No single sub for Scherzer
THE ARGUMENT against selecting starting pitchers early in fantasy baseball drafts always shines brightest when a high-end pitcher gets hurt, and the loss of Max Scherzer pushes this debate front and center. Unfortunately, there is no point furthering the debate while inseason. If you were on the side of drafting starting pitching early and now you have lost Scherzer for at least 6-8 weeks, it is time to start streaming starters. It is highly unlikely you will find one pitcher to replace him, so digging deep each week to find two or three is your necessary course of action.
The easiest place to start this week is Pittsburgh. The Pirates’ offense has been terrible, posting a .227 batting average over the past week, but more importantly, they are sitting on a dismal .288 wOBA against southpaws and have scored the seventh-fewest runs against them this season.
They open the week hosting Colorado then will head to San Diego. It seems doubtful any Padres starter is available, but Colorado lefty Kyle Freeland is probably out there. Freeland has shined in three of his past four starts.
Speaking of the Padres, has anyone noticed how poorly their hitters have been this year? We’re looking at a .248 wOBA with a 26 percent strikeout rate over the past seven days. They do reasonably well against lefties, but Brewers righty Adrian Houser gets a hold of them Monday, and they have just a .285 wOBA against right-handers. You could even take it so far as to use Pirates righties JT Brubaker and Bryse Wilson against them, but only to supplement strikeouts and maybe steal a win.
Other streaming possibilities this week include Colorado’s Austin Gomber against Washington, Cleveland’s Triston McKenzie against Detroit and the White Sox’s Johnny Cueto against the Cubs.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy baseball advice.