Roto Riteup May 5, 2017

I haven’t seen any of you since April. Either way, this is one of my favorite times of the season.

Major League Baseball put out the All-Star voting two months prior to the game because that makes sense, our favorite prospects are getting called up, and the disabled list possesses some of the best players in baseball. What a time.

On the Agenda

  1. News and Notes
  2. Sanchize is back!
  3. Weird Baseball, starring Seth Smith
  4. Probable Pitchers

News and Notes

J.J. Hardy has been riding the struggle bus lately. So before Tuesday rolled around, Hardy was 3-for-36. Gross. He spoke to Roch Kubatko and said it has been “one of the toughest stretches defensively and offensively” for probably his entire career. Which just worsens his fantasy value (if there was any to begin with.) He’s kind of one of those guys where you like the idea of him more than anything. So those who were worried he could perform after skipping him during drafts can rest easy.

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Dexter Fowler will undergo an MRI on his shoulder after diving for a ball in the outfield. Stephen Piscotty is also out with a hamstring injury just to add the cherry on top of the outfield situation. They recalled Tommy Pham who is slashing a .283/.371/.500 line with four home runs this season in Triple-A.

Byron Buxton exited Thursday night’s game with concussion-like symptoms and passed the initial concussion test. In regards to his Friday status, it remains unknown.

Sanchize is back!

Hey, I think it’s a silly nickname too, but Yankees fans are so excited today because Gary Sanchez is finally back in the lineup. The 24-year-old has been activated from the 10-day D.L. after a strained bicep injury (he’s been out a little over three weeks.) He did well during his rehab assignment and in true Sanchez-fashion hit a ball over the fence in his rehab debut.

You can finally take him off of the bench against the Cubs Friday. And in the daily game, this is one of the few times you can take advantage of his lower price. It’s Gary Sanchez so that discount will not last long.

Weird Baseball, starring Seth Smith

Heading into the season I was excited to see how well lefty Seth Smith would perform at Camden Yards. I was sure he would take advantage of those power courses and that right-hand side with the lower fence, but at Fenway Park on Thursday he really had a night. In regards to that ballpark factor, it’s difficult to get extra-base hits, and we know how the green monster likes to eat up home runs.

In Thursday’s defeat over the Sox, Smith went 4-for-4 with two RBI, and a stolen base. That stolen base, was home.

Good for you Smith. In the daily game, I love the matchup against the White Sox on Friday. The game could carry over back at home for him, and he’s ridiculously cheap across the industry for an outfielder. And I love an O’s stack, too.

Probable Pitchers for May 5, 2017

Stephen Strasburg @ Philadelphia Phillies

Chris Archer vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Michael Fulmer @ Oakland A’s

Dallas Keuchel @ Los Angeles Angels





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Thomas
8 years ago

Great stuff as always!