Wednesday’s Wide World of Waivers: Repeat Offender

• Tweet

• Tweet

Well! Having submitted my last Wednesday’s Wide World of Waivers article the day I moved, and subsequently waiting over a week and a half for my broadband provider to get me hooked up again, it feels like it can’t possibly be my turn to look at the waiver wire again! But there’s no mistake — right here is Tom’s effort from last week, and what an effort it was! Mark Ellis sucked, Carlos Gonzalez was great, Jonny Gomes only got 12 ABs and Brandon Lyon pitched 2.1 shutout innings with 3 Ks. To use Tom’s method of rating my previous picks, I’ll give it a 2-for-3 effort with a HR, a single and a walk.

Time to focus on this week’s picks. With there being just over a month of the regular season to go, which players are unowned in far too many leagues as we enter the business end of the season? Cut-offs for eligibility, as always, are 20-50% Yahoo ownership for standard leagues, and under 20% ownership in deeper leagues.

Standard Mixed Leagues

Adam LaRoche, 1B, Atl

On July 1, I recommended Adam LaRoche as a must-add in standard mixed leagues. At that time, he was owned in 33% of standard Yahoo leagues, and 51% of Plus leagues. He struggled in July, admittedly, so was perhaps cut in a number of leagues, but his August has been outstanding: seven HR (including four last week), an AVG of .406, and an OPS of 1.239! Maybe it’s because he’s back in Atlanta, playing on a team that is chasing the Wild Card. Whatever the reason for his hot streak, he ought to be owned in far more than 37% of Yahoo leagues!

Lastings Milledge, OF, Pit

Lastings Milledge is one of the beneficiaries of the Pirates’ latest fire sale. He is starting every game, even hitting clean-up last Sunday, and he’s one of those OFs who has five-tool potential, even if we haven’t seen that potential realized yet. But there were signs of it last week, as he hit over .300 with a couple of HRs and a SB. So, if you’re hurting at OF, Milledge is definitely worth a shot, available as he is in over 80% of Yahoo leagues.

AL-Only Leagues

Brett Tomko, SP, Oak

I never thought I’d be recommending someone like Brett Tomko here, but as a short-term pitching fix in your AL-only league, you could do a lot, lot worse. In the past two games that Tomko has started for the Athletics, he shut out the Yankees over five innings, and held the Tigers to a lead-off HR over six innings. How long he will remain a starter is anyone’s guess (he’s currently filling in for Dallas Braden), but assuming he sticks around for the next two scheduled starts, he gets a trip to the Angels followed by a home game against the Royals. Worth a shot against these two? Absolutely.

NL-Only Leagues

Angel Pagan, OF, NYN

The reality is that there are very few Mets who are fantasy relevant right now, at least in standard leagues. But in NL-only leagues, there are one or two guys who play and contribute enough to warrant attention. Pagan is one such, a guy who is playing every day as the leadoff hitter. Don’t expect repeats of last Sunday’s two-HR performance against the Phillies — Pagan will get you speed, runs and a decent average. Anything else is gravy.

Another week in the books; hopefully these will work out better than my last selections! As always, it will be Tom with you next week; until my turn rolls round again, keep watching those waivers!

Rate this article: (3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)  Loading ... Want to write for the Cafe? Check out the Cafe's Pencil & Paper section!