Roto Riteup: April 27, 2013

Happy Babe Ruth Day! In celebration of the Babe, go watch The Sandlot.

On today’s agenda:

1. The return of Sean Marshall
2. Danny Hultzen’s injury
3. What to make of Kyle Kendrick


The return of Sean Marshall
Yesterday the Cincinnati Reds activated Sean Marshall from the 15-day disabled list. Marshall has been a key contributor to bullpens — both real and fatnasy — since his breakout three seasons ago. Since 2010, Marshall is seventh in baseball at 79 holds and sports a 2.46 ERA in 212.1 innings pitched. With Aroldis Chapman cemented at the closer position and Jonathan Broxton presumably next in line, don’t expect saves from Marshall in the near future. Marshall does have the talent to close, but will instead be used in a middle relief/get out of a jam role. If one happens to play in a league that counts holds, Marshall is absolutely worth grabbing. He is available in over 90% of CBS, Yahoo!, and ESPN leagues.

Danny Hultzen’s injury
Danny Hultzen was scratched from his start on Thursday after he was unable to get loose and it appears that we now know why. Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik announced that Hultzen has a strained left (his throwing arm) rotator cuff and tendinitis. He is expected to miss two weeks. Prior to the injury, Hultzen was cruising through his second trip around the International League with 22.2 innings of 2.78 ERA/2.49 FIP ball thus far. He also had 25 strikeouts against just six walks. Hultzen should be owned in most Ottoneu leagues and even some deep AL-only leagues. The talent is there for him to receive a call up this season, however this injury pushes any promotion date back. For now, hold steady on him, but just know that shoulder injuries scare the pants off of the present author.

What to make of Kyle Kendrick
Though there were several contestants for “best start of the day” yesterday (namely Jordan Zimmermann’s CG SHO or Anibal Sanchez’s 17 (!) strikeouts), Kyle Kendrick brought a good argument to the table with his CG SHO against the New York Mets. The outing lowered his seasonal line to 2.41 ERA/3.44 FIP/3.50 xFIP and he now has a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Even before yesterday’s start, Kendrick was the owner of a 3.28 ERA and a 3.47 xFIP. To say that Kendrick has been the Philadelphia Phillies’ second best starter would not be a lie. This is most likely the best that we will see of Kendrick, so any owner would be wise to package him in a trade and sell high. Kendrick doesn’t have enough value on his own to warrant a one-for-one trade, but as part of a larger deal, Kendrick can be sold for more than what he is worth.

Bonus coverage
Edwin Encarnacion, Anthony Rizzo, and Carlos Beltran all hit two home runs yesterday. Congrats to fantasy owners of those guys. If you happen to own all three on the same team, take a screen shot of it and tweet it to @davidwiers. Make sure to let me know your staff’s final line of day, as well as the point swing that occurred yesterday.

There was also an unusually high number of shut outs yesterday with the Mets, Braves, Reds, and Athletics all failing to score a run. If by some chance anyone had the all (or even three) of starters throwing against the teams that were shut out, post a screen shot of that as well and don’t forget your team’s stat line and point jump.

Finally, the present author could quite easily wax poetic about Andrew Cashner, but he shall refrain. For now.