Week 23 Waivers - Gone til September

Ususally September in baseball means expanded rosters and teams making either a final push for the pennant or bringing up the kids so that the fan base and general manager can get a glimpse of what the future might hold for the non-playoff bound franchises.  Those of us who are Cubs fans are well versed in the latter, as the Cubs have been also-rans for several seasons and are just now starting to reap the benefits of their terribleness with callups of top prospects Javier Baez and Jorge Soler with the next wave of Kris Bryant and Albert Almora waiting to be added to the 40 man roster next season.  We know about these guys already...in fact, all of them except Almora are already owned in our league and Jim or Bob wouldnt trade any of them for much less than several all star caliber players...I know, I have been trying to pry Bryant away from Uncle Jim all season.  Generally, though, the teams that are playoff bound dont make wholesale changes to what has brought them this far.  Mostly, teams will bring up a hot prospect and use them in a part time role (think Adam Wainwright as closer on the Cardinals World Series run in 2006) if they use them at all.  Occasionally, like with Michael Wacha last year or Miguel Cabrera back in 2003, teams will throw unproven players to the wolves.  But, in those situations, the young player is replacing someone who is proven...but is proven to be terrible at baseball.  Twenty year old Cabrera took over for the immortal Todd Hollandsworth (and his .317 OBP) in 03.  Wacha joined a rotation that had lost Jamie Garcia and was trotting 35 year old Jake Westbrook and his 1.56 WHIP out every 5th day.  All of that makes what Kyler did this week seem very strange.  Kyler made the max 6 pick ups this week, dropping some injured, non keeper type players but ultimately drastically altering the composition of his team...while he is playing in the first week of the playoffs.  I got a text from Jim this morning that said, "Kyler today = The Purge 3? Now, if he beats me with a team he just dumped a third of, I shall be shamed."  That should keep things interesting.

First, the non Kyler moves of the week:

C Yadier Molina - $15 - Zach Attack - Drop SS Chris Owings
I am confused.  Not that Zach would pick up a perennial All Star catcher like Molina...that makes perfect sense.  It is strange that no one else bid on him and that Zach could have had him for $1 (I wanted to bid, but I couldnt figure out who I would want to drop to get him...#firstworldproblems), but its not confusing.  What is confusing me is that Zach held on to Chris Owings for 2 months while he was on the DL, even starting him some weeks, only to drop him almost immediately after he was activated.  I mean, when you have Jean Segura and his 230/342/246 slash line with 2 RBI over that last 30 days, you kinda have to roll with that, right?  Owings has 1 fewer RBI over that time period and he has only been active for 6 days.  It will be interesting to see if picking Segura comes back to haunt Zach in the semi finals or championship.

SP, RP Josh Collmenter - $5 - Les Moles - Drop RP Brad Ziegler
Ziegler confirmed last week that he will be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, so it isnt surprising to see Tom dump him back to the waiver wire where he found him.  Collmenter has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen for the past few seasons, but has been great with 3 QS in his last 3 turns.  Collmenter has never been a big strikeout guy (103 in 151 innings this year) and he gives up almost a hit an inning, but he doesnt walk many (around 2 per 9 innings) and he seems to be able to spread the hits out enough to avoid serious damage in most starts.  Combine that with the SP, RP dual eligibility and Tom has yet another SP that he can roll out in an RP spot in the playoffs.  Also, I remember hearing a story once when Collmenter was pitching against the Cubs, that he grew up kinda out in the middle of nowhere (wikipedia says he grew up in Homer, MI which it says has a population of 1600ish people in a total land mass of 1.45 square miles...and I am guessing that the main town is that small and the 1600ish people are spread out in the surrounding areas) and learned to throw by repeatedly throwing axes at trees...and that throwing axes is the reason his motion is funky and why he gets such great movement on his cut fastball.

SP, RP Michael Wacha - $5 - UCCMA - No Drop

Now youre just trolling me, Jim.  I had to drop Wacha a couple of weeks back in order to be able to field a full team to try to hold on to a playoff spot.  Wacha missed nearly 3 months with stress fractures in his shoulder, but came back with a strong, albeit short, first start last week.  According to the Cards, he should be at full go after another turn or two.  When he is healthy, Wacha is one of the most dominant young pitchers in the game today.  He isnt on the level of Jose Fernandez or Matt Harvey (who are both injured), but I would put him in the next tier of up and comers with guys like Sonny Gray and Garrett Richards.  I knew I was going to regret dropping him, but no that Jim has him I am going to get a bunch of #WachaWinner texts all next season.

1b Joey Votto - $1 - MTMTAS - No Drop
If you would have told someone before the season that Joey Votto would be a potential keeper at $1, that person would have punched you right in your whore mouth and stormed off.  Votto has been both injured and terrible this year, but he has hit over .300 and had an OBP over .400 in each of the previous 5 seasons along with SLG% over .531 in 4 of those 5 seasons (it was .491 in the other season.  Basically, Votto is an elite offensive player, especially in a fantasy league that uses OBP and SLG as scoring categories.  He will likely never again be the player that hit 37 HRs in 2010, but he doesnt have to be to have value...especially at $1.  I had been wondering if Tyler was going to want to come back and play next season, but this pick up makes me think that there isnt a chance he wont want to.

And now for the Kyler portion of the show...strap in, grab a Snickers, this is going to be a while.

OF Denard Span - $1 - Drop OF Melky Cabrera
The Melk Man broke a bone in his right pinky and the injury required season ending surgery, so the drop here is expected.  Span has been one of the hottest players on the planet over the second half of the season, slashing 359/416/465 with 14 SBs since the break.  Span will never be a threat to knock in even 75 runs for a season, but his runs scored and SBs have aleays been helpful (other than 2011, when he somehow only stole 6 bases in 70 games).  This year, with the average back over .300 for the first time since 2009, he is nearing the top 50 most valuable fantasy players.  If he can keep hitting like he has over the past couple of months (and Kyler can hold on to beat Jim), Denard Span could have a lot to do with how the end of the season plays out.

RP Santiago Casilla - $1 - Drop RP Rafael Soriano
Soriano officially lost his closer gig to a two headed monster (Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen) after his most recent blow up.  It wouldnt be surprising to see him regain the big chair with a couple of solid outings, but it also wouldnt be a surprised to not see him close another game this season.  Casilla (formerly Jairo Garcia for anyone who used to play the MVP baseball series) is a co-closer with Sergio Romo accoring to Bruce Botchy, but Garcia has done more than enough to be owned even as a setup man.  His 1.75/0.94 ratios will play in any format, though his 40 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings are a little on the low side for an elite reliever. 

SS Corey Seager - $1 - Drop SS Alexei Ramirez
Remember when Kyler was trying to trade for every shortstop that was in MLB?  Ahh...memories.  Kyler only used Ramirez for a couple of weeks (he hit 268/297/408 with 7R 4RBI 1SB while active) before settling on Jimmy Rollins as his long term solution.  In Seager, Kyler might have acquired his super long term option (though Seager might not stick at SS).  Like his older brother, Mariners 3b Kyle Seager, Corey is a solid all around player who finished 2014 with a 349/402/602 slash with 50 2bsand 20 HRs in 515 plate appearances across Advanced A and AA (though roughly 2/3rds of the PA were at High A with 18 of the HRs).  There is another brother, Justin, who is a bad minor league 1b man for the Single A Clinton LumberKings.  He is the Cooper to Kyle and Corey's Peyton and Eli.  The youngest Seager might not make it to the show for the Dodgers to start next season, but his call up is in the not too distant future, especially if the Dodgers cannot find someone to take over at 3b, or if they decided to move Hanley Ramirez (whose defense has been not so secretly atrocious for the past couple of seasons) to 3rd and need a SS.  He also looks like a complete D-Bag...like the kid in high school that everyone liked because he was good at sports, but that everyone hated because he knew that he was better than everyone at everything and he never missed a chance to tell you about it.  I hated that kid.

SP, RP Andrew Cashner - $1 - Drop SP Henderson Alvarez
I think I have mentioned Henderson Alvarez turning back into Henderson Alvarez enough times in the last couple of weeks...so I wont spend any more time on him.  Cashner is yet another pitcher I dropped earlier this season due to mounting injuries.  Since returning from the DL, Cashner has given up 5 earned runs in 18 innings over 3 starts, with 14 punch outs and 3 free passes.   If Cashner is healthy, he will provide great ratios and a decent number of strikeouts and quality starts.  The only thing he is lacking, really, is run support that leads to wins.  Despite 2.39/1.19 ratios, Cashner is 2-7 on the season.

SP, RP Jacob deGrom - $1 - Drop SP Tim Hudson

Hudson is another of the maligned pitchers from the past couple of weeks.  deGrom, another solid youngster recently off the DL who boasts SP and RP eligibility, has 2.79/1.20 ratios with 112Ks in 119 innings on the season.  Basically, deGrom and Cashner profile as similar players, though Cashner has a more extensive track record and deGrom is staring at an innings cap as the season winds down.  These two players give Kyler a little bit of flexibility in the case he were to run up against Tom and his army of SP, RP players.  deGrom is also in a battle to the death with Jeff Samardzija for who can have hair most like a Musketeer...a battle which Jacob is currently winning hands down.  Does anyone else see a little Val Kilmer in that face?


1b, 3b Casey McGehee - $1 - Drop 1b Matt Adams
Adams has struggled recently, and other than his 2 week power outburst (he hit 6 of his 15HRs from June 13 to June 25), has really not shown the ability to hit the ball out of the yard. He hasnt had a multi-hit game since August 18th and has gone hitless 9 times since then.  McGehee though?  Casey is still sitting on 3 HRs on the season and after a pretty terrible August (252/325/330) has had an ok, and single filled, September thus far (320/433/360).  McGehee gives Kyler some flexibility with his 1b and 3b eligibility, but other than that, Kyler must have been channeling his inner child Brewers fan, as McGehee doesnt offer much that he couldnt have gotten elsewhere.