Stream, Aim, Fire – Thin Weekend Streaming Options

Alright, we went 3-for-4 with our Friday and Saturday streamers last week! Things are looking up after a rough first weekend. Let’s dive right in for this weekend’s potential streaming candidates, and look forward to an update on how that “stream quality” metric looks after we have another weekend to work with.

As usual, I aimed for a 50/25/15/5 percent ownership streamers to play to all league types. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible couple of days for streaming, so we’re going a little deeper (and therefore a little riskier) for these ones.

Jarrod Parker (35.5% owned) – I don’t feel great about this one, so if you’re going to avoid one of these, let this be it. But there aren’t many great options this weekend, and I’m going to give Parker one more chance to show us something, despite the 10.80 ERA and 2.66 WHIP. The Rays strikeout 20.5% of the time, slightly above this year’s league average, and have a terrible .277 wOBA so far which only rises to .282 against righties. The Rays aren’t much more potent than their state counterparts so far, it seems. Plus, Parker has far more talent than he’s shown in three starts – he’s walking a lot of guys and striking out very few, possibly due to pitch mix changes post-Tommy John and some trouble with his change-up. But I’m willing to give him one more chance. Call it the Eno Sarris Effect, I guess. Or the Chris Cwik Effect. Just don’t blame me, is what I’m saying.

Bronson Arroyo (5.9%) – Yeah, we’re picking on the Marlins, they of the .246 wOBA. It’s a small sample, sure, but the Marlins as a team have hit far worse than ANY qualified player did last year. They might not strike out much (16.8%) but they’re far too friendly a match-up to pass on. Arroyo has looked decent to start the year, too, sporting a 3.68 FIP thanks to a ridiculously low walk rate. I’d say you could be concerned about the ballpark in Cincinnati but seriously, the Marlins have a .259 slugging against righties right now. This is a team where Jemile Weeks would be considered a power hitter. Stream accordingly.

Philip Humber (0.2%) – Humber is off to a great start in 2013 with just a 2.89 ERA and 3.73 FIP through three starts. While he’s hardly striking anyone out, he’s also not walking anybody and has dramatically cut his fly ball rate from the past few years in favor of more groundballs. The Indians are slightly below average against right-handed pitchers and have one of the largest strikeout rates in baseball, so they make for a friendly opponent. Add in that Houston is a moderately favorable place to pitch and you’ve got a super-deep stream option.

Scott Kazmir (0.0%) – Welcome back, Kaz! And what better way to welcome you back to MLB than with the Houston Astros, a team striking out and an otherworldly 26.4% clip. The Streaming Stros Strategy continues on Saturday as the former ace takes the bump for the first time since 2011. He looked good (5IP, 5K, 0BB, 0ER) in his tune-up start at Triple-A, so let’s roll the dice. Beyond the K-rate, the Astros have also struggled to a .288 wOBA against left-handed pitchers, making this the best possible match-up Kazmir could have hoped for. Roll with Humber and Kazmir against each other, if you’ve got the space.

Week 1 Average: 5 IP, 7.08 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.7 WHIP, 5.5 K, 1-of-4 successful
Week 2 Average: 6 IP, 3.00 ERA, 3.50 FIP, 1.2 WHIP, 3.8 K, 3-of-4 successful