By looking at our RotoCommunity Expert League bids, we can help you with your waiver wire considerations. Here are the leagues we're using as points of analysis (all $1000 FAAB budgets, weekly transactions):

• RotoCommunity.com's Triple Crown 12-team standard Roto Mixed League (TC)
• RotoCommunity.com's Blog Wars 15-team standard Roto Mixed League (BW)
• RotoCommunity.com's Mic Wars 12-team h2h Roto Mixed League (MW)

Ask a question about your players in our FORUM. Leave a comment about this article down below.

Jake Westbrook SP STL ($39 TC drop Julio Borbon)

Westbrook is the kind of deadline guy you might think about targeting for specific needs. Moving from the AL to the NL helps one of his primary faults, that of strikeouts.  He also moves to a contender and a team with a tradition of handling pitching. He's still been consistently average and you wouldn't want to count on too much help from him other than a speculation on wins. 

J.J. Hardy SS MIN ($38 TC drop Chris Davis)

One of the things that was kind of interesting is that the four most expensive players in the TC mixed this week were $39, $38, $38 and $37 (the two $38's being this writer's, and chosen more or less at random).   Hardy, returning after hand problems, has a .357/.400/.571 slash in August after hitting .351 in July. Hardy has a history of being unusable for half the season, but imitates the best power hitting shortstops for two or three months. In the Twins offense, he's not a bad throw if, as in this case, the owner has Rafael Furcal (possibly back Tuesday) and a spot to play with.

Jon Jay OF STL ($38 TC drop Ryan Sweeney) 

Mea culpa moment. This writer had, two weeks in a row, forgotten to queue Sweeney (out for the season) first amongst his drops. Ergo, this week my sole goal was to lose the Oakland outfielder. Jay doesn't really have a pedigree that suggests what he is doing will continue, but he is doing it and shoving other players to the side  (albeit, players who have significant flaws in their games especially against lefties, who Jay has eaten alive although he too is a lefty). Followers of TLR as Twitter renders manager Tony LaRussa keep a healthy dose of skepticism of his pronouncements on playing time.  But the organization is making all the right noises about Jay.

Mike Minor SP ATL ($38 TC drop Kris Medlen)

Medlen, although no one has said it yet, is likely to be headed for Tommy John surgery with a Ulnar Collateral ligament issue. Minor is to come up and make at least one start on Monday. Kenshin Kawakami  will be stretched out to start as well so whether or not Minor continues to have a say in the rotation is possibly dependent on how he does Monday. He's a major talent, but rookie pitchers have a mixed record pitching deep into the big league season.

J.P Arenciba C TOR ($27 TC drop Ramon Hernandez)

With Jason Buck hitting the DL the Jays have stated that Arenciba will be the starter. J.P. recently hit his 30th triple-A home run of the year and he has serious power. A poor season last year took some of the luster of his star but prior to that he was regarded as a can't miss catcher of the future. This year's performance has restored much of that. Ramon Hernandez is unlikely to regain enough playing time to be used in mixed leagues. The Reds have shown more confidence in Ryan Hanigan (not a bad catcher two play) and of course Joey Votto is patrolling first.

Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B OAK ($27 TC drop Corey Patterson)

You either live with Kouz' ups and downs and assume he'll have 80-90 RBI and 20 home runs with (hopefully) a .270 batting average, or you try to pick and choose those times when he is really going and when he is really going he is really worth having.  The longer term play is the safer one, because he can disappear for a month and at last check, we have less than two of those left.

Neil Walker 2B/3B PIT ($13 TC drop Kerry Wood)

Walker is now batting .306 with a .805 OPS which is not chopped liver for a second baseman and the .363/.388/525 since the break is also eye-catching.  It's a measure of the ups and downs of baseball that a highly regarded first round pick of a local guy (Walker is from Pittsburgh) can lose his prospect status change positions and now, again, look like a fixture for the Pirate's future. Walker hits a lot better at home and a lot better at night - proceed accordingly.

Mike Lowell 1B.3B BOS ($10 TC drop Carlos Santana)

With Kevin Youkilis set to miss the rest of the season after thumb surgery, Lowell may be the primary Sawx first baseman (stay tuned...trades may happen).  The Red Sox really have very few alternatives as David Ortiz is not an option and one time prospect Lars Anderson has spent the past two seasons taking the shine off his star.  The Red Sox auditioned Carlos Delgado this week and are said to at the very least be searching for a platoon partner for Lowell. You obviously wouldn't be surprised if Lowell, who has something to prove, hit.

Brian Duensing SP MIN ($3 TC drop John Ely)

Duensing has joined the rotation with Nick Blackburn exiting stage left. Duensing is a 27 year-old diminutive lefty who reached double-A in 2006 and has yet to establish himself in a major league role. He's been effective this season and pitches for a team with a good offense and a good bullpen. K every two innings, historically mediocre peripherals despite the 2.1/1.10 slash this season. One of the truisms of baseball is that a hot player may not be able to maintain an outlier result for a full season, but for a month or two?    

Ronny Paulino C FLA ($1 TC drop Richard Clayton)  

Paulino batted .174 in July and is at .217 in August so far. He should be ignored in mixed leagues.

Livan Hernandez SP WSN ($1 TC drop Tyler Clippard)

Livan has posted a 3.12/1.23 slash this season with 78 strikeouts (in 144 IP). It is extremely fashionable to bash Livan. This is nutty. There are 22 pitchers in all of baseball who are better than two wins ahead of Livan and of those only 10 have both better ERAs and WHIPs (granted 17 of those have more strikeouts).  It won't last forever of course, but he has been consistently good this season and the Nats are showing signs of life. If your K's are in reasonable shape, it's not a bad play.

Again, ask a question about your players in our FORUM. Leave a comment about this article down below.