Top 5 Two-Start (SP) Streamers: Week 7 Waiver Wire

May 11, 2014

Richie Smith analyzes two-start sleeper starting pitchers heading into week 7. These pitchers may be available on your waiver wire and should be picked up.

Five Starting Pitcher Streamers For Week 7

This will be a season-long, weekly piece on under-the-radar, two-start pitchers whom you should consider picking up for the following week of play.  I’ll give you a mix of starting pitcher options, some ideal for shallow leagues, some ideal for deep leagues.  This post will always be published well enough in advance of next week to give you ample time to prepare for the coming week.  The names that will appear on this list will not be your obvious, must-start guys who are likely already owned. It does you no good for me to tell you to start Kershaw, Jose or Greinke. Instead, I’ll look at starting pitchers who are close to less than ~50% owned in Yahoo! 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!

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Mark Buehrle - TOR, 77% Owned

Projected starts: Monday vs. LAA, Saturday @TEX

I am including Buehrle on this list because I believe he has flown vastly under the radar to start the season. He should be universally owned at this point, however he only sits at 77%.  He is 6-1 on the year, and has only given up more than two runs once. His last outing he tossed seven shutout innings against the Phillies and gave up only three hits.  His ERA is a nice and pretty 1.91. While he will obviously never be a strikeout machine like some other guys, Buehrle is a reliable, innings-eater who, when he is commanding his pitches, is a very solid option in all leagues. Until he proves otherwise, he’s a must start option against any opponent.

Rick Porcello - DET, 50% Owned

Projected starts: Monday @BAL, Saturday @BOS

Although wins are not always a great indication of pitching performance, Porcello does have five of them on the young season. The main thing for Porcello’s success in 2014 is his WHIP of 1.06. He’s controlling his pitches much better this year, as he has only surrendered six walks total on the season. He’s coming off one of his better outings, going 6.2 innings and only allowing two runs in a winning effort. Both Baltimore and Boston are around the league average in runs scored, and while Porcello has struggled on the road so far this year, his career ERA is actually lower on the road than it is at home. He’s a decent bet for a couple good outings next week.

Mike Leake - CIN, 32% Owned

Projected starts: Tuesday vs. SD, Sunday @PHI

Leake has pitched well so far, but has been a tad unlucky. His last two times out, despite throwing at least seven innings and only allowing two runs in each start, he was left with a loss and a no-decision. You can blame the lack of run support and the bullpen for those fates. Leake holds a solid 3.40 ERA and, since his first start of the season, has only walked seven batters in over 43 innings pitched. I think he’ll continue to find success next week, as he gets to face the Padres at home, the only team who has yet to crack the 100 total runs mark, and the Phillies, whose lineup is simply not that potent anymore and sits at 26^th in the league in runs scored.

Travis Wood- CHC, 47% Owned

Projected starts: Monday @STL, Saturday vs. MIL

Wood has been pretty inconsistent, alternating wins and losses, and gems and blowups in his last five starts and.  He’s been very good during the wins, and quite bad during the losses.  So in a two-start week, you have to assume that one of the starts may be a clunker. However, both the Cardinals and Brewers offenses are in the bottom half of the league in both runs scored and overall batting average. He is facing division opponents who he is familiar and that should help him, so I think he’ll pitch decent next week, but I can't blame you if you decide to go with other options.

Tyler Lyons- STL, 2% Owned

Projected starts: Monday vs. CHC, Saturday vs. ATL

In deeper leagues, Lyons is not a bad roll-of-the-dice.  He gets another week to show off his stuff with Joe Kelly’s injury. During his first three starts, Lyons has gone six innings in each of them, tossing two out of three quality starts. He has also shown the ability to strike guys out, totaling 18 Ks in 18 innings.  The Cubs offense is pretty terrible, and the Braves, believe it or not, are ahead of only the Padres in runs scored on the season, as well as holding the fifth-highest strikeout total in the league. So week 7 sets up fairly well for Lyons. I think he could find some success, and it’s likely that he can get his first win of the season.