Roto Riteup: June 18th, 2012

Today’s Roto Riteup was written whilst “rocking out,” so random keystrokes caused by a certain forehead touching a certhsthdgdfh keyboard should be ignored.

• John Danks hasn’t pitched in the majors for a month now and had to take a trip to visit Dr. Lewis Yocum after only four innings of rehab work. Danks struggled early this year and was placed on the DL due to shoulder soreness, likely caused by carrying the heavy bags of cash handed to him this offseason in the form of a contract extension. Danks’ velocity dipped over one MPH from last season, and hopefully some rest and rehab for his shoulder could allow the left-hander to regain what he lost. If he’s still having issues with his throwing shoulder, it may not be reasonable to expect anything different when (or if) he returns. If you drafted and DL’d Danks hoping for a repeat of 2008-2011, it looks like you could be out of luck. At this point there’s no need to drop him outright if you’ve already held on to him, but he should be monitored with a super-powered microscope when he comes back.

• Brandon Moss is developing into quite the interesting story down in Oakland. The lefty showed power potential in 2008, then showed no real pop in 2009 while playing most days for the Pirates. Over the past two seasons in the minors, Moss hasn’t looked like anything special, but he’s broke out again this season, blasting 15 bombs and slugging .582 in 224 Triple-A plate appearances. Now in the majors, the 28-year-old has hit six homers in just 11 games. Could Moss finally be living up to the potential he briefly flashed back in 2008, or was it a mirage both then and now? Only one way to tell: playing time. Or a cadre of scouts. Two ways to tell! I’d be very tempted to snatch up Moss in AL-only leagues just in case this is all for realsies.

• In case your fantasy league hadn’t noticed, Juan Pierre is back to doing Juan Pierre things this season. Ridiculous contact rate, good batting average, and steals. Sexy indeed.

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: Matt Harrison at SDP
Whatever you do, don’t start Hector Noesi today. That’s just an accident waiting to happen down in Arizona.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Mike Leake at CLE
I’m still in love with Mike Leake, or at least I’m in love with the idea of him. Getting him away from Cincy is a nice touch.

A Hitter for Today: Andruw Jones vs ATL (Mike Minor)
Minor gives up bombs, Jones hits bombs, and Yankee stadium is good for bombs. Prediction? Bomb(s).