6 players you MUST ADD Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire

Intro Eric cultman of Roa wire here with six players to pick up this weekend starting with Alex Cobb since the start of the Alex Cobb 2021 season he's got a 379 ER although his X FIP is about a half a run better than that Cobb has an elite ground ball rate over that stretch of 58% combined with strikeout and walk rates that are both a hair better than League average if you compare his numbers to Logan web's career numbers you get basically the exact same ground ball rate with a little bit more strikeouts and a little bit more walks as well cob is no longer teammates with Logan web because he was acquired by the Guardians at the deadline and he should be ready to go quite soon he's got maybe one more Rehab start he's been out all year with hip and shoulder issues but he's got 24 strikeouts against seven walks in his six Rehab start sure looks ready to go should have plenty of chances at wins down the stretch while pitching for the team with the best record in baseball up Hayden Birdsong next is Hayden bird song who is temporarily down in the miners with the Giants but should spend the last two months in the rotation taking the spot that was vacated by Alex Cobb who was again dealt to Cleveland bird song is the 31st ranked Prospect at roadwire in the latest update just before the deadline and the fifth best pitching prospect on that list through his first six major league starts bird song has a 297 ra a 122 whip got a lot of strikeouts and a lot of walks 30% strikeout rate against a 12% walk rate and that was his profile in the miners as well there it was even more extreme on the strikeout side a 35% strikeout rate to go with the 10% walk rate so don't expect the strikeouts or the walks to disappear anytime soon but hey we'll take a lot of whiffs in fantasy and we'll take a great pitcher Park in San Francisco as well another young pitching River Ryan option is River Ryan of the Dodgers he's the 84th ranked Prospect at rootwire the 17th ranked pitcher uh Ryan through his first two major league starts this season has allowed one earned run on just six hits although 10 strikeout against six walks in 11 Innings isn't too special Ryan is an older rookie he turns 26 years old in two weeks and he's an interesting story he was actually a two-way player who was focused on hitting immediately after he was drafted before the Dodgers traded for him grabbed him from the division rival Padres prior to the 2022 season Ryan lost two months at the start of this season due to shoulder issues but if you look at his career minor league numbers it's a 322 ER 29% strikeout rate although does have some control issues with a 10% walk rate Ryan's got a broad repertoire he's got a cutter slider curve baller all plus pitches he just needs that command to hold there's also the question about his role but he's got the fifth starter spot for now and once Walker berer returns from the injured list it's definitely possible the Dodgers go with a six-man rotation they've got a whole bunch of injury-prone arms they'd probably like to protect leading up to the playoffs Miguel Vargas speaking of the Dodgers they just dealt Miguel Vargas to the white socks at the deadline in a three- team trade which also included the Cardinals Vargas has a pretty good bat and not much glove and that didn't add up to much more than a bench roll with the Dodgers but it should be good enough for an everyday roll with the white socks just as Gavin sheets who basically fits that profile and appeared in 400 games almost over the last four years and sheets might not even have a pretty good bat part Vargas should have very minimal competition for playing time so we should finally be able to see what he can do what he's shown so far pretty good plate discipline strikeout and walk rates both a little bit better than League average but just a 6% Barrel rate 32% hard hit rate that's not great only 11 homers five Steals and 131 games if you look at the prospect reports for Vargus he was hit over power but the power is supposed to be close enough to League average that the whole picture should still work still just 24 years old is Vargas and he's only ever had sporadic playing time so you could look at that as the reason why his major League numbers to date really are nothing special so it's time to see what he can do with everyday at bats over the final two months of the Season speaking of everyday at bats Austin Hays Austin Hayes should be getting those now that he's been traded to Philadelphia and it really wasn't his fault that he had lost his everyday role in Baltimore Hayes has been a totally adequate if unexciting starting outfielder for several years his last four years in Baltimore his WRC plus finished somewhere between 102 and 112 all well playing solid defense as well but he fell into the short side of a platoon for the Orioles due to the emergence of several young players not due to his own underperformance he could not have gotten much luckier at the deadline because he was dealt to a contender and one with a need in the Outfield in Philadelphia and the plan seems for him to be playing every day in left field pushing Brandon Marsh and Johan roas into a platoon in Center Hayes also gets to trade a deep left field in Walmore for the short perch at Citizens Bank Park so could see more power from him than we've seen for of his career as Ty France well and finally Ty France was DFA by the Mariners after posting a 662 Ops for the first three plus months of the year but he's getting nearly the best possible Park upgrade around leaving Seattle and getting traded to the Reds the only way it could have been better is if he was traded to the Rockies instead Now France has had a multi-year downward Trend in his numbers and never had Elite power topped out at 20 homers uh this year he's got a 24% strikeout rate but typically he's around 15 to 18% in that category he traded it for a career best Barrel rate this year of 9% that's not really an elite Mark wasn't really worth the extra whips I'm not sure if we're going to see this version of France or something close to the version we saw the last few years but the park change alone should keep him interesting as long as he just doesn't take another step back at the plate and he should have an everyday roll down the stretch with Christian and karassian strand out for the year for more names check out the Saturday edition of the RO wire Fantasy Baseball podcast with me and Ryan Boer