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Welcome to Streaming Wars, your one-stop resource for streaming the waiver wire. Use this column to improve upon your neediest categories.
Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Monday, May 29th.
Let's get to it.
Agenda
- Joseph Plays Hero
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. Joseph Plays Hero
Tommy Joseph is just 21 percent owned in Yahoo leagues. If you choose to ignore his first seven games, he's slashing .280/.341/.536 (.303 BABIP) in 138 plate appearances. He has eight home runs and has recently taken over as the cleanup hitter.
On Thursday, Joseph hit a game tying home run before popping a walkoff single in the 11th. On Saturday, Joseph homered in the fourth then walked it off with a single in the ninth.
First basemen have broken out all over the league. Joseph's terrible first week has hidden otherwise solid production. It's time to go snag him.
2. Today's Weather and Updates
Cleveland, Chicago, and Pittsburgh are storm risks today. New York (NL) is the only venue at risk tomorrow according to today's forecast.
3. Tomorrow's Picks - Monday, May 29th
Everybody is playing tomorrow. So much for Meager Mondays. David Price is back!
Pitchers to Use
Brad Peacock's return to the rotation last week was a rousing success. He notched eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings while allowing just one hit and a pair of walks. Peacock has thrived this season by making frequent use of his plus slider. A .205 BABIP certainly helps. However, it should be noted that Peacock actually made this change last season. He posted a .190 BABIP in 31.2 innings. We're getting to the point when we might want to view him as somebody who induces soft contact. Peacock has struggled to stay healthy over his career, and a move back to the rotation probably won't help. He may not make it five innings versus the Twins.
Daniel Norris struggled early in the season due to a high walk rate. He's trimmed the free passes of late, allowing exactly two walks in each of his last four starts. While he still has other facets of his game to polish, Norris should be start-able versus a weakling Royals offense.
Other Targets: Jordan Montgomery, Erasmo Ramirez
Pitchers to Exploit
Despite two solid starts, Sam Gaviglio would be an exploit at any venue. Since he's visiting Coors Field, he's in for a disaster. He's opposed by Tyler Chatwood. The Rockies are already owned in your league. Go target Mariners.
While I have some faith that Robert Gsellman will solve his woes, it could require a lot of trial and error. The main trick is to figure out how to get his interacting together. The issue isn't in his release point which is tightly clustered and identical to last season. Instead, his two fastballs have performed terribly. Frankly, I'm baffled.
Other Targets: Randall Delgado, Trevor Williams, Matt Garza, Robert Gsellman, Jarred Cosart, Jason Hammel, Lisalverto Bonilla, Jeremy Hellickson, Edinson Volquez, Julio Teheran, Ricky Nolasco
Homers on the Wire
Ahem, Tommy Joseph.
Speaking of breakout first basemen, Justin Smoak is still slightly under 50 percent owned. He continues to make more contact on pitches in the strike zone. Now he has Josh Donaldson back to help provide run production.
Trey Mancini doesn't appears to be a platoon hitter. However, he's always in the lineup whenever a lefty is on the bump. Montgomery is quite talented, but he does make a few costly mistakes per start. Mancini could jump on one. He hasn't homered since May 8.
Other Targets: Luis Valbuena, Stevan Souza, Tim Beckham, Tommy Joseph, Derek Dietrich, Hunter Renfroe, Ryan Schimpf, Jed Lowrie, John Jaso, Josh Harrison, Josh Bell, Max Kepler, Josh Reddick,
Steals on the Wire
Adam Frazier's ownership has spiked due to a sudden power surge at SunTrust Park. He bats leadoff the Pirates. Frazier is a terrible base thief, but he's very enthusiastic about trying. He's a high average bat in the mold of DJ LeMahieu.
Visiting Coors Field, you'll find Jarrod Dyson and Taylor Motter. Ben Gamel has a touch of speed too. While we think of Coors Field as a power park, the spacious outfield also massively increases the rate of singles. That helps speedsters like Dyson to reach base and take another.
Other Targets: Michael Taylor, Jose Reyes
Skill Positions
Jett Bandy, assuming he starts, has the best matchup of the freely available catchers. He like pitchers with bad sinkers like Gsellman.
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