RADIO
Corner Store is open! Primary shoppers: Eugenio Suarez owners, Greg Bird owners, Jake Lamb owners, Justin Turner owners, Josh Harrison owners, and Josh Donaldson. It is only week four and a couple of corner infield stars have already spent time on the DL and recently returned which will make your life less stressful. Hopefully your new stress is that you got lucky and picked up a couple of waiver wire players that are performing well but now it puts your roster over its limits. If this has already happened, you have nothing to do but choose your worst player to drop. For others, as soon as you see your star player getting close to returning, set things in motion to trade an asset or two to improve the quality of your roster. Don’t be forced to cut valuable assets.
Again, you will not find a commensurate replacement for the corner infielder that you lost. When looking for a replacement or upgrade, identify the needs of your roster and how a player would fit in to improve your roster as a whole, or boost a certain category at the very least. First base and third base are generally the best spots to look to improve your team’s power. From the waiver wire, those individuals will usually come with a poor batting average. The main alternative is players that give you average production across the board.
Key points - the primary focus of this list is on players who are owned in less than 50% of yahoo leagues. Below are some names that might be available as well as players that have recently graduated from the parameters. Check your leagues for availability.
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Week 4 Corner Infield (CI) Waiver Wire Targets
Eugenio Suarez (3B, CIN) 49% owned
Eugenio Suarez is one of the primary reasons you might be looking for a replacement at 3B. He has a fractured left thumb but has recovered enough to hit off a tee without pain as well as take soft toss on Saturday. He will do the same drills on Sunday and Monday. There is no timetable for his return but if you, by good fortune, have an empty DL spot, stash him. In 27 at-bats to start the year, he has two homers, seven RBI, five runs and a .296 average. He is one of the most underrated players in baseball. If you can get him free of charge and potentially have him for your stretch run at the end of the season, you must do what you can to stash him.
Jeimer Candelario (3B, DET) 12% owned
Candelario has been flying under the radar but provides more than enough to hold the reins for a week or two until your starter returns. Actually, he has played admirably in recent weeks. In the last week, Candelario had four runs, two homers, and seven RBI to go with a .444 average. His OBP (.348) makes him a better option in those leagues. With that, he will continue to rack up stats batting in the two-hole. Candelario is lined up to be productive with favorable opponents in the next three series at Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay.
Yulieski Gurriel (1B, HOU) 36% owned
Playing time should be one key factor when considering a player. Performance is one of the next considerations. Gurriel meets both of those requirements, as he is the first baseman in a very good offensive lineup and had a very good 2017. He hit 18 HRs and 43 doubles with .299 average. Gurriel doesn’t walk much but doesn’t strike out much either. His short 2018 is no different; he has a 2.8 BB% and 13.9 K%. Gurriel has only been off the DL for a little over a week so do not fret for the lack of stats. Once he gets back into the groove, everyone will be jumping to acquire him. Get him in advance of the crowd.
Miguel Andujar (3B, NYY) 24% owned
People got excited when he got the job at third base, but fell off the love train when his bat didn’t support the hype. Now that the novelty has worn off a little, Andujar has started warming up. He has five multi-hit games in the last six, which he had seven runs, two homers, and seven RBI. It must be noted that these games were against weaker competition. The upcoming schedule against the Twins, Angels, and Astros might allow him to add to his multi-hit game collection.
Risky Business
C.J. Cron (1B, TB) 5% owned
Cron has always lacked consistent playing time while in an Angels uniform. This year in Tampa Bay, he has all the opportunities he can handle. Cron’s primary production this year has come in the last two weeks. He has five homers and 12 RBI with .321 average in that time frame. At 28 years old, he has career bests while in majors of 42% hard hit and 46% fly ball rate. With a 2.4 BB%, Cron is not an asset in OBP leagues. He is hitting well now and might be a decent band-aid option for your corner infield troubles in deep leagues. Be mindful that Cron does visit Baltimore, Boston, and Detroit this week, all on the road.
Early Graduates
Christian Villanueva (3B, SD) 66% owned
The opportunity to get Villanueva lasted a couple of weeks as people were delayed in response to his performance. Once proven, it seemed he was forced to prove that the power he showed was real. Villanueva did that very thing, hitting four homers in the last eight games. He also had eight runs and nine RBI during that time. On the season, Villanueva has a slash line of .345/.441/.724. Therefore, the masses quickly rushed to him and now his ownership screamed north to 66%. He does have a series in Colorado to keep the success going.
Yangervis Solarte (2B/3B/SS, TOR) 66% owned
Solarte continues to see playing time with Josh Donaldson out with shoulder injury. The 30 year old hit a couple of homers this week and managers flocked to get him on their roster. He is an example of getting a player with average skills across the board. Solarte is effective in maximizing BB% (17.7) and keeping K% low (12.7). He has changed his swing to increase his fly ball % to 50.9 with only a 25.5% hard hit rate. Solarte has a Boston series following by Texas and Minnesota this week so be selective if you can.
