Fantasy Waiver Wire Pitchers: Dixon’s Picks for Week of July 7

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome back to our weekly look at fantasy waiver wire pitchers. Because the All-Star break creates long weeks where nearly every starter in the game has a two-start “week”, we won’t have a list next week, meaning this will be the last until Sunday, July 20.

As is usual, before we look at this week’s top waiver wire pitchers, let’s have a look at my season-long total after the weeks of Henderson Alvarez, Danny Duffy, and Tim Lincecum.

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On to this week’s selections.

• Tyler Matzek, Colorado Rockies — Probable Starts: Monday vs. San Diego Padres, Sunday vs. Minnesota Twins

Let’s go ahead and start with the biggest gamble. No, that’s not a knock on Tyler Matzek, nor should anyone be especially afraid of the Padres or Twins offenses. But two starts at Coors Field?

His 4.25 ERA 1.35 WHIP don’t necessarily reflect this, but Matzek has been pitching well. Three of his five outings have resulted in quality starts, including each of his last two. Unfortunately, the two bad outings — one on the road, one at home — were really bad. Having said that, the Dodgers and Brewers possess much better offenses than the Padres and Twins, and Matzek responded to the beating Milwaukee gave him with a fine outing of his own at Miller Park, which isn’t exactly made for pitchers.

You’ll never win a fantasy league unless you gamble. This is certainly a risky play, but I’m willing to take my chances on Matzek.

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• Tom Koehler, Miami Marlins — Probable Starts: Monday at Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday at New York Mets

Some advice for Tom Koehler: Avoid Paul Goldschmidt or at least, put a lot of focus onto the hitters in front of him to ensure that Goldy bats with the bases empty.

Honestly, a big game from Goldschmidt is my biggest fear for Koehler this week. The Diamondbacks and Mets are just not frightening offenses, aside from maybe 1-2 guys in each lineup.

That’s exactly what you want to see with a hot pitcher, which describes Koehler at the moment. In his last four outings, Koehler has three quality starts (which happen to be the most recent ones), a 2.88 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, and 26 strikeouts in 25 innings.

That looks pretty good from here.

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• Chris Young, Seattle Mariners — Probable Starts: Tuesday vs. Minnesota Twins, Sunday vs. Oakland Athletics

Sorry, Twins fans. I guess I don’t foresee a lot of offense for you this week. Chris Young has delivered all year, as he enters the week with 3.11 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.

The A’s aren’t exactly your typical streaming opponents but Young has a 1.29 ERA and 0.857 WHIP against Oakland in 2014, which helps alleviate some of those doubts, as does the fact that it’s the weekend start, and one of the later starts on Sunday, at that, so you’ll likely know exactly what you need.

You shouldn’t ever count on more than about six innings from Young, maybe seven if he’s economical. But when he’s on the bump, his stuff is quality.

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