Finally the wait is over and it’s back to baseball! Week 16, on all sites, is a little odd. A small minority of leagues might have a short 3-day week that includes this weekend. A majority of leagues have a 10-day schedule, and some leagues have a bizarre schedule that splits the league up into two 5-day weeks. Regardless this write up will cover the best options from now until July 23rd. The great thing about the post-AS break fantasy baseball week is that mostly every pitcher is getting two starts if you have a 10-day matchup this week so both matchups will be covered for each player if they’re slated for two starts over the next week and a half.

10-12 Team Leagues

Trevor Cahill (SD): Cahill made last week’s piece as a player to keep an eye on and he is served quite a delicious matchup in his first start after the break. He draws the Giants at home on July 16th and then… HE DRAWS THE GIANTS AGAIN NEXT WEEKEND! Oh happy day! It’s not often you get to draw one of the worst offenses in baseball twice in one week, but Cahill is lucky enough to behold such an honor. Obviously you can play him in both starts. His home/road splits are pretty drastic as he’s proven to struggle on the road. His last start in Philly he gave up 3 HR’s, but he draws two very friendly pitcher parks this week that don’t yield many HR’s in relation to other ballparks. His strikeouts are still there since returning from the DL, and the walks have been limited. This is the perfect two-start pitcher and streaming option for fantasy players this week.

Eduardo Rodriguez (BOS): Rodriguez is currently hovering around the 50% ownership cutoff to qualify as a streamer so he may only appear as a streamer this week because his ownership should spike in the coming weeks. Rodriguez draws two starts against the Jays and the Angels. Toronto is slashing just .241/.310/.354 against lefties and Rodriguez looked great in his last rehab start on July 9th where he pitched 6.1 innings, giving up 1 run on 6 hits with 7 K’s. The Jays are somewhat of a middle-of-the-road offense. Some nights they’re capable of putting up 7 runs, and there are other nights where they get blanked. They have sort of just “meh” strikeout potential, so if you want to wait and see how he does in his start against the Jays that’s fine.

Rodriguez is definitely in play against the Halos. After Trout went on the DL, the Angels did pretty well without him, but they struggled badly heading into the break. In 12 of their last 13 games before the break they scored 4 runs or fewer. With Trout returning to the lineup Friday night they still only put up a lone run. That’s a very small sample size and he most certainly does bring more prowess to the lineup, but they’re slashing only .234/.308/.371 away from Anaheim. One thing to monitor in this matchup would be the stolen base attempts. Over the past 30 days the Angels have attempted 15 stolen base attempts against lefties, which is the most in the majors over that span. If the Angels somehow get on base they’ll be looking to run all over the southpaw.

Ariel Miranda (SEA): You really need to dive into the numbers to figure out why Miranda is a suggested streamer this week. He gets a road start July 17th against Houston, and then a home start July 22nd against the Yankees. Two pretty high-powered offenses, yeah? So check out Miranda’s splits on the road vs. at home:

 

ERA

BA

OBP

SLG

wOBA

HR/9

K/BB

Home

3.23

.190

.245

.330

.250

1.32

2.88

Road

5.48

.247

.342

.521

.362

2.32

1.62

Now he’s not recommended for the first start against Houston. They’re a fantastic offense and they’re top 5 in the league against lefties. Now the Yankees start is where you should be able to stream him. Yes the Yankees statistically have a great offense still, but they’ve been fading over the last few weeks and have relinquished the lead in the AL East to where they’re now sitting 3rd in the division. And against lefties they’re slashing just .233/.319/.391 on the year. Only 23 of their 108 HR’s this year have come off southpaws, so if there’s a sneaky “read between the lines” streamer this week, it’s Miranda.

Ian Kennedy (KC): From May 4th-June 10th Kennedy was an abomination. Over a span of 6 starts he pitched 25.1 innings of work giving up 26 earned runs, on 28 hits (8 of which were HR’s), striking out only 21 batters while walking 14. He went 0-4 over that stretch and wasn’t worth even monitoring. Since then he’s turned it around nicely. In his last 5 starts (30.1 innings of work) he’s given up just 9 earned runs on 21 hits (6 of which are HR’s) on 27 K’s with just 8 walks.  

Kennedy gets two home starts this week against the Rangers and the White Sox. His splits favor him more on the road, but Kauffman Stadium has been favorable toward pitchers and since he’s been throwing the ball much better lately he’s worth rolling the dice on. Kennedy’s BABIP of .038 over the last 30 days is 1st in the league. Now that number is certainly in line for regression as it’s impossible to sustain that, but he’s only allowed an OPS of .176 over that same time frame, which is perhaps a better indicator that he may be improving on those dreadful HR numbers.

Desperation Play of the Week… Jhoulys Chacin (SD): Can’t. Believe. He Made It. Be sure to have a firm grip of your eyeballs, because they may fall out of your skull when you see the table below…

 

ERA

FIP

WHIP

AVG

OBP

SLG

wOBA

BABIP

HR/9

Home

1.68

3.59

0.92

.179

.250

.293

.239

.208

0.76

Road

7.95

5.54

1.81

.330

.404

.553

.399

.384

1.88

Yep. Chacin is highly impressive at home. And like his teammate listed above, he draws the Giants twice in the coming week (today at home, and then Thursday the 20th in San Francisco). He’s definitely in play for today’s start and you can even take a chance in the next start. Yeah his numbers are awful on the road, but the start is still in AT&T Park. The win potential may not be there because he draws Madison Bumgarner in both starts who is coming off the DL. Still he’s a very interesting streaming option for this week.

Player to Keep an Eye on: Charlie Morton (HOU): Morton came into the week at 32% owned but that’s now up to 42%. He still qualifies as a streamer, but he’s worth keeping an eye on because he’s coming off injury. In two starts since coming off the DL he has won both his games, but pitched only 11 innings giving up 7 hits, 7 walks, with 13 strikeouts. He’s surrendered a HR in each start, which isn’t a good sign for his next matchup against the Mariners. The strikeouts are the lone saving grace, plus he’ll always get run support from the offense. But his walks are a good indicator of where his command is at right now. He’s worth flagging if he’s on your waivers, but not yet worth streaming.

Deeper League Options

Luis Castillo (CIN): Castillo technically still qualifies as a starter in 10-12 team leagues, but his ownership is still low enough that you might be able to find him in deeper leagues still. It should actually be a crime how low his ownership is. He boasts an 11.74 K/9 with a fastball that regularly hits 98 mph. He went into the break with two road starts against the Rockies and then the Diamondbacks. and all things considered, he did quite well! The tough matchups keep on comin’ for him though.

He gets a home start today against the Nationals and then another home start Thursday July 20th against the Diamondbacks. It’s the Tour de Force of strong offenses against Castillo, but he’s proven that he can handle it. He’s due to get rocked at some points, but for as low owned as he is, he needs to be streamed and possibly owned long-term.

Paul Blackburn (OAK): Blackburn is more of a categories recommendation, but he can be used in points leagues as well, but the upside is limited because he doesn’t collect many strikeouts. In 13.2 innings of work he’s surrendered 11 hits with just 2 walks, and only given up 1 earned run. He boasts a ridiculous 95.2% strand rate and with how many hits he gives up you have to imagine he’s bound to give up more runs. He draws Cleveland at home and the Mets on the road. The Indians matchup is pretty risky considering they started hitting their stride as a team right before the break, but the Mets offense is intriguing enough to pick him up because they are a better offense on the road than at home.

Andrew Moore (SEA): Moore has made this piece in the past and it’s somewhat surprising he’s under 20% owned in so many leagues. He’s a kid that certainly has his pro’s and con’s.

Pro’s: He doesn’t give up many walks, he’s posted 3 quality starts since being called up, and the Mariners don’t have him on a short leash.

Con’s: He doesn’t get many strikeouts, he’s prone to giving up the long ball, and his FIP suggests he could get blown up in the near future.

Like Miranda listed above, Moore draws the White Sox and Yankees this coming week and if he’s available in your deeper league he should draw consideration because of the quality start streak.

Desperation Play of the Week… Blake Snell (TB): Snell is a guy that many fantasy analysts have trouble giving up on and rightfully so because he’s still young and possesses great potential. However, he’s had his struggles over the last calendar year. He hasn’t completed 6 innings of works since his 1st start of the season back in the beginning of April. However, in his last start before the break on the road against the Cubs, he did well enough to earn consideration. In 5 innings of work he didn’t allow any runs on 4 hits with 5 strikeouts. He did yield 4 walks and needed 97 pitches just to get through 5 innings of work.

Snell gets the Athletics on the road in his only start this week on Monday so you can drop him after his start and use any of the other guys listed above after him. Snell should at least have success keeping the left-handed hitters on Oakland in check. Lefties have a miss rate of 33.3% against Snell and he’s struck out 27% of all lefties he’s faced while surrendering a slugging percentage of .281 against southpaws. This should keep Matt Joyce and Yonder Alonso in check, which is good because they hit towards the top of the order.