Stream, Stream, Stream: #2xSP (4.20-26)

Well, we took a bit of a bath through the first part of week one, but I like to think there were some better candidates this time around. Have a peek, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Here are the totals through half of the first week:

0-1 record
6.88 ERA
4.2 K/9
1.6 K/BB
1.41 WHIP

Sheesh. It can only get better.

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses.:

LHP Jon Niese – 6.4% ESPN/9% Y! – v. ATL (.311), @NYY (.311)

I’ve long been a Niese advocate in this space for a few reasons. Not because he’s overwhelmingly awesome — he technically isn’t — but because he’s about the safest option you can find. And in this sort of format, there’s certainly some value to that. The trouble with that is that you’d expect a safe guy to have won more than 17 games over the past two years prior to this, especially given the value of the win in most fantasy leagues. And that’s a point I’ll readily concede, though I do think Niese still has value with an improving Mets club, and a pretty blowup proof repertoire largely focused on grounders. In 30 starts last year, only twice did he allow more than four earned runs, and on just three occasions did he allow more than three. That’s a 90 percent rate of what I’d consider a pretty good start.

RHP Alfredo Simon – 10% ESPN/26% Y! – v. NYY (.311), v. CLE (.270)

It’s really inexplicable, but Simon has been getting by on weird peripherals for parts of four seasons now. Of course, the first two were as a reliever, but last year what he did in Cincinnati was downright amazing, if a bit serendipitous. He’s picked up right where he left off with the Tigers, breaking hearts by striking out no one whilst defying the BABIP overlords for the third year in a row. If he sticks to his groundballing ways, it’s hard to bet against a guy who has Jose Iglesias on his side. That much I’ll concede. I’m still not sold enough on Simon to own him full-time, but as a streamer he makes fine sense this week, especially with Cleveland scuffling so badly out of the gates.

RHP Anthony DeSclafani – 13.4% ESPN/18% Y! – @MIL (.267), v. CHC (.301)

DeSclafani is an Eno Sarris darling, and through a pair of trips through the Reds rotation he’s been quite good since coming over in the Mat Latos deal. As a brief aside, how terrible has Latos been in Miami? Anyway, DeSclafani has been downright ridiculous with his secondary stuff so far, generating whiff rates exceeding 20 percent on both the slider AND changeup. Even with just 39 and 22 of each thrown, respectively, that’s totally bonkers. The slider is merely a continuation from last year (18.8 percent whiff rate), but the change could be an evolution from a pitch he’s already used more this year (22 times) than all of last year (16). He’s going to be a fun one to watch as the season goes on. I love the Brewers matchup with Gomez out, and don’t think the Cubs are particularly tough — yet.