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.

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Nick
8 years ago

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.