Waiver Saviors: Small Sample Size

When looking for players available on your league's waiver wire, what sorting options do you prefer to use? Last seven days? Fourteen or fifteen days (depending on your league)? Thirty days? Or do you like to like at the entire year-to-date statistics to weigh a player's value?

I'm a fan of the "last 15 days" option ESPN offers when looking for available free agents. Fifteen days seems like a nice length of time to judge if a player is worthy of a free agent pickup.

This edition of Waiver Saviors will look for players owned in approximately 50% or less of all ESPN and/or Yahoo! leagues and having a significant statistical impact over the last fifteen days (May 18th - June 1st).

• 2B Danny Espinosa, WAS (37.2% ESPN; 28% Yahoo! owned) has five home runs and 11 RBI with an acceptable .273 (12/44) batting average.
• 2B/OF Allen Craig, STL (9.7% E; 14% Y!) is hitting .419 (18/43) with three home runs, 11 RBI and qualifies as at 2B in Yahoo! leagues. He should see increased playing time with Matt Holliday hitting the DL.
• 1B Freddie Freeman, ATL (24.3% E; 22% Y!) has turned things around of late. He's batting .385 (20/52) with one home run, five RBI and two stolen bases with seven multi-hit games over the last two weeks. He could be a valuable long-term solution as a CI or IF in deeper mixed leagues.
• OF Jon Jay, STL (43.7% E; 13% Y!) will also benefit from the Holliday injury. He's making the most of his opportunities by hitting .373 (22/59) with four stolen bases.
• RP Mark Melancon, HOU (64% E; 43% Y!) is settling in to the closers role after a bumpy start. He has three saves and a win since his last blown save with a 1.35 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP over a span of 6.2 innings pitched.
• SP Kevin Correia, PIT (42.6% E; 41% Y!) has three wins (all quality starts) over his last 20 innings pitched with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He also leads the majors with eight wins.
• 1B/2B/3B/OF Ty Wigginton (11.1% E; 14% Y!) has a nine game hitting streak and is hitting .333 (14/42) with three home runs (eight extra-base hits), five RBI and 10 runs scored. His position eligibility may vary in leagues but any roster can benefit from a player with that much flexibility.
• OF Angel Pagan, NYM (59.8% E; 39% Y!) has ten hits, five runs and two stolen bases in six games since returning to action from the DL with an oblique injury. Maybe 2010 wasn't a fluke.
• OF Corey Patterson, TOR (38.3% E; 31% Y!) is has 21 hits (.318 BA) for 33 total bases and regular playing time. Ignore his name and chase the stats he's putting up and find a spot on your roster for him.
• OF Laynce Nix, WAS (22.1% E; 11% Y!) has four home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored while playing nearly exclusively against right-handed pitchers. His .289 average (11/38) and 1.025 OPS are worthy of an outfield platoon on your fantasy team, as well.
• OF Josh Willingham, OAK (27.2% E; 25% Y!) is only hitting .250 (11/44) but has four home runs (seven extra-base hits), 12 RBI, five runs, six walks and even a stolen base.
• 1B/OF Juan Rivera, TOR (5.0% E; 6% Y!) is hitting .305 (18/59) with two home runs, eight RBI and seven runs while collecting a hit in 12 of 14 games.

I know there are tons of "waiver" articles out there but I hope when reading through the Waiver Saviors series you're able to actually go to your league and find the majority of these players available and beneficial to your team's overall success. Drop me a line if you pick some of these players up and let me know how I did. Anyone can recommend a player. I want you to know that I follow my own advice. I pick up a good bit of these players if they are available in any of my five leagues. Just putting my money where my mouth is.