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 Friday, June 2nd.

Let's get to it.

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Agenda

1. Thames Fatigue?
2. Today's Weather and Updates
3. Tomorrow's Picks

 

1. Thames Fatigue?

After hitting a billion homers in April, Eric Thames had a merely decent May. Minor injuries and illness held him to just three home runs and a bunch of walks. With others like Justin Bour, Yonder Alonso, and Justin Smoak posting similar home run totals, Thames' price tag may come down. He's more likely to continue the big power numbers than his fellow breakout sluggers.

Here he is hammering a moon ball last night.

 

2. Today's Weather and Updates

The action is already getting started as I write today. The weather is superb. New York and Arlington may have storms tomorrow night.

 

3. Tomorrow's Picks - Friday, June 2nd

Pitchers to Use

Josh Tomlin pitched reasonably well in four of five May starts. The other was a two-inning, six-run drubbing. I emphasize this to say that Tomlin remains a risky play. Meltdowns will always be a possible outcome. He faced the Royals last week and tossed a complete game. This time, he's visiting their spacious park. You're looking for a long, efficient outing with few strikeouts, base runners, or runs.

Not only do the Padres have a weak offense, they also strike out at an alarming rate. German Marquez has the opportunity to take advantage with what will probably be a quality start. I'd like to see him roll a few more ground balls and increase his breaking ball usage.

Francisco Liriano is back from the disabled list. Prior to hitting the skids, he was averaging just four innings per start. An unusually high 7.31 BB/9 and a .346 BABIP resulted in his painful 6.35 ERA. Liriano is the ultimate in risk and reward. He's capable of reeling off a streak of strong outings. He may also flop spectacularly.

Other Targets: Mike Foltynewicz, J.C. Ramirez

 

Pitchers to Exploit

I've said it before and I'll say it again - mostly because I'm paid to write about the same players over and over - Jose Urena is a poor man's J.C. Ramirez. And since Ramirez is just a streaming quality starter, it makes sense that the poor man's version is an exploit. Urena throws hard, but his increasingly used breaking ball isn't good enough to consistently defeat hitters.

The Phillies discarded Alec Asher. The Phillies. Enough said, right? Quips aside, Asher looks like a long reliever. His decent 3.77 ERA is overshadowed by a 5.01 FIP.

Bronson Arroyo has allowed 3.14 HR/9 across 51.2 innings. Wooooow.

Other Targets: Pat Corbin, Kyle Gibson, Christian Bergman, Ty Blach, Jered Eickhoff

 

Homers on the Wire

While I don't really see any reason why John Lackey would continue to allow 2.04 HR/9, it is perhaps noteworthy that he has allowed that home run rate through 57.1 innings. And if he's done it to this point, it's feasible that he could continue to do it. In that case, Tommy Pham and Paul DeJong are suddenly interesting. DeJong had 11 home runs at Triple-A.

Arroyo is bad enough to make virtually anybody a power threat. Consider lesser lights like Brandon Phillips, Nick Markakis, and Rio Ruiz. They usually aren't candidates for a home run.

Bergman is a below average ground ball pitcher. Colby Rasmus is a powerful fly ball hitter with a high whiff rate. He's the best combination of widely availability and potential to hit a home run.

Other Targets: Mitch Moreland, Tommy Joseph, Chris Carter, David Peralta, Brandon Moss, Logan Morrison, Ryan Schimpf, Hunter Renfroe

 

Steals on the Wire

Andrew Triggs and Stephen Vogt are stolen base prone. If Vogt is catching, then Taylor is one of the top stolen base threats aside from Billy Hamilton. Jose Reyes is an elevated steal threat too opposite exploitable Gerrit Cole. Too bad he's a very good pitcher.

Other Targets: Adam Frazier, Jarrod Dyson, Ben Gamel, Kevin Kiermaier

 

Skill Positions

Cameron Rupp is facing a lefty. He likes those. Especially the pitch-to-contact kinds. Tyler Flowers is a legit top catching option

 

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