Deep League Waiver Wire: Greg Dobbs & Nate Schierholtz

It’s another week of recommending mediocre players who might just be less crappy than the rest of the fish in your free agent pool. Or, you could just stream any hitter facing Roy Halladay.

Greg Dobbs | 7% Owned

It’s a sad state of affairs when this man is your clean-up hitter. Dobbs will presumably be the Marlins every day first baseman until Logan Morrison returns from his never ending spate of knee issues. The Marlins offense stinks, and it will continue to all season. But any hitter in a 3-4-5 spot in the batting order is going to have some added value. Yesterday, the Marlins decided that Placido Polanco would be their clean-up man, because Chris Coghlan’s awesome bat simply had to hit second, pushing Polanco from his usual spot to a position typically reserved for sluggers.

Dobbs is a 34-year-old who has never received more than 411 at-bats in a season and only three times recorded over 300 at-bats. But, he has usually provided a good batting average and isn’t a complete zero in the power department. Hey, trying to think of the positives here. Mike Redmond doesn’t seem to have a clue how to compose a lineup, which works in Dobbs’ favor. In deep leagues, accumulating the most at-bats is one of the primary keys to success. As crazy as it is to acknowledge, Dobbs is a guy who will help you do that…for now.

Nate Schierholtz | 9% Owned

I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised that Schierholtz’s ownership rate is this low. With a career high at-bat total of just 335, he has an excellent shot at shattering that this season as a participant on the good side of a platoon with Scott Hairston. Schierholtz has some pop and some speed, makes contact at a respectable rate and now calls home a park that inflates left-handed home runs. Just like Dobbs’ situation in Miami, Schierholtz is not hitting in a very good lineup in Chicago. But, he has been hitting fifth, though behind a group of mediocre OBP guys.

To give us an idea of what a full, healthy season might look like only facing right-handers, let’s assume 475 at-bats. ZiPS only projects 284 at-bats, but if we extrapolate those numbers, we get 13 homers and 7 steals. That’s nowhere near exciting, but in a deep league, it doesn’t have to be and does generate some positive value.