With Friday’s 15-game slate not starting until 7pm ET, I am afforded a little bit of extra time to factor in all the numbers from Thursday’s late games and help guide you starting pitcher streamers through some of the night’s more interesting and perhaps lesser-owned hurlers. Now obviously some of you aren’t going to be able to grab these guys, whether it’s because you have weekly waivers or an uber-competitive, nut-job streamer in your league who picks these guys up as soon as the site rolls over at 3am, but should you be able to do a little late-swapping on your seasonal roster, here are a few gems you may want to consider.

CC Sabathia, NYY – The fat man’s surface numbers look fantastic with a 1.47 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, but a deeper look into the peripherals has to make you a little nervous with that declining K/BB and 4.23 xFIP. But the wheels aren’t falling off the wagon today against the Pirates, baby! Not only are they completely dejected by the Starling Marte PEDs suspension, but they’re also posting a league-worst .238 wOBA against southpaws this season along with a 25-percent strikeout rate and a dismal wRC+ of 51. You may not want to trust in him for the full season, but you can certainly trust in him tonight.

Taijuan Walker, ARI – I don’t normally like to use a guy who is facing the same team as his last start, but Walker against the Dodgers looks like it has potential. I’d like to see him harness that command a little better so he can go beyond five innings and the Dodgers have solid numbers against righties this season, but on the road so far this season, they’re posting just a .288 wOBA with a wRC+ of 80 and a 24.3-percent strikeout rate. There’s definitely a little bit of risk here, but I don’t see him getting beaten up in this one.

Sean Manaea, OAK – Let the current 5.51 ERA scare everyone off. You’re smarter than that. Focus on the much better looking 3.72 xFIP and that uber-delicious 11.02 K/9 over 16.1 innings this season. The Mariners aren’t big strikeout victims this season, but a .242 wOBA, a 51 wRC+ and woeful .064 ISO do not play at pitcher-friendly O.com Coliseum and should allow Manaea to walk away from this start with his head held high.

Adam Conley, MIA – What is it about these lefties that has me all juiced up today? While Conley’s peripherals give me pause for the long haul, he looks like a real nice play tonight and the Padres are always a good target to pick on. San Diego is sitting on a .263 wOBA and 62 wRC+ against lefties this season and those disgusting numbers come with a 23.5-percent strikeout rate. The numbers look equally poor if you just isolate their offense over the last seven days and the strikeout rate even looks a little worse!

Sell, Mortimer! Sell!

Is there a better power tandem in baseball right now than Eric Thames and Travis Shaw? It’s like the second coming of the Bash Brothers or something. Or is it? Let’s be honest – Shaw looked just as good last year while finishing the month of May with seven home runs and a .292 average, but completely fell off the map for the duration of the season. This year, his batting average is right about where it should be, but did you see those isolated power numbers? He’s currently sitting on a .381 mark and there’s just no way in hell he keeps up that pace.

His teammate Eric Thames is in the same boat, in my opinion. I love what he’s doing right now and I love the feel-good story it brings, but do we really expect this 30-year old to continue to mash at this pace? He’s currently on pace to hit over .400 with 86 home runs, just to clarify. Ain’t no way he’s doing that and if he doesn’t qualify as the ultimate sell-high candidate, I don’t know who does.

You guys remember Chris Shelton? He’s the guy who had 10 home runs and a .326 average by the end of April in 2006. He had six doubles, three triples, a .364 BABIP and an OPS of 1.186. Now go look at Thames’ numbers and tell me if there are some similarities. Oh, wait. Thames’ numbers are even more gaudy! Sorry folks, but while I love owning him in a league and will happily benefit from this output, I don’t see him even coming close to sustaining them. Now, I don’t see him falling off the map like Shelton did (he was back in the minors by July that same year), but if there were ever an opportunity to cash in, now would be that time. Even if he goes on to be a 40-home run slugger this year, the haul you could bring in for him…and Shaw for that matter…should serve you a whole lot better in the long run.

More Closer Issues

Damn those Phillies. Damn that Pete Mackanin. It looks an awful lot like a committee situation as Mackanin used Hector Neris to close out Thursday’s win against the Mets. Joaquin Benoit was supposed to be the guy, but it looks like Mackanin soured on him after he gave up a game-winning blast to Bryce Harper on Sunday. Benoit pitched the eighth yesterday and Neris was summoned, much to the chagrin of fantasy owners everywhere. Mackanin had no comment on the situation during the post-game presser which now leaves the fantasy community in a bind. Probably the only thing we do know is that Jeanmar Gomez is not the answer. Stay tuned!

Who Are You and What Have You Done With…?

Wade Miley? WTF? There’s just no way he even remotely keeps this up. None whatsoever.

Clayton Richard? There’s that sun shining on a dog’s ass again. This is not a guy to invest in nor even someone I want to stream.

Scott Feldman? Smoke and mirrors, my friends. Check that 4.02 FIP and high contact rate. The blow-up is coming soon.

Roberto Osuna? Still working his way into mid-season form. Be patient. Jason Grilli is not the answer.

James Paxton? Haven’t stopped scratching my head on this one. The A’s? Really? The A’s? I’ll call this the aberration. Far far far from the norm.

Aaron Nola? He’ll get there soon enough, people. He’ll get there.

Catch you all later tonight in the Daily Bender! Good luck and I’ll see you all in the money this year!