The Change: Mid-Week Streamers

We’ve got streaming for steals. We’ve got your streaming two-starters sussed twice over. Tomorrow, I’ll look at some late week streaming for power options.

But today, I’m going to look at ahead at mid-week starters that deserve your attention. You may need to pick them up early, or at least identify them for quick waiver work. Because now is the time for all hands on deck — no more waiting for a bounce-back or a could be or even a should be. If you’re still in it, look at all your roto categories or every position on your head to head bench and ask yourself “What have you done for me lately?”

I think some of you may find that there’s a hitter on your bench who won’t get you more than an oh for three on a Thursday, and if he doesn’t play Thursday, he needs to be gone right now. You could use that spot for a Wednesday or Thursday streamer that didn’t occur to those looking for two-starters and hasn’t yet been picked up by someone streaming daily.

Here are your best mid-week streamers (<50% owned, so no Carlos Carrasco), ranked by best on each day.

Wednesday
James Paxton @LAA (46% owned)
You must be in a six team league. Paxton is sitting 95, commanding the ball, and even his change is working. He shouldn’t be on the wire in a six team league anyway because you should be streaming all the super matchups everyday.

Derek Holland @OAK (29% owned)
I’m a little nervous about a lefty that’s mostly fastball slider and has lost velocity, but he’s using the curve a bit more, relying more on the sinker, and he’ll be in a nice home park to mitigate his possible homeritis. Also, Oakland’s lineup versus lefties hasn’t been getting it done. Well, their lineup in general hasn’t been getting it done.

Brandon McCarthy @TB (38% owned)
Maybe the Rays, who have a 100 wRC+ for the season, aren’t a cakewalk of a matchup. But they’ve been worse recently, and really this is about the park as much as the team. McCarthy can be taken yard by the right lefties, but the Trop will help him out in that regard. With the cutter back in his arsenal, McCarthy has been great in New York, and should continue the trend Wednesday.

Henderson Alvarez @NYN (35% owned)
Alvarez is still all power sinker without strikeouts, but that makes him a high-floor option. And his changeup and slider, both on 10% whiff rates, are inching towards respectability. The Mets are no punching bag, as they close in on a league-average offense, but they aren’t there yet and lost David Wright since.

Kyle Hendricks vCIN (33% owned)
If you can’t get the 95 mph no-strikeout sinker guy, might as well take a shot on the 89 mph no strikeout sinker guy, huh? Hendricks makes up for the lower velocity with a plus change and an average cutter, and though I’d be a little nervous, I don’t mind him here.

Randall Delgado vSF (0% owned)
You should be nervous about throwing Delgado. Even if he does show up on an interesting list and has kept most of his velocity surge while transitioning to the rotation. If only he could find some command.

Thursday
Danny Salazar @HOU (49% owned)
Thursday is a tough day, so I’ll cheat. I’m sure by tomorrow, Salazar will be over 50% owned. Honestly, though, even the best streamer on Thursday is nerve-wracking. Though the mercurial starter bounced back from a disastrous outing against the Angels by handling the Tigers well enough, he’s given up three homers in his last nine-plus innings. And Minute Maid park won’t help in that regard. Worth it for those that need strikeouts most of all.

Tsuyoshi Wada vLA (14% owned)
The thirty-three year old with an 89 mph fastball actually gets 9% whiffs on his ‘heater.’ That’s because he can command all of his pitches other than the splitter. So he’ll throw any pitch in any count, and that leaves hitters guessing. The splitter is actually below average by whiffs (12%), and so are his slider (7.4%) and curve (5%). At least it’s a night game.

Scott Feldman vCLE (10% owned)
A little bit of lucky homer suppression has helped Feldman stay on the good side of MLB average this year. And looking at his pitch mix — a cutter that gets 50% grounders and an average curve — says the same thing. The Indians offense is top five in the AL no matter what timeperiod you look at it. Oh and look at this, they’re fourth-best at hitting curveballs. Wait, try not to throw Scott Feldman.

Nick Martinez @OAk (1% owned)
At least it’s a decent matchup? Actually, both the changeup (15%) and slider (12%) are average or better by whiffs for Martinez, so that’s fun. But his sinker only gets 44% grounders and his four-seamer only gets 3% whiffs, and fastballs are important. Only thing I can say is that, along with everything else, the A’s have stopped hitting fastballs well over the last month.

Happy hunting!