Streaming Wars: Waiver Wire Targets for May 15

May 14, 2018

Brad Johnson's fantasy baseball daily streaming picks for May 15, 2018. Pitcher and hitter streamers for MLB DFS games, and head-to-head (H2H) waiver wire targets.

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire. This article, which began last season, runs seven days a week. We are always ready to stream.

For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on your waiver wire.

Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Tuesday, May 15. Let's get to it.

Agenda

1. Some Brief Trade Advice
2. Today's Weather and Updates
3. Tomorrow's Picks

1. Some Brief Trade Advice

I scribbled a few paragraphs about trade arbitrage on my personal blog. The advice is seemingly useful to the Rotoballer audience too. The even shorter version: to "win" a trade, one must exploit a misunderstanding of the relationship between unlike things. i.e. a prospect or a MLBer; a pitcher or a hitter; a slugger or a base thief.

2. Today's Weather and Updates - Monday, May 14

Kansas City has a risk of storms throughout the contest. Detroit is due for some late rain while Minnesota could have a delayed start.

3. Streamer Picks - Tuesday, May 15

Pitchers to Use

It feels weird to recommend Jordan Lyles. He's been a pitcher to exploit practically my entire writing career. I started back in May of 2010. Lyles began tossing duds in 2011. Most of a decade later, he's now a 27-year-old with experience in parts of eight seasons. And for the first time, he's showing a change in approach. He's mostly dumped a bad sinker in order to live near the top of the strike zone with a fastball-curve combo. His fastball is up to 94 mph. His strikeout rate is a career best 8.03 K/9 blended with a solid 2.92 BB/9. Overall, I'm buying in deep formats and streaming in 12-team leagues.

New command metrics show Tyler Mahle to be a stud when it comes to hitting his spots. I was always kind of mystified about Mahle's success, but now it's starting to make sense. His career walk rate of 3.64 BB/9 doesn't look like an elite command guy, but that's because he has to nibble the edges of the zone to stick in the majors. If he discovers new weapons or velocity, he may break out. In the meantime, a visit to AT&T is tasty.

Other Targets: Nick Pivetta, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jack Flaherty, Ian Kennedy

Pitchers to Exploit

Josh Tomlin has allowed 4.56 HR/9. He won't continue to allow this many home runs, mostly because nobody in the majors is allowed to allow this many home runs. He's always had some trouble with big flies. Now he's completely broken. Even the Triple-A Tigers should do some damage.

Jaime Barria has a shiny 2.45 ERA, a solid 3.91 FIP, and an ugly 4.90 xFIP. This is a way of saying he's had extreme luck with BABIP, home runs, and stranding baserunners. A matchup against the Astros may be painful.

Other Targets: German Marquez, Andrew Cashner, Josh Tomlin, Jaime Garcia, Wei-Yin Chen

Homers on the Wire

The Padres have called upon Franmil Reyes to reinforce the major league lineup. Reyes, an outfield prospect, hit 14 home runs with solid plate discipline in 154 Triple-A plate appearances. It's unclear who among the Padres outfielders will draw the short straw. Manuel Margot and Franchy Cordero are apparent building blocks (like Reyes). Travis Jankowski is hitting well as the leadoff man. Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe will eventually further crowd the outfield picture. In any case, Reyes seems like a reasonably decent power hitter to stash.

Other Targets: Aaron Altherr, Tyler Naquin, John Hicks, JaCoby Jones, Wilmer Flores, Enrique Hernandez, Austin Barnes, Dexter Fowler

Steals on the Wire

Jose Reyes plays way too often for the Mets. As painful as it is to say, their heavily left-handed lineup might actually be better off with Reyes in against Garcia. The Blue Jays southpaw is one of the more stolen base prone pitchers in the league. I'm sure Reyes would love to have a solid all-around game... he's batting .140/.178/.209.

Other Targets: Travis Jankowski, Manuel Margot, Bradley Zimmer, Mallex Smith, Jose Peraza

More Streamers and Waiver Wire Pickups