fantasy baseball free agent pickups

Cole Irvin is making waves on the west coast for the Oakland A's

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Baseball is a game of hot streaks and slumps, and as a fantasy baseball manager it's sometimes difficult to know when to part with someone on your roster to take a chance on someone new.

Here we'll examine three players you may want to consider moving on from if you have them rostered, and provide three potential replacements for them. Just like in real baseball, sometimes you have to make the tough moves in order to win. But if you don't know what the right moves are to make then you just end up looking like the Pittsburgh Pirates of your fantasy league.

Here's some advice for you so you don't become the Pirates of your league.


First Up

Cole Irvin Oakland A's SP (30% Rostered in Yahoo)

Irvin hasn't allowed more than two runs in the past four starts and will carry a 3.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 34/5 strikeout to walk ratio heading into his next one against Tampa Bay this weekend. To put how effective Irvin has been into perspective, he's averaging nearly a strikeout per inning while only .1 walk per inning.

Even if Irvin comes back down to earth a little, now is the time to pick him up while he's riding this hot streak. He is coming off a game against the hard-hitting Blue Jays where we saw him set his career-high in strikeouts with nine over eight innings. Take into consideration he has three quality starts (out of six) and his most recent loss was to the Rays who he sees again on Saturday. In that last appearance against Tampa he went six innings, striking out eight, allowed only two runs and earned a quality start in a loss.

If you're looking for a long term option at starting pitcher, Irvin presents a great opportunity to snag a hidden gem off waivers but don't expect him to last much longer if he puts in another strong performance against the Rays on Saturday.


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Tyler Chatwood of the Chicago Cubs has pitched like a Cy Young candidate over his first 2 starts of the season

Photo Credit: AP

With the first few weeks of the baseball season underway, we have a big enough sample size to begin deciding what players having hot starts are worth targeting for your fantasy squad.

As the MLB has dealt with some covid related issues since the start of the season, it's difficult to manage your fantasy team when you don't know if any of your players will be affected by a positive covid diagnosis or postponement of games due to teams finding widespread positive tests among their organization. Because of the unique conditions pro sports are in now, this list is reflective of targets that are filling roles that should provide stable production long term.

From a fantasy perspective in this short season, if players can manage a few stretches of solid production, they can end up a top 75 player over the course of 60 games. Here are a few players that are currently enjoying one of those kinds of stretches to begin the season.

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