Fantasy Baseball Bests, Busts and Waiver Wire: May 20
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 bullpens from around the league each week.
Top 25 fantasy baseball hitters of last week (May 13-19):
| Name | Pos. | Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | BA | OPS |
1. | Carlos Gonzalez | OF | COL | 8 | 3 | 8 | 3 | .375 | 1.364 |
2. | Jason Kipnis | 2B | CLE | 7 | 3 | 8 | 2 | .417 | 1.398 |
3. | David Ortiz | 1B | BOS | 5 | 3 | 12 | 0 | .458 | 1.352 |
4. | Miguel Cabrera | 3B | DET | 7 | 4 | 7 | 0 | .429 | 1.448 |
5. | Raul Ibanez* | OF | SEA | 5 | 5 | 11 | 0 | .308 | 1.193 |
6. | Everth Cabrera | 2B/SS | SD | 4 | 0 | 6 | 7 | .357 | .776 |
7. | Daniel Murphy* | 1B/2B | NYM | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | .500 | 1.374 |
8. | Joey Votto | 1B | CIN | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 1.572 |
9. | Elvis Andrus | SS | TEX | 8 | 0 | 4 | 5 | .345 | .854 |
10. | Adam Dunn* | 1B/OF | CWS | 5 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .320 | 1.273 |
11. | Mitch Moreland* | 1B | TEX | 5 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .308 | 1.191 |
12. | Paul Goldschmidt | 1B | ARI | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 1.583 |
13. | Jean Segura | SS | MIL | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | .387 | .954 |
14. | Alex Rios | OF | CWS | 6 | 2 | 7 | 1 | .407 | 1.282 |
15. | Norichika Aoki | OF | MIL | 7 | 0 | 3 | 2 | .533 | 1.209 |
16. | Adam LaRoche* | 1B | WAS | 4 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .308 | 1.148 |
17. | Ryan Zimmerman | 3B | WAS | 4 | 2 | 9 | 1 | .385 | 1.102 |
18. | Andrew McCutchen | OF | PIT | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | .308 | 1.033 |
19. | Billy Butler | 1B | KC | 4 | 1 | 10 | 0 | .480 | 1.239 |
20. | Howie Kendrick | 2B | LAA | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | .429 | 1.091 |
21. | Matt Joyce* | OF | TB | 5 | 2 | 8 | 1 | .300 | 1.064 |
22. | Dustin Pedroia | 2B | BOS | 9 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .375 | 1.089 |
23. | David Wright | 3B | NYM | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | .393 | .950 |
24. | Adrian Beltre | 3B | TEX | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .448 | 1.155 |
25. | Mike Trout | OF | LAA | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | .238 | 1.004 |
* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues
Weekly Waiver Wire:
Jurickson Profar, 2B, TEX (49% owned in Yahoo! Leagues)
No doubt you've heard that the elite prospect has been called up to the majors to take Ian Kinsler's place (DL, ribs) on the roster. He may not be up for long but he is worth stashing as a future commodity. And in keeper leagues, he is a must-add. He was hitting .278/.807 with four dingers and six stolen bases at Triple-A Round Rock this season.
Mitch Moreland, 1B, TEX (54%)
Moreland's career high in home runs was 16 two years ago in 464 at-bats. But it appears his power is rounding into form. He is on pace to blow past his career high and should provide solid production across the board in that lineup.
Daniel Murphy, 1B/2B, NYM (56%)
He won't ever be a huge producer in the power or speed categories, but he is a pro hitter. He hit .500 last week and Terry Collins is toying with the idea of hitting him fourth or fifth to give his bat more RBI chances. He won't help much at 1B but has plenty of value at 2B or MI.
Yonder Alonso, 1B, SD (19%)
Only 19 percent of Yahoo! leagues have rostered the talented second-year first baseman so I will continue to push the Padres slugger. He hit .381 last week and will blow past all of his career totals before the All-Star break. He won't be an elite player but has the pedigree to continue to develop into a dependable fantasy option who won't hurt your lineup in any category.
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Last Week:
Justin Morneau, 1B, MIN: .370/.851, 2 R, 5 RBI
Jhonny Peralta, SS, DET: .350/1.058, 3 R, HR, RBI
James Loney, 1B, TB: .261/.637, 3 R, RBI
Chris Carter, 1B, HOU: .238/.571, 2 R, RBI
Top 20 fantasy Starting Pitchers of last two weeks:
| Name | Team | IP | W | K | ERA | WHIP |
1. | Chris Sale | CWS | 24.0 | 2 | 24 | 0.38 | 0.54 |
2. | Justin Masterson | CLE | 23.0 | 3 | 27 | 1.17 | 0.78 |
3. | Shelby Miller | STL | 14.2 | 1 | 19 | 0.00 | 0.41 |
4. | Matt Harvey | NYM | 23.1 | 1 | 22 | 1.54 | 0.56 |
5. | Jon Lester | BOS | 16.0 | 2 | 10 | 1.13 | 0.56 |
6. | Scott Feldman* | CHC | 19.2 | 2 | 15 | 0.46 | 0.97 |
7. | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 15.2 | 1 | 15 | 0.57 | 0.77 |
8. | James Shields | KC | 24.0 | 0 | 23 | 1.50 | 0.79 |
9. | Hiroki Kuroda | NYY | 22.2 | 2 | 9 | 1.59 | 0.79 |
10. | Cliff Lee | PHI | 22.0 | 2 | 16 | 1.64 | 0.95 |
11. | Jordan Zimmerman | WAS | 22.2 | 2 | 18 | 1.59 | 1.10 |
12. | Brandon McCarthy | ARI | 23.1 | 1 | 13 | 1.16 | 0.90 |
13. | Mike Minor | ATL | 19.2 | 2 | 20 | 1.83 | 1.12 |
14. | Adam Wainwright | STL | 15.0 | 1 | 15 | 1.80 | 0.67 |
15. | Andrew Cashner* | SD | 21.1 | 2 | 13 | 1.69 | 0.98 |
16. | Travis Wood | CHC | 20.2 | 2 | 13 | 1.74 | 0.97 |
17. | Ubaldo Jimenez* | CLE | 16.2 | 2 | 25 | 2.70 | 1.20 |
18. | Patrick Corbin | ARI | 13.1 | 2 | 9 | 0.68 | 1.05 |
19. | Hisashi Iwakuma | SEA | 14.0 | 2 | 13 | 2.57 | 0.86 |
20. | Bronson Arroyo* | CIN | 19.1 | 2 | 18 | 1.86 | 1.19 |
* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues
Top 5 Spot Starts for the Week (Mon. - Sun.):
1. Jose Fernandez, MIA: (Tues.) Philadelphia (49% owned)
Stop me when you've heard this before: the extremely talented rookie is owned in less than half of Yahoo! leagues and I have no idea why. He's 2-0 with five earned runs, 21 strikeouts and six walks over his last three starts.
2. Andrew Cashner, SD: (Sat.) at Arizona (38%)
The highly touted youngster is 2-0 with 13 strikeouts and just four earned runs allowed over his last three starts. He has the pedigree to be much more than just a spot starter so keep him on your watch list all season.
3. Bronson Arroyo, CIN: (Fri.) Chicago Cubs (26%)
Arroyo has been downright nasty the last two times out. He has tossed 14.1 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts, just 13 base runners and two wins in his last two starts. And he gets the Cubs on Friday.
4. A.J. Griffin, OAK: (Sat.) at Houston (52%)
The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder has allowed just seven earned runs over his last four starts with 21 strikeouts and two wins. He has settled down and should be able to handle Houston — a team he posted this line against earlier in the year: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 K.
5. Tommy Milone, OAK: (Fri.) at Houston (56%)
The soft-tossing lefty has had his ups and downs this year — four games with 4 ER or more and three with 1 ER or less — but has an excellent set of ratios. His 3.47 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 49:12 strikeout-to-walk ratio plays in any league. And especially against the Astros.
Closing Morsels:
The Dodgers' Kenley Jansen picked up a save on May 14. With Brandon League struggling, Jansen was on audition this week and didn't perform. He has allowed four earned runs in 2.1 innings with two losses. The big fella should be the closer but it may take some more time... The D-Backs' closer Heath Bell has finished off five of his last six chances without a blemish. He did blow one save in the middle of his recent run but that is to be expected with the aging reliever. Take the good with the bad for now... The Indians' Chris Perez has pitched twice since complaining of shoulder pain last week. He blew his second save of the year and still doesn't appear to be 100 percent... Junichi Tazawa didn't allow a run in 3.0 IP last week but he's allowed two hits per outing in his last four trips to the mound. That doesn't bode well long-term once Andrew Bailey returns — who is back throwing simulated innings... Keep an eye on Ryan Madson with the Angels as Ernesto Frieri is still allowing too many runs. He's still getting the job done and has tons of strikeouts but this a situation to watch.
Keep up to date all season long with Athlon Sports' Fantasy Baseball Closer Grid
