Roto Riteup: April 8, 2013

Welcome to another week of the Roto Riteup. Today, I out David Wiers for the dark wizard he truly is.

On today’s agenda:
1. Aces digging holes
2. Jose Fernandez debuts
3. Freddie Freeman surprisingly hits DL
4. Random Week 1 observations

Aces digging holes
A bunch of front-line starters were making their second appearance of 2013 yesterday, and it didn’t exactly go well. Here are a few of the outings:

• Matt Cain, SFG: 3.2 IP, 9 ER, 7 H, 0 HR, 2 BB, 2 K
• David Price, TBA: 5 IP, 8 ER, 10 H, 2 HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• R.A. Dickey, TOR: 4.2 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K
• Cole Hamels, PHI: 5.2 IP, 8 ER, 9 H, 1 HR, 4 BB, 2 K
• Stephen Strasburg, WAS: 5.1 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 0 HR, 4 BB, 5 K

If one or two of these guys had disastrous starts, I’d say “big whoop.” But, all five of them, plus the struggles of Lucas Harrell, Ian Kennedy, and James Shields? Something’s amiss.

I blame David Wiers; you’ll notice Brett Anderson avoided this plague, and that’s why I feel like Wiers did something to influence the world.

Jose Fernandez debuts
The major leagues got its first look at the Marlins uber-prospect yesterday, and boy it was a good one. Fernandez fanned eight batters over five innings of work, allowing only a single run. Fernandez worked with a fastball in the mid-90s and a big hook in the low-80s, and for the most part, the big right-hander held his velocity through his 80 pitch workload. Fernandez has the stuff, but he won’t have a whole lot of offensive support. If the youngin’ is still available in your league, don’t be afraid to snatch him up and at least start him at home.

Freddie Freeman surprisingly hits DL
The Braves’ first baseman is going to miss at least two weeks while recovering from an oblique injury, but that’s not the weird part of the story. The surprising aspect of this DL trip comes from the news that Freeman has been playing through the injury for the last week, and the left-handed slugger is none-too-pleased that his employer choose to deactivate him for the next 15 days. Freeman has hitting the ball well early, so it’s not like Atlanta saw a sharp decline in performance and decided to act on behalf of the player’s best interests. This injury means more playing time for Chris Johnson, who is a non-factor in fantasy formats that aren’t all about batting average.

Random Week 1 observations

• Hisashi Iwakuma is for real. If you were worried about last year being a fluke, don’t be.

• Anthony Rizzo looked lost against Mike Minor on all three occasions he faced him last week. Minor’s slider completely baffled the left-hander, who will have to act fast if he doesn’t want to end up a platoon player.

• After all the talk about his spring, Craig Kimbrel looked just fine to me. Don’t be worried about the right-hander until he gets a case of the Ankiels.