Let’s kick off this week’s waiver wire updates with two East division players, an AL pitcher and a NL outfielder…

Franklin Morales | SP, RP | Red Sox | Owned: 20% Yahoo! and 18.6% ESPN

When the Red Sox put Daniel Bard in the rotation, they were supposed to be able to fall back on using him as a reliever if it didn’t work out. Instead, he’s gone to Triple-A and continued to struggle. Morales, 26, has kinda done the opposite. Expectations were relatively low coming into the season, but he pitched very well in a relief role (3.04 ERA and 3.48 FIP in 23.2 IP) before moving into the rotation to take Bard’s spot (2.00 ERA and 0.88 FIP in 18 IP). Those 18 innings as a starter feature 24 strikeouts and just three walks.

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Bryan LaHair is an All-Star. At a time where his fantasy value has taken a hit, LaHair has made the NL All-Star team. LaHair got off to a great start, but he’s tailored off in the month of June. And with Anthony Rizzo now up, LaHair has been moved off his original position. His slash line of .284/.364/.526 is solid, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. Even though he’s losing value in fantasy leagues, LaHair still has value.

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Ah, the monday Roto Riteup. It goes down like a smooth cup o’ Joe with some of those playground wood chips mixed in.

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• Since we last left you, Heath Bell racked up back-to-back saves versus the floundering (see, it would be funny if this was a Marlins pun) Philadelphia Phillies. Saturday’s involved a little bit of drama (giving up a one-out double to Carlos Ruiz) but Sunday’s was of the one-two-three variety. Bell has quietly gotten his season back on track since a series of meltdowns early in the season, putting up a 2.71 FIP with 22 strikeouts to only seven walks since May 9th. While Bell has shaken off some early season rust, fill-in candidates Steve Cishek and Edward Mujica have suffered through rough Junes, putting up  5.62 and 4.92 xFIPs respectively. Both relievers have had a K/BB quite close to one recently, but for difference reasons; Cishek is walking way too many batters (7.2 BB/9 in June) and Mujica isn’t striking anyone out (2.5 K/9 over the same time frame). Both pitchers should rebound to less mediocre levels, but anyone still holding either of those guys from Bell’s dark days of April should have cut bait a long time ago.

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Unlike the comics, today’s Roto Riteup isn’t presented in color. They could be, but it seems like it’d be extremely ugly.

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