Week 18 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Luis Robert, Luis Urias, Tyler Beede, and more

Last week’s waiver run was a bit quiet, maybe due to some sluggishness after the All-Star break. But this week our FTF league was back to its busy ways.

A quick league update: Fake Teams’ own Punk is Dead (121 points) still leads the way, while Mike Kurland of the Bases Loaded podcast is still nipping at his heels (118 points). After that it is a bloodbath, but Zack Waxman and Brian Entrekin are still in third and fourth, respectively—both having been top five all year. After that it is a four or five horse race in the middle...maybe yours truly can make some headway after acquiring Paul Goldschmidt and Jeff McNeil last week (I gave Jacob deGrom and Harrison Bader). Blockbuster deal for sure. We’ll see how it goes.

And now, our money adds from Sunday, July 21st:

$5 Chance Sisco (Bal - C) to No Cigar
$4 Daniel Ponce de Leon (Stl - P) to Punk is Dead
$3 Tyler O’Neill (Stl - OF) to Punk is Dead
$2 Sam Dyson (SF - P) to No Cigar
$1 Luis Robert (CWS - OF) to Zack’s Okay Team
$1 Tyler Beede (SF - P) to Zack’s Okay Team
$1 Isan Diaz (Mia - SS) to Ghoji

And the guys we added for nothing:

Danny Jansen (Tor - C) to Joe’s All-Sleeper Team
Craig Stammen (SD - P) to Joe’s All-Sleeper Team
Kyle Crick (Pit - P) to Joe’s All-Sleeper Team
Tyler Naquin (Cle - OF) to The Last of Us
Mike Brosseau (TB - 2B, 3B) to yours truly
Brad Keller (KC - P) to The Last of Us
Mark Canha (Oak - 1B, OF) to yours truly

Catcher

Chance Sisco (12% owned) and Danny Jansen (50% owned) are decent adds at backstop. I like Jansen more than Sisco. However, if you need help at catcher, you should first search for Travis d’Arnaud (32% owned). I can’t explain his ownership percentage, as d’Arnaud has lit the world on fire over the last couple of weeks. Over the last calendar month, he has seven homers in 18 games, including a grand slam off of Dylan Cease on Sunday. I think d’Arnaud should be owned in every format and I expect his ownership rate to rise considerably.

First Base

Mark Canha was our only add of the week with this eligibility, and I actually added him for help in the outfield. Matt Olson is my guy on the corner, and he needs no help holding down first base. Anyway, Canha is benefiting from Khris Davis’s struggles. Davis has been demoted to mostly batting sixth in the order, while Canha is batting cleanup. Canha is a bit of an enigma—after entering 2019 as an expected platoon player against lefties, he has been solid against lefties but better against righties so far. His play has earned him everyday at-bats, and I am going to ride this train for as long as I can. For reference, he has a .371 wOBA against lefties and a .390 wOBA against righties. The 30-year-old has beefed his walk rate to 14.1% and trimmed his strikeout rate to 19.1%. He is also slashing .249/.378/.543, despite an unlucky .241 BABIP. I really, really dig this add if you need corner infield help or a quality outfielder.

Other first base adds you can consider are Garrett Cooper (36%), Christian Walker (32%), and Renato Núñez (24%). These guys are all already owned in FTF.

Second Base

Mike Brosseau was one of my guys to add, and honestly I don’t think he’ll crack my lineup just yet. Just me churning the bottom of my roster. I got rid of Nicky Lopez this week. What a disappointment that was. Anyway, Brosseau is amid a crowded grouping of bats in Tampa. I don’t think he is falling into everyday at-bats just yet.

A far better choice (if he is available) is Keston Hiura, which is one of the most obvious statements of all time. At 64% owned in Yahoo, that is just plain too low. Now that he has moved up in the Milwaukee order and is red-hot with the bat, he should be universally owned.

Luis Urias (22% owned) got the call this past weekend, and has gone 1-for-6 with three runs scored already. I’m not certain what took the Padres so long to move on from Ian Kinsler, but the keystone should be Urias’s gig to lose for the rest of the season. Kinsler’s current slash line sits at .211/.271/.355, and he is 37 years old. Don’t be afraid.

Third Base

No third basemen on our wire, unless you count Brosseau. In the general population there is one stout add named Hunter Dozier (64% owned). A brief IL stint due to some chest tightness may have given you a bit of smokescreen. His walk rate is up to 11.0% this year, his strikeout rate down to 22.6%, and he is slashing a healthy .290/.372/.545. Dozier has made some changes this year that seem to be paying dividends, namely swinging less, chasing less, and making more contact. Dozier carries eligibility at both corners and is a very strong corner infield or utility play. I am happy to have added him in Fake Teams and Friends!

Scott Kingery and Ryan McMahon are both options I’d consider at the hot corner. Kingery is still only 56% owned and qualifies at 3B/SS/OF. McMahon is a guy we’ve waited on for a while this year, but he’s up to 20% and is worth a shot to see if he can keep getting enough playing time in Colorado.

The aforementioned Renato Núñez (who was under first base) also qualifies at third. He is a long distance behind Dozier, though.

Shortstop

Isan Diaz looks like Ghoji digging pretty deep. Still, if Starlin Castro is traded away to a contending team, it would appear that Diaz would get the call and could help your team in the middle infield positions.

Tommy Edman (2B/3B/SS) is a guy I’ve been using, at least in my MLB DFS lineups. He’s been hitting leadoff for the Cardinals (six games in a row now). A .262 batting average with four dingers and four swipes already offers some intrigue to those of you in deep leagues.

Outfield

Two of the big outfield adds right now are Tyler O’Neill and Luis Robert. One is currently carving out a role in St. Louis (O’Neill) and the other was just promoted to Triple-A this July. You can guess which one I am more into...the one actually in the majors at this juncture. However, if your league is large (at least 15 teams) and you have the bench space, a speculative add makes sense given Robert’s tools. I am personally balking at wasting a roster spot on him after seeing what the White Sox did with Eloy Jimenez.

Ramon Laurenao (75% owned) should be universally owned. Up to 20 homers already and toting 12 steals, these toolsy types don’t grow on trees. Even in 10-team leagues, go add this man.

Oscar Mercado (40%) has settled into the two-hole for the Indians, and he has put together some impressive games recently. Most notably was a two-homer game, followed by another homer in the next game. And then, three days later, he went a cool 5-for-5 at the plate. Another guy with double-digit homer/stolen base potential, Mercado should be a quality across-the-board contributor.

Manuel Margot (13%) is a guy I am trying to add in as many places as possible. He’s on a heater right now, up to six homers and 13 swipes in limited playing time. However, if he gets traded out of San Diego’s perpetual outfield roster crunch and falls into consistent at-bats, he could be a big difference-maker down the stretch. You don’t have to wait on that, though, as Margot has clearly overtaken Wil Myers in the rotation. Add away.

Pitcher

There are a few intriguing names that we added, but chief among them is Tyler Beede. I’ll refer back to JT’s buy-low article, where he said this about Beede:

Tyler Beede is interesting as a buy-low for one big reason. He’s had two starts where he’s thrown his slider at least 10% of the time. Those starts have been his last two, in which he’s faced off against two very good offenses in the Padres and Brewers, with both being away from his pitcher-friendly home park. In those two starts he’s thrown 13 ⅔ innings with 11 strikeouts, zero walks, four earned runs, and an 11% swinging strike rate. In this landscape, that is enough to make me say he’s worth acquiring anywhere. With legitimate prospect pedigree combined with the best home park in baseball for pitchers, Beede has a chance to make a huge jump if he continues to feature his slider.

All Beede did after that article was written was go out and fling eight shoutout innings against the Mets, striking out five hitters (against one walk). He allowed a mere three hits in the contest. Given his home park in San Francisco and the travesty that has been starting pitching in 2019, I don’t see how you can ignore Beede in any format. Add, add, add.