Roto Riteup: April 20th, 2012

• Yes, Yu Darvish held a high-powered Detroit offense to one run in 6.1 innings. Yes, he struck out five guys and only allowed seven baserunners. It’s too bad that five of those baserunners were walks. Control like that is going to hurt him in the long run, if only because it will keep him from racking up longer outings and TeH WiNZ. From watching him, it seems like he has decent control, but that something is still off. Maybe it’s getting used to the new strike zone. Maybe it’s a mechanical issue. It’s tempting to say we know what Darvish is — another nibbler from the NPB — but even the complete sample of pitchers that have come to America from that league is small. And three starts certainly isn’t enough to condemn him. It might be interesting, if you have a fungible hot-starting pitcher (Matt Harrison, Kyle Lohse and Barry Zito come to mind), to attempt a buy-low that won’t hurt you if it goes wrong.

• Jon Jay sprained his shoulder running after an eventual Drew Stubbs home run. Sprained shoulders can be tricky — a sprain is a tear after all — but maybe he’ll be back soon. Power isn’t too important to his game, so don’t go dropping him or anything. Eric Komatsu might do about the same thing (not much power, a little speed, a decent batting average) while he’s out.

• The Arizona/Atlanta matchup was interesting for a few reasons. Josh Collmenter blew another game, for example. He managed four strikeouts and only walked one in five and a third, but the deception that fueled his work last year seems to be running out. He bounced a few breaking balls in the dirt, and he doesn’t have much velocity, and it looks like the Trevor Bauer watch is on. On the other side of the ledger, Mike Minor proved he’s worth rostering in twelve-team mixers if for his upside alone — eight innings of one-run five-hit ball with nine strikeouts will do that for you — but there were a few mitigating factors. Well, two. Justin Upton was out with his thumb thing (he pinch-ran this week, suggesting that his team won’t DL him), and Chris Young was still DL’ed. That took some of the punch out the lineup.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here are a couple matchups you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Today: Kyle Drabek
Breakout pitchers provide the best value — otherwise Ubaldo Jimenez at Oakland looks like a decent start — so take a look at Drabek’s kid today. He’s always gotten the ground-balls and has had the stuff, but showing control has been the problem. In his first start, he was flawless into his final inning before a mini implostion. In his last start, he was flawless throughout. The Royals aren’t the easiest matchup, but if Drabek looks like he did the last two times out, he’ll give good return on your investment.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Jeanmar Gomez
Saturday is a tough day for streaming. Most of the options are studs or duds. Gomez will be cheap, though, and he’s shown some ability to keep the ball on the ground and limit the walk. Oh, and he goes up against the Athletics in Oakland, so that helps. If being cheapest is most important, throw a dollar his way.

A Hitter for Today: Jesus Montero vs Chris Sale
Did you know that Chris Sale has a 3.67 FIP against righties? It’s only been in 94+ innings so far, but his walk rate and home-run rate are worse against righties. So far, a .225 BABIP has helped him out, and it does seem strange to go searching for a Mariner for offense, but maybe that will make Montero cheaper. Even cheaper options are Casper Wells and Alex Liddi, who might get into the lineup given the matchup. Or you could go against another lefty in Brian Matusz and gameble on Vernon Wells, who actually has a 119 wRC+ against lefties (1452 PAs) compared to his 101 wRC+ against righties.