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Straight Cheese Streaming Starting Pitchers Week 4 + Pick Up Matthew Boyd

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Detroit Tigers Matthew Boyd

Detroit Tigers Matthew Boyd says, “yeah baby, made the first edition of Straight Cheese in 2019.”*

* Not an actual quote from Matthew Boyd

Welcome back to another year of Straight Cheese! This is my weekly column where I suggest starting pitchers that have a matchup in their favor for the upcoming week. For the most part, I try and suggest players with low ownership. This week we are looking at streaming starting pitchers week 4.

Identifying Weak Hitting Lineups

I like to look at wOBA, ISO and K% to identify weak lineups and conversely, for pitchers I look at wOBA, ISO against and their K%.

With it being so early in the season not enough data has accumulated to look exclusively at 2019 stats. A solution is to look back at 2018 and these first few weeks of 2019 to get an idea of teams to pick on. Here are the bottom third teams in each stat from 2018 along with their current 2019 numbers.

All statistics, ownership and projected starting dates are as of Thursday morning, April 11.

wOBA 2018 2019 ISO 2018 2019 K% 2018 2019
Marlins 0.289 (30th) 0.277 (24th) Marlins 0.119 (30th) 0.132 (25th) White Sox 26.3% (30th) 26.1% (25th)
Giants 0.290 (29th) 0.257 (30th) Giants 0.129 (29th) 0.115 (29th) Padres 25.1% (29th) 22.9% (16th)
Padres 0.294 (28th) 0.309 (18th) Tigers 0.138 (28th) 0.112 (30th) Phillies 24.8% (28th) 21.5% (10th)
Tigers 0.295 (27th) 0.268 (27th) Padres 0.145 (27th) 0.178 (13th) Rangers 24.1% (27th) 27.6% (28th)
Orioles 0.299 (26th) 0.295 (22nd) Royals 0.146 (26th) 0.156 (18th) Giants 24.0% (26th) 25.0% (20th)
Royals 0.303 (25th) 0.296 (21st) Reds 0.148 (25th) 0.177 (15th) Diamondbacks 23.7% (25th) 21.9% (11th)
White Sox 0.304 (24th) 0.304 (19th) Rays 0.148 (24th) 0.146 (20th) Brewers 23.5% (24th) 22.8% (15th)
Mets 0.305 (23rd) 0.345 (10th) Orioles 0.152 (23rd) 0.146 (21st) Orioles 23.4% (23rd) 22.6% (14th)
Diamondbacks 0.306 (22nd) 0.352 (6th) Cubs 0.152 (22nd) 0.190 (10th) Blue Jays 22.8% (22nd) 28.0% (29th)
Phillies 0.307 (21st) 0.341 (12th) Pirates 0.154 (21st) 0.135 (24th) Marlins 22.8% (21st) 24.7% (19th)

Here are the teams still in bottom third in all three stats: San Francisco Giants. The Miami Marlins are really close. So, I’m going to start with these two teams to pick on by identifying starting pitchers facing the Giants and Marlins next week. Next week’s schedules:

  • Giants: Washington Nationals (away) and Pittsburgh Pirates (away)
  • Marlins: Chicago Cubs (home) and Washington Nationals (home)

Streaming Starting Pitchers Week 4

RHP Anibal Sanchez, WAS
Owned Y20%/E12% · at Miami Marlins – Friday, April 19th

Marlins are posting a 0.284 wOBA (21st), 0.116 ISO (27th) and 31.8 K% (29th) at home versus RHP so far in 2019. Now that is only 49 plate appearances, but rest assured they were just as bad last season when facing RHP at home: 0.290 wOBA (30th), 0.106 ISO (30th) and only striking out 21.0% of the time (13th). They are ripe to be taken advantage of.

Sanchez should do just that. His numbers aren’t great after two starts (both against a very dangerous Phillies lineup): 6.52 era, 4.83 xFIP, 1.76 whip, 20.0 K% in 9.2 innings. He’s coming off a brilliant year with Atlanta and matchups don’t get any better then this.

RHP Trevor Williams, PIT
Owned Y46%/E40% · vs. San Francisco Giants – Friday, April 19th

Giants are currently posting a 0.283 wOBA (20th), 0.171 ISO (13th) and 23.7 K% (19th) when facing RHP on the road. Last season, in the same split, they put up a 0.287 wOBA (28th), 0.130 ISO (29th) and 26.3 K% (30th). I don’t need to tell you that their numbers are better this season than last. But… can you trust them? They didn’t really improve their lineup in the off season (and, Kevin Pillar isn’t the answer, either).

Williams is coming off two starts, both against the underperforming Reds. Through 12 innings he’s got a 2.25 era, 3.86 xFIP, 0.92 whip and a 19.6 K%. Those numbers are even better than last season’s 3.11 ERA, 4.54 xFIP, 1.18 WHIP and 18.0 K% in 170.2 innings. Many were predicting Williams to regress back down to earth in 2019. It hasn’t happened yet, and the Giants don’t seem to be the team to pull him back down either.

I still need one more starting pitcher to recommend for you, my loyal readers. I always like to give you three. I’m going to look at teams still in bottom third in two of the three stats: Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles. The Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox are really close. Next week’s schedules:

  • Tigers: Pittsburgh (home) and White Sox (home)
  • Orioles: Boston Red Sox (away), Tampa Rays (away) and Minnesota Twins (home)
  • Royals: White Sox (away) and New York Yankees (away)
  • White Sox: Royals (home ) and Tigers (away)

RHP Yonny Chirinos, TB
Owned Y62%/E33% · vs. Baltimore Orioles – Wednesday, April 17th

Through 151 plate appearances in 2019, the Orioles are currently putting up 0.294 wOBA (18th), 0.130 ISO (22nd) and striking out 28.5% of the time (23rd) against RHP on the road. Because you want to know, last year in the same split they posted a 0.296 wOBA (24th), 0.154 ISO (21st) and struck out 26.0% of the time (28th). The Orioles are skill-challenged.

Chirinos has come out of the gate strong. Through two starts (Astros at home and Giants on the road) he has a 0.75 ERA, 3.53 xFIP, 0.42 WHIP and 29.0K% in 12 innings. Last season in 89.2 innings he put up a 3.5 ERA, 4.04 xFIP, 1.22 WHIP and 20.3 K%. He’s not a strikeout machine but he gets the job done and that should continue against the Orioles.

Extra Cheese

Starting this season I’ll be suggesting a two-start pitcher for the upcoming week. Please bear in mind that things can change after this article is posted. Injuries, rain delays, managerial moves, etc. can happen. The world is an imperfect place; screws fall out all the time.

LHP Matthew Boyd, DET
Owned Y69%/E44% · vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (Tue Apr 16) & vs. Chicago White Sox (Sun Apr 21)

While the opponents offer something to take advantage of, this is more about Boyd himself. His ownership has been climbing steadily since the beginning of the season and rightfully so. He’s seems to be truly breaking out in 2019. Through three starts (17.1 innings) he has a 2.60 ERA, 2.57 xFIP, 1.15 WHIP and 40.3 K%. Last season he put up a 4.39 ERA, 4.72 xFIP, 1.16 WHIP and 22.4 K%. He’s worth owning in all formats at this point.

Next week he faces the Pirates who did alright facing southpaws in 2018: 0.315 wOBA (15th), 0.163 ISO (11th) and 21.2 K% (7th). So far in 2019 they aren’t faring as well: 0.269 wOBA (27th), 0.024 ISO (30th) and 22.4 K% (14th).

Next weekend he gets the White Sox who were in the bottom third of the league versus LHP: 0.306 wOBA (20th), 0.143 ISO (20th) and 27.8 K% (30th). They aren’t doing much better so far in 2019: 0.294 wOBA (22nd), 0.128 ISO (19th) and 26.9 K% (24th).

If Boyd is on your waiver wire then pick him up now and thank me later.

Straight Cheese Streaming Starting Pitchers – 2018 Post Mortem

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Anibal Sanchez, Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves Anibal Sanchez was one of Chris’ most used pitchers in his weekly streaming starting pitchers analysis – Straight Cheese. Texas Rangers were his most picked on opponent. Here is the 2018 season review.

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 pitchers is necessary to get those all-important counting stats for your roto league without drop-kicking your ratio stats into submission.

But before we dive into the 2018 post mortem, let’s take a look back at my picks from Week 24.

Week 24 Review

Name Date GS IP ER H BB K Dec ERA WHIP
Eric Lauer SDP 9/14 vs TEX 1 5.00 2 3 1 4 ND 3.60 0.80
Vince Velasquez PHI 9/15 vs MIA 1 2.00 4 4 1 4 ND 18.00 2.50
Robbie Erlin SDP 9/16 vs TEX 1 5.33 1 6 0 6 L 1.69 1.13
Shane Bieber CLE 9/16 vs DET 1 6.00 5 9 0 4 L 7.50 1.50
Total for Week   4 18.33 12 22 2 18 1-2 5.89 1.31

Not a strong finish to the season. In fact, can we just ignore September? It was easily my worst month.

Monthly Totals

Month GS IP K W-L ERA WHIP
April 15 79.00 80 6-4 4.90 1.51
May 16 94.33 86 5-5 3.72 1.09
June 5 31.00 31 3-0 1.74 0.97
July 12 73.34 71 7-3 2.70 1.16
August 14 88.33 86 10-1 1.83 0.88
September 9 34.00 34 0-5 9.00 1.94
TOTAL 71 400.00 388 31-18 3.64 1.20

Still, 400 innings of 3.64 era and 1.20 whip are commendable considering all pitchers were less than 50% owned at the time. Some pitchers that ended 2018 with an era higher than 3.64 and a whip higher than 1.20: Jake Arrieta, German Marquez, Dallas Keuchel, Cole Hamels, Jose Berrios, Julio Teheran and Jose Quintana… to name a few.

Most Frequent Opponent

The team I found myself picking on the most was the Texas Rangers. In fact, I went against them 12 times this year (five more than the next most frequent: Baltimore and San Diego). My line when picking a starting pitcher versus the Rangers: 2.39 era, 1.25 whip, 57 strikeouts and a 6-2 record in 64 innings.

Interestingly enough, here is my line for starting pitchers versus Rangers, Orioles and Padres: 2.85 era, 1.19 whip, 149 strikeouts and a 15-3 record in 148 2/3 innings (26 games). That’s Mike Clevinger with a lower era.

Most Frequent Pitchers Recommended

There were four pitchers that I suggested three times this year:

  • Anibal Sanchez: 1.53 era, 0.85 whip, 17 strikeouts, 1 win in 17 2/3 innings
  • Kyle Gibson: 3.66 era, 1.17 whip, 21 strikeouts, 2 wins in 19 2/3 innings
  • Lance Lynn: 4.91 era, 1.77 whip, 17 strikeouts, 1 win in 14 2/3 innings
  • Trevor Cahill: 1.84 era, 1.16 whip, 23 strikeouts, 1 win in 14 2/3 innings

All four combined: 2.97 era, 1.21 whip, 78 strikeouts, 5 wins in 66 2/3 innings (12 games). That’s 66 2/3 innings of Noah Syndergaard with a slightly better era and more strikeouts.

My Best Calls

  1. Ross Stripling (5/25 vs SD): 6 2/3 ip, 0 er, 6 h, 0 bb, 10 k, 1 win; 60 FanDuel points, 35.4 DraftKings points
  2. Trevor Cahill (8/5 vs DET): 6 ip, 0 er, 3 h, 1 bb, 10 k, 1 win; 58 FanDuel points, 35.1 DraftKings points
  3. Trevor Cahill (5/5 vs BAL): 6 ip, 0 er, 4 h, 1 bb, 12 k, 0 win; 58 FanDuel points, 34.5 DraftKings points
  4. Daniel Mengden (5/26 vs ARI): 9 ip, 0 er, 2 h, 0 bb, 5 k, 1 win; 52 FanDuel points, 38.05 DraftKings points
  5. Danny Duffy (7/14 @ CHW): 7 ip, 0 er, 4 h, 3 bb, 8 k, 1 win; 55 FanDuel points, 31.55 DraftKings points

My Worst Calls

  1. Brian Johnson (9/2 @ CHW): 1 1/3 ip, 4 er, 7 h, 1 bb, 2 k, 0 win; -2 FanDuel points, -5.8 DraftKings points
  2. Daniel Mengden (4/28 @ HOU): 2 1/3 ip, 4 er, 6 h, 1 bb, 1 k, 0 win; -2 FanDuel points, -4.95 DraftKings points
  3. Zack Wheeler (5/4 vs COL): 6 ip, 8 er, 10 h, 3 bb, 3 k, 0 win; 3 FanDuel points, -4.3 DraftKings points
  4. Trevor Cahill (9/9 vs TEX): 2 2/3 ip, 3 er, 2 h, 6 bb, 1 k, 0 win; 2 FanDuel points, -2.8 DraftKings points
  5. Steven Matz (5/19 vs ARI): 4 ip, 4 er, 6 h, 1 bb, 2 k, 0 win; 6 FanDuel points, 0.8 DraftKings points

I still can’t figure out #4 on the Worst list. Cahill vs Texas should have been a slam dunk.

Well, that closes the book on Straight Cheese for 2018. I hope you enjoyed my work and I look forward to getting back to the grind in 2019!

And remember, my suggestions aren’t ludicrous. They’re @Roto_Chris.

Straight Cheese Week 24 Streaming Starting Pitchers – Lauer, Erlin, Bieber

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Shane Bieber, Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians Shane “Don’t Call Me Justin” Bieber baffled the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday in 6-2/3 of shutout ball. Chris picks him as a prime streaming option this weekend facing the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

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 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 24 streaming starting pitchers, let’s take a look back at my picks from last week.

Week 23 Review

Warning: the summary below may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Name Date GS IP ER H BB K Dec ERA WHIP
Anthony DeSclafini CIN 9/7 vs SDP 1 4.00 4 8 0 3 – 9.00 2.00
Vince Velasquez PHI 9/9 @ NYM 1 4.00 5 7 1 4 L 11.25 2.00
Trevor Cahill OAK 9/9 vs TEX 1 2.67 3 2 6 1 – 10.13 3.00
Total for Week   3 10.67 12 17 7 8 1-2 10.13 2.25
Running Total   67 381.67 150 330 127 370 31-16 3.54 1.20

Wow and I thought the week before last was bad. Utter failure all the way around. I think what we are witnessing is some tragic regression with the Stream-O-Matic 2000. The July and August success was too much to sustain. Well, there is only one thing to do: PANIC! I’m giving you my last four pitchers to stream this week in a dire attempt to bring my September numbers back to something close to respectable.

Week 24 Streaming Starting Pitchers

The pitchers are listed in order of appearance as of Wednesday Friday (The Padres reshuffled their starting pitchers after this article posted on Thursday). Ownership info from Yahoo! (Y) and ESPN (E) and all 2018 stats are through Tuesday, September 11th.

LHP Eric Lauer, SDP
Owned Y2%/E2% · vs Texas Rangers – Friday Saturday, September 15th

Listen, there is a reason Lauer is sitting out on your waiver wire. He’s struggling a bit in his rookie season. Struggling to the tune of a 4.80 era (4.51 xFIP), 1.62 whip, 19.5 k% and 8.00 k/9 in 95 2/3 innings.

So why am I bringing him up here? Well, he’s facing the Rangers. I’ve been screaming from the mountaintops all season about the benefits of streaming against the Rangers when on the road. Against LHP on the road they have a 0.270 wOBA (29th), a 0.109 iso (29th) and strike out 26.1% of the time (last in mlb). I’m the least confident in Lauer of the four pitchers I’m suggesting this week but I’m tossing the dice a bit in hopes of avoiding snake eyes.

RHP Vince Velasquez, PHI
Owned Y39%/E30% · vs Miami Marlins – Saturday, September 15th

Vince was not kind to me last week when I targeted him on the road versus the Mets. I’m willing to forgive and forget this weekend as he faces the Marlins at home. He comes into the matchup with a 4.30 era (4.06 xFIP), 1.28 whip, 26.0 k% and 9.91 k/9 in 138 innings. The Marlins come in with a 0.298 wOBA (23rd), 0.144 iso (26th) and striking out 24.6% of the time (23rd). I’m looking (hoping) that Vince rebounds this weekend in this favorable matchup.

LHP Robbie Erlin, SDP
Owned Y3%/E1% · vs Texas Rangers – Sunday Friday, September 14th

Take everything I said about the Rangers on the road versus southpaws and apply to Erlin’s matchup on Friday. The difference is that Erlin has something Lauer didn’t: better home splits. Overall Lauer has a 4.42 era (3.47 xFIP), 1.14 whip, 20.0 k% and 7.21 k/9 in 93 2/3 innings. At home his numbers look like this: 2.92 era (3.54 xFIP), 0.95 whip, 19.8 k% and 6.75 k/9 in 49 1/3 innings. The strikeouts go down but the free swinging Rangers should give him a bump in that department.

RHP Shane Bieber, CLE
Owned Y37%/E41% · vs Detroit Tigers – Sunday, September 16th

Shane “Don’t Call Me Justin” Bieber currently has a 4.32 era (3.27 xFIP), 1.33 whip, 25.1 k% and 9.55 k/9 in 98 innings. Even with the high era and whip you can make the argument for rostering him for his strikeouts. His reasonable 3.27 xFIP (or what I like to call “true era”) indicates that he may have been unlucky and could be due for better days. Well, his last outing may be an indication that those better days are here. On Tuesday he baffled the Rays to the tune of 11 strikeouts, 3 hits and 3 walks in 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball.

This weekend he faces the Tigers and their 0.286 wOBA (last in mlb), 0.136 iso (28th) and 24.6 k% (22nd). Roll Bieber out there and thank me later.

Remember, these suggestions aren’t ludicrous. They’re @Roto_Chris.