Not too many names in this week’s article. The options aren’t great. I was anticipating a few of the guys in the ten-team section to be more available, so their high ownership really left us with minimal options in the deeper leagues.
Ten Team Leagues
Nathan Eovaldi (BOS) – Eovaldi’s made only one start for the Red Sox (although his second start comes later today against the Yankees), but so far it looks like a wise acquisition for Boston. Dating back to the end of June, when Eovaldi was still with Tampa Bay, he has a 2.86 ERA (2.68 FIP), with 37 strikeouts, and five walks in 34.2 innings of work. No matter what happens in his Saturday matchup against the Yankees, Eovaldi needs to be owned and streamed next week against Baltimore. Oddly enough Baltimore’s offense has been rolling since they unloaded most of their assets, but the O’s have scored 68 runs in their last nine games. This still isn’t too concerning for Eovaldi. He’s been on a roll and is associated with a better offense in Boston. He, nor you, should fear Baltimore. Editor’s Note: You may want to add Eovaldi ASAP because in 15 innings for the Red Sox he has yet to allow a run to score. He’s looking phenomenal in Boston.
Kevin Gausman (ATL) – Good ole Gas Can is back in the streamers section. It’s kind of wild actually; he makes his Atlanta debut Saturday night and his fantasy ownership experienced a bit of a spike, hence why he only qualifies for the shallow league section. The general consensus is that a change of scenery will do Gausman some good. I mentioned earlier in today’s Daily Round Up that Gausman, heading into Saturday, has a 4.43 ERA on the year. But if you take away his starts against the Red Sox and Yankees his ERA drops down to 3.71. And yes that’s picking and choosing which stats to remove to better his argument, but the NL East is different than the AL East. He gets the benefit of pitchers having to step into the batter’s box, and he can avoid the Red Sox and Yankees. The bad news is that next week he will likely face the Nationals. There are some reports the Nationals clubhouse is toxic, but take it with a grain of salt because this team has scored 40 runs over their last three games. But prior to that they did have a pretty bad month of July. I’m still feeling optimistic about Gausman and what he can do with Atlanta so I’d willing to suggest him as a streamer next week.
Luke Weaver (STL) – Weaver’s had a pretty underwhelming season thus far. But his 4.19 FIP compared to his 4.75 ERA suggests there’s some positive regression in order. But his numbers do look pretty bad. He’s averaging over three walks per nine innings, less than a strikeout per inning, and he’s only generating a 9.8% swinging strike rate. However, he has two great matchups next week in pitcher-friendly confines. The first matchup comes against the Marlins in Miami followed by a dance with the Royals in Kansas City. Both teams are averaging less than four runs per game so this may be a good time to stream Weaver and then drop him after next week. There’s little reason to keep him longer than that.
12-Team Leagues
Shane Bieber (CLE) – Bieber deserves some semblance of a second chance because he has a 4.73 ERA this year, but his FIP is just 3.40 so he’s had some bad luck and should positively regress. On Sunday he faces the Angels, but next week he faces the White Sox on the road. The White Sox boast a bottom ten offense so it’s a good target for Bieber to get back on track. Bieber is still averaging almost a strikeout per inning and generating a respectable 11.2% swinging strike rate. If he does decent on Sunday against the Halos then you can feel even better about next week against Chicago.
Junior Guerra (MIL) – Guerra may be due for some negative regression. He’s lucky he has a 3.42 ERA, but he also has a 4.23 FIP. He tossed eight innings of three-run ball in his last outing against Colorado, but he still gave up two home runs. That seems to be his Achilles heel because he’s given up five of those in his last 22 innings of work. But next week he faces the Padres at home and they’ll likely be without Wil Myers who was placed on the disabled list. Aside from Myers there are very few names who are much of a threat. There’s Christian Villanueva and that’s about it. Guerra can be streamed if he’s available. Unfortunately the options for 12-team leagues aren’t that great this week.
Deeper League Options
Jaime Barria (LAA) – Barria’s a pretty decent option in deeper leagues next week. He is due for some serious regression. He has a 3.84 ERA on the year with a 5.01 FIP. However, it likely won’t come in his next matchup against the Tigers. Detroit has scored 15 runs over their last six games and the Tigers are really just waiting for this season to end. They’ve got some nice pieces further down the road, but right now they suck and should be targeted if you need a streamer. Don’t expect him to go too deep. He’s not in the Mike Scioscia “Circle of Trust” yet so he’ll be lucky if he lasts six innings. And Mike Trout has missed a few games so it’s unclear if he’ll provide some offense. Regardless, this is not a bad matchup for Barria.
Ivan Nova (PIT) – There’s little to like about Nova next week. Perhaps the silver lining is his matchup on the road against the Giants. The Giants offense has scored just 35 runs over their last nine games, although they have come to life a little more in their more recent handful of games. But this is a ballpark that suppresses home runs and Nova averages 1.57 HR/9. This year he’s been awful on the road, but Pittsburgh is one of the hotter teams in baseball and they’re making a push for October. Nova is actually solid at keeping the free passes to a minimum. He averages just 1.73 BB/9 so if the home runs are kept down this could be a sneaky matchup for him to come away with a quality start or a win.