We didn’t have horrible luck with our two-start pitchers last week, but it wasn’t enough to keep either Charlie Morton or Kevin Gausman on the roster. Gausman is clearly not ready to be consistent, and while Morton is a nice addition in the strikeouts category (15 last week), he’s still too risky in the ERA/walks categories to hold a roster spot for him.
Here’s the pitchers I’m picking up this week on the waiver wire for two starts.
Chase Anderson, Milwaukee Brewers, SP
I’ve been on the Anderson bandwagon already this season, so I’ll hop back on for this week, too.
Anderson is owned in about 40 percent of leagues on ESPN.com, so he should be available for your roster, with starts against San Diego and the Chicago Cubs this week.
I’m an Anderson apologist because he doesn’t give up a ton of runs, but he doesn’t necessarily go deep in many games. Milwaukee is quick to go to its bullpen, so Anderson hasn’t gone past the fifth inning for two straight starts. During those starts, he gave up two and four earned runs, respectively.
He’s not going to overwhelm you with strikeouts, but he should be in position to get the win and produce a decent ERA, especially with San Diego on tap first, with the worst batting average in Major League Baseball. If he can reach the five-inning mark, he should be in line for at least one win.
And the last time he faced the Cubs, he picked up one of his two wins, with five strikeouts against only one walk.
Eduardo Rodriguez, Boston Red Sox, SP
I can’t believe he’s still on the waiver wire in quite a few leagues. He’s owned in less than 60 percent of ESPN.com leagues, so if you have a pulse in fantasy baseball, and he resides on that list, pick him up for two starts this week.
Rodriguez is finding his way in the Red Sox rotation this year and has been one of the better pitchers in the American League this season. He has a 2.80 ERA over seven starts, and has at least six strikeouts in four of those games.
His win/loss record leaves a lot to be desired with a 1-1 record, but the wins will come if he keeps up this pace. He has St. Louis and Oakland this week, so that should be decent opportunities for victories. The A’s have a bottom-10 offense, so that matches up well for him later in the week.
Ride the hot hand and pick him up before he’s not available.
