Rolling In The Deep: I Finally Seymour Waiver Wire Options

Hello friends, and Happy Day-After-Trade-Deadline Day! It’s another good time to re-group before the home stretch, especially when you realize that we aren’t just a little over halfway though the season, we’re almost exactly two-thirds of the way through the season. If you’re trying to figure out how many counting stats you can add in certain categories over the final two months of the year, the math is pretty easy right now. In honor of the fact that I’m actually writing this in the final hours before the deadline, we’ll make that our theme this week. Let’s take a look at some players whose value may have gone up due to moves made, whether or not they were directly involved in a trade, keeping it to guys who were 15% owned or less in CBS leagues as of Thursday afternoon.

AL

Ian Seymour (CBS ownership as of Thursday: 4%). Seymour was recalled by the Rays after the Zach Littell trade. He’s 26, so not the youngest fish in the Tampa Bay pond, but there’s a lot to like here looking at his 2025. He had 9 Ks and a 1.03 WHIP in his 10.2 major league innings this year, but most intriguing are his numbers in triple A, where he was being used as a starter. In 15 starts, he had 104 strikeouts versus just 20 walks in his 86 innings. He’ll be on my radar for now regardless of his role, but if he’s moved into the rotation, there could be some immediate appeal even outside the deep league world.

Jack Perkins (9% owned). Perkins presumptively takes over as the A’s closer with Mason Miller heading to San Diego. One of the things playing in deep leagues has done is make me much more aware of under the radar players on smaller market teams that don’t tend to spend a ton of money. In the last few years, once I’ve gotten invested in rooting for those players, it’s hard not to really lean into rooting for some of the underdog teams, the A’s included. I’m not saying this trade isn’t going to work out nicely in the long run for the A’s, and Leo De Vries is certainly a high profile get. But, seeing a guy who was becoming one of the faces of their drama-plagued franchise traded away makes me pretty sad at how baseball works these days, especially for the fans that have been sticking with the team from Oakland to Sacramento to their future home in Vegas.

Ramon Urias (2% owned). Urias stays in the AL, and overall, this is a pretty snoozy move even for deep leagues. He does have a relatively surprising (to me, anyway) eight homers on the year, at least. This is probably a lateral move from a fantasy perspective depending on how he’s deployed with the Astros, but if he settles in as a regular at third with Isaac Paredes apparently down for the count, Urias could gain a little value.

Oswald Peraza (1% owned). Going from the Yankees to the Angels won’t exactly vault Peraza into anything beyond the deep AL-only conversation, but it probably can’t hurt his value, at least in terms of playing time. Once Ryan McMahon arrived in the Bronx it was clear Peraza was the odd man out, so perhaps he’ll find a groove in Southern California. He’s 25 now and has had trouble keeping his average above .150 this season, so his chances at a legit role on a major league team may be numbered, and he may want to take advantage of this one.

James Outman (1% owned). Outman becomes one of this year’s candidates for a classic change of scenery boost, as leaving the Dodgers and getting a reset with the Twins certainly seems like it should be good thing for him. He was one of the biggest fantasy teases in recent memory after what looked to many like a legit breakout season a couple years ago, but the homers and steals dried up and were replaced with strikeout after strikeout. Maybe a quieter environment where he doesn’t have the constant pressure to prove he belongs in a talent-packed outfield on a talent-packed roster will be just what he needs to make some adjustments at the major league level, as we see if he can adjust to the adjustments major league pitchers have clearly made to him.

NL

Ke’Bryan Hayes (15% owned). Really, really not sure what the Reds are thinking with their deadline moves, but I guess we’ll see how it all plays out. Zach Littell seems like a horrible match for Great American Ballpark; as much as I love a guy with great control, it’s hard to be optimistic when you look at his 89 Ks in 133 innings so far this year. Anyhow, back to Hayes, and speaking of the Reds hitter-friendly park, his value on paper has to go up at least a tick or two (though this is partly because it really couldn’t have gone down too much). We’ll see if he’s viewed as an every day fixture in the lineup, but who wouldn’t be energized by a new team, being surrounded by better hitters, and potentially being involved in a playoff race?

Harrison Bader (14% owned). I’m not sure how much Bader’s value changes or even which direction it goes in with his move to the Phillies, as we’ll see if he’s used mostly against lefties and as a defensive replacement, or gets a shot to play more regularly. He’s had a sneakily decent season so far, though, with 12 homers and 10 steals, so if you’re shopping for crossover players in an NL-only league, he could prove to be a nice addition to both his real-life and a deepish-league fantasy team.

Tyler Locklear (8% owned). Time will tell if Locklear’s spectacular numbers in the minors this season were a PCL-boosted mirage, but from a player standpoint, going from Seattle to Arizona feels like one of the bigger wins of the trade deadline. The D-Backs should give him a good amount of leash to see if he’s their next long-ish term answer at first, and his 2025 audition could provide some re-draft value as well.

Well, it’s looking like this year’s trade deadline was the day of the relief pitcher, and that at least three legit closers got counterfeited in Thursday’s transactions. We’ll see how all of the shifting bullpen arms and other new faces adapt to their new surroundings, and in the meantime, here’s to hoping your teams are treating you well!