Roto Riteup: August 14, 2015
Today’s Roto Riteup was written while I spun Late Registration. I’m giving it another go after I got roasted in the comment section when I rated it my least favorite Kanye album.
On today’s agenda:
1. Welcome to the show, Greg Bird
2. Mitch Moreland’s big night
3. Take note of Yan Gomes
4. Streaming Pitching Options
Welcome to the show, Greg Bird
Yesterday the Yankees called up the 22-year-old, immediately inserting him in the field at first and in lineup at the 7th spot. Bird went o-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts, yet one game does not a career make. He put the hurt on Double-A hurlers earlier this season, sporting a .258/.358/.445 with six long balls in 212 PAs before earning a promotion to Triple-A. Bird demolished that level of pitching with a .301/.353/.500 line with another six home runs in 150 plate appearances prior to getting the call. Despite the strong track record of hitting and prospect grade — ranking as the Yankees third best prospect heading into the season by Kiley McDaniel — I’m not sure where Bird will get consistent playing time. With Mark Teixeira locking down first base and Alex Rodriguez occupying the designated hitter spot, it appears as though Bird will have to sap playing time away from those two in order to get even semi-regular playing time. A-Rod is now up to 456 PAs on the season, his most since 2012, so perhaps this is a move to keep the 40-year-old rested into the (probable) Yankees playoff game(s). I picked Bird up in a deep keeper league as his bat is worth the minimum keeper price even with iffy playing time ahead of him. Bird is available in over 90 percent of CBS leagues as well as more than 98 percent of Yahoo! or ESPN formats.
Mitch Moreland’s big night
To be fair, Moreland has been awfully good this year in general, but in Thursday’s game he went a perfect 4-for-4. He cracked home run No. 17 and his 19th double en route to his four RBI game. The left-handed hitting Moreland has been crushing righties all season, posting a strong .296/.346/.544 line — good for a 140 wRC+ — and that doesn’t include yesterday’s numbers. Like many other lefty hitters, Moreland is vulnerable against southpaws, however a simple glance at the opposing pitcher each day should dictate whether or not you should plug him into the lineup. He’s mostly hit fifth in the lineup in recent days and I shouldn’t have to say what a strong spot that is for RBIs. Moreland has value in both traditional fantasy leagues (or DFS) yet he is still available in over a third of CBS settings and about half of ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.
Take note of Yan Gomes
A right knee injury plus a slow start has apparently given fantasy owners a short memory as to how solid Gomes can be. Just last year he swatted 21 dongs while hitting .278/.313/.472 in 518 PAs. Gomes does lose value in on-base percentage leagues as his 4.7 percent career walk rate is pretty brutal, but in most settings he has the makings of a strong No. 2 catcher. Over the past 30 days (not including yesterday’s 3-for-5 day with a walk), Gomes is hitting .247/.309/.466 with four home runs and 17 RBIs. Of 29 backstops with at least 50 PAs in the past 30 days, Gomes ranks fourth in homers, tied for first in RBI and seventh in wRC+. He’s very nearly repeating his breakout 2014, it’s just coming after several months of injury and ineffectiveness. Gomes is still cheap in both FanDuel and DraftKings, though I expect that to change in the near future if he keeps hitting. In traditional fantasy baseball, Gomes is still free to pick up in over 45 percent of Yahoo! or CBS settings and nearly 70 percent of 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: Kyle Hendricks at CHW (Jeff Samardzija)
The White Sox don’t hit righties too well, but I guess I’m sort of cheating given Hendricks is available in just 34 percent of CBS leagues. He can be found free to stream in 70 percent of Yahoo! or ESPN formats, so I’ll roll with him today.
A pitcher for tomorrow: Patrick Corbin at ATL (Mike Foltynewicz)
Similar to Hendricks, Corbin is already owned in 65 percent of CBS settings, however he can be streamed in 70 percent of ESPN formats and over 75 percent of Yahoo! leagues. He’s up against a Braves team that ranks in the bottom 10 in both wRC+ and wOBA when facing a southpaw.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
Are Cespedes’ reverse platoon splits just SSS? Right now I usually have to bench either him, Puig or Eaton? I badly need SB but I think Eaton needs to benched against LHP right? Puig has been pretty bad over the last few months but everytime I bench him he goes off. I keep thinking Cespedes will come around against LHP but he continues to struggle against them.
Normally I’d agree with Pirates Hurdle below, but Cespedes has a bit of a reverse split for his career. He’s hit for a 120 wRC+ against righties and a modest but not awful 108 wRC+ versus southpaws.
Eaton sits against some lefties, but the White Sox should (no idea if they actually will) give him as many PAs as possible. This is a lost season for em, may as well see if Eaton can do anything versus lefties.
I’d start sitting Cespy when the Mets play a southpaw, unless the White Sox do too, then sit Eaton.
The answer to this question (reverse platoon splits) is almost always yes.
Couple of quick questions, regarding Gomes if I could pry him away from another owner in a non-keeper league, but it would cost me, Evan Gattis would you do it? Gattis has been solid enough for fantasy purposes and is obviously capable of going gonzo at any moment, but has really struggled for the past month or so and I worry about his playing time being cut if someone like Chris Carter gets hot.
Also, I need an Anthony Rendon replacement (he has been awful since coming off the DL and need someone I can play until he hopefully gets hot) between Schoop, DeShields, Semien, or Russell who do you like the most. It would mean me having to drop Fowler which isn’t ideal, but he has been rotting on my bench for the past month anyway due to my deep OF depth and I can’t seem to pry a 2B away for Fowler straight up.
maybe package Fowler with Gattis?
I’d drop Gattis, personally, he’s got great power but not much else.
Yep, I’d take Gomes over Gattis RoS.
DeShields for sure there.
Really? Depends on what you need. OBP, SB, Runs = DeShields, but Schoop is on pace for 70/35/100/5 ~330 OBP and +500 SLG.
If you need ANY power or a well-rounded player I take Schoop all day.
Note: I am aware of SSS, but even at 75%, or even 65%, of that stat line you’re still getting more all-around value than DeShields.
*On pace = over 600 PA
I can pick up Bird in my 16 team keeper league. But I have Corey Seager, J.P. Crawford, Bundy, Nick Williams and Brett Phillips on my prospect bench. Seager will likely graduate but even if he doesn’t I’ll make him a keeper.
Phillips might get playing time next year in Milwaukee (great hitter’s park) and Crawford has a decent chance to play next year in Philly, so I wouldn’t want to drop one of them to get Bird.
A left handed power bat in Yankee stadium is very attractive. Plus plenty of visits to Baltimore and Toronto if/when he becomes a regular.
Arod lately is showing signs of age and Beltran has been pretty much a bust. Tex is signed for one more year, Arod for two and Beltran for one.
One, maybe all three of these guys (Arod could conceivably walk away from the last year of his contract; he’s not destitute and he’s achieved some important milestones this year) could be gone after next year.
With this in mind, would you drop Nick Williams (top 50 midseason for both Baseball Prospectus and Keith Law) for Bird? Somebody would have to go because I’m in the playoffs and I can’t afford to add another prospect when they’re part of the 32 man roster.
I’d go for Bird over Williams. Between Kiley and KLaw, the makeup stuff I’m reading just doesn’t sound too great.
FWIW, Law doesn’t have Williams in his midseason top-50.
Maybe you can spin Williams to a different owner rather than just outright dropping him?
Thanks for the reply. That’s my inclination. Please excuse the mistake for Law’s list. I’d like to see what Kiley has to say now because apparently Williams has made some major adjustments. When is that long-awaited update list coming?
Unfortunately, the trade deadline in this league has passed. On the positive side, July 31 was the deadline for adding players with no MLB experience. So nobody can add him now until the 29th of September, the first waiver wire auction day after our season ends (we end one week early).
There is a chance, if I’m successful in picking up Bird, that I can reclaim him then and flip him to another owner for a draft pick.
Don’t sweat it, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t make a decision off of bad info!
If you can pick up a player for free and flip him for a draft pick, then damn, that’s just good business.
gomes or wellington castillo? I picked up castillo after derek norris faded into oblivion after his hot start
Castillo for now.
Yan Gomes swats dongs.