Arismendy Alcantara & Ezequiel Carrera: Deep League Waiver Wire

I have nothing clever to say. Let’s get right to it.

Arismendy Alcantara | 2B OAK | CBS 2% Owned

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Athletics jettisoned Chris Coghlan, who they acquired from the Cubs in the offseason, sending him back to where he came from for the younger Arismendy Alcantara. This is the same Alcantara who had received lots of sleeper love in the past, but garnered all of 32 plate appearances with the Cubs last year. The 24-year-old has experience playing second and third base, as well as the outfield. Sound familiar? It should!

Alcantara owns a tantalizing blend of both power and speed, hitting as many as 20 homers in a season (2014) and swiping as many as 31 bases (2013). The problem, though, has been his plate discipline. Prior to 2015, his strikeout rates were a bit high, but not alarmingly so. Since, he has struck out far more than he had previously, and unfortunately he has been unable to offset those strikeouts with a respectable walk rate. That has led to low OBP marks and could limit his offensive value.

But this is a deep league pick up we’re looking at and what we care about is his playing opportunity and the potential for counting stats. While he’s not going to contribute positively in batting average, his 21 steals in 214 plate appearances at Triple-A this year suggest the speed is as good as ever. At the very least, he’ll be a source of stolen bases, while knocking a long ball every so often. In terms of playing time, the Athletics have been trotting out a slew of either injury prone or mediocre performers, so a full-time job isn’t hard to envision in the coming weeks. Of course, if he continues to strike out 30% of the time, he’s not going to hold onto such a job for very long.

Ezequiel Carrera | OF TOR | 4% Owned

So Jose Bautista landed on the disabled list last Friday and yesterday he was diagnosed with turf toe. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but he’ll be in a walking boot for the next two weeks, which would keep him out of the lineup for a month. Now the Blue Jays need an outfielder and it’s Carrera getting the nod. Some may think that Dalton Pompey would be given a shot, but he’s played just 13 games in right field over his career and he hasn’t exactly earned a promotion with a measly .322 wOBA at Triple-A.

Carrera is 29 and has limited power. He’s literally the definition of a stop gap. He also strikes out a little too much for someone with no power. But he does help his cause by sporting a career .329 BABIP, which means his batting average is going to be acceptable, and certainly better than Alcantara’s. He hits a ton of ground balls, and those are far more preferable to fly balls in terms of balls landing for hits. This is especially true for a speed guy like Carrera.

So, the speed. That’s what you’re picking him up for. He hasn’t done a whole lot of running during his time with the Blue Jays since last year, but he does have 30 steals in 40 attempts over his career, equating to 23 steals over 600 plate appearances. And hey, he’s been hitting leadoff the last four games! That’s an attractive spot in a strong lineup (though it’s now decidedly less strong without Bautista, of course). So perhaps he might even contribute some positive value in runs scores, in addition to the steals, and maybe even batting average.