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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Edward Cabrera makes a statement while Brendan Rodgers goes off
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Springs continues to be overlooked.
By
Scott White
•
1 min read
Well, that wasn't the pitcher we saw last year.
Back then, Edward Cabrera had a 5.81 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in seven starts. His walk rate was prohibitive and strikeout rate a little underwhelming, especially compared to what he had done in the minors.
But after an early-season bout with biceps fatigue and another stint in the minors, the 24-year-old got a chance to set the record straight in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at the Rockies. He made his point loud and clear.
Most of the damage, as in 10 of his 17 swinging strikes, came on a changeup that's genuinely one of a kind. He averaged 93.6 mph on that pitch -- a changeup, remember. Just look at the way this thing dives:
Edward Cabrera's 1st MLB K comes off a **checks notes** 94 MILE PER HOUR CHANGE UP pic.twitter.com/35YzfWteap
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) June 1, 2022
What makes it especially impressive is that it happened in the thin air of Coors Field, where you'd expect less movement. What does more look like?
None of this is to say that, as starting pitcher pickups go, Cabrera is foolproof. He did still walk four in his six innings, continuing with the control issues from a year ago (and they've been just as prevalent in the minors). But the upside is considerable for a player rostered in just 27 percent of CBS Sports leagues, and he has every opportunity to stick with Jesus Luzardo on the IL and Elieser Hernandez potentially on the outs as well.
Let's see who else is available on the waiver wire ...
Possible waiver wire pickups
That big turnaround we were hoping to see from Brendan Rodgers finally happened in Game 2 of that same doubleheader between the Marlins and Rockies. He hit three home runs, including a walk-off. The truth is he was showing clear signs of a turnaround even prior to that game, now batting .373 with a 1.040 OPS during a 19-game hitting streak. His Statcast data is still awful, but if you isolated it just to May, he has an average exit velocity of 89 mph and a hard-hit rate of 46.9 percent, which is enough for him to succeed in his home environment.
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If I'm looking for pitching, an even higher priority for me than Edward Cabrera is Jeffrey Springs, who has for some reason failed to gain any traction on the waiver wire even though his percentages are just absurd. At first, I thought it was because people were presuming he was an opener rather than a true starter, but Wednesday's outing marked his third straight of five-plus innings. He had an outrageous 20 swinging strikes on 85 pitches, his changeup again looking like an elite offering, and at this point, I'd be shocked if he's the odd man out when Shane Baz returns.
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Jon Gray turned in a stunner Wednesday, especially when you consider how pedestrian he had looked up until then, and I have to admit I'm a bit skeptical of the performance. His slider is normally his best swing-and-miss pitch, but it was responsible for only two of his 12 whiffs in this one. Most (seven) came on the fastball, which was up 1 mph. He also threw a few more changeups, which perhaps brought out the best in it. Gray was thought to have sleeper appeal now that he's out of Colorado, so if you miss out on Cabrera or Springs, you could take a flier and see where it goes.
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Trey Mancini kicked off June with a 2-for-4 performance that saw him deliver his fourth home run and sixth double. It wouldn't mean much on its own, but it comes after a month of May in which he quietly hit .363. He seemed destined to suffer from the new dimensions at Camden Yards, and between that and the deadened ball, yeah, his power numbers are down. But he seems to have compensated with a career-best strikeout rate (17.5 percent) and a career-best line-drive rate (26.4 percent), making use of the entire field. It's sort of the Ty France mode for success, if to a lesser degree.
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