Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Robinson Cano turns back the clock while the future arrives for the Tigers
Meanwhile, it's time to move on from Ross Stripling and Griffin Canning.
By
Scott White
•
1 min read
Seeing as the possible pickups who made the most noise Monday were already featured in the weekend edition of Waiver Wire and the arrival of Tigers pitching prospects Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal was covered separately by Chris Towers, today looks like one of those days when the focus should be more on the players to drop than the players to add.
To that end, I can't see why anybody would stick with Ross Stripling and Griffin Canning.
Ross Stripling
SP
Monday vs. Mariners
IP3
H8
ER6
BB0
K2
Both were trendy pickups at one point, hyped even by yours truly. Both looked like they had it all together their first time through the rotation. But it's been all downhill since then — and not just in terms of surrendering runs. Their most effective pitches from previous years are giving them nothing now. Canning has a pretty good excuse for the loss of his slider, having battled an elbow issue in spring training that may be preventing him from snapping it off with conviction now. His swinging strikes with each passing start have gone from 14 to 10 to 7 to 3 to 8, mostly due to the ineffectiveness of that pitch.
Stripling's swinging strikes, meanwhile, have gone from 12 to 5 to 5 to 5 to 1, mostly because his curveball has gone missing. I continued to hold out hope for him in a two-start week that started out with a favorable matchup against the Mariners, but his inability to come through against them Monday makes it crystal clear that he's just not right. As for Canning, I was pretty much over him even before Monday's misery.
By this point, you should be willing to drop either for just about any player who strikes your fancy. Let's review some of the ones who appeal to me.
We discussed the Tigers rookies and double-dongs galore on Tuesday's Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. Follow all our podcasts and subscribe here.
Possible waiver wire pickups
Monday's two-homer game clarified that whatever momentum Robinson Cano had before straining his groin and landing on the IL for 10 days is still intact upon returning. The batted-ball data for him is ridiculous, pegging him for a near-.400 batting average and near-.600 slugging percentage, but it's also more in line with his track record than whatever happened to him last year, putting him on the path to a big rebound season.
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We still don't know if the Mets are ready to play him against lefties given that their past seven games have all come against righties, but with another two hits Monday, including a double, Dominic Smith has done everything he can in those seven games to prove he's an indispensable part of the lineup. His improved fly-ball and barrel rates mostly back up the power breakthrough.
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Casey Mize is the higher-profile of the Tigers pitching prospects getting the call this week, seeing as he was the first overall pick in the 2018 draft, and is the higher-priority add if only because it sounds like he'll be better equipped for a starter's workload right away. He was clearly too good for the minors last year, compiling a 0.92 ERA and 0.69 WHIP in 13 starts before a shoulder injury turned everything sideways, and while the strikeout rate was curiously low, he offers a full power arsenal that could lead to an ace outcome right away.
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Unlike Mize, Tarik Skubal didn't disappoint with the strikeouts in 2019, averaging 13.1 per nine for the season and 17.4 in nine starts after moving up to Double-A. He made strides with his secondary arsenal last year, soaring up the prospect rankings, and was the Tigers pitcher who generated the most buzz back in spring training. It sounds like he'll be limited to 50 pitches in his first start, though.
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Robbie Grossman homered again Monday, collecting two hits, and while it remains hard to believe that this 30-year-old role player could be developing into something more, the same could have been said about Mark Canha (and even Marcus Semien) at this time a year ago. The data is backing up everything Grossman is doing right now, albeit with the obvious sample size caveat, though we are still waiting for him to play against a left-hander.
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The Cardinals have had two save opportunities in five games since returning to action, and Andrew Miller, a former closer for the Yankees, worked a scoreless ninth each time. Giovanny Gallegos has been lights-out in a setup role and will be ready to step in if Miller's struggles from the past two years return, but for now, it seems like the Cardinals want the veteran working the ninth.
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