Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 4

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 4

There goes Chris Colabello for 80 games. As they say though, one mans loss is another persons gain! That holds especially true for the Toronto Blue Jays. In this week’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire article, I’ll be breaking down the biggest must adds, players you can cut ties with, two-start pitchers and the latest trends going into the Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 4!

Must Adds:

Justin Smoak – 1B – Toronto Blue Jays
1% Owned
OPP: 3 vs CHW, 3 @ TB

With Chris Colabello out of the lineup for the foreseeable future due to a suspension, Justin Smoak takes over as the starter at first base. His wOBA is .378 to start the year so he’s having no trouble getting on base, his power numbers (like most of the Jays lineup) just haven’t come around yet. In deep mixed leagues, at 1% owned, Smoak is a low-risk high-reward player you can “wait-and-see” with.

Jordy Mercer – SS – Pittsburgh Pirates
5% Owned
OPP: 4 @ COL, 3 @ CIN

Against lefties, Jordy Mercer is the leadoff man for the Pirates. Against righties, he slides down the lineup a bit. Regardless of where he hits, he seems to be producing. His K% is down from 17.9% to 13.0% and his BB% is up from 6.3% to 9.7%. With 11 RBI to start the year, Mercer is producing in a position that is terribly hard to find production from.

Drops:

J.T. Realmuto – C – Miami Marlins
32% Owned
OPP: 4 @ LAD, 3 @ MIL

J.T. Realmuto’s offensive struggles are supposed to be highlighted by his base stealing abilities. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, he hasn’t been coming through. There seems to be no signs of life in his bat, either. Last year, he was hitting the ball hard 29.3% of the time. This year he’s down to 15%. With catchers seemingly coming out of nowhere this year – it’s safe to cut ties with Realmuto in 10-12 team leagues.

Mallex Smith – OF – Atlanta Braves
12% Owned
OPP: 2 vs BOS, 2 @ BOS, 3 @ CHC

The Mallex Smith hype has certainly worn off. He was called up as a highly touted prospect and many jumped to the waiver wire to scoop him up. He has an alarming 15 strikeouts in 37 at bats. He was supposed to make up for any offensive struggles by scorching the basepaths. Two stolen bases just isn’t going to cut it.

Two Start Pitchers:

Kendall Graveman – RHP – Oakland Athletics
7% Owned
OPP: Apr 25 @ DET, Apr 30 vs HOU

Kendall Graveman is the most intriguing option out there this week. Only five SP have both a 60% or higher groundball percentage and a 10% or higher swinging strikeout rate. Noah Syndergaard, Felix Hernandez, Steven Strasburg and Masahiro Tanaka are the first four and Graveman rounds out the list (H/T to @StephenNickrand for the stat!). He’s been implementing his slider more often (up to 13.7% from 8.4% last year) and that’s been dancing around the strike zone.

NOTE: Graveman is the only two start pitcher this week but an honorable mention goes to Ross Stripling (25% owned). If Stripling dazzles against Miami, scoop him up for his appearance against the lowly Padres later in the week. 

Trends:

Blake Snell – LHP – Tampa Bay Rays
34% Owned
Triple-A Durham

Unless it’s a keeper league – I’m not usually into stashing prospects but Blake Snell has changed my mind. Used for a spot start, the Rays top prospect went five innings giving up one run and striking out six against the Yankees. The Rays desperately need some pitching help as it stands. Chris Archer hasn’t been performing well (Don’t panic Archer owners – he’ll come around) and Jake Odorizzi hasn’t been the greatest either. Blake Snell has shown the Rays what he can do and he’s definitely worth a stash in 12 man mixed leagues.

Thanks for reading! If you have any MLB DFS or season long questions, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter @BESTofMATT