Roto Riteup: May 6, 2015

Today marks the 11th year since Friends ended. Though I didn’t watch the show regularly — my sister loved it, so I would catch episodes here and there — Chandler was the best character.

On today’s agenda:
1.  Shane Greene struggles
2. Brandon Morrow to the disabled list
3. Welcome back, Scooter Gennett
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Shane Greene struggles
For the third consecutive outing Greene failed to make it through the fifth inning while allowing five or more runs. He gave up just five hits, but four walks and a rough sequence of events ended Greene’s day in the third inning (click to embiggen).

A 5.56 ERA is masking a stronger a 3.72 FIP, but most alarming is his strikeout to walk rate has fallen below 2.0 on the year. Greene induced three whiffs on 57 pitches yesterday, a rate even lower than his 7.5 percent SwStr% going into the game. The walks have hurt Greene, but he’s really struggled to keep them from coming around to score as his 56.6 percent LOB rate is 16 percent worse than league average. Prior to yesterday’s game Green was the owner of a -0.4 LOB-wins already, showing how he’s fallen victim to the fickle baseball sequencing overlords. After being a conductor on the Shane Greene hype train, I’ve moved back to the middle of train as I still think he will be a useful pitcher, but the lack of swinging strikes and by extension strikeouts, is alarming.

Brandon Morrow to the disabled list
After a strong early going where Morrow posted four quality starts in five chances, he’ll head to the 15-day DL with what is being called right shoulder inflammation. It appears to be more of a preventative move than outright injury and Morrow opined he’ll only miss the minimum 15 days.

Odrisamer Despaigne is set to step into Morrow’s rotation slot and is tabbed to start tomorrow’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Despaigne’s -1.59 ERA-FIP gap is the 17th highest in baseball (minimum 20 innings pitched) and his strikeout rates in the minors have yet to translate to the big league. Batters aren’t swinging and missing against him as he currently owns a 5.2 percent SwStr%, the ninth lowest out of 132 pitchers (again minimum 20 IP). With the benefit of a strong offense supporting him and a career ground ball rate north of 50%, Despaigne does offer a few starts of solid ERA and maybe a win or two, but is probably best picked up only in deep leagues for now.

Welcome back, Scooter Gennett
A personal favorite of mine, Gennett was activated from the DL prior to yesterday’s game. Power and patience isn’t Gennett’s game, but be sure to grab him in DFS or platoon him in traditional fantasy leagues as he owns a career .320/.354/.480 line against right-handers. I’ve highlighted his platoon issues before, and I suggest a glance again, if only for what I think is a solid title. Last season I managed to snag Gennett and later on Joe Panik to form a cheap and effective second base platoon. While both are left-handed hitters, I can only remember a handful of times both faced off against southpaw on the same day. The vast majority of the time there was no issue and I often got to pick which hitter I liked better on each day’s matchup.

A quick glance on DraftKings shows Gennett isn’t a great option at his current $3,700 price. FanDuel is the place to maximize Gennett’s hitting as he is an absolute bargain at $2,300, less than half of Jose Altuve. No doubt his speed drive his price up, however Altuve’s career line against righties is .287/.324/.376. Are his steals worth more than twice as much as Gennett’s stronger line? Not to me, and I’d rather roll with Gennet + more budget elsewhere. For traditional fantasy owners, Gennett is available in over 75% of CBS leagues as well as more than 85% of ESPN and Yahoo! formats.

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

A pitcher for today: Mike Foltynewicz vs PHI (Jerome Williams)
Folty didn’t have a great debut, however this time he’ll go up against a Phillies team that owns a 29th ranked 59 wRC+ against right-handers. One can find Folty available in more than 75% of the three major fantasy sites.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Drew Pomeranz at MIN (Ricky Nolasco)
The Twins have struggled against left-handers in the early going. Pom is available in only 40% of CBS leagues, but can be grabbed in more than 75% of ESPN and Yahoo! formats.