Fantasy Waiver Wire Pitchers to Target for Final Month
Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
As we inch closer and closer to the end of the fantasy season quality innings are at a premium. I cannot really stress that enough. Often a good start can change the whole out look of a weekly head to head match up or net you 3-4 points in a roto league, though it does not come without some risk.
Pick a bad spot start and it very well could mean the exact opposite. Streaming or spot starting pitchers is not for the faint of heart. If you are ready to roll the dice then here are a few fantasy waiver wire pitchers to take a look at over the last month:
[table id=1146 /]
Carlos Carrasco, Tsuyoshi Wada, and Jeremy Guthrie are starters, while Brett Cecil is a reliever. We’ll mostly be looking at the starters today, but 20 Ks in 11 innings of work is hard to ignore. He also poached a win in the span and came up with a save the other night because of Casey Janssen’s recent struggles.He is certainly worth looking at.
Carlos Carrasco has been a starter since August 5th, and since then he has been pretty sharp. His first start he only lasted 4 innings against the Cincinnati Reds where he gave up 3 runs, his last three starts, he has only given up one run. Including 12 shutout innings against the Yankees (5 innings at Yankee Stadium) and the Baltimore Orioles. He is also just about at an even 9 strikeouts per nine innings.
Tsuyoshi Wada has been sharp for just about 2 solid months. His only bad outing was against the Padres of all teams, and at Wrigley. While that might concern some, I am willing to look past that poor start in early July because of his overall consistency the past two months. Dude is also rolling near 9 K:9 ratio and if he can roll past the St Louis Cardinals this weekend, you need to pounce!
Jeremy Guthrie has also been sharp recently. Way too sharp to be owned in less than 10% of leagues. While he is not as high a K:9 as the other two on this list, he is certain to be available in your league. By the time this piece is released he’ll have had another start against the Minnesota Twins, and most likely you’ll be kicking yourself for missing that start. Guthrie is a safe option and could really stabilize your rotation rest of way!
Here are a few more pitchers you could look at:
Perhaps next week I can write more about each of them. However if your league has a lot of active waiver wire guys, you may want to nab them now and play it by ear in their next starts. I’ll leave you with some spot start tips, find pitchers hurling against bad offenses, pitching at home, and when in doubt go with the higher K:9 guys! If you can land a couple of great starts from free agent pick ups, you will be very happy down the stretch.