Today’s Roto Riteup is being written while I impatiently wait for my internet to load episode two of The Newsroom. If you haven’t heard of this show yet, don’t worry, you will soon. Simply put: this show is amazing.

• Over the past week Brennan Boesch is hitting .417 with a .583 slugging. Given how poorly he started the season, any sign of life — even a BABIP fueled one — is welcome. After his home run last night, his recent batting line will only improve. Many people (myself included) gave up on Boesch already, but maybe this is when things turn around for him. His paltry career walk rate hurts him in OBP leagues but in standard 5×5 formats he should still be considered an asset. His current ownership rate in ESPN leagues is 20% and he is owned in 27% of Yahoo! formats. If you are hurting for an outfielder, Boesch makes for a solid rebound candidate.
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I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, I know I did. I assume that you’re all ready and can’t wait to get back to work, I know I am (just in case the boss sees this). What better way to spend your Monday lunch break than reading up on the current state of my opinion on the American League Outfield?

Bullish:
Nick Markakis – Although its only been three games since his activation from the disabled list, Markakis is showing us that he hasn’t missed a beat. He has four extra base hits already, all of the doubles variety. He is currently owned in just 58% of Yahoo! leagues and 64% of ESPN leagues. He is guaranteed playing time and at his best he is able to fill all five major fantasy categories. He deserves to be owned in all but the shallowest of formats.
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Instead of an attempt at wit in today’s Roto Riteup, I’ll leave you with Dan Szymborski’s heatmap of Ryan Theriot. I saw this last night around midnight and couldn’t stop laughing. Baseball nerd humor at it it’s finest!

• Speaking of middle infielders, Stephen Drew is back; but more importantly he is back and his projection looks good. His rest of season ZiPS is for a .328 wOBA. If Drew had been healthy all year long, a .328 wOBA would place him seventh among qualified shortstops. I touched on Drew a couple of weeks ago, but no one has taken me up on my suggestion just yet. Drew is still available in 79% of Yahoo! and 85% of ESPN leagues. If you’re looking for a great second half SS eligible player, Drew could be your guy. Thanks to reader/commenter Mike for pointing out that Jed Lowrie left the game last night after an apparent ankle and knee injury. Lowrie has been nothing short of fantastic this season and was seen on crutches after the game. Drew could be the ideal replacement candidate.
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Baseball is back! Not only is baseball back, but so is your favorite fantasy baseball morning reading. We’ll just go ahead and assume that this is your favorite.

• Alexei Ramirez’s seasonal line is still looking rather bleak, but over the past 30 days he has come around. In fact, he hasn’t just come around, but he’s been on fire. A line of .379/.402/.495 for the past month is something that isn’t sustainable, but it sure is welcome to see, especially from a shortstop. As you can tell from that batting line, Alexei still isn’t drawing walks, but he has been able to post solid offensive numbers in past seasons without the walks. His seasonal BABIP is now .304, and one could reasonably expect Ramirez to hit numbers in the neighborhood of his ZiPS rest-of-season projection. For my two cents, I think he’ll exceed his projection, as I think his slugging will be higher than the predicted .387 SLG. I’d expect something like five to seven home runs with 10 steals the rest of the way. Ramirez is owned in the vast majority of ESPN leagues, but his Yahoo! ownership is only 64%. If he’s available, I’d pick him up.
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Today’s Roto Riteup is like a nice cup of yogurt (not that disgusting Greek yogurt. Gross). It’s good in the morning, good in the afternoon and good for you.

• In sharp contrast to Masterson’s blowup two days ago, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched excellent last night. Ubaldo lasted six innings and struck out eight, matching a season high. Perhaps even more importantly, he gave up only a single walk. Over the past month, Ubaldo has a 3.24 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. That’s well worth owning in my book. My faith in him still isn’t as high as it was preseason, but he deserves to be owned in more than 66% of Yahoo! and 58% of ESPN leagues. He is better than most stream candidates, but is still a spot starter in my opinion. If he’s available then go ahead and pick him up, just watch his match-ups carefully.

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What could be a better way of starting off All-Star Weekend than with yours truly and the Roto Riteup? I guess bacon would make it better. I don’t know if that is really fair to say though, as bacon makes any and everything better. One of my good friends, we’ll call him Pablo, has a different theory. He insists that nacho cheese makes everything better (excluding dessert and sweets). I am inclined to agree. We’ve tested this several times and it has always proven to be true. Don’t take our word for it; go and try it for yourselves. And yet I digress.
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The hope for today’s Roto Riteup was to link to a funny clip from the movie Friday. Unfortunately, I had forgotten how very graphic that movie’s language can get. Alas, I have no hilarious link for you to wake up to. Just baseball.

• Shortstops and Middle Infield help is something that I’m always on the prowl for. Consequently, I keep close tabs on most MI eligible players. Over the past week, Ruben Tejada has a .480/.519/.560 line. The man is so hot that his flames are on fire. He doesn’t offer much (read: any whatsoever) home run power, but while he is hitting like that, the lack of power is fine. With a seasonal .405 BABIP, I don’t expect this kind of line to keep up, but he is absolutely worth rostering in the short term. I’ve picked him up as a stream candidate in a couple deep leagues. If you’re in a 12-team mixed, I’d do the same. Maybe even 10-team mixed. His Yahoo! ownership rate is down at 10% and his ESPN rate is even worst at 6%.
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Today brings the new monthly tiers and subsequent rankings of the American League outfield. As always, I’m basing this off of Yahoo! standard format eligibility. This list is how I value each player going forward, with consideration to what they’ve done so far.

Tier One:
Jose Bautista
Curtis Granderson
Mike Trout

Trout finally made the jump to the top tier. The only thing that keeps him from surpassing Granderson is that I weigh Granderson’s power and RBI opportunities going forward more heavily than Trout’s average and stolen bases. If you swap them, I wouldn’t sue. Bautista, .239 AVG and all, is still the top dog.
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Zach brought you the Roto Riteup over the weekend and I’m bringing you this Tuesday morning edition. We like to keep our readers on their toes.

• Chris Davis might be ready to go on one of his streaks. He has two homers in his past four games now, and has tallied six total hits in those games too. The last time he hit a home run was coming off of a four game, three homer streak. And before that it was a four home runs in eight games string. Going back to the very beginning of the season, Davis his four homers in another seven game span. If you need a power boost for the short term, I’d pick him up. Davis is available in over half of the Yahoo! leagues, despite being a fringe bat with 1B, 3B and OF eligibility. He won’t be your team’s savior, but for a one week flier, maybe he cranks out four homers for you. ESPN leagues are a similar story, where is owned in about half the leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

This will be my only installment of the Roto Riteup this week. I know you’ve all come to love and depend on my weekend posts, but alas, I have a wedding to attend to. In Heaven Iowa.

• The much hyped debut of Trevor Bauer was similar to the knock-off fireworks I used to buy as a kid: not much bang for the buck. In his first MLB start, Bauer lasted a mere four innings and allowed two earned runs. He recorded three strikeouts (one was against Jair Jurrjens though) and allowed as many walks. Going in to this start, Bauer is owned in almost 50% of Yahoo! formats and almost 60% of ESPN leagues. I didn’t get a chance to pick him up in any of my leagues, but it may not matter. He only got three whiffs in this abbreviated start, and clearly control was an issue. Of course it is still absurdly early to draw any conclusions, but it does seem like his minor league walk totals tagged along with him on his promotion.

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