Streaming Wars: Waiver Wire Targets for May 26

May 25, 2018

Brad Johnson's fantasy baseball daily streaming picks for May 26, 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 Saturday, May 26. Let's get to it.

Agenda

1. The Choo-Choo Platter
2. Today's Weather and Updates
3. Tomorrow's Picks

1. The Choo-Choo Platter

Shin Soo Choo, circa 2015: https://t.co/2Pd6MkSjFm

Shin Soo Choo, circa last night: https://t.co/8lEc9fg25W

— Brad Johnson (@BaseballATeam) May 25, 2018

2. Today's Weather and Updates - Friday, May 25

Thumbs up. No evil storms to report.

3. Streamer Picks - Friday, May 25

Pitchers to Use

A good Daniel Mengden outing is a treat to watch. He keeps hitters uncomfortable with a series of inconsistent starts and stops. Above average command and control round out the package. Practically every ball is in play (5.97 K/9, 0.94 BB/9) which tends to make the game much more enjoyable. That doesn't matter to fantasy owners. For us, the draw is his low WHIP and strong chance for a victory against the Diamondbacks.

You saw it here first. Jordan Lyles is rosterable in most formats. With 8.60 K/9, 2.63 BB/9, and a 3.11 ERA, he looks the part of a mid-rotation workhorse. His success is the result of an abrupt change in approach. Instead of leaning on crappy sinkers, he's working the upper edge of the zone and mixing in a curve ball. The Dodgers are tad soft at the moment.

Other Targets: Bartolo Colon, Jack Flaherty

Pitchers to Exploit

So I've listed a few pitchers here who have performed well this season. Francisco Liriano is sitting on a 3.42 ERA through nine starts. However, he won't maintain his unusually low .214 BABIP (#2008Analysis). Once his low 6.32 K/9 and high 4.44 BB/9 catch up to him, his ERA will spike. The White Sox have a volatile offense.

Chase Anderson appears to have surrendered all of the gains he made last season. His 3.86 ERA belies a 6.01 FIP. Luck is with him. There is one caveat to note in preparation for his start against the Mets, Anderson average a season-high 93 mph in his first outing back from the disabled list. Was it just adrenaline or is he possibly back on track?

Jake Odorizzi walks a fine line between surrendering easy fly ball outs and home runs. His 1.67 HR/9 is right in line with expectations, but he should also maintain around a .270 BABIP going forward. Coupled with a strikeout per inning and 3.83 BB/9, he should outperform ERA estimators. That said, his current 3.17 ERA is extremely fortunate. I expect the Mariners to deal some damage.

Other Targets: Clay Buchholz, Ian Kennedy, Jaime Garcia, Hector Santiago, Jason Vargas, Wei-Yin Chen, Andrew Cashner, Ryan Stanek, Tyler Mahle, Chris Stratton, Wade LeBlanc, Jake Odorizzi

Homers on the Wire

The Nationals have seen quite the run of left-handed starters lately. Mark Reynolds has batted cleanup for all of them. Notably, he's batting .478/.520/1.043 with four home runs in 25 plate appearances. I even squeezed a double-homer game out of him. Chen is the worst of all the lefties he's likely to face this year.

Over his brief career, Christian Villanueva is a .367/.406/.933 hitter versus left-handed pitching (64 PA). He's a .205/.276/.402 batter against righties (123 PA). Both samples are teeny-tiny, and his peripherals don't really support the crazy splits. Even so, it doesn't hurt to toss him in an empty slot versus Alex Wood tomorrow - just in case.

Other Targets: Jose Pirela, Max Muncy, Gerardo Parra, Ian Desmond, Daniel Castro, Robbie Grossman, Eduardo Escobar, Dan Vogelbach, Guillermo Heredia, Miguel Andujar, Pedro Alvarez, Danny Valencia, Juan Soto, Jesus Aguilar, Hernan Perez, Brandon Nimmo, Wilmer Flores, Yolmer Sanchez, Niko Goodrum, John Hicks, JaCoby Jones, Tyler O'Neill, Aaron Altherr, Maikel Franco, Shin-Soo Choo

Steals on the Wire

While I'm not going out of my way to pick upon Wood, I will note that Yasmani Grandal has struggled to cut down base thieves this season. Manuel Margot is very likely to start and bat eighth.

The Orioles have allowed the fourth most stolen bases. It's certainly not Cashner's fault - only one guy has stolen while he's pitching. Baltimore relievers seem especially prone. In other words, tomorrow is still a good time to roll out Mallex Smith for those late-week swipes.

Other Targets: Jose Peraza, Michael Taylor, Jonathan Villar, Delino DeShields

Skill Positions

Kurt Suzuki is starting tonight which means Tyler Flowers is on call for tomorrow's day game. The righty has picked up right where he left off last season, batting .289/.426/.395 through 47 plate appearances. I've seen him referred to as a lefty masher, but I don't buy it. He's just a solid hitting catchers. No need to categorize him.

More Streamers and Waiver Wire Pickups