FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Adrian Morejon (RP Padres): Rostered in 27% of Yahoo leagues
Nick Pivetta aside, the Padres are having some obvious rotation problems, and they’ve reacted to them by leaning more and more on their deep bullpen. Adrian Morejon is often the first guy in when a starter leaves a close game in the fifth and sixth, and he’s all the way up to 11 wins as a result. One imagines he’ll be good for at least a couple of more this month, making him a great choice for teams more concerned about victories than saves at the moment.
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Morejon is hardly a secret at this point, having been picked for the NL All-Star team. Converted into a reliever because of his issues staying healthy as a starter, he had a 2.83 ERA in his first full season in 2024. He’s at 1.85 in 63 1/3 innings right now. Of the 305 guys with at least 50 innings pitched this season, he has the second lowest hard-hit rate at 27.7%. He’s also issued just 10 unintentional walks.
The Padres don’t want to overwork Morejon, who is still just 25 years old, and they’ve backed off him a bit these last 10 days. Still, with the NL West and Wild Card positioning both up for grabs, they have plenty of incentive to finish strong, even if they’re not much in danger of missing the postseason. Morejon definitely rates as a top-30 RP at this point.
Romy Gonzalez (INF Red Sox): Rostered in 13% of Yahoo leagues
After five months mostly spent as a top-flight platoon player, Gonzalez is finally getting extended time against righties, in part because he deserves it but also because outfield injuries have forced the Red Sox to keep Ceddanne Rafaela in center instead of having him moonlight at second base. Gonzalez has gone 15-for-32 with six RBI while starting Boston’s last eight games, and he seems poised to stay at second base going forward.
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Gonzalez had intriguing exit velocity numbers during his time with the White Sox, but terrible plate discipline was his undoing; he had a 36% strikeout rate and a 2% walk rate in 239 plate appearances over three seasons with the White Sox. Two years later, his strikeout rate is down to 25%, and while that’s still not great, so much of his contact is hard contact that it’s allowed him to hit .306/.343/.496. His 57.2% hard-hit rate is fourth highest in fastball.
To turn into a truly above average regular, Gonzalez still needs to work on lifting the ball. His groundball rate has been over 50% throughout his time in the majors, and for all of his power, he’s totaled only 14 homers in 494 plate appearances the last two years. At this point, that’s more of a concern for next year, though. Gonzalez is the best the Red Sox have at second base right now, and he’s hitting in the middle of the order regularly. He should be a pretty good play.
Kyle Manzardo (1B Guardians): Rostered in 17% of Yahoo leagues
With four homers in seven games and nine in 31, Manzardo has been a nice contributor of late, and now he’s getting to play against lefties with Carlos Santana having been let go by the Guardians. The metrics definitely like what he’s doing; he has a .422 xwOBA over his last 50 plate appearances.
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Manzardo is all about lifting the ball. Only three of the 252 players with 300 plate appearances this season have a higher flyball rate than the Guardians first baseman. He doesn’t combine it with elite power, so batting average is an issue and figures to remain one. Still, he should continue to be productive in terms of homers, and hitting fourth regularly behind José Ramírez means he’s getting RBI opportunities..
Manzardo also has a rather soft schedule going forward, particularly this week against a Royals rotation missing its three best starters and the White Sox. One could pick him up now and move on from him next week, but he’s a reasonable bet for the remainder of the month.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
– The Brewers’ Jose Quintana is available in two-thirds of leagues and is due to face the injury-plagued Rangers and Cardinals next week. He’s a great one-week pickup.
– Emmet Sheehan is also a nice one-week pickup, assuming that the Dodgers make it official that he’ll start at home against the Rockies during the Monday-Wednesday series.
