We have made it through another week of action, and there continue to be endless injuries we need to account for on our rosters. Unfortunately, there have also been a lot of solid and slow starts from players that leave us wondering what to do with those roster spots.
So much for Taj Bradley staying with the Rays, as they sent him back to Triple-A to manipulate his innings, he’ll be back soon, and I would try and stash if you can. We have more prospects with Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee and likely more this week. Just your friendly reminder to be careful, as so many prospects are going back and forth between AAA and the majors already.
Each week I will highlight a few players to target in your weekly FAAB process, but know there are many others available and, more importantly, others that may be better fitting for your teams. If you have any questions, please ask me on Twitter (@bdentrek).
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire FAAB Report: Week 4
Each suggestion below was rostered in no more than 60 percent of Yahoo leagues at time of writing.
Hitters
Mauricio Dubon (2B,SS,OF – HOU)
Rostered: 43%
Suggested bid: 8%
Dubon took over leadoff duties when Chas McCormick went to the IL, and Dubon has yet to look back. He went 0-4 on Friday night, which snapped a 20-game hitting streak. Dubon is now hitting .315 on the season while scoring 18 runs. He has no home run, only four RBI, and only two stolen bases. Dubon will primarily be a two-category contributor with some steals thrown in. Dubon should continue to lead off and play every day while Jose Altuve is on the IL, and that makes him viable in 12-team and deeper formats for the batting average upside alone.
Rostered: 48%
Suggested Bid: %14
Gallo returned from the IL on April 19 and has hit .250 over the nine games with four home runs. Some may scoff at the .250 batting average, but that’s solid for Gallo. In addition, he’s walking nearly 20% of the time while striking out 27.3%, which is also an improvement. Gallo is now hitting .261 on the season with seven home runs, a .522 ISO, and 1.141 OPS. Even more impressively is the contact quality, with a 30% barrel rate and 76.7% hard-hit rate. In addition, Gallo has lowered his line drive and groundball rates while raising his flyball rate by over 20%. The changes Gallo has made with his ability to mash baseball led to a very productive start to the fantasy season.
Rostered: 30%
Suggested Bid: 16%
Suwinski entered Friday night riding a five-game hitting streak as he continues a great start to the season. He is now hitting .276 with five home runs and four stolen bases. The power and speed combo with a healthy batting average is great, but he also walks 17.8% of the time. Suwinski does strike out too much at 27.8%, but his results when he puts the ball in play are good enough that the strikeouts aren’t catching up with him yet. It does help that he has a 22.5% barrel rate and a 50% hard-hit rate. Suwinski has always showcased power, so even if the batting average slips, he should also provide plenty of power and speed.
Pitchers
Rostered: 51%
Suggested Bid: 17%
Kikuchi has been exceptional this season with a 3.00 ERA and 3.58 xFIP. He has allowed one run or less in five of six starts while striking out six or more in three of five. Kikuchi has a 20.8% K-BB, aided by a 37.9% O-Swing and 11.8% SwStr. He has looked terrific this season, but the most impressive thing is that Kikuchi has only walked six over 27 innings pitched. Kikuchi will have a rough start occasionally, but overall, Kikuchi looks ready for a big season.
Rostered: 43%
Suggested Bid: 14%
First Kikuchi, and now Keller? Yep, things are off to a wild start in 2023. Keller has been just as excellent, if not slightly better, than Kikuchi this season. Keller is coming off six strong innings where he allowed two runs and struck out ten Dodgers. That was Keller’s fifth straight quality start. He has a 3.53 ERA and 3.75 xFIP with a 26.8% strikeout rate. Keller has been outstanding this season and now has run support from the best team in the National League.
Rostered: 27%
Suggested Bid: 42%
Another week and another stud prospect to bid on. Bibee has been one of the highly anticipated pitching prospects, and he finally made his debut this past week. Bibee threw 5.2 innings while allowing no runs on six hits, no walks, and eight strikeouts. Bibee had the off-speed pitches on point, making professional baseball players look fullish at the plate. Bibee threw over 130 innings last season, and he should be on his way to a tremendous season where we should see around 150-160 innings pitched. If you cannot add Bibee, target his teammate Logan Allen for 1/3 of your Bibee bid.
Closers
Rostered: 41%
Suggested Bid: 21%
After it appeared that Jose Quijada was taken over closing duties in Anaheim, Estevez quickly returned them. Estevez has now converted the last three save chances for the Angels and looks locked into the roll. Estevez now has five saves on the season with a 1.42 ERA. Of course, he needs to cut back on the walks to be more effective, but he is the one you want in Anaheim for now.
Rostered: 18%
Suggested Bid: 13%
Graterol pick up a save in his last appearance before heading to the paternity list. That gave Graterol six straight scoreless appearances and lowered his ERA to 2.53. He has ten strikeouts over 10.2 innings with only one walk. Evan Phillips returned from the paternity list (Dodgers doing Dodgers things), and instead of closing games, even with Graterol out, Phillips pitched the 6th inning. Graterol could be the main closer on an elite team, so roster him while you can.
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