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Welcome to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire. Use this column to improve upon your neediest categories.
Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Tuesday, June 13th.
Let's get to it.
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Agenda
- More Homers
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. More Homers
I'm running rather late. Here are a couple players who used to appear in this column hitting two home runs yesterday.
2. Today's Weather and Updates
Minnesota has a 50 percent chance for storms tonight. The rest of the league is dry. A whole slew of venues may be stormy on Tuesday - Pittsburgh, Boston, Cleveland, New York (NL), and Chicago (AL).
3. Tomorrow's Picks - Tuesday, June 13th
The Brewers and Cardinals are playing a doubleheader tomorrow.
Pitchers to Use
There are a handful of streamable pitchers available with varying degrees of usefulness. Boring veteran Scott Feldman is capable of supplying steady volume and a few strikeouts versus the lowly Padres. San Diego does have a few interesting hitters who could turn the tables.
Buck Farmer hasn't allowed a run through two starts, but my inclination is to bet on the Diamondbacks tomorrow. Farmer has produced strangely high whiff and strikeout rates through 13 innings. There's a chance he's made a real, meaningful improvement, but I don't have any theories. His velocity is down, and he isn't throwing more breaking balls.
I generally stay away from Joe Ross. I'll make an exception opposite the Freeman-less Braves.
Other Targets: Zack Wheeler, J.C. Ramirez, Derek Holland
Pitchers to Exploit
After missing all of the 2016 season, Marco Gonzales is back. That would be cool if Gonzales was ever good in the first place. Once upon a time, he was viewed as a growth asset with plus control and minus command. Sometimes the command catches up to the control and you get Kyle Hendricks. The soft-tossing lefty consistently dominates minor league hitters, but the transition to the majors is difficult for this profile.
I used to consider Kyle Gibson to be a better version of Kyle Kendrick. Now they're both ridiculously terrible. Gibson's best trait is a high ground ball rate. He tends to allow hard contact which translates to a high BABIP. Grab some Mariners.
Other Targets: R.A. Dickey, Ben Lively, Trevor Bauer, Jose Urena, Alec Asher, Christian Bergman, Nick Martinez, Paulo Espino
Homers on the Wire
Logan Morrison is still under 40 percent owned. Although he remains a low average hitter, he's morphed into a legitimate 30 home run threat. He's already blasted 17 long balls on the strength of increased fly ball and hard contact rates.
Poor Jed Lowrie continues to draw starts in cavernous parks. He's adjusted his approach to hit more fly balls, but he doesn't quite have the strength to mimic Khris Davis. Lowrie would be a much better play at a Miller Park or Camden Yards. In any event, he has a nice matchup opposite Urena, and he supplies four of five categories.
Other Targets: Jorge Bonifacio, Hunter Renfroe, Franchy Cordero, Yangervis Solarte, Tommy Pham, Hernan Perez, Melky Cabrera, Derek Dietrich, Matt Joyce, Mitch Moreland, Colby Rasmus
Steals on the Wire
I glossed over Jose Pirela yesterday. I've since noticed that he's made meaningful improvement to his quality of contact. Pirela popped 13 home runs in 201 Triple-A plate appearances. And while San Diego's Triple-A affiliate plays in a very hitting friendly venue, Pirela also demonstrated value on the bases while showing good plate discipline. The club may have discovered a surprisingly useful utility piece - one with fantasy utility too.
Speaking of surprisingly useful leadoff men, Eric Sogard and Lewis Brinson are the latest Brewers to get a shot in the one-spot. Sogard is another utility guy who might be benefiting from recent improvements in hitting theory. He features a high contact rate. He usually sprays weak batted balls, but this year he's pulling the ball with some authority. He has enough power for Miller Park (too bad the game is in St. Louis), and the ability to swipe 10 bases over a full season. He'll play regularly with Jonathan Villar sidelined. Brinson is a top prospect who may have a little too much swing-and-miss in his game. It may take him awhile to adapt to the majors.
Other Targets: Kolten Wong, Delino DeShields, Taylor Motter, Leury Garcia, Mallex Smith, Michael Taylor
Skill Positions
Devin Mesoraco is finally healthy and gaining an increasing share of the Reds catching duties. He has five home runs in 87 plate appearances to go with better than average walk and strikeout rates. His opponent, Clayton Richard, is a beatable southpaw.
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