Roto Riteup: August 11, 2018

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August 11, 2018

The Roto Riteup hopes you stay hungry….

On the Agenda:
1. Bour to Philadelphia
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitchers

Bour to Philadelphia
The Phillies acquired Justin Bour in exchange for prospect LHP Mackenzie Mills on Friday.


Well, this is certainly not looking like it’ll be awesome for fantasy owners. You’d have to assume that Carlos Santana – who’s owns a .234 BA against RHP for his career – loses a few at-bats with this acquisition. There’s also the possibility of PHI using Bour (.835 OPS or better vs RHP over the last four seasons) as a pinch-hitting option later in games. He’s thrived in that role after all.


From a pure baseball prospective, the Marlins are also covering about half of Bour’s salary for the remainder of the season, and he still has two years of arbitration left on his deal. Mackenzie Mills wasn’t listed on our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen’s Phillies list. Not saying the 22-year old former 18th round pick doesn’t have some competency, but it’s just another head scratcher. For fantasy purposes though, this will be a situation that we’ll have to see play out a bit. My recommendation in deeper formats or NL-Only leagues is to stand pat with Bour – as there’s a decent shot he gets a good amount of at-bats against RHP. With that said, the Carlos Santana owners of the world need to monitor his playing time as well. Despite his mediocre results against RHP in his career, he still possesses a .358 OBP – making those possibility lost at-bats vital. The Marlins will be moving Derek Dietrich to first base as well as the middle of the lineup. Magneuris Sierra will most likely get an opportunity to lead-off for a but moving forward as well.

Various News and Notes
A very scary situation arose last night, as Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was taken to the hospital due to an irregular heartbeat. The Dodgers have already said that the elite closer would be sidelined for at least a month, but to be frank, that should be the least of anyone’s worries. He’s already had to battle with this issue in the past, and with it popping up again, all we can do is hope he gets well soon.


Jansen underwent a procedure to help with the issue back in 2012, and will hopefully get things corrected this time around. The person replacing him in the closers role as of now will be Scott Alexander. He’s an automatic pick-up in most formats until Jansen returns. There’s also been talks of sending Kenta Maeda to the bullpen at some point based on his success in the postseason last year.

Stephen Strasburg is expected to throw a high-intensity 60-pitch bullpen session today according to Jamal Collier of MLB.com. If he can make it through the session unscathed, the plan is for him to start a rehab assignment on Wednesday. He’ll likely need a few turns in the minors before returning. His latest injury is from a pinched nerve in his neck, but he’s only made three starts since the calendar turned to June.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Tommy Pham took batting practice off a pitching machine on Thursday. The team seems to think he may be a bit ahead of schedule in his rehab from a fracture in his right foot, but he’s still at least two weeks away from returning.

Kyle Barraclough was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to lower back stiffness. Drew Steckenrider is the most likely candidate to take his spot in the closers role, but that would’ve happened anyway since Barraclough had the role revoked recently. There’s currently no timetable for his return, but it doesn’t seem that serious as of right now.

Mike Trout was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to right wrist inflammation on Friday. He’s been out since August 1st because of this ailment, but the Angels set the DL stint retroactive to August 6th. He’s supposedly only going to miss the minimum amount of time – which puts him on track to return in less than a week – but we’ll have to see. The Angels have been using Eric Young Jr in center field in his absence.

Joakim Soria was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right quad strain that he suffered in Thursday nights game. With Corey Knebel likely out of the closer role for at least a little while, Jeremy Jeffress is all-of-a-sudden a guy to own in most formats if you need saves.

Ronald Guzman went 3-for-5 with three solo-home runs in the Rangers 12-7 victory over the Yankees on Friday.


According to ESPN Stats & Info, Guzman is the first player to hit a home run in his first four games against the Yankees, and is the first rookie ever to hit three home runs in the same game against them. Guzman hasn’t been great for fantasy, as the three home runs put him at 12 for the season. In addition, his plate skills and batting average remain below average, and his power metrics just aren’t good enough for the first base position in fantasy. Regardless, it’s a fun achievement for him.

 

Streaming Pitchers
A Pitcher for Today: Trevor Williams at SF (If available), Corey Oswalt at MIA
Oswalt is obviously insanely risky, but Miami has a 65 wRC+ over the last 30 days (29th) and average 3.5 RPG at home (29th). Play at your own risk though.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Wei-Yin Chen vs NYM
Chen has allowed 3 ER or fewer in eight-of-nine starts at home – resulting in a 1.94 ERA and 1.04 WHIP (7.6 K/9). The Mets offense is 24th in wRC+ over the last 30 days (92).





 

Fantasy Baseball and Tampa Bay Rays enthusiast. Restaurant manager by day, fantasy analyst by night. Contributor to Rotographs, Baseball HQ, Fantasy Pros, and co-owner of Friends with Fantasy Benefits. Follow me @MikeWernerFWFB.

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