Another day, another dollar Roto Riteup.

• In case you missed it (and to be honest, I have been missing it), Carlos Gomez has been killing the ball lately. With three home runs and seven RBI’s in the past four games, he looks like he could be worth owning for the short term. He even has a pair of stolen bases in that span too. His batting average and on-base percentage won’t do much for you, but the best slugging of his career has boosted his wRC+ to 111. He’s already surpassed his stolen bases totals from last year so that is a nice boost to his value too. He is owned in less than 5% of both ESPN and Yahoo! formats. I’d pick him up if you’re in an NL-only league or a deep mixed league.
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• Jason Motte rattled off three consecutive strikeouts in the top of the ninth today en route to his 22nd save of the season and a 7-4 Cardinals victory over the Hanleywood Dodgers. Motte has quietly collected those 22 saves in 26 chances this year and has now locked down nine consecutive opportunities. The Cardinals’ ninth inning man is sporting a fine 2.72 ERA (3.37 xFIP) and a 3.58 K/BB (25.9 K%, 7.2 BB%) on the year.
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The center of the baseball world seems to be South Beach right now, though perhaps not for the reasons Marlins’ fans would have hoped. Admit all the wheeling and dealing of the front office, there are a pair of interesting fantasy options.

Justin Ruggiano (ESPN: 45 percent owned; Yahoo!: 24 percent owned)

Ruggiano came up from Triple-A swinging and for the first time in his major league career, good things started happening when he made contact. Counting from the first game he started this season on June 2, Ruggiano’s OPS has never dipped below 1.000, and yet, the Marlins’ outfielder was one of ESPN’s most dropped players over the last week. After multiple stints as one of the biggest risers, Ruggiano hit a 2-for-19 skid and enough people cut bait that he went from virtually unavailable in ESPN leagues to ownership rates under 50 percent; he’s consistently been more available on Yahoo!. Read the rest of this entry »

Keeping an eye on the future while reloading for the stretch run is just about as difficult in fantasy as it is in real life. The wrinkle is that the fantasy player universe is smaller, so fantasy players deal with stars for the most part. Non-elite or low-level prospects can easily get overvalued — there’s little use for an organizational player or a backup shortstop in fantasy ball, and Double-A separates the real from the Formica.

So I’m really psyched that I traded some of my stars for non-elite prospects this week.

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Knee problems are nothing new for Lance Berkman. They’ve been barking at him for nearly a decade now and have cost him all but 22 of his team’s 98 games this season. He took a Clayton Kershaw slider to the right knee — the same one he had surgery on in May — on Tuesday night and has been out of the starting lineup since. Puma did work a pinch-walk last night and was immediately lifted for a pinch-runner.

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Jayson Werth is expected to return to the Nationals as early as Tuesday of next week, which is certainly good news for those who held onto Werth throughout his long stint on the disabled list. Werth netted just 113 plate appearances before breaking his wrist, but he was actually looking quite promising in his second season in Washington. With his expected return, he seems like a good buy opportunity before he rejoins his team.

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I’m on a trending binge right now and today’s American League starting pitcher spot means it’s a good time to check out the strikeout rate surgers. There are many factors that could contribute to a surge in strikeout rate and often times, these are sustainable changes that lead to an increase in true talent level. So it can be wise to check out the surgers to spot these trenders early. As usual, I checked out the last 30 day leaderboard to come up with the names.

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Today’s Roto Riteup believes that only you can prevent forest fires.

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• Frank Francisco made his first rehab appearance tonight for the Double-A Binghamton Mets of the Eastern League. The outing wasn’t pretty for Francisco, who only lasted two-thirds of an inning while surrendering two earned runs on three hits and a walk. Mets’ GM Sandy Alderson said Francisco should pitch again for Binghamton on Thursday or Friday.
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Hanley Ramirez’s trade to the Dodgers was a move by Miami to transfer the salary of an under performing player with the hopes of putting that money to better use. With the move though, Ramiriez’s fantasy value changes very little. His new teammates will see some increase in value, but expectations should be tempered.

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