Roto Riteup: May 7, 2013

Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout complete game shutout. Looking back on it, Shane Reynolds‘ eight innings of one run, 10 strikeout ball is nothing to sneeze at either. Baseball is great.

On today’s agenda:
1. Andrew Cashner watch
2. Pleasantly suprising two home run days
3. Gavin Floyd out for the year

Andrew Cashner watch
Surely the reader is aware that Andrew Cashner made his fifth start of the year yesterday. The details of the start read are not awe-inspiring, other than the fact that Cashner threw 7 1/3 innings of shut out ball, allowing just seven base runners on the night. He struck out four and allowed three walks — and the amount of walks are beginning to cause concern — and lowered his pitching triple slash to a 3.23 ERA/3.86 FIP/4.28 xFIP. No doubt his ERA is being helped by his home park, but Cashner is showing signs of being human. He’ll need to improve his strikeout to walk ratio and up his F-strike% to get ahead of hitters more regularly before he becomes a dominant starter. That being said, it would still be wise to buy Cashner while the price is right. You can find him free to own in over 70% of ESPN and Yahoo! leagues, but just 30% of CBS formats.

Pleasantly surprising two home run days
Yesterday we saw a pair of shortstops each launch two home runs each. Andrelton Simmons launched two home runs en route to his 3-for-4 day. He now sits at four home runs on the year and now has seven major league home runs compared to just six minor league dingers. That he has over 1,000 MiLB PA’s compared to less than 300 MLB PA’s speaks well of the 23-year-old’s developing power. He’ll never be a 30 home run type player but a little extra pop — especially from the middle infield — is always a welcome thing.

Simmons has bounced between the top and bottom of the lineup this year — yesterday he was hitting eighth — as Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has slotted Simmons at lead off, second, seventh, and eighth at least three times each this year. His ownership rate hasn’t changed considerably since last week when the author last touched on Simmons. You can still grab him in about 50% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues, but his secret is out in CBS formats where he is owned in almost 75% of leagues.

Asdrubal Cabrera also hit two home runs in a Cleveland Indians win over the Oakland Athletics yesterday evening. Cabrera is also sitting on four home runs for the year, although expectations between he and Simmons were quite different heading into the season. Whilee Simmons has hit all over the Atlanta lineup, Cabrera has been a fixture at two or even three hole in the Cleveland lineup card. He hit third in the order for four straight games and if this trend continues, expect to see a solid boost in his RBI numbers.

Gavin Floyd out for the year
In what will be season ending surgery, Gavin Floyd is set to undergo Tommy John surgery today. He was always a useful stream option and hopefully the 30-year-old right-hander will come back to baseball after a successful surgery. This is an equivalent of a poker “bad beat story” (which the author has no small supply of) but once upon a time Floyd cost the author a finish in the top three. The year was 2010 and the final few weeks were upon us. There was second through fifth place up for grabs in both ERA and WHIP and a three way tie for first in wins. The best finisher of those three categories was essentially guaranteed to finish in the top three, potentially making a run at the championship if all three categories were swept as best they could be. The author started Floyd twice in mid September and was rewarded with 11 earned runs in as many innings as well as 25 base runners to obliterate any and all hope. Live by the sword stream, die by the sword stream.