There’s More’ to love
Sometimes you pick up the hot player off the waiver wire and they fizzle before you have the chance to put them on your roster. Other times, you take a chance on the flavor-of-the-week and strike it rich. A great example of this was
J.D. Martinez in 2014. Between April and May, the Tigers slugger wasn’t on anyone’s radar (.263, two homers, 11 RBIs). All of a sudden, in June, he went 29-for-84 (. 345) with seven homers and 21 RBIs.
Now, fast forward to this season and Rangers slugger Mitch Moreland — who, despite missing three weeks, had an under-theradar start to his season in April and May, hitting .289 with five homers, 18 RBIs and a .846 OPS.
What did he do in June? He hit .323 with nine homers, 25 RBIs and a .998 OPS. This included an incredible stretch between June 25 and Monday, when he hit .400 with six HRs and 10 RBIs (aided by two consecutive, two-homer games). Sound familiar? Moreland, available in 45 percent of ESPN and Yahoo leagues, may have been plagued by injuries in the past, but that doesn’t matter. He may have never shown this kind of power (his homers are averaging 410 feet) in his previous five seasons, but that doesn’t matter. Maybe his lack of plate discipline will catch up to him, but that doesn’t matter.
All that matters is the present. And, at this time, with the way he has been playing, the risk/reward is too good to pass up.
Roto Files highly recommends you do yourself a favor and pick up Moreland. Don’t miss out on a player who could be this season’s J.D. when all it will cost you is the last “hot” player you streamed onto your roster.