FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Sean Manaea (SP Mets): Rostered in 16 percent of Yahoo leagues
Already coming off a tough 2025 in which he missed half of the year with a strained oblique and then lost his rotation spot in September due to an inflated ERA, Manaea showed up this spring without his fastball. He was typically in the 88-89 mph range in March and then, after missing out on a rotation spot, 89-90 mph as a reliever in early April. Finally, things started getting better in May, as he was back at 91-92 mph on average. The Mets decided to give him another shot as a starter/bulk guy, and he’s been able to maintain the velocity in longer outings and post a 3.10 ERA in 20 1/3 innings over four outings in June.
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While Manaea isn’t a big upside guy at this point, he still gets plenty of strikeouts; his K rate is 24 percent right now, and he finished at 29 percent during his otherwise disappointing 2025. That the Mets don’t totally trust him isn’t such a bad thing, as he’s never going to be asked to work particularly deep into games and then give up two or three runs in seventh to ruin his ERA for the day. He has a quality pen behind him, and his home ballpark is quite pitcher friendly. It all helps a bit.
The danger with Manaea is that his velocity will fade again. His four-seamer and sinker are plenty fringy as is, and his slider won’t be enough to keep him viable if he returns to throwing 90 mph. But while that is a concern for the long haul, he makes sense as a sixth starter in mixed leagues right now.
Cam Smith (OF Astros): Rostered in 11 percent of Yahoo leagues
Smith’s ascension a year and a half ago was remarkable. The Astros acquired the 2024 first-round pick in the Kyle Tucker trade and, after just 32 games as a professional, made him their starting right fielder to open 2025. He proved adequate right away and stardom seemed to be just around the corner, but while he did get hot in June and peaked with an .805 OPS on July 4, he was quite disappointing in the second half and did a lot of sitting in September.
Leading into 2026, the talk was that Smith would need to impress in spring training in order to avoid his first ever stint in Triple-A. As it turned out, he was just average in March, but the alternatives were hurt or no better, so in the majors he remained. He’s mostly treaded water since, hitting .219/.300/.354 with seven homers in 294 plate appearances. Still, there have been some encouraging signs of late. His average exit velocity is all of the way up to 94 mph in June, and he’s been pulling the ball more often without any increase in his whiff or strikeout rates.
Smith remains a pretty spectacular talent. He’s currently in the 97th percentile of major leaguers in bat speed and the 95th percentile in sprint speed. Drafted as a third baseman, he’s become a very good right fielder, which has helped keep him in the lineup when his offensive performance hasn’t entirely justified it. If he develops more discipline at the plate with experience, he’ll probably go to All-Star Games in his prime. I don’t know that he’s about to make that leap now, but his five-category potential and the positive trends of late make him worth a try.
Caleb Kilian (RP Giants): Rostered in eight percent of Yahoo leagues
Getting named the Giants’ closer last week didn’t lead to a mad rush to roster Kilian. The team is a mess, after all, and Kilian hasn’t actually had a save opportunity since June 4, though he has pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings this month.
Originally a Giants prospect, Kilian was traded to the Cubs in the Kris Bryant deal in 2021. He struggled to establish himself as a starter while dealing with injuries, but he got a nice velocity boost after moving to the pen last year, and he rejoined the Giants as a minor league free agent over the winter. He’s since posted a 3.06 ERA with a 38/15 K/BB in 32 1/3 innings, with five of his 11 earned runs allowed coming in one ugly outing at Coors Field last month.
Kilian’s velocity is down a little since the start of the season. It was particularly low in that Coors Field outing, but his average fastball has been back closer to 97 mph of late. With middling control and rather average breaking balls, he still seems like more of a setup man than a closer for the long haul. But given the lack of stable closers right now, he shouldn’t be left ungrabbed in free agent pools. Even if the Giants aren’t particularly likely to turn things around, they’re going to play enough close, low-scoring games to generate sufficient save chances.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
– Clayton Beeter (nine percent rostered) is another option for teams in need of saves. He’s not as locked into the ninth for the Nationals as Kilian is for the Giants, but it helps his case a bunch that Gus Varland has given up seven runs in 7 2/3 innings this month.
– Boston’s Caleb Durbin is only 17 percent rostered despite hitting .333 with four homers, 14 RBI and three steals in his last 21 games. As disappointing as the Red Sox offense has been, Durbin doesn’t figure to have as much value going forward as I thought he would initially this year, just because the run and RBI opportunities don’t seem likely to become particularly plentiful. Still, he can do a little bit of everything.
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