Thursday, March 20, 2014

Likely Available Waiver Wire Talent: Yordano Ventura, Jarrod Parker, Rick Porcello, Bronson Arroyo, Archie Bradley

Yordano Ventura (42%)

A very strong sleeper pick. He made three starts last year and had a 3.52 ERA/120 ERA+ in 15 1/3 innings. Monday night, I managed to listen to a couple innings of the Royals-Rangers spring training game as I was washing dishes and from the sound of it, Ventura was putting in a very impressive performance, impressive enough for him to get a spot in the Royals starting rotation.

His prospective star is very high right now (#12 prospect per BaseballProspectus.com) and he pitched very well in the minors between AA & AAA 3.14 ERA & 155 K's in 134 innings (though the WHIP was a little high at 1.27.)

For 2014, I think he's a solid back end pick and can help you out if you need an extra strikeout boost.


Jarrod Parker (30%)

Parker's season is done before it even starts as he's having Tommy John Surgery. If you haven't dropped him yet, don't forget to do so.


Rick Porcello (27%)

The one area in Fantasy that Porcello has done okay in is racking up wins (at least 10 in every year's he's pitched). When your one plus area is the one that you have the least control over, the fantasy value is on highly shaky ground (at best). His ERA has been north of 4 the last four seasons. One encouraging thing is that his strike out totals have gotten better (7.2 per 9 last year). There is hope that maybe, he's on the right path (he is still only 25).

His most similar pitcher through age 24 is Brett Myers. At age 25 he had his best season to date as starter 3.91 ERA/120 ERA+ and 189 K's. There is a small chance Porcello could have a similar styled breakthrough this year but more likely he'll be a very average pitcher.

Bronson Arroyo (23%)

Arroyo ended up with a 2 year, 23.5 million dollar deal with Arizona. While Arroyo has proven that he can be a productive pitcher playing in an offense friendly ballpark and giving up lots of home runs, it's still not the best case scenario. Still, he somehow makes it work. If he can stay consistent and keep his ERA in the 3.75 range and if he can get enough support to get a dozen wins, he could be a good bench option on your team.

Archie Bradley (23%)

If Arroyo falters, maybe Archie Bradley gets a chance to step up in Arizona. He's very young (21) but he has a lot of potential. Per BaseballProspectus.com, Bradley is the #9 prospect and AA hitters learned that the hard way last year as he rocked a 1.97 era and 8.7 K/9.

There are short-term question marks as he's never pitched above AA. However, if he does end up in the bigs and you need some strikeouts, Bradley could be a good fit. If he's on a big league roster this year, I think he'll have some struggles but he could become one of the league's better pitchers within 4-5 years.

All numbers, comparisons, etc. found on baseball-reference.com

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