Week 6 Waiver Wire - KP's one man assult on the waiver wire

When KP woke up this morning, I imagine that he had "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" swirling through his head.  Not because he saw that he picked up roughly half the free agents available on the wire, but because his life is pretty solid right now.  He's married to a very nice girl, with whom he makes delicious chicken tenders, has a beautiful little girl who happens to have the same name as my kid, and works with completely insane people (like legit insane people, not just people who sit 3 cubicles away and act kinda strange or smell funny).  In addition to all that, he now gets to hang out with the rest of us cool kids in this here league.

If it feels as though there is a bit of a slant to this week's waiver wire pickup segment, it is because there is.  Of the 13 transactions processed last night, 6 of them were KPs and 3 of them were Uncle Jimmy's.

One other thing before we dive in to the moves.  I realized this morning that I love baseball again.  When I was little, and by that I mean young because I am still kinda little in both physical stature and emotional maturity, I capital L Loved baseball.  I played in an open field near my friend's parents house every day that it was warm enough from 10 or 11 am until dinner.  And then we played more after dinner unless there was a scheduled league game for me to play in.  Then I would come home and watch baseball on TV, go to sleep, get up and watch SportsCenter for baseball highlights and then do it all again.  Rainy days were spent with a copy of Baseball Weekly (now Sports Weekly) pouring through stats or spent with baseball cards, either looking at the silly pictures or the stats or the random "facts" and stories that used to be on the backs of the cards. 

I fell in love with the early and mid 1990s Chicago White Sox when they switched from the generic red, white and blue to the "edgy" black.  Actually, to be more accurate, I fell in love with watching Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez and even Joey Cora, Greg Hibbard and Wilson Alvarez.  I was too young to realize how much of a douche Hawk Harrelson was, and Tom Paciorek (Whimpy) was a decent play by play guy.  That also coincided with the departure/decline of my favorite Cubbies, Ryne Sandberg, Greg Maddux and Andre Dawson.  <<tangent>>Don't worry folks, when the Sox traded Ventura, I was well on my way back to the North side of town.  I hung on a bit to watch Thomas because you dont get to see that type of greatness often.  When Frank Thomas came to the plate, everything else was less important.  You stopped what you were doing to see what type of Hurt he was going to put on one of the pitches of that at bat.  I have never seen anything like it before or since (maybe Giancarlo Stanton).  When the Sox basically ran the best hitter in the history of the franchise out of town, I swore them off completely.  <end tangent>>
When I got to high school, I still loved baseball, but it was with a lower case letter and as I progressed through college, the feeling definitely faded even more.  That was strange because, you know, I was kinda playing baseball in college and the team was helping pay for school (with a very very very very small amount of help).   It had become a job, the thing that you do every single day for 4-6 hours because you have to and because you dont know what else you would do.  By my 5th year in school, I dont think I watched more than a handful of baseball games on TV a year.  And I bet that I could count the number of baseball games I have watched (before this season) since I met my wife 6 YEARS ago on one hand.  I had gone from the guy people knew as "Louie the baseball player" for years to someone who couldnt sit through more than an inning of baseball at a time on TV.  Maybe it was an identity crisis, maybe it was jealousy that those guys had made it when I knew that I never would, maybe it was burn out.  Whatever it was, baseball was no longer fun for me.  I even took 4 or 5 years off from playing baseball or softball because it wasnt fun.

This is apparently a real thing?

This morning I was talking to a co-worker about the Brewers (his favorite team) and during the course of the conversation I realized that I was invested again.  It made me really happy to love baseball again.  I love loving baseball.  And I know that the only reason I am back to this place with the game is this league and this blog.  If nothing else comes of doing this silly little exercise, the time that I have spent so far has been more than worth it.  I hope that playing in this league and reading this blog (or even, gasp, posting a comment once in a while) helps even one of you remember why you loved baseball in the first place and/or strengthens the feelings you have about the game.  As Billy Chapel said in For the Love of the Game, "The game doesnt suck.  It's a great game."

And now, on to the show (I will try to sprinkle the non KP ones in so that it doesnt get any more monotonous than it has to):

RP Joe Nathan - $4 - Huckleberries - drop RP Chad (DJ) Qualls
Nathan struggled early but has largely righted the ship in the last 2 weeks (4 IP, 3 base runners, 3 SV, 4 K) but the Tigers have been beating teams by so many runs that Nathan hasnt been needed to close out many games.  Still, this is an elite closer (albeit an old one) that is on a consistently winning team.  I questioned when he was dropped last week, but it's always nice to give a new guy a present.

RP Hector Rondon - $4 - Zach Attack - drop RP Ernesto Frieri
I knew someone who make the dive into the new Cubs closer.  Rondon sure looks to have the stuff to hold on to the job for the rest of the season, or until the Cubs figure out a way to trade him for a couple AA prospects and a rotten bag of dill pickle sunflower seeds.  Rondon ran into some trouble in the 9th inning of a tie game on Sunday Night Baseball, but other than that, he has been a stud (18K, 16 IP).  He sure passed the eye test on Sunday, even in getting knocked around a bit.


SP Jason Hammel - $5 - Huckelberries - drop SP Brandon Beachy
Beachy is down for the year with Tommy John surgery, so it makes sense to drop him if KP wasnt going to keep him.  I mentioned Hammel in the league leader post last Thursday.  He is leading the league in base runners per inning against.  Pitching for the Cubbies, he wont be much help in the wins category, but if he can keep inducing groundballs and continue to avoid free passes, he will be solid addition to the staff.  Two pickups of Cub pitchers in the same week? And both of them make sense?  What is this world coming to?

SP/RP Garrett Richards - $4 - Mark Baker Hitless Bastards - drop RP Danny Farquhar
It pains me.  Danny Fhqwhgads was one of the best story lines of last season, coming out of nowhere to be the best option in the Mariners bullpen.  In reality, he has been just as good this year (1.59 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 19K in 17 IP) but his lack of W and SV+H makes him expendable.  Richards has been straight nasty this year, racking up 40K in 38 innings against some of the top lineups in MLB.  He also has the SP/RP tag that I apparently get sucked into like kelp into Manta Ray's mouth.

C Jarrod Saltalamacchia - $4 - Huckelberries - drop SS Jhonny Peralta
With Jimmy Rollins and Hanley Ramirez already on the roster, I was never really sure why Jerad: The Galleria of bad trades (ONE LAST TIME!) made that move, but flipping him for a solid C in Saltalamacchia makes sense.  The Salty one is hitting 301/405/570 with 18R and 13RBI, who knew? Not world beating, but definitely playable, especially at catcher. With the crap fest I have been rolling out at catcher, I should have been all over this one.

OF Alex Gordon - $3 - Merry Tyler's Moor Traveling AllStars - drop 1b Billy Butler
I swear that Billy Butler used to be a good hitter.  He languished on some pretty awful Royals teams but was always one of the lone bright spots.  He is struggling mightily this year, but for a pure hitter like him, we should see some bounce back in the summer months.  Gordon is a former top pick and top prospect with modest power.  This year, that power is down and so are his walk rate and stolen base attempts.  Basically, all of what makes Gordon a desirable fantasy player is going wrong right now.  That simply cannot continue and Gordon should be a very strong bounce back candidate.  Did anyone else realize that Billy Butler is 2 years YOUNGER than Alex Gordon?

Hiroki Kuroda walking through the Bronx

SP Jered Weaver - $4 - Huckleberries - drop SP Hiroki Kuroda
I probably jumped ship on the dreamWeaver a little bit early, but his lack of Ks is still concerning.  That said, he has put together 4 straight turns allowing 2 runs or less and he has even struck out 13 (against 16 hits) in his last 2 starts (13 innings).  Weaver is clearly an upgrade on Kuroda, who might as well be a gigantic lizard the way he is terrorizing the fans of New York.



SP Aaron Harang - $1 - Les Moles - drop SP Matt Garza

Stoned or no? I vote yes.

This is totally a revenge dumping.  Garza put up an April 30th stink bomb for Tom and Tom retaliated the only way he could, by dropping him for the Harangatang (easily my favorite nickname in MLB right now...and I dont think anyone else calls him that).  The Harangatang has been spectacular this year, 43K, 2.98 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 2 HR allowed in 42 innings. That's better than he has been in any season during his major league career, which started in 2002.  While its certainly possible that he has become a dominant pitcher during his age 36 season for the second time in his career (his 2007 was pretty great), its more likely that Aaron Harangatang will turn back into Aaron Harang fairly soon. 

RP Jim Johnson - $3 - Huckleberries - drop RP Edward Mujica
So...Here is where I would normally say that Jim Johnson is a member of Project Mayhem, but Jim Johnson is not a member of Project Mayhem.  Johnson, despite being 6'6" and weighing 240 pounds has never struck out a batter an inning.  He is a pitch to contact specialist who doesnt walk many batters and is therefore subjected to some pretty scary ratios in some weeks.

3b Trevor Plouffe - $1 - You Can Call Me Al - fill roster spot
Hey, Uncle Jimmy is finally filling roster spots.  Plouffe has been a super utility guy for the past couple of seasons, but he is now getting a full time shot at 3b and should hold it until Miguel Sano is ready to take it from him in 2015 or early 2016.  Oh Trevor, love the walk rate, hate the K rate, expect the HR rate to rise as the temperature does.  I

Doesnt even need to bring a bat to change fantasy matchups

OF Rajai Davis - $2 - Huckleberries - fill roster spot
The knock on Davis has always been that he wont hit well enough to keep his legs in the lineup, and thats where his value lies, in his ability to steal bases (league leading 11 so far this year).  In the past 3 years, he hasnt hit above .260 or had an OBP higher than .312, and he stole 125 bases in 345 games.  This year he is hitting 337/389/442.  If he keeps the OBP over .350 he might steal 70 bags.

RP David Carpenter - $1 - UCCMA - fill roster spot
RP Joe Smith - $1 - UCCMA - fill roster spot
Smith and Carpenter are members of Project Mayhem.