Welcome back to week 18 of Streamer Tidd-Bits! We have roughly one third of the season remaining, so it’s time to start cracking down on preserving ratios, attacking those tight categories, and perhaps cutting those stashes that you’ve been holding onto with the hope that they’ll turn your teams’ seasons around. If I’m being honest, I have one team where I’ve already begun starting high strikeout relievers (e.g. A.J. Puk) over riskier starting pitchers (e.g. Drew Thorpe), and if you’re in a position where you’re strong in strikeouts and wins, maybe you want to think about utilizing a similar approach. That may be counterintuitive for me to say considering what we try to do here at Streamer Tidd-Bits, but if you’re chasing wins and favorable matchups then our work should continue to be a valuable resource for you down the stretch run of the season.

Before we jump into our recommendations for the week of 8/5 – 8/11, here’s a quick recap of our merit-based results from the week of 7/15 – 7/21, as well as our matchup-based ones from the week of 7/22 – 7/28. Unfortunately, both merit-based recommendations were losses. Our first pitcher, Yilber Diaz, just didn’t pitch well and now he’s back in AAA. Our other selection, Carlos Carrasco, hurt your ERA and WHIP if you added and started him, but it appears he was a victim of poor batted ball luck instead of just pitching poorly like Diaz. What I really liked when I recommended Carrasco as a merit-based add were his recent strikeout and walk rates. Over his last two starts he maintained those strong skills as over nine innings pitched he struck out 11 and only walked one. Unfortunately, he gave up 15 hits and 12 of the 16 baserunners he allowed scored (25 LOB% – talk about awful luck). On a positive note, we split our matchup-based adds going 1-1. Jake Bloss let us down, but was one strikeout away from getting six strikeouts. Oh, so close. Our lone win this week, Hogan Harris, is also the only matchup-based streamer that has checked off all three win qualifiers in his start (win, quality start, at least six strikeouts). It’s kind of incredible that it took four months for us to get a streamer who achieved all three accomplishments in a single start, but as I’ve said many times, pickings are slim in the Main Event.

7/15 – 7/21 Merit Based Results:

Carlos Carrasco: 2 GS, 9.0 IP, 15 H, 12 ER, 1 BB, 11 Ks, 12.00 ERA, 1.78 WHIP, 0 Wins

Grade: Loss

Yilber Diaz: 2 GS, 8.0 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 7 K, 7.88 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, 0 Wins

Grade: Loss

Year-to-date Merit Based stats: 67 GS, 358.3 IP, 375 H, 184 ER, 114 BB, 261 Ks, 4.62 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 16 Wins

Year-to-date Merit Based record (W-L-N/A): 10-18-2

7/22 – 7/28 Matchup Based Results:

Jake Bloss @ OAK: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 11.25 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, Loss

Grade: Loss

Hogan Harris vs HOU (was @ LAA): 6.7 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, Win

Grade: Win (W, QS, 6+ Ks)

Year-to-date Matchup Based stats: 30 GS, 153.7 IP, 168 H, 84 ER, 56 BB, 138 Ks, 4.92 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 3 Wins

Year-to-date Matchup Based record (W-L-N/A): 13-16-1

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all stats referenced in this article are through 7/30, and all players are rostered in 30% or fewer of NFBC Main Event leagues.

wcm_nonmember] Want to get access to the rest of Ben’s article? You’ll need to have a FANTASYPASS membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!
Premium Access Required [/wcm_nonmember]