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Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire. This article, which began last season, runs seven days a week. We are always ready to stream.
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 Saturday, June 9. Let's get to it.
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Agenda
- Wither Ohtani
- Today's Weather and Updates
- Tomorrow's Picks
1. Wither Ohtani
Angels rookie Shohei Ohtani has been just about everything we could have hoped for this season. Alas, it's all in the past tense now. A blister has festered into a sprained UCL. The best case scenario involves a one month layoff, and it's very likely this is a season-ending injury - at least for pitching purposes. It's a Grade 2 sprain which is fairly substantial but doesn't automatically guarantee the need for Tommy John or similar surgeries.
If you're in a redraft league and own Ohtani, you have my condolences. You may wish to stash him on your disabled list until the whole story is released in the semi-near future. Keeper league owners have some options. His owners can sell him for win-now reinforcements. Non-owners can buy low, hoping to reap profits in future seasons. Beware, if he does need Tommy John surgery, he'll miss the 2019 season (at least as a pitcher). He could return in about 10 months as a hitter.
2. Today's Weather and Updates - Friday, June 8
Keep half an eye on Cincinnati and Minnesota tonight - just in case. They should be fine.
3. Streamer Picks - Saturday, June 9
Pitchers to Use
Remember Carlos Rodon? He's back in action tomorrow. He posted absurd numbers while out on rehab assignment including a 15.63 K/9 in 12.2 Triple-A innings. Obviously small sample warnings apply, but it's not entirely unusual for a pitcher to spontaneously improve while recovering from an lengthy injury (I know this first hand). He was bowling heavy ground ball rates too. Rodon should be stashed in all formats - just in case. Even if he's just the past version, a 4.00 ERA with nearly 10.00 K/9 is playable most weeks. He'll face the Mookie-less Red Sox.
Dan Straily is the quintessential streaming pitcher. We're looking for very specific matchups. Tomorrow he'll face the strikeout prone Padres. It's the perfect time to squeeze six innings and a chance for a win out of him.
Other Targets: Kyle Gibson, Nick Kingham, Steven Matz
Pitchers to Exploit
Surprisingly, there aren't many duds on the docket tomorrow. Anibal Sanchez is one of the six I found, and he has a fluky 2.16 ERA. While it may feel like he's earned that over one-third of the season, he's actually only tossed 25 frames. He's the same homer prone slop volume guy who was shelled out of Detroit.
A Coors game between Matt Koch and Chad Bettis is a wonderful opportunity to grab down-lineup bats from either squad. Koch has outperformed his peripherals while Bettis is pretty much matching what we should expect going forward.
Other Targets: Felix Hernandez, Mike Minor, Mike Fiers
Homers on the Wire
Carlos Gonzalez is hot! Honestly, it looks dead cat bouncy to me, but we might as well jump on the streak just in case. It doesn't hurt to own a cleanup hitter at Coors Field. On the opposite side of the field, I'd like a share or two of Chase Owings and Daniel Descalso. The latter utilityman doesn't play every day.
Maybe Dexter Fowler is waking up? Over his last 38 plate appearances, he's posted a .306/.342/.389 triple slash with a .367 BABIP. Honestly, that's a normal hit conversion rate for him - nothing like season long .203 BABIP. Now if he just added a few walks and some power to that streak, we're in business. He's visiting homer friendly Great American Ballpark.
Other Targets: Matt Adams, Aaron Altherr, Robbie Grossman, Eduardo Escobar, Yairo Munoz, Derek Dietrich, Franmil Reyes, Jake Marisnick, Yuli Gurriel, Carlos Gomez, C.J. Cron, Daniel Robertson, Miguel Andujar, Joc Pederson, Max Muncy
Steals on the Wire
Travis Jankowski is facing a fly ball pitcher which should help him to make line drive contact. You see, Jankowski is a ground ball hitter. When the hitter-pitcher matchup features opposing contact tendencies, it produces ideal launch angles for the hitter. I'm not predicting a home run or anything for Jankowski, but liners are more likely to become singles. And singles can turn into stolen bases.
Other Targets: Eduardo Nunez, Jose Peraza, Mallex Smith, Tony Kemp, Jarrod Dyson
