Roto Riteup: Monday, August 22nd, 2011
– Brian Wilson was placed on the DL with elbow problems yesterday morning, leaving Jeremy Affeldt as the likely closer in San Francisco. I suspect Ramon Ramirez may also get a few shots at closing games, but for now, add Affeldt if you can only pick one.
– You might be tempted to bring Brandon McCarthy in for two starts this week, but you shouldn’t. First off, both of McCarthy’s starts are away from home, which is always a bad sign. Secondly, he faces the Yankees and the Red Sox. It’s not going to be pretty, so keep him on your bench of on the waiver wire.
– If you were too late adding two-start starters for this matchup, a preemptive strike for next week could be in order. Both Wade Davis and Hiroki Kuroda have been pitching well lately, and both should have two-start weeks for your next matchup. Kuroda should be facing the Padres at home and the Braves on the road as Davis faces the Blue Jays on the road and the Orioles in St. Petersburg.
One fun thing to do is play around with the FanGraphs leaderboards and introduce splits such as “Last 30 Days.” When you do so, here are some things you will notice:
– Desmond Jennings has stolen 13 bases and hit 5 homers. Clearly he’s not a 30/70 guy, but could he be a 20/40 guy next year? If so, he would be one impressive fantasy commodity.
– Josh Willingham is showing everyone why the A’s traded for him this offseason, hitting 10 homers over the past month. I doubt Willingham returns to Oakland, so just imagine how many homers he could hit next season in a better ballpark (paging Alex Anthopoulos). He’d have to stay healthy all season, but he’d be an intriguing late round draft pick with big power potential.
– Your strikeout leader is Rich Harden, everyone! In other news, it is not, as rumored, the year 2008. If Harden is somehow available in your league, you should probably pick him up.
A Pitcher For Today: Nathan Eovaldi at STL
There isn’t a full slate of games on this Monday, and most pitchers going are widely owned. Eovaldi isn’t anything special — at least not yet — but getting him in a good ballark makes this your best chance if you have to stream. If you can afford to take a day off from rotating in starters, you probably should.
A Pitcher For Tomorrow: Mike Minor at CHC
Minor is still owned in less than 10% of Yahoo! leagues, so hopefully he’s available to pick up in your league. If not, Blake Beaven (at CLE) is another option.
PickSix Lock of the Day: Chris Carpenter ($14) vs LAD
For less than fifteen bucks, you get an ace on his home turf. Sounds like a pretty good deal, no?
Prediction: 7 IP, 6 K, 2 BB; 20.5 points
Last Week’s Predictions: 4 players, $83.75, 23.3 pts
All Past Predictions: 12 players, $189.50, 66.5 pts
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
I’ll enjoy Jennings while I have him for the rest of this season. But damn, it’s going to be hard for him to live up to the hype and draft position he’ll find himself in next spring.