If you play in a Head-to-Head league, it sometimes behooves you to add and drop starting pitchers to try to make up for a horrible start from one of your primary starting pitchers, or just to pick up the necessary innings in a league that imposes minimum inning limits in a scoring period. Nothing worse than winning the pitching categories only to wind up with a big fat goose egg because you did not collect enough innings to qualify for a specific week.           

Streaming is not always viewed kindly in fantasy circles, and some leagues take steps to prohibit or at least discourage the practice of picking up a starting pitcher for one or two starts, then tossing him back onto the waiver wire. If you have a weaker starting rotation in place, or suffer from injuries, lack of performance or the dreaded minor league demotion, you may not have any choice if you want to remain competitive.

If you are willing to take the chance with lesser owned starters, and the possibility that your wire pickups will further damage your fantasy stats in the current scoring period, however, these weekly articles that we are publishing on Sundays should help you sort through the chaff and perhaps hopefully find a gem or two to toss out in your daily lineup to help propel you towards the championship.           

Realize that these pitchers are all owned in 50 percent or less of leagues. and thus may be available in your league on the waiver wire. I am only going to highlight those pitchers that I believe can provide a boost to your rotation, so no bottom-of-the-barrel SPs will be brought to your attention. Also, please understand that this set of pitchers is being assembled early before the next scoring period (in most leagues, at least) commences, and weather, injury, demotions or crazy managerial decisions can interfere with our well-laid plans, so be ready to adjust if you can make daily lineup adjustments.

Here are the recommended streaming options for this week:

Monday, April 25, 2016

Kendall Graveman OAK @ DET Jordan Zimmermann

Graveman, as I have noted a couple of times early on this season, is the type of player I target to shore up my fantasy rotations. Any pitcher that Billy Beane covets is a SP that I want to put in my lineup. He has only allowed four earned runs in his three starts this season, and boasts an attractive 15:6 K/BB ratio. He has yielded two homers, which is a concern, except for the fact that his home park is among the toughest to drive the ball out over the fence. He is only owned in 9 percent of Yahoo leagues and less than 5 percent of ESPN leagues (his ownership is a more reasonable 31 percent on CBS). So what are you waiting for? Go snag him off the wire, especially since he is a two-start option this week.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Bartolo Colon NYM vs CIN Brandon Finnegan

Matt Wisler ATL vs BOS David Price

Ricky Nolasco MIN vs CLE Cody Anderson

If you had told me three years ago that I would still be promoting Colon as a viable starting pitching option in 2016, I would have laughed in your face. Yet, here he is, still mowing down batters, racking up Ks and collecting quality starts for the Mets. He has appeared in four games this season (three starts), and over those 18 2/3 innings, he has a 2.89 ERA and 1.07 WHIP with 17 strikeouts and just two walks. He gets to face the Reds at home where he has been effective over the past couple of seasons and the trend is continuing to open up 2016.

Wisler has won a spot in the Brave rotation, and he deserves it. He sports a 3.10 ERA and a sub-one (0.93) WHIP on the season, with a 4.00 K/BB ratio (16 Ks) over his 20.1 innings tossed. His home park does not help him out much if at all, and he generates too many fly balls to be fully trustworthy, having allowed three dingers on the early season. A 4.28 FIP and .225 BABIP tell me that he has been lucky, but I also recommend riding a hot hand and Wisler is that right now.

Nolasco is coming off a couple of ugly seasons, but he is pitching like a solid and dependable starter right now for the Twins. At 33 years of age, it should not be expected that he will continue to outpace his career numbers, but right now he is providing good value with a 2.66 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over the course of three starts. He has struck out 15 in the 20.1 innings he has thrown in 2016, while allowing only three walks and one home run. Regression is in store for the right hander, but he has also shown an ability to be productive during his career for periods of time, and this looks like one of those times.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Josh Tomlin CLE @ MIN Kyle Gibson

Nick Tropeano LAA vs KC Chris Young

Steven Wright BOS vs ATL Bud Norris

Tomlin pitched another solid game in his second start, coming off a win against the visiting Mets and following that up with a win against Detroit. He has allowed four hits in each of his victories, and just two earned runs on the season. He also has struck out 10 while handing out only a single free pass. He gets to face the light-hitting Twins in a pitcher-favorable park in his third start of 2016. A big part of his success this season has been avoiding the long ball, and Target Field should help him continue that trend.

Tropeano was not a pitcher that was in huge demand in March when drafts were taking place, and with just under 60 innings in the majors before this season, it is not exactly a mystery why he went undrafted for the most part. He did improve his peripherals between 2014 and 2015, and he comes into this contest against the reigning world champs with an excellent 1.69 ERA. He also has a 1.44 WHIP and has given up 15 hits and eight walks in his 16 innings pitched over three starts. His 87 percent strand rate is unmaintainable but his FIP and BABIP do not suggest that he is overly lucky (2.95 and .325, respectively). He needs to harness his control to be even more effective, but his prior numbers suggest that is possible, and he does not tend to yield an overabundance of homers. The lack of offensive support his team has been providing early on is the biggest concern, if he can continue to dodge the baserunners he allows in bunches.

Wright is another SP that has a stellar ERA early this season, plus he has a nice WHIP to go along: 1.40 ERA and 1.24 WHIP over 19.1 innings. He also has racked up 17 strikeouts in his three starts, but the 8 walks are a concern, but to be expected of a knuckleball pitcher. Facing the Braves at home is a point in his favor, but you always have to worry about a pitcher that throws the butterfly ball and has a fastball that clocks in at 83 MPH. What I am saying is, he has the chance to be useful, especially with the opponent he is facing, but do not be shocked if he gets knocked around, either.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Jhoulys Chacin ATL @ BOS Clay Buchholz

There is not a lot to recommend for streaming purposes on Thursday this week. Chacin was a decent pitcher in past seasons, who was hurt by calling Coors Field his home ballpark. He has pitched well this season for the most part, although he has yet to collect his first win. He has put up a 3.18 ERA and 1.06 WHIP over his 17 innings to date, and boasts an superb 19:2 K/BB ratio in three starts. He is generating groundballs and has yet to yield a home run this season, although heading to Boston could affect that streak.

Friday, April 29, 2016

Robbie Ray ARI vs COL Jordan Lyles

Ray just does not get any love from the fantasy baseball community. In his three starts this season, he has lowered his ERA from 3.00 to 1.96, and has been striking out more batters each outing (three, then six and eight in his last start against the Giants). The worst part of his game this season is reflected in the 11 walks he has allowed in 18 1/3 innings. Fortunately, he gets to avoid having to pitch against the Rockies in Denver, although his home park has been more hitter friendly this season than Coors Field. His team is providing adequate offensive support to give him a chance to pick up a victory. Assuming he can keep the ball in the strike zone and in the park. He has been generating a lot of grounders from opposing hitters which is generally a good thing at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Derek Holland TEX vs LAA Matt Shoemaker

Kendall Graveman OAK vs HOU Scott Feldman

Holland’s stat line looks good, but if we look under the hood, there is an inefficiency that is going to hurt him at some point. He is throwing a lot of pitches in his outings, and while most of the runners he is putting on base are not coming around to score, his BABIP (.267)  indicates that has more to do with luck than anything else. His walk and strikeout numbers are sitting at league average, and the suspicion I harbor is that his inefficient pitching will catch up to him at some point. Facing the weak hitting Angels at home, however, means that I would take a flier on him in this start.

I already discussed Graveman up above in Monday’s entry, and you can take a look at that analysis to see that I like this pitcher a whole bunch. Here he gets to pitch at home, which should have a dampening effect on the Astros’ bats. Have you not picked him up off of waivers yet? Go on, stop reading and do so now.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Matt Wisler ATL @ CHC Kyle Hendricks

As with Graveman, the analysis for Wisler can be found several inches above in Tuesday’s entry. I am not as excited about him pitching on the road at Wrigley Field, but he has been good lately and if his Tuesday start goes well, then he is the best streaming option (really the only streaming option I can recommend) for Sunday.

I enjoy responding to reader questions, so feel free to post. If you do not want your comments to appear in this public forum (if say your league members also read these articles), then feel free to contact me at ia@fantasyalarm.com for a more private response. I play in a ton of fantasy leagues, and am willing to discuss any baseball issues you may want to raise, not just starting pitching issues. As ever, good luck and Godspeed in your fantasy endeavors.