Roto Riteup: April 19, 2021
Truer words have never been spoken
“You know you’re a fantasy baseball player when you are glad Jay Bruce retired on a weekend.” –@MrsDSalinger
— Justin Mason (@JustinMasonFWFB) April 18, 2021
On the Agenda:
- Closer Chaos
- COVID Issues
- Quick Hits
- Various News and Notes
- Streaming Pitchers
Closer Chaos
Jake McGee was placed on the IL with COVID vaccine side effects. He is expected back in the next few days. Tyler Rogers got the save on Sunday and could be in line another on Monday if McGee isn’t activated.
J.B. Bukauskas was recalled by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. Bukauskas is a former top pitching prospect for the Astros that has found new life in the bullpen for Arizona. He was extremely impressive in spring training and could find himself in high leverage in the Diamondbacks with their bullpen missing key pieces. He is worth stashing in deeper formats with the chance he becomes a closer down the line.
COVID Issues
The Twins/Athletics game has been postponed due to the COVID issues on the Twins. The hope is that they will begin to play their series on Tuesday. According to Ken Rosenthal, all of the Twins’ tests came back negative on Sunday, so it seems like things are trending in the right direction.
Quick Hits
Tim Locastro was placed on the 10-Day IL with a finger injury. Locastro dislocated his finger while attempting to steal a base. There is no timetable for his return.
Stephen Strasburg was placed on the IL with a shoulder injury. Strasburg did not look right for a little bit and really struggled in his last outing. One has to wonder if the leg issue from spring affected his mechanic and this is a ripple effect. There is no timetable for his return.
Lance Lynn was placed on the IL with a trapezius injury. This came out of the blew, but he reportedly felt the issue during his last start and pitched through it. It doesn’t sound like he will miss a long time, so that is good.
Starling Marte was left Sunday’s game with an apparent oblique injury. Marte was up to bat in the ninth inning and swung at a Tyler Rogers pitch and had to leave the at bat. There was no update after the game. Consider him day-to-day for now, but have a backup plan in place in case he hits the IL.
Trent Grisham was scratched from the lineup on Sunday with a quad injury. Grisham injured the quad on Saturday and tested in pregame, but did not feel right. Consider him day to day for now.
Gavin Lux was placed on the IL with a wrist injury. He had been dealing with the injury for four days and the Dodgers were trying to avoid putting him on the IL. Hopefully that means he will be back fairly soon.
Ronald Acuna left Sunday’s game with an abdominal strain. It is unknown how serious the issue is. Consider him day-to-day at this time.
Various News and Notes
Guillermo Heredia went 3-for-4 with two home runs on Sunday night in the victory over the Braves. Heredia has been a short side platoon player the majority of his career, but he should have a pretty regular role for a little bit with Christian Pache and Ender Inciarte on the IL and now Acuna ailing. He probably doesn’t have much fantasy value outside of NL Only, but he could play regularly enough to accumulate in the short term.
Jay Bruce announced his retirement from baseball on Sunday. This was a bit surprising as he had a spot on the Yankees MLB roster. With Bruce gone, DJ LeMahieu will play first base regularly and Rougned Odor will be the regular second baseman until Luke Voit is able to return from the IL.
Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)
Pitcher for Today: Alex Cobb vs TEX
Cobb has a very good matchup and has looked pretty good in spite of the surface ratios.
High Risk Options: Kohei Arihara vs LAA
Pitcher for Tomorrow: Michael Fulmer vs PIT
Fulmer got his first win in a few years and has a great matchup coming with the Pirates.
High Risk Options: Jordan Lyles at LAA.
Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.
Is Cobb pitching today? Seems he may have been passed over.
It appears that way. Bundy today and Ohtani taking Cobb’s scheduled start tomorrow. Maybe Cobb becomes an emergency starter in case Ohtani gets blisters again or maybe he just becomes a long relief option because they don’t expect Ohtani to throw that many pitches.
Just speculation. I have no idea….
They’ll just go back to their 6-man rotation. Fantasy death in H2H.
Looks like Cobb is scheduled for Thursday
Grisham pinch hit last night, so must not be hurt too bad.
Also, Blew is one of my favorite Nirvana songs!
Grisham did NOT pinch hit; he was announced to force Dodgers’ hand, and when Alexander came in Pads countered with Will Myers rather than Grisham.
Do we think they sent an unable-to-hit Grisham to the plate. Is the thinking that had the Dodgers called San Diego’s bluff and not made a pitching change they would have used a different pinch hitter anyway?
Yes. As evidenced by Grisham not being in the lineup tonight.
I’m not convinced they wouldn’t have let him bat and jog to 1B but the SD week is weird anyway – 7 games but seeing Woodruff Burnes Bauer Kershaw Beuhler. I benched Grisham’s ass for pretty much anyone with the Monday no-start.
out of the “blue”, not “blew”
Thanks edwinblewm!
I did most of my add/drops, then was surprised to see it was locked and thought I must be on the wrong screen, maybe the waivers screen or something, because there couldn’t be a game starting at 11:00 am on Monday. It got me, but not too badly, I’m sure it messed up some players, and I’m sure some alert players were able to get a ahead a bit getting their moves in beforehand. At least Ihad dropped my Logan Webb shares, but I did get stuck with another week of Kevin Ginkel starting for an NL team. Anyway, it’s not the worst thing that’s happened this year.
Really surprised Kyle Gibson’s gem vs. the O’s didn’t get a mention from Justin. I thought I knew you…