Rotoworld’s brand-new Pickups of the Day column is designed to help fantasy managers uncover a handful of widely-available targets over the course of the season. It could be a breakout candidate, a prospect stash, an injury replacement, a pitcher with a favorable matchup or week, a player who is due some better luck, or any other number of scenarios. If there’s value to be found on the waiver wire, we will find it and bring it your way.
In today’s column, we’re going to look at another couple of players who saw their opportunity – and corresponding fantasy value – grow based on the action of Tuesday’s trade deadline and the subsequent roster fallout.
PICKUPS OF THE DAY
Adam Ottavino, RP, Mets
Available in 70 percent of Yahoo leagues
With David Robertson shipped off to the Marlins to be their new closer, the ninth inning gig is now wide open, waiting for someone to stake their claim. While Mets’ skipper Buck Showalter has said that he won’t name a true closer, and that it’ll remain a committee approach, all signs point to Adam Ottavino seeing the bulk of the work there.
The 37-year-old right-hander had already been sharing the role with Robertson for the majority of the season – as he has racked up six saves while registering a 3.48 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and a 40/19 K/BB ratio across 44 innings on the season. For his career, Ottavino has recorded 39 saves, which makes him far-and-away the most experienced closer remaining in the Mets’ bullpen.
All that really matters for fantasy managers in terms of closers is opportunity. If a player is seeing the bulk of the save chances for any team, they’re going to have mixed league fantasy value. It’s as simple as that. You can argue that the Mets aren’t likely to win many games over the final two months of the season now that they have dealt away Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer – which is a fair point – but someone is still going to get to close out the games that they do win.
He’s going to cede the occasional opportunity to Brooks Raley if the lineup due up in the ninth is extremely slanted to the left side, but for the most part it’ll be Ottavino locking down games for the Mets from here on out. That makes him worthy of an addition in all formats.
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Michael Toglia, 1B, Rockies
Available in 99 percent of Yahoo leagues
We’re scraping the bottom of the barrel again on this one, but I whole-heartedly believe that there is fantasy value to be had here. Toglia was already seeing semi-regular playing time for the Rockies before the trade deadline – and now he should be out there every night after C.J. Cron was dealt to the Angels.
The 24-year-old has eligibility at first base and in the outfield and will be playing half of his games at Coors Field. That, in and of itself, likely makes him worth a look as a streaming option while the Rockies are at home.
Yes, the results to this point in the season haven’t been good. He’s slashing just .194/.260/.313 with a pair of homers and six RBI in 73 plate appearances entering play on Wednesday. There’s power upside to be had here though. Toglia slugged 30 home runs in just 114 games between Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque during the 2022 campaign – and crushed another 16 bombs in 73 games at Triple-A prior to his promotion this season.
The Rockies have nothing to lose by letting him take his lumps at the big league level, so expect him to remain in the lineup over the final two months of the season. At a minimum, he should be streamed at home in most formats – and could wind up being a diamond in the rough in deeper mixed and NL-only formats.
