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As we approach the dog days of the baseball season, fantasy owners nearing contention will be seeking to improve their rosters, just like real-life organizations. However, the former have the added benefit of a waiver wire that’s often chock full of injured players who have been neglected or forgotten. Acquiring a key starter almost ready to return from the DL can often upgrade one’s roster nearly as much as a midseason trade, and it doesn’t cost anything but a roster spot.

Here are five names to track in the coming weeks:

Matt Moore, LHP, Tampa Bay

Perhaps the hottest commodity on the waiver wire this summer will be Matt Moore, if he’s not already snatched up in your league. He’s a former elite prospect who could run his fastball into the high-90s and posted a 3.29 ERA (3.75 DRA) in 2013, which was his last full season. His rehab outings have been shaky, as one would expect with a long layoff. Moore has discussed trying to rediscover a feel for his breaking ball and changeup, with varied success. The lefty did strikeout seven and only walk one in his last Triple-A rehab start. It’s unclear how many more rehab appearances he’ll need in the minors, but he should return to the Rays’ rotation sometime in July.

Moore has always possessed overpowering stuff. His delivery has some deception thanks to lanky limbs, but it’s been the power three-pitch repertoire that has overwhelmed hitters. Poor command and control has plagued him and prevented him from developing into a front-line starter. Of course, he’s only 26 and far from a finished product. Fantasy owners should just expect a guy who could provide a mid-3.00 ERA with a high WHIP. His upside is significant; however, people looking to gain ground in the WHIP category should likely shy away. He owns a career 1.33 WHIP.

Martin Perez, LHP, Texas

I hyped Perez prior to the 2014 season, only to see him land on the disabled list with a UCL tear. Roughly a year later, he’s poised to return to the Rangers’ rotation. He’s a former top prospect who has always looked better in the scouting reports than the box scores; however, underlying numbers suggested significant upside after 2013. Although most fantasy owners scoffed at Perez because he only struck out 6.08 batters per nine, it’s important to recognize that he did miss bats. His 9.9 percent swinging-strike rate was actually above average in the majors. Thus, he profiled as one of my favorite types of pitchers: guys who generate groundballs and strikeouts.

The Tommy John surgery has clouded the outlook, but his early rehab outings have been positive. He’s only allowed two earned runs in 5.2 innings, striking out eight and walking one. No concrete expectations can be constructed from that small sample, but I do have hope that he can return to his 2013 form, in which he had strikeout upside and posted a 3.62 ERA as a 22-year-old rookie. Out of all the injured pitchers with upside, it’s my belief that Perez has received the least amount of hype. For example, he’s own in 1.1 percent of ESPN leagues, while Matt Moore is owned in 26.7 percent of leagues. Other than the rehab timeline, I’m not convinced Moore is that much better.

Ervin Santana, RHP, Minnesota*

The asterisk is obviously because Santana is not currently injured—unless we consider his pride or reputation, I suppose—but he’s still only owned in 4.6 percent of ESPN leagues and is poised to join the Twins’ rotation. Santana posted a 3.95 ERA with the Braves a year ago. That masked, however, a notable jump in strikeout rate (to a career-high 21.9 percent) thanks to an improved changeup.

Year

CH Whiff%

2011

4.00%

2012

8.72%

2013

9.02%

2014

15.48%

Santana began using his changeup much more often, doubling his previous usage rate, and it’s not difficult to ascertain why. It helped him increase his swinging-strike rate to 11.9 percent, a career-high, and handle lefties better than his .283/.331/.432 slash line would indicate. That’s because his FIP and K:BB were better against lefties than righties—it was the almost 50-point gap in BABIP that sunk him. Thus, if the right-hander can carry over his peripheral success from a year ago to Minnesota, he could be a sneaky source of strikeouts for fantasy owners.

Matt Cain, RHP, San Francisco

The veteran right-hander reportedly will make one more rehab start with Triple-A Sacramento before re-joining the Giants’ rotation. He has allowed seven earned runs in just 13.2 minor-league innings; however, the strikeout-to-walk ratio has been just fine (15-to-3). While fantasy owners certainly shouldn’t be making a decision to move on Cain based upon his rehab statistics, it remains encouraging that he’s missing bats and showing at least some semblance of control.

Cain’s ultimate fantasy value will hinge on whether he can limit the home run ball for the first time in three years. He had a history of outperforming his FIP—he was actually the posterboy for that type of analysis—but his home-run rate ballooned over 1.00 HR/9, which caused his ERA to finally mirror his worse-than-average FIP. As it currently stands, I’m not willing to bank on his home-run issues being cured simply because he missed some time with an injury. He’s almost 31 years old and has thrown almost 2000 big-league innings. Lots of wear-and-tear on that arm.

Ivan Nova, RHP, New York (AL)

Nova is slated to return from the DL on Wednesday to start against the Philadelphia Phillies, and he represents an intriguing midseason pickup for fantasy owners. Can he return to his 2013 level of performance, when he posted a 3.10 ERA and 3.33 DRA? If so, the right-hander could help many fantasy owners solidify their rotations. The real question is whether Nova can generate enough strikeouts to be anything more than a ground-ball specialist that wholly depends on fluctuations in ERA to be valuable. The early returns on the rehab trail suggest this could continue to be a source of concern, as he struck out less than six batters per nine innings. Only 8.7 percent of ESPN leagues have had someone grab Nova off the waiver wire, so he’s readily available if he proves healthy and effective on Wednesday.

Thank you for reading

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jj0501
6/24
Patrick Corbin is also close to a return. Thoughts ? Thanks.
jimmyb1799
6/24
Corbin is an intriguing arm because it's mainly unclear if his breakout was truly "real" or if that extreme uptick in velocity (and thus production) caused his injury. He also hasn't appeared in a major-league game since 2013, so one imagines that his adjustment period will be a bit longer. I'd be willing to take a flyer on him; however, I wouldn't invest heavily.
dtothew
6/24
Any thoughts w/r/t Brandon Beachy?
jimmyb1799
6/24
Beachy hasn't thrown more than 100 innings since 2011. I have no confidence that he'll remain healthy over any significant period of time.
tcfatone
6/24
Iwakuma?
jimmyb1799
6/24
I'm buying.
mlsgrad99
6/24
Anything on AJ Griffin?
jimmyb1799
6/24
He just landed on the Triple-A disabled list with a shoulder strain, so he's not a viable option at this point.
markczarniecki
6/24
gregarakaki
6/24
How about Wily Peralta?