Roto Riteup: August 31, 2012

Zach has really been fattening you all up with so many roto stories lately. I’d be careful; I’m pretty sure he is a witch. He turned me into a newt…I got better.

• I hope by now that you’ve all been paying attention to Jonathan Lucroy. His seasonal line (though only 243 plate appearances so far) is .a robust .332/.384/.555. If he qualified, that triple slash equates to a .398 wOBA that would be second among catchers behind only Buster Posey. Last night Lucroy had himself a 3-for-5 night with a home run and seven RBI’s. He is still owned in less than half of all Yahoo! formats and not even 44% of ESPN leagues. Grab him. Now.

• Even before his two hit, one walk game last night, Yunel Escobar has shown signs of breaking out of his season long slump. Prior to last night, Escobar was hitting .294 over the past two weeks. He hasn’t hit for much power again, but he does have a single homer over that time span. If you’re hurting at shortstop or middle infield, Yunel could be your guy. He’s freely available in over 60% of Yahoo! leagues and 65% of ESPN leagues.

• Including last night’s 3-for-5 game, Josh Reddick has 12 hits in his past five games. Those 12 hits include two doubles and two home runs. Any whispers of Reddick being tired out after the long season should be easily dispelled after this hot streak. Reddick has been nothing short of an amazingly pleasant surprise to his fantasy owners thus far this year and he should reach the 30 home run mark without breaking a sweat.

• Rickie Weeks had five hits — including two doubles — and scored four runs in his perfect 5-for-5 day at the plate yesterday. Although his seasonal stat line is still a disappointment, his July gave cause for hope, only for August to bring us back down a peg or two. This game will certainly buoy his August numbers, but he was only slugging .368 prior to last night’s big game. If you believe in him yet (for what its worth, I do) then Weeks is available to own in over 40% of Yahoo! leagues and 30% of ESPN formats.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here are a couple matchups you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Today: Dan Haren at SEA
Nothing in the AL cures what ails you like pitching in SafeCo.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Brett Anderson vs BOS
I’m such a homer for this pick. Oh yeah, and Brett Anderson is really [expletive deleted] good.

A Hitter for Today: Angel Pagan vs CHC (Chris Volstad)
Pagan is an above average hitter and Volstad is a below average starter.