Roto Riteup: July 17, 2012

Today’s Roto Riteup is being written while I impatiently wait for my internet to load episode two of The Newsroom. If you haven’t heard of this show yet, don’t worry, you will soon. Simply put: this show is amazing.

• Over the past week Brennan Boesch is hitting .417 with a .583 slugging. Given how poorly he started the season, any sign of life — even a BABIP fueled one — is welcome. After his home run last night, his recent batting line will only improve. Many people (myself included) gave up on Boesch already, but maybe this is when things turn around for him. His paltry career walk rate hurts him in OBP leagues but in standard 5×5 formats he should still be considered an asset. His current ownership rate in ESPN leagues is 20% and he is owned in 27% of Yahoo! formats. If you are hurting for an outfielder, Boesch makes for a solid rebound candidate.

• If you’re seeking a third baseman to try and acquire for you stretch run, take a look at Ryan Zimmerman. Over the past two weeks Zimmerman is hitting .314/.385/.657 and that doesn’t include last night’s 3-3 (with a walk) performance that included a homer. He has been battling injuries this season and that has dragged down his overall line. Hopefully you can target a disillusioned owner into trading Zimmerman away. Third base has been especially poor performing so far, and the league average third baseman line is .257/.318/.409. That line doesn’t include some third base eligible players like Jose Bautista, but it is indicative of the overall offensive struggles at the hot corner.

• Tyler Colvin has started 16 straight games and has hit quite well over that time frame. He is still striking out an awful lot, but he has 12 runs and 19 hits over those 16 games. He is hitting a very strong .295/.330/.600. His platoon split isn’t terrible, though his home and away splits are significant. Although he is owned in the large majority of ESPN leagues, his ownership rate in Yahoo! formats is only about 50%. If he’s floating out there on free agency I would definitely pick him up.

• Just because he isn’t closing doesn’t mean that Craig Stammen can’t be useful to your fantasy team. He has pitched the second most innings of any reliever in baseball and has a 1.66 ERA to show for it. His FIP and xFIP aren’t nearly as shiny, but 2.98 and 3.62 aren’t exactly things to easily throw by the wayside. His walk rate of 3.70 BB/9 is high for my taste, but his strikeout rate and SwStr% help even that out. He ranks in the top 20 of all relievers in terms of SwStr% and in the top 30 of F-Strike%. Put everything together and you have a reliever who pitches a ton of innings and gets a ton of swings and misses. Stammen is owned in less than 3% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues. If you have some holes in your bullpen then I can’t recommend Stammen enough.

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: Zach Britton at MIN
Britton is making his season debut tomorrow and looks to get more ground ball outs. What can I say? I am a sucker for anyone who burns worms at a 50% clip or higher.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Justin Masterson at TB
Read those last two sentences above.

A Hitter for Today: Casey McGehee at COL (Christian Friedrich)
McGehee is crushing left-handed pitching with a 133 wRC+. And he’ll be in Coors field. He should be freely available in just about any league (unless you play in a 6 team NL Central league) and his price in FG: The Game should be cheap.