2018 Fantasy Baseball Week 8 Waiver Wire: How the West Was Won

Hopefully, at this point, your team is settling in nicely to the 2018 season. This is your weekly reminder how the season is not a sprint and continues to be a marathon. There is still plenty of time to fix anything that is going run and get you back on the right back or to continue that nice run you are currently on.

There is definitely no East Coast Bias this week in my Waiver Wire article. Many fans, especially on the West Coast, seem to have a vendetta against teams coverage that the media shows about teams on the East Coast. Well, this week it is time to change that stereotype.

2018 Fantasy Baseball Week 8 Waiver Wire

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Hitters

Daniel Descalso, 1B/2B/3B/OF, Arizona Diamondbacks (14% owned in Yahoo)

Descalso seems to be a journeyman through the majors for most of his career. In eight years, he has been on the Cardinals, Rockies and now the Diamondbacks and has not found a permanent position in most lineups. Well, thus far, it seems to be a little different for Descalso. He has been settling in nicely atop the Diamondbacks lineup.

The Diamondbacks sit just ahead of the Rockies in the NL West and partly on the play of Daniel Descalso. In the past two weeks, his OBP has been .422 and his average during this span is .297. As the Diamondbacks primary second batter now, he has hit two home runs, scored six runs and hit in seven guys during the same time frame.

With Robinson Cano recently suspended, Descalso can act as a good replacement for the time being. The 2B position seems to be very top heavy in the early going and why not ride the hot bat for a while. Let me also remind you Descalso is a multi-positional player and you know how much I love those type of guys.

Brandon Crawford, SS, San Francisco Giants (26% owned in Yahoo)

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This is a guy who I find myself talking about at least once a year almost every year. Crawford isn’t one of those flashy players that is going to put up gaudy like numbers, but he is going to get the job done. In the past week, he is hitting .545 with an OBP of .577. He has scored four runs and has four RBI during this time frame.

Crawford is more known for his defense, but he sometimes gets in these spurts where he finds himself on base almost every time he comes to the plate. His month of May has been scorching. His current totals consist of three home runs, 15 RBI and a batting average of .295.

Pitching

Andrew Heaney, SP, Los Angeles Angels (33% owned in Yahoo)

I feel like a break out season is about to happen for Heaney in 2018 and with the way he has been pitching, we could be seeing the start of it. In his last three starts, he has gone at least six innings and has recorded a quality start in each of those games. Heaney has lowered his ERA by three runs during this time.

This past Monday, Heaney faced the Houston Astros, which is obviously no small task. He absolutely dominated them with ten strikeouts, scattering four hits and allowing them only one earned run. This is now a streak of four straight games where he has allowed two earned runs or less. I think he is on to something. He will most likely be pitching against the Rays for his next start this weekend.

Jordan Lyles, SP, San Diego Padres (16% owned in Yahoo)

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Lyles is currently pitching in the Padres rotation because fellow pitcher, Bryan Mitchell, has been demoted to the bullpen. This one-time starter turned reliever will now take his more familiar role of starting games for his ball club.

Coming into 2018, though, he owned a 5.32 ERA with 107 career starts in the majors. Not what you wanted to hear, but it is what he has been doing lately that should be getting your attention. Lyles had a perfect game going into the eighth inning on Tuesday night against the Rockies but only finished pitching 7.1 innings. He also had a great outing against the Cardinals last week giving up two runs (one earned), striking out six and pitching five innings in his first start of the season.

Lyles is becoming more and more of a must own in all types of formats especially with his experience as a starter. The Padres look very good by putting him back and the starter role. You should take advantage of this move as well.

Deep Dives

These are players who are better suited to be owned in 14-plus team leagues or deeper roster leagues.

Niko Goodrum, 1B/2B/OF, Detroit Tigers (15% owned in Yahoo)

I know Detroit is not on the West Coast, but it is far enough West that I am going to talk about Niko Goodrum. The injury bug for the Tigers has catapulted Goodrum to the top. This past Monday night he had two home runs in one game and capped off the night with five RBI. The way Goodrum is currently hitting it will be hard to keep him out of the lineup especially when the Tigers get fully healthy again.

Check out the rest of our great 2018 Fantasy Baseball content.