On the Fantasy Baseball Today Podcast, we like to fire up a segment every week or so called the "Drop-O-Meter," which has a fairly straightforward, obvious goal: To give actionable takes about how droppable a given player is. Simple enough.
Before we get to the rest of Wednesday's action, I've got four starting pitchers I want to throw on the Drop-O-Meter, with a 1 representing "No way am I dropping them" and a 10 meaning, "Yeah, set them free."
We'll start with one guy we thought might be an ace for much of the season:
Garrett Crochet, White Sox (87%) – 10 on the Drop-O-Meter
It was, at one point, one of the best stories in baseball, and it would be a shame to let the bad feelings of Crochet's limited usage here in the second half wreck that. I can't wait to draft him next season, because I genuinely believe he is one of the most talented pitchers in the majors right now – I think I'll rank him in the SP15-20 range for 2025. But Crochet hasn't given us more than four innings in a start since June, and he's been under 60 pitches in each of his last two. There's just no path for even in-start upside at this point.
Luis Gil, Yankees (100%) – 5
Gil's injury isn't considered too serious, but he was placed on the IL after leaving Monday's start with a back issue, which means he's out until at least Sept. 5. So this one really depends on your league context: If you're in a win-or-go-home situation over the next 15 days and you absolutely need the roster spot, dropping Gil might be advisable – especially because I could see the Yankees using this as an excuse to limit his innings when he does return in September. I probably wouldn't do it in a Roto league, but it's worth considering otherwise.
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Jordan Montgomery, Diamondbacks (66%) – 10
Montgomery has shown some flashes of his former self, but if he's going to give up six runs in 5.2 innings against the Marlins, like he did Wednesday, what's the point in waiting on him? It doesn't mean there won't be useful starts, but if you can't trust him against that matchup, who could you actually start him against and feel good about it?
Matt Waldron, Padres (70%) – 9
Welp, it was fun while it lasted. Waldron had an ERA as low as 3.59 in mid-July, but things have fallen apart for the knuckleballer since, hitting a new low with a 10-run outing Wednesday that drove his ERA to 4.79 for the season. I like to say knuckleball pitchers are the ultimate random number generators, so if he got the feel back for his pitch and turned it around down the stretch, that really wouldn't be a surprise. But "randomness" works both ways, and if he had an ERA north of 6.00 the rest of the way, I would be equally unsurprised. It feels like the league has figured out his one weird trick, though.
The problem with all of these, of course, is that there just haven't been many pitchers emerging on the waiver wire lately, and you should never drop a player until you have a better option. As you'll see below, there aren't many options on the wire worth considering these days:
Thursday's waiver targets
Parker Meadows, OF, Tigers (23%) – Meadows entered the season with a bit of hype, and then totally flamed out, earning a trip back to Triple-A by May 6, with an OPS below .450. Then he went down to Triple-A and was terrific, played well for three games, and then went on the IL for about a month. However, he's been red hot since coming back from the IL and is now hitting .354 with 10 extra-base hits and six steals in 17 games since his return from Triple-A. He has started 13 of 16 games since his return from the IL, too, so I don't think there are really any playing time concerns here. Meadows might just be a must-roster player in all categories leagues.
Masataka Yoshida, OF, Red Sox (75%) – I've written about Yoshida a bunch over the past few weeks, so would you all do me a favor and add him in the remaining leagues where he's available so I don't have to do it anymore? He had an .898 OPS in the month of July and has been even better so far in August, hitting .353/.423/.588 after going 2 for 4 with a steal Wednesday. He's not as good as he has looked over the past couple of months, but Yoshida is a strong hitter who can really make an impact when he's locked in like this. Ride it as long as it lasts.
Brendan Rodgers, 2B, Rockies (37%) – It's been a roller coaster ride for Rodgers, whose monthly OPS over the past three has gone from .990 to .604 to, now, 1.009 during August. He went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI Wednesday, and has three homers in 17 games in the month. His track record suggests that Rodgers won't be able to keep this up, but the good news is, he's got seven games at Coors Field next week, so he should be pretty good for that one, at least – he has an .867 OPS at home this season.
Mitch Spence, SP, Athletics (8%) – Well, that was pretty interesting. Spence hasn't given us many reasons to be excited about him before this, but on Wednesday night, he went out and struck out 10 in seven innings against the Rays, while generating 15 swinging strikes. Of course, he also gave up four earned runs in those seven innings, so I don't think you need to rush out and add him in all formats. But he made his slider his most used pitch, and that's probably not a bad idea since it's been his best pitch this season. In deeper leagues, I'm keeping an eye on Spence's next start against Cincinnati to see how he follows up on this one.
Spencer Horwitz, Blue Jays (22%) – It's been a bit of an up-and-down rookie season for Horwitz, but he's been pretty useful for long stretches, and it looks like he's in one again. He homered for the second game in a row Wednesday, and went 2 for 3 with a couple of walks and a double in addition to the homer, pushing his August OPS to .814. He's done a good job getting on base all season and looks like a solid option in either OBP or points leagues.
Will Warren, SP, Yankees (5%) – With Gil going on the IL, it looks like Will Warren is going to get a few turns in the Yankees rotation, and while his overall production this season leaves an awful lot to be desired, I think he's still worth a look in deeper leagues. For one thing, his most recent start last week at the MLB level was his best yet, with five strikeouts over five innings while allowing two runs and generating 11 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. Now, we're still talking about someone with a 6.11 ERA in Triple-A, so I'm not expecting him to just hit the majors and dominate. But he remains a very good strikeout pitcher (27% in Triple-A) and could catch fire with Gil out.
Jhonkensy Noel, 1B, Guardians (21%) – The strikeouts are a problem, but Noel looks like he needs to be in the Guardians lineup pretty regularly moving forward. He's up to a .915 line for the season after he hit his 10th homer of the season Wednesday, and all of a sudden he has started eight of the past 10 games for the Guardians. Noel now has 29 homers in 102 games between Triple-A and the majors this season, and he might just be forcing the Guardians to keep him as a bigger part of their plans, especially as much of the rest of the lineup has started to slow down. If you need power on the wire, give Noel a look.
