MLB Fantasy Waiver Wire Steals - June 17th, 2008 Bodog Nation

[Qbins Missile Crisis]

MLB Fantasy: Waiver Wire Steals

Don't want to make big trades in order to bring in SBs? We give you a few waiver wire players to help you out

June 17, 2008

By Carlisle Richards
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

In head-to-head fantasy baseball, "stolen bases" is a category that seems to have a life of its own.

One week, you'll be dominating with 10 swipes; the next, you'll be praying for your players to face Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield so you can register just one. It can be frustrating to owners and sometimes leads fantasy players to overcompensate by trading away three offensive categories (runs, HRs and RBIs) just to help the one.

Well, we at Bodog Nation are saying that you don't need Jose Reyes in order to dominate the SBs category. There are plenty of "steals" on the wire to help you out.

Willie Taveras, OF, Colorado Rockies

With a .236 batting average, just 12 RBIs and one home run after 60 games, Taveras will probably hurt you in every offensive category other than steals. But if you have a high-powered offense that’s desperate for help in that one category, there's no better player on the wire.

The center fielder has a National League-leading 30 steals on the year, and on June 15, he swiped five bags in one game!

That said, he didn't score, so again, keep in mind that Willie is a one-trick pony. Without any other options on offense, he should be batting leadoff for the Rockies for a while. That should give him plenty of opportunities to get on base and rack up the SBs.

Gathright won't get on base much (currently batting .243 after 57 games played), but when he does, you can bet he'll be looking to swipe bags when the opportunity arises.

Gathright, who has 19 SBs in 2006 and 2007 combined, already has 17 SBs and has been caught only twice.

Kazuo Matsui, 2B, Houston Astros

Matsui's skills as a major league thief always seem to be overlooked because his body shuts down before fantasy owners take notice. Matsui played in 100-plus games for the second time in his career in 2007, and he had 32 SBs, was only caught four times and batted a respectable .288. He missed most of the first month of the 2008 season after needing surgery to repair an anal fissure (don't know what that is... don't wanna know) but he's been a strong contributor since.

He has the skills to improve on his batting average (currently .277), and he's only been caught stealing three times this year. Unlike Taveras and Gathright, Matsui has the potential to help you in three categories (BA, runs and SB) if he stays healthy.

It's hard to imagine any San Fran player being useful in fantasy when their best hitter is the human sloth, Bengie Molina, but Lewis has been a solid, albeit streaky, contributor this year.

Through 70 games, he's batting .284 with six home runs and 12 SBs, and six of his SBs have come in the last 30 days.

With his large number of strikeouts (63 in 236 at-bats) and terrible BA against lefties (.156), Lewis would be riding pine on most MLB rosters. But the Giants are a terrible, rebuilding team. Therefore, expect him to see leadoff at-bats for much of the season.

A lot of fantasy owners considered Milledge a sleeper pickup after being traded from the New York Mets (a veteran team loaded with talent) to the Washington Nationals (a team in desperate need of offense), but his overall numbers (.258 BA, 26 RBIs, 5 HRs) have been disappointing. However, in the month of June, he's finally been showing his fantasy potential.

Milledge is batting .300 with two HRs over his last 15 games and has nine steals in the last 30 days. Grab Milledge while he's hot and he'll help your squad in steals, as well as RBIs and BA.

Elijah Dukes, OF, Washington Nationals

He's got enough dugout and off-field issues to make Milton Bradley look like a saint, but Dukes has been solid on the field in June. After struggling in May, Dukes is batting .308 with nine RBIs and three stolen bases in his last four games.

With third baseman Ryan Zimmerman out with a bad shoulder, the Nationals will be looking to manufacture runs in any way possible. That should help both Dukes and Milledge rack up the SBs.

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