Pickups of the Day: Time to Try on Taillon
Fantasy Cy Young candidates 2023: Snell, Eflin
D.J. Short and Eric Samulski reveal their picks for this year's fantasy baseball Cy Young winner including Blake Snell and Zach Eflin.
Rotoworld's Pickups of the Day column is designed to help fantasy managers uncover a handful of widely-available targets over the course of the season. It could be a breakout candidate, a prospect stash, an injury replacement, a pitcher with a favorable matchup or week, a player who is due some better luck, or any other number of scenarios. If there's value to be found on the waiver wire, we will find it and bring it your way.
In today’s column, we’ll take a peek at a veteran right-hander that has seemingly fallen out of favor in the fantasy community and a rookie slugger who has been murdering the baseball over the past few weeks.
PICKUPS OF THE DAY
Jameson Taillon, SP, Cubs
Available in 65 percent of Yahoo leagues
The fact that Jameson Taillon is still languishing on waiver wires in 65 percent of all Yahoo leagues is extremely surprising at this stage of the season. While starts in the final five days of the year are worth just as much as at any other point in the season – they take on added importance due to the limited amount of time that remains in the season. Every start is critical at this stage as fantasy managers try to position themselves at the top of their respective standings.
Luckily, Taillon is available on many waiver wires and represents an excellent option for Wednesday’s slate of MLB action. The 31-year-old hurler’s season-long numbers don’t look very appealing – as he sports a 5.05 ERA and 1.31 WHIP over 144 1/3 innings in his 28 starts – but if we dig a little deeper we’ll see that he has been absolutely dealing as of late.
Over his last five starts, Taillon has compiled a 2.83 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and a 34/6 K/BB ratio across 28 2/3 innings. The only downside on Wednesday is the matchup – having to take on the vaunted and supremely-powerful Braves’ offense in Atlanta. We don’t have any reference points to go off of, as this will be the first time that Taillon has squared off against the Braves this season. He has struggled with the long ball at times this season – giving up 26 home runs on the year. As long as he can keep the ball in the yard on Wednesday, he should have a nice shot at a quality start, and his win equity is in a nice spot as well taking on rookie right-hander Darius Vines in a game that the Cubs absolutely have to win.
Your fantasy season doesn’t end after the draft. Dominate your league with our new FREE Season Tools, including Weekly Expert Rankings, Targets Reports, Lineup Adviser, Trade Analyzer and more. Click here to get started.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B, Reds
Available in 61 percent of Yahoo leagues
Christian Encarnacion-Strand finds himself in the lineup on most days – especially since Matt McLain has been sidelined – and he has been absolutely punishing the baseball over the last few weeks.
Over his last 18 games, the 23-year-old slugger is slashing a robust .349/.388/.714 with seven homers, 15 RBI and a stolen base in 67 plate appearances. That type of production will certainly play from a fantasy perspective – especially at this stage of the season where every single stat that we can claw out are absolutely critical.
CES gets the added benefit of taking on the Cardinals over the final weekend of the season, where he’ll battle against a makeshift starting rotation that has been in absolute shambles as of late. Look for him to continue his power production and to help savvy fantasy managers grab every point that they can over the final days of the season.
