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Fantasy Baseball Bests, Busts and Waiver Wire: April 15

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Stay tuned each week to Athlon Sports for a 2013 Fantasy Baseball Weekend Waiver Wire report every Monday. Our fantasy junkies cover the hottest hitters, best waiver wire pick-ups, top starting pitching spot starts and sift through bellpens from around the league each and every week.

Top 25 fantasy baseball hitters of last week (Apr. 8-Apr. 14):

 

Name

Pos.

Team

R

HR

RBI

SB

BA

OPS

1.

Prince Fielder

1B

DET

5

2

11

0

.632

1.891

2.

Chris Carter*

1B/OF

HOU

7

4

7

0

.440

1.420

3.

Robinson Cano

2B

NYY

6

3

8

0

.500

1.633

4.

Starling Marte*

OF

PIT

7

1

6

2

.423

1.156

5.

John Buck*

C

NYM

5

4

10

0

.238

1.048

6.

Austin Jackson

OF

DET

10

1

5

0

.394

.909

7.

Will Venable*

OF

SD

5

2

8

1

.368

1.297

8.

Hunter Pence

OF

SF

6

2

6

2

.290

.797

9.

Justin Upton

OF

ATL

5

2

4

2

.375

1.214

10.

Coco Crisp

OF

OAK

5

1

2

4

.333

.929

11.

Miguel Cabrera

3B

DET

7

1

7

1

.333

.956

12.

Brandon Phillips

2B

CIN

4

3

9

0

.318

1.106

13.

Evan Gattis*

C

ATL

4

3

9

0

.304

1.153

14.

Torii Hunter

OF

DET

7

1

6

0

.423

1.175

15.

Matt Adams*

1B

STL

3

3

6

0

.625

2.542

16.

Alejandro De Aza*

OF

CHW

6

2

4

1

.333

1.093

17.

A.J. Pollock*

OF

ARI

5

2

5

1

.316

1.105

18.

Bryce Harper

OF

WAS

4

2

5

1

.333

1.059

19.

Andrew McCutchen

OF

PIT

6

1

6

1

.286

.884

20.

Josh Donaldson*

3B

OAK

5

2

4

0

.400

1.184

21.

Chris Johnson*

1B/3B

ATL

4

1

4

0

.481

1.074

22.

Adrian Gonzalez

1B/OF

LAD

3

2

5

0

.417

1.189

23.

Nate Schierholtz*

OF

CHC

5

1

3

1

.400

1.129

24.

Jayson Werth

OF

WAS

4

1

4

2

.304

.795

25.

Brandon Moss*

1B/OF

OAK

3

2

9

0

.280

.957

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

Weekly Waiver Wire:

Starling Marte, OF, PIT (54% owned in Yahoo! leagues)
If this kid is around in your league, stop reading and go pick him up this instant. He has a ton of speed and more pop than your average National League leadoff hitter. He should help you in all five categories and won't hurt you in the power numbers. He has some dangerous hitters around him — especially if Travis Snider and Pedro Alvarez can start hitting — and should be a useful fantasy play all season. He also is a solid keeper option.

Chris Carter (36%) or Brandon Moss (46%)?
These two AL West sluggers are similar talents with the potential to hit 25-30 homers. They both offer first base and outfield positional help and both play in tough situations. However, both will hurt your team's batting average. Carter is off to a hotter start, but is a career .222 hitter while Moss is only slightly better at .252. Not only is Moss a slightly better overall hitter but his team's offense figures to be much more dependable all season. If you have to, I'd go Moss over Carter.

Matt Adams, 1B, STL(12%)
If you can afford to stash this guy, do so now. He won't get regular at-bats unless the Cardinals are playing in an American League park or when someone needs a rest. But his 250 at-bats this year could be very helpful. He has raked at every level for both power and average, so if you can handle only using a player twice a week, then jump on this slugger.

Outfield Help
Now is the time to snag some surging outfielders. Seven of the top 10 and 16 of the top 25 hitters last week were outfielders and only nine were owned by more than 70-percent of Yahoo! leagues. That means there is plenty to pick through on the waiver wire. Marte is easily my top choice with Alejandro De Aza a close second. A.J. Pollock is an intruiging choice out in the desert while Adam Eaton is on the DL.

Top 20 fantasy Starting Pitchers of last two weeks:

 

Name

Team

IP

W

K

ERA

WHIP

1.

Matt Harvey

NYM

22.0

3

25

0.82

0.55

2.

Paul Maholm

ATL

20.1

3

20

0.00

0.79

3.

Justin Masterson

CLE

22.0

3

20

0.41

0.82

4.

Clayton Kershaw

LAD

23.1

2

25

1.16

0.69

5.

Clay Buchholz

BOS

22.0

3

23

0.41

0.95

6.

Hisashi Iwakuma

SEA

20.2

2

16

2.18

0.48

7.

Cliff Lee

PHI

16.2

2

14

1.08

0.60

8.

Yu Darvish

TEX

19.2

2

28

2.75

0.76

9.

Anibal Sanchez

DET

19.0

2

21

1.42

0.95

10.

Madison Bumgarner

SF

20.1

3

17

1.77

0.98

11.

Jon Lester

BOS

19.0

2

18

1.42

0.95

12.

Adam Wainwright

STL

22.0

2

24

2.05

1.00

13.

Matt Moore

TB

11.1

2

13

0.00

0.97

14.

Alexi Ogando

TEX

16.2

2

17

1.08

1.02

15.

Mike Minor

ATL

13.0

2

11

0.69

0.85

16.

Barry Zito*

SF

14.0

2

8

0.00

1.00

17.

Jeff Samardzjia

CHC

19.2

1

27

2.75

0.97

18.

Jhoulys Chacin*

COL

18.1

2

11

1.96

0.98

19.

Justin Verlander

DET

18.1

2

17

1.96

1.15

20.

Zack Greinke (DL)*

LAD

11.1

1

10

1.59

0.71

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

Top 5 Spot Starts for the Week (Mon. - Sun.):

1. Derek Holland, TEX: at Chicago Cubs (Tues.) 72% owned
Holland is finally delivering on his big potential. At least, thus far in two 2013 starts. He has hasn't picked up a win yet, but has allowed just two earned runs in each of his two starts. Look for him to continue his roll against the Cubs.

2. Jamie Garcia, STL: at Philadelphia (Fri.) 65% owned
Garcia tossed a shutout over seven innings on Sunday but his bullpen (ahem, Mr. Boggs) let him down. He will always allow baserunners but has 19 strikeouts in 19 innings and should win plenty of games.

3. Barry Zito, SF: at Milwaukee and San Diego (Tues., Sun.) 63% owned
Zito has yet to allow a run and should continue his excellent start this week with two solid matchups. He won't offer big swing-and-miss totals but should provide plenty of wins and ratio help all season long.

4. Andy Pettitte, NYY: at Baltimore (Fri.) 66% owned
The aging star keeps seeing his starts pushed back and will now go on Friday against the Orioles instead of against Arizona. He may not be a dependable full-time rosterable player, but he can still help your ratios from time to time.

5. Hisashi Iwakuma, SEA: Detroit (Thur.) 73% owned
Iwakuma has been stellar to start the season (the numbers above prove that out) and he has done so against some solid competition — Texas, Oakland and Chicago (AL). He won't be phased by the vaunted Tigers' lineup and he may be much more than a spot starter for your rotation.

Closing Morsels:

Boston went with Andrew Bailey in the ninth inning on Monday instead of Joel Hanrahan. After entering the game with a one-run lead, Bailey promptly blew the save before Mike Napoli drove in the game-winner in the bottom of the frame. Bailey has loads of experience and is worth rostering if you are desperate, but he won't be closing unless Hanrahan's sore hamstring becomes a bigger issue... Edward Mujica looks like he might be the next option to get a shot at closing for the Cardinals after Mitchell Boggs blew Jamie Garcia's gem on Sunday. Mujica's line thus far in 2013: 5.0 IP, 5 K, 4 Holds, 1.80 ERA, 0.80. It's worth a shot at this point... Kevin Herrera is still ahead of Aaron Crow should Kansas City make a move in the ninth. Greg Holland has allowed four earned runs and 11 base runners in 3.0 innings... James Russell and Shawn Camp appear to be in the lead for the Cubs' ninth-inning duty with Kyuji Fujikawa on the 15-day disabled list. No, don't add Carlos Marmol (for the love of God).

Keep up to date all season long with Athlon Sports' Fantasy Baseball Closer Grid