Sorry if the enthusiasm is lacking in this week’s Week 14 SP Streamers piece. You’d be feeling gloom too if you agreed to acquire Trea Turner on Tuesday, but the trade didn’t process until Friday, THE MORNING AFTER TURNER BREAKS HIS WRIST! And who did you give up to acquire him? That player will remain nameless, but if you’d like a hint… He’s defending his HR Derby championship in his team’s own stadium in a couple weeks. So enough with the pity party. Here’s a recap of last week!

Sean Newcomb? Dominant. Eventually he’ll be nicknamed “Duke” Newcomb, but he was stellar in his last start going 6 innings and totaling 8 K’s for his first career win. Newcomb is still available in a lot of leagues so if he’s available go pick him up. Unfortunately his two starts next week come against Houston and Washington so he’s too much of a gamble to include in this piece, but you should just pick him up based on the rest of season potential. Mike Fiers start is largely misleading. Yes, he was credited with 4 earned runs, but he left the game with the game tied at 1 and bases loaded, but James Hoyt gave up a grand slam. It was still a solid start overall as he collected 7 K’s, but his ownership is over 50% according to Yahoo! so he no longer qualifies for this piece. Kyle Freeland wasn’t great either. Per usual, the K’s weren’t there and he gave up 4 earned runs in 6 innings in a losing effort. For a streamer it didn’t kill you, but it certainly didn’t help as the Giants lineup showed up against Freeland. Montgomery wasn’t terrible, but like Freeland, he wasn’t great. The K’s were there, but he did give up runs and didn’t receive any run support. Oddly enough the desperation play of last week did fairly well. Corbin tallied 6 K’s in 6 innings of work. The only damage was a two-run single he gave up in the fourth inning.

For the deeper league suggestions the results varied a little bit. Folty carried a NO HITTER into the 9th inning before giving up a solo home run. He still qualifies as a streaming option, but his ownership may spike over the weekend so it’s tough to tell. He should be owned in more leagues than he is. Unfortunately Hammel’s start comes Saturday afternoon so there’s no reporting on him yet. Luis Perdomo’s start kind of falls in line with Montgomery and Freeland. He gave up 4 earned runs over 5.1 innings of work. For a desperation play it wasn’t terrible, but Perdomo rarely qualifies as a streamer due to his history of getting blown up, so this was a dodged bullet.

10-12 Team Leagues

The streaming options in shallower leagues aren’t fantastic by any means. Some of the deeper league options actually have better matchups in Week 14 than the shallower league recommendations.

Carlos Rodon (CHW): Rodon may not appear in this list again after this week as he’s already nearing the 50% owned cutoff point. Rodon made his season debut on Thursday night recording a loss in 5 innings of work, allowing 3 runs (all unearned). His control was not good at all. He had only 2 K’s, but walked 6. He only threw 41 of his 94 pitches for strikes. The good news was that the velocity was still there for the young, promising star. His first start is worth streaming as it’s against the Athletics. Despite having the 4th-worst batting average (.242) and 7th-worst OBP (.312), Oakland is 11th in slugging percentage (.431) and 8th in home runs on the year (113) so they can still do some damage. Unfortunately, Rodon’s 2nd start comes on the road in Colorado. If you have weekly rosters, Rodon isn’t worth the gamble, but if you set daily lineups, he’s worth a stream for the first start. Keep an eye on his control.

Trevor Bauer (CLE): Bauer is a really nice streaming option in weekly-lineup leagues as he draws two home starts next week against the Padres and then the Tigers. Both San Diego and Detroit rank in the bottom-10 in MLB in terms of runs hits, batting average, OBP, and OPS on the road. Bauer is a guy who features a nice mid-90’s fastball and a pretty good curveball that serves as a nice “out” pitch. The only concern for Bauer is the tendency to give up the long ball. He’s given up 14 in 87.2 innings of work, and 9 of those dongs have been surrendered in Progressive Field. However, there is strikeout potential in facing the Padres and Tigers, as they’re both in the top half of the league in terms of K’s so Bauer should be in play for the start against the Padres at the very least.

Tyson Ross (TEX): The elder Ross has had two starts since coming off the DL. 2 have been pretty good, the other was like a bad horror movie. It’s really hard to offer any kind of home/road splits as he’s given such a small sample size. He gets a road start to wrap up Week 13 against the White Sox and it’s worth keeping an eye on to see how he performs. If he strings together a quality start against the ChiSox on July 2nd he can be worth streaming against the Angels late in Week 14.

Desperation Play of the Week… Joe Ross (WSH): The Brothers Ross both make the streamers piece this week! You could make the argument that since Ross is being recommended that you should just avoid him. It seems every time he’s suggested he gets lit up. In each of his last 3 starts, Ross has gone 6 innings at the minimum. He had only done that 3 times in his previous 8 starts. He does have a 2.29 ERA over those last 3 starts, but he also carries a 4.41 FIP and has surrendered a home run in each of his last 4 starts. The reason for optimism? He gets two starts next week. The first start sucks against the Mets. They hit the ball very well on the road, but the second start against the Braves is worth keeping an eye on. Matt Adams is dealing with a slight injury and Dansby Swanson who has just 1 hit in his last 14 at-bats. Both starts do come at home for Ross, where he has fared much better as opposed to on the road.

Deeper League Options

Dinelson Lamet (SD): Lamet has thrown 3 straight quality starts after surrendering 14 earned runs in his two starts prior to this nice run. His strikeout potential his very nice as he has a fastball sitting in the mid-90’s. He doesn’t have great separation with his changeup so offenses aren’t entirely fooled by his arsenal. Lamet draws a road matchup against the Indians on July 5th as his final start before the break. The Indians are a bit of a middle-of-the-road offense. Over their last 7 games they’ve scored 28 runs, but 15 of them came in one game. Lamet could be due for a rough outing, but his control has been much better as of late. In his last start alone he threw 96 pitches, 69 of them being for strikes and the Padres appear to be more comfortable allowing him to pitch deeper into his starts.

Mike Clevinger (CLE): Someone with the Indians has to realize the first three letters of this guy’s last name are “CLE” right? Huge marketing opportunity they’re missing out on, especially considering he’s been pitching well lately. Clevinger’s start on Sunday July 2nd will be a nice preview for his Week 14 start as he draws the Tigers twice before the All-Star break. Clevinger doesn’t pitch deep into games. He’s only gone 6+ innings in 3 of his 9 starts, but the matchup isn’t horrible. On the road the Tigers are slashing .233/.310/.388 on the road. The Tigers have lost 9 of their last 12 games and are rumored to be on the verge of a massive salary dump, which could see some big names on the move. These rumored moves likely won’t come before the break, but with all the talk surrounding Detroit, “CLEvinger” is worth streaming in Week 14 especially if he pitches well to end Week 13.

Andrew Moore (SEA): The name should sound familiar because he was one to keep an eye on in last week’s piece. He was sent down due to some off days in Seattle’s schedule that allowed them to skip a 5th starter, but the M’s have confirmed that Moore will start Monday July 3rd against Kansas City. The Royals are averaging a little more than 4 runs per game on the road, but Safeco Field has been very favorable toward pitchers, as is always the case. The Monday start may also allow for Moore to get a 2nd start in Week 14 against Oakland in Safeco. Like the Royals, the A’s offense isn’t as explosive on the road as well. Moore could be a two-start streaming option in both shallow and deeper formats next week.

Desperation Play of the Week… Parker Bridwell (LAA): Bridwell finally got what was coming to him. He entered Friday night with a 2.95 ERA, but a 6.43 FIP. He got knocked around and his ERA jumped a full run. In his four starts prior to Friday (21.1 innings of work) he recorded 12 K’s, 6 walks, and gave up 5 HR’s. He had an absurd 95.7% (now it’s at 90.7%) strand rate and the velocity isn’t overpowering. But to be fair, his control is decent. Yes he has 7 walks, but 5 of those came in 1 start. He could be in line for more regression in the coming weeks. He draws a Week 14 road start in Minnesota and while Target Field has been a Top 5 ballpark for hitters, the Twins offense is just mediocre at home with while sporting a subpar 16-25 record in Minneapolis.

Keep an eye on… Luis Castillo (CIN): Castillo is definitely a guy to keep an eye on for the rest of the year. He has GREAT potential. He features a fastball that can touch 97-98 mph and his strikeout upside is huge. For now it appears he’ll stay in the rotation as a starter, but there is concern that he could be bumped after Week 14 because he gets two tough starts this week (at COL, at ARI) in the two most hitter-friendly ballparks in baseball. If he can get through Week 14 with minimal damage his ownership may rise, but it’s pretty low as of right now and he’s worth flagging if he’s on the free agent market. He’s not worth streaming this week as the matchups mentioned above are horrific and he’s given up 3 HR’s in his 10.2 innings of work.