Every year around this point in the season I tell myself I'm done chasing streamers, and every year somebody talks me into one more. This week it's Cade Cavalli, and the lineup advice over at MSN is asking whether it's the last chance to stream him. Headlines like that sell urgency so take the framing with a grain of salt, but the underlying point stands: if you've been circling this arm, the free-or-cheap window is the kind that closes quietly while you're busy elsewhere.

The logic is simple. The manager who notices a live streaming arm in mid-August is the same one who'll put in a claim before the next wave of games, because streaming works on a clock. Wait one day too long and you're staring at a rostered arm you could've had for nothing. I've been burned that way, and I'll cop to it as pure personal scar tissue: back in my league's glory days I sat on my waiver priority in August waiting for a closer who never materialized, and I'm still convinced it cost me money. Your mileage may vary. Mine hasn't.

Cavalli's the headliner, but the whole slate deserves a pass, and the deeper point is the one I keep making every time I write one of these: the edge on a thin slate comes from homework, not hype. Check the opposing lineup, check the ballpark, check whether the bullpen behind your streamer is going to torch your ratios in the sixth inning. A guy who goes five and leaves with a lead is worthless to you if the relief corps coughs it up before the save situation arrives.

On the hitting side, target teams running out lefties against right-heavy lineups, and don't sleep on the Coors factor if there's a game there. There usually is, and there's usually a cheap bat or two who'll go overlooked because his season line doesn't scare anybody. If your league mates are the spreadsheet type they'll be sorting by recent weighted on-base average, and that's a fine tool. My rule stands: stats support the story. They don't replace it.

The other thing about mid-August lineup setting, and this is opinion from a guy who's finished second too many times: this is where roto leagues get decided. Standings are tight, categories get won a point at a time, and in my experience the gap between a runner-up finish and a title is usually a handful of small decisions like this one. Play your guys, take your shot on Cavalli if you need innings, and don't look at the box score until morning.

And if somebody in your league beats you to the claim, take a breath. There's always another streamer next week. There always is. That's the beauty of this silly game, and it's why we keep coming back for one more Wednesday.