Roto Riteup: April 29, 2015
Sure there are playoffs going on in some sports here, but across the pond the football season is in peak form. Chelsea hasn’t officially locked up the Premier League just yet and the UEFA Champions League semi-finals are happening next week. It’s a glorious time.
On today’s agenda:
1. Masahiro Tanaka to miss at least a month
2. Hurry up and grab Dexter Fowler
3. Keep an eye on Yangervis Solarte
4. Streaming Pitching Options
Masahiro Tanaka to miss at least a month
According to New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman, Tanaka will be on the disabled list a minimum of one month with a forearm strain and wrist tendinitis. An MRI revealed no additional damage to Tanaka’s partially torn elbow ligament, so that is something. Here’s to hoping he can make a comeback this season.
As mentioned in yesterday’s Roto Riteup, there are solid starting pitching options in A.J. Burnett, Dan Haren, Alex Colome and A.J. Cole available. In addition to those four, take a look at Jesse Hahn, Brandon Morrow and Travis Wood as they are all capable stream options in most leagues.
Hurry up and grab Dexter Fowler
My fondness of Fowler’s game is pretty well known — I’m a sucker for high OBP players with some speed — and Fowler is making me look almost smart. He owns a .288/.366/.438 line on the season with six steals and has strictly appeared as the leadoff hitter of the Chicago Cubs. The Northsiders offense ranks in the top 6 in the NL in terms of runs, wRC+ and SLG, all to the benefit of Fowler and his fantasy owners. With a powerful lineup behind him, expect Fowler to score runs in bunches as long as he stays healthy. Despite the strong triple slash and good offense around him, he is still widely available. Fowler’s ownership rate isn’t above 55% in CBS, Yahoo! or ESPN leagues. As deep as the outfield is, Fowler is putting up numbers better than his owned% shows.
Keep an eye on Yangervis Solarte
The second base situation in San Diego is getting interesting as Jedd Gyorko was sat again yesterday in favor of Solarte. The Venezuelan is off to a torrid start, hitting .346/.414/.538 with six walks against four strikeouts. While it is still very early in the season, his line looks even better compared to Gyorko’s .146/.226/.188 performance to date. Gyorko’s main calling card was his power but right now Solarte has two home runs to zero plus the edge in doubles, four to Gyorko’s two. The BABIP luck dragons have blessed Solarte early while cursing Gyorko, however a lower strikeout rate and a much better contact rate are in Solarte’s favor.
Even if Gyorko is given the time to sort out his numbers, Solarte could still be worth an add in deeper leagues. He is able to be plugged in at second as well as third and already has two games started at first base. Solarte has been seeing action at the number two spot in the lineup lately and is capable of posting a .270 AVG with a little pop. Another possibility rather than being a super-sub is a platoon of sorts. Gyorko owns a career 81 wRC+ against right-handers against a 121 mark versus southpaws. Solarte, a switch-hitter who owns a .294/.339/.411 minor league line against righties, could be plugged in at second when the Padres face a righty and be subbed in elsewhere other days. He can be picked up in 70% of CBS leagues and over 90% of Yahoo! and ESPN formats.
Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.
A pitcher for today: Michael Lorenzen vs MIL (Matt Garza)
Lorenzen will be making his major league debut today against a Brewers lineup without Carlos Gomez, Jonathan Lucroy and Scooter Gennett. For a pitcher who utilizes three pitches — sinker, slider and change — and who is widely free to pick up, Lorenzen is a solid pick for streaming and a bargain in DFS.
A pitcher for tomorrow: Tim Cooney vs PHI (David Buchanan)
Sticking with the theme of MLB debuts, the southpaw will bring his fastball, cutter/slider, change and curve against a Phillies squad with six left-handed batters in their everyday lineup.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
Had Happ but dropped him for Montero for the spot start, ooof!
Thoughts on Happ? K rate slowly going up, BB staying flat, BABIP near average. On the other hand velocity’s down and his GB/FB ratio has flipped. But he’s throwing fewer FBs and more SL, CU, & CT.
Get him while he’s available?
Oops, CH not CT.
Running late to the comments today, sorry.
I like Happ in deep or AL-only formats, but in standard 12-teamers he’s probably a stream option at best. His low whiff rate won’t lead to a ton of K’s, but he could be a useful source for decent ratios thanks to his fly ball tendencies at favorable home park.
Do you still consider AJ Cole a solid option after his debut? On the plus side he didn’t unintentionally walk anyone. However, he had little command of his fastball which he continually left up and over the plate. His fastball has good sink to it, but in the minors he has been a flyball pitcher, so I presume his issue of leaving his fastball up in not new. His changeup and curve looked okay, but he didn’t seem confident enough to throw them early in counts and did not throw them for strikes. It looked all night like batters were just sitting on his fastball.
He did have some bad luck with his BABIP, however, almost every ball was hard hit and there were a few liners that luckily found the outfielders and did not drop for hits.
He has put up good numbers in the minors, and maybe last night was just nerves showing through, but I did not see anything that would suggest he is a viable option.
He got smacked around pretty good, but I didn’t think his velo was down. I only saw the condensed game, but yeah, he seemed to miss his spots. He doesn’t even have 80 innings in Triple-A and he’s still just 23, so I’m not wavering on him just yet.
He’s still in my stream options — I list my SPs as automatic starts > rostered and spot start > stream > waiver wire — and I think he’ll be alright this season.
Don’t forget, Solarte is well known for getting off to a hot start and then fading badly.
Ehh, I don’t put much stock into first/second half type splits. The exception is nighttime games where the ball doesn’t carry very well in the extreme ends of the season.
Jesse Hahn or Kyle Hendrix? Trying to find a fill-in for Cobb until he is finally healthy (have used House and Sabathia thus far, it’s not going well).
Also, any idea what the Dodger’s outfield plan is at the moment? Are they going with Guerrero/Hernandez/Van Slyke against LHP and and Guerrero/Pederson/Ethier against RHP? Or does Pederson start against less imposing lefties?
Hendricks for me.
Love his GB% tendencies and his offense is probably better than Oakland’s, hopefully allowing for a better shot at wins.
The Dodgers are melting my brain. From their bullpen to the OF (and even IF) it seems like a pile up. I’ve been hyping Guerrero for some time now, so I’d grab and stash him. He’s able to play more spots on the field than Van Slyke.
Hey David: landed Colome at auction yesterday! (To my great surprise!) Thanks for the tip to look out for him. In a 16 team league, I’m hoping that he’ll make a nice back end of the rotation guy.
Peralta of Arizona just became available. I know he’s a platoon guy, but I’m using Gose as my OF bench bat right now and he’s not giving me the steals I had hoped for. And now he’s been moved down in the order. (Steals not as critical in a points league anyway.)
Peralta or Seth Smith as my OF bench bat? Gotta love the park Peralta calls home even if his ABs will be limited. I could pick up Raburn for the weekend with two left handed pitchers slated to pitch vs. the Indians–he mashes lefties. But then I risk losing Peralta at the next auction. What do you recommend? Thanks again.
We’re here to give tips! Wait, that sounded almost dirty. Never mind that.
Peralta has a better home park, but the difference in BB% would lead me to give Smith the nod. The exception would be if it’s a dynasty points league, go with the younger and comparable player.
If you like Fowler so much, how come a much more handsome owner has him in The Uecker Invitational?
/angry fist shake
I’m still salty about that.
I have been platooning with Matt Joyce. Should I dump him for either Van Slyke or Ethier? Who is going to get the Dodgers playing time?
If you’re going with a LAD bat, I still like Guerrero more. So him or stick with Joyce now that his playing time isn’t threatened.
Thanks. Guerrero is already taken.
Snaps. Probably Van Slyke then.
David, do you like Fowler more than Denard Span as a pickup?
Depends on the league settings and your needs.
In OBP leagues I Fowler has a slight edge, but AVG Span does. If you’re looking for speed, Span is the safer bet.
I like Span better, but it’s fairly close.
Drop Melky for fowler or marisnick?
As much as I like Fowler and Marisnick, don’t do it.
I know I am scraping the bottom rungs here, but between Chase Headley and Aramis Ramirez, who do you like more ROS?
My only other 3B options are guys like Jimmy Parades, Trevor Plouffe or Will Middlebrooks….so yeah…. any help is appreciated.
Between those listed, go with Headley for me.
Okay, thanks for the reply. I own Headley and have been starting him with little viable options, but I’m getting concerned the 15-20 Home Runs I pegged for him may not come true even as a lefty in Yankee stadium.