More Fantasy Baseball: Matt Adams worth the hype?
With news coming Tuesday that Roberto Osuna was put on administrative leave for the foreseeable future, we have a closer opening in Toronto. And if any team has a stable of relievers with experience closing, it's the Blue Jays.
- John Axford has 144 career saves and led the National League with 46 saves in 2011. He also has a 1.56 ERA in 17.1 innings so far in 2018.
- Tyler Clippard has 61 career saves, including 32 in 2012 for the Washington Nationals. Clippard has a 1.47 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 18.1 innings this year.
- Seung Hwan Oh has only been in the majors for a little more than two years, but already has 40 saves. But he had 277 saves in nine years in the KBO. He has a 1.76 ERA over 15.1 innings this year.
For his part, Jays manager John Gibbons was noncommittal when asked who is closer will be moving forward.
"We'll see how the game develops, you know?" Gibbons said. "See what it takes to get to that ninth inning, but we've got a few guys who could do it."
That makes sense, and I wouldn't be surprised if multiple guys get saves for the Blue Jays in the next month, but I'm betting on Oh getting the first crack at it. He has the most recent success in the role and the most extensive closing history, even if most of it was overseas. I'm trying to add Oh in any categories league that I can get my hands on him, but I'm also willing to speculate on Clippard or Axford (in that order) if I miss out. All three of these guys have been good enough early on to think they could help in ratios while Gibbons figures out who his guy is.
Here are three other waiver wire adds for Wednesday:
Since the start of the 2017 season, Matt Adams has played in 161 games. He has a .281 average with 30 home runs and 89 RBI. His .375 wOBA, is the 25th best mark in baseball. His .564 slugging percentage ranks even higher, 10th amongst players with at least 450 plate appearances. He's been absolutely elite, and people keep giving up on him. The Nationals seem intent on not making that mistake.
On Tuesday, they even started him against a lefty, with Ryan Zimmerman at first base and Adams in left field. If he's playing everyday, he needs to be 100 percent owned. Scott White wrote more about Adams here if you want read Scott's thoughts.
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I've waited a while to do this, because I really can't believe it. But it looks like Alex Gordon is back. Gordon has a .321/.361/.474 slash line and has been absolutely raking since returning from the disabled list. Since April 24, he's 21 for 58 with three home runs and two doubles.
Gordon's peripherals are strange, but encouraging enough that he should be more than seven percent owned. His hard contact rate is way up, as is his line drive rate. Gordon isn't walking at all, which is weird, but his strikeouts are way down as well.
Gordon is still best served for points leagues, which means he'll only be owned in deeper leagues.
Luis Guillorme is apparently being called up by the Mets, and he's less than one percent owned, so we need to talk about him.
Guillermo is a glove-first middle infielder with good contact skills and a good grasp of the strike zone. He has almost no power and hasn't shown a lot of speed in the minors either. He could be a decent source of power if he gets regular playing time, but the Mets already have too many infielders. I'm adding him in NL-Only leagues and checking my deep Dynasty leagues to see if he's owned.
