Roto Riteup: May 18, 2021
Nomination for Tweet of the Month:
corey seager when they said albert pujols normally wears no. 5 pic.twitter.com/lJmc19aubQ
— Bill Hanstock (@sundownmotel) May 17, 2021
On the Agenda:
- Quick Hits
- Various News and Notes
- Streaming Pitchers
Quick Hits
The Mets placed both Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto on the 10-day IL with hamstring injuries. There is no timetable for their returns.
Danny Duffy was placed on the 10-Day IL with a flexor strain. This is super concerning and was unexpected. Hopefully we will get more information soon.
Taijuan Walker left Monday’s game with side soreness. Walker reportedly has been dealing with the issue for a few starts now, so hopefully this isn’t something that will sideline him for long. Consider him day-to-day for now.
Mike Trout left Monday’s game with a calf strain. The injury didn’t look as bad as his reaction to it was in the dugout. Consider him day-to-day for now.
Kevin Pillar left Monday’s game after being hit with a pitch in the face. This was a gruesome injury and play had to be stopped for a bit to clean up the blood around home plate. He tweeted after the game that he was ok, but he will likely miss a fair amount of time as he recovers.
Mitch Garver left Monday’s game with a knee injury. Garver had fouled a pitch off the knee earlier in the game and was later removed. This doesn’t appear serious, but consider him day-to-day at this time.
Jordan Luplow left Monday’s game with an ankle injury. Consider him day-to-day for now.
Max Fried left Monday’s start with a cramp. This sounds like it isn’t very serious, so hopefully it won’t mean he will miss time.
Madison Bumgarner left his start on Monday with an injury. This was a weird one because he had been pitching well and didn’t show any signs of an issue, but apparently he had some spasms in his groin area in between innings. He isn’t expected to miss time as long as this doesn’t get worse.
Various News and Notes
Khalil Lee was called up by the Mets on Monday and made his Major League debut as a pinch runner for Kevin Pillar. Lee was part of the three-way trade that landed Andrew Benintendi in Kansas City. He is an intriguing prospect that has power and speed, but swings and misses a lot. He should get some real run here considering the injuries to the Mets and could be valuable if he can keep the strikeouts in check.
Nick Madrigal hit his first career home run on Monday in the victory over the Twins. Madrigal has very little power, so don’t expect this to become a thing, but he has hit pretty well early in his career. Unfortunately the speed that was expected hasn’t translated into stolen bases for him and he hits ninth too often. His future could be bright, but he needs the steals to be fantasy relevant.
Logan Webb threw six scoreless innings, allowing six hits and a walk while striking out four. Webb threw another really good start against a good offense, but he wasn’t dominant in the outing. The slider was great, but the Reds didn’t make him pay for mistakes with the sinker and change. He has a matchup against the Dodgers next which is intriguing considering how beat up that lineup is.
Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)
Pitcher for Today: None
Options aren’t great today.
High Risk Options: Zach Davies vs WAS, Austin Gomber at SD, Spencer Turnbull at SEA, Justin Dunn vs DET.
Pitcher for Tomorrow: Drew Smyly vs NYM
Smyly looked good in his last time out and has a matchup versus a depleted Mets squad.
High Risk Options: Garrett Richards at TOR
Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.
Michael Fulmer picked up a save, how we feeling about him?
A little confused, kinda sweaty
Is it reasonable to expect both Lee and Fargas to get close to full-time play in the Mets outfield for at least a while? Which is the bigger stolen base threat?
Fargas projects as the worse hitter but better speedster, and only time will tell which side of the “Billy Hamilton line” he ends up on. He had 97 steals between High-A and AA with the Giants in 2018/19 and stole 8 bases in 8 games at AAA to start this season. I’m looking forward to seeing his ft/sec speed when available, as I think it’ll be over 30.
Lee is also a burner, but the hope is he’s more of an all-around player than Fargas. As the article says, he has a lot of swing-and-miss though. Neither of them can steal 1st base, and them Mets haven’t been very aggressive with stolen bases under Rojas, so we’ll see who gets on base and who gets the green light.
Since the Mets OF currently only has Dom Smith and these 2, the opportunity will be there. From a fantasy perspective, I see Lee hitting higher in the lineup, and Fargas in the 9 hole like he was last night. If you need steals in a deep league (who doesn’t?) I’d probably grab Fargas first and hope he can get on base because he should be off and running.
not hot on Lee, k’s too much. I do like the Arizona guy that just got called up Leyba.
I think all of the Braves starters are being pushed back a day so Smyly likely will see the Pirates on Thursday.
Huascar Ynoa also being a dumb dumb breaking bones while punching benches instead of breaking spirits striking out batters.
burned by the same flame that helped get him into the bigs to begin with.
MLB Pitchers should be required to take a training course where you learn to punch inanimate objects with your *non pitching hand*.
Taught by Crash Davis
Man, I am usually not a fan of twitter snark but that one was well done
I’d brace for Trout to hit the 10-day IL and probably need several weeks to get right. I had Josh Donaldson on a team in 2018; his calf “tightened up” on Memorial Day, 5/28. The next game he played was on 9/11. I’m not saying that’s Trout, but calf injuries are very tricky/tough; you feel good, start ramping up, then frequently have a setback (or worse). With “star” players, the team (and media) tendency is to “Best case” injury scenarios (They are trying to generate revenue, not provide info for your fantasy squad). He’ll get an MRI, which I’m sure will be reported as “negative” or “clean” (which, of course, isn’t technically true, it just means there’s no G2/G3 injury). But I’d expect him to be shut down entirely for a few weeks, with a gradual ramp-up, return-to-play in mid-June.