September 5 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Cody Bradford, Joey Estes, Jake Irvin and Martin Perez
Thursday's probable starters who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
It’s the opening night of the NFL season; most people aren’t going to be watching baseball. As MLB approaches its most important stretch, they are completely overshadowed by the start of football, a yearly occurrence.
What else can we do but power on, though? There’s less than a month left of fantasy baseball; we may as well pay attention and finish strong, maybe making a late push for the trophy!
Let’s look at Thursday’s probable starters (according to MLB.com) who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups, creating streaming value. Most stats and rankings are from MLB. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
Cody Bradford, Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels
Bradford missed a large portion of the season with injury and has only thrown 56 innings over 10 appearances (nine starts). That small sample has gone really well: above average strikeout rate, miniscule walk rate, ERA just a little over 3.00. Bradford looked good when on the mound, but he missed over half the season.
The Angels are playing out the string over the final four weeks, at the bottom of their division and likely to see a lot of bad before anything good comes out. The rest of 2024 will be a mix of bad-to-middling veterans, young players needing at-bats and half-empty stadiums.
Bradford is a mid-level streamer. He has looked good, and the matchup is right for a nice day.
Joey Estes, Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners
Add another poor AL West offense to the list. The Mariners are worse than the Angels on offense (while greatly outpacing LA in pitching). Seattle has a bottom-five lineup, ranking near the bottom of the league in most stats and leading the league in batter strikeouts. The Mariners might be the highest-ceiling opponent for fantasy pitchers.
Estes does very well limiting walks, but he’s also below-average striking batters out. Estes has started against the Mariners twice this season, seeing good results both times:
- May 11: 5 innings, 1 run allowed, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks
- June 5th: 6.1 innings, 0 runs allowed, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks
It’s tough to expect such pristine work again, but it’s encouraging that Estes has had success against Seattle. Estes is a mid-level streamer. He’s been fine, and the matchup is about as good as Estes could hope for.
Jake Irvin, Washington Nationals @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Irvin has been a very average pitcher this season. His strikeout rate is a little worse than average, his walk rate is a little better than average and his ERA is right about 4.00. It’s just middling number after middling number; that will get him paid for a long time if he keeps it up.
Pittsburgh ranks in the bottom 10 in essentially every offensive stat, reaching the bottom five in many of those areas. Their batters have struck out the fourth most, providing a high ceiling for opposing pitchers to go along with the high floor of poor production. The Pirates check every box for a potential streamer.
Irvin is a mid-level streamer. He’s fine, the matchup is good; what more do you want?
Martin Perez, San Diego Padres vs. Detroit Tigers
Perez had been on fire since heading to San Diego at the trade deadline but faltered a little in his last start against the Rays, allowing four runs in five innings. He picked up the win as his team got the victory 13-5, though, so it all worked out in the end. Perez started against the Tigers once with the Pirates, seeing glowing results: eight innings, one run, seven strikeouts, no walks.
The Tigers are trying to reach a middling level but haven’t quite made it. They are a bottom-10 offense like the others listed here, but Detroit is closer to 20th in most stats rather than in the basement. The Tigers aren’t a team to target every day, but with a light schedule and not many streamers, they end up here today against a good pitcher.
Perez is a low- to mid-level streamer. The matchup is just OK, and while he’s done well, Perez is a below-average strikeout pitcher.
Thursday’s Streamer Rankings
- Cody Bradford, TEX
- Joey Estes, OAK
- Jake Irvin, WSH
- Martin Perez, SD
