Baseball season is here! In the immortal words of Spongebob Squarepants: “Are you feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?”

Your teams are set and you’re already rolling through the first few days of the season, but perhaps you have a few roster spots on the edge of your team that you aren’t married to. Maybe you’re already wondering if there’s something better out there, and I’m here to put together some starting pitchers for your waiver considerations.

Protocol dictates sticking to players who are owned in <50% of Fleaflicker leagues, but don’t think this means I’m going to push Jeremy Hellickson or Martin Perez on you (they are the only SPs to have logged a quality start thus far who are below the 50% mark, and they're both actually below the 10% mark).

Editor’s Note: to read about even more waiver wire options, be sure to check out our famous waiver wire pickups list which is a running list that is updated daily. Prefer using your phone? Our free waiver wire app is available for download in the Apple & Android Stores.

Early Week 1 SP Waiver Wire Targets:

Ian Kennedy (KC, SP) – 45% owned in Fleaflicker leagues

Kennedy is a strong candidate to improve on his poor 2015 where his 4.28 ERA and 1.30 WHIP tanked his already poor value thanks to being on the Padres. He now brings his strikeout-per-inning stuff to Kansas City where he gets a much better pitch receiver in Salvador Perez, a fantastic defense behind him, and an amazing bullpen to back his starts. Yes, the AL Central is more treacherous than the NL West, but his career high 1.66 HR/9 should regress back to his career mark of 1.12 which will help him help you.

Anthony DeSclafani (CIN, SP) – 27% owned in Fleaflicker leagues

His ownership level actually went down 3% since I wrote about him last week, perhaps by those who were unaware he’d be starting to season on the DL or who opted to use their DL spots on others. Regardless, he is someone to be scooped and stashed. He showed major improvements in the second half last season as he started to rack up more Ks alongside significantly less walks as his secondary offerings really stepped up. He should be solid in four of five categories (I won’t pretend that the Reds are going to give him wins).

Aaron Nola (PHI, SP) – 37% owned in Fleaflicker leagues

Nola is one of those guys who won’t overly impress but can put up solid numbers. He carries the same caveat as DeSclafani as the Phillies won’t back him with incredible run support either (and the bullpen isn’t spectacular). He, Jerad Eickhoff (28% owned) and Vince Velasquez (18% owned) are three young Philly arms that should be intriguing this season. This number may go up by the time this is published as Nola went seven strong against the Reds on Wednesday, allowing one run on four hits with zero walks as he punched out eight. Yes, it was against the Reds but still that was a fantastic effort (you can also look at his opponent from that game, Brandon Finnegan [7% owned], in deeper leagues).

Bartolo Colon (NYM, SP) – 14% owned in Fleaflicker leagues

Since we’ve covered quite a few pitchers who have good stuff but might struggle to get wins then let’s get some Ws in there with Bartolo. The Mets are a strong team that gets to feast on the Phillies, Braves, and Marlins in the NL East. Colon is no chump either, as he posted the best walk rate of his career last season. In fact had the best walk rate in the majors for qualified starters with a 2.9% figure. Next best was Max Scherzer with a 3.8% walk rate. He won’t strike out 180, but he can still chip in four or five strikeouts per start usually. Don’t ever forget about Bartolo Colon.

Shane Greene (DET, SP) – 7% owned in Fleaflicker leagues

What, is this an article from last season or something? No I promise there are reasons for this. Daniel Norris is on the DL and Shane Greene is slated to be the fifth starter for the Tigers and if he starts out hot then it’ll be difficult to bump him from the rotation considering the strong spring he had (19.1 IP, four earned, four walks and 23 strikeouts). Greene started hot last season before struggling and dealing with elbow issues and numbness in his pitching hand, but he is healthy now and worth a look thanks to plus strikeout stuff and a healthy groundball rate. He even notched a save for the Tigers on Tuesday night thanks to a long-inning affair, so how about that for a cherry on top.

Nick Tropeano (LAA, SP) - 0% owned in Fleaflicker leagues

It was released yesterday that Andrew Heaney was placed on the 15-day DL with a left flexor muscle strain. While Heaney performed admirably against a strong Cubs lineup on Tuesday night, the velocity was lower than we're used to seeing. This might be a minimal stint, and this might be a precursor to Tommy John surgery (though not reported to be pointing to that). Outside of pretending to be a doctor, we're here to talk about the likely candidate to replace Heaney in the rotation: Nick Tropeano.

Tropeano did well in 37.2 big league innings last season, striking out 38 with a 3.82 ERA and 1.33 WHIP while backed by a sick 2.60 FIP. He has solid secondary offerings with a plus slider and changeup that he can mix in effectively. Tropeano probably won't be that 2.60 FIP pitcher moving forward this season, but if he gets a chance in this rotation then he should get plenty of Ks alongside decent ratios. Deep league players will want to snag him if he gets tapped to step in for Heaney (he should) and Trop would step in to start on Monday against the Athletics.

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