The Daily Stream Saturday Version 4/20/2013‏

#BOSTON STRONG

The Daily Stream — Saturday Version

Hello fellow fisherman, it is time for The Daily Stream – The Saturday Version.  This week has been a fantasy week filled with mid level double starts and more than your fair share of bad pitching. Matt Cain owners, people that owned and started David Price, Brett Anderson, those who bought into Tim Hudson’s strong start among others.  If you are like me you may have had a rough week in Era/Whip and you need some strikeouts and wins to try and salvage week #3.  Lets get to it and see who may help and who may kill your chances of winning pitching in week #3.

Bronson Arroyo Cin vs Mia (Wade Leblanc)

Bronson Arroyo is an inconsistent pitcher that is not known  as a “strikeout” pitcher but when that curveball is on he can have his moments and that makes him a tempting stream opportunity and today he is facing the Miami Marlins who may be the worst offense in baseball.  When you look at the peripherals there aren’t any working against starting Bronson today except for your opinion of Bronson himself. .  The Reds are a winning team while the Marlins are terrible which makes a W a good bet, the Reds are a strong offense that should provide Bronson good run support in a home game vs a Marlins team that can’t hit themselves out of a wet paper bag right now.  Arroyo is coming off a strong seven inning two earned run performance against a pretty good offense in Philly.  Arroyo’s Era is 4.05 which is solid but not spectacular but his Whip of 1.00 shows that that Era is a bit unfair, he has pitched better than that.  Arroyo should help you  in Era and Whip with modest strikeouts and a high likelihood of a W so get him in there.  He is one of the strongest streams of the day so hook em and hope fantasy owners

Stream him with Confidence

#WhoYaGot Rating :

Era/Whip/OBPA : 6 of 10

K’s : 5.5 of 10

Wins : 7.5 of 10

Mark Buehrle Tor vs NYY (Hideki Kuroda)

I put Mark in here because it seems like he should at least be addressed even though it is a pretty simple decision, STAY AWAY.  Bronson Arroyo’s peripherals are all good, well Buerhle is in Bizarro world in comparison because he is the exact opposite. All of his peripherals are bad.   Bad pitchers park in Toronto, the Yankees are the 3rd best team in MLB in both OPS and HR’s and he faces Hideki Kuroda.  Buerhle in his last 16 innings is pitching to a 7.31 Era & 1.75 Whip (23!! hits and 13 earned runs). Buehrle is unstartable regardless of circumstances and today circumstances are worse than most.  Even the desperate are glad they don’t have him today.

STAY FAR AWAY . Even desperation is running from this one.

#WhoYaGot rating :

Era/Whip/Obpa :  3 of 10

K’s :  3 of 10

Wins :  4 of 10

Philip Humber Hou vs Cle (Scott Kazmir)

It is always tough to start a Houston pitcher even though they have been playing better as of late so I will at least try to make a case for Humber.  2.89 Era 1.12 Whip 17 hits in 18 innings & 4 BB 8 K’s.  Cleveland is 12th in homers and 16th in OPS in baseball. Cleveland is 5-10 and Scott Kazmir is coming off an injury after not pitching in the majors more than once since 2010.   There is a lot of potential value here.  And now lets be fair,  Phillip Humber is not known as a good pitcher, so far he has looked good but its a very small sample size, the game is at home in Houston which is a very good hitters park and Humber lacks strikeout potential. Houston is not a strong team but so far neither is Cleveland. This is one of the tougher calls of the day because my gut tells me that his good pitching so far warrants the risk depending on your situation.  If you need W’s and Era/Whip are beyond saving or well in hand then the problem is he is not going to help strikeouts but the decision to be made; is Humber or some other streaming option the better choice but let me add a wrinkle. If Era/Whip is close Humber could be a decent stream and may make Humber a better choice than some other riskier options. He may not get you the K’s and he isn’t a safe bet for the W but he seems a safer bet not to blow up Era/Whip while some other choice may just be.  Humber may be the happier medium or dare I say, a better compromise, for your particular situation.    His Whip and Era are both good and are in line with each other.He hasn’t been lucky or unlucky, he has pitched well and the numbers show that.  The problem here is Houston is at best a 50/50 call to get Humber a win and he is not going to contribute to strikeouts in all likelihood and strikeouts are so important to streaming.  If you don’t have better choices I like Humber a wee bitty bit today and I lean towards streaming him. I think he is a solid if not spectacular start today and it is probably a very safe bet that he is available in most standard leagues.  It is a 7pm Est game so you could play “catch and release” and claim him and wait as long as possible before deciding whether to start him or not.  Maybe your situation changes with the Saturday afternoon games.  He is this close a call in my mind.

Start Him with some confidence. Earn the “GM of the Year” award with this one today

#WhoYaGot rating :

Era/Whip/Obpa :  6 of 10

K’s :  3 of 10

Wins :  5.5 of 10

Rick Porcello Det vs Laa Garrett Richards

I thought about writing up the match-up of Branond Maurer vs Nick Tepesch  because it was a match-up where I would not start or even consider either starting pitcher but this match-up, almost like I am going back to the Bizaroo world that I referenced before regarding Bronson Arroyo and Mark Buerhle, I think both of these pitchers are worth considering but for different reasons so lets get into it.  Both Texas and the Angels can hit and they are playing in a very good hitters park in Texas and both pitchers have pitched poorly in 2013. On the bright side, Porcello is a ground ball pitcher that can diminish the benefits of a hitters park when he is on and Garrett Richards when he is on does have swing and miss stuff.  Both teams are good teams that can mash and are capable of getting these two guys a W. To flip back to the dark side, when these guys aren’t on they can be very bad and these two lineups have the potential to put a real hurting on a pitcher throwing BP up there. It is Saturday and therefore it is assumed that some level of desperation has set in and that is why these guys are on the dissecting table for Dr Mitchell but I am leaning towards a SIT EM for both of these guys.  The risk is pretty great and the benefits are also in doubt.  I like starting pitchers on weekends playing for good teams (or teams I think are good but are playing poorly Angels) but Porcello won’t get you strikeouts and Richards may not get you strikeouts either because even though he has swing and miss stuff he has not backed up that potential with results as a major leaguer.  I would sit them.  If you are a true river boat gambler I am not sure which one to bet on if you do want to start them either so when it comes to streaming I am truly confused with this pair of fish.

Sit ‘Em both 

Porcello over Richards because Detroit is more likely to pitch well and to Win

#WhoYaGot rating :

Era/Whip/Obpa :  4.5 of 10

K’s :  4.5 of 10

Wins :  5 of 10

Happy Fishing on this beautiful Saturday of Baseball Fantasy fans.

Look for my Daily Streaming articles appearing on www.Seamheads.commy all week long and my weekly Sunday article “Toeing The Rubber/Riding The Pine” discussing the two start Start “Em Sit ‘Em options for the up coming week.  You can also follow me on twitter @cjmitch73 to ask all fantasy and baseball related questions and well join me for the weekly Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em chat live Sunday nights during the ESPN National Game of the Week beginning at 7pm Est.

Chris Mitchell
www.Seamheads.com
Twitter : @cjmitch73
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