Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: National League Edition For Week 22
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You may be wondering (out loud or to yourself) how in the world could anyone recommend picking up a pitcher who is owned by NO ONE in all of CBS leagues?? Well, the simple explanation is that the Padres are in desperate need of a fresh arm in their rotation, and Leubke was tearing through the minors.
The issue with the Pads’ rotation start with the inning ceiling for their young pitchers. The 22-year-old phenom
Matt Latos has already logged almost 150 innings on the season. Clayton Richard is at his career high of 167 innings. Throw in Wade LeBlanc, also at a career high of 143 innings, and has had a horrific August posting a 3-3 record with an abysmal 6.47 ERA. Lastly, let’s not forget to mention Kevin Correia, who managed to one-up LeBlanc by also going 3-3 in the month of August, but with an ERA of 7.20.Oh, there’s one more arm in the Pads’ rotation. How could I overlook Jon “The Savior” Garland? With 13 wins (good for 8th in the NL) and a sleek 3.29 ERA, Garland has provided the Padres a solid 164 innings of pitching. He seems to be the only one not wearing down.
[Queue the Superman music]… and flying in to save the rotation, Mr. Leubke. He has the distinct honor of being drafted three times (18th round in ’04 – PIT; 22nd round in ’06 – TEX; 1st round in ’07 – SD). He also threw a near perfect game against Team Canada while pitching for Team USA in the ’09 Baseball World Cup.
Leubke has only logged a combined 114 innings on the season through two levels of the minor leagues. He’s posted an impressive 10-1 record in 17 starts with a 2.68 ERA/.982 WHIP. While not a dominating strike-out pitcher, Leubke managed to post a very solid 3:1 K:BB ratio. There is enough upside here to take a chance, especially since SD couldn’t be more in the thick of the playoff race.
I would venture to guess that everyone pretty much knows what they need to know about Big Z at this stage of the game. To say he’s had some ups and downs this season would be tremendously under-stating what’s happened thus far. So let’s take a step back and concentrate on the present.
Since being reinserted into the starting rotation, Z is 3-0. For the month of August he has posted a 2.23 ERA, which includes two relief appearances in 32.1 total innings. In addition, he has 25 K’s (the bright side), but also has 23 BB’s. Granted, these are numbers that do not make fantasy owners very comfortable, but at this point, we’ll take the wins and strike-outs.
By next week, Zambrano’s ownership will rise to 71 percent in CBS leagues so owners are definitely taking notice. If he happens to be available in your league, and you have a spot open on your roster, you can ride Big Z to the finish line. The hard-luck Cubbies have very little left to play for, so hopefully he will thrive in friendly confines.
Here’s another example of a wily veteran who is coming on strong towards the end of the season. He’s flown under the radar most of the season, starting ’10 on the DL and not joining the Giants until May 19.
Sanchez started off on the right foot, hitting .317 after his return in May. He followed that up by hitting .280 in June with 12 RBI. However, things took a turn for the worse and the wheels completely came off in July. Sanchez hit .231 with only 28 total bases in 108 AB’s.
Of course just when owners began to write him off, Sanchez put together a very solid month of August. He hit .356 along with a very impressive OPS of .902. He also had 45 total bases in the same number of games – 28, as he played in the previous month.
Sanchez does not provide a lot of home runs or RBIs, hitting out of the number two slot in the lineup, but can certainly help with your average and runs scored. He’s number five on the Most Added list for next week with his ownership jumping to 27 percent.
Honorable Mention:
Xavier Nady | 1B/OF | Chicago Cubs | Owned in 7 percent of CBS leagues
After Lee was traded to the ATL, Nady has become an everyday player. He hit .320 in August and had an OPS of .853. He could put up decent stats flying under the radar in Chicago.
Scott Podsednik | OF | |Los Angeles Dodgers | Owned in 65 percent of CBS leagues
The Manny-wood production is shutdown in La-La land and Podsednik will benefit the most. He hit .304 in August after hitting .346 in July. He will get on base, score runs and steal some bases.
Logan Morrison | 1B | FLorida Marlins | Owned in 27 percent of CBS leagues
Morrison’s ownership has been slow to rise. He doesn’t hit for a lot of power for a first baseman but has been hitting for a good average – .303 in August, and managed a .864 OPS. He will continue to get regular AB’s and is worthy of a roster spot in NL leagues.
Written by Rosti Satanovsky exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter@TheSportsFariah
Who are your NL waiver wire gems of the week?
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Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Sports Blog, MLB, Fantasy Baseball, NL Only, Waiver Wire, National League, Logan Morrison, Scott Podsednik, Xavier Nady, Freddy Sanchez, Carlos Zambrano, Cory Leubke
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