RADIO
The All Star break is done. The Game of Thrones season is over. True Detective has been borderline atrocious. And football season is still nearly a month away. There is literally nothing to hold anyone back from going all in on their fantasy baseball teams. It’s imperative for dynasty league owners at this time to figure out if they are 2015 contenders or playing for the future.
Not to be outdone, it’s equally important for owners in Al-only and/or NL-only leagues to pay attention to any trade rumors that are bound to crop up over the next couple weeks. You have to imagine that nearly every team in the AL will be buyers and a few teams in the NL will be sellers. Chief among the sellers will be Philadelphia and Colorado, and most likely Cincinnati, Milwaukee and possibly Atlanta and/or Arizona. Fantasy owners in NL-only leagues that have stock in Johnny Cueto, Cole Hamels or Jonathan Papelbon may want to consider selling for 80 cents on the dollar as insurance for those teams making any deals with AL teams. When it’s all said and done, this could be an extremely active trading season wherein AL-only leagues get a ton of big names on the waiver wire.
Below are some of my starting pitcher streamer sleepers for the second half of Week 15 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.
Friday Starting Pitcher Streamers
Mike Bolsinger (LAD at WAS) – Ownership: 28% Yahoo!, 13% Fleaflicker
At this point the jury is out on Bolsinger. He is a guy that will add solid value for about five or six innings, but will rarely last past that. And if he gets into trouble early, he could really be a liability for any fantasy owner. Plus, there’s a guy on the Nationals that is putting up video game numbers against right-handed pitchers. Hint: his name rhymes with Hice Barper.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Drew Hutchison (TOR v. TB) – Ownership: 43% Yahoo!, 19% Fleaflicker
With a 22.1% K rate, the Rays are up near the top of the league at striking out against right-handed pitchers. It also helps that Hutchison has been terrific at home in the Rogers Centre. His FIP drops to 2.39 and his K rate climbs to 24.3%. It’s hard to figure out why his K rate climbs, but it’s no use in trying to find logic in Hutchison’s game.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Kyle Hendricks (CHC at ATL) – Ownership: 26% Yahoo!, 20% Fleaflicker
Zack Greinke may be the guy that has everyone talking about scoreless streaks, but Hendricks has been quite good recently as well. Over his last three starts, he has gone 2-0 with 16 K, 13 hits allowed and has given up zero earned runs in 20.1 innings. Not too shabby. Look for him to continue similar numbers against a Braves squad that is finally starting to come back down to earth.
Matchup Rating: Must Stream
Robbie Ray (ARI v. SFG) – Ownership: 12% Yahoo!, 8% Fleaflicker
Ray’s velocity is just irresistible, especially given that he’s a southpaw. The problem is he’ll be toeing the rubber against a Giants team that seemingly always starts to go on a run at this time of year. Though they’ve struggled a bit at the dish, the Giants still possess solid advanced numbers against left-handed throwers. Chief among them are the wRC+ of 102.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Saturday Starting Pitcher Streamers
Tom Koehler (MIA at PHI) – Ownership: 11% Yahoo!, 11% Fleaflicker
Philadelphia is in complete free fall mode and as soon as they trade Cole Hamels and/or Jonathan Papelbon, there will be little to no reason to not stream any player/pitcher against them. Surprisingly, their young bats have done a solid job of putting the bat on the ball. Unfortunately most of the batted balls go directly at players.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Chase Anderson (ARI v. SFG) – Ownership: 11% Yahoo!, 12% Fleaflicker
Robbie Ray makes for a better stream option against the Giants, but Anderson has still put up some good numbers especially at home. His K rate jumps up by four percentage points, his WHIP drops from 1.23 to 1.19 and his FIP is at 4.12. Those still aren’t great numbers and a team like the Giants can really take advantage.
Matchup Rating: Desperate Stream
Chad Bettis (COL at SDP) – Ownership: 4% Yahoo!, 9% Fleaflicker
A 21.9% K Rate, 99 wRC+ and .293 OBP aren’t exactly what the Padres management had envisioned when they brought over all those big time names. They’re basically where they were last season at this time, but with a much higher payroll. I’m no economist, but that’s not exactly a premier way to invest.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Sunday Starting Pitcher Streamers
Marco Estrada (TOR v. TB) – Ownership: 23% Yahoo!, 17% Fleaflicker
In Estrada’s last outing against the Rays he almost threw a no-hitter. Since then he has been a model of consistency, in which he’s allowed at least two earned runs in each of his three starts. Of course, one of those starts lasted only 2.1 innings and another start he allowed nine hits. But other than that, he’s a model of (in)consistency.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Danny Duffy (KC at CHW) – Ownership: 17% Yahoo!, 10% Fleaflicker
Duff-Man owns an away FIP of 4.16 and batters own a batting average .284 when he is not in Kansas City. The Sox own a wRC+ of 57, a wOBA of .257, a team OBP of .269, .311 SLG and .580 OPS, all league worsts. Something has to give.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Taylor Jungmann (MIL v. PIT) – Ownership: 15% Yahoo!, 14% Fleaflicker
This was a tough one considering the Pirates are a league best 35-13 since May 22. No other team even has 30 wins during that span. Jungmann has been quite effective this season, but he may not be ready for the Bucco train this weekend.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Jon Niese (NYM at STL) – Ownership: 14% Yahoo!, 11% Fleaflicker
Perhaps the happiest person on the planet about the Steven Matz injury is Niese. Now he gets plugged back into the starting rotation. Good news, since he has actually pitched pretty well on the season. However, it seems that whenever he is selected for this list, he ends up getting blown up. Fingers crossed that he pitches up to his 3.65 and 3.42 FIPs of June and July.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
