Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: National League Only Edition for Week 24
Jhoulys (pronounced Yo-lease) has been up from the minors, pitching primarily in the Rockies’ rotation for most of 2010. The spotlight shines brighter on him now mainly because he has begun to exhibit the skills to be a top-of-the-rotation type of pitcher for years to come.
In Chacin’s last four starts he is 3-1 and has allowed only four runs in those starts for an ERA of 1.38. He has also recorded 24 strikeouts while walking only eight batters. His ERA now stands at 3.65 on the season. He is showing that he belongs in the rotation for the remainder of the season as well as next season.
The 22-year old Venezuelan righty was signed back in 2004 by the Rockies. He has ascended through the organization starting in rookie ball and all the way up. Last season for AA-Tulsa he started 18 games and was 8-6 with an ERA/WHIP of 3.15/1.18. Chacin also had an 86:35 K:BB ratio in those starts.
His ownership will rise to 56 percent and with the Rockies holding onto an outside shot of earning a wild card berth, it’s time to strike. The Rockies are riding a nine game winning streak and they will continue to lean on Jhoulys to anchor the back-end of their rotation. You can add him with confidence, especially in keeper leagues as Chacin has proven that he belongs.
Mr. Number Two in the spotlight this week has exploded onto the scene in Washington after being called up on September 1. Espinosa had a hit in his first game and a HR in the second. His coming out party was against the Mets on Sept. 6 when he went 4-5 with two HR’s, six RBI and 11 total bases.
Espinosa is simply crushing NL pitching with an obviously unsustainable .355 average, and if you think that number is gaudy, how about his 1.079 OPS?? Allow me to clarify why these numbers are unsustainable (outside of the common sense factor). Espinosa has less than two full seasons of professional ball under his belt after being drafted in the third round in ’08.
In ’09 Espinosa batted .264 and before his call-up he batted .264 this year. The power numbers however are different story because he did hit 18 bombs and drove in 72 runs in ’09 and 22 HR’s this year with 69 RBI. Besides the power, Espinosa adds speed to his repertoire as he showed by swiping 29 bases in ’09 and 25 this year.
Washington has an obvious void at second base and will give Espinosa every chance to nail it down with a strong performance in the remaining games. His ownership rate will rise 13 points to 19%. This number is still quite low, especially if you need some pop from the 2B/MI positions. Espinosa is another no-brainer in keeper leagues.
Number one this week’s list, as well as CBS’s list, is the 28-year-old journeyman pitcher for Milwaukee. While his overall numbers may not blow you away (11-7 and a 5.20 ERA), his recent stretch has been quite impressive. He has not lost since July 28th.
In his last seven outings, Narveson is 3-0 and has allowed a stingy 15 runs over 40 innings while posting a 3.38 ERA. Since the all-star break, he has posted a 3.95 ERA with 44 K’s and only 14 walks issued. Impressed yet? If not, consider this, opposing batters are hitting .237 against him in that span.
I am not about to try to blow you away with impressive minor league stats. I will only mention that Narveson has posted an ERA as low as 1.98 and as high as 5.77 in nine minor league seasons. The range on his WHIP will not give you any better of an insight into his skills as those numbers ranged from 0.860 to 1.602.
So you will have to go by this year’s stats and the fact that he has never had as much of an opportunity as he has this season. Narveson has logged 143 innings and started 24 games for the Brew Crew. With little pressure on him for the remainder of the season and with teams constantly searching for pitching help, Narveson‘s ownership will surge to 28 percent. He may not be a strong keeper candidate, but he can help fantasy teams in the final weeks.
Honorable Mention:
Mike Morse – 1B/OF – Washington Nationals – Owned in 9 percent of CBS leagues
Snuck into the OF picture for the Nat’s. Batting .484 in his last eight games. As long as he’s getting regular AB’s, you can take a flyer on Morse.
Dillon Gee – SP – New York Mets – Currently owned in 0 percent of CBS leagues
Gee had an admirable first outing for the Mets – 7 IP, 2H, 1 ER, 4 K’s – and earned the win against Washington. He lines up to be a two-start pitcher if the Mets don’t limit his innings (168 innings total in ’10)
Written by Rosti Satanovsky exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter@TheSportsFariah
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Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Sports Blog, MLB, Fantasy Baseball, NL Only, Waiver Wire, National League, Jhoulys Chacin, Danny Espinosa, Chris Narveson, Mike Morse, Dillon Gee, Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, Milawaukee Brewers, New York Mets
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