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Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week.
For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on your waiver wire.
Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Monday, May 14. Let's get to it.
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including Best MLB Series, NFL Series, NBA Writer, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
Agenda
- Happy Mother's Day!
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. Happy Mother's Day!
It will be Mother's Day when this article goes live, but thankfully it's early in the day. If you haven't yet called your mom (or more), there is still time to do so. I forgot Mother's Day once when I was a teenager, and can say that it's a bad idea from personal experience. Moms really don't like it!
2. Today's Weather and Updates - Monday, May 14
I swear the weather forecast gets worse whenever it is my turn to do this column. Pittsburgh has thunderstorms in the forecast that figure to make baseball difficult, while Baltimore, Cleveland, and Philadelphia have a 50% precipitation chance or higher. Worse, New York, Chicago, Colorado, and Detroit have some chance of being adversely affected by rain as well. The best thing to do is get an updated forecast closer to game time.
3. Streamer Picks - Monday, May 14
Pitchers to Use
Junior Guerra is probably the most talented pitcher you could stream on this slate, but he's facing the NL's best team in Arizona. Instead, I recommend the similar Tyler Anderson at PETCO Park. He gets Ks (24.8% K%) while alternating between quality starts (four of eight) and not so good appearances. The Padres aren't great, so the odds should be in his favor.
You could also go win-hunting, as several terrible teams are using terrible starting pitchers. I don't think either Ryan Yarbrough of Tampa Bay or Chris Stratton of San Francisco is particularly good, but they should still beat Kansas City and Cincinnati, respectively.
Other Targets: Guerra
Pitchers to Exploit
The Royals and Reds are dreadful, but their opponents above are recommended because of their opposite numbers. Eric Skoglund's 6.34 ERA this season is actually better than a three-run improvement over his work in 2017 (9.50). Tampa has a few capable hitters, and that's probably all you need to beat Skoglund.
Likewise, Sal Romano of the Reds has a decent 3.83 ERA masking a 5.06 xFIP, 14.4% K%, and 9.4% BB%. The Giants stink and the game is at a pitcher-friendly venue, and he's still likely to get clobbered. If neither of these names appeal to you, there are a couple more options on the list below.
Other Targets: Mike Fiers, Wade LeBlanc
Homers on the Wire
It's rare that you have the opportunity to deploy a DFS-style stack in a traditional daily fantasy league, but you can do it against Skogland tomorrow. Wilson Ramos is the only Ray over 50% owned, so the rest of the team is fair game. C.J. Cron, Carlos Gomez, and Matt Duffy are the most attractive if you only want a couple.
Other Targets: Mitch Moreland, Steven Souza, Yonder Alonso, Jeimer Candelario, Dexter Fowler, Max Kepler, Yuli Gurriel, Mark Canha, Ryon Healy, Brandon Crawford, Logan Morrison, Matt Chapman, Brad Miller, Joe Mauer
Steals on the Wire
The Padres have summoned Travis Jankowski from the minor leagues. He was limited by injury last season, but managed 30 SB in just 383 PAs back in 2016. He's two-for-two so far this season and has led off for the last week, making him the kind of dynamic speed play that you can feel confident in regardless of matchups. Just don't expect more offensive production than Billy Hamilton generally provides otherwise.
Other Targets: JaCoby Jones, Manuel Margot, Franchy Cordero, Denard Span, Mallex Smith
Skill Positions
Osuna's suspension for being a moron is likely to produce a fantasy-viable closer eventually, but handicapping who it might be is impossible. Just sort available RPs by their team (Blue Jays) and select as many lottery tickets as you want. Good luck!
