Roto Riteup: June 5th, 2012

I may have used a certain phrase quite a bit yesterday, but that doesn’t mean you should stray away from reading today’s Roto Riteup.

• Chris Young is making his 2012 debut for the New York Mets this evening, pitching against Jordan Zimmermann and the Washington Nationals. Young, who has pitched a grand total of 44 big league innings over the past two years due to various injuries, has already thrown 23 innings in the minors over four starts in preperation for this day. The 6’10” right-hander has been great over his past 44 big league innings, but it was a very small sample, and it’s is ridiculously hard to believe someone throwing 85 mph is going to be able to put up a sub-2.00 ERA with a strikeout rate north of 20%. I like Young as a spot-starter is deep leagues, but let’s be honest: if he makes more than five starts before succombing to injury again, it will be a surprise.

• The Dodgers have brought Juan Rivera back to the majors, but odds are he will be stuck on the bench. Bobby Abreu is currently manning left field in LA, and although it comes with a .404 BABIP, a .310/.437/.451 line is hard to bench without upsetting a fan base. It’s not like Rivera is a stud, but he should still seem time as a platoon player against left-handed pitchers, at either first base or left field.

• After missing over a month, Jason Bay is expected to be back in the big leagues today. Bay was hitting for power before he was sidelined with a fractured rib, but there’s not neccesarily a clear opening for his services on an everyday basis. Bay taking over in left field for Kirk Nieuwenhuis is the most likely path to significant playing time, and we could even see Nieunwenhuis move to centerfield and force Andres Torres to the bench. The situation is fluid, but grab Bay in NL-only formats.

• Stetson Allie is moving from the mound to the diamond, as the Pirates have decided their flamethrowing prospect does not have the command needed to make it as a starter. Drop him in dynasty leagues.

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: Homer Bailey vs PIT
I don’t love taking Bailey at home, but I’m doing it anyway.

Another Pitcher for Today: Chris Young at WAS
Young is making his 2012 debut, as I mentioned above.

A Hitter for Today: Matt Adams at HOU (Lucas Harrell)
I like Adams against a sub-par starter.