Roto Riteup: April 13, 2016

Not that anyone should need evidence that the pitcher win is a bad stat at this point, but give this a spin: Noah Syndergaard struck out 12 batters Tuesday. He induced 26 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. He induced 10 on just 15 sliders. One of them looked like this:

Syndergaard’s slider is downright funny https://t.co/gPMK7ceUQk pic.twitter.com/WX1ZLHBl55

— Dan Toman (@dantoman) April 13, 2016

(OK, that’s against a pitcher, but you get it.) And still, Syndergaard drew a no-decision, because his team can’t score. Those 12 strikeouts and lone earned run over seven will just have to keep you warm, as will the knowledge that you probably got a top-10 arm at No. 15 on draft day.

On the agenda:
1. Gio picks on the Braves
2. Go 2 Sleep
3. Various News and Notes
4. Streaming Pitcher Options

Gio picks on the Braves
Gio Gonzalez made his first start of the season Tuesday, drawing the Atlanta Braves in what may, in retrospect, amount to a Quad-A rehab start. Gonzalez surrendered three singles and a walk over six scoreless innings, striking out four. He was the 55th starter off the board and should be owned in most leagues, so it’s good to see him hit the ground running, if not dominating. His price didn’t match his projected ERA and strikeout rate because of his inability to eat innings the last two years, and he should be a value as long as he’s on the mound.

Helping his numbers could be his home in the NL East. It’s incredibly early, but the Phillies, Braves, and Mets have three of the four worst offenses by wRC+ so far, and the Braves and Phillies both project as likely bottom-five – if not bottom-two – offenses all year long. While we figure out what the rest of the league is going to shake out as, Philadelphia and Atlanta may be the safest streaming opponents of the first few weeks.

In the AL, the Twins are striking out at a historic rate to start the season, providing a lower-floor, higher-upside target. But seven games is a tiny, tiny sample to start relying on, so tread lightly.

Go 2 Sleep
Kenta Maeda is off to a pretty nice start to his major-league career. He threw six shutout innings for the second time on Tuesday, and he’s now thrown 12 scoreless with an 8:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Imports are always difficult to peg for value, and Maeda went outside of the top-50 starters despite ERA projections of 3.25 and 3.35 as a result. We can probably recommend that owners in the 16 percent of leagues he’s now owned in take that jump.

Various News and Notes
Brian McCann fouled a ball off of his foot against the Blue Jays and is being called day-to-day. It sounded worse before the Yankees sent him for a fluoroscope and should have momentarily had you on Gary Sanchez watch. Instead, Austin Romine could get a couple of extra starts. Buster Posey was available off the bench after doing the same thing to his own foot on the weekend, and he should be ready to start Wednesday. Trevor Brown hit two more home runs in Posey’s stead. Sticking with catchers, the Red Sox may be close to activating Christian Vazquez, which isn’t an actionable move but could restrict the value of Blake Swihart.

Elsewhere in the AL East, J.J. Hardy smacked a pair of home runs to keep the Orioles undefeated. Mark Trumbo told me during spring training that he thought the team could hit 20 home runs one-through-nine, an assertion that Zach Britton one upped. “Naw. I’m going 30,” Britton said. Hardy’s had back-to-back seasons with single-digit home runs and slipped outside of the top 30 at the position on draft day as a result.

Dee Gordon did this. That’s huge if you’re in a pitches per-plate appearance league.

Gotta tip your cap to Gordon. Heck of an at bat pic.twitter.com/2JKpyMmUNV

— Bill Petti (@BillPetti) April 13, 2016

You can probably consider Nomar Mazara the Rangers’ full-time No. 2 hitter now. He started there for a third consecutive game and had another hit. He’s owned in about two-thirds of leagues, but he’s hardly a sure-thing – he’s barely played above Double-A, he’s only 20 years old, and projection systems don’t love him to produce from the word “go.” He’s certainly a fun hold-and-see for the month-plus Shin-Soo Choo will miss, though.

Jeanmar Gomez is quickly up to three saves and has probably earned some job security. Sean Doolittle blew a save for the Athletics after Ryan Madson turned a three-run lead into a one-run lead. My guy Tony Zych gave up two low-leverage runs in an inning of work in Seattle.

Justin Upton and J.D. Martinez each had four hits as Juan Nicasio was chased after four innings. The Tigers are a solid offense, and Nicasio remains an interesting pitcher to keep an eye on, but pour one out for my season-to-date streaming pitcher track record. My streaming mantra until that improves? I can’t be held accountable if you can’t make up your mind. (I don’t actually feel that way, but we’re this far in without a song embed.)

Streaming Pitcher Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers or play DFS, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Adam Conley @ NYM (Logan Verrett)
Tabbed as a sleeper by some, Adam Conley was absolutely rocked in his first start of the season, a one-inning affair. That should depress his DFS price and has him at seven-percent Yahoo ownership, and I think he showed enough in spring to warrant another look. He’ll draw the Mets, who have been baseball’s worst offense in a ridiculously small sample so far.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Drew Pomeranz @ PHI (Vincent Velasquez)
The three walks in his first start of the season were a little concerning and his fly-ball profile isn’t the best fit for Philadelphia, but Drew Pomeranz has some nice strikeout potential and the Phillies are fairly punchless. He’s only owned in 19 percent of leagues.