Dixon’s Picks: Waiver Wire Additions for the Week of June 24

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison.

Another week has gone by, and it feels like another season is flying by incredibly fast. This is the last week of June, the season is nearly half done. While there’s plenty of season left, we’re now certainly past the point where we can say that player’s seasons are limited sample sizes. The same goes for your fantasy teams. Some teams are well out of contention, but that’s generally not the case. If you’re someone who was expecting a good season and your team still hasn’t hit its peak, now’s certainly the time to look for a jolt, if you haven’t already.

Anyway, let’s take a look at my running total this year after the starts of Andrew Cashner, Bud Norris, and Dan Straily.

Last week didn’t help matters a heck of a lot. I certainly didn’t give the Rangers offense enough credit against Straily, and his second start of the week got him sent down. The future is still very bright for Straily in Oakland and in deeper leagues, I don’t think signing him is the worst idea, especially in a dynasty league.

But even without a good week from Straily, I generally like those numbers. Still, they can be better, so let’s look at some waiver wire guys for this week.

• Eric Stults, San Diego Padres — Probable Starts: Monday vs. Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday at Miami Marlins

As is almost always the case with these guys, the matchups matter. Having said that, the Phillies and Marlins aren’t especially frightening, especially since the Phillies game is in San Diego and not hitter-friendly Citizen’s Bank Park. But while the matchups are nice, I wouldn’t be doing Eric Stults any justice to focus on those.

No, the focus here goes on Stults. He’s still available in a lot of leagues for a few reasons. One is that he’s on the Padres and while they’re better than expected, they don’t grab a lot of national attention and won’t unless they’re still contenders into late August. Another reason is his strikeout rate, which is pretty mediocre. The rest of Stults’ numbers, however, are not mediocre. He sports a 3.25 ERA and 1.09 WHIP thus far in 2013, and it’s even better recently.

Look at his last seven starts:

Which gives him these totals over those seven outings:

That’s a hot streak by just about any standard.

Now, I doubt that Stults will keep that going all year long, although through most of his career, he’s done a good job at keeping runs from scoring. But we’re not looking into September here, we’re looking at the rest of this week. Stults has been so strong over the last month plus that he’s worth signing and keeping at least until he comes down to earth a little bit.

Stults’ Projections for the Week

• Kyle Kendrick, Philadelphia Phillies — Probable Starts: Tuesday at San Diego Padres, Sunday at Los Angeles Dodgers

It seems like Kyle Kendrick, Jose Quintana, and Jason Vargas are on this list quite a bit. But you know what? They haven’t really let me down, so I’m going to keep including them until they do.

Over his last ten outings, only two have been especially bad. One of those was in Washington, the other at Coors Field. I wouldn’t exactly call those signs of anything other than good offenses doing a good job against a pitcher on an off day. Actually, Kendrick has been a rock solid arm since the middle of the 2012 season. Kendrick was really never a bad pitcher, but he hit his peak in his Age 27 season at around his 100th career start. In other words, he hit his peak exactly when he was supposed to, and it’s still going. Barring injuries, this should keep up for another couple of years, possibly until Kendrick is in his mid-30’s.

Now, Kendrick pitches to contact, As a result, his WHIP can get a little high, although it’s a respectable 1.22 this year. Still, he’s doing a good job keeping runs from scoring, which means his ERA is constantly strong, and he’s giving himself a chance to win games.

As for the opponents this week, they do give some reasons to worry, but they aren’t exactly juggernauts. Also, a general rule in California is that the parks are all friendly to pitchers, far friendlier than Kendrick is used to in Philadelphia. Again, I’ve mentioned Kendrick a few times here and he’s yet to let me down. If you find yourself needing a few starts this week, give him the chance to step up for you.

Kendrick’s Projections for the Week

• Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles — Probable Starts: Tuesday at Cleveland Indians, Sunday at New York Yankees

Unlike the other guys mentioned today, Chris Tillman does strike guys out with some regularity. He’s not a classic strikeout guy, but you won’t find yourself needing to throw a lot of starters to get a decent number of total K’s. Also unlike the other guys, he’s a bit more erratic, walking hitters more than guys I normally put on this list.

But he carries a sub-4.00 ERA into the week, and I don’t mind the matchups against the Indians and Yankees. Cleveland has righted the ship from their big losing streak at the beginning of the month, but they’re still not scoring runs at a big rate. As for the Yankees, it’s been well documented that this isn’t a typical Bronx Bombers team. They’re a below average offense statistically, beaten up, and don’t seem to be getting much better, at least not consistently.

Overall, I just like Tillman. He is young and raw, and that does need to be taken into account. But he’s also got the arm that can have a truly dominant run. When I see him in a two-start week, I almost always at least give him a close look.

Tillman’s Projections for the Week