The Coca-Cola Company released “new Coke” on this day 28 years ago. Having visited Atlanta earlier this year and also having a very good friend from Atalanta, Coke is more than just a pop to some. The author has been asked by said friend “Would you like a Coke? We have about five different kinds” which is received with a head tilt and quizzical look from the author. Apparently Coke can be an  interchangeable term with all pop down there. And if you refer to pop as  “soda” well then that is just awful.

On today’s agenda:
1. Josh Donaldson’s early start
2. A useful Chicago Cubs reliever
3. More playing time for Devin Mesoraco
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• All aboard the Edward Mujica bandwagon! Mujica got another crack at the ninth inning tonight, trying to hold on to Shelby Miller’s third win of the season. Thankfully (for St. Louis fans), he made it look easy, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the 3-2 win. He doesn’t possess elite strikeout stuff, mainly relying on a fairly straight fastball and an above-average splitter as his two primary weapons. He offsets this lack of prototypical late inning heat with fantastic control, putting up a career 4.1% BB%. Yes, it’s sexy time. He doesn’t have the raw upside of a guy like Trevor Rosenthal, but he’s good enough (and the Cardinals pen has been shaky enough) that he can hold the job. He’s a must own in all formats. Hopefully you snagged him a few days ago but double check your wire if you haven’t.

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Today, I am going to look at a few pitchers with possible injury issues along with the fastball velocities of two pitchers returning from the DL.

 • Early in the preseason, I marked Alexi Ogando as a possible injury risk. Besides his last start, when he didn’t make it past the 3rd inning, he as started the season good with a 3.32 ERA and 2.7 K/BB. Some initial signs I pointed out in the article still exist though. He velocity is down to 93 mph after throwing over 95 mph in 2011 when he also was a starter.

Also, he is having problems finding the plate with a 46.6% Zone%. I think he is still adjusting to being a starter and I look for him to hopefully improve to help erase the injury concerns.

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Any long term discussion about Anthony Rendon is full of caveats:

Yes, but He can’t stay healthy — he hasn’t put up more than 160 plate appearances at any level or in any calendar year. Yes, but he’s probably a third baseman and the incumbent is pretty good — no matter how bad Ryan Zimmerman’s throws look, there’s still a first baseman signed to a fairly decent contract staring at Zimmerman accross the diamond. Yes, but we don’t know how good the power will actually be — power takes the longest to stabilize, and Rendon has not yet put up a one-year, one-level sample that’s big enough to really be predictive.

Yeah those caveats are all fine and good, but Anthony Rendon is healthy and in the big leagues. Right now.

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Felix Doubront | Boston Red Sox | Home to Oakland and home to Houston

Doubront is listed here simply because he’s widely available and gets two decent matchups next week. While it would be preferable if the starts were on the road (especially the one against Oakland), they are good enough that weekly players should give Doubront a look in H2H matchups, and daily players should give him a long look in the latter matchup.

Doubront has several problems; he issues too many walks (10% BB% in 2012), he gives up too many home runs (15.9% HR/FB), and he gives up a fair amount of hard contact (23.4% LD%). If reading that is sufficiently scary, feel free to skip to the next pitcher. But he does have the alluring ability to miss bats, and he has the ability to get strikeouts. Among pitchers with 160+ IP last year, Doubront ranked 28th in SwStr% and 17th in K%.

With the poor run prevention skills listed above, you wouldn’t be wrong to ignore Doubront. But if you’re in the market for a cheap option in daily cap leagues or desperate for a two-start option, you could do worse than Doubront with his strikeout skills and decent macthups. Read the rest of this entry »

John Buck cannot be stopped. Buck was an afterthought in the mega Blue Jays/Mets deal that sent R.A. Dickey to Toronto, but he’s been the best player early on. In 66 plate appearances, Buck already has 7 home runs, and is hitting .290/.303/.661. Even before Travis d’Arnaud got hurt, there was some question over whether a 32-year-old with a career .236 batting average would keep him in the minors. Based on Buck’s career numbers, nobody expects this surge to last. At the same time, Buck has utilized a different approach to begin the year. And even if it’s just a small sample size blip, it deserves some attention, as it’s already brought him a lot of success.

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When Aaron Hill was placed on the disabled list last week, the Diamondbacks called up prospect Didi Gregorius, whose name sounds more like a maid’s than a baseball player’s. Seriously, what sounds more correct — Maid Didi or Didi, starting shortstop? Well, if anything, he has certainly cleaned up…at the plate so far! Gregorius came to Arizona over the offseason during that surprising three team trade with the Indians and Reds that sent Trevor Bauer to Cleveland and Shin-Soo Choo to Cincinnati. He has two homers in 11 at-bats already. In NL-Only leagues and perhaps deep mixed leagues, he’s likely gone after last night’s FAAB. But is he worth a look in shallower leagues while Hill remains on the shelf?

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A slew of major league players have succomb to injury, so you can bet this Roto Riteup will focus on at least a couple of them.

On today’s agenda:
1. Albert Pujols is hurt, but no DL…yet
2. Jhoulys Chacin to the DL
3. Ryan Hanigan hits DL while Devin Mesoraco heats up
4. Disaster in LA: Chad Billingsley’s elbow
5. Brett Myers lands on DL

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• Greg Holland gave owners a double dip in the saves category tonight, with Kansas City winning both games in a split doubleheader at Fenway today. He faced six batters and whiffed five of them (although the Red Sox were fairly indiscriminate in their strikeouts this weekend). More importantly, he gave up zero free passes, dropping his (small-sample) BB% from a terrible 26% to a still-terrible-but-slightly-less-so 20%. He did still have trouble with his breaking ball a few times, throwing a couple 55-foot sliders in the second game, but his fastball had enough life to get out of jams. He’s regained a stranglehold on the ninth inning, especially since Kelvin Herrera took a loss and blown save on Saturday.

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Episode 2
It’s the second episode of The Sleeper and the Bust starring yours truly and featuring RotoGraphs contributor Brandon Warne. On today’s episode, we discuss starting pitcher strategy, the Minnesota Twins and preseason bold predictions.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @mikepodhorzer or @enosarris on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via the feed. iTunes coming soon.

Approximately 31 min of joyous analysis.

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