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Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week.
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 Monday, May 7. Let's get to it.
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Agenda
- Who Are You?
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. Who Are You?
It's impossible to know the entire player pool well, so don't even try. While researching Monday's matchups, I encountered two starting pitchers I was not aware existed and one more I only had a passing recollection of. If you ever find yourself in a comparable situation, quickly look up some basic statistics. K% and BB% alone are often enough to tell you whether he's a disaster waiting to happen or somebody worthy of a more detailed examination.
2. Today's Weather and Updates
The weather today is as bad as it could possibly be from a fantasy perspective. There aren't any guaranteed rainouts you can easily avoid, but New York (two games), Washington DC, Chicago, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and St. Louis all have a realistic chance of precipitation. The best thing to do is find a weather service you trust and check it closer to game time.
It's also one of the first hot days of 2018, with Atlanta, Kansas City, Arlington, Cincinnati, and St. Louis expected to reach highs of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. The ball tends to fly farther in such conditions, so keep that in mind when making your streaming decisions.
3. Streamer Picks - Monday, May 7
Pitchers to Use
It's a light schedule on Monday, and most of the available pitchers are awful. The best of the bunch is Fernando Romero, Minnesota's 23-year old. He performed well against Toronto in his first big league start (5 2/3 scoreless IP with five Ks and three BBs) and has a minor league history of strong GB% rates and slightly above average strikeout totals. Control is not his forte, but he should keep things stable enough to earn a W opposite John Gant and the Cardinals.
Tyson Ross is the other usable arm on the slate. He's unlikely to earn a W opposite Stephen Strasburg and the Nats, but appears to have made a full recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome. He's really a one-pitch pitcher, but his slider is so good (17.7% SwStr%, 42.4% Zone%, 41.7% chase) that he's been able to post a 27% K%, 3.28 ERA, and 3.23 xFIP on the season.
Other Targets: None
Pitchers to Exploit
No shortage of terrible arms to exploit tomorrow. The worst of the bunch might be Jeff Samardzija, who's walking (15.4% BB%) nearly as many as he strikes out (18.5% K%) en route to a 5.27 ERA and 5.60 xFIP. He usually gets the crutch of a pitcher's park to provide some reason for optimism, but Citizen's Bank Park is nothing like San Francisco.
Alternatively, Jarlin Garcia continues to post a strong ERA (1.09) despite a terrible everything else (4.56 xFIP, 18.6% K%, 10.5% BB%). I have a feeling that regression will be quick, with a matchup against the Cubs a likely catalyst.
Other Targets: Homer Bailey, Zach Eflin, Matt Moore, John Gant
Homers on the Wire
I know the Tigers are terrible, but you shouldn't ignore them completely in fantasy. Jeimar Candelario has a .290/.362/.516 triple slash line with four dingers and a strangle hold on playing time so far this season, numbers that deserve to be owned in more than 37% of leagues. Monday's matchup against the consistently awful Matt Moore in a hitter's park is a great time to add him to your roster.
Otherwise, it's a great day to sort your waiver wire by real life teams and just pick whoever's facing somebody in the exploit column above.
Other Targets: Logan Morrison, Max Kepler, Brandon Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell, Jason Heyward, Yuri Gurriel, Victor Martinez
Steals on the Wire
This is your weekly reminder that Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos is very poor defensively. He has allowed 16 of 18 would-be base thieves to steal on him this season, and the Tigers are almost certainly planning on running. JaCoby Jones, Jose Iglesias, and Leonys Martin are the fastest players on the club.
Other Targets: Amed Rosario, Jose Reyes, Scott Kingery, Delino DeShields Jr.
Skill Positions
If you need a short term roster patch, it can be beneficial to pick a one category specialist to catch up in a category you're falling behind in. For example, Joe Mauer's .425 OBP could help a lot of fantasy clubs despite his other failings, and he's only owned in 14% of leagues.
