Roto Riteup: April 29, 2013

As of writing, today’s Roto Riteup author is currently the third best relief pitcher in FanGraphs: The Game.

On today’s agenda:
1. Ryan Zimmerman hopefully back this week
2. Yoenis Cespedes returns, everyone hates Casper
3. Strange and Spectacular Starts to the Season

Ryan Zimmerman hopefully back this week
The Nationals are praying to their god-of-choice that Zimmerman will be able to return to the team on Friday after a couple of rehab appearances early this week. Zimmerman was placed on the DL thanks to a hamstring injury, and while he wasn’t tearing the cover off the ball early on, Zimm is still an elite talent and one of the cornerstones of the Washington professional baseball team. Anthony Rendon has been filling in, but he’ll likely be sent back to the minors once Zimmerman is ready to return. Should Rendon continue to hit the ball in the minors, Washington will have no choice but to call him up at a later date in 2013.

Yoenis Cespedes returns, everyone hates Casper
Cespedes missed the minimum 15 days before returning from a hand injury, and Casper Wells gets the ax for the third time this year. Cespedes was hitting for power before the injury, but not much else. Wells is going to be claimed by someone, and do not be surprised if Seattle swoops back in after realizing they could use an outfielder not named Raul Ibanez (kill me now). As I’ve said before, Wells has value to fantasy owners who are willing to take on the wrong side of a platoon.

Strange and Spectacular Starts to the Season

Tony Cingrani (SP, CIN): 18 IP, 28 K, 4 BB, 100% fastballs
Okay, so I made that last one up, but it’s not much of an exaggeration. Cingrani’s magical brand of pitching is working in the big leagues for the moment, and striking out 11 Nationals is pretty cool. (For more on Cingrani, Chris Cwik balled so hard this morning)

Kevin Correia (SP, MIN): 36.1 IP, 15 K, 5 BB, 2.23 ERA
Correia isn’t striking more batters out, but he’s keeping the ball on the ground and has limited the number of free passes. I’m still not a fan, but his performance has been neat-o.

Matt Moore (SP, TBR): 32 IP, 38 K, 15 BB, 1.13 ERA
Moore’s swinging-strike rate is actually down a couple of points, but his strikeout rate has gone up a good seven percent compared to last year. Moore’s velocity is also down, but he’s making it work.





Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

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Clark D
10 years ago

I have Zimmerman in my dynasty league, so I’m going to shamelessly use that as a lead-in to a trade question. I was offered Allen Craig for my Youkilis & Corbin. Am I crazy to not accept that? 20-team, keep full 25-man roster every year. My pitching is not that deep, so losing Corbin would kinda hurt…but is this deal worth it?

mike
10 years ago
Reply to  Clark D

Clark pull the trigger on the trade now. Craig is too good of a hitter to pass up on. There are always new pitchers getting called up/returning from the long DL stints, so Corbin should be replaceable. And if pitching does get to more of a problem for you, in a month Craig’s numbers will look a whole lot better and you should be able to get a better pitcher than Corbin in return.

Clark D
10 years ago
Reply to  mike

Thanks…I did accept this trade. Just couldnt pass up Craig at this price. Love Corbin, but in reality he’ll probably be a slightly above-average SP rather than something more elite.