After an evening of contemplation, I decided that, yes, I do need to write a Waiver Wire column one day into the baseball season.
Just like last year, these will tend to be rather quick Friday columns highlighting a few pickup options among players rostered in less than half of Yahoo leagues. James Schiano will be doing something similar on Tuesdays. Let’s get started.
Christopher Morel - Rostered in 26% of Yahoo leagues
And we’ll start with one of my favorites. Morel’s 2024 campaign went from bad to worse after he was traded from the Cubs to the Rays. Worrying too much about strikeouts was a problem. Morel crushed the ball in 2023, batting .247/.313/.508 despite striking out 31% of the time. Last year, he sacrificed power in an attempt to make more contact. His strikeout rate dropped to 26%, but his average exit velocity dropped by three mph, his hard-hit rate went from 50% to 40% and his BABIP fell from .303 to .233. The end result was an ugly .196/.288/.346 line that no one was happy with.
Fortunately, the Rays still seem to believe in Morel. They’ve freed him from his infield responsibilities and turned him into their regular left fielder. He struggled initially this spring, but he came alive at the end, going 7-for-19 with a homer, four walks and two strikeouts in his final six games. That homer was his only one this spring, but there was more hard contact. He won’t have to deal with the Trop, and the Rays have a rather generous early schedule that will feature plenty of home games against middling pitching staffs. Morel is very much a threat to hit 30 homers -- he had 26 in just 107 games in 2023 -- and while he won’t help in batting average in the process, he should do just fine in runs and RBI; I expect that the entire Rays offense will exceed expectations this year.
José Alvarado - Rostered in 10% of Yahoo leagues
Alvarado was the Grapefruit League’s most dominant reliever, pitching nine scoreless innings with 20 strikeouts and only three hits allowed. Still, it figured that Jordan Romano would get the bulk of the save chances for the Phillies initially. That’s what he was signed to do, and he looked fine in his return from last year’s elbow problems. Still, Rob Thomson had different ideas on Thursday. With the Phillies up 3-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Thomson summoned Romano to face the bottom of the Nationals lineup, in the hopes that Alvarado would close out against the team’s tougher lefties in the ninth. Romano never made it through, giving up two runs to tie the game. Alvarado then pitched a perfect ninth and got the win after the Phillies scored four runs in the 10th.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Alvarado is now the Phillies’ sole closer. They’ve often liked to mix and match, and Alvarado, as a lefty, will pitch earlier in games when matchups warrant. Still, Alvarado is just throwing ridiculously well right now, probably well enough to help in mixed leagues even when he’s not getting saves. His average fastball last night checked in at 99.9 mph. He often has issues with walks, but that’s less of a problem when he’s this untouchable.
Tyler Soderstrom - Rostered in 20% of Yahoo leagues
Sure, this is partly a reaction to Soderstrom’s two homers against the Mariners on Thursday (accounting for the Athletics’ only runs in a 4-2 loss). But what makes Soderstrom extra interesting is that A’s had him start five games behind the plate this spring. They did decide to keep Jhonny Pereda as a true backup catcher, but Soderstrom, strictly a first baseman in the majors last year, might see enough time behind the plate to become catcher eligible within the first couple of months.
That’s not to say Soderstrom necessarily needs catcher eligibility to prove useful. The 2020 first-round pick put up a solid .233/.315/.429 line in 61 big-league games at age 22, and the exit from Oakland will almost certainly help him. Since debuting in 2023, he’s hit .174 with two homers at the Coliseum, compared to .229 with 10 homers in 186 plate appearances on the road. He might not get there this year, but he’s well on his way to becoming a 30- or 35-homer guy. It also doesn’t hurt that the A’s have a series at Coors and six games against the White Sox coming up in April.
Quick Hits
- The Reds’ Tony Santillan is another closing option for those looking for saves. He was used in the eighth on Thursday, but Terry Francona probably won’t make the mistake of turning to Ian Gibaut in the ninth again after Gibaut gave up four runs to the Giants.
- It was a great sign that the Guardians’ Kyle Manzardo, who started just three times against lefties as a rookie, got the nod against Royals ace Cole Ragans on Opening Day, and things got even better after he tripled off Ragans and homered and doubled off a pair of left-handed relievers. Manzardo is probably going to hit third behind José Ramírez against righties, so things are definitely looking up for him.
