Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Pitchers Edition

Need some pitching?

This list consists of five pitchers with favorable match ups and/or guys that have just been tearing it up lately, most of which can be found on the waiver wire.


Joel Pineiro

Pineiro has been excellent in his last two performances. One of which he lasted nine innings giving up three hits, one earned run, while striking out five. In his other start, he tossed seven innings surrendering five hits, and one earned run, while striking out three.

Pineiro is now 8-9 on the season with a 3.09 ERA, 51 strikeouts, and 12 walks, in 122.1 innings, his 12 walks are lowest in the Majors among qualifiers. In his last seven starts he has an ERA below 2.00 and a WHIP below 1.00.

Did I mention he's in a contract year?

Although Pineiro won't provide your team with much strikeouts, he can help you out with his low ERA, and WHIP.

He is owned in 14.9 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, take a look at him if he's available in your league.


J.A. Happ

Happ added another win to his perfect 7-0 record on Sunday, after shutting out the Marlins in seven innings of work. That outing brings his season totals to 94 innings pitched, with 65 strikeouts, 33 walks, with an ERA of 2.68 and a WHIP of 1.15.

In his last six games, he has only allowed three runs once, in the rest he allowed two or fewer.

Happ is not a huge strikeout guy either, but he has a low ERA, WHIP, and he is undefeated on the season.

Happ is only owned in 30.9 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, if he continues to pitch like this, he should be owned in most formats.


Scott Baker

After starting off the season horribly, and disapointing fantasy owners that picked him as their third or fourth starter, it seems Baker has turned it around.

He is 4-1 in his last five starts, with his best of those performances being Friday against the Rangers. He pitched eight innings, gave up one run, and struck out eight, en route to his eigtht win of the season.

Baker is now 8-7 on the season, with 90 strikeouts, 23 walks, an ERA of 5.10 and a WHIP of 1.20.

Baker is starting to look like the guy we thought he would be this season, he can provide your team with strikeouts, WHIP, and his ERA will be down soon.

As a result of his early season struggles, Baker is available in around 15 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, pick him up now.


Ervin Santana

Coming off a breakout year, Santana has been plagued with injuries all season, and when he wasn't injured he was struggling on the mound.

Well, in his last start he lasted eight innings, gave up three hits, one earned run, he walked 2, and struck out four.

His season totals still aren't that great, 2-5, with a 6.70 ERA, 34 strikeouts, and 19 walks. He has only pitched 48.1 innings though.

He has a favorable start today against the Blue Jays, and he is available in 21 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, if you don't already own him, pick him up and start him.

I believe in Santana the rest of the way if he can stay healty and if he does, look out for an increase in his strikeouts, and decrease in his ERA.


Randy Wolf

Wolf has had some pretty solid numbers recently, in his last three starts he is 1-1 in 18.1 innings, in that span he has allowed 16 hits, six earned runs, and three walks, while striking out 17 batters. All three performances were quality starts, but he got the loss, and no decision due to poor run support.

Wolf has pretty solid seasonal statistics too, he is 4-4 with a 3.51 ERA, he has struck out 91 batters, and has walked 34, in 120.2 innings of work.

He has a favorable matchup in his start today against the Reds, he faces Homer Bailey who struggled in his last start.

Wolf is owned in 43.1 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, pick him up if you don't already have him, and get his start for today in.

Fantasy Spin: Felipe Lopez To The Brewers

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the Brewers and Diamondbacks reached a deal today. The Brewers acquired second baseman Felipe Lopez from Arizona for minor-leaguers Cole Gillespie and Roque Mercedes.

Felipe will most likely bat lead off for the Brewers. So far this season he has .355 batting average and four home runs from the lead off spot. He is sporting a .372 OBP from the lead off position and a .364 OBP overall. This should allow him to score tons of runs with Hardy, Braun, and Fielder hitting behind him.

So far this season Felipe is hitting .412 with one home run at Miller Park.The entire Brewers offense should see an improvement now that they have a true lead off man getting them started.

On the other side of the trade the Diamonbacks received two solid minor leaguers. Mercedes is just twenty-two years old and has a 1-1 record with a minuscule 1.08 ERA in twenty-nine relief appearances.

Gillespie is hitting .242 with seven home runs and twenty-seven runs batted in for the Brewers Triple-A team. While his numbers are a little lower than expected, he is ranked as the Brewers ninth best prospect.

While these two will be irrelevant for the Diamondbacks, this trade does boost Ryan Roberts and Augie Ojeda's fantasy relevance. The D-Backs official site reports that they are expected to call up Roberts.

The playing time at second will be split between Roberts and Ojeda, but it's unclear right now who will see the majority of the playing time. Neither one of them has great numbers, Roberts is hitting .257 with zero home runs and Ojeda is hitting .221 with one home run.

With consistent playing time those numbers could increase drastically giving either one of them fantasy relevance

As a second basemen Roberts is hitting .318, but has only twenty-two at-bats. His competitor, Ojeda, is hitting .250 while playing second base in just twenty-eight at-bats.

While Roberts has the second most at-bats from the lead off position on the team, it's unlikely he'll have a shot at that job since he's hitting just .212 from there. Augie is also not a strong option with a .243 average when leading off.

The most likely candidate to take over the lead off duties would be Stephen Drew. He's hitting .283 with one home run when leading off. If he does take over the job, expect him to continue to produce as a very solid fantasy contributor. A second candidate could be Chris Young.

While Young's hitting a very unimpressive .199 overall, he's hitting a very respectable .327 with three home runs when he leads off. This could be the resurgence of Chris Young that we have all been waiting for.

The third and final candidate to bat lead off would be twenty-two year old Gerardo Parra. He's hitting .292 with two home runs when leading off this season. Giving a twenty-two year old lead off duties in the MLB could do one of three things.

1. It could cause him to decline if he can't handle the pressure

2. It could lead to a huge increase by boosting his confidence or

3. It could not effect him at all, and he could continue to be a solid fantasy fill-in

The most likely to take the job is Stephen Drew since he is already contributing at the top of the lineup .

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Week 16

Franklin Gutierrez

Gutierrez's fantasy value is continuously increasing as his 2009 season is much better than expected. His 2009 stat line thus far looks like this: .294 AVG (86 for 293) with 12 home runs, 40 RBI, 44 runs, and six stolen bases. He will easily surpass his career high in home runs (13), RBI (41), and runs (54).

He recently had a 13 game hitting streak snapped, over the span of that streak he was hitting .365 (24-52) with three home runs. Since his streak was snapped he is hitting .321 (5 for 16) with two home runs.

Today, he faces Aaron Laffey and the Cleveland Indians, this will be his first time facing Laffey, but so far this season against the Indians he is 2 for 9 with a home run, and against LHP's this season he is batting .324 (22 for 68) with five home runs.

Gutierrez is a decent source of power with a good average, he can get an occasional stolen base, but he's been caught stealing as many times as he's actually stolen a base (5).

Gutierrez is only owned in 22.5 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, if he's available in your league, I would recommend picking him up.


Martin Prado

The 25 year old righty from the Atlanta Braves kept his nine game hit streak alive yesterday against the Mets going 1 for 5 against Johan Santana. During his streak he is batting .358 (14 for 39) with one home run, four RBI, and six runs. He now is batting .330 (65 for 197) with five home runs, 19 RBI, and 29 runs.

Prado can help your team out at first base, second base, or third base, as he is eligible at each of those positions.

Today he faces Fernando Nieve and the Mets. This season against the Mets he is batting .350 (7 for 20) with two home runs, and against LHP's he is batting .372 (29 for 78) with three home runs.

Prado is a cheap source of power with a very good batting average, don't expect any speed from him though, he only has three in his short career.

If your in need of a 1B, 2B, or 3B, it would be wise to take a look at Prado, especially in deep keeper or dynasty leagues. He is only owned in 11.8 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues.


Erick Aybar

Aybar has hit in each of his last eight games, during that streak he is batting .567 (17 for 30) and in seven of those eight games he has recorded more than one hit. He is now batting .304 on the season with three home runs, 32 RBI, 32 runs, and seven stolen bases.

Today, Aybar faces Brett Anderson and the Athletics. This season against the A's he's batting .409 (9 for 22), Aybar hasn't faced Anderson yet this season but against LHP's he is batting .284 (21 for 74) with two home runs.

Aybar isn't much for power and is only a cheap source of speed, for that reason I'd say he should be owned in mostly deeper leagues.

Aybar is owned in 3.5 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues, give him a look if you're in a deep league.


Nyjer Morgan

Since joining the Nationals, Morgan is hitting .333 (17 for 51) with 8 stolen bases. He has collected a hit in each of his last six games mixed in with three three hit performances. On the season he is batting .290 (97 for 334) with two home runs, 30 RBI, 48 runs, and 26 stolen bases.

Today, Morgan faces Kevin Hart and the Cubs, against the Cubs this season he is batting .433 (13 for 30), and against RHP's he is batting .332 (83 for 250) with a home run.

Morgan is a very good source of stolen bases, he has a chance to reach 60 on the season. He also has a good average, don't expect much power though, he's never been much of a power hitter with only three home runs in his career.

If Morgan is available in your league pick him up, especially if you need steals. He is only owned in 48.7 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues.


Mark Rzepczynski

Rzepczynski picked up his first win of the season yesterday against the Red Sox. He lasted six innings, struck out four, allowed four hits, and one run. He is now 1-1 on the season in 18 innings of work with 16 strikeouts, and a 2.50 ERA.

Rzepczynski's next scheduled start is Thursday against the Indians, he has yet to face them. Although, against LHB's he has a 1.93 ERA with four strikeouts, and against RHB's he has a 2.70 ERA with 12 strikeouts. The Indians' top hitters are left handed.

He is worth a pick up in deep leagues at this point, if he continues his success then he should be worth a pick up in most formats. Rzepczynski is owned in 0.9 percent of ESPN Fantasy Baseball leagues.