The All-Star break is over and everyone is geared up for what will be an exciting second half of the baseball season. This is it—teams in contention are going to be in the fight for their lives and making every move possible to stay in the thick of the playoff race. Starting pitching is like gold in baseball, as we saw when the Oakland Athletics traded away most of their farm system for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.
The important of starting pitching and making every day count applies to fantasy baseball as well. The fantasy playoffs even come before the MLB playoffs kick off, just making every match up more crucial for your team's success. While upgrading your rotation on the trade market is always the best way to build your team, a more affordable way comes from streaming starters. Here are a few streaming pitchers you can pick up for some help in this 10-day long matchup.
Danny Salazar, Cleveland Indians
@ Minnesota Twins, Tuesday
As more starting pitchers begin to make their comebacks from injuries, the pickings for starters to stream dwindles. . Many of the breakout guys who started the season as temporary options like Jake Arrieta and Tim Lincecum, have turned into fantasy studs.
You have to be willing to take some risks and that will include taking a gamble on Salazar this week against the Twins. You might remember Salazar—he was phenomenal as a rookie last season, with a 3.12 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 10 starts last season. He was heralded as the next breakthrough pitcher who would become a fantasy ace—unfortunately, he fell way short of expectations.
After allowing 44 hits and 15 base runners in 52 innings last season, that number jumped up to 49 hits and 17 walks in only 40 2/3 innings pitched. Singles he gave up last year were now turning into doubles and triples, and his WHIP humped .49 points from last year's mark. Salazar was sent down to Triple-A Columbus in May where his struggles continued with a 7.11 ERA and .356 opponent average.
Salazar was then placed on the disabled list and missed two starts with a triceps injury. Maybe a few weeks away from the mound helped him or the triceps injury was something that had been nagging him all season, because Salazar turned a corner.
He made four starts in June and cut his ERA down from 7.11 in May to 3.47 in June and just a .239 opponent's average. It wasn't quite the dominant stuff we saw in 2013, but it gave him momentum heading into July. Over his past five starts, the 24-year-old has a 2.34 ERA. His numbers continue to drop across the board, with opponents hitting just .161 off of him this month, though walks have been a problem, as he has allowed 14 in three starts.
The Indians lost Justin Masterson to the disabled list before the All-Star break and have made the decision to call up Salazar to take the mound on Tuesday against the Twins. This is a Minnesota' lineup that doesn't like to get hits with just a .247 team average. The one thing Minnesota has going for them is their approach at the plate—they are fourth in walks (339) and sixth in strikeouts (791) so they will work the count. This will be a test for Salazar to see just how many improvements he has made, but it's worth the gamble against a struggling Twins' lineup.
Trevor Bauer, Cleveland Indians
@ Minnesota Twins, Wednesday
If one Cleveland starter wasn't enough for you, there is another matchup to roll with the following day when Bauer takes the mound against Minnesota. Bauer's had quite a career since being drafted third overall in the 2011 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He would make his major league debut on June 28 of the following year and pitched four innings, allowing just two runs. He would go on to make three more starts with Arizona before being sent down to Triple-A and never wearing a Diamondbacks uniform again. Arizona's front office and coaching staff grew tired of his unusual warm-up routine and command problems, so they shipped him off to Cleveland.
Bauer spent most of the 2013 season in Columbus retooling his mechanics and gaining back his confidence and command in his arsenal. He needed to get back to his style of pitching and away from how Arizona tried to manipulate and change everything he did. While the overall numbers—a 4.15 ERA and 192 base runners allowed in 121 1/3 innings is certainly rough, this was a transition year.
This is really the year when it all needed to come together and we could see real improvement from Bauer, sure enough we have. He shined for the first two months in Triple-A with a 2.15 ERA and just 50 base runners in 46 innings. He made a spot-start on April 9 against the San Diego Padres and shined, but earned a spot in the rotation on May 20. Bauer still battled some consistency issues on a start-by-start basis, but has since settled in allowing just 11 runs in his past five starts.
Bauer is a must start this week when he takes on the Twins, in a matchup where he could get at least eight strikeouts. The Twins are patient but with Bauer's fastball and improved command, he has all the pitches neccessary to leave Minnesota hitters walking back to the dugout with their head down. He only gave up three runs in his last start to the Detroit Tigers and shutout the Chicago White Sox the week before over 6 2/3 innings with 10 strikeouts. You can pick up Bauer with confidence and keep him on your team going forward.
Brandon McCarthy, New York Yankees
Vs. Texas Rangers, Thursday
They took away his beard and they took away his number, but McCarthy seems to be settling in quite well with the Yankees after two starts. The 31-year-old right-hander never really settled in with the Diamondbacks, after an impressive two-year stint with the Oakland Athletics from 2011-'12.
McCarthy finished with an ERA under 3.3 in two seasons with the Athletics before they looked elsewhere in free agency last year and he signed with the Diamondbacks. Despite pitching in the National League, McCarthy struggled with the Diamondbacks seeing his ERA jump to 4.53 last season and 5.01 in 18 starts this season before the trade. The Yankees were in desperate need of rotation help though and decided to take a chance on him, it's paid off so far.
Things were actually going quite well for McCarthy in his final two starts with the Diamondbacks—he held the Padres to just one run in seven innings on June 27, then just a few days later limited the Pirates' hot bats to just two runs over 5 2/3 innings to give him back-to-back wins for the first time in 2014. He was then shipped off to New York and after shaving off his beard and picking a new number, he has allowed just two earned runs combined in his past two starts.
McCarthy is starting to generate more swings and misses, evident by his 10 strikeouts on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. Everything was on point for him in his new home allowing just six hits and no walks in a hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium.
Starting McCarthy against the Rangers is risky—while they are without Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre is still an All-Star third baseman and poses a threat every time he steps to the plate. The Rangers will get their hits, they rank sixth in baseball with a .259 average, but are 27th in home runs (70) and 13th in runs (397). So while they might rack up the singles, there isn't enough depth in the lineup to drive guys like Beltre and Elvis Andrus in for runs.
Considering how hot McCarthy has been lately with the improved command and the Rangers' major struggles this season, this is a matchup worth taking a chance on. You could stash McCarthy after the start as a nice pitching depth or ultimately drop him and keep playing the week-to-week streaming strategy going.