Spot Starters to Consider Adding for Thursday, July 5

If your fantasy baseball pitching was a bit to giving on the Fourth of July and you find yourself in need of some help from the waiver wire, there’s three solid scheduled to start in the 12 games on the MLB schedule. Here’ my three picks for Thursday and the results from the picks over the last week.

The Pickup Possibilities

June 30, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Michael Fiers (64) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

Michael Fiers – Mil: (12.3%) Fiers and the Brew-crew close out the Fish tomorrow in a getaway game at 2:10 ET. Fiers has been exceptional in his last two starts allowing no runs on seven hits in 13.1 innings. He has a nice 17:4 strikeout ratio over that time as well. He has allowed more than one run in just two of his six starts and enters Thursday’s start with a 2.29 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, and a 3-2 record.

Jeff Karstens – Pit: (0.3%) Coming off his longest outing of the year, Karstens enters with a painful 5.25 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. He’ll face the Astros Thursday night at home and the way the Pirates lineup has exploded lately should get plenty of run support. He’ll look to have another start like his last one where he limited the Cardinals in St. Louis to just four hits and two runs over seven innings while striking out seven. He’s a risky pickup, but the Pirates are playing good ball and I think Karstens is an interesting pickup.

Jun 25, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez (37) pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the third inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

Henderson Alvarez – Tor: (1.9%) The starter-starved Blue Jays need Alvarez to continue to have more outings like his last one where he held the Angels to just a run in seven innings while walking none and striking out three. He has the backing of the bashing Jays lineup and will face the Royals at the Rogers Centre. He’ll look to pick up his sixth win to even his record and improve on his 4.15 ERA and 1.34 WHIP.

Garrett Richards – LAA: (11.3%) Richards was pummeled his last outing north of the border in Toronto. He gave up 10 runs (five earned) to the Jays and couldn’t pitch around a pair of errors while giving up nine hits and walking four in just 4.2 innings. Before his last start he had dominated allowing three runs or less in each of his four MLB starts while working at least five innings. I think he’ll bounce back just fine against the Orioles as the Angels return home to open their last series of the first half. He’ll be opposed by Jake Arrieta who has a 3-9 record with a 5.81 ERA.

The Payoff