Rolling In The Deep: The One Percent Club

Happy Friday friends, as we’re suddenly pretty much at the one-third mark of the season. Some fantasy teams may be flying high without a care in the world, while others may be mired in the mud without much realistic hope of climbing back up those league standings. Regardless of how your team has been faring, it’s a great time to take a moment and scrutinize what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong in an attempt to keep your team’s strengths strong and to improve any glaring weaknesses. Yeah, we deep leaguers know all too well that improving a team mid-season is often difficult to impossible with our often-limited options. It never hurts to try, though, so since I feel like we’re in a major lull when it comes to what’s available on the waiver wire at this time of year, I’m going to take on a new challenge this week. Yes, this week we’ll include only players who are owned in just 1% of CBS leagues. Will any of these guys do enough next week, next month, or over the rest of the season to warrant rostering in even the deepest leagues? Time will tell, but this week we’re diving into major “beggars can’t be choosers” territory, so buckle up and enjoy the ride:

NL

Orlando Arcia. At this point, you really can’t mock the Rockies and their love of fading veterans who are unwanted by other teams; all you can do is report their latest acquisition. This week, it’s Arcia who was invited to the party in Colorado, and by “party,” I of course mean nightmare. Wait, you say, don’t the Rockies already have a promising young shortstop whom even they wouldn’t be foolhardy enough to bench? Yes, they do, so Arcia is in the starting lineup on Wednesday, batting seventh, at DH. Sigh. Well, he’s 2 for 3 as I write this, which means he’ll probably be batting cleanup by the weekend. I suppose if Colorado’s mission is to revive Arcia just enough to flip him for a low-level prospect later this summer, it’s possible he plays enough and accrues enough stats to be on the radar in the deepest of fantasy leagues.

Victor Mesa Jr. I was surprised to see Mesa is still just 23 since I feel like we first heard about the Mesa brothers about a decade ago (I’m assuming he’s the older one and his brother Victor Victor is the younger one? But not really sure because I can’t find any record of Victor Victor playing baseball since before the pandemic). Anyhow, given how much ink he got back in the day, it felt worth mentioning that he’s not only still in organized baseball but is currently on the major league roster in Miami. I should probably also mention that he really wasn’t hitting that well in the minors and may only be up for a blip as organizational depth… but wouldn’t it be something if he found a way to make an impact at the major league level this summer? Sometimes we have to dream extra big in the deep league world.

Reese McGuire. McGuire is now 30 and on his fourth major league team, but he’s found some at bats in a hot offense in the wake of Miguel Amaya’s injury in Chicago. We’ll see how much playing time he gets in what will likely be a backup role to Carson Kelly, but McGuire made quite the splash by hitting two homers in his first game of the season. If you’re stuck looking for a backstop in the deepest 2-catcher leagues, he could be better than nothing.

Isaac Collins. Collins is a switch hitting outfielder who keeps getting more at bats than I would have expected him to for the Brewers, enough to put him somewhere on the deepest league radars. He hasn’t exactly been doing a ton with those 95 total at bats so far this year, but he isn’t doing absolutely nothing, with one homer and seven RBI and an average/OBP of .242/.333. It’s his 5 steals that are of most interest, and which tie him with the likes of Mookie Betts and Ozzie Albies in that category, to cherry pick a couple names. (Side note, he’s also tied with Cal Raleigh?! Why on earth didn’t I draft Raleigh anywhere this year? His average isn’t even that bad! Grrr!)

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Chris Taylor. Every time one of these once-productive veterans gets released, do the Angels and Rockies just do a rock-paper-scissors to decide which team will sign him and give him an unjustifiable number of at bats? Taylor, at least, only had to drive down the freeway a ways to reach his new team in Anaheim after being cut by the Dodgers, and the fact that he was rocking a .182 OBP this season didn’t stop the Angels from sticking him into their starting lineup immediately. I suppose we should praise the team for sensibly finally cutting Tim Anderson, whom I didn’t even realize was still on their roster up until this week, and for at least giving Kyren Paris a shot before (rightfully, I think) demoting him. Taylor should play a fair amount for now, and maybe he’ll be able to catch just enough lightning in a bottle to help at the very end of the very deepest fantasy roster.

Let’s also mention, while we’re here, that, perhaps lost in this not-so-exciting roster shuffle, is the fact that Scott Kingery was also promoted by the Angels and is on a major league team for the first time in a couple years. I don’t think there’s a chance of it happening, but wouldn’t it be brilliant if he suddenly put it together and emerged as a legit hitter in the majors? He was hitting .373/.418/.578 in the minors, so just saying.

Josh Palacios. Palacios was scratched from the White Sox lineup earlier this week, so we’ll see what was up with that, but up until then, he’d been getting semi-regular outfield at bats against righties. If you squint really hard, you can see how he might be worth a look on the deepest fantasy rosters, as there’s a least a smidge of pop in his bat. He put a nice little run together last week where he went 6 for 14 with two homers over a handful of games, so maybe he’ll be able to do that again at some point this season, preferably when he’s in someone’s deep league fantasy lineup that’s desperate for counting stats.

Nick Loftin. The Royals need an offensive spark, and after DFA’ing Hunter Renfroe, they’ve promoted the 26-year old Loftin to the big league roster. Doesn’t really scream spark plug to me, but I was kind of high on him as a deep league sleeper last year (or maybe it was the year before?), so maybe he’ll be able to get himself some at bats and deliver some counting stats with them. He qualifies only at second coming into the year in most leagues, but he played four positions last year (five if you count pitcher), had played multiple positions in the minors this year, and has already played both third and outfield in just three games this year. I think it’s safe to call him a utility man, which is not always the worst thing to translate for fantasy when searching for at bats in ultra deep leagues.

That’s it for this week; maybe next week we’ll wade back into more medium water as we look ahead, hoping for sunnier skies when it comes to waiver wire options. Happy June, and don’t stop grinding!