Fantasy Baseball Waiver Candy - May 17th

May 17, 2009  JunkyardJake.Com

Juan Pierre, LA Dodgers, OF  

Since Manny Ramirez was awarded a 50 game sabbatical, and relocated to the 'Banned Substances Suspension Fun Camp' late last week, Juan Pierre has once again asserted himself as a very relevant fantasy factor. Going back to his start on May 7th, Pierre has batted .447, with 6 extra base hits and 6 stolen bases. Fantasy managers have certainly been taking notice over the past week or so, but chances are still about 50-50 that the consummate base-swiper is still available in your league. Remember, even as a 119 game part-timer last season, Pierre still managed to steal 40 bases.

Speaking of Manny Ramirez and the 'Banned Substances Suspension Fun Camp', Manny has sent his best regards and says the camp has been a great opportunity to reunite with Canseco, Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro and the whole HGH gang. Word is, everyone is staying out of trouble, having a fabulous time, and engaging in constructive activities like playing catch with small appliances, and reenacting scenes from the 'Scorpion King' movies. See you some time in July Manny !
Available in 44% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

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Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays, SP  
Mostly out of necessity, and partly because they are silly Canadians, the Toronto Blue Jays have been shuffling their starting rotation around pretty often through the first six weeks of the season. At this point, unless he gets caught in a pitbull fighting scandal, we know Roy Halladay is going to be pitching every five days or so, and after that it's most recently been hit or miss with Scott Richmond, Robert Ray and Brian Tallet. Standing out in the midst of Blue Jays rotation ambiguity has been Brett Cecil over his first three 2009 starts, compiling 2 wins, a 1.80 ERA, a WHIP of 1.05, while notching 15 K's over 20 innings. The young lefty already has a major-league slider, which is especially rough on left-handed hitters, and he throws a decent fastball that reaches 92 MPH. If Cecil could develop a serviceable change-up to consistently keep right-handers off balance he would register especially high on the awesometer. For now, he has obviously been quite competent, and with a currently secure spot in the Jays rotation, should be a pretty good waiver addition.
Available in 68% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

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Nick Johnson, Washington Nationals, 1B  
Over his ten year career, when Nick Johnson hasn't been busy being fat and/or injured, he's been a fairly productive player. He always has shown decent power during his abbreviated seasons, with his best output coming in his relatively injury-free campaign of 2006 when he hit 23 homeruns in 500 ABs. Probably the most impressive aspect of Johnson's game is his patience at the plate - he actually walked 110 times in 2006, and his career OBP is .397. Besides his decent power, and terrific OBP, Nick Johnson is also known to steal a few bases. Johnson actually has 25 career steals, with a season high of 10. At his current weight of 245 pounds Johnson might be able to snag a few more for you this season, because he can only be stopped with a tranquilizer dart.
Available in 55% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

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Trevor Cahill, Oakland A's, SP  
Trevor Cahill is a talented young pitcher who primarily throws an effective assortment of 4-seam and 2-seam fastballs. He does not exactly light up the radar gun, topping out at around 92-93 MPH, but he skillfully changes speeds, locates his pitches well, and has terrific sinking action on his 2-seamer. When things are going right for Cahill, he is hoaxing batters into futile swings at balls in the dirt, or inducing them into harmless groundouts. Although sinker ballers are not usually known for their strikeout ability, Cahill was actually striking out 10 batters per 9 innings during his short minor league career. His other numbers down on the farm were not too shabby either, with 22 wins in 42 starts, a 2.68 ERA, and an impressively trifling WHIP of 1.089. The former 2nd round pick has had only two bad outings in the majors so far (4/24 and 5/17) , but he has been otherwise exceptional, going at least 5 innings and yielding 2 earned runs or less in his six other 2009 starts.
Available in 61% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

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Other Players To Consider:


Michael Cuddyer,Minnesota Twins,OF  
Available in 66% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Koji Uehara,Baltimore Orioles,SP  
Available in 45% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Ben Zobrist,Tampa Bay Rays,SS  
Available in 75% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Emmanuel Burriss,San Francisco Giants,SS  
Available in 77% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Joel Hanrahan,Washington Nationals,RP  
Available in 75% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

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