Breaking news: I turn half-way to 50 today. Go ahead, get your “old man” jokes in now. Now that the big news is out of the way, here is today’s Roto Riteup:

• There was a homer bonanza fueled by Justin Morneau in Minnesota yesterday. He crushed a pair of home runs and drove in four runs. That brings him to 23 hits in his past 15 games, including nine extra-base hits. Morneau is still available in over half of Yahoo! leagues and almost 40% of ESPN leagues. Act now before people fully realize what a tear he has been on.
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I just got finished reading a write up of the Curiosity Mars Rover and I’m in the Riteup mood. For the sake of science, I hope you all watched the landings late last night (or early Monday morning if you live in the eastern time zone like yours truly).

• With Alex Rodriguez expected to miss the majority of the regular season (not to mention the beginning of the head-to-head playoffs), Eric Chavez seems to have had some serious playing time open up for him. Over the past seven games, Chavez had five hits—including a pair of home runs—and seems to be hitting better now than in recent years. Sample size aside, there are several important things I see with Chavvy. His ISO is the highest that it has been since 2004 and although ISO tends to stabilize very late, I have liked what I’ve seen from him so far. He has a higher walk rate and a lower strike out rate than in the previous two seasons and his contact rate is 3.5% higher than average. For the next four to six weeks, I’d say Chavez is a solid pick up. You should be able to grab him in almost 97% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.
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Today’s Roto Riteup has truth and statistics. I’ll leave the lies to someone else.

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I still haven’t quite developed the joke regarding David Weirs and ponies, so you’ll just have to check back and read tomorrow’s Roto Riteup to see if I’ve made progress.

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As you are reading this, I am headed down some highway on my way to Cincinnati. Today’s Roto Riteup is brought to you by summer: baseball and good times.

• I don’t know how many times I can talk about Todd Frazier in an article or mention him in the comment section. I am just such a fan boy. So far he’s making my love of him seem justified, as he has three home runs in past seven games. He’s still horrifically under-valued and under owned. He’s owned in a mere 13% of Yahoo! leagues and 10% of ESPN leagues. If he’s still available, please, for my sake: go pick him up.
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Today’s Roto Riteup is being written prior to naptime. No, I don’t have any children; why do you ask?

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The trade deadline is really what the Roto Riteup was made to handle. So, without further ado, here’s a look at the players dealt yesterday (and possibly the night before).

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Today is trade deadline day, so what better way to prepare than a new episode of the Roto Riteup? Let’s spend today going over some of the players that could be moved today. (If one of them gets traded during the night, blame yourselves, not me). Use the information to help inform any of your trade talks, especially when a player may be switching leagues.

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Today’s Roto Riteup should help you figure out exactly what the hell happened over the weekend. You know, with trades and whatnot.

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So the A’s are only 3.5 games behind the Rangers as of this morning. I don’t really know what else to say here. You know, other than the fact that my mind is blown. Here is some less mind blowing baseball news for today’s Roto Riteup.

• Yesterday’s game was Jemile Weeks‘ first three hit game since last September. He even stole the his 14 bag of the year. He has a double digit walk rate but his .252 BABIP is still in the toilet. His 88.6% contact rate is well above the 79.9% average and his 4.3 SwStr% is half of the 8.9% average. His GB% is up from last year, but one would imagine that his type of speed, more grounders would be a good thing. To my highly unprofessional eye, despite making contact at an excellent rate, it is generally weak contact. Soft grounders turn into ground ball outs and although it is a combination of things, he has already grounded into more double plays this year than last year, in fewer plate appearances too. Given his pedigree and minor league history, he seems like too good of a hitter to make this weak of contact for much longer. I don’t know if I would add him in shallow leagues just yet, but I would keep a close eye on him. He is owned in 32% of Yahoo! and not even 30% of ESPN leagues. For what its worth, I’d take the over on his rest-of-season ZiPS line.
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