Week 14 of the Fantasy Baseball season begins Monday July 6th, 2015. It’s the last week before the All Star Break…..so let’s get started!
Week 14 Interleague Matchups
Miami Marlins at Boston Red Sox (2 games, Tuesday-Wednesday)
Los Angeles Angels at Colorado Rockies (2 games, Tuesday-Wednesday)
Arizona Diamondbacks at Texas Rangers (2 games, Tuesday-Wednesday)
Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles (3 games, Friday-Sunday)
Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs (3 games, Friday-Sunday
San Diego Padres at Texas Rangers (3 games, Friday-Sunday)
Week 14 Bullpen Report
Jason Motte is now closing games for the Chicago Cubs. He may not be the official closer but this past week he has picked up a win and a save. In fact over the past two weeks he’s 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 0.63 WHIP and is available in 90 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues. Who says your roster has to have an actual closer?
Carson Smith seems to be the official closer for the Seattle Mariners. Over the past 14 days Smith has posted an ERA of 3.86 and 1.07 WHIP with 5 strikeouts, 1 walk and zero bombs in 4.7 innings pitched. He’s also recorded 2 saves and is available in just over 60 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.
Probable Week 14 Two Start Pitchers
Johnny Cueto (Tue-Sun), James Shields (Mon-Sun), Dallas Keuchel (Mon-Sat), Corey Kluber (Tue-Sun), Jon Lester (Mon-Sat), Jake Arrieta (Tue-Sun), Carlos Carrasco (Mon-Sat), Francisco Liriano (Tue-Sun), A.J. Burnett (Mon-Sat), Jose Quintana (Mon-Sat), John Lackey (Mon-Sat), Dan Haren (Tue-Sun), Alfredo Simon (Mon-Sat), Miguel Gonzalez (Mon-Sun), Edinson Volquez (Mon-Sat), Yovani Gallardo (Tue-Sun), Carlos Frias (Mon-Sat), Carlos Rodon (Tue-Sun), Chris Heston (Mon-Sun), Taijuan Walker (Mon-Sat), Chris Young (Tue-Sun), Kyle Lohse (Mon-Sat), Brett Anderson (Tue-Sun), Anthony DeSclafani (Mon-Sat), Mark Buehrle (Mon-Sat), Kyle Gibson (Tue-Sun), Jesse Hahn (Tue-Sun), Jaime Garcia (Tue-Sun), Alex Colome (Mon-Sat), Roenis Elias (Tue-Sun), Doug Fister (Mon-Sun), Trevor May (Mon-Sat), Chad Bettis (Tue-Sun), Matt Boyd (Tue-Sun), Matt Wisler (Mon-Sat), Kyle Ryan (Tue-Sun), Vincent Velasquez (Tue-Sun), Ivan Nova (Tue-Sun), Andrew Heaney (Tue-Sun), Matt Moore (Tue-Sun), Chris Sale (Mon-Sat) and Chad Billingsley (Tue-Sun)
Week 14 Starting Pitching Waiver Wire Options
Each of the starting pitchers below is available in over 50 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.
Brett Anderson and the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Phillies on Tuesday night. Over his last three starts he’s 3-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 1.10 WHIP with 18 strikeouts, 5 walks and one bomb over 20 innings pitched. He has a season long .320 BABIP with a 3.47 FIP and xFIP of 3.31. The Phillies slash a road line of .246/.295/.350/.645 with a .310 wOBA and wRC+ of 94 to go along with a 19 percent strikeout rate on the road.
Kendall Graveman and the Oakland Athletics are in Cleveland for a Friday night game against the Indians. Over his past two starts Graveman is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and identical 1.29 WHIP to go along with 7 strikeouts, 5 walks and zero bombs. Very good .293 BABIP and his 4.47 FIP and even lower 4.32 xFIP are manageable. The Indians slash a .259/.338/.394/.732 home line with a wOBA of .334 and wRC+ of 118 with a 16 percent strikeout rate. Graveman’s GB/FB ratio of 1.93 should be enough to beat the Indians on Friday.
Wei-Yin Chen and the Baltimore Orioles are in Minnesota to face the Twins in a Monday night contest. Over his past two starts Chen is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 7 strikeouts, 3 walks and 4 bombs in 14 innings pitched. Excellent 2.57 BABIP with a decent 4.28 FIP and even lower xFIP of 3.91. The Twins at home slash a .258/.313/.392/.705 line against lefties with a .296 wOBA and wRC+ of 86 while striking out 23 percent of the time against lefties.
Kyle Gibson and the Minnesota Twins are at home against the Orioles for a Wednesday afternoon game. Gibson was 2-1 over his last three starts with a 1.83 ERA and 1.22 WHIP with 16 strikeouts, 8 walks and 1 bomb over 19.7 innings pitched. Good .287 BABIP and decent 4.19 FIP and lower xFIP of 3.96. The visiting Orioles slash a road line of .244/.300/.376/.677 with a .333 wOBA and wRC+ of 111. If his 2.55 GB/FB ratio is correct and he effectively uses his changeup like he did in his last start against the Royals he should be okay on Wednesday.
Jesse Hahn and the Oakland Athletics travel to New York to play the Yankees in a Tuesday night game. Over his last three starts Hahn is 2-1 with a 2.29 ERA, 1.22 WHIP with 15 strikeouts, 7 walks and 2 bombs in 19.7 innings pitched. Very good .273 BABIP and good 3.43 FIP with a bit higher but very manageable 3.79 xFIP. The Yankees at home slash a .280/.352/.493/.845 line with a .337 wOBA and wRC+ of 108 to go along with a 18 percent strikeout rate. I trust Hahn’s GB/FB ratio of 2.85 in this one.
Nathan Karns and the Tampa Bay Rays have a Thursday afternoon contest at Kansas City. Over the last three starts Karns is 1-1 with a 1.56 ERA and 1.38 WHIP with 16 strikeouts, 6 walks and zero bombs. Good .277 BABIP and decent 3.79 FIP and xFIP of 3.82. He’ll face a Royals team that slashes a home line of .273/.325/.404/.729 with a wOBA .301 and wRC+ of 85 to go along with a 14 percent strikeout rate. I like Karns 8.91 strikeouts per nine innings and maybe a win against his counterpart Joe Blanton on Thursday.
Week 14 Starting Pitching Streamers Monday to Thursday
Monday: Chris Heston and the Giants are at home to take on the weak hitting Mets in a Monday evening matchup. Over his last three starts Heston is 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA, a fairly decent 1.10 WHIP with 8 strikeouts, 4 walks and zero bombs in 18.7 innings pitched. Very good .309 BABIP and FIP of 3.29 and Heston’s 3.39 xFIP is also quite good. The Mets on the road slash a .226/.281/.340/.621 with a wOBA of .311 and 95 wRC+. Heston is currently owned in roughly 53 percent of all major Fantasy Baseball leagues and he should be a good add on Monday.
Tuesday: Manny Banuelos and the Atlanta Braves travel to Milwaukee to play the Brewers Tuesday evening. In just one Big League start Banuelos has a 0.00 ERA and 0.35 WHIP with 7 strikeouts zero walks and no bombs in 5.7 innings pitched. The Brewers slash a .214/.273/.367/.640 line against lefties with a wOBA .309 and a wRC+ of 93 while striking out a whopping 24 percent against lefties at home. Banuelos is available everywhere so he might be worth a look against the Brewers on Tuesday.
Wednesday: Drew Hutchison and the Blue Jays head to Chicago for a Wednesday night game against the White Sox. Over his last three starts Hutchison is 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA and 1.96 WHIP with 18 strikeouts and 7 walks with zero bombs in 15.3 innings pitched. His .350 BABIP is kind of high but his 3.70 FIP and 3.82 xFIP are still encouraging enough to want to stream him against a White Sox team that slashes .232/.292/.357/.648 at home with a wOBA .333 and wRC+ of 103 and a 23 percent strikeout rate. Hutchison’s counterpart is lefty John Danks. The Jays KILL lefties.
Thursday: Cody Anderson and the Indians host the Houston Astros in a Thursday evening contest. In his last two starts Anderson is 1-0 with a 0.57 ERA, 0.57 WHIP with 6 strikeouts, 1 walk and 1 bomb in 15.7 innings pitched. Exceptional .143 BABIP and while Andersons 3.34 FIP and 3.93 xFIP don’t seem to lineup with everything else the .250/.311/.419/.731 road slash line to go along with a .288 wOBA, wRC+ of 79 with a 20 percent strikeout rate leaves a door open I think Anderson can walk through.
Week 14 Position Players Waiver Wire Suggestions
Each of the position players listed below is available in over 50 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.
Francisco Cervelli C Pittsburgh Pirates: Over the last seven days Cervelli has slashed a .292/.370/.458/.828 line with 1 bomb, 5 RBI and 5 runs scored. Very high .370 BABIP and a low .105 ISO with .349 wOBA and 125 wRC+. Good early week matchup against the Padres at home and equally good weekend home matchup with the Cardinals.
Adam Lind 1B Milwaukee Brewers: Over the past seven days Lind has slashed a .308/.367/.577/.944 line with 2 bombs, 11 RBI and 5 runs scored. Good .325 BABIP and super .203 ISO with a wOBA of .368 and wRC+ of 133. Good early week matchup against the Braves and great weekend matchup against the Dodgers minus Kershaw and Greinke.
Rougned Odor 2B Texas Rangers: Over the past seven days Odor has slashed a .400/.429/.600/1.029 line with 1 bomb, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. His low .268 BABIP shouldn’t keep you off him nor should his .124 ISO and wOBA of .300 with a wRC+ of 85 as injuries and a lack of playing time have had more to do with this than anything else. He has a good home matchup at the beginning of the week with Arizona and the weekend against San Diego at home should also work out well for him.
Cesar Hernandez 2B SS OF Philadelphia Phillies: Over the past seven days Hernandez has slashed a .483/.531/.552/1.083 line with 3 RBI, 6 runs and 6 stolen bases. Great .346 BABIP with a very low .091 ISO to go along with a wOBA of .336 and wRC+ of 113. He’ll have a tough week ahead on the road against the Dodgers and Giants but triple eligible and steals bases? I added him and I think you should too!
Brett Lawrie 2B 3B Oakland Athletics: Over the past seven days Lawrie has slashed a .316/.381/.474/.746 line with 1 RBI, 2 runs scored and 1 stolen base. Very high .377 BABIP and below average .136 ISO with a .326 wOBA and wRC+ of 111. Very good early week matchup on the road and much tougher weekend matchup at Cleveland. It looks as though Lawrie is starting to turn things around so a roster spot for the duel eligible Lawrie might be worthy of consideration.
Chris Young OF New York Yankees: Over the last seven days Young has slashed a .222/.250/.481/.731 line with 2 bombs, 5 RBI and 4 runs scored. His .275 BABIP is on the low side but his .217 ISO makes up for that as does his wOBA of .330 and wRC+ of 109. He’ll play every day until Jacoby Ellsbury returns and with a decent matchup at the beginning of the week with Oakland and a much better weekend matchup at Boston Young might be worth consideration this week.
Adam Eaton OF Chicago White Sox: Over the past seven days Eaton has slashed a .231/.286/.528/.824 line with 2 bombs, 3 RBI and 5 runs. His .288 BABIP isn’t much to write home about nor is his .131 ISO but I do like that he bats leadoff and his wOBA of .305 is workable and while his wRC+ of 90 is less than to be desired the guys been hot and should continue this with his early week matchup against Toronto and his weekend matchup against the Cubs.
Randal Grichuk OF St Louis Cardinals: Over the past seven days Grichuk has slashed a .192/.276/.462/.738 with 1 bomb, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. His high .350 BABIP and .272 ISO is exceptional and his wOBA of .357 and wRC+ of 130 is also very nice to see. Good road matchup at the beginning of the week against the Cubs and a much better matchup on the weekend against the Pirates.
Miguel Sano 3B Minnesota Twins: The sample size is small but for what it’s worth Sano has slashed a .375/.375/.500/.875 line with 1 RBI and 1 run scored. He’s currently available in just over 60 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues so if you want him you’d better grab him now otherwise he will be gone from your waiver wire in the not so distant future.
Good luck this week Fantasy Baseball owner!
