For most leagues, the playoffs start today. That means, for half or more of your league, in head to head leagues, at least, they will be ignoring the waiver wire from here on out. In dynasty leagues and roto leagues, though, you’ll still be competing with every manager until the final day of the season.

This means staying on top of the waiver wire is more crucial than ever before. Finding extra value on the waiver wire is like finding a twenty dollar bill in your winter coat, you didn’t expect to find it there, but you’re more than happy to have it.

So, let’s take a look at some value I found lying around in the couch cushions of my leagues…

Zack Littell – SP – TBR – 18%, Yahoo

I understand that Littell is kind of a boring, milquetoast starter that doesn’t bring anything fun to the table; no blazing fastball (it’s averaged only 92.6 MPH this season), no elite strikeout numbers (8.05 K/9) or gaudy win totals (five wins in twenty-four starts). But, over his last eight starts (before he hit the injury list with a shoulder injury), he allowed one earned run or less in six of the starts. He pitched 43.1 innings, struck out 34, walked 10 and allowed 8 home runs. Both his barrel and hard-hit rates were higher than you would like, especially for someone who does allow more flyballs than groundballs, but his ability to limit walks and strand runners helped him suffer less run-scoring damage than other pitchers would have. He drove hitters to a 30.2% chase rate and a 10.1% swinging strike rate, which, though not dominant, is above average, even if just a little bit. I know this isn’t the Rays of old, the team that was always in the playoff race, regardless of how much money was spent on the roster, but these are still big leaguers who play with plenty of pride. So Littell may not get a lot of W’s in the win column, but he should be good for nearly a strikeout per inning and really good ratios, with the occasional quality start, which can help out a ton, especially in the playoffs, when every inning counts for far more than it did in the regular season.

League Size Recommendation: 14 team or deeper leagues

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