Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Streamers For Week 18 (Part 1)

July 28, 2014

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

Around this time every year the projected pitchers for a lot of teams two days in advance seem to be the same starting pitcher: TBD.  Now is usually the time when teams have decided whether to be buyers or sellers for the trade deadline, so it’s never been uncommon to see teams make call ups from Triple-A the day of a prospect’s start.

It seems there has been an increase in the TBD department this season when looking at pitcher projections two days in advance.  With over half of the teams in the league still playoff eligible, as well as an absurdly high number of starting pitchers suffering from injuries, it’s starting to look like a bunch of Bill Belichicks have taken over the probable pitcher department.  Maybe my memory is skewed, but this is the most I remember seeing the probable pitcher projections being utilized as a sort of chess match.

Below are some of my Week 18 picks for starting pitchers to consider streaming off the waiver wire. Some of these pitchers may be two-start pitchers, and all 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. As always, I categorize each of the streaming options as either Desperate, Risky, Solid or Must Stream.

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Monday SP Streamers

Chase Anderson (COL at CIN)

Ownership: 7% Yahoo!, 5% Fleaflicker

Not only have the Reds been struggling to get hits against RHPs, but they’ve been on offensive life support even at home.  That’s not easy to do.  Well, it might be easy to do if the two best hitters on the team are on the DL.  Anderson is actually a pretty good pitcher on the road.  He should continue the trend against Cincinnati on Monday.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Bartolo Colon (NYM vs. PHI)

Ownership: 40% Yahoo!, 31% Fleaflicker

In what could be his last start as a Met, Colon is looking to dominate the Phillies at home, where he’s posting a 2.81 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 19.9% K-BB rate.

The Phillies have quite a few players themselves that will probably be auditioning for new teams, but they don’t have enough that can hit RHP.

MATCHUP RATING: Must Stream

Jake Odorizzi (TB vs. MIL)

Ownership: 34% Yahoo!, 16% Fleaflicker

O-Rizzo can deal at home, but the Brew Crew can slug RHPs on the road.  Expect Odorizzi to deliver double digit strikeouts but also give up three or four runs.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Tuesday SP Streamers

Trevor Bauer (CLE vs. SEA)

Ownership: 20% Yahoo!, 11% Fleaflicker

This is my least favorite pick of the early week.  Bauer has average numbers at home but he’s giving up his fair share of base runners.  Normally that’s a bad thing, as I believe the name of the game is to not allow base runners.  His saving grace is Seattle’s anemic bats.  Of course, now that I’ve projected Seattle’s offense to not show up, they’ll probably score six in the first inning.

MATCHUP RATING: Desperate Stream

Rubby de la Rosa (BOS vs. TOR)

Ownership: 9% Yahoo!, 6% Fleaflicker

Though the guy pitching for the other team is the hot pitcher right now and one of my favorites, de la Rosa’s home splits are nothing to sneeze at.  His strikeout rate isn’t as good as you'd hope it to be, but he’s holding hitters to a .178 BAA.  His LOB rate is quite scary and eventually will catch up.  On a side note, if you’re thinking of streaming or starting Marcus Stroman in this game, check out his away splits before doing so.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Wednesday SP Streamers

Brett Anderson, Travis Wood (COL at CHC)

Ownership (Anderson): 2% Yahoo!, 8% Fleaflicker
Ownership (Wood): 25% Yahoo!, 46% Fleaflicker

I’m trying to get away with cheating again by selecting two pitchers in the same game.  Anderson has better stuff and is a better pitcher on the road than Wood is at home.  On the flip side, the Cubs have been unexpectedly hot in July against LHPs, and the Diamondbacks have been pretty average.  In situations such as these, I’d trust the line drive rate and say Anderson gets the edge.

MATCHUP RATING (ANDERSON): Risky Stream

MATCHUP RATING (WOOD): Risky Stream

Danny Duffy (KC vs. MIN)

Ownership: 38% Yahoo!, 12% Flea Flicker

I don’t think Duffy will be donning a red cape or beer goggles, but he will still unleash the power of Duff-Man against the Twins on Wednesday.

Considering the ineptitude of Minnesota’s bats against LHPs on the road, you can expect Duff-Man to be thrusting in the direction of a W. He's been pitching very well over the past few weeks, for the most part, and expect his chances of keeping that streak rolling to be pretty good here as well.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream