Roto Riteup: June 2, 2018

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June 2, 2018

I feel like we’re missing something at the Roto Riteup…..

On the Agenda:
1. Stellar Starts
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitchers

Stellar Starts
Mike Foltynewicz hurled a complete-game shutout against the Nationals on Friday – allowing two hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts.


The incredible turn brings his ERA down to 2.22 with a 1.16 WHIP. He’s now pushed himself to 37th on the ESPN Player Rater as well. With his SIERA sitting around 4.00 prior to yesterday’s start, we should probably assume at least mild regression is coming. He’s always been liable to give up the long ball to LHB — .857 OPS against LHB in his career – and Sun Trust isn’t the best environment if you have those issues. His career-best 27% K is likely to regress as well, as he’s currently sporting the worst SwStr% of his career (8.8%). If there’s an owner in your league that’s wondering if he could flirt with top-30 starter status before season’s end, now could be time to sell. I do however think he’s a top-50 option, which is obviously valuable.

Chris Stratton twirled six shutout innings against the Phillies on Friday, yielding four hits and one walk while striking out seven.


Stratton hadn’t posted a scoreless outing since April 12th against the Padres. He’s been in the midst of a six-game stretch where he’s allowed at least 3 ER in all of them and only completed six innings once. His 4.81 SIERA prior to yesterday’s start is indicative of what we can expect at least in the short term. Sub-optimal K%, 43% Hard%, and a high LD/FB% will cap his upside start-to-start.

Somehow, someway the Marlins are bad enough offensively to let Clay Buchholz to post a strong start against them. When it was all said and done, he allowed one run over seven innings with nine strikeouts and one walk.


Over 3 GS with the Diamondbacks Buchholz has allowed 3 ER spanning 18 IP with 14 K and 2 BB. His FB% was north of 60% prior to Friday’s outing, but he has done a stellar job of getting ahead in counts (61% F-Strike). There’s not enough data here to give a real opinion, but based on prior skills and his 5.64 SIERA thus far I think it’s safe to say that Buchholz hasn’t had an epiphany and will land in fantasy circles once again.

Jaime Barria spun six shutout innings against the Rangers on Friday, surrendering four hits and one walk with six strikeouts.


He’s now allowed 2 ER or less in six-of-his-seven starts this year. He’s been going back-and-forth between Triple-A Salt Lake and the Angels, but he may end up finding a more permanent situation in LA if he continues to deliver starts like this. His ERA now sits at 2.48 to go along with a 1.05 WHIP. There will obviously be regression coming (4.28 SIERA), but his 12% SwStr and 63% F-Strike show that his 12.9% K/BB ratio actually has room to grow. All-in-all, I believe in him enough to be interesting in deeper mixed formats, especially in AL-Only leagues.

Other Notable Outings:
Jameson Taillon @ STL: 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Sonny Gray @ BAL: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Tyler Mahle @ SD: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Frankie Montas @ KC: 8 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Mike Leake vs TB: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Gerrit Cole vs BOS: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Stephen Strasburg @ ATL: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 10 K

 

Various News and Notes
After not playing in a game in almost a week, Mookie Betts was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a left abdominal strain.


The move is retroactive to May 29th. The Red Sox and Mookie himself have some wiggle room here, so it’s best to let him heal fully. He’s still the top player on the ESPN Player rater – hitting .359 with 17 HR and 13 SB. He should be back when he’s eligible if not shortly after. Dustin Pedroia has been nicked up recently as well, so Brock Holt will likely get some run here this next week. He can play RF if need be.

I wrote about Clayton Kershaw yesterday, and he was placed on the 10-day disabled list today. According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts he’s slated to miss at least a month.


The good news is his MRI showed no structural damage to the disc in his back. We lasted about a month in May without Kershaw’s presence and will have to wait a while longer this time around. It’s safe to say that this is a major concern moving forward – not only for this season – but for the future as well. Season-long owners will again have to just wait this out as his value couldn’t be worse right now. You could try a contender who might want to gamble on Kershaw being healthy during the stretch run, but the offer will surely not be great. Dynasty/Keeper league owners have a more difficult situation, as he’s been THE top-tier starter over the last five years. With his injury history, there’s a case to be made to keeping him out of the top-10 starters in a start-up dynasty league.

David Dahl got back together with his old girlfriend the disabled list on Friday. This time his reasoning was due to a broken foot.


In all seriousness this is a blow to his trajectory and fantasy owners alike. We’ve long been tantalized by his skillset and thought we might be able to see what he could do with relatively regular playing time over the course of a full season. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait at least six-to-eight weeks before that happens. The Rockies activated D.J. LeMahieu from the disabled list in a corresponding move – he went 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI in his return.

Joe Panik was activated from the disabled list on Friday and went 2-for-3 with two walks in his return. He’s returning from a thumb injury, so his power output could be lacking even more than in years past.

Miguel Cabrera was activated from the disabled list and went 1-for-3 with a walk. He missed significant time with a hamstring ailment.

Mark Melancon was activated from the 60-day disabled list on Friday, but didn’t get any work in an almost save situation. The Giants are going to continue to roll with Hunter Strickland in the ninth inning, but fantasy owners should pick up Melancon regardless to see what happens. He hasn’t pitched in the majors all season due to a right elbow flexor strain he suffered in spring. He threw 3.2 IP of shutout ball in his rehab assignment, allowing two hits with a 4/0 K:BB ratio.

Rhys Hoskins expressed on Friday that he’s expecting to be activated from the disabled list when he’s first eligible. Gabe Kapler echoed that same sentiment.

Josh Donaldson was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to left calf tightness on Friday. The move is retroactive to May 29th. It’s unknown how long he’ll be sidelined, but I’m just gonna leave this here.

Accrding to Mark Zuckerman, Daniel Murphy has a chance to be activated on Tuesday.

Bradley Zimmer was activated from the disabled list, but did not receive the start against the Twins on Friday. Greg Allen occupied center for the Tribe. It may not be of note at this point, but Allen could eat into Zimmer’s at-bats if he doesn’t turn things around.

The Blue Jays activated Aledmys Diaz and Randal Grichuk from the disabled list on Friday.

Zach Davies was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to right rotator cuff inflammation.

 

Streaming Pitchers
A Pitcher for Today: Trevor Cahill @ KC

High-Ceiling/Low-Floor: Vince Velasquez @ SF

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Brent Suter @ CWS

High-Ceiling/Low-Floor: Domingo German @ BAL





 

Fantasy Baseball and Tampa Bay Rays enthusiast. Restaurant manager by day, fantasy analyst by night. Contributor to Rotographs, Baseball HQ, Fantasy Pros, and co-owner of Friends with Fantasy Benefits. Follow me @MikeWernerFWFB.

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bdon91member
5 years ago

MIguel Sano

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