Roto Riteup: June 30, 2015
Make sure to clear your schedules at 7 pm (eastern) tonight, as the USWNT will be playing against Germany for a spot in the World Cup championship match!
On today’s agenda:
1. Wilmer Flores, second baseman
2. Welcome back, Josh Hamilton
3. Quick blurbs on rehabbing pitchers
4. Streaming Pitching Options
Wilmer Flores, second baseman
According to John Heyman, the Mets will utilize Flores at second base — rather than at shortstop where he has mostly played thus far — when Daniel Murphy gets activated. Murphy is likely to shift to third base and allows Flores and his power to step in the keystone. With 10 home runs already, but a modest .238 batting average, Flores has his uses. Plugging him into your lineup as your shortstop (or second baseman) won’t do much for your rate stats, however the power is handy. He’s been moved to fifth and occasionally cleanup in recent games, a good spot to maximize his RBI count. For a shortstop eligible player with clear playing time in front of him, Flores is owned in just 60 percent of CBS leagues and less than 30 percent of Yahoo! and ESPN formats.
Welcome back, Josh Hamilton
The Rangers are expected to activate Hamilton today, and possibly start him in center field, as reported by Jeff Wilson. As the team has struggled to produce offense from CF — they’ve hit a collect 25th ranked wOBA and 27th ranked wRC+ this season — Hamilton may provide a boost in the hitting department and a massive expense on the defensive side of the ball. For fantasy purposes, playing time and production is all that matters for Hamilton. He’s still be someone to sit when facing a southpaw, but can contribute the majority of the time. Hamilton is free to pick up in just 18 percent of CBS leagues, however his ownership rate in both ESPN and Yahoo! settings is around 50 percent.
Quick blurbs on rehabbing pitchers
Matt Moore is set to pitch for the Rays on Thursday, his first big league start since April 7 of last year.
The starting pitcher comeback is real in Florida, as the Marlins plan to start Jose Fernandez on Thursday as well.
The Diamondbacks have Patrick Corbin scheduled to make his season debut on either July 7 or 8.
Jake Odorizzi is slated to begin his rehab assignment at High-A tomorrow. I’d expect him to be back in the Rays rotation after this, or perhaps one more rehab start.
The Royals will have Yordano Ventura make at least one more rehab start before activating him after a rocky start in Triple-A on Friday. He coughed up three runs on three hits and as many walks, though he did manage to fan five in four innings of work.
Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.
A pitcher for today: Taylor Jungmann at PHI (Cole Hamels)
I’m not sure Jungmann will outduel Hamels, however the Phillies have the lowest wRC+ of any team when facing a right-handed pitcher. One can find Jungmann free to pick up in over 80 percent of CBS settings and more than 95 percent of Yahoo! and ESPN leagues.
A pitcher for tomorrow: Jesse Hahn vs COL (Chad Bettis)
The Rockies have righties very well, but they’ve done the vast majority of the damage away from Coors Field. Oakland’s home park plus Hahn’s ability to induce ground balls should provide a quality start and a win.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
I assume Moore is more of a wait and see, especially listening to the latest Sleeper and the Bust podcast where Eno indicated he is topping out around 93 on his rehab stint, but is Jose Fernandez an instant start in his first game back? Normally I sit and wait a start or two, but Fernandez is so damn talented he could be an exception right?
I’d insta=start Fernandez. Moore I’d probably wait a start just to see the velo and control.
yes on J-F, wait a bit for MM.
Sometimes a stream start against the Phillies can be an infuriatingly average result. Like last night. Jimmy Nelson got the W, but the 7.20 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, and only 3Ks were nothing special.
Streaming pitchers are available for a reason. Tis a dangerous game we play.
I have Flores in a 16 team keeper points league. I don’t have to worry about average and this is a sluggers league with only a .3 deduction for Ks, so he’s useful.
Once Corey Seager arrives I won’t need him for SS, but he might be useful as a middle IF.
It’s getting to that time where those of us in keepers leagues are seeing some owners sell off as they start trying to imagine what their lineups will look like next year or beyond.
I’ve been offered Moreland of TX in a 16 team keeper league for a relatively cheap price. He’s asking for a 7th round pick (12 keepers) in exchange for his 10th round pick.
Moreland is working on a decent year with 11 HRs in the last two months. He doesn’t have as much trouble with LHPs as in the past. His batting average is inflated by a high BABIP.
So my question to the cognoscenti here: would you rather keep Moreland or Brandon Moss next year? Moss is two years older, so decline in production should happen more rapidly than for Moreland. Moss’ batting average and thus points production is low for two years in a row and figures to continue to trend downwards.
Also, for this year, since Moreland is having what appears to be a career year, he can help me in the consolation bracket. In this league, the bottom eight teams vie for both the first pick in the prospect draft and the first pick in next year’s snake draft. I’m in 9th right now but likely to fall with 3 really good teams still left on the remaining 6 matchup schedule. (Playoffs start early, since all playoff and consolation matchups are two weeks long in duration.)
Go for the trade since the cost is relatively cheap? Then drop Moss for Moreland next year? My OF would then consist of J.D. Martinez, Gregory Polanco and Corey Dickerson.
What’s your opinion on this strategy? Thanks.
You’d be buying high on Moreland and selling low on Moss. As you noted. a .342 BABIP on Moreland is crazy high for him, especially considering 12 of his 63 hits haven’t even been in play. Without a history of a strong walk rate or any significant change in his swing pattern (other than a 5 percent uptick in O-Contact%).
I don’t think I’d do it. I think Moss holds more value RoS than Moreland, even with the age difference.
David, I’d keep Moss and Moreland for the ROS. As I said, one factor in the trade is: can he help me in the consolation bracket, with the #1 pick as the prize, for such a cheap price?
And I don’t necessarily have to drop both Moreland and Moss next year when deciding on 12 keepers. Right now, the guys I’d definitely keep are: Duda, Cano, Kyle Seager, Carlos Santana, J.D. Martinez, Dickerson and Polanco as position players. Corey Seager if he gets enough bats this year, would be eight.
The only starters I’m planning on keeping are: Richards, Carlos Martinez and Salazar. If Seager doesn’t get the requisite ABs, then I have room for two more ABs.
Ahh, I misread. I thought it was Moss + 10 for Moreland + 7.
Re-reading (this time more carefully), I would hang on to Moss over Moreland. The Indians don’t have anyone in farm system to challenge Moss just yet and the Rangers are loaded with younger and higher upside bats than Moreland. Gallo, Alfaro (if he gets moved off C), Guzman etc.
For my take, in keeper leagues, draft picks are very important as the talent pool to select players is much thinner than a full re-draft league. I still wouldn’t trade a pick for Moreland.
*two more batters*, giving me the desired 9-3 ratio I like in a deep league, where bats are harder to find.
Okay. Thanks for the advice David, as usual.
David, any concern about Lucas Duda? He got off a nice start, but has been terrible since mid-May and the Mets lineup around him, aside from the Grandyman is also terrible. Looking at Duda his ISO has dropped quite a bit and that scares me for a power rebound. I didnt expect another 30 HR season, but I thought he would be good enough to be a borderline top 10 1B, but right now I would have a hard time taking him over Lind or Moreland. Am I wrong on being so down on Duda?
A .182 AVG (thanks mostly to a pretty weak .242 BABIP) this month has crushed his stats.
He’s still got a strong walk rate, though his K rate has jumped a bit. I think Duda will be fine, but I don’t see him as a top-10 1B.