Roto Riteup: August 11, 2013

Happy Presidential Joke Day! Here is a clip from the 2011 White House Press Correspondence Dinner, specifically Seth Meyer’s portion. His bit describing the various after parties is just fantastic.

On today’s agenda:
1. Josh Reddick flashes the power
2. A week of steals for Leonys Martin
3. Quick update on Roy Halladay
4. Time to pick up Ike Davis

Josh Reddick flashes the power
After crushing three home runs on Friday, Josh Reddick’s Saturday encore consisted of two more dingers. Reddick’s season long slump — mostly due to a .236 BABIP — has been a source of frustration for his fantasy owners everywhere, the present author included. Despite his .214/.294/.386 line, Reddick has seen an uptick in his walk rate and a reduction in his strikeout rate compared to last year. If Reddick puts it all together for the final seven weeks of the season, he is capable of having a monster finish to the year. Reddick is available in over 80% of ESPN leagues, 70% of Yahoo! leagues, and 45% of CBS formats. If anyone is looking for counting stats from an outfielder, Reddick makes for a low risk-high reward option.

A week of steals for Leonys Martin
Ahh, Leonys Martin. To the present author, Martin was the Andrew Cashner of position player preseason hype and hope. Unlike Cashner, Martin has mostly delivered. In particular Martin delivered this week, where he showed his speed is a difference maker. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Martin grabbed six bases — three steals on each day — and added his seventh steal of the week yesterday. Add in the fact that Martin has been hitting leadoff for his past 12 straight games and you have yourself a very good fantasy player.

With the offense and ballpark around Martin, plus his own speed, he makes for an excellent pick up in any format. Amazingly, he is still available in over 60% of Yahoo! leagues and 35% of CBS formats. ESPN counts only active fantasy leagues — though the exact qualification as to what constitutes an active league is unknown — and thus Martin is owned in over 90% of their formats.

Quick update on Roy Halladay
Yesterday Roy Halladay threw a simulated game that consisted of 75 pitches against minor leaguers down in Florida. Halladay is scheduled to throw a bullpen session tomorrow and pending that, could be on his way to a rehab assignment. According to the report, Halladay had been sitting in the mid to upper 80’s with his velocity and the Phillies liked what they saw in his mechanics. Until we see some lines and velocity readings from a couple minor league rehab starts, Halladay still gets the red light.

Time to pick up Ike Davis
The past 30 days have been a huge turnaround for Ike Davis. Still hitting a mere .203/.317/.318 line on the year, Davis’ past month is an outstanding .279/.443/.459. Granted a .381 BABIP has certainly been helpful, but Davis has also posted an 18:18 strikeout to walk ratio over that time frame as well. Add in yesterday’s 2-for-4 performance with two walks and Davis is up to 22 walks in his past 84 plate appearance.

Expecting a 158 wRC+ for the rest of the the season from Davis would be naive, however between Davis’ on-base skills and his power potential, he makes for a very high upside player. Even with this recent hot streak and his 32 home run year last year, Davis is still available in most leagues. One can freely grab him in 67% of CBS leagues, 70% of Yahoo! leagues, and 78% of CBS formats.

Bonus
The Tampa Bay Rays have found yet another market inefficiency: the opposing team not paying attention (skip to 2:50).