July has arrived, and time really starts flying from here on out in the MLB season. Fantasy baseball squads in playoff positions must keep their feet on the gas to avoid getting passed from behind, while the surging squads need to keep ahead of the curve with roster decisions. No hyperbole: Free agent and waiver wire decisions are more important than ever right now.
People don't tend to spend as much time trading in fantasy during the summer months, nor do they spend hours each week scouring the wire. Fortunately, you don't have to waste precious summertime moments in the sun, either! Just check our waivers and free agents column out at the start of every work week, whether you’re competing in a league with 12 teams, 10 teams, or eight.
MORE FANTASY BASEBALL: Week 13 two-start SPs, 7-game teams, etc
For those new to this column, we highlight 10-12 players each week – at least a handful of batters and a handful of pitchers – who remain unowned in roughly half of mixed leagues. We will analyze their recent success, determine the league formats and sizes in which they should be rostered, and provide situational-specific streaming advice.
Good luck this week, happy belated Fourth of July, and enjoy waiver hunting!
Note: Weekly reminder that if Isaac Paredes (66 percent rostered on Yahoo) somehow still finds himself in your league’s free agent pool, you and your mates should challenge yourselves more. The Rays infielder has hit 13 home runs since April 18 and three since just June 30. Paredes is the top-ranked player in Yahoo! mixed leagues over the past two weeks. He’s a stud.
Laureano often hits hot and cold streaks, and he’s hot right now. He’s 9-of-32 over the past eight games, with three long balls, six RBIs, six runs, and two steals. He won’t dazzle you with his average — and he'll strike out plenty — but he’ll provide you with plenty of counting stats when he’s in a groove. Grab him in deeper mixed-league formats.
If this kid keeps mashing the ball, he’ll be skyrocketing up the rostered percentages by Thursday. His Tampa teammates already appreciate him — they have nicknamed him “Barreled Ramirez,” a moniker advanced-stats nerds like myself love at first sight. Here’s another thing we love: Ramirez is hitting.389 with two homers and one steal in 24 games over the past month.
Two Athletics in one waiver column? We’ve been pushing the Murphy train for weeks now, yet he’s still rostered in just over half of mixed leagues. That’s just silly! If you’re in a 12-team league, I find it hard to believe there are 12 catchers better than Murph. If you play in a two-catcher league, he’s a must-roster. He’s hitting .293 over the past two weeks and .375 over his past four games. The long weekend also helped him add a home run, three RBIs, and two runs to his strong summer numbers (Murphy since June: .253, four HRs, 11 RBIs, eight Rs, SB over 24 games). Pick him up before he gets any hotter.
Carlson hasn’t been as flashy as we thought he’d be in his second full season, batting just .255 with five homers and 23 RBIs. Missing three weeks with a left hamstring injury didn’t help matters. But he’s 23, coming off a season in which he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting despite a slow start, and he’s actually heating up as this season progresses. Look at the difference in Carlson’s production from the opening months of the season through June.
Carlson warrants attention in deep leagues, especially in keeper formats. He keeps demonstrating he's on the verge of being very good.
Note: We’ve said it for weeks, and we’ll say it again: Jose Urquidy (70%) of the Astros needs to be rostered. He’s ranked 16th over the past two weeks, with a 2-0 record, three quality starts, a 1.42 ERA, and an 0.74 WHIP. He faces the Oakland Pathetics this weekend.
My sleeper of the week is Quantrill, by a mile. Sure, he probably won’t make a quantum leap into the ace tier, but he certainly seems to have figured some stuff out. Quantrill comes off a superb eight-inning quality start against Minnesota, and he owns a 3.46 ERA/1.15 WHIP over the past two weeks. He will never blow you away with strikeouts, but he’s your best bet if you want a great two-start pitcher this week off the wire. Quantrill gets the Tigers today and the Royals later in the week.
Wells has seemingly come out of nowhere to put up a masterful stretch. He’s won his past five starts — and six of seven since May 30 — all the while lowering his ERA from 4.30 to 3.09. His typical outing tops out at four strikeouts, but he did record seven in Minnesota on Sunday. He’s dealing against the studs as well as the duds — with Ws over the Twins, Mariners, Blue Jays, and Red Sox comprising four of the six from his recent run. You might want to believe in him.
Peterson and his wife recently welcomed a baby boy to the world, so watch out for the Mets’ 26-year-old lefty. First-time boy-dad excellence can be confirmed by many, including Boston Celtics guard Derrick White and yours truly (just kidding — but I did land a job here at Sporting News right after my son was born). Peterson was already pitching well before his paternity leave, though — he owns a 3.24 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 60 strikeouts in 58.2 innings — and his numbers are even better over the past two weeks (2-0, 2.45 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 25 Ks over 18.1). You’ll be glad if you grab this dad.
The bespectacled Smeltzer has quietly been solid this season with a 3.04 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He doesn’t strike out a bunch of guys, and he should be avoided in leagues that count home runs allowed as a negative stat (he’s given up 10 dingers, but nine were solo shots). However, if you play in a quality start league, or even just an W/ERA/WHIP league, Smeltzer is worth your while. He’s a dependable starter for a good team.
Greinke is 38, he pitches for Kansas City, and he recently came off the IL with a right flexor strain. But in his two starts since being activated, the veteran has allowed just one earned run over six innings (vs. Oakland, vs. Texas). A quality start against his former teammates in Houston on Tuesday might be a lot to ask for, but when he’s hot, you should always consider Greinke if you have a bunch of adds. He’s a two-start pitcher this week, with Cleveland on the back-half, so consider rolling the dice in case he’s really back to his old self.
It feels like every fantasy baseball veteran has been burned by Kyle Hendricks at some point, but we all know how good he can be when he’s clicking on all cylinders. Just look at the past couple weeks: 2-0, two quality starts, 1.35 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 13 K over 13.1 innings. Use caution with the vet in Milwaukee Tuesday — and later in the week against the Dodgers in L.A. — but maybe stash him regardless if you’re in a 12-team league.