Fantasy Baseball Week 3: The Jesse Chavez Edition Plus Waiver Wire Options!

It's week three of the Fantasy Baseball season. I should probably talk about the injury to the Angels' Josh Hamilton, but who in the hell around here wants to read about him on a Oakland Athletics site? A listener of my show asked the following question;

Dear Phil,

Jesse Chavez is someone I have on my watch list but currently he's only listed as a relief pitcher. When will his eligibility change?

Chavez has looked very good thus far this season. In 13 innings pitched he's struck out 13 for an ERA of 1.38 and a WHIP of 1.0 good for a 2-0 record in 2014. Those are incredible numbers in four of the five counting stats categories for pitchers and currently places him #27 as a relief picher and if he keeps this up when he becomes dual eligible (usually after 3 starts) he's going to easily be in the top 50.

The interesting thing about Chavez is that he's only currently owned in just 1% of ESPN leagues. He has two starts next week (Monday, Sunday) and his eligibility should change after his start on Monday but if you have room on your daily roster why not pick him up Monday against the .234 against right handed pitching Angels and carry him through Sunday against the even worse against right handed pitching Astros .187. Its early in the season and I think he's worth the gamble.

Waiver Wire Options for this week

Michael Morse OF Giants: Morse is off to a flying start with a slash line of .394/.459/.697/1.156. He's also hit two bombs, driven in eight and crossed the plate five times for the Giants. With Hamilton out the 40% owned Morse should be considered by any owner looking for relief and production from Hamilton's empty spot on the roster. (Stats)

Adam LaRoche 1B Nationals: LaRoche is coming off an awful 2013 campaign and whatever he did this winter seems to have paid off. His slash line thus far of .344/.462/.594/1.056 is head and tails above what he produced in 2013. He's currently 50% owned so if a first baseman is what you need LaRoche is your guy. (Stats)

Yan Gomes C Indians: Gomes is the Indians every day catcher and while his slash line of .273/.359/.485/.844 isn't the greatest he is currently #7 among all Fantasy Baseball catchers. He's currently owned in 31% of ESPN leagues so if it's a catcher you need you'd better grab him now before everyone else figures out Gomes exists. (Stats)

Closers and Relief Pitchers

Did you know I host a weekly Fantasy Baseball show called Fantasy Baseball Weekly? Last week one of you asked for closers so I decided rather than write it all out I would instead dedicate a section of my show to closers and being the nut that I am I covered every single closer in the Majors! I also talked replacements for Josh Hamilton and who's hot and who isn't. You can listen to the program on the player below or download it here.

Good luck this week Fantasy Owners!!