Roto Riteup: August 7, 2012
Breaking news: I turn half-way to 50 today. Go ahead, get your “old man” jokes in now. Now that the big news is out of the way, here is today’s Roto Riteup:
• There was a homer bonanza fueled by Justin Morneau in Minnesota yesterday. He crushed a pair of home runs and drove in four runs. That brings him to 23 hits in his past 15 games, including nine extra-base hits. Morneau is still available in over half of Yahoo! leagues and almost 40% of ESPN leagues. Act now before people fully realize what a tear he has been on.
• Mark Reynolds had himself a lovely time on Monday. He went 3-3 with two doubles and tacked on an RBI and scored a run. He isn’t what he used to be as far as pure home run power, but his ZiPS thinks that he can hit right around 10 home runs for the last eight weeks of the season. If you’re hurting for power, Reynolds will help. He should be free to pick up in 70% of Yahoo! leagues and almost 80% of ESPN formats.
• I must be getting senile in my old age, because I’m about to have something positive to say about Jeff Francoeur’s on field (rather than clubhouse) exploits. Frenchy has hit a homer in back to back games and although he is locked in a platoon situation, his power seems to be doing fine. He won’t do much for your rate stats, but if he keeps hitting left-handed pitching like this, he can be a useful player to have in (incredibly) deep mixed leagues or deep AL only leagues. You should be able to grab Frenchy in 70% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.
• Boston’s outfield seems to be finding themselves again. Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford combined for five hits, five runs and four RBI’s. Assuming that those guys can really get back on track, Boston’s entire offense gets a boost. Adrian Gonzalez had himself a three RBI day yesterday too. If your league’s trade deadline hasn’t passed yet, I’d target all three of those players to help push your team over the edge.
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: Patrick Corbin at PIT
I’m a Corbin fan and I think he’ll do well in his start today.
A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Justin Masterson vs MIN
This is my weekly (and obligatory) “Masterson will turn it around!” hope filled post.
A Hitter for Today: Andre Ethier vs COL (Alex White)
Ethier abuses righties and Alex White isn’t that great of a pitcher in the first place.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
Masterson won’t “turn it around.” He’s just turning. Round and round.
Minnesota is a far more dangerous offense than anyone gives them credit for. They may have their share of poor nights, but when they’re on they tear it up, and after a terrible start they’re now 12th in the majors in runs scored… which just speaks to how much they’ve been scoring lately. Their defense still sucks, so you may be able to eke out a W against them, but if you’re not careful it could be ugly. And starting Masterson is not being careful.
Not saying Masterson is incapable of doing well, but it’s not something I’d want to trust.
Tell me about it. I started McAllister against them yesterday. Stupid Kipnis…
And it feels like every time I start someone against them, I either get no run support and/or a lousy bullpen blowing up, or some crazy few innings where the Twins score a lot of runs. I’m about to give up on streaming against them randomly, even at Target Field.