Roto Riteup: April 18, 2016

Today’s Roto Riteup focus on five things: some good, and some bad.

On the agenda:
1. Various News and Notes
2. Streaming Pitcher Options

Various News and Notes
Trevor Plouffe strained an intercostal muscle yesterday, apparently while running the bases, and will likely miss at least the next couple days. The Twins aren’t in a rush to shove him onto the DL, but you should start to look for a replacement.

Dealin’ Dan Straily will start for the Reds today. Straily, once a golden child for the sabermetric scouting movement, hasn’t been a useful big league piece since 2013. Straily hasn’t been great as a reliever for the Reds, but perhaps he can at least be a backend starter who delivers a gem every now and then.

Nolan Arenado continues to terrorize pitchers, hitting two homers in Wrigley yesterday to bring his season total up to six. Most interestingly, Arenado has struck out just three times in 53 plate appearances, and it’s fun to imagine the hitter he could if his rate even returned to his 2013 and 2014 levels of around 13%.

Sean Manaea is knocking on the door in Oakland. After impressing the team in spring, the young left-hander struck out 11 batters this weekend in less than seven innings of work. This is Manaea’s first go-around in Triple-A, and there’d be no surprise if he doesn’t last just a month or two before receiving the call to the Bay Area.

Tyler Chatwood finally lived up to the promise his stuff showed back in 2011, if only for a brief moment. Chatty allowed just three baserunners over seven innings of work against the Cubs in the his third start of the season. Formerly sitting around the mid-90s, Chatwood now lives around 92, staying heavy down in the zone. Don’t get excited about Chatwood’s excellent outing: he’s still barely a big league starter…if that.

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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: Chase Anderson at MIN (Phil Hughes)
Anderson is off to a nice start to the season, and despite having to play against a DH, has a good matchup against the Twinkies.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Logan Verrett at PHI (Vince Velasquez)
Verrett will start again for Jacob deGrom, and despite having to play in Citizen’s Bank, should be able to carve up the Phillies’ offense.