Roto Riteup: June 8th, 2012

Today is Friday, and thus represents the light at the end of the work week tunnel. Today is going to be a good day. Today’s Roto Riteup was created especially for you.

• After just coming off of the disabled list a week ago, it seems as though Yoenis Cespedes could miss some more time in the upcoming days. He pulled up lame and holding his left hamstring after a first inning single in yesterday’s win over the Texas Rangers. He is currently being listed as day-to-day with a strained hamstring, but it is certainly something to watch for. Those of us in weekly leagues should pay close attention to the A’s twitter feed before the deadline passes to set our lineup for next week.

• The St. Louis Cardinals placed Jaime Garcia on the 15-day DL yesterday after he had an examination on his throwing shoulder. Garcia is set to see a second doctor today and the door is open to see a third doctor. The reason for all these varying opinions is that although it has been officially named as a shoulder strain, the root of the pain still remains a mystery. Garcia’s ERA is a rather ugly 4.48, but his 2.74 FIP is much better and even his 3.59 xFIP is a considerable step up from ERA. I would stash him on your DL for now.

• Yu Darvish had his worst outing of his young MLB career yesterday. He allowed a career high of six earned runs and tied a career worst of six walks. To add to his control woes, Darvish even hit a batter. He has allowed a total of 18 walks in the past four starts, spanning a mere 20 2/3 innings pitched. He has 19 strikeouts in that same time frame. That type of pitching can sink your team’s WHIP if Darvish doesn’t turn things around. It could be nothing more than a rough patch, but with his next scheduled start coming against the Diamondbacks (who as a team draw walks at the fifth highest rate), I would consider benching him.

• With the announcement of Derek Holland getting shelved on the 15-day DL, Alexi Ogando is now being reinserted, at least on Sunday, back into the starting rotation. Ogando performed very well in his role as a starter last year and I suspect he will one again prove himself to be an above average starter. He is currently owned in 50% of Yahoo! leagues but not even 10% of ESPN formats. Pick him up. If nothing else stream or spot start him. I would personally roster him though.

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: Brandon Beachy vs TOR
Yes, the Blue Jays have hit the second most home runs of any team at 81, but only 34 of those have come on the road. Also, I’m a huge Beachy fanboy.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Jarrod Parker at ARI
Parker almost threw a no-hitter his last time out against the Rangers. With that memory fresh in my mind, I hope he can pitch like that forever.

A Hitter for Today: Brandon Phillips at DET (Rick Porcello)
Call it a crazy hunch, but I think Phillips socks a dinger tomorrow.