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RotoBaller Richie Smith breaks down the top 5 two-start sleeper starting pitchers to stream off the waiver wire heading into week 10 for a big impact to your fantasy baseball team.
Week 10 Two-Start Streamers
This weekly piece focuses on the best two-start pitchers and streamers for the following week of fantasy baseball. These under-the-radar, two-start pitchers can be sleepers off the waiver wire depending on your league format, and you can consider adding them to your head-to-head and daily-league lineups. I’ll give you a mix of starting pitcher options near or below 50% ownership in Yahoo! leagues, some ideal for shallow leagues, some ideal for deep leagues. These arms are worth looking at if you’re investigating two-start options for the following week, or even just looking for a quick streamer or two for one start. All ownership percentages from Yahoo!
Tim Lincecum, SF - 61% - Projected starts: Tuesday @CIN, Sunday vs. NYM
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Lincecum still has the name recognition, but the days of “The Freak” consistently mowing down hitters with a sneaky strong fastball and nasty splitter appear to be over. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still be a serviceable starting pitcher, especially in two-start weeks. After an up-and-down start to the season, Lincecum seems to have righted the ship with his last few starts, including three quality starts and a five-inning no-hit bid his last time out.
Though he ultimately had to be removed from that last start because of a blister, he is expected to be fine for Tuesday’s start in the Queen City. And the Giants are one of the best teams in the league, so there are opportunities for him to rack up some wins as well. Next week, he’ll face the Reds and the Mets-- only two teams (Atlanta and San Diego) score fewer runs than the Reds, and the Mets are in the bottom third of the league in runs scored. It should be a good week to start Lincecum twice, assuming he's healthy enough to take the bump.
Jorge De La Rosa, COL - 32% - Projected starts: Tuesday vs. ARI, Sunday vs. LAD
De La Rosa has been excellent for most of this year and, in my opinion, has flown very much under the radar. The stats all seem to check out: 3.66 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, .215 BAA. The Colorado lefty has won his last six starts, excluding his May 22nd three-inning suspended start against the Giants. He has not given up more than three ER in a start (and only gave up three one time) since April 11th. The concern with Rockies’ pitchers, as always, is the Coors Field effect, but De La Rosa has actually fared much better at Coors than on the road this year-- the ERA is over two runs higher away from home, and he has a better WHIP and BAA in the thin Denver air , as well. Next week, he gets two starts at Coors, so continue to roll with De La Rosa until he shows signs of slowing down.
Bartolo Colon, NYM - 23% - Projected starts: Monday @PHI, Saturday @SF
Colon has been the definition of up-and-down in 2014, as every start this season has resulted in him giving up either fewer than three runs or more than six runs. But his last two have been two of his better ones, so perhaps it’s a sign of good things to come for the veteran righty. Those two starts have resulted in two wins, scattering just five hits in each, with 14 K to just 2 BB over that span. I still think that all of Colon’s career innings have finally caught up to him, so I certainly don’t like him as a long-term option, but for a two-start week coming off two strong outings, I think he’s a solid play. Next week, Colon will have two road starts against two teams he doesn’t have a lot of history with, the Phillies and the Giants.
David Phelps, NYY - 4% - Projected starts: Monday vs. SEA, Saturday @KC
In deep leagues, I really like Phelps for next week. Despite two losses, his last two starts have been pretty good (two quality starts, 13/3 KK/BB ratio, 5 ER in 13 innings), and he’s rebounded nicely from some struggles earlier in May. In addition, Phelps is a very good matchup play for next week. Only the Padres average fewer hits per game than the Mariners, and Kansas City’s offense has been in a tailspin-- only three teams score fewer runs per game than the Royals. And while the Yankees offense certainly is not as potent as it was several years ago, they are still averaging 4.3 runs per game, so the run support is still decent enough to sustain Phelps.
Eric Stults, SD - 2% - Projected starts: Monday vs. PIT, Sunday vs. WAS
With Phelps, it was partly a matchup play. In Stults’s case, it’s just about entirely a matchup play. If you’re desperate, Stults is almost assuredly sitting on your waiver wire. Two starts at Petco bode well for the lefty, as his career ERA is a full run lower in the spacious home confines than on the road. Both the Pirates and Nationals offenses have really struggled this season, each averaging fewer than four runs a game, and both in the bottom half of the league in hits per game-- which adds up to two of the lowest ERAs against in the league. If that hasn't sold you, Stults has actually tossed three quality starts out of his last four outings. If you do roll with Stults, don’t expect many strikeouts, as he only has 26 in over 56 innings of work.
