Tapping the Waiver Wire: The Sunday Night Sauna

Good evening fantasy baseball folks! Now that Sunday night baseball has concluded and the dust has settled on your matchup, the real fun begins. Your family and league mates are peacefully sleeping, dreaming about things like a new bike or world peace. Not you though. You’re staring down the barrel of a gun that includes a 5.52 ERA and 0 steals for the past week’s matchup. We need to take to the digital trenches and get to work. Monday morning is fast approaching. Good thing you’re here at midnight because you know that fantasy baseball championships aren’t won at the draft table. They’re stolen under the cover of darkness that is “The Waiver Wire”. Grab your beverage of choice and follow me to see what all the fuss is about. Let’s look at 4 guys who may be worth losing sleep over.

All ownership rates are from Yahoo as of Sunday evening

ANDREW VAUGHN (MIL, 1B - 34% rostered)

A pre-season apple of my eye, I had picked Vaughn up last year shortly after his trade to the Brew Crew. The 3^rd overall pick of the 2019 draft was simply a different player when he came over to Milwaukee. Look at his splits from 2025:

The things that really jumps off the page to me is how significantly he was able to improve his batting average and strikeout to walk ratio. He was somewhat criminally underrated heading into the 2026 draft season. My friend and league mate Sham-wow (doubt you reading this big dog but if you are damn you) swiped him just before I could at pick 241. Now unfortunately he did fracture his hamate just as the season started, which has resulted him being on the IL for the last 5 weeks. I have mentioned this before regarding hamate injuries – they can take a while for the player to return to their “full strength” and the power may linger several weeks behind the player’s actual return to the lineup. Don’t believe me? Ask Dr. Zoidberg

Even if it takes a while for “AV” to return to his full powers, this is a batter with seemingly significantly improved plate discipline who will (hopefully) hit in the heart of a good Brewers lineup. Sign me up in 12+ teams and if you have an empty roster spot in 10 teamers, I certainly would consider pressing the add button. All hail “King Vaughn”.

COLE YOUNG (SEA, 2B - 27% rostered)

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but second base may actually be a shallower position compared to catcher. I went looking for upside on the wire at the keystone position, but I pretty well gave myself vertigo from looking into that black hole of darkness. Selected 21^st overall in the 2022 draft, Young had his first taste of major league action in 2025. In 223 ABs, he racked up 24 runs, 4 HR, 24 RBI, and 1 SB. Well, he has almost matched these stats in a little over half the ABs (120 – 20R/3HR/19RBI/2SB). So, it would appear the young man has taken a step forward. The Mariners recently rewarded this progress with bumping him up the order from his usual 8-spot. Now his Baseball Savant profile doesn’t feature as much red as most of our previous player suggestions, but remember – this is 2^nd base we are talking about. What I do like is his actual BA (.276) & SLG (.405) lag behind his expected stats as you can see. So perhaps a bit of room for positive regression. Again, he doesn’t mash the ball like JUAN SOTO, but this is 2^nd base after all.

Remember the underrated ability that few discuss that is so important – availability. Well, Young certainly fits the bill as he has started all 34 of the Mariners’ games so far. Given the dire state of 2^nd base, he’s an add in 12+ team leagues at the present time.

ROKI SASAKI (LAD, SP - 28% rostered)

Speaking of guys I rostered last year; this recommendation isn’t for the faint of heart. Roki had a trying time in his first year stateside. One of the more highly touted pitching prospects to come out of Japan in recent memory, Sasaki had a very uneven season in 2025. He battled command and health issues and only pitched 36.1 innings featuring a 4.46 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. His ratios this year you ask? A 6.35 ERA and 1.81 WHIP. So, you are right to ask why in the world I would be recommending this pitcher for your staff? A combination of pedigree and team context of course. Let’s not forget he was an effective reliever in the postseason (10.2 IP, 0.84 ERA, 3SV, 6Ks). There’s no question he has the talent to be a good starter in the majors. He needs to command his pitches better and try to get 1^st pitch strikes more routinely. Almost more importantly he pitches for the evil empire, the Dodgers, who will more than likely provide enough run support to put him in line for the win more often than not. Now BLAKE SNELL is due to return from the IL, but it will still be a few weeks yet. He only threw 39 pitches in his most recent outing in single A as he rehabs from a shoulder injury. Snell has not been the most durable pitcher over his career, perhaps the Dodgers will try to take a more patient approach to his major league return. Either way, Roki has shown signs of improvement over his last 2 starts. He pitched 5 innings and picked up the win against the Cubs on April 25^th. He then pitched his first quality start of the year on Saturday against the Cardinals. I would roll the dice on Roki in 14+ team leagues, maybe even 12 teamers if I’m extremely desperate for pitching help.

BRYCE ELDRIDGE (SF, 1B - 11% rostered)

The Giants have announced they will be calling up their top prospect on Monday. Eldridge has been great in AAA so far - .445 OBP, .518 SLG with 5 dingers and 6 doubles. He has a 41:20 K:BB ratio. He looked overmatched in his cup of coffee last year -3/28 with a .476 OPS. The hulking first basemen stands at 6’7”, tipping the scales at 251 lbs of American steel. He was drafted 16^th overall in 2023 out of high school and as you can imagine with those physical traits, this guy is going to be a source of power. Let’s look at his all-time line from AAA:

In only 104 AAA games his HR+2Bs = 42. Now San Fran has historically been a pitcher’s park due to it’s odd and cavernous dimensions. Statcast park factors backs it up too as it grades 23^rd overall league wide with a park factor of 98 (100 is average). But it has increased doubles and triples relative to other parks across the big leagues over the last 2 years, grading 108 & 136, respectively. So maybe he will trade a few of his HRs for doubles, but it likely won’t matter. He will be a run producing machine (hopefully during this call-up). I just learned about prospect savant earlier this week, so we can now look under the hood at minor league Statcast data as well!

This tells you all you really need to know. He has been mashing some baseballs and potatoes down in the minors. But he does have some real swing and miss in his game. In his brief cup of major league coffee last year he had 13Ks in his 28 ABs. That’s a bit concerning. However, incumbent first baseman RAFAEL DEVERS has been dreadful over the first month of the season. Actually the Giants as a whole have been very pedestrian – they are 13-21 and rank last in runs, HRs, BBs, & OBP. Maybe this will be the spark that is needed? Given Eldridge’s pedigree and track record, I’m adding in 12+ team leagues now and asking questions later.

Looking to the review of my team from the past week, I just battled to a 5-5 tie. With the exception of 1 week this year when my hitters and pitchers both performed, it’s been one half of the team or the other doing all the heavy lifting. I’m going to have to get these guys all in the clubhouse and have a frank discussion about showing up.

The hitters were really not that remarkable. If we were to name a hitting HERO it’s either ELLY DE LA CRUZ or PCA. On the pitching sides of things, it was seemingly a group effort, but the HERO would have to be KRIS BUBIC. I didn’t start him today because I had all the pitching categories already wrapped up. In his 2-start week he racked up 13IP, 1 win, 13Ks and only 2 earned runs. I’ve drafted him the last 2 years in the later rounds and he’s somewhat criminally underrated in my opinion. The ZERO has gotta be either CARTER JENSEN or, as much as it pains for me to say, my favorite player this year SAL STEWART.

I also have made some shakeups to the squad – we have waived bye to Trevor Story in favour of one of our previous suggestions, “Mo Baller” Moises Ballesteros. He’s a catcher by trade but is essentially the full time DH (However the Cubs did announce he will likely see more time behind the dish going forward). He has been moved up to the 2-spot in the order for the last 5 games and hit a homer Sunday, his 6^th of the year. He’s still available in 69% of Yahoo leagues. Do with that as you will.

The sun is going to rise in a few hours. Your well-rested league mates will roll out of bed, put their slippers on, look at their phone and gasp in horror as you’ve already picked the waiver wire clean to the stem. That’s their fault though. Fantasy baseball championships aren’t won by sleeping in. They are won by aggressive use of the waiver wire, questionable trade proposals, and the right combination of coffee and Bailey’s (50:50 mix will do). Until next time my friends.