If you tune in to SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio on Tuesdays, you’ve probably heard me and Jim Bowden take some time to discuss waiver wire regrets – players you bid on and won but depress you in hindsight as their value just isn’t what you thought it would be. It happens to the best of us. Mostly it happens to the worst of us, the best of us have also gotten bit in the ass at some point.

Case in point: All that FAAB money you laid out for Milwaukee Brewers closer-to-be Jacob Barnes .

When Corey Knebel fell to the ground clutching his hamstring, the fantasy baseball community immediately went on the hunt in search of the next-in-line for saves. There was a ton of spring training love for Josh Hader , but when he turned out to be the Brewers version of Andrew Miller , many believed Barnes was the player to add. Matt Albers and Jeremy Jeffress also warranted some consideration, but Barnes was supposed to be the guy.

Two days later, Barnes took the hill for his first save opportunity and crumbled like day-old coffee cake. He pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks, and was charged with the blown save. Note the date – April 7 – was the day before most waiver claims and FAAB bids were due. So why did everyone continue to go after Barnes? Because no one had any faith in Albers and felt manager Craig Counsell would give Barnes the ball again if a save opportunity arose on Monday.

And that’s exactly what happened. The Brewers needed their closer in a tie game Monday night and Counsell went straight to Barnes. Unfortunately, he struggled again, but when Albers came in, he actually looked worse. Bullet dodged, right? Nope. Because Barnes blew it again Tuesday night and here we are on Wednesday and while Counsell went to Hader for a two-inning save, it was Albers who, despite allowing two hits, finally bailed him out to notch his first save of the season.

None of this sounds pretty, does it? Barnes owners are flipping out after aggressively bidding on him, Hader owners are still dejected and Albers seems to be the guy. We think. Counsell will probably go to him for Milwaukee’s next save opportunity, but if he struggles, you can probably expect a quick hook.

So what did we learn? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The Brewers pen is still a mess and we have no idea who will be the closer in Knebel’s absence. Maybe it’s Albers. Maybe it will be Barnes after all. Maybe Hader does get another shot. If you’re an owner of any of the three, you should probably hold for another week and see how things shake out. If Albers is on your waiver wire and it’s first-come, first-served, grab him. If you have to FAAB it up, just wait and see what happens for the duration of the week. With any luck, this murky brew will settle and we’ll all get some closer clarity here.

BaseBrawl

Usually, playing Nolan Arenado in DFS during a Coors Field homestand is like a warm cup of cocoa on a cold winter’s day. Not today. Today, Nolan spit in your cocoa and it was cold as ice. In four of the five games leading into today’s action, Arenado had four multi-hit games, but there were no home runs, just one extra-base it and one…one stinkin’ RBI. So with Luis Perdomo on the bump for the Padres, we happily went back to the Arenado well figuring he’s due for a breakout and who better to start it against, but Perdomo.

But after the Rockies threw at Eric Hosmer and then hit Manny Margot in the ribs (he’s now on the DL, so F you, Rockies) Tuesday night, San Diego took to the unwritten rules today and hit Trevor Story in the first inning. But rather than accept the “punishment,” the Rockies came back the next inning and hit Hunter Renfroe . That brought us to the third inning where Perdomo threw behind Arenado and the Rockies third baseman charged the mound.

Perdomo tried throwing his glove at a charging Arenado. Blocked. He darted towards the Padres dugout, but Arenado was still coming and threw a haymaker that just missed. Both benches cleared, lots of pushing and shoving, a few punches were thrown and, in the end, Arenado, Perdomo, A.J. Ellis , Gerardo Parra and German Marquez were all ejected.

Suspensions will be levied and that will hurt the seasonal fantasy crowd a little, but for today, a third-inning ejection for Arenado had him screwing over DFS owners yet again.

If you missed the excitement, you can catch it 100+ times on ESPN today or you can just click here.

Quick Hits

Kurt Suzuki is making the most of his playing time with Tyler Flowers on the DL and provided his fantasy owners with everyone’s favorite – the double dong. They were his first home runs of the season, but he’s now batting .273 with a rock-solid .385 OBP. If you’re in need of help behind the dish, give him a look.

Ender Inciarte was a disappointment with his 0-for-5 today, but he did swipe two bases to give a nice boost for those who wisely stacked the Braves today. See that? You don’t need to be a power-hitter to be productive in daily.

Last thing on the Braves as Arodys Vizcaíno blew the save today after giving up a solo home run to Matt Adams in the bottom of the ninth. The Atlanta closer took the loss last Saturday, so after today’s fiasco, we should all probably make sure we are stashing A.J. Minter on our benches. The dude is absolutely filthy. He struck out the side today in his one inning of work and he’s now allowed just two hits and three walks in six innings this season.

Waiver wire hounds need to check out Craig Mish’s piece about Padres call-up Franchy Cordero . With Margot on the DL, Cordero looks like he’s going to be the guy getting the at-bats. He homered today in his debut and, if he holds onto that leadoff spot, he’s going to be a nice addition to your fantasy teams.

Paul Goldschmidt homered Tuesday night and he was back today with another homer and an RBI-double. Guess the cold start is over, huh? If you were a panicky owner and mistakenly traded him, you get what you deserve. Bad move.

Lance McCullers looked awful today. Absolutely awful as he got thumped for eight earned runs in just 3.2 innings against the Twins. The Astros battled back, but to no avail as Max Kepler ’s second homer of the day sealed it up for the Twinkies. I wouldn’t worry too much about McCullers. These things happen. The guy still has fantastic stuff and any thoughts about benching or dropping should IMMEDIATELY leave your mind.

All this talk about the Brewers bullpen, lost in that game was Greg Holland ’s scoreless frame for the Cardinals. E issued one walk, but eight of his 13 pitches fell in for strikes and he’s looking like he’s getting back into form. Get him into your lineups. He’ll be just fine.

Another encouraging outing for Yonny Chirinos as the Rays hurler tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, had five strikeouts and left today’s game in line for the win. Unfortunately, that brutal Tampa pen served up a meatball Matt Davidson parked over the fence for the 2-1 White Sox win. Chirinos is looking solid thus far having thrown 14.1 scoreless frames this season and looks like he could be a killer second starter on Draft Kings. He was today, even without the win.

And finally, James Paxton , baby! That MFer threw like a champ today as he allowed two runs over six innings and struck out 10. And I say MFer with all the love in the world in my heart; not like Torey Lovullo talking about Yadier Molina , who, incidentally, served his one-game suspension today.

Time to go watch the night games!

Bender out.