MLB

Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream in Week 6

Tom Whalen  —  @tomcwhalen May 7th, 2018
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​Jason Vargas, New York Mets

Start: May 8th at Cincinnati Reds
ESPN percentage owned: 2.5%

You'll find few more extreme contrarian plays this week than employing Jason Vargas, whose late start to 2018 has seen the veteran lefty surrender 15 earned runs in just 8.1 frames across two starts for the New York Mets.

Then again, Vargas is matched up against the flagging Cincinnati Reds, who've managed subpar production against lefties all season. The hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park hasn't done much to boost the Reds' power numbers against southpaws: they've cobbled together a lowly .745 group OPS against lefties at home this season on just a 28.5% hard-contact rate.

Vargas obviously belongs nowhere near standard-league rosters, but deep leaguers with their backs against the wall can treat the journeyman lefty as a fall back -- he is available just about everywhere, quite understandably.

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