Starts: June 6th vs. Philadelphia Phillies, June 11th at New York Mets
ESPN ownership: 15 percent
As with Guerra, age bias might play a role in why Atlanta Braves lefty Jaime Garcia has remained mere waiver fodder all season despite strong results. Well, that and the fact that his strikeout and walk rates have both headed in the wrong direction compared to last season, with the former losing nearly five percentage points and the latter picking up almost three.
Garcia's put together a nice run last month, though, chiseling out a 2.45 ERA (backed by a non-too-shabby 3.85 xFIP) over 33 May innings. He's set up to continue his modest hot streak against a Phillies team that's been barely showing up against lefties. Meanwhile, the absence of lefty-mashing slugger Yoenis Cespedes has severely dented the Mets' ability to get to southpaws; they're still tops in ISO against lefties on the season overall, but over the last month they're decidedly below average.
At the time of this writing, Garcia trails Guerra slightly in terms of ESPN ownership, but the fact remains that the Braves' veteran is probably a much safer streamer this week, though his strikeout upside is a bit less enticing.