Fantasy Baseball Week 17 Waiver Wire, Injuries and Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Picks

Week 17 of the Fantasy Baseball season is now upon us. With only five weeks left of the regular season we're heading into the homestretch and for owners with teams on the bubble the time is now to make the necessary moves in order to qualify for the championship rounds of your league. Many leagues Trade Deadline is this week so you should probably check when your league trade deadline is and act accordingly. The following question came in and it's one I'm sure many A's fans are asking themselves;

Dear Phil,

What in the heck happened to Jason Hammel? He was doing so well before being traded to Oakland and now he seems to have hit a wall so to speak. Should I be concerned?

Thanks for the question.

Putting aside his last three starts Hammel is still well on his way to having the best year ever in his Major League career. Hammel has never won more than 10 games in any of his 9 big league seasons and as of July 26, 2014 already has 8 wins. His FIP of 3.56 and xFIP of 3.48 is much lower than his career totals of 4.24 and 4.16. In fact if you check here you will see that Hammel has been much better in nearly every category this season than his career totals. These are all good things to see.

The problem with Hammel is that he's prone to giving up the long ball. In his last three starts alone he's given up 3 bombs in just 12.2 innings of work. Fortunately for him his walk rate of 2.23 per 9 innings means those bombs aren't of the three run variety otherwise we wouldn't be having any Fantasy Baseball discussions about him other than to mark him down as avoid at all costs.

Should we be concerned about Jason Hammel? Not really because Jason Hammel is being Jason Hammel. I'd start him on Wednesday against the Astros and hope for the best as Minute Maid Park this season ranks 16^th in home runs. Depending on how much I'd be paying for him I might even start him Wednesday in a FanDuel daily Fantasy Baseball game as I'm sure he'll be a pretty good value play. Depending on how Wednesday goes I would consider putting him in a package and try and rid myself of him before he winds up killing you.

Here are some key injuries for Week 17.

Injuries

Troy Tulowitzki SS Rockies: Out until at least August 5^th with a thigh injury

Ryan Zimmerman 3B Nationals: Out until at least August 8^th with a hamstring injury

Marco Scutaro 2B Giants: Out until at least August 9^th with a back injury

Jake Smolinski OF Rangers: Out until at least August 9^th with a foot injury

My Waiver Wire Picks for Week 17

Denard Span OF Nationals: Spam has gone 8-10 in his last 2 games with a couple of stolen bases as well. This week he has games against the Marlins and Phillies who both boast pitching staffs at or near the bottom of the league so Span may be your guy. (Stats)

Brandon McCarthy SP Yankees: I don't know what it is about those pinstripes but McCarthy is 2-0 since joining the Yankees. He's struck out 17 batters in 18.2 innings of work for a 1.40 ERA over the same span. The Yankees visit the ailing Rangers on Tuesday so McCarthy might be a good streaming candidate. (Stats)

Danny Santana SS OF Twins: There's plenty to like about Santana. He's batting leadoff, playing everyday and his slash line of .323/.359/.460/.818 is nothing to sneeze at. This kid is going to help you this week against middle to bottom of the road pitching staffs like the Royals and White Sox. (Stats)

FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball for July 26, 2014

Are you joining us for the Fanduel Daily Fantasy Baseball games? If you are we have another game scheduled for July 26, 2014. You have until 9am PST to enter and you can do so here. Below are some value plays for that game that should also be good for the entire weekend. As always be sure to check your lineups and the weather 30 minutes prior to the start of the game to enhance your chances.

P). Chris Young $6,300

C). Wellington Castillo $2,700

1B). Chris Davis $2,900

2B). Emilio Bonafacio $2,600

3B). Luis Valbuana $2,800

SS). Derek Jeter $2,600

OF). Ichiro Suzuki $2,200

On this week's edition of Fantasy Baseball Weekly Viva El Birdos Managing Editor Eric Johnson and I talk about the 2014 All Star Game, give replacements for injured stars Brandon Phillips, Yadier Molina, Masihiro Tanaka, streaming advice for week 16 and more Fantasy Baseball news. I'll leave the player below or you can download the program from my site here.