One of our most cherished and fundamental freedoms as Americans is the right to furiously remove any underperforming player from our fantasy teams at any time. In fact, it is your duty as a citizen to continually prune and replenish your roster. Let’s get to it, people.
Here are six widely available players who can help any team…
This gentleman hit three home runs in two games this week against the Cubs and Yankees respectively, and he was still only listed in about a third of Yahoo leagues. That’s absolute negligence, folks. If you’re not a believer at this point… well, we’re running out of talking points. Vientos offers eligibility for multiple positions, significant power, and is currently hitting .298. He’s driven in five runs in his last three games and has racked up nine bombs on the year. If a player like that doesn’t do it for you, then you’re probably enjoying a ridiculously successful fantasy season.
Bader is on a roll on a team that seemingly can’t lose. He is 6-for-12 with two steals, two home runs and five runs scored in his last three games, raising his average to .275. He has 11 steals on the year and should have another 10-12 to go. We’d certainly prefer to see him bat higher than ninth in the batting order, but he’s managed to remain productive. Add it if you are looking for a combination of power and speed.
Horwitz has become a recurring cast member of our waiver wire feature, because A) he just keeps raking and B) many of you don’t seem to care.
He’s getting on base at an absurd rate for the Jays, with an on-base percentage well over .400, which is actually in line with his recent record in the minors: He was hitting .335/.456/.514 in Triple-A before his promotion. Horwitz has respectable power and has established himself in a prime spot in the batting order, just ahead of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He is a must-have player in a league that uses OBP, or for any manager looking for a boost to the middle of the infield.
Okay, this might be a terrible idea, so I apologize in advance if it doesn’t work. Garver has already struck out 80 times in 69 games this season and is hitting just .178. Not good. There are definitely some problems here.
But Garver has also hit safely in four straight games, including a pair of homers, as Seattle’s designated hitter. He’s always been the type of player who hits his home runs in spurts, so we could be in the early days of a home run streak. Plus, we should also point out that he’s been a much better second-half hitter (.896 OPS) over his career. Let’s not give up on him just yet.
In fact, Olson did pick up a rare win — just his second of the season — in his most recent start against the White Sox. But his 2-8 record doesn’t accurately reflect the level of his performance so far this year. Olson has simply been the victim of woeful run support. He’ll have a 3.35 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and a respectable 20.7 K% in his upcoming weekend start against the Angels, so he’s certainly worthy of fantasy consideration. Olson currently ranks among the MLB leaders in groundball rate (51.2%) and HR/9 (0.43), so there’s a lot to like in his profile.
Sean Manaea, starting pitcher, New York Mets (22%)
Manaea is coming off a scoreless but disastrous 5-inning win against the Yankees on Wednesday (2 H, 5 BB, 3 K), which dropped his ERA to a respectable 3.89. Obviously, the Mets are on a roll these days and the veteran lefty is striking out a batter per inning, as usual. The calendar is about to take a favorable turn for this team; Manaea’s next four starts should be against the Nationals, Pirates, Rockies (in New York) and Marlins.
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