Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Streamers for Week 18 (Part 2)

RotoBaller analyzes all of Week 18's fantasy baseball starting pitcher (SP) sleepers and streamers who may be available to pick up on your league's waiver wire.

Maybe I’m just excited, but I’m expecting a copious amount of trades today.  Plenty of teams are still mathematically in the playoff races and the teams that are out of it seem to like the bargaining chips they have.  I’m most excited to see which GMs actually think acquiring a past-his-prime pitcher for top prospects on the farm will put their one-or-two-games-over-.500 club in prime playoff position.  The Yankees come to mind... but I'm not sure they have a farm system anymore.

Below are some of the starting pitcher streaming sleepers for the second half of Week 18 to consider adding off your league’s waiver wire. Some of these SP options can be considered sleepers for your team depending on the league format and depth, including NL-Only, AL-Only and head-to-head formats.  Once again, our good friend TBD will be making a lot of starts for a lot of teams over the weekend, so be sure to check the probables at least a day in advance

Thursday SP Streamers

Odrisamer Despaigne (SD vs. STL)

Ownership: 22% Yahoo!, 12% Fleaflicker

He may not get the run support to give him a win, but Despaigne has several advantages on Thursday that should help his fantasy owners.  He’s pitching in San Diego and he’ll be facing a Cardinals team that is in the bottom third for weighted run creation.

Over the last few months, the Red Birds have fallen mightily in the HR/FB rate rankings, while gaining steam in the GB rate.  Those are downward trends that teams are supposed to avoid, not embrace.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Drew Hutchison (TOR at HOU)

Ownership: 18% Yahoo!, 11% Fleaflicker

My love-hate relationship with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hutch is beginning to put a strain on me psychologically.  He’s clearly a completely different and more dominating pitcher on the road, but his last few away starts have been nail-biting for fantasy owners.  His ERA has remained constant, but he’s allowing more baserunners.  I still like him on the road, but the wear and tear of a major league season may be starting to eat into him.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Friday SP Streamers

Wei-Yin Chen (BAL vs. SEA)

Ownership: 20% Yahoo!, 16% Fleaflicker

There’s probably no better win-probability streamer than Chen this weekend.  The O’s should give him plenty of run support and the Mariners aren’t very good against LHPs on the road.  Stream Chen with confidence.

MATCHUP RATING: Must Stream

Jonathon Niese (NYM vs. SFG)

Ownership: 25% Yahoo!, 15% Fleaflicker

The Giants are rather good at run creation against lefties.  Niese has been dominant at home, even with a 60.3% LOB rate.  This means that even with a home ERA of 2.80, he could have been even better.

If we are to evaluate this matchup considering trends, though, then we can’t avoid Niese’s horrific July so far.  His July could continue...

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Kyle Hendricks (CHC at LAD)

Ownership: 3% Yahoo!, 3% Fleaflicker

Consider this my roulette pick of the weekend.  Or my blindfolded dart throw.  Or my shot in the dark.  You get the picture.  There’s literally no reason to support a Hendricks pick against a Dodgers team in the top five in offense against RHPs.  Hendricks gets a nod here because his stuff has been okay so far and the Dodgers have a 2014 history of playing down to the competition.

MATCHUP RATING: Desperate Stream

Saturday SP Streamers

Nathan Eovaldi (MIA vs. CIN)

Ownership: 20% Yahoo!, 17% Fleaflicker

Eovaldi has been hit really hard at home recently.  Fortunately for him, he gets the Reds.  Cincinnati has been just awful since Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips went on the DL.  Expect these results to meet somewhere in the middle.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Vance Worley (PIT at ARI)

Ownership: 9% Yahoo!, 8% Fleaflicker

With a name that sounds as if he should be a 1960s-era artist rather than a 2010s pitcher, Worley is on quite the quasi-tear right now.  He’s only allowed 3 ER in his last 15 IP by mainly inducing a ton of easy ground ball outs.  The Diamondbacks don’t really pose a threat against RHPs.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Pirates rotation fares now that it appears Francisco Liriano is finding his groove from last season, Gerrit Cole is set to return from the DL soon and a lot of reports have them as the frontrunner in the Jon Lester sweepstakes.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Sunday SP Streamers

Mike Leake (CIN at MIA)

Ownership: 41% Yahoo!, 28% Fleaflicker

You can basically chop his 16.7% road HR/FB rate in half due to pitching in spacious Marlins Park, as well as add a few percentage points to his 15.5% road K rate as he’s facing the Marlins lineup.

Those splits are enough to give Leake a quality start.  Just hope the Reds give him enough offense and the bullpen can keep a lead.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Start

Bartolo Colon (NYM vs. SFG)

Ownership: 40% Yahoo!, 36% Fleaflicker

I’m probably wasting space here as there’s a strong possibility Colon gets traded, rendering irrelevant any evaluation of his excellent home splits and San Francisco’s below-average offense against RHPs on the road.

If by some miracle he doesn’t get traded, you should know that he possesses excellent home splits and San Francisco’s offense is below average against RHPs on the road.

MATCHUP RATING: Must Stream (if still on the Mets)

Aaron Harang (ATL at SD)

Ownership: 46% Yahoo!, 30% Fleaflicker

Harang has surprised me by being able to keep his numbers low so far.  He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, he’s walking more batters than he should and he’s giving up a lot of hits.  Yet somehow his ERA is solid.  Theoretically he should do well against a terrible Padres lineup, but San Diego has actually been able to score some runs post-ASB.  Maybe they did find some magic beans after all?

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream