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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. Even with only a week and a half of the season in the books, 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 Tuesday, April 24. Let's get to it.
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Agenda
- Missed Opportunity
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. Missed Opportunity
They say to sell high and buy low. As recently as last week, Jose Ramirez was a prime buy low candidate. He was struggling to get off the ground. A two homer game yesterday puts that plan to rest. Teammate Francisco Lindor is still scuffling though.
2. Today's Weather and Updates
Eight of nine games are clear of weather concerns. It's doubtful the Reds and Braves play today in Cincinnati, although the chances have been increasing throughout the day. They'll play a doubleheader during the current series if they're forced to postpone today.
3. Streamer Picks - Tuesday, April 24
Pitchers to Use
Zach Davies is basically Kyle Hendricks-lite. He's a soft-tossing right-hander whose command and control profile carries him despite non-premium stuff. Davies always gives me the heebies at his home venue of Miller Park. Tomorrow, he's on the road against a feckless Royals lineup. Kauffman Stadium is quite pitcher friendly.
Chad Kuhl is a very different pitcher than Davies. However, the use case for tomorrow is the same. He's opposed by a soft Tigers lineup (they've actually performed well... don't let that bother you). Kuhl is a hard thrower who's seemingly capped at league average production. Target him anytime he faces an exploitable opponent at PNC Park.
Other Targets: Brandon McCarthy
Pitchers to Exploit
Vince Velasquez is probably the guy people will wonder about in this section. So let's talk about him. He's posted some seriously spiffy numbers through four starts - mostly against terrible opponents. Ignoring those, I see the exact same pitcher as last year. Velocity and pitch movements are identical.
The one area I can't really assess is his consistency. In the past, he's shown up with a different blend of functioning pitches for any given outing. This has led to extreme variance from start to start. With only four starts in the bag, we can't really determine if Velasquez is more consistent this year. It's worth watching to see if the breakout is real. For now, go ahead and stash him. Just be careful about actually using him. I'm still loading up on Diamondbacks tomorrow. Absent stronger evidence of a breakout, I'm going to assume we're dealing with the same ol' VV.
Other Targets: Marco Gonzales, Josh Tomlin, Tyler Mahle, Jake Faria, Alex Cobb, Jordan Zimmermann, Dillon Peters, Kyle Freeland, Ty Blach
Homers on the Wire
Load up on Padres for their series at Coors Field. Manuel Margot, Christian Villanueva, Jose Pirela, and Freddy Galvis play every day. Carlos Asuaje, Franchy Cordero, Matt Szczur, and Cory Spangenberg are used situationally. Austin Hedges has power too. Margot doubles as a stolen base threat.
David Dahl has a brief opportunity to carve out a role for himself. I'm not sanguine about his prospects. Dahl has scuffled since returning from injuries last season. He's currently running an over-30 percent strikeout rate at Triple-A with no meaningful contributions. It's only 26 plate appearances, but I'd feel a lot better with any sort of positive recent performance.
Other Targets: Enrique Hernandez, David Dahl, Dexter Fowler, Marcus Semien, Shin-Soo Choo, Curtis Granderson, Teoscar Hernandez, Colin Moran, Corey Dickerson, Jeimer Candelario, C.J. Cron, Carlos Gomez, Brad Miller, Pedro Alvarez, Nick Markakis, Preston Tucker, Robbie Grossman, Eduardo Escobar, Jason Heyward, Dan Vogelbach, Nicky Delmonico
Steals on the Wire
I can't promise Jose Peraza will reach base against McCarthy. If he does, he should definitely take off running. The Braves are among the worst teams at controlling the running game. This is far less true if Suzuki isn't starting.
Other Targets: Delino DeShields, Leonys Martin, Mallex Smith
Skill Positions
Austin Barnes should get a start at catcher or second base opposite a bad lefty. Elsewhere, Robinson Chirinos is showing all the hard, pulled, fly ball contact you could possibly desire. He's just not reaping rewards. Alternatively, snag Kurt Suzuki for seven games in Cincinnati and Philadelphia this week. He won't start all of them, but you couldn't ask for better venues.
