Another week where the streaming options are limited in their desirability, with only Wednesday and Friday offering a decent sized slate of choices. Tuesday does present some poor options, but if you can, I would suggest staying away from any of the three options I briefly discuss there. We also have a two-start option that serves as a streaming option in Jake Peavy, and if he is sitting on your league’s waiver wire, it might be wise to grab him in time to use him for both his Monday and Saturday trips to the mound.

Realize that these pitchers are all owned in 50 percent or less of leagues. and thus may be available in your league on the waiver wire. I am only going to highlight those pitchers that I believe can provide a boost to your rotation, so no bottom-of-the-barrel SPs will be brought to your attention. Also, please understand that this set of pitchers is being assembled early before the next scoring period (in most leagues, at least) commences, and weather, injury, demotions or crazy managerial decisions can interfere with our well-laid plans, so be ready to adjust if you can make daily lineup adjustments.

Here are the recommended streaming options for this week:

Monday, July 25, 2016

Jake Peavy SF vs CIN Anthony DeSclafani

Peavy is certainly not a top starting option these days, and his early season performance put him on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues. He is just an average at best strikeout producer, who has decent but not great control. His FIP is nearly one run below his inflated ERA (4.16 vs 5.15), so there is room to believe his recent successes on the mound are a trend that is believable. Cincinnati is also a bottom third offense on the road. He is the best streaming option I see on Monday, in any event.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

There are really no good options to trust in Tuesday’s slate of games. I might have suggested Tom Koehler, Andrew Cashner or Chad Bettis, but both Bettis and Cashner have bad matchups (at Toronto and at Baltimore, respectively), and Koehler gets to pitch at home but has been too inconsistent to trust against the visiting Phillies. Let us move on to Wednesday to see if there is something more worthwhile for streaming purposes.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Zach Eflin PHI @ MIA Adam Conley

Sean Manaea OAK @ TEX Yu Darvish

Dan Straily CIN @ SF Madison Bumgarner

Mike Foltynewicz ATL @ MIN Tyler Duffey

Eflin has limited opponents to just six earned runs over his last four starts, covering 30 innings. He has also posted a decent 17:4 K/BB ratio over those four appearances, which is not fantastic if you are looking for Ks, but shows his control. He gets to pitch in a good park, especially for one that gives up homers to opposing hitters (1.1 HR/9).

Manaea is working on a string of three games where he has limited opponents to just two earned runs, and two of those games sandwich the game where he allowed the two earned runs. He also has a nice 17:0 K/BB ratio over that period consisting of 20 innings pitched. Having to face Texas at home is not a preferred matchup, nor is going up against Darvish, but this is a recommendation based on his recent success.

Straily has put together a stretch of four quality starts, and now gets to head to a good pitchers’ park. Unfortunately, he also gets to face off against Giants ace, Bumgarner. His team’s offense on the road is questionable, too. So why the recommendation? As with Manaea, it is based on his recent success, or riding a hot hand. Plus, the Giants have been scuffling a bit of late, so this could be a good time to take on the Giants.

The final streaming option on a full slate for Wednesday is the 24-year-old right hander from Atlanta. Folty provides just over eight Ks per nine innings, and shows good control, but has been hurt by the long ball this season (he sports an awful 1.75 HR/9 rate this season). It is therefore a good thing that he is heading to a park in the lower half of homers allowed this season. Minnesota does not put forth an imposing offense for the most part, so the matchup plays in his favor.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Tyler Anderson COL vs NYM Jacob deGrom

Anderson has become a dependable member of the Colorado rotation, tossing four QS out his past five starts, and more impressively, three of those at Coors Field. He has pitched slightly better at home, actually, than on the road, but Citi Field is still a more favorable venue than his home park. He is an average strikeout option with great control, and he generates a ton of grounders from opposing hitters (2.83 GB/FB ratio over his eight starts). Obviously, I would prefer to have deGrom pitching for me, but we are talking streamers here, not aces.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Ivan Nova NYY @ TB Jake Odorizzi

Matt Boyd DET vs HOU Colin McHugh

Edwin Jackson SD vs CIN Keyvius Sampson

Nova has been pitching well in July, holding opponents to just one earned in run in three of his last four starts (the other was a forgettable four run effort against the Indians). He is not much of a strikeout threat, but has good control and generates a good share of ground balls (2.36 GB/FB ratio). He is prone to allowing homers, as evidenced by a poor 1.7 HR/9 rate over his 93 innings pitched). Fortunately for him, he is heading to a park that favors the pitchers for this contest.

Boyd has come on strong since joining the Tigers rotation in July, holding opponents to just two earned runs over his past three starts. He has a 17:3 K/BB over his 15.1 innings spanning those last three starts, and has been exceptional at home this season. The major downside to this streaming choice is the resurgence of the Astros’ offense, but again, hot hand theory.

I never thought I would be profiling Edwin Jackson again, but here he is, pitching well for the Padres. The 32-year-old righty has started two games for the Padres in July, tossing a couple of quality starts where he allowed just two earned runs in each contest. He gets to face a lower level offense at home, so while you will not reap any benefits in the way of high strikeout content, the matchup is favorable, even with a less than stellar offense backing him.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Jake Peavy SF vs WAS TBA

Miguel Gonzalez CHW @ MIN Tommy Milone

I talked about Peavy up above in Monday’s entry. He gets another home start here, which is a positive. He may be facing Joe Ross of the Nationals, but that is still unconfirmed as this is being put together. The main thing here to recommend him for streaming purposes is that he gets to face the dangerous Nationals offense at AT&T Park.

I would consider using both Gonzalez and Milone as streaming options, hoping they both pitch as well against one another as they have been recently. Both of these pitchers are below average strikeout pitchers with poor control, so their current success could be fleeting. On the other hand, both have been working on pushing down their bloated ERA and WHIP numbers over the past few starts, and neither team puts forth a consistently strong offense. The options on Saturday are not great, but you could do worse than either of these SPs.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Chad Bettis COL @ NYM Bartolo Colon

I know I passed on Bettis on Tuesday, but this matchup looks better than taking on Toronto at the Rogers Centre. Not that the park is playing all that much better for pitchers this season, but the offense he is facing is not as formidable in this game. Bettis has a strong ground ball inducing tendency, which should help him on the road in this contest. I am not all in on Bettis, but he is clearly the best streaming option for the end of the week.

I enjoy responding to reader questions, so feel free to post. Please note that the Fantasy Alarm Forums are now open for your use, to ask questions or provide your own commentary and wisdom. If you do not want your comments to appear in this public forum (if say your league members also read these articles), then feel free to contact me at ia@fantasyalarm.com for a more private response. I play in a ton of fantasy leagues, and am willing to discuss any baseball issues you may want to raise, not just starting pitching issues. As ever, good luck and Godspeed in your fantasy endeavors.