Fantasy Baseball Bests, Busts and Waiver Wire: Aug 6

Author:
Braden Gall
Publish date:
Aug 6, 2012

Stay tuned each week to Athlon Sports for a 2012 Fantasy Baseball Weekend Waiver Wire every Monday.

Top 25 fantasy baseball hitters of last week (7/30-8/5):


	Name	Pos.	Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OPS
1.	Albert Pujols	1B	LAA	9	6	13	1	.424	1.565
2.	Mike Trout	OF	LAA	11	3	9	2	.300	1.038
3.	Adam LaRoche*	1B	WAS	6	4	10	0	.478	1.563
4.	A.J. Pierzynski	C	CHW	6	5	11	0	.333	1.567
5.	Drew Stubbs	OF	CIN	10	2	2	3	.348	1.032
6.	Matt Holliday	OF	STL	6	3	10	0	.400	1.284
7.	Buster Posey	C/1B	SF	4	3	9	0	.500	1.558
8.	Carl Crawford	OF	BOS	7	2	8	1	.345	1.057
9.	Chase Headley*	3B	SD	4	3	9	1	.333	1.175
10.	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	ARI	5	3	7	0	.435	1.288
11.	Jarrod Dyson*	OF	KC	3	0	2	5	.526	1.263
12.	Melky Carbrera	OF	SF	10	1	5	1	.345	1.096
13.	Kendrys Morales*	1B/OF	LAA	5	3	8	0	.391	1.288
14.	Chris Johnson*	3B	ARI	3	3	10	0	.382	1.292
15.	Jose Reyes	SS	MIA	7	0	1	3	.429	1.073
16.	Prince Fielder	1B	DET	6	2	7	0	.421	1.362
17.	Ian Kinsler	2B	TEX	8	2	4	0	.393	1.112
18.	Angel Pagan*	OF	SF	7	1	4	2	.350	1.085
19.	Yadier Molina	C	STL	4	0	3	3	.500	1.091
20.	Omar Infante*	2B	DET	5	1	6	1	.471	1.362
21.	Alex Rios	OF	CHW	7	2	4	0	.407	1.074
22.	Scott Hairston*	OF	NYM	7	2	3	1	.333	1.035
23.	Ryan Ludwick*	OF	CIN	2	2	11	0	.364	1.144
24.	Carlos Beltran	OF	STL	6	2	4	1	.333	1.037
25.	Ben Revere*	OF	MIN	5	0	2	3	.407	.874

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

Opportunity Knocks

If you need a late season push in stolen bases, it appears that there are plenty of names to be had on the waiver wire. Ben Revere was a highly-touted prospect who gets on base with regularity and will make plenty of things happen when he gets on (61 career SB in 781 ABs). Jarrod Dyson, Angel Pagan, Rajai Davis and Juan Pierre (especially, if he gets moved to a contender) are all owned by less than 70% of leagues.

I am not buying into the Chase Headley surge but I do like what Yonder Alonso has been able to do of late. He has two homers and eight doubles over his last 41 at-bats and has dual 1B-OF eligibility.

The entire Diamondbacks line-up appears to be blossoming finally. Justin Upton is showing signs of life and Paul Goldschmidt has been smacking the ball around. Aaron Hill shouldn't be on your waiver wire either. Chris Johnson, however, might be the sneaky pick-up at one of the worst positions in the game. He has three dingers and 10 RBIs over the last week and could be on the team that wins the NL West.

Some other call-ups to watch are Texas do-everything infield slugger Mike Olt, Cleveland outfielder Ezequiel Carrera (7-12 over the weekend) and the Phillies' Dominic Brown (5-18 since being called-up). The Cubs' Brett Jackson made his major league debut on Sunday and the outfielder could be an intriguing power-speed option, and teammate and hot corner prospect Josh Vitters should also take his first hacks in the big leagues at some point this week. Monitor closely and don't be afraid to add quickly.

Top 20 fantasy Starting Pitchers of last two weeks:


	Name	Team	IP	W	K	ERA	WHIP
1.	A.J. Burnett	PIT	25.0	3	20	1.44	0.56
2.	Josh Johnson	MIA	19.2	2	22	0.92	0.71
3.	Chad Billingsley	LAD	20.1	3	13	0.89	0.89
4.	Scott Feldman*	TEX	22.2	3	14	1.19	0.93
5.	Felix Hernandez	SEA	23.1	2	16	1.54	0.77
6.	David Price	TB	22.0	1	26	1.64	0.86
7.	Wei-Yin Chen*	BAL	19.1	2	21	1.40	1.03
8.	Adam Wainwright	STL	22.1	2	19	2.01	0.90
9.	Doug Fister*	DET	24.0	2	19	1.88	0.96
10.	Mike Minor*	ATL	18.2	1	14	1.45	0.75
11.	Matt Latos	CIN	20.1	3	16	1.77	1.18
12.	Jason Vargas*	SEA	15.0	2	9	1.80	0.67
13.	Tim Hudson	ATL	20.0	3	10	2.25	0.95
14.	Hiroki Kuroda	NYY	21.1	1	17	1.69	0.94
15.	Jake Peavy	CHW	14.0	2	14	1.29	1.07
16.	Paul Maholm*	ATL	21.2	1	20	2.08	0.97
17.	Ian Kennedy	ARI	20.1	3	17	3.10	1.08
18.	Scott Diamond*	MIN	16.1	1	9	1.65	0.67
19.	Matt Moore	TB	11.2	2	12	0.00	1.29
20.	Bartolo Colon*	OAK	13.2	2	8	0.00	1.17

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

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

1. Jonathon Niese, NYM: Miami (Tues.) 54% owned
One of the worst offenses in the majors will face one of the NL's pleasant surprises. He has gone at least 7.0 IP in six of last seven starts (five quality starts) and has six walks over that span.

2. Ben Sheets, ATL: New York Mets (Sun.) 62% owned
The former Brewer who hasn't pitched in two years has been a god-send for the Braves. He's throwing in the lower 90s, gone at least 6.0 IP in all four starts and has allowed a total of 4 ER.

3. Ross Detwiler, WAS: at Houston (Tues.) 30% owned
Tossed a gem the last time out against the Phillies (W, 7.0, 0 ER, 3 K) and when he is on, he can be elite. And the Astros can't beat Stony Brook.

4. Paul Maholm, ATL: at New York Mets (Fri.) 46% owned
Has been lights-out since moving south to the A.T.L. Is the No. 16-rated SP over the last two weeks and has a 2.08 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 20 Ks over his last 21.2 IP.

5. Erik Bedard, PIT: San Diego (Sun.) 27% owned
Before his blow-up on Tuesday, he had two elite starts in a row (15 K, 2 ER). He has basically a 9.0 K/9 rate and has a 1.63 career ERA against the Fathers of Southern Cal.

Top 20 fantasy Relief Pitchers of last month:


	Name	Team	IP	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP
1.	Aroldis Chapman	CIN	16.1	0	16	34	0	0.00	0.55
2.	Craig Kimbrel	ATL	11.0	0	8	21	0	0.82	0.45
3.	Fernando Rodney	TB	13.0	0	8	12	0	0.00	0.92
4.	Huston Street*	SD	10.0	0	5	13	0	0.00	0.40
5.	Kenley Jansen	LAD	12.1	1	6	16	0	1.46	1.05
6.	Jonathan Papelbon	BOS	13.2	1	6	18	0	1.98	1.10
7.	Jason Motte	STL	9.2	1	5	14	0	0.93	0.83
8.	Tom Wilhelmsen*	SEA	10.1	0	8	12	0	2.61	0.87
9.	Joel Hanrahan	PIT	9.2	0	10	15	0	3.72	1.34
10.	Joel Peralta*	TB	12.1	1	0	18	7	1.46	0.57
11.	J.J. Putz	ARI	8.0	0	5	10	0	0.00	0.63
12.	David Phelps*	NYY	9.0	1	0	13	0	0.00	0.33
13.	Vinnie Pestano*	CLE	14.0	0	0	18	8	0.00	0.71
14.	Greg Holland*	KC	15.0	3	1	17	1	2.40	1.20
15.	Kevin Jepsen*	LAA	11.0	2	1	9	4	0.82	0.82
16.	Brad Lincoln*	TOR	15.1	0	1	13	3	0.59	0.72
17.	Rafael Soriano	NYY	10.1	0	6	13	0	2.61	0.97
18.	Steve Cishek*	FLA	8.2	0	5	9	1	0.00	0.92
19.	Casey Janssen*	TOR	10.0	0	3	12	0	0.90	0.70
20.	Sean Marshall*	CIN	11.1	2	0	12	7	0.79	1.06