Fantasy Baseball:

All-Star Waiver Wire Team (1st/2nd Half)

By Muntradamus

BEAST DOME NATION.

It was a great 1st half of fantasy baseball.  We saw far less offense than any of us could imagine.  With nobody even close to the pace of 60 HRs, baseball has definitely gone away from the Steroid era. With that being said, let’s talk about the Waiver Wire!

Fantasy Baseball is won and loss based off of how well you do on the waiver wire.  Here is a list of the 1st Half All-Star waiver wire team.  Also included on the bottom, is my predicted 2nd Half All-Star waiver wire team.

1st Half Waiver Wire All-Stars:

(None of these guys should be FA in your leagues.  Unless you play in very shallow leagues, or have a lot of inactive owners.)

C: Wilin Rosario/ Ryan Doumit/ A.J. Ellis
1B: Allen Craig/ Anthony Rizzo/ Adam LaRoche
2B: Mike Aviles/ Omar Infante/ Daniel Murphy
3B: Pedro Alvarez/ Chase Headley/ Kyle Seager
SS: Trevor Plouffe/ Jed Lowrie/ Alcidies Escobar
OF: Mike Trout/ Austin Jackson
OF: Josh Willingham/ Colby Rasmus
OF: Josh Reddick/ Alejandro De Aza

Honorable Mention: Bryan LaHair

SP: R.A. Dickey
SP/RP: Chris Sale
SP: Kyle Lohse
SP: Wade Miley
SP: Ivan Nova
SP/RP: Lance Lynn

RP:  Fernando Rodney. Aroldis Chapman. Alfredo Aceves. Santiago Casilla. Ernesto Freiri. Addison Reed.

Out of all of these players, I expect Aceves, and Casilla to lose the most value.  Lance Lynn-Sanity has been losing value since I recommended to sell back in this article.

2nd Half Waiver Wire Predicted All-Stars:

 

CATCHER:

SALVADOR PEREZ – KC

Stats as of 7/8: .386 Average. 3 HR. 7 RBI. (12 Games)

How can you not be excited to own Salvador Perez for the 2nd half of the season.  He was hitting .425 going into Saturday, and he clubs HRs at a quicker rate than any catcher besides Grandal who has yet to prove himself.  Salvador is the real deal when it comes to Power hitting catchers, and you would be absolutely oblivious if you are allowing him to sit on your waiver wire.  He could be a top 8 guy at the position for the 2nd half.

Honorable Mention: Yasmani Grandal, Devin Mesoraco.

1B:

ADAM LIND – TOR

Stats as of 7/8: .205 Average. 7 HR. 18 RBI. (46 Games)

In Adam’s last 8 games, he has 4 HRs and 8 RBIs.  Yes, he was a huge disappointment in the 1st Half where he saw himself get demoted to AAA.  But he is a great potential 1B option who could easily club 20 HRs in the second half.  He should not be on any Waiver Wire as he is more hungry than ever to show he belongs at the MLB level full time.  The Jays offense will be scoring plenty of runs, and Mr. Adam Lind will be a big reason why.  The batting average will hurt you, but everything else is great.

Honorable Mention: Garrett Jones. Yonder Alonso.

2B:

ALEXI AMARISTA – SD

Stats as of 7/8: .273 Average. 4 HR. 18 RBI. 2 SB.

There is something special about Alexi.  He is the type of player that can hit a triple, or maybe if he is feeling it launch a HR.  The SB department is a lot lower than I think it should be, but right now he is performing fireworks with 3 HRs and a SB in his last 10 games.  Once Chase Headley is gone, Amarista will have no contention for everyday playing time again.  Great spark plug for your lineup.

Honorable Mention: Jordany Valdespin. Robert Andino. Yuniesky Betancourt. Scott Moore.

SS:

ANDRELTON SIMMONS – ATL

Stats as of 7/8: .292 Average. 3 HR. 15 RBI. 1 SB. (32 Games)

The Braves finally have the missing SS the team has been looking for. Andrelton is starting to cool down, but he still does have 3 HRs in 32 games.  That type of pace will make him a solid fantasy SS who makes a decent replacement for all those owners who lost Dee Gordon.  The non-existent speed is a problem, but his sample size of 32 games is has shown he could hit well over .300 as his high was .333, before going on a 1/17 slump.

Honorable Mention: Yuniesky Betancourt. Brian Dozier. Everth Cabrera.

3B:

TODD FRAZIER – CIN

Stats as of 7/8: .279 Average. 9 HR. 29 RBI. 1 SB.

Todd is the future of the Cincinnati Reds.  Scott Rolen is already starting to get banged up, and Frazier is already the better player.  The only thing holding him back from being must-own in all leagues is Dusty Baker.  Baker likes Rolen, but Frazier already has 2 HRs and 7 RBIs for the month, to go along with a .400 batting average.  It would be a smart move to add Frazier now.

Honorable Mention: Chris Nelson. Brandon Inge.

OF:

TYLER COLVIN – COL

Stats as of 7/8: .306 Average. 13 HR. 40 RBI. 1 SB.

Colvin has 5 HRs and 16 RBIs in his last 10 games.  Those numbers put him on the very ELITE of the ELITE, yet he is still owned in only 45% of CBS leagues.  Colvin has to be owned in more leagues as he is making Todd Helton and Dexter Fowler into part-time players.  Playing in Colorado and batting 5th is another perk for an OF option that has always showed great power as a pinch hitter with the Cubs.

Honorable Mention: Ben Revere. Norichika Aoki. Quintin Berry. Seth Smith.

SP:

TOM MILONE – OAK

Stats as of 7/8: 3.57 ERA (8-6 Record). 1.18 WHIP. 72 Ks in 108.1 INN.

First thing to talk about with Milone is his lack of K’s. He has actually began to pick it up as he has 20 Ks in his last 19 INN.  He is becoming more experienced which is allowing him to be smarter when he has 2 strikes on hitters.  The most impressive stat on Milone is the fact he has 1.03 ERA in 52 home INN’s this season.  Tom is slowly turning into the next C.J. WIlson, do not miss out on him.

Honorable Mention: Jose Quintana. Michael Fiers. Jair Jurrjens. Travis Wood. A.J. Griffin. Lucas Harrell. Jeff Karstens. Clayton Richard. Drew Pomeranz. Erik Bedard. Danny Hultzen. Travis Blackley.

RP:

SERGIO ROMO – SF

Stats as of 7/8: 0.72 ERA. (2-1, 5/5 Saves) 0.72 WHIP. 30 Ks in 25 INN.

Santiago Casilla has done it.  He has opened up the door for Sergio Romo to take over the closer job, and he is more than fit for the position.  Romo had a 2.18 ERA in 2010, a 1.15 ERA in 2011, and now sports a 0.72 ERA in 2012.  With Casilla blowing 3 of his last 4 opportunities, and allowing at least 1 ER in 4 of his last 6 appearances, it is safe to say this journey trip is over.

Honorable Mention: Ryan Cook. Tom Wilhelmsen. Bobby Parnell. David Hernandez. Vinnie Pestano.