2017 Fantasy Baseball SP Streamers: Week 10

Ross was the featured player in last week’s piece and in all honesty, you should stick with him. He’s far too talented to be sitting on waivers. He can fix the mistakes he made for you earlier this week with his start on Saturday against Oakland. He’s a legitimately talented player and it’s absurd he’s even being considered as a streamer.

Now for the guys who pitched well last week. If you streamed Zack Godley, congratulations! He was sent down on Thursday to Triple-A. The move is merely to monitor his innings of work. He should be back in 10 days. If you need to drop him go ahead, he should be on waivers still by the time he’s brought back up. But keep an eye on him to find out when exactly he gets called up. Drew Pomeranz had another great start on Wednesday against the White Sox. Keep rolling with him if you have him. If you’ve had the pleasure of watching him pitch his curveball has looked phenomenal. He draws the Yankees on the road, and the Tigers at home in Week 10 so it’s a risky play, but he’s throwing the ball really well. He’s worth hanging on to (not to mention his ownership went up 9% on Thursday).

Finally, Dan Straily impressed again last week. He’s now probably only available in 10-12 team leagues and he draws the Cubs on the road next week. Straily’s been an enigma this year. Always been inconsistent in prior seasons, but he’s been great this year. His strikeout rate is up to 26% and his swinging strike rate is up to 12% (career high). He also gets quite a few infield fly balls and this may be something owners should take into consideration long-term. If you’re in need of a streamer on Sunday go with Trevor Bauer. He’s coming off a great start and he faces the Royals in Kauffman Stadium. KC’s lineup is performing a little better, but this is a great ballpark for a pitcher.

Also, Chase Anderson is still widely under-owned and he draws the Giants in Week 10. The only reason he’s not mentioned below is because there are other players mentioned below that have made this piece before too. Trying to make room for new names!

10-12 Team Leagues

Joe Ross (WSH): It seems almost like a copout to put Ross in the streamers piece this week especially before his matchup against Oakland on Saturday that could raise his ownership. He was too heavily dropped after his poor outing against San Diego. If he struggles against Oakland then he may not be worth considering until he has another promising start. Obviously if he owns Oakland then his ownership will go back up. That’s just how fantasy baseball works. Alas! He draws Baltimore in Week 10 at home. Baltimore is good and Mark Trumbo has been swinging a hot bat lately. The numbers might not be there, but he’s found a groove since Wednesday. The O’s strike out the 4th-most on the road (260) and draw the 3rd-fewest walks (64). Ross only gives up 1.63 BB/9 so they aren’t a huge concern for the young player. The big long-term concern for Ross is that he’s mostly a two-pitch pitcher (fastball and slider). He’ll need to develop his changeup a little more if he really wants to stick in the big leagues. But he does have a great slider and should be owned in more leagues than he is.

Junior Guerra (MIL): Guerra draws the woeful San Francisco Giants at home. The road aspect of the matchup actually helps the Giants, but not by much. They’re still bottom-10 on the road in BA, OBP, and SLG (.227/.289/.364). Guerra, himself, has done pretty well since coming off the DL. He has gotten somewhat lucky over his last two starts. He’s walked 6 batters in 11.2 innings of work, but stranded them all. Opposing hitters are hitting a measly .151 off Guerra and that should easily increase. But for now in this matchup against the Giants, Guerra should be considered as a solid streamer.

Jaimie Garcia (ATL): You’d never guess it, but Jaimie Garcia has done very well over his last 3 starts to the tune of a 0.42 ERA with a WHIP just under 1. Yes one of his starts came against San Francisco, possibly the worst offense in the league, but he also threw 8 innings against the Nationals and gave up just a lone earned run. His 2.94 FIP over this span does shed some light that maybe he hasn’t done as well as his numbers suggest, but that sort of FIP isn’t enough to condemn Garcia. He draws the Phillies in Week 10 in Sun Trust Park. STP has become somewhat of a hitter-friendly ballpark, but the Philadelphia offense has seriously struggled over the last two weeks. Since May 20th they’ve scored just 25 runs (Friday’s game still pending) over a rough stretch where the team has gone 2-10. This is a nice spot for a guy throwing the ball really well against a team that’s not hitting the ball at all.

Like the Player, not the Matchup - Dinelson Lamet (SD): Lamet is slated for two starts in Week 10: on the road in Arizona, then at home against the Royals to close out the week. He’s a FANTASTIC streaming option to end your week especially if you’re down in your matchup and need to throw some Hail Mary’s at your opponent. In a very small sample size (2 starts, 10 innings of work) Lamet has accumulated 16 K’s, 3 BB’s, and 8 hits with 2 of them being home runs. He holds a 2.70 ERA with a 3.64 FIP so he may have been the benefactor of some good luck, but for the most part his starts have been legit. Lamet seems to be getting outs 1 of 2 ways: strikeouts or flyouts as he possesses a 54.5% flyball rate. That’s a startling rate that will see regression, but not so much that you should disregard it. He managed to get a win in his last start with 8 K’s in 5 innings of work over Chicago. The Cubs offense isn’t having the success it did last year, but they’re always a threat. You can use Lamet in both starts next week, but the win-potential is low and he may be on a strict pitch count.

Desperation Play of the Week - Kevin Gausman (BAL): This is the desperation call of the week and maaaaaaaan it’s painful putting the Gas Can in this piece. The last time he made this piece was when the Royals were struggling and sure enough it was almost a coming out party for the whole KC offense. But since that atrocity, Gausman has sort of settled in? His peripherals aren’t great. In his last 3 starts (18 innings of work) he has a 3.00 ERA, but with a 4.98 FIP and a staggering .365 BABIP. Gausman draws the Pirates at home. That’s really the only reason he’s in this piece. The Bucs aren’t a great road team offensively. Their offensive road numbers are somewhat inflated by the 21 runs they scored in their last two games in Atlanta (7 of those came in extra innings). He’s still walking opposing hitters at a pretty alarming rate and he doesn’t rack up enough strikeouts for a guy with a 95mph fastball. But in this matchup he’s worth looking at.

Deeper League Options

Eric Skoglund (KC): Had to dig deep into the waiver wire pool for this one. Skoglund is a monster on the mound. The rookie, right-handed pitcher stands at 6-foot-7 and has a very commanding presence. He’s had only 1 start, which came early in Week 9 against Detroit and he went 6.1 innings striking out 5 on 2 hits and a walk. Not a bad debut against a respected offense. He’ll get a tougher test this weekend. To finish the week off he goes against Cleveland so it’s not streamworthy, but in Week 10 he draws a road start against the Padres who boast one of the worst offenses in baseball. Better yet? There’s potential for some run support for Skogs (trying to get that trending). The KC offense will be going up against Jhoulys Chacin who boasts a 5.77 ERA. Yes most of the damage has been done to him on the road, but he’s had only 4 of his 11 starts at home and he’s still a bad pitcher all in all. Even if the run support isn’t there for the rookie, this is still a nice spot to stream him.

Time for the Weekly Mention Of – Mike Foltynewicz (ATL): It’s not that Folty is a personal favorite or anything. It’s just one key aspect when looking for streamers is K-potential. In deeper leagues that’s often sometimes hard to find and Philadelphia’s offense (as previously mentioned in the Garcia section) is terrible lately. Sure Folty is prone to giving up the long ball, but nobody in the Phillies lineup really knows what that is right now. Another reason to be terrified of Folty is his .300 BABIP on the season, which is really an eyesore. But he averages almost 8 strikeouts per 9 innings, and he’s coming off a start in which he struck out 10 in 7 innings against a much better Cincinnati offense.

A Fairly Desperate Play for the Week – Josh Tomlin (CLE): It’s always cringeworthy when mentioning Tomlin or Bauer in this piece. Tomlin’s coming in pitching really well though. In his last 2 starts he’s given up 4 earned runs on 13 hits, 8 strikeouts, and no walks. Sure both starts came against the Royals, but there’s a big reason why Tomlin makes this piece. It’s flying under the radar but if you’re in a categories league that has K:BB ratio then Tomlin could be your guy. He has 44 strikeouts on the year (nothing worth writing home about) to just 4 walks (totally worth writing home about). That’s a K:BB ratio of 11! And for all the struggles that he’s had he boasts a 3.74 FIP compared to a 5.54 ERA. He’s also earned a quality start in 4 of his last 6 starts

If You Need to Chase a Win - Jose Urena (MIA): Urena’s at the bottom for a reason and it’s largely been due to great luck. Since being bumped into the rotation Urena has a 3.58 ERA, which is pretty good, but he also possesses a 5.49 FIP. He’s still giving up too many walks (4.55 per 9 innings) and his career flyball rate is 33.7% and in his last five starts that rate is 45% so he’s due for regression. He also benefitted from Mike Trout getting hurt in his last start and leaving the game. So why is he in this piece? Well in a deeper league, especially points league, he’s a fair option if you need to chase a win. He gets a road matchup against the Cubs and the Cubs aren’t playing as well as they did last year. That’s not to say they’re not good. Right now they’re just not playing well. Urena goes up against John Lackey who has just been knocked around at home. Opponents are slashing .298/.360/.605 against Lackey at Wrigley. If Urena can contain the Cubs lineup and get through 5 innings then he could earn you a win with some run support. This is a middle-of-the-week streaming option and there’s minimal K-potential so Urena isn’t a necessity.