Roto Riteup: July 12, 2022

Hunter Greene was suspended four games by Starbucks. He will play amid appeal.

.@HunterGreene17 only knows one speed ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/IpCjoan8a3

— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 11, 2022

On the Agenda: 

1. Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest
2. COVID Issues
3. Closer Chaos
4. Trades! 
5. Quick Hits
6. Various News and Notes
7. 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. Will add a link once available. 

 

COVID Issues

J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, Aaron Nola, and Kyle Gibson will not travel to Toronto for the Phillies series against the Blue Jays. All of those players are not vaccinated and cannot travel to Canada. It isn’t a big deal for Nola, who pitched Monday and Bohm who was likely to miss a few days after dislocating his finger on Monday, but Realmuto is a big loss for fantasy managers. They should return once the Phillies return to the states for their series in Miami on Friday.  

Kevin Plawecki was placed on the COVID IL on Monday. He reportedly hasn’t tested positive so it may just be that he was feeling under the weather and the team is playing it safe. 

 

Trades

The Braves traded Drew Waters, Andrew Hoffman and C.J. Alexander to the Royals for the 35th pick in the draft. This was a jarring trade as Waters is a former top tier prospect, but he has struggled over the last few seasons, showing poor contact skills and approach. There is raw talent in the bat and the fantasy upside is huge if he can fix the swing and miss, so hopefully a change of scenery will do him some good. 

 

Quick Hits

Bryan Reynolds was placed on the IL with an oblique strain. There had been some optimism following Sunday’s game that the injury wasn’t serious, but it appears it is bad enough to end him up on the IL. Typically these injuries take 4-6 weeks to return from, but no timetable has been set as of yet. 

Dane Dunning was placed on the IL with an ankle issue. There is no timetable for his return. 

Mitch Garver was placed on the IL with a flexor injury. He is expected to undergo season ending surgery. Sam Huff has taken his spot on the roster. 

Daniel Lynch left Monday’s start with a blister. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

Josh Fleming left his start on Monday with oblique tightness. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

Stephen Piscotty left Monday’s game with a wrist injury after being hit with a pitch. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

 

Various News and Notes
Esteury Ruiz was added to the Padres taxi squad for their series against the Rockies.

Too easy

Esteury Ruiz is the first player in all of baseball to 60 stolen bases (23 ELP/37 SA) in 2022!@MiLB | #FearTheEars | #TimeToShine pic.twitter.com/JedTNE97ob

— El Paso Chihuahuas (@epchihuahuas) July 11, 2022

Ruiz has been fantastic in the minor this season, hitting .333/.467/.560 with 13 home runs and stealing 60 bases between AA and AAA this season. Ruiz has game changing speed and has kept his striking out rate at 17% which is a great sign in his development. If he does get the call, he has the ability to steal 20+ bases the rest of the way and be a league winner in roto leagues.

Spencer Howard threw five innings versus the A’s, allowing one run on six hits and no walks while striking out one in the victory.

snazzy defensive work from Spencer Howard to end the inning and likely save a run. pic.twitter.com/rO4jIG89Nu

— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) July 12, 2022

Howard was pretty good in this one, pitching to contact and allowing his defense to pick him up. He went away from the fastball in this one, only throwing it nine times in the outing while leaning on his cutter. He was cruising but almost lost it in the fifth inning before getting out of the inning. He has arm talent, but I need to see more strikeouts with this pitch mix if he is going to be viable outside of streaming.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)

Pitcher for Today: Josh Winder vs MIL

Winder has pitched well this year and I am not overly worried about the Brewers lineup. 

 

High Risk Options: Jordan Lyles at CHC, Mitch White at STL, Roansy Contreras at MIA, Matthew Liberatore vs LAD, Glenn Otto vs OAK, James Kaprelian at TEX, Daniel Castano vs PIT.

 

Pitcher for Tomorrow:  Spencer Watkins at CHC

Watkins has quietly been very good and has a nice matchup. 

 

High Risk Options: Aaron Civale vs CHW, Chad Kuhl vs SD, Brady Singer vs DET, Josh Winckowski at TB, JT Brubaker at MIA. 

 

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.”