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Welcome to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire. Use this column to improve upon your neediest categories.
Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Tuesday, August 1st.
Let's get to it.
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Agenda
- More Deadline Fallout
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. More Deadline Fallout
I blame the trade deadline for the lateness of today's post. The closer market in particular has gone absolutely batty. There may be half a dozen "new" closers out there by days end. The sheer number of relievers on the market ensures that some of them won't be dealt. We'll run through everything in a little more detail tomorrow.
The following trades have happened in the last 24 hours (or are pending medicals):
Francisco Liriano to Astros
Nori Aoki to Blue Jays
Addison Reed to Mets
Justin Wilson, Alex Avila to Cubs
Jonathan Lucroy to Rockies
Melky Cabrera to Royals
From the perspective of this column, the most important swaps are Reed (add A.J. Ramos), Wilson (add Shane Greene or Alex Wilson), Lucroy (add Robinson Chirinos), and Cabrera (add Cabrera).
2. Today's Weather and Updates
Everything is dry or covered for Monday and Tuesday.
3. Tomorrow's Picks - Tuesday, August 1
Pitchers to Use
Sabathia is 51 percent owned and thus not technically eligible here. However, he is on the wire in the Rotoballer staff league so let's say a few words. The old workhorse battles through each and every hitter. Watching him, he's always at max effort. Since returning from injury, he's struggled with walks. Personally, I'm hesitant to ever use Sabathia. Look at him as a pure volume play.
Of greater interest is youngster Lucas Sims. The Braves pitching prospect has a 3.75 ERA in 115.1 Triple-A innings. He's posted 10.30 K/9 and 2.81 BB/9 - a big improvement over past walk rates. I worry Sims' command will evaporate upon reaching the majors. He'll feature swing and miss stuff, but the downside included 6.00 BB/9. Still, given the way pitching has worked out this season, a stash of Sims is worthwhile.
Other Targets: Pat Corbin, Jhoulys Chacin
Pitchers to Exploit
Homer Bailey has pitched seven times. Four were utter disasterpieces, one was extremely lucky (11 base runners, only one run on a solo shot), and two were acceptably mediocre. Even though the game is at pitcher friendly PNC Park, it's a good day to load up on Pirates.
Erasmo Ramirez is a solid relief pitcher. His stuff doesn't hold up to multiple times through the order. Hitters are wrecking him upon their second and third plate appearances. Look for more of the same from the Rangers.
Other Targets: Chris O'Grady, Mike Pelfrey, Steven Matz, Jeff Hoffman, Paul Blackburn, Ricky Nolasco
Homers on the Wire
The Phillies offense remains hot. Presently, they're spanking Mike Foltynewicz and friends. Odubel Herrera, Tommy Joseph, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr, and Freddy Galvis are all varying degrees of available. They'll face Ricky Nolasco off in DH-land.
Set your alarm clocks for a little before 9:00pm ET. That's right around when Shin-Soo Choo, Mike Napoli, and Carlos Gomez should be coming to the plate for their second at bats versus Ramirez.
Other Targets: Max Kepler, Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilmer Flores, Steve Pearce, Ryan Raburn, Josh Bell, Melky Cabrera, Jorge Bonifacio
Steals on the Wire
Since some early season success, Kevin Pillar has done close to diddly squat. However, he remains an able base thief. The battery of Mike Pelfrey-Kevan Smith may be the most exploitable in the league for runners.
On the flip side, Blue Jays catchers aren't very good at catching runners either. That opens the door for Leury Garcia to scarf a bag or two. Garcia is one of those guys you think is fast but actually gets caught very frequently. This season, he's 6-for-11 in the majors.
Other Targets: Jose Reyes, Kevin Pillar, Leury Garcia, Wilmer Difo, Adam Frazier
Skill Positions
The aforementioned Chirinos is a starter now. He hits for plenty of power. The rest of the categories though...
James McCann is always a treat versus a lefty. That also means it's a good day to use Yankees base thieves.
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