With the first week of baseball in the book, and fantasy baseball continues to unfurl in front of us. With a position as deep as first base, it can be difficult to discern which waiver wire players are worth your time. Luckily, there have been several standouts who are already household names that will return value if you pluck them off the wire. Like every week, we base our free agent pieces on Yahoo! Ownership. 50% or less ownership gets you consideration, with one deep league option available in 90% or more of Yahoo! Leagues.
[Jeff]
C.J. Cron, Angels (25% owned)
Cron has 20-25 home run power, but a 20-25 cent approach at the plate. He is a career pop-up artist, so fixing that is crucial in turning around his career trend. So far, so good, however. He seems to have adjusted his approach at the plate, as he has not yet hit a home run but has hit a ton of line drives. He is yet to hit for an extra base, and hasn’t hit in a runner yet. Both trends should be turning around soon. One of two things will happen with Cron: either he will continue to hit for average from a new approach, or he will go back to his dinger mashing ways. Either way, he’s worth a roster add.
Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals (18% owned)
Zimmerman was once one of the premier fantasy baseball third basemen; unfortunately this was before myriad of injuries cost him a ton of time. He’s now presumably healthy, and has moved across the infield. Playing first should limit the wear on his balky shoulder. So far this season, Zimmerman has three home runs in 27 PA and he is hitting .400/.444/.840. While that average will obviously come down, he’s a prime bounce back candidate if he can stay healthy and not aggravate his injuries.
Mitch Moreland, Boston (8% owned)
Moreland’s season line (.250 average, 3 R, 1 RBI, 0 HR, 0 SB) is wholly unimpressive, but it is the tale of two small sample sizes. He started off the season 0/9 in his first two games, but since then he’s gone 8/15 with four doubles. It’s only a manner of time before Moreland starts putting hits over the fence. If you’re in a deeper league, Moreland’s 20+ dingers and meh average will be valuable in your fantasy baseball CI slot.