This week’s waiver grabs skew young, but we’ll kick things off with a vet in line to make his season debut.
Tommy Edman - 2B/SS/OF Dodgers - Rostered in 29 percent of Yahoo leagues
Take two for Edman’s rehab assignment seems to be going well. When his rehab was paused before the deadline deal that sent him from St. Louis to Los Angeles, it wasn’t because of trouble with his surgically repaired wrist but instead due to an ankle sprain. He’s played five games in Triple-A since joining the Dodgers organization, and he hit his first homer Thursday, making him 5-for-13 with just one strikeout to date. Expectations are that he’ll be activated sometime next week.
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Edman will likely start most of the time for the Dodgers. He’s not great against right-handed pitching, but he averaged four WAR per season from 2021-23 anyway. He’s excellent defensively in center field and also above average at shortstop. The Cardinals will probably use him over Kevin Kiermaier at the former spot for the most part, but that he has played one game at short on his rehab assignment suggests they’re keeping their options open. Maybe he’ll get enough days off initially to prevent him from making much of an impact in fantasy leagues, but things should change by September. He’s one of the game’s most efficient basestealers, and though he’ll typically hit in the bottom third of the order, he’ll be doing so for one of baseball’s best offenses.
Zebby Matthews - SP Twins - Rostered in 14 percent of Yahoo leagues
After tearing through three levels of the minors and amassing a ridiculous 114/7 K/BB in 97 innings, Matthews made his major league debut Tuesday against the Royals and pitched pretty much how his minor league numbers said he would; he gave up two runs over five innings and finished with five strikeouts and no walks.
Matthews’ command is what really makes him stand out as a prospect, but the stuff is pretty good, too. He averaged 95 mph with his fastball his first time out, and the fastball plays up a bit because of how similar it, his cutter and his slider all look coming out of his hand. He’s going to need a more legitimate changeup in order to fulfill his potential, but the three primary pitches should be good enough to keep him in the majors while he works on an offspeed offering. He’ll likely prove to be a useful fantasy starter even if he doesn’t excel in the ERA department right away. He’s backed by a strong offense, he’ll strike out a batter an inning and he’ll rarely issue walks, which should lead to a fine WHIP.
Jace Jung - 2B/3B Tigers - Rostered in 5 percent of Yahoo leagues
Trey Sweeney - SS Tigers - Rostered in 1 percent of Yahoo leagues
Sorry, Spencer Torkelson. It’s still not your turn yet.
The news of Sweeney’s promotion Thursday wasn’t a stunner, but it was interesting timing, giving that Javier Báez had just hit a huge home run -- his fifth in 14 games -- to propel the Tigers past the Mariners. Since arriving in the Detroit organization in the Jack Flaherty deal, Sweeney had played nine games at short and one at third base for Triple-A Toledo. 99 percent of his innings in the field as a minor leaguer have come at short, so there isn’t really any doubt whose job he’s coming for. And if there was, it disappeared a couple of hours later when it was revealed that Jung was also being promoted. Jung can play second and third, but he’s certainly going to be asked to man the hot corner in Detroit, as Colt Keith has second base locked up.
I’d say both Sweeney and Jung are only options in deeper leagues at the moment. Sweeney was red hot for Toledo, hitting .381/.447/.667 in 11 games, but he strikes out quite a bit and Báez still figures to see some time at short, unless the Tigers are stashing him on the injured list or releasing him with $80 million left on his contract. Jung has less to worry about at third, since Gio Urshela is probably getting bumped from the roster, but he could sit in favor of Andy Ibáñez against lefties. He’s hit just .217/.315/.326 against them in the minors this season, compared to .272/.402/.510 against righties.
Quick hits
- I probably would have gone with Matthew Boyd over Zebby here if not for his next start being in Yankee Stadium. Boyd looked really good in his first start back from Tommy John this week, but he remains an extreme flyball pitcher and he’ll probably give up a homer or two to the Yankees. After that, though, he might be a nice play.
- Speaking of the Yankees, I’m interested to see what would happen if Oswald Peraza gets a shot at third base with Jazz Chisholm Jr. sidelined. Playing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Peraza hit .317/.407/.658 with seven homers and eight steals over 21 games to begin the second half of the season. He was called up after Chisholm hit the IL, but he sat in favor of Oswaldo Cabrera in his first game up Thursday. Obviously, he’s just a wait-and-see guy for now.
- Houston’s Shay Whitcomb is in the same boat. There’s a whole lot to like about his .293/.378/.530 line, 25 homers and 26 steals for Triple-A Sugar Land, but the Astros seem to be all about catching lightning in a bottle right now and if Whitcomb doesn’t start off 10-for-20 with a couple of homers, he’ll probably get the same kind of treatment as Joey Loperfido, Pedro León and Zach Dezenzo.