Roto Riteup: April 16, 2015

Despite baseball being my favorite sport, I frequently enjoy watching the U.S. national team. Last night’s friendly against Mexico wasn’t particularly pretty — the poor condition of the field made sure of that — but it was good entertainment while writing today’s Roto Riteup.

On today’s agenda:
1. Garrett Richards may return on Sunday
2. Quick thoughts on Odubel Herrera
3. Yasmany Tomas gets called up
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Garrett Richards may return on Sunday
Although Richards was roughed up in his rehab start in Triple-A to the tune of five runs in as many innings, the Los Angeles Angels may activate him from the 15-day disabled list on Sunday. During his start yesterday he surrendered seven hits and four walks, though he did strike out five batters. If called up, Richards would be up against the Houston Astros, the 29th ranked team in terms of runs scored prior to yesterday’s game. Fantasy league owners would do well to start him.

Quick thoughts on Odubel Herrera
In the wake of his 3-for-5 day — consisting of two doubles and a triple — Herrera is now hitting .250/.300/.429 on the season. That triple slash isn’t too impressive just yet, however I’m a believer in his ability to improve that line. The 23-year-old has potential to steal bases and according to Kiley McDaniel, good bat speed and feel for hitting. ZiPS sees Herrera as a .270ish hitter, however Steamer is more skeptical with a .240ish batting average. If he can nab 20 steals and hit for his ZiPS projection, he is worthy of being picked up in deep leagues mixed leagues or even standard formats where he is shortstop eligible. In my ESPN league Herrera is merely CF eligible but in CBS he can be plugged in at 2B and OF. Yahoo! is where he is currently SS, 2B and OF eligible. He’s largely available as his highest ownership rate among the three sites is 12%.

Yasmany Tomas gets called up
What we know: Tomas is now on the Arizona Diamondbacks, despite hitting an unimpressive .190/.261/.381 with just two extra-base hits. On top of the poor batting line, Tomas is yet to see any time at third base as he has strictly played right field in Reno. Beyond that, the plan for Tomas gets a little fuzzy. Arizona general manager Dave Stewart was quoted

“We’re bringing him [Tomas] here because we do need a player off the bench — a player that presents a threat — and then we’ll use the other options as they come.”

It’s hard to imagine Tomas getting anywhere near enough plate appearances coming off of the bench to justify having him on the 25-man, but as the linked article mentions, skipper Chip Hale hopes to get Tomas as many as possible. Re-draft leagues may pick him up now but expect Tomas to be back in Triple-A sooner rather than later.

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

A pitcher for today: Jarred Cosart at NYM (Dillon Gee)
Today is a short slate but Cosart owns an impressive 54.5% ground ball rate, though his strikeout and walk rates aren’t great. The Mets owned a 79 wRC+ against right-handers before yesterday’s game, ranking 20th in baseball and shouldn’t threaten to score too many runs against him. Cosart is available in over 75% of CBS leagues and over 90% of Yahoo! and ESPN formats.

A pitcher for tomorrow: J.A. Happ vs TEX (Yovani Gallardo)
In only 69 plate appearances the Rangers have hit for a 66 wRC+, rating the 23rd lowest mark in the majors. Happ isn’t known for his ability sit batters down on K’s, but the Rangers strikeout against southpaws at the seventh highest rate. For someone who can be picked up in over 85% of the three fantasy sites, Happ is a worthwhile play.