Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Yankees' new additions George Lombard Jr., Heliot Ramos highlight players to add
By Jorge Perez· Founder, V12 DFS
Fantasy analysis can surface role, waiver, rankings, and usage signals before they become obvious in projections. Treat it as context for player research.
The Yankees' mid-season acquisition of George Lombard Jr. and Heliot Ramos resets the ownership and ceiling calculus for a slate that's been short on true upside plays at shortstop. Lombard Jr. arrives with limited major-league exposure—10 at-bats, a 1.017 OPS, and three hits—but the kind of athleticism that drives late-round leverage in tournaments. His addition to the Yankees' lineup creates a lower-owned entry point into what could be a high-total game, especially if the matchup features a pitcher Lombard Jr. can exploit. V12's model gives him roughly a 13% chance to homer in his next game vs Chris Sale, which—while not elite—represents a meaningful ceiling event in a position that often clogs with chalk.
The optimizer's first read here is ownership compression. Shortstop is already crowded on most slates, and the arrival of two fresh bats means cash-game players will split exposure across more names while GPP builders hunt for the Ramos or Lombard Jr. dart that doesn't appear in 40% of five-figure field lineups. Ramos brings established power metrics to the equation, but Lombard Jr. is the leverage signal: he's been off the board long enough that most projection systems haven't fully baked in recent performance, and his sample is small enough that the typical late-swap crowd hasn't yet built a conviction narrative around him.
The practical move for a fanduel dfs optimizer user is to pilot both names through the slate's game-flow scenarios before lock. Flag Lombard Jr. specifically if the Yankees are in a high-total, high-pace matchup where his role stays consistent and his contact profile fits the opposing pitcher's tendencies. Watch the official lineup confirmation and verify his position eligibility and batting order slot against your contest's constraints. Ramos deserves the same diligence, but as the less contrarian of the two, his leverage ceiling is lower—build him into a stack if the math works, but don't force it.
Turn this MLB news into a lineup tonight
V12's MLB engine reads slate context, builds a candidate pool, runs configured simulations, ranks the portfolio with ownership and behavioral pattern signals, and ships a FanDuel-ready CSV. The news above becomes one input among many — not a forced lineup change.