (2B/3B) 28%

Schimpf connected on his third long ball of the season on Sunday, as he is doing basically exactly what we expected so far in 2017. The 5’ 9” two-bagger has just five hits on the season (.154 batting average), but three of them have been of the home run variety, giving him a decent .424 slugging percentage. If you are desperate for home runs in your league, you know you will get them from this guy. If you need anything else, look elsewhere. His .111 BABIP suggests his batting average won’t sit below the Mendoza line all season, but it’s never going to be great. In fact, it will almost certainly hurt you, but if you need the HR, go for Schimpf.

Corey Dickerson (OF, TB) 37%
Chase Headley (3B, NYY) 33%
Avisail Garcia (OF, CHW) 31%
Josh Bell (1B/OF, PIT) 29%
Domingo Santana (OF, MIL) 27%
Cesar Hernandez (2B, PHI) 25%
Jason Castro (C, MIN) 24%
Jarrod Dyson (OF, SEA) 24%
Jason Heyward (OF, CHC) 23%
Tyler Anderson (SP, COL) 22%

 

Players to Watch in 12-team Leagues

Trevor Rosenthal (RP, STL) 20%

It's rare that a pitcher with just one and a third innings - and a 6.75 ERA in that limited time - sees his ownership double within a week, but that's the case for Rosenthal, who made his season debut since the last Watch List, and is getting a little buzz now. Rosenthal is still in the set-up role for the Cardinals, with Seung Hwan Oh as the closer. Oh has looked shaky in his admittedly small sample of 2017. Oh is yet to save a game in 2017, with a 9.64 ERA over his four appearances so far. Only one of those four was a blown save specifically, but with Oh having had so much success in the set-up role to start 2016, and Rosenthal having had success as the closer in 2014-15, it's no surprise there's some Rosenthal-as-closer buzz. Rosenthal has also supposedly added another pitch to his arsenal, and all four of his outs this season have been strikeouts. Obviously we are dealing in minute sample sizes, but the closer situation in St. Louis is worth watching should the team eventually turn the corner and start getting some save opportunities.

Eduardo Rodriguez (SP, BOS) 13%

Rodriguez is an interesting two-start pitcher for the week of 4/17-4/23, facing off with the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles in a pair of road games. Typically a pair of AL East road games wouldn’t be excellent news for a pitcher, but Toronto seems completely declawed this season, and it makes sense. Edwin Encarnacion is gone; Josh Donaldson is on the DL; Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin, and Jose Bautista are all ice cold; and Devon Travis is best not mentioned (-36 wRC+ in 2017). Baltimore is doing a little bit better offensively, but they’ve only been about league average instead of being the top-10 unit they’ve had in seasons past. Rodriguez is an elite strikeout arm, getting 11.32 K/9 this season, and if he can harness his stuff to be effectively wild instead of just wild, he could make a leap into the must-own category.

C.C. Sabathia (SP, NYY) 19%
Steven Souza Jr. (OF, TB) 19%
Andrew Triggs (SP/RP, OAK) 19%
Zack Wheeler (SP, NYM) 18%
Lucas Duda (1B, NYM) 16%
Joey Gallo (3B, TEX) 15%
Daniel Norris (SP, DET) 15%
Jorge Polanco (2B/3B/SS, MIN) 13%
Cameron Rupp (C, PHI) 12%
Mitch Moreland (1B, BOS) 12%
Logan Morrison (1B, TB) 11%
Adam Conley (SP, MIA) 11%
Mike Foltynewicz (SP, ATL) 10%

 

Players to Watch in 14-team Leagues

Scott Schebler (OF, CIN) 5%

Scott Schebler definitely sounds like the name you make it to test if your friend really knows the whole Reds' roster, but Scott Schebler is indeed a real person, and he’s playing well in 2017. With three home runs and a batting average (.205) that is bound for some positive regression (.172 BABIP), he’s probably my favorite player in this entire tier. Schebler has a nice approach at the plate (five walks to seven strikeouts this season), and quietly slashed .265/.330/.432 in 82 games last season. If we simply double his stats from last year, he’s an 18-HR, 4-SB, .265-BA player who you can get in just about any league right now. Given the fact that he is just 26 years old, there may even be room for some improvement in those numbers as well. Keep an eye on this guy.

Geovany Soto (C, CHW) 5%

You can copy and paste pretty much everything thing from Travis d’Arnaud’s section here and simply slice the hype in half. Like d’Arnaud, Soto was a known fantasy name a few years ago, but has fallen on rough times in recent memory. However, with three home runs in just five games so far in 2017, Soto is popping up on fantasy player’s radar once again. Soto is much lower than d’Arnaud because - in addition to simply not being as talented - he also just landed on the DL. Soto has only 18 plate appearances in 2017, so he’s more likely to be a candidate in a two-catcher, or deep one-catcher league, but if you can afford to slot him on the DL until he returns, Soto has some intrigue right now.

Gleyber Torres (SS, NYY) 9%
David Freese (1B/3B, PIT) 9%
Tyler Thornburg (RP, BOS) 8%
Justin Bour (1B, MIA) 7%
Cody Bellinger (1B, LAD) 7%
Alex Gordon (OF, KC) 6%
Austin Meadows (OF, PIT) 6%
Devin Mesoraco (C, CIN) 6%
Travis Jankowski (OF, SD) 5%

 

 

 

Players to Watch in AL or NL-Only Leagues

 

Andrew Toles (OF, LAD) 4%

Toles, the speedy ex-Rays' prospect, is making a difference with his bat this season, showing  a bit of pop with three home runs through his first 11 games of 2017. Given his 19.2 percent hard hit ball rate, and the fact that he hit 10 home runs across all levels last year - and that was a career high - don’t expect the HR to continue, but they’re a nice way to even out a slow start on the basepaths. Most anyone who drafted Toles did so in hopes of some steals, but he has yet to even attempt a steal, in part because of a .278 on-base percentage. There are some troubling signs in Toles’ speed profile, however, as his steals totals have continually declined over the past five seasons, and he actually stole only one base in 48 games at the big-league level last year. (He stole 62 bases in 121 Single-A games in 2013.) Keep an eye where this goes, as Toles could be seeing a change in his game as he gets older. He’s an interesting player to watch.

Ian Happ (2B, CHC) 3%

There are two reasons to have Happ on high alert on your fantasy radar. For one, he already has five home runs in just ten games with the Cubs Triple-A affiliate in Iowa this season. He’s hitting .293 with an OPS well over 1.000 - he’s clearly ready for The Show. The only thing holding him up would seem to be the plethora of hitting talent already on the Cubs roster, but that might not be an issue if there is any truth to the rumors that the Cubs might look to trade Happ for pitching help. Now a call up for Happ - or a trade that would then result in a call up - may not be in the works until later in the season, but with the way this guy is hitting, he’s worth tracking for the time being.

Jed Lowrie (2B, OAK) 4%
Jose Berrios (SP, MIN) 4%
Scooter Gennett (2B, CIN) 4%
Derek Norris (C, TB) 4%
Amed Rosario (SS, NYM) 4%
Lewis Brinson (OF, MIL) 4%
Taylor Motter (SS/OF, SEA) 3%
Matt Davidson (UTIL, CHW) 3%
J.P. Crawford (SS, PHI) 3%
Roman Quinn (OF, PHI) 3%
Yandy Diaz (3B, CLE) 2%
ByungHo Park (1B, MIN) 2%
Nick Senzel (3B, CIN) 2%
Aaron Altherr (OF, PHI) 1%
Aaron Hicks (OF, NYY) 1%
Cody Reed (SP/RP, CIN) 1%
Charlie Tilson (OF, CHW) 1%
Matt Joyce (OF, OAK) 1%
Colby Rasmus (OF, TB) 1%

 

Graduated - Ownership Too High

Kendall Graveman (SP, OAK) 70%
Dylan Bundy (SP, BAL) 69%
Manuel Margot (OF, SD) 64%
Mark Reynolds (1B, COL) 63%
Mitch Haniger (OF, SEA) 62%
Aaron Judge (OF, NYY) 52%
Yoan Moncada (3B, CHW) 46%
Travis Shaw (1B/3B, MIL) 40%

 

Demoted

Jason Grilli (RP, TOR) 17%
Delino DeShields (OF, TEX) 4%
Carson Smith (RP, BOS) 1%
Ubaldo Jimenez (SP, BAL) 1%

 

More Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds




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REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Kyren Williams

Expected to Play in Week 14
Davante Adams

Expected to Play Despite Missing Wednesday's Practice
Woody Marks

Texans Say Woody Marks Will be Fine
Rasmus Ristolainen

to Miss at Least One More Week
Drew Doughty

Logs Full Practice Wednesday
Jeff Skinner

Remains Sidelined Wednesday
Petr Mrazek

Out 2-3 Weeks
Pelle Larsson

Set to Suit Up Versus Dallas
Tyler Seguin

Likely Done for the Season
P.J. Washington

Ruled Out Against Miami
Neal Pionk

Returns to Jets Lineup
Jalen Smith

to Miss Third Straight Game
Duncan Robinson

Sidelined Again Wednesday
J.J. McCarthy

Practices in Full, on Track to Return in Week 14
Daniel Gafford

Set To Play Against Heat
Tre Jones

Ruled Out for Wednesday's Game
LaMelo Ball

Good to Go on Wednesday
Steven Adams

Cleared To Play Against Kings
Deni Avdija

is Available to Play on Wednesday
Kevin Porter Jr.

Available on Wednesday
Bobby Portis

Available to Play on Wednesday
Lonzo Ball

Upgraded To Available Against Portland
Giannis Antetokounmpo

Cleared for Wednesday's Game
Jamal Murray

Cleared To Play Against Indiana
Nikola Jokić

Nikola Jokic Available on Wednesday Night
Luka Dončić

Luka Doncic Ruled Out on Thursday Due to a Personal Matter
Norman Powell

Sidelined Versus Mavericks
Mark Andrews

Agrees to Three-Year Extension With Ravens
Devin Booker

Out at Least One Week
Freddy Peralta

Brewers Considering Trading Freddy Peralta
Kyle Schwarber

Reds Serious About Adding Kyle Schwarber in Free Agency?
Amon-Ra St. Brown

Officially Questionable for Thursday Night
Omarion Hampton

"on Track and Looking Good" for Week 14
CFB

Brent Key Signing Five-Year Deal to Remain at Georgia Tech
Joey Bosa

Week-to-Week With Hamstring Injury
Bryce Young

Panthers Expected to Pick Up Bryce Young's Fifth-Year Option
Deshaun Watson

Browns Opening Practice Window for Deshaun Watson
CFB

Brian Hartline Expected to Land USF Head-Coaching Job
CFB

Collin Klein Expected to be Top Target for Kansas State if Head-Coach Job Opens
CFB

Chris Klieman Considering Stepping Down at Kansas State
Aaron Rodgers

Appears to be Healthier Heading into Week 14
Jalen McMillan

Expected to Have his 21-day Practice Window Opened
Mike Evans

' Practice Window Opened, Returning to Practice on Wednesday
Dennis Schröder

Dennis Schroder Carrying Questionable Tag vs. Houston
Steven Adams

Questionable To Face Kings
Tre Jones

Expected To Suit Up Against Nets
Alexander Wennberg

a Game-Time Call Wednesday
Michael Callahan

Sustains Lower-Body Injury Tuesday
Michael Rasmussen

Makes Early Exit Tuesday
Scott Wedgewood

Exits Early With Back Problem
Evander Kane

Expected to Be Fine After Skate Cut
Tyler Seguin

Injured Versus Rangers
Sean Monahan

Expected to Play Thursday
Nathan Walker

Out for Eight Weeks
Lian Bichsel

to Sit Out 6-8 Weeks
Viktor Arvidsson

Activated From Injured Reserve
Warren Foegele

Remains Out Tuesday
Valeri Nichushkin

Available After Eight-Game Absence
Gabriel Landeskog

Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog Cleared for Tuesday
Tyson Foerster

to Miss 2-3 Months
CFB

D.J. Durkin Staying at Auburn Under Alex Golesh
CFB

Charlie Weis Jr. Permitted to Coach Ole Miss Offense in College Football Playoff
Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Says he's Fine After Suffering Hip Contusion
Omarion Hampton

Likely to Return in Week 14
CFB

Five-Star Quarterback Jared Curtis Flips Commitment From Georgia to Vanderbilt
CFB

Florida Hiring Brad White as Defensive Coordinator
Kyle Schwarber

Giants Have Checked in on Kyle Schwarber
Willson Contreras

Willing to Waive his Full No-Trade Clause?
Brandon Aiyuk

49ers "Hopeful" Brandon Aiyuk Will Play in 2025
Brayden Point

Without Timetable for Return
Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Carted Off With Hip Injury on Monday Night
Edwin Díaz

Mets Still Interested in Re-Signing Edwin Diaz
Devin Williams

Agrees to Three-Year Deal With Mets
Cole Ragans

Red Sox Targeting Cole Ragans in a Trade?
CFB

Kentucky Hires Oregon Offensive Coordinator Will Stein As Head Coach
Davante Adams

Not Dealing With a Serious Injury
Kyler Murray

Surgery Not on the Table for Kyler Murray
Marvin Harrison Jr.

in Danger of Missing Week 14?
CFB

Kalani Sitake the Top Target for Penn State Coaching Job
Justin Herbert

Having Hand Surgery on Monday
CFB

Josh Heupel Says He's Not a Candidate for Penn State Head Coach Job
CFB

Will Stein, Brian Hartline the Top Candidates for Kentucky Job?
CFB

Nebraska Fires Defensive Coordinator John Butler After One Season
CFB

UCLA Expected to Hire Bob Chesney as Next Head Coach
CFB

Lane Kiffin to Make $13 Million Salary, Ties Kirby Smart
CFB

Buster Faulkner, Joey Halzle Candidates for Florida Offensive Coordinator Job?
CFB

Kentucky Officially Fires Mark Stoops
CFB

Lane Kiffin to be Introduced as LSU's Next Head Coach on Monday
CFB

Florida Poised to Land Jon Sumrall as Next Head Coach
CFB

Alex Golesh Taking Over Auburn Head-Coaching Job
CFB

Arkansas Expected to Hire Ryan Silverfield as Next Head Coach
Zack Wheeler

Likely to Return in May
Ryan Helsley

Agrees to Two-Year Deal With Orioles

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP