Roto Riteup: May 27, 2016

Jackie Bradley Jr.’s hitting streak came to an end at 29 games yesterday. Obviously, it’s a massive failing of John Farrell for changing his lineup position and not at all because getting a hit in 30 consecutive games is incredibly difficult. Nope, all Farrell. In any case, Bradley now owns the fourth-longest hitting streak in franchise history, and he hit .415/.488/.783 over that stretch. Not a bad month.

Xander Bogaerts is up next – he’s already at 19 games.

On the agenda:
1. Moustakas done for the year
2. Urias to debut Friday
3. Various News and Notes
4. Streaming Pitcher Options

Moustakas done for the year
The Royals received terrible news this week, as they found out Mike Moustakas tore his ACL when colliding with Alex Gordon on Sunday. Moustakas is done for the season as a result, and owners are out a third baseman in 58 percent of leagues. The 12th man at the hot corner off boards at draft time, Moustakas was in the midst of repeating his breakout 2015 with a 117 wRC+ and seven home runs in 27 games. The average and OBP were down as he worked his way around injuries, but a minuscule strikeout rate and more than half of his hits going for extra bases were allowing him to keep producing.

This hurts for Kansas City, in a major way. Their in-house options are uninspiring and they could become a player on the market at any point. For now, Cheslor Cuthbert and Omar Infante see a bump in playing time, and maybe Christian Colon gets recalled. Hunter Dozier is the name with a bit more prospect pedigree (and some power-speed potential), but he’s been in Triple-A less than a month. I wonder if Danny Valencia’s available.

Urias to debut Friday
Oh, hell yes. The Dodgers will promote lefty Julio Urias, one of the top handful of pitching prospects in all of baseball, on Friday, giving him the start opposite the Mets. The 19-year-old is expected to rotate between the bullpen and starting if he remains with the parent club – he only pitched 80.1 innings last year and 87.2 the year before that, and he’s already at 41 in 2016 – but this is exciting regardless. Over eight Triple-A appearances, the electric Urias struck out 29.7 percent of batters and walked just 5.4 percent, good for a 1.10 ERA and 2.89 FIP. He’s available in 49 percent of leagues and he’s worth a pickup. Friday’s start is also a must-watcg.

Various News and Notes
So, uhh, CC Sabathia is kind of looking alright. He struck out seven Blue Jays while surrendering just two unearned runs over seven innings Thursday. I’m not sure I’m buying this, though. Yes, there’s a 2.96 FIP backing up the 2.83 ERA and he’s back to striking out 20 percent of batters, but his swinging-strike rate remains in single-digits, his fly-ball rate is up, and his home run per-fly ball rate is at 2.3 percent, a full 10 percentage points lower than it was in each of the last four seasons. Maybe the infield-fly spike and paucity of hard-hit balls is legitimate, but I’d require a deeper dive before investing much.

Clay Buchholz is looking decidedly less alright, and Farrell may remove him from the rotation. Eduardo Rodriguez is due back shortly, and the Red Sox manager was noncommittal about his rotation plans. Buchholz is the proud owner of a 6.35 ERA and a career-low strikeout rate, and he’s given up more than a hit per-inning.

Rougned Odor’s suspension will reportedly be reduced to seven games, with Jurickson Profar getting the call to fill in for a week. Profar’s been waiting for a chance and could be auditioning for other teams ahead of trade season, as there appears to be little near-term place for him in Texas despite his strong performance (.284, five home runs, four stolen bases, 114 wRC+) at Triple-A so far.

Hector Olivera was suspended 82 games for violating the league’s domestic violence policy, retroactive to April 30.

Just gonna end things off with this beauty. Happy Friday, everyone.

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

A pitcher for today: Adam Conley @ ATL (Williams Perez)
Adam Conley is off to a nice start to his 2016 season other than the spike in walk rate, and the Braves should present a nice opportunity for him to push things forward. They own the league’s worst offense by wRC+ and strike out an average amount, a nice place for Conley to nudge his own strikeout rate a little higher while getting his ERA back under 4.00.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Matt Boyd @ OAK (Jesse Hahn)
It’s not the sexiest of days despite the full slate. Matt Boyd is the epitome of unsexy (as a pitcher – I’m not sure how he gets down otherwise), with a middling strikeout rate and only some MLB potential. Still, he’s been great at Triple-A, projects for about seven strikeouts per-nine, and draws an Oakland lineup that’s 25th in wRC+ (87) and has the third-worst OPS at home on the season (.617).