Roto Riteup: August 20, 2015

My inner (okay fine, and outer nerd) is excited for today and the rest of this weekend’s matches in the ESL One Cologne tournament for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. With a $250,000 prize pool, time to load up some CS:GO and have my old team make a comeback.

On today’s agenda:
1. Chase Utley’s new home
2. Greg Bird’s big day
3. A Minnesota outfield shuffle
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Chase Utley’s new home
The long awaited Utley trade finally happened yesterday, with the Phillies sending the second baseman to the Dodgers in exchange for 2B/OF Darnell Sweeney and right-hander John Richy. I expect to see Utley get the majority of the playing time at the keystone, at least until Howie Kendrick returns near the end of the month. The Phillies are having Sweeney join the big league team and we should see him mostly at second, possibly with some outfield playing time sprinkled in. If you’re hurting for steals, Sweeney can provide your team a boost and he may run into the occasional home run given his new home park. FanGraphs’ own Kiley McDaniel rated Sweeney as the Dodgers No. 12 prospect heading into the season, noting plus-speed and surprising pop from the switch hitter. Once can find Utley available in more than 65 percent of both Yahoo! and CBS formats as well as over 80 percent of ESPN leagues. Sweeney is free to pick up in over 97 percent of CBS and ESPN leagues whereas Yahoo! is yet to enter him into their player pool. Both ESPN and CBS leagues have Sweeney as shortstop eligible, so I may pick him up just because I think finding a quality SS is pretty tough.

Greg Bird’s big day
The slugging first baseman hasn’t even been in the big leagues for a week, yet his first multi-home run game is already in the books. Despite some disparaging comments from the man who he swatted the home runs off of aside, Bird flashed what Kiley McDaniel tabbed as plus-power in his preseason rankings. Even with this big day, I’m not sure how much playing time Bird can be penciled in for, unless the Yankees decide to rest their aging bats in Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. I’d wager on Bird getting three, maybe four starts per week, basically enough to be tantalizing but not enough to justify a roster spot in standard mixed leagues.

A Minnesota outfield shuffle
I Googled “Minnesota outfield shuffle” but no fun dance videos popped up. Oh well. Yesterday the Twins placed Aaron Hicks on the 15-day disabled list, citing a left hamstring strain. The club believes the strain to be mild, but the move opens up playing time for Byron Buxton, the man called upon to take Hicks’ roster spot. Buxton has been demolishing Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .412/.444/.549 line — though he has struck out at a 22.2 percent clip while drawing walks a modest 5.1 percent of the time. With open playing time ahead of him — at least for two weeks — I’m willing to burn a waiver wire spot or some FAAB on picking up Buxton, even in redraft leagues. He’s owned in 60 percent of CBS settings already, however one can find him free to pick up in over 75 percent of both Yahoo! or ESPN formats.


Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers or play DFS, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Nicholas Tropeano vs CHW (Jose Quintana)
Today will be Tropeano’s third big league start of the season, though it appears it will be another spot start. Still, I like him enough against a Southsiders offense that ranks in the bottom third of the league when facing a right-hander. Tropeano is free to stream in over 95 percent of the three major fantasy sites.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Jerad Eickhoff at MIA (Kendry Flores)
Eickhoff is making his debut in the show, and gets to face off against a Marlins offense that pretty much stinks out loud against right-handers. He doesn’t offer a ton of upside, but he does have a solid curve to generate some whiffs against the Fish. If you’re feeling like rolling the dice a bit, Eickhoff can be picked up in 99 percent of ESPN or CBS leagues, however like the previously mentioned Sweeney, he is not available in Yahoo! leagues.





You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.

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digitalHaas
8 years ago

Al Newman shuffles in the following video. He played some outfield for the Twins.This is as close as you’re probably going to get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOsSK2Y7pF4