Roto Riteup: May 23, 2015

Today’s Roto Riteup marks the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, and may yours be filled with animal parts stuffed into other animal parts and adult beverages.

On today’s agenda:
1. Wily Peralta and his oblique
2. The Mets’ six-man rotation
3. Various news and notes
4. Streaming Pitcher Options

The Mets’ six-man rotation
The emergence and flashes of brilliance from Noah Syndergaard have forced the Mets to keep him in the big leagues and New York will roll with a six-man rotation once Dillon Gee returns. There hasn’t been anything official from Terry Collins on what the exact plan is, but I would assume it will be a modified six-man group, with Gee stepping up to start when the Mets don’t have an off day to give their starters an extra day of rest, as well as stepping in to skip Matt Harvey or Syndergaard every so often. Of course, this arrangement assumes all starters remain effective and healthy, which is unlikely.

Wily Peralta and his oblique
Wily Peralta left yesterday’s start after just four innings of work due to left oblique tightness. Peralta had given up one hit over four innings and seemed to be cruising along nicely, and it seems like this move was mostly precautionary. Keep an eye on Peralta, but at this point expect him to make his next start, or miss just one at the most.

Peralta’s velocity has dipped this year — though still sitting 94 is not an issue. Despite a hard two-seamer and a ground-ball rate easily north of 50%, Peralta has had trouble with homers in his big league career; as Jeff Sullivan has discussed, this sums up to an issue with command. He’s not a mixed-league option, and he may not even be playable in NL-only leagues anymore.

Various news and notes
– Marlins first baseman Justin Bour hit his second homer of the season yesterday. Bour has been hot for the fish and feels like it may be Bryan LaHair all over again. Mike Morse has struggled and deals with injuries every other day, so expect Bour to keep getting rolled out against righties until he stops hitting.

– Sean O’Sullivan has three quality starts in five tries this year. Maybe it’s time to add him in NL-only leagues? (It’s not.)


Streaming Pitcher Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Nate Karns vs OAK (Kendall Graveman)
I’m a Karns fan 4lyfe, so getting him at home against technically the worst team in baseball is quite the treat.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Tom Koehler vs BAL (Miguel Gonzalez)
The Orioles are powerful, but let’s see how they do in a pitcher’s park without a DH.





Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

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CC
8 years ago

Can (not need to) start two of these three:

Ian Kennedy v LAD
James Paxton @TOR
Lance McCullers @DET

Would you give any the nod? Trying to preserve a lead might throw at least start one. Safest option?

Mike W.
8 years ago
Reply to  CC

The safest option is Kennedy since he has the longest track record of success amongst that group. That said, Kennedy has also thrown the ball terribly since coming off the DL. His command struggles so far this year and home run tendencies are tough to bank on against a very good Dodgers offense (recent struggles aside).

Paxton is probably the second safest, but his recent success aside he just doesnt seem to be fooling as many hitters this year and that Toronto lineup at home is scary to roll against.

McCullers is a total unknown still and I don’t think you can trust him against a very good Detroit offense.

If I had to pick one, it would be Kennedy, but you might be best served to sit all three today.

Cc
8 years ago
Reply to  Zach Sanders

Thanks for the replies, Mike & Zach. My original plan was to only roll out Kennedy, and it looks like I’ll be sticking to that gut decision. Jays are killing lefties and McCullers against a top team, is too risky with a small track record. Don’t love Kennedy but agree he’s the safest option.

Squirrel
8 years ago
Reply to  CC

Go with Paxton. Bench the other two.