FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Josh Lowe (OF Rays): Rostered in 36% of Yahoo league
What was supposed to be a bounce-back 2025 campaign for Lowe started the same way his 2024 did, with the Rays outfielder on the IL due to an oblique strain suffered in spring training. After returning in May, he initially got off to a hot start that quickly fizzled. He heated up again in the weeks leading to the All-Star break, but he couldn’t keep it going, and he enters Friday’s action having hit .161/.226/.259 in his last 33 games. He also just missed three games with another oblique issue, this one thankfully minor. As a result, he’s rostered in barely more than one-third of Yahoo leagues at the moment. But it’s a good idea to pick him up anyway.
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It’s true that Lowe is in quite a rut, and his metrics are all worse of late than when he was initially slumping back in June. Still, he’s been quite unlucky overall this season. He actually has the best strikeout (23.3%) and walk (8.5%) rates of his career. His exit velocity numbers are a little weaker than usual, but the main issue is that he’s hit the ball on the ground too much. Still, it’s rather unlucky that he’s sporting a .279 BABIP that’s 70 points lower than his career mark. According to xBA, he overachieved in 2023 and 2024, but this year, it says he’s hitting 32 points lower than he should be (.226 to .258).
I wouldn’t bet on a big turnaround from Lowe at this point, but he doesn’t need to be that good offensively in order to produce value. After taking some time off from running earlier this year, he’s 7-for-7 stealing bases in his last 18 games. He should remain very aggressive there with the Rays getting so little from the guys below him in the lineup; it’s not like the team would lose much even when he is thrown out, and so far, that’s happened just seven times in 81 career steal attempts. If Lowe is anything close to average with the bat — and he probably will be — he’s going to be pretty useful in mixed leagues the rest of the way.
Jose A. Ferrer (RP Nationals): Rostered in 10% of Yahoo leagues
The Kyle Finnegan deadline trade immediately made Ferrer interesting in fantasy leagues at the beginning of the month, but it was something that happened a few weeks before that might have the bigger impact on his career, that being the firing of longtime reliever overworker Dave Martinez by the Nationals. Under Martinez, Ferrer pitched 44 times in the Nationals’ first 90 games, racking up a 5.24 ERA, Since then, he’s worked a total of 15 times in 37 games over 47 days. He’s allowed runs in just two of those appearances, and he has four saves and two wins this month.
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As a left-hander who isn’t nearly as effective against righties as lefties, Ferrer isn’t an ideal closer. The Nationals will continue to play matchups with him when appropriate, leaving the occasional save opportunity for Cole Henry or someone else in the pen. That might result in more wins for Ferrer, though. He’s throwing as well as he ever has, occasionally averaging 99 mph with his sinking fastball. Maybe the Nationals won’t keep up their recent run of better play that’s allowed Ferrer to be so valuable in fantasy leagues this month, but their September schedule is quite kind. After a tough stretch against the Phillies and Yankees over the next week, just two of their final nine series will come against contenders (the Cubs and Mets).
Daulton Varsho (OF Blue Jays): Rostered in 17% of Yahoo leagues
They’ve been spread out because of injuries, but Varsho has 13 homers and 34 RBI in 156 plate appearances this season. He’s played one-third of the season (40 of the Jays’ 128 games) and has 13 homers and 34 RBI. OK, so he wouldn’t have kept that pace up if he had played in the other two-thirds of the season, but I do feel the need to emphasize that it’s 13 homers and 34 RBI in 40 games.
Varsho’s problem in his first couple of years in Toronto was that he was an extreme flyball hitter without the exit velocities to make the strategy work well. That’s changed this year. His hard-hit rate has jumped from 35% in 2023 and ’24 to 44% now. His average exit velocity has moved from 87.1 mph to 90.9 mph. His strikeouts are up, too, but it’s a more-than-fair trade.
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Even though he’ll slow down some — he’s actually hitless in his last three games, so maybe it’s happening now — Vrsho will remain a middle-of-the-order guy in an offense that’s been averaging over five runs per game since the beginning of May. He also might start stealing the occasional base again, though that hasn’t been much of a part of Toronto’s strategy of late. Really, though, the homers and RBI should keep coming, making it worth living with a subpar batting average. He’s the best bet for run production available on most waiver wires.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
– Samuel Basallo was already an easy pickup before Adley Rutschman went down with another oblique strain, but Ruschman’s injury will also benefit Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo, who no longer have to worry about Basallo subbing in at DH and first base more than maybe once per week. I couldn’t feature Mountcastle again already after doing so just a couple of weeks ago, but he should be rostered pretty much everywhere. I don’t quite feel the same way about Mayo.
– It’s exciting to see Bubba Chandler (Pirates), Jhostynxon Garcia (Red Sox) and Carson Williams (Rays) all making their major league debuts this weekend, but especially with Chandler being treated as a middle reliever, it’s hard to get excited about any of them for fantasy purposes. Maybe if Chandler turns out to be more of a bulk guy than a middle man, he’ll eke out some value. Garcia is probably just going to play against lefties for now. Williams should start pretty regularly with Ha-Seong Kim and Taylor Walls on the IL, but he’ll likely struggle to stay above the Mendoza Line. He had 154 strikeouts and 83 hits in 451 plate appearances in Triple-A.