Dixon’s Picks: Waiver Wire Additions for the Week of August 12

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison.

Another week down, another week upon us. I hope that all of you are positioning yourself for a run at your league championships (or playoffs if you’re in a head-to-head league) and not looking forward to your fantasy football drafts. Even if your season is done, I hope you’re making the best efforts to play spoiler. Whatever category you’re in, you’re here because you’re looking for some arms to think about this week, so let’s see what we can do.

Before moving on, let’s do the normal drill and look at my total numbers after the weeks of Jose Quintana, Chad Gaudin, and Martin Perez.

Gaudin was pretty solid twice. Perez had two great outings, while Quintana had one good one, and other rough one.Enough jibber-jabber. Let’s do this.

• Ricky Nolasco, Los Angeles Dodgers — Probable Starts: Monday at New York Mets, Sunday at Philadelphia Phillies

While it’s an admittedly small sample size (six starts), Ricky Nolasco has had an interesting run since joining the Dodgers. The team has been hot, so his 3-1 record in LA is really no surprise. The 1.33 WHIP would suggest that he’s been a bit lucky, but a 3.00 ERA would suggest otherwise. Ironically, his WHIP in Miami was significantly lower (1.220) while his ERA was higher (3.85). Go figure.

Anyway, what’s been consistent in both places is that Nolasco has struck out hitters at a solid rate, better than 7 K’s per nine innings. Against these offenses, you can probably count on similar success.

While the ERA and WHIP in LA tell different stories and suggest that something’s gotta give, don’t look for it to give in a bad way this week. Both the Mets and Phillies rank as average or worse by nearly any offensive metric.

Nolasco certainly has some question marks around him, but this is a pretty safe guy to go with, at least this week.

Nolasco’s Predictions for the Week

• Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels — Probable Starts: Monday at New York Yankees, Saturday vs. Houston Astros

I don’t know about you, but I’d say that the A’s, Blue Jays, and Rangers boast better offenses than the Yankees and Astros. Since returning to the rotation three starts ago, this is what Richards has done, against those three teams.

Actually, his run of success goes a little deeper. Look at his numbers over the last 30 days, which includes some time as a relief pitcher for the Angels.

Garrett Richards has certainly had some struggles as a Major Leaguer, but that’s a solid output.

Again, the Yankees and Astros have plenty of issues around their teams, especially the offenses. They’re just not very dangerous teams year, and it’s hard to see them being the ones to reverse Richards’ good fortune. That may happen shortly, but playing the odds, it’s not likely to happen this week.

Richards’ Predictions for the Week

• Bruce Chen, Kansas City Royals — Probable Starts: Tuesday vs. Miami Marlins, Sunday at Detroit Tigers

I wrestled with the idea of including Bruce Chen. It’s just awfully hard to tell someone to sign a pitcher for a week when one of his two games includes facing Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and the rest of the potent Detroit Tigers. Ultimately, though, Chen is just pitching too well to pass on. Instead of just showing his numbers since returning to the Kansas City rotation, take a look at what he’s done, start-by-start:

Which brings us total numbers of:

Sure, there are some weaker opponents on that list, but a few of those offenses are plenty potent. There’s no especially great outing that stands out, or bad outing that’s otherwise made up for. This is just an incredibly solid run.

There’s certainly no reason to think he won’t keep it going against the Marlins. As for the Tigers, head-to-head pitchers can certainly make their own decisions on that start. If you don’t need the numbers, probably bench him. But I feel good about Chen keeping it going this week. The hit numbers will likely not stay that low but as long as he avoids issuing the free passes, Chen should be just fine. 

Chen’s Predictions for the Week