Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds: Week 11
The waiver wire has plenty of goodies available for the taking, so let's try to get a leg up on our fellow league members and make some moves where needed.
The four players below are all owned in fewer than 50% of ESPN leagues and could give your squad a shot in the arm as we move through May.
Clayton Richard - San Diego Padres (SP)
Clayton Richard feels like a pitcher we have all owned at some point in time, right?
The veteran southpaw got off to a rough start in 2018, posting an ERA of 6.21 after seven starts. Yuck. But, as he showed again yesterday in nearly tossing a no-hitter, Richard has been on fire. If the first seven starts were ugly, these last seven have been brilliant as Richard has gone 4-2 with a 3.04 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in that span.
He will never be among the strikeout leaders, but he has posted a respectable 20.1% strikeout rate in those last seven turns. If you need back-end rotation help, take a long look at Richard.
Joc Pederson - Los Angeles Dodgers (OF)
After a 2017 that saw Joc Pederson rack up only a .212 batting average, .322 weighted on-base average (wOBA), and 34.5% fly-ball rate (well below his career average of 40.0%), the young outfielder didn't exactly set the world on fire to start 2018. Through May 15, Pederson was no longer a regular starter, even against righties, thanks to a .313 wOBA and .118 isolated power (ISO) mark.
But Pederson did continue to showcase a keen batting eye, racking up a 14.4% walk rate in that timeframe, and he's been finally seeing some batting results to match. Since May 16th, Pederson has crushed his way to a .467 wOBA, .467 ISO, 43.4% hard-hit rate, and 56.6% fly-ball rate. Dude is flat raking, and it makes sense that he's popped 6 homers in his last 62 plate appearances.
The Corey Seager injury, which moved Chris Taylor from outfield to shortstop, has opened up a regular role for Pederson versus righties, so that's no longer an issue, and he's seen some time in the leadoff spot lately.
If you need some outfield help, Pederson is your guy.
Jon Jay - Arizona Diamondbacks (OF)
In a less-than-blockbuster trade last week, Kansas City Royals outfielder Jon Jay was flipped to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for a few minor leaguers. Sometimes, a change will do you good.
In the last three games, Jay has donned the leadoff spot, and with him hitting in front of Paul Goldschmidt -- who has 15 hits in his last five games, including 4 long balls -- he becomes a lot more appealing.
On the season, over 282 plate appearances, Jay hasn't shown much pop (.064 ISO), but he has done a nice job of getting on base with a .356 on-base percentage (OBP). He should at least be on your radar, and he's not a bad plug-and-play against righties.
Seth Lugo - New York Mets (SP/RP)
After starting the season 11-1, the New York Mets were one of the biggest stories in major league baseball, and while they didn't sustain that pace the rest of the month, they finished April at 17-9, which far exceeded expectations.
May was not so kind as they finished at 27-27, but one bright spot for the squad has been Seth Lugo, who has been absolutely filthy in the starting rotation.
After Noah Syndergaard still wasn't healed up enough to return from the disabled list last night, Lugo stepped in and dominated the New York Yankees. However, Lugo has been pretty darn good for quite a while. Since May 1, mixing in both starts and relief appearances, Lugo has fired 31 1/3 innings with a 0.86 ERA, 0.61 WHIP, and 30.4% strikeout rate.
Keep an eye on how the Mets rotation shapes up once Thor gets back, but Lugo is certainly stating his case to remain a starter for the near future.
