Ubaldo Jimenez (SP, BAL) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep and AL-Only Leagues.

OWNED IN: 32% of Fleaflicker Leagues

ANALYSIS: We've seen this story before. During the homestretch of 2013, Ubaldo Jimenez turned a series of quality starts against a few of the worst teams in baseball into a multi-million dollar payday with the Orioles. His 1.82 ERA during the second half of 2013 was enough to make fantasy owners wonder if he'd turned a corner. He hadn't. A 4.81 ERA through 125.1 awful innings in 2014 was enough to remind people who Ubaldo really was.

Now, he's trying to make us forget again. Don't let his 2.30 ERA through his first three starts of this season completely fool you. His 90.2% strand rate will go down, his .147 BABIP-allowed will go back up, and hitters are going to start squaring him up again. That being said, Ubaldo's 8.74 K/9 and 3.18 BB/9 are respectable. While he's not inducing many swings and misses, he's keeping hitters off balance, and inducing a career best elite 67% ground ball rate and very little hard contact. Ubaldo should definitely be owned in more than 32% of leagues, but unless you're particularly confident in the matchup or you play in an AL-only format, steer clear of  him vs. better teams.