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Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your daily source of streaming and waiver wire advice. This is a one stop guide for all of your categories of need.
Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Tuesday, April 25th.
Let's get to it.
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Agenda
- Hidden Treasures
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. Hidden Treasures - Oakland v. RHP
The Athletics offense contains some of my favorite streaming options. Yonder Alonso quietly adjusted his swing over the winter. Since he hasn't since lit the world on fire, nobody has noticed the improvement. He's batting .292/.370/.563 with a sharp uptick in fly ball and hard contact rate. Those numbers might be luck neutral too. It's hard to tell. For now, Alonso only plays against right-handed pitching. He bats second or fifth - both great spots for run production.
With Rajai Davis and Matt Joyce scuffling sidelined, Jaff Decker has taken over as the leadoff man versus right-handed pitching. Davis may soon return from injury to find Decker has ousted him. The 27-year-old only has a hint of power and speed, enough to maybe help your club. The real value is his high OBP approach out of the leadoff slot. If you need runs, he's got a good chance to score.
Speaking of Joyce's chilly start, his .170/.241/.255 slash is offset by strong peripherals. He's making plenty of hard, pulled, fly ball contact which should eventually translate to home runs and doubles. Keep trotting him out versus bad righties and you'll eventually be rewarded.
2. Today's Weather and Updates
Baltimore may be drowned by a torrent of rain tonight. The game should be considered doubtful. Tomorrow could be Rainpocalpse in the Northeast. Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York (Mets) could be affected.
3. Tomorrow's Picks - Tuesday, April 25th
Pitchers to Use
Scott Feldman has a long history of hot streaks. He'll outperform his peripherals for a time - especially at the start of a season - before falling back into exploitable territory. In the past, I've dogged targeted him week after week as an exploit. This time around, I'll lean into it and use him versus a strikeout prone and homer happy Brewers offense. Feldman is one of those pitchers who varies his offerings. Even though he basically throws a sinker, cutter, and curve ball, he can make his three pitches feel like six by varying movement and velocity. He has a decent chance for a win opposite a icy cold Zach Davies.
Wade Miley, another hot hand with a streaky past, can pin his 2017 success upon a .162 BABIP and a 91.6 percent left on base rate. His 11.37 K/9 should be viewed as a fluke - he's doing nothing differently. Miley may be bumped if tonight's contest is rained out. Then again, I doubt the O's are eager to start Ubaldo Jimenez. They face the strikeout prone Rays.
A popular sleeper target this spring, Robert Gsellman's 5.09 ERA has him available in 78 percent of leagues. He's getting good results when ahead in the count, including 10.19 K/9. Going forward, he should be able to mimic his 2016 peripherals with something like a 3.50 ERA. He projects to be slightly better than that versus the Braves.
Clayton Richard and Pat Corbin face each other in the ultimate high floor, low ceiling contest. Richard, a staunch advocate of burning worms, could get BABIPed to death by Chase Field's rock hard infield. Corbin is a thoroughly mediocre pitcher opposed by a thoroughly mediocre offense. How exciting, right?
Other Targets: Wei-Yin Chen
Pitchers to Exploit
Davies is a big part of why Feldman is viable tomorrow. He's off to a slow start, although he disastrous first outing hides three almost tolerable starts. Davies is having trouble with poorly timed home runs and way too many hits. The Brewers bullpen may be a tad thin too - they have a bad matchup tonight as well.
Ty Blach actually has some potential to contribute a surprisingly effective outing. After all, he's a southpaw facing the lefty prone Dodgers. He is filling in for dirt biked Madison Bumgarner versus Clayton Kershaw. Blach lacks anything resembling strikeout stuff. Best case scenario is something like a poor man's Clayton Richard - very poor indeed.
Chris Rusin is starting at Coors Field versus the Nationals. I like Rusin in a general sense, but he should be an easy target tomorrow.
J.C. Ramirez is terrible. Need I explain? No, I needn't. Dig up some Athletics.
Other Targets: Josh Tomlin, Erasmo Ramirez, Dylan Covey, Andrew Cashner
Homers on the Wire
As noted above, target Alonso, Joyce, and Decker versus crappy righties like Ramirez. Too bad Angels Stadium isn't home run friendly.
Jayson Werth is a must must must play versus lefty Rusin at Coors Field. Werth mashes lefties, Rusin is merely adequate, and it's friggin Coors. He's only 19 percent owned. Time to correct that mistake.
Dan Vogelbach is back. For the third time since the start of 2016, he made short work of Triple-A. Vogelbach will have a tougher challenge with the majors. He'll face Jordan Zimmermann tomorrow. Also of interest is Taylor Motter. The righty is ambushing fastballs. He has five home runs in 56 plate appearances.
Other Targets: Enrique Hernandez, Yangervis Solarte, Brandon Drury, Alex Gordon, Brandon Moss, Joey Gallo, Max Kepler, Scott Schebler, Aaron Altherr, Rickie Weeks, Hyun-soo Kim, Josh Reddick
Steals on the Wire
Ender Inciarte is 50 percent owned. I'm actually cutting him for Alonso in one league where Greg Bird is drowning me at first base. However, his matchup versus Gsellman could work out both at the plate and on the bases.
Your best looks for speed might come from the power column. Altherr, Motter, and Decker are all solid stolen base threats.
Other Targets: Alcides Escobar, Peter Bourjos
Skill Positions
Continue riding Austin Hedges' homer binge. He has a quality matchup versus Corbin. In Brewers catcher platoon news, I'm pretty sure Jett Bandy will start on Monday which means Manny Pina probably gets to go on Tuesday.
