Week 15 Waivers

So...normally I try to do some blah blah blah introduction to the recaps, but I am a little tight for time today and there are a bunch or moves to get through, so I am going to jump right into it.  Before that though, I did some checking on the blog hits in the stats section.  We continue to get about 1-2 hits a week from Germany and the same with Ukraine.  This week we picked up a hit from Brazil and another from Ireland.  I think that brings our total number of countries visited by to 7 or 8.  Pretty awesome if you ask me.

First... TWO TRADES!?!?!  This is the first two trade week we've had so far.  As the wire turns into the gift that keeps on giving crap (at least to me, some of you others might be having more luck), I like that the trade front is starting to warm up a bit.

Les Moles get SP John Lackey
MWP gets OF Coco Crisp

I may or may not have spent 20 minutes this morning trying to figure out why in the world someone would trade something of value (Coco Crispies) for something not of value (Lurch Lackey).  Crisp has valuable skills as he contributes in 5 categories (his RBI production leaves a lot to be desired) and has shown that he can get hot and almost carry a fantasy team in avg and SBs in any given week.  On top of that, with the injuries to Evan Gattis and Angel Pagan and the suckitude of Pedro Alvarez, John needed an OF who was upright.  There are literally a dozen+ pitchers available on the waiver wire who have similar stat profiles to Lackey and some have considerable more upside.  Also in John's favor is the fact that Uncle Jimmy's sister's dog is a chocolate lab named Coco Crisp.  MWP > LES MOLES


Huckleberries get RP Steve Cishek
ZAttack gets OF Matt Kemp and Human Gasoline Dispenser (HGD) Ernesto Frieri

I can see what Zack was going for with the Frieri inclusion in this deal, but it obviously flamed out in spectacular fashion (we will see Ernesto again a bit further down...probably for the last time for a while).  It was worth a flier to see if he could turn things around.  But the meat of this deal is the Cishek for Kemp.  And really, it makes sense for both sides.  Zach needed a productive OFer with CarGo still lingering on the DL and ShinSoo Choo struggling/probably hurt and Kemp is only a couple of years and a couple of semi-major injuries removed from being one of the best players in MLB.  Kevin is working on putting together a workable pitching staff and Cishek is a solid ratio, k and SV/H contributor.  And, with Bryce Harper, Adam Jones, Josh Hamilton and Matt Holliday, he had an OFer to spare.  Because Kemp is going to be a larger, every day contributor, this gets ZATTACK > HUCKLEBERRIES, but its not a huge advantage I like the deal for Kevin as well.

Now on to the waiver adds--

1b/OF Brandon Moss - $10 - Huckleberries - Drop OF Rajai Davis
Davis is really only on the fantasy radar because of his speed and in order to show off that speed he needs at bats.  With JD Martinez pretending every pitched ball is the head of a Houston Astro front office guy, Davis has started losing playing time.  Even when he has played, the results havent been great even in the SB department (2 for his last 5).  Moss is like the fruitcake that everyone wants until they have it.  I think this is his 4th different team already this season.  A $10 investment tells me that Kevin is likely going to hold on to him for a while and it is easy to see why.  As I have said before, Moss is going to hit the ball a long way and drive in runs when people in front of him reach base.  Worst case scenario, Moss is VMart insurance in case this back issue continues to limit Martinez.

SP/RP Marcus aStroman - $5 - Bobs ATers - Drop SP CJ Wilson

aStroman is listed at 5'9", but has a filthy array of pitches.  He has 6 QS in 7 chances and has yet to allow more than 3 runs in any outing.  His season WHIP stands at 1.17 and he has dual position eligibility.  There were scouting reports that doubted his ability to stick in the starting rotation because "his height means that he wont get enough downward plane on his pitches which will leave him open to giving up more home runs."  I know scouts have to put something on the report, but seriously?  Couldnt they have gone with, "aStroman is short but fucking dominates" and be done with it?

SP Jeff Locke - $3 - MWP Masters - Drop OF Angel Pagan
And Pagan departs John's team without ever leaving the DL.  I am sad to see him go. Locke fooled us in the first half of last season going 8-2 with a 2.15 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 109 innings before posting 57 second half innings that looked like something Angel Pagan's dog puked up after visiting Taco Bell (2-5 6.12 ERA 1.87 WHIP).  Oh...and he lead the league in walks allowed despite only throwing 166 innings.  This season, Locke has walked 6 batters in just under 50 innings while maintaining his hit against rate from last season which has led to a 0.93 WHIP.  Did Locke improve his control by that much?  Can he shake the second half demons from last year or was he simply over worked in the first half last year and had nothing left for the stretch run?

RP Sergio Romo - $1 - ZAttack - Drop HGD Ernesto Frieri
I didnt think Romo would linger on the waiver wire for long after he was dropped last week.  He is simply too good and in too good of a fantasy situation to be available for long.  Frieri...well...at least he is moving to Pittsburgh in real life.

SP/RP Tom Koehler - $1 - MBHB - Drop SP Andrew Heaney
Heaney likely has a bright future as an MLB super stud, but I watched the video from his last couple of starts and he just isnt there yet.  Hey, not all 23 year olds can handle being thrown into an MLB rotation.  In his 4 game audition, he gave up 5 homers and struck out only 13 batters and did not show any of the dominance that was touted from his minor league performance.  Koehler is pretty blah.  His biggest appeal is his SP/RP designation that gives MBHB some options for different weeks.  In honesty, Koehler was the fall back option in case I didnt get aStroman (which I didnt...because Bob is a dick).  He strikesout too few and walks too many and he got absolutely lite up last night by Paul Goldschmidt and the Diamondbacks (I think that is the first time this year someone has typed that sentence).  He just had a kid, so maybe he hasnt adjusted to life without a normal sleep pattern yet.

3b Joey Gallo - $1 - MTMTAS - Drop C/1b/3b Carlos Santana
This is purely a future play.  Gallo is blocked in Tejas by the best 3b in the American League...someone named Yangervis Solarte Adrian Beltre, so unless one moves to a new position, we arent seeing Gallo anytime soon.  Gallo is a 20 year old with some pretty serious power (40 HRs last year, 38 in A ball) who put a serious hurt on High A pitching this year (323/463/721 with 21 HRs in 246 PAs) before moving to AA.  He has slowed in AA (298/389/691 10 HRs in 108 PA) but not by much.  He has a bit of Adam Dunn to him as 46 of those 108 AA plate appearances have ended in strikeouts.  Still, this is a player with potential to change the landscape of the Ranger franchise with his power...or to get to the Bigs and never make contact with a ball.  Speaking of not making contact with the ball...Carlos Santana has actually come on a bit of late after a horrendous start to the season that actually made me run out of bad Carlos Santana musical collaboration jokes...and Carlos Santana put out an entire album of nothing but collaborations.


2b/ss/OF Danny Santana - $1 - Huckleberries - NO DROP
You Twins fans love your Twinkies.  Danny Santana is having a really nice season, and his triple position eligibility is fantastic to have in a backup (I picked up Josh Harrison for the same reason last week).  But Santana is hurt, and the reports I have seen arent saying he will be back until after the All Star break at the earliest.  On top of that, his current .328 batting average is higher than his minor league OBP (.318) which was put together over 7 seasons.  Players dont often figure out how to hit when they reach the Majors after being mediocre in 7 minor league seasons.  I like Santana, shit...he is my size (if I were still the same size as when I played).  I want to see him succeed because I wish there were more players who looked like normal people, but the track record doesnt look promising.

1b/3b Casey McGehee - $1 - Bobs ATers - NO DROP
I knew that someone would do it eventually.  I talked about Casey yesterday in the recaps, so I am not going to hash over it again.  But...now that he is on Bob's team, McGehee will go on a binge where he hits 5 HRs over the next week and repeats it every week until Bob decides to drop him.