Roto Riteup: April 30, 2015

Today’s Roto Riteup was fueled by late night coffee.

On today’s agenda:
1. Revisiting my love of Adam Lind
2. Rick Porcello’s strong outing
3. Time to drop Homer Bailey
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Revisiting my love of Adam Lind
It’s been six weeks since I first championed Lind and his potential value, but in the wake of his 2-for-5 game with a home run, let’s take another look. He’s up to a .329/.398/.548 line with three home runs in 83 plate appearances, a pace well above his six long balls in 318 PA’s last season. It’s not like he’s on some sort of crazy luck-induced tear (other than a fortunate .368 BABIP) as Lind’s 13.6% HR/FB rate is lower than his 14.5% three year average. As a bonus, Lind is even drawing walks at the highest rate of his career. After moving around in the lineup in the opening week, he’s been firmly entrenched as the cleanup hitter for 17 consecutive starts. Presuming his hitting against southpaws drops off as well as the BABIP — spoiler alert: it will — Lind’s power and patience still make for a great CI/UTIL option in on-base percentage and points leagues. Despite the strong start, Lind is available in 50% of both Yahoo! and CBS leagues as well as 68% of ESPN formats.

Rick Porcello’s strong outing
Yesterday Porcello posted his strongest start in a Red Sox uniform, going seven innings against a tough Toronto Blue Jays lineup. He scattered two hits and two walks while allowing one run and sitting down six Jays on strikes. Porcello managed to induce 10 swing-and-misses out of 99 pitches and continues the strongest swinging strike rate season of his career. Along with the whiff rate Porcello is up to 29 strikeouts in 32 innings and he’s relying on his slider more and his fastball less. Factor in the second highest scoring offense and Porcello’s excellent ground ball rate and you have a recipe for a standard 12-team mixed league starter. He’s been snake bit by the long ball in the early going, and given his pitching profile and history, it seems very unlikely his 20.9% HR/FB rate continues. After yesterday’s game it may be too late to buy low in a trade, however he is free to grab in a decent amount of leagues. He’s owned in 80% of CBS formats already yet is still free to pick up in almost 40% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.

Time to drop Homer Bailey
The Cincinnati Reds transferred Bailey to the 60-day disabled list yesterday due to his right elbow strain. No word on whether or not he’ll opt for Tommy John surgery or attempt a comeback with platelet-rich plasma injection therapy. Regardless of which option Bailey goes with, he’ll miss either all of or a majority of the season. The handsome and brilliant Paul Sporer wrote up an excellent list of replacement pitchers yesterday and it is well worth the read. I’d add on the Reds in house replacement in Michael Lorenzen to Sporer’s list as well. Yeah, Lorenzen got shelled and surrendered three home runs — one by Lind — however the 23-year-old hurler managed to induce an eye-popping 18 whiffs on his 107 pitches.

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Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Mike Leake at ATL (Shelby Miller)
Leake is a stable pitcher who can miss a few bats and other than bouts of gopheritis, has good control and doesn’t allow many walks. In the first month of the season the Braves have hit right-handers fairly well, but other stream options are potential disasters. Leake can be picked up in 50% of both CBS and Yahoo! leagues plus 75% of ESPN formats.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Alex Colome at BAL (Chris Tillman)
He’ll be making his season debut but I really like Colome’s stuff and availability. Against right-handers the Orioles have been a three true outcomes club as they rank first and 13th in baseball in home runs and BB% respectively and their 23.2% strikeout rate is the second highest mark. I’m counting on Colome dancing through the raindrops while getting a good number of strikeouts.