Cleveland Indians Carlos Carrasco Injured: Fantasy Fallout
By Brad Kelly
Carlos Carrasco went down with a scary hamstring strain Sunday afternoon. The Cleveland Indians and fantasy owners alike are left reeling to find an ample replacement. Therefore, what is the fantasy fallout from the injury?
Carlos Carrasco has quietly emerged as one the best pitchers in all of baseball the last few seasons. The Indians and fantasy owners, placed a ton of expectations upon his shoulders, but now have to adapt to the ugly fact that he will be down for an extended period of time.
With Carrasco being a SP1 or true fantasy ace, it is nearly impossible to find anyone on the waiver wire or within Cleveland’s organization that will fill his shoes. The Indians will look to Trevor Bauer as his immediate stand-in. Bauer has devastating stuff, but lacks any semblance of command thanks to his uncontrollable mechanics.
Fantasy owners are well acquainted with Bauer, so he does serve as a decent waiver wire add with an admittedly high ceiling, but the command issues are not going anywhere. Thus, owners will have to look deeper into the waiver wire to find possible candidates that may not replicate the K numbers that Carrasco brought, but can at least offer solid enough production until he returns.
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Fantasy owners should check out our top pitching waiver wire targets released earlier today, but there are plenty of other intriguing option on the wire as well. Guys like, Tanner Roark who is coming off a 15 K outing his last start, Rich Hill who has 10 K starts in two of his last three starts, Mat Latos who keeps defying the odds, or the always consistent Derek Holland.
Point being, owners can withstand losing Carrasco this early in the season as there are plenty of starters that have gotten off good starts,. Clearly no one wants Carrasco’s injury to linger any longer than the 15-day DL stint is going to embark on, but fantasy owners need not panic just yet.
Next: Week 4 Waiver Wire: Top Hitter Adds
The plan should be to hit the wire quickly to snatch up those pitchers that are off to tremendously hot starts and identify those who have favorable matchups next week. Do not be afraid to stream replacements either, as some of the deeper leagues lack the potential waiver adds recommended, so do not be afraid to exploit the matchup game.