Working The Waiver Wire: August 1st

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  • By Jeff Clowers

    Last Updated on August 1, 2025 11:37 am by Paul Williamson | Published: August 1, 2025

    So many new faces, so many new places – and some even outside of the NL East! Though the (literal) arms race between the Phils and Mets took centerstage on trade deadline day, there were several other contenders who decided to get in on the action themselves, including the current AL East and AL Central leaders who bolstered their rotation with a pair of veteran arms, whom we discuss below.

    We also dive into a hitter who also changed colors – though earlier in the season – and a former NL Central setup man who I think has the talent to take over the closer role in his new home.

    Away we go, and bon voyage to all those traded today!

    Shane Bieber – SP – TOR – 46% Yahoo, 73% CBS

    Last 14 Days: 0.0 IP – 0.00 ERA/0.00 FIP/0.00 WHIP – 0:0 K:BB – 0 HR

    Whether or not Bieber ends up returning back to near the highs of his Cleveland tenure while in Toronto remains to be seen but even if he doesn’t perform quite as expected, the deal should at least turn out to be financially profitable in the end – I mean, a Bieber jersey in Toronto? Oh baby, those are gonna sell out quicker than tickets to see Biebs himself.

    Acquired at the cost of prospect pitcher Kahl Stephen during yesterday’s deadline deals, Bieber made only two starts in 2024 before blowing out his elbow and requiring Tommy John surgery but looked sharp at the time, striking out 20 over 12 shutout innings to start the season. Though he’ll now be 30-years-old upon his return, the former Cy Young Award winner is the owner of a career 3.22 ERA and 1.12 WHIP while averaging 10.23 strikeouts per nine innings and he’s done so while maintaining an average velocity on his fastball of just 92.7mph as well – though it will be worth monitoring whether he sees any diminishment in that regard as it could push his fastball down below a usable level in the early going, forcing him to lean more on breaking pitches, which are thought to be the type of pitch that takes the longest to find the feel for post-surgery.

    In the end though, Bieber should find his footing with solid production but it could end up being closer to the level of a SP2-SP3 than the SP1 levels he reached in years passed. That said, he now finds himself in a much better situation to rack up a few extra wins over the remainder of the season, as the Blue Jays currently lead the AL East.

    Chris Paddack – SP – DET – 20% Yahoo, 23% CBS

    Last 14 Days: 17.0 IP – 3.71 ERA/3.62 FIP/1.00 WHIP – 18:2 K:BB – 3 HR

    Pretty pristine numbers from Paddack the past two weeks! Just don’t go looking at his full season line if you’re not ready for a bit of a jump-scare. Still, even remaining at a full season vantage, there’s some points of interest in Paddack’s profile.

    Though he’s struggled this season when it comes to strikeouts, Paddack has remained elite in avoiding handing out free passes, currently in the 90th percentile for BB% at 5.5 percent while carrying a career rate just a hair lower at 5.1 percent. And while a 17.9 percent strikeout rate (20th-percentile) is quite the anchor on his fantasy prospects, Paddack does hold an 84th percentile chase rate, though he’s been unable to turn those swings at pitches outside the zone into whiffs, getting hitters to flail only 21.1 percent of the time (20th-percentile as well). He also hasn’t yet been able to turn the contact made outside into groundball outs, allowing a career-high 45.2 percent flyball rate, making him even more prone to home runs allowed than he already was with a career home run rate of 1.40 per nine innings.

    If you dig a little deeper than just his Savant page though, there’s a couple other nuggets that suggest Paddack isn’t quite as far off his form from years passed as we may think. His career Pitching+ mark sits at 105 but he is grading out at a 106 in 2025 and his Stuff+ has also jumped one mark from last year, so it doesn’t seem he’s working with a substantially diminished arsenal. Giving a little bit of further hope to finding his strikeout ability once more, Paddack is also maintaining a 9.4 percent swinging-strike rate. That number is definitely lower than you would want, but it isn’t far off from the 10.7 percent rate he carried in 2024 when he was a fantasy-relevant starter.

    Combine all that with an increased win total in division-leading Detroit and their renowned pitching development team and you have a player who could potentially follow in the footsteps of the Tigers’ trade deadline acquisition from last season – Jack Flaherty.

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    August 1, 2025, 11:37 am