MLB All-Star Game is over, so we are back at it with Chris’ latest Straight Cheese, your weekly streaming pitchers resource. This week, Detroit Tigers southpaw Matt Boyd … against the Red Sox? Trust the process!
Fantasy baseball owners, this is the place where you come to get the straight cheese on less than desirable, questionably talented, less than 50% owned starting pitchers you can use for a spot start. Streaming starting pitchers is necessary to get those all-important counting stats for your roto league without drop-kicking your ratio stats into submission.
Before we dive into the dumpster looking for week 16 streaming starting pitchers, let’s take a look back at my picks from last week.
Week 15 Review
| Name | Date | GS | IP | ER | H | BB | K | Dec | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anibal Sanchez | 7/13 vs. ARI | 1 | 6.00 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6 | - | 1.50 | 0.83 |
| Danny Duffy | 7/14 @ CHW | 1 | 7.00 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 8 | W | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Jeremy Hellickson | 7/15 @ NYM | 1 | 6.00 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | W | 1.50 | 0.67 |
| Total for Week | 3 | 19.00 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 20 | 2-0 | 0.95 | 0.84 | |
| Running Total | 43 | 247.33 | 97 | 215 | 83 | 239 | 19-10 | 3.53 | 1.20 |
Does it get any better than that? Should I just retire and walk away from the game? It can only go downhill from here, right?
Since it is the All-Star break and everyone is doing there “halfway point” analysis, here is mine. Which would you rather have?
A. 182.33 IP, 3.85 era, 1.14 whip, 205 K and 16 W – Strasburg (2.11 ADP) and Carrasco (3.05 ADP)
B. 241.67 IP, 3.71 era, 1.20 whip, 248 K and 15 W – Paxton (5.15 ADP) and Keuchel (6.01 ADP)
C. 244.00 IP, 3.47 era, 1.20 whip, 217 K and 17 W – Greinke (3.13 ADP) and Keuchel (6.01 ADP)
D. 247.33 IP, 3.53 era, 1.20 whip, 239 K and 19 W – Straight Cheese Totals
Did I cherry pick certain pitchers to make my point? Yes, I did… but this is my column, not yours. If you want to write your own column please reach out to @DraftBuddy. Seriously, we’re looking for writers for both baseball and football!
Week 16 Streaming Starting Pitchers
The pitchers are listed in order of appearance as of Wednesday morning. Ownership info from Yahoo! (Y) and ESPN (E) and all 2018 stats are through Wednesday, July 19th.
LHP Matt Boyd, DET
Owned Y8%/E7% · vs. Boston Red Sox – Friday, July 20th
Okay, first things first. I grew up a Tigers fan and I can’t even believe I’m recommending throwing Boyd out there versus the all-mighty Red Sox. But, there’s something you should know. The “all-mighty” Red Sox have a weakness. They struggle mightily against LHP on the road. At the break, in this situation they are currently posting a 0.272 wOBA (28th), 0.104 iso (29th) and striking out 25.6% of the time (29th). They are cellar dwellers, statistically, when on the road facing southpaws.
Boyd comes into the matchup sporting a 4.76 era, 1.21 whip and 87 strikeouts in 98.33 innings (21.1 k%). Lucky for us, his home splits are favorable: 3.57 era, 1.06 whip but only 35 strikeouts in 45.33 innings (18.7 k%). Good thing I have a deadline to submit this article because I could talk myself out of this recommendation. The bottom line is that the Red Sox are exploitable and Boyd might just have enough to exploit them.
RHP Sam Gaviglio, TOR
Owned Y3%/E2% · vs. Baltimore Orioles – Friday, July 20th
Remember when I exploited the awful Orioles a few weeks ago against the Twins? Yeah, that worked out quite well and guess what? They still suck vs. RHP on the road. Coming out of the break against RHP on the road they have a 0.284 wOBA (28th), 0.148 iso (23rd) and strikeout 26.8% of the time (29th). And in the issue of full disclosure… those stats are when they had Machado in their lineup!
Gaviglio currently has a less than spectacular 4.58 era, 1.32 whip and 53 strikeouts in 57 innings (21.5 k%). Good thing this matchup is in Toronto because he’s pretty good there: 1.97 era, 1.19 whip and 33 strikeouts in 32 innings (24.4 k%). Another nice little statistical nugget is that at home he is holding batters to a 0.276 wOBA and 0.118 iso.
Note, although RHP Marcus Stroman is also facing the Orioles this weekend, I can’t recommend streaming him. He’s awful at home (7.33 era, 1.48 whip and only 20 strikeouts in 27 innings). He’s a perfect example of a pitcher that doesn’t have enough to exploit an exploitable situation.
RHP Jon Gray, COL
Owned Y53%/E48% · @ Arizona Diamondbacks – Sunday, July 22nd
Gray’s metrics indicate that he might have been a bit unlucky pre-All-Star break. He is currently putting up a 5.44 era, 1.44 whip with 125 strikeouts in 99.33 innings (28.5 k%). He has a 2.83 xFIP which I like to refer to as a pitcher’s true era without luck. There appears to be a good pitcher in there somewhere.
The Diamondbacks are currently putting up a 0.296 wOBA (27th), 0.153 iso (19th) and striking out 24.2% of the time (25th) vs. RHP at home. Although he is slightly worse on the road (not by much), it is a favorable matchup for Gray since he has strikeout ability. Here’s to hoping that he starts turning it around this weekend in Arizona.
Remember, these suggestions aren’t ludicrous. They’re @Roto_Chris.
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