Roto Riteup: August 23, 2022

Still one of the best plays in baseball:

🚨 TRIPLE PLAY 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Up9rAH10cJ

— MLB (@MLB) August 23, 2022

On the Agenda: 

1. Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest
2. Closer Chaos
3. Quick Hits
4. Various News and Notes
5. Streaming Pitchers

 

Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest

On most Tuesday’s and Friday’s and some other days, Paul Sporer and I will be doing a $5 draftkings game for anyone that is interested. 

 

Closer Chaos

Scott Effross was placed on the IL with a shoulder strain. This is disappointing news as Effross was going to be a part of the Yankees closer committee and had been pitching the best out of their bullpen. The Yankees will likely move to a mix of Aroldis Chapman, Lou Trivino, and Jonathan Loaisiga. 

 

Quick Hits

Braxton Garrett was placed on the Il with an oblique strain. Typically these injuries take 4-6 weeks to recover from which would make him droppable in most formats. 

Vinnie Pasquantino left Monday’s game with shoulder pain. He is expected to undergo further testing on Tuesday. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

Michael Kopech left his start on Monday versus the Royals with a hamstring issue. He reportedly was feeling the issue prior to the start, but the White Sox decided to try and get him through the outing anyways. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

Aaron Ashby was placed on the IL with shoulder inflammation. The injury is not considered serious, so he could return after a two week stay on the IL. However, it would not be surprising  if the Brewers are conservative with them depending on where they are in the standings at that point. 

Kyle Hendricks told reporters on Monday that he has a capsule tear in his throwing shoulder. This will end his 2022 season. 

Byron Buxton left Monday’s game with a hip issue. He is expected to undergo an MRI on Tuesday. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

 

Various News and Notes
Drew Waters went 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in the victory over the White Sox.

Drew Waters gets his first MLB RBI with a bases loaded walk to give the Royals the lead. pic.twitter.com/jGEIlD0CAO

— Baseball GIFs (@gifs_baseball) August 22, 2022

Waters made his Major League debut on Monday for the Royals. He was a former top prospect that struggled mightily and ended up getting leap frogged in the Braves organization by Michael Harris III. However, since being traded to the Royals, he has hit .295/.399/541 with seven home runs and 13 stolen bases in 143 plate appearances. There is still a ton of swing and miss to his game as he struck out at a 28.7% clip in Ohama, but the upside is huge and he should get opportunities to play on the rebuilding Royals.

Jordan Montgomery threw a complete game shutout of the Cubs, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out seven in the victory.

Jordan Montgomery, Dirty 82mph Curveball…and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/71B3gFgUbC

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 23, 2022

Montgomery has been fantastic since being traded to the Cardinals, throwing 25.2 innings in four starts and posting a .35 ERA and a .62 WHIP while striking out 24. Montgomery has quietly taken a nice leap forward this season and moving the league’s best defensive infield in a nice park in a good division for pitchers makes him a likely top tier pitching target for 2023.

Edward Cabrera threw eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out seven in the victory over the A’s.

https://twitter.com/JustBBMedia/status/1561922376488607744?s=20&t=41boiO4Sa9Cx8N0eF5vlHA

Cabrera was absolutely filthy in this one, sporting a 60% whiff rate on his changeup and only allowing five batted balls to be hit over 90 mph which resulted in three flyouts and two groundouts. However, he still walked three which is his Achilles Heel, but the A’s were unable to take advantage of the free passes. Cabrera has a ton of talent and if he can reign in the walks, we could see him turn into an ace.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)

Pitcher for Today:  Jose Suarez at TB

Suarez has pitched well and I am not afraid of Tampa Bay

High Risk Options: Austin Voth vs CHW, Zach Davies at KC, Adrian Sampson vs STL, J.T. Brubaker vs STL, German Marquez vs TEX, Dane Dunning at COL. 

 

Pitcher for Tomorrow:  Matt Manning vs SF

Manning has been good as of late and the Giants have been pretty bad outside of Coors influenced offensive outputs. 

High Risk Options: Graham Ashcraft at PHI, Spenser Watkins vs CHW. 

 

For those of you that would like to see how these picks play out, I have a doc I put together to track the stats from the recommended pitchers. It does not include the “High Risk Options.”