X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Week 11 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

With roughly two-fifths of the baseball season in the past, we’ve got plenty of data to play with and some serious questions to answer about our fantasy teams. Some of you are likely rolling reliever-heavy lineups and I respect that, but you probably won’t find much help here! Whatever your strategy may be, these arms should be able to help you!

If you want to chat more about additional arms/bats/whatever, you can find me on Twitter @NMariano53 and ask any follow-up questions.

We're using Yahoo ownership levels and cutting things off around 30% this week. Here are my starting pitcher waiver wire targets for Week 11.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and weekly lineup resources:

 

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Targets

Seth Lugo (NYM - SP/RP): 30% owned

I always hate when a guy truly breaks out on primetime television, you just know there’s going to be a waiver rush like no other. Lugo dismantled the Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball, as he allowed a mere two singles and struck out eight with zero walks over six scoreless frames to end the Mets’ losing streak at eight. The key is not only his velocity jump found in the bullpen, much like what we saw from Danny Duffy, but also masterful control of his breaking pitches. The Mets are tepidly speaking about giving Lugo a real rotation slot but come on, Noah Syndergaard may not come back for a while pending this second opinion on his finger and Jason Vargas shouldn’t be stopping anyone showing signs of success from pitching. The worst-case scenario is he becomes another strong middle-relief option for you.

Mike Soroka (ATL - SP): 30% owned

Hopefully, this is the final time during Soroka’s career that I can write about him as a pickup. Soroka’s second rehab start wasn’t perfect like his first one, but he still punched out seven and gave up just one run on three hits and a walk at Triple-A. This guy has a 2.76 FIP/2.87 xFIP/3.60 SIERA underneath the 3.68 ERA in 14 ⅔ Major League innings and he had a 1.71 FIP/2.21 xFIP behind the 2.00 ERA in 27 Triple-A innings. His only surface blemish is the 1.70 WHIP in the bigs that’s solely due to a .408 BABIP that is going to fall. He can be a 3.50 ERA/1.25 WHIP guy with a 23% strikeout rate on a team that should top 90 wins and faces the Mets and Marlins offenses. Buy!!!

Clayton Richard (SD - SP): 27% owned

Remember when Richard ended his 2017 season by posting a 3.52 ERA (3.69 SIERA) and being rather useful over his final 10 starts? Well after a rocky April, Richard is back to mowing down opposing hitters with his groundball ways and now has a 3.04 ERA (3.15 SIERA) over his last seven starts. Batters are only managing to lift the ball in the air a measly 17.4% of the time in that seven-start sample and while I don’t buy a groundball guy holding onto a .230 BABIP, he’s still going to be useful with this profile even when some regression hits.

Lance Lynn (MIN - SP): 29% owned

Lynn has turned things around with four consecutive quality starts after forgetting that he was supposed to get batters out to open 2018, but I’m still not buying that his command woes are truly gone. He’s still totaled 11 walks alongside the 21 strikeouts over 24 ⅔ innings during this “resurgent” stretch and has issued four or more free passes in half of his 12 outings this season. I will say that his fastball looks livelier and he leans on his heater (and its cousin, the sinker) over 70% of the time, so that's important. His other saving grace has been avoiding homers -- he’s kept the ball in the yard over his last five starts -- but his iffy 4.23 xFIP over this four-start QS span shows what can happen if that reverses. Tread carefully!

Mike Leake (SEA - SP): 25% owned

Leake only made one mistake on Tuesday night, which was spotting a great pitch on the outer corner at the knees of Mike Trout. Outside of Trout’s solo homer, Leake was effective against the Halos and has now held opponents to two runs or fewer in each of his last five starts. The three walks were uncharacteristic given how he’d walked just two batters over his last six starts (41 innings) but that seems to be how he attacks LAA -- he walked four in his only other start against them on May 4. He had a 5.04 SIERA through that May 4 start, but he entered Tuesday with a 3.76 SIERA since then. This looks to be rooted in a nearly 10-percentage-point jump in soft contact and a 15-percentage-point spike in grounders. With Seattle surging around him and his command locked in, mixed leaguers would do well to patch their rotation with Leake.

Mike Montgomery (CHC - SP/RP): 16% owned

Montgomery’s 25 strikeouts in 43 innings thus far may leave you looking elsewhere for SP options, but I know you’re enticed by the 3.56 ERA and the 1.16 WHIP. The southpaw has always been good at inducing low-quality contact and has a career .268 BABIP for this reason, but his 28.5% soft-contact rate is on another level right now. Not only that, but his 10% swinging-strike rate implies more whiff potential than his shaky 14.2% strikeout rate. He may be out of the rotation once Yu Darvish returns (if he returns, let’s be real) but I don’t see how the Cubbies can boot Monty from the rotation with Tyler Chatwood looking to break walk records.

Dylan Covey (CWS - SP/RP): 10% owned

If you remember anything about Covey from 2017 then you probably want nothing to do with him. I can’t blame you, the man had a 7.71 ERA and 5.64 SIERA with a poor 13.3% strikeout rate in 70 innings. That makes for one terrible cup o’ coffee.

But Covey looks very different this season to those watching carefully because now he’s throwing 95 mph and suddenly has command. The 26-year-old is carrying a 2.22 ERA with a 3.62 SIERA at the moment and his strikeout rate has climbed 10 percentage points to 23.3% overall. And no, he hasn’t been beating up on the Royals or anything -- he’s gone against the Indians, Brewers and Red Sox in his last three trips to the hill. Strong mechanics can take a middling option and help him evolve into a viable one. No parlor tricks or new pitch here, just good ol’ refining the raw product.

Paul Blackburn (OAK - SP): 3% owned

Blackburn allowed just one run on three hits over six strong innings in his 2018 debut, but he has his fantasy fleas. Namely, the three strikeouts in those six frames gives him a higher strikeout rate (15%) than his awful 9.2% K rate through 10 starts (58 ⅔ IP) last season. He’s barely broken the 6.0 K/9 mark even in the low Minors, but he sports solid command and suppresses the long ball with a beastly groundball rate that can sniff 60%. Oakland’s spacious home park and strong defense play well for his game and he could be a cheap source of ratio relief if you can take the K hit.

Jonathan Loaisiga (NYY - SP): N/A

Yeah, I still don’t feel like I spelled that correctly. The Yankees are in need of a starter with Masahiro Tanaka on the DL for the foreseeable future and it was confirmed on Tuesday night that Loaisiga, who is still not in Yahoo's player pool last I checked, would be getting at least one turn in a spot start on Thursday. He’s had a solid campaign thus far at Double-A, but you’ll need to put on your sabermetric glasses to see it. The 23-year-old has ridden his fastball-curveball-changeup combo to an xFIP below 2.00 in 10 starts between High- and Double-A, but his 4.32 ERA from Double-A has people sneering. Don’t be those people. Be the people who see 58 strikeouts to just four walks across 45 innings for a youngster who will have the Yankees’ offense and bullpen supporting him. That’s worth a lot.

 

More Waiver Wire Pickups and Streamers




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Joel Embiid14 mins ago

Will Play On Thursday Night
Trae Young53 mins ago

Questionable Friday With A Hand Contusion
Jaxson Hayes55 mins ago

Will Start Thursday Against The Trail Blazers
Cody Martin58 mins ago

Might Miss Friday's Game
Brandon Miller1 hour ago

Uncertain For Friday
Jalen Johnson1 hour ago

Questionable Friday Against The Lakers
LaMelo Ball1 hour ago

Tagged As Questionable For Friday
Draymond Green1 hour ago

Will Be Available Thursday Against Philadelphia
Stephen Curry1 hour ago

Probable Thursday Night
Zach Edey2 hours ago

Questionable Friday Against The Kings
Gabe Vincent2 hours ago

Ruled Out Thursday Night
Aaron Gordon2 hours ago

Listed As Out Friday Against San Antonio
Pete Alonso2 hours ago

Angels "Looking At" Pete Alonso
Anthony Davis2 hours ago

Ruled Out Against The Trail Blazers
Andrew Wiggins2 hours ago

Added To The Injury Report
Maxi Kleber2 hours ago

Questionable Friday Against Cleveland
P.J. Washington2 hours ago

Could Play Friday Against The Cavaliers
Cam Thomas3 hours ago

Active On Thursday
Miles McBride3 hours ago

Questionable For Friday's Matchup In Oklahoma City
Jalen Brunson3 hours ago

Questionable For Friday Against The Thunder
AJ Green3 hours ago

Skips Thursday's Game
Noah Clowney3 hours ago

Unavailable On Thursday
George Kittle4 hours ago

Upgrades To Full Practice On Thursday
Deebo Samuel Sr.4 hours ago

Misses Thursday's Practice
Clayton Keller4 hours ago

A Game-Time Call Thursday
Brock Purdy4 hours ago

Misses Another Practice
Anton Forsberg4 hours ago

Rejoins Senators Lineup
Artem Zub4 hours ago

Back In Senators Lineup Thursday
Alvin Kamara4 hours ago

Kendre Miller Miss Another Practice
Marc-Edouard Vlasic4 hours ago

Ready For Season Debut On Thursday
A.J. Brown4 hours ago

DeVonta Smith Listed As DNPs Again On Thursday
Jared Spurgeon4 hours ago

Out On Thursday
Martin Fehervary5 hours ago

Good To Go Thursday
Zachary L'Heureux5 hours ago

Suspended For Three Games
Jalen Hurts5 hours ago

Out Again On Thursday
Chris Olave5 hours ago

Practices In Full Again On Thursday
Justice Hill5 hours ago

Ruled Out For Week 18
Darnell Mooney5 hours ago

Drake London, Darnell Mooney Added To Injury Report
Ladd McConkey6 hours ago

Returns To Practice On Thursday
Josh Jacobs6 hours ago

Practices In Limited Capacity On Thursday
Hunter Henry6 hours ago

Remains In Limited Status On Thursday
Malik Nabers6 hours ago

Logs Limited Session On Thursday
Bailey Zappe7 hours ago

Starting On Saturday
Tee Higgins8 hours ago

Officially Questionable For Week 18
Jerome Ford8 hours ago

Won't Play On Saturday
David Njoku8 hours ago

Officially Ruled Out For Week 18
Anthony Richardson9 hours ago

Not Seen On Thursday
Chase Brown9 hours ago

To Be Game-Time Decision On Saturday
Drake Maye10 hours ago

Will Start In Week 18
William Eklund11 hours ago

Ruled Out For Thursday
Jake Walman11 hours ago

To Remain Out For Fifth Consecutive Game
Samuel Ersson11 hours ago

Labeled As Day-To-Day
Valeri Nichushkin11 hours ago

Out On Thursday
Kirill Kaprizov11 hours ago

Likely Out For At Least Two More Games
Auston Matthews12 hours ago

Remains Out On Thursday
Darcy Kuemper12 hours ago

Logs 33-Save Shutout Against Devils
Drake Maye21 hours ago

Limited As Week 18 Prep Begins
Xander Schauffele1 day ago

Hoping To Find Success Again At Majors In 2025
Chris Kirk1 day ago

Starts 2025 Defending The Sentry Title
Max Homa1 day ago

Hopes To Rebound After Disappointing 2024 Season
Nick Dunlap1 day ago

Looks To Build On Impressive Rookie Season
Collin Morikawa1 day ago

Heads To The Sentry After Excellent 2024 Season
PGA1 day ago

Sungjae Im Hoping To Start 2025 Season Strongly At The Sentry
Russell Henley1 day ago

Closes Out 2024 Season Strong
Jason Day1 day ago

Looks Ahead To 2025 Season At The Sentry
Akshay Bhatia1 day ago

To Repeat Last Year’s Sentry Performance?
Ludvig Aberg1 day ago

Returns To The Sentry
Jesús Luzardo1 day ago

Jesus Luzardo Feeling 100 Percent
Maverick McNealy1 day ago

Making First Career Start At Kapalua
Corey Conners1 day ago

Making Third Consecutive Start At Kapalua
Viktor Hovland1 day ago

A Gametime Decision For Year's First Event
Tony Finau1 day ago

Making Sixth Start At Kapalua After Rumor-Filled Offseason
Justin Thomas1 day ago

Looks To Get Off To Fast Start In 2025 At Kapalua
Jason Robertson2 days ago

Tallies Three Points In Victory
John Tavares2 days ago

Extends Point Streak To Eight Games
Valeri Nichushkin2 days ago

Departs Early On Tuesday
Samuel Ersson2 days ago

Departs Early On Tuesday
Kris Letang2 days ago

Placed On Injured Reserve, Marcus Pettersson Activated
Igor Shesterkin2 days ago

Placed On Injured Reserve
Ivan Ivan2 days ago

Out Week-To-Week
Patrick Cantlay2 days ago

Looks For Hot Start In 2025
Sam Burns2 days ago

In Top Form Ahead of Kapalua
Cameron Young3 days ago

Needs To Avoid Bad Rounds In Hawaii
Sahith Theegala3 days ago

Looking For Big 2025 Start In Hawaii
Hideki Matsuyama3 days ago

Always A Threat In Hawaii
Billy Horschel3 days ago

Seeks To Build Off Great 2024 Campaign
Jack Flaherty3 days ago

Orioles Interested In Reunion With Jack Flaherty
Alex Bregman3 days ago

Tigers "All-In" On Alex Bregman
Trevor Williams3 days ago

Returning To Washington On Two-Year Deal
Josh Bell4 days ago

Returning To Washington
Pete Alonso4 days ago

Giants Have Pete Alonso "On Their Radar"
Corbin Burnes6 days ago

Inks Six-Year Deal With Arizona

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Bucky Irving - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For Week 18 (Thursday Updates): James Conner, Jalen Hurts, Josh Jacobs, Bucky Irving, Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel Sr., Chase Brown, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Malik Nabers, Ladd McConkey, more

The final week of the NFL regular season has arrived. As time goes on, injury reports get longer and longer (in general) due to the nature of the game and the piling on of more tackles, hits, and falls to the ground from players at every position. At least many fantasy football managers won't have […]


Cameron Dicker - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups, Kickers, Streamers

Week 18 Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings: Kicker Updates Include Justin Tucker, Cameron Dicker, Zane Gonzalez, Chris Boswell, Jake Moody, Tyler Bass

If your fantasy football league extends to Week 18, it's worth noting that kickers are not directly affected by teams sitting starters. However, their opportunities to score could take a hit, so that is factored into the rankings. Use our Week 18 fantasy football kicker rankings for 2024 to guide you in setting optimal lineups. […]


Jayden Reed - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Playoff Rankings for Week 18 - Thursday Updates for Jameson Williams, Tony Pollard, Jordan Addison, Jayden Reed, Kyle Pitts, Breece Hall

If you're nervous about your lineups heading into fantasy football championship action, use our Week 18 fantasy football overall rankings for 2024 to guide your close calls and start-or-sit decisions. It's not time to overthink your start 'em, sit 'em calls. Let's navigate the overall rankings below to see where key fantasy options like Jameson […]


Malik Nabers - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL DFS Picks

Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Rankings - Week 18 Thursday WR Updates for Malik Nabers, Ladd McConkey, Jalen McMillan, Darnell Mooney, Josh Downs

If your fantasy football league extends to Week 18, you probably already know it's going to be a tough week of lineup calls due to key players out of action. We're here to help with our Week 18 fantasy football wide receiver rankings for 2024. Below, you'll find out where key wideouts such as Malik […]


Jauan Jennings - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football FLEX Rankings (RB, WR, TE) - Week 18 Thursday Updates for Ladd McConkey, Jauan Jennings, Ray Davis, Kenneth Gainwell, Josh Downs

If your fantasy football title game is in Week 18, you will have a ton of things to sort through as teams are either resting starters or "tanking." Our Week 18 fantasy football FLEX rankings for 2024 are here to help your lineup calls and DFS efforts. Ahead of the final slate of the 2024 […]


Zach Charbonnet - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL DFS Picks

Running Back Fantasy Football Rankings - Week 18 Thursday RB Updates for Zach Charbonnet, Rico Dowdle, Ameer Abdullah, Blake Corum, Ray Davis

Week 18 is by far the most difficult slate to navigate for fantasy football. That said, our Week 18 Thursday fantasy football running back rankings for 2024 are here to help you with start-sit calls. Dig into the rankings below to find out where key Week 18 options such as Zach Charbonnet, Rico Dowdle, Ameer […]


Chig Okonkwo - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Tight End Fantasy Football Rankings - Week 18 Thursday TE Updates for Jonnu Smith, Noah Gray, Chig Okonkwo, Mark Andrews, Zach Ertz, Tucker Kraft

Week 18 is always tough to navigate for fantasy football and DFS. Several teams will rest key starters, so we're here to help our Week 18 fantasy football tight end rankings. Let's dig into the player rankings below to see where TEs on the start-sit bubble like Jonnu Smith, Noah Gray, Chig Okonkwo, Mark Andrews, Zach […]


Sam Darnold - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL DFS Picks

Quarterback Fantasy Football Rankings - Week 18 Thursday QB Updates for Sam Darnold, Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, Joshua Dobbs, Bryce Young, more

If your fantasy football league plays on to Week 18 or you are just reviewing rankings for DFS purposes, our Week 18 fantasy football quarterback rankings for 2024 are here to assist your league-winning or tournament-winning lineup calls. Let's navigate the rankings below to find out where key QBs like Sam Darnold, Jared Goff, Russell […]


Mark Andrews - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Saturday Slate: Daily Fantasy Football Week 18 NFL DFS Lineup Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel (2025)

If you love high-stakes NFL DFS action on small slates, this Saturday is your time to shine! With just two divisional matchups on the schedule, every lineup decision is magnified. The action kicks off with the Baltimore Ravens hosting the Cleveland Browns at 5:30 p.m. EST, where the Ravens are heavy favorites with an implied […]


Video: Week 18 Must-Start Wide Receivers - 2024 Fantasy Football Playoff Streamers, Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Analysis

Though most season-long fantasy football leagues wrapped up last week, there are still some squads in action in Week 18. We're here to help with those tough start/sit decisions at the WR position! RotoBaller's Matt Donnelly discusses his top "Must Start" WRs that will have a fantasy football impact in Week 18, as well as […]


Mike Evans - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

NFL Survivor Pool Picks: Week 18 Targets and Avoids (2024)

Welcome to our NFL Survivor Pool Picks for Week 18 of the 2024 NFL season! There are so many different pools, fantasy leagues, weekly bets, and futures bets that it's hard to decide what to do with these choices. But survivor pools are the oldest and simplest leagues out there. All you have to do is […]


Lamar Jackson - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

NFL Pick'em Pool Picks (Week 18) - Targets, Avoids, Predictions for Pick'em Contests (2024)

We’ve reached the final week of the NFL regular season. While some games will be of no consequence, others will come with significant playoff implications. Each week of the NFL season, I’ll share my picks for each game and rank their selections for those who play in a format that requires it. The games will […]


Russell Wilson - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL DFS Picks

PrizePicks NFL DFS Prop Picks - Over/Under Props for Week 18 (Saturday Slate)

Hello everybody, and welcome to our PrizePicks NFL DFS prop picks for Week 18 - Saturday Main Slate! The 2024 NFL season is now through the holiday season and gearing up for the playoffs, and our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great DFS plays we can look to take advantage of. Our […]