Roto Riteup: Monday, September 5th, 2011

It may be Labor Day, but fantasy never takes a day off. Except for the All-Star break. And all those days from October to April. You catch my drift, though.

– Johan Santana seems to finally be making his way to the big leagues this season, as reports indicate he will make his 2011 Mets debut sometime during the middle of next week. Clearly, he won’t be a fantasy option unless you choose to stream him in NL-only leagues, but keeping an eye on his performance is recommended, as he could be a nice mid-round pick in drafts next year should he prove to be healthy. Hopefully Johan comes back and looks great, causing some owners (and probably a silly New Yorker) to way overvalue him based on a small sample and past performance.

– At his current pace, we could see Brett Lawrie drafted with Chris Davis like fervor next year. After hitting 17 homers and batting .285 during half a season in 2008, Davis was often drafted as high as the third round in 2009 drafts. I don’t think we’ll see Lawrie taken that high, but I believe it’s likely he’ll be a fifth or sixth round selections in most drafts next season. He’s still got a month to go, but trying to project next year’s draft is very important for keeper league owners.

– Tips for dealing with the start of the football season: embrace it, or at the very least embrace fantasy football. You may prefer baseball due to the smaller degree of luck involved, but that doesn’t make fantasy football boring or stupid.

A Pitcher for Today: Scott Feldman at TBR
I’m not sure if Feldman will be able to sneak a win out this matchup, as he’s facing James Shields, but I’d like to think he could at least put up five innings of one-run ball. He blanked the Rays in six innings of work just a few days ago, so let’s see if he can repeat the feat.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Brad Lincoln vs HOU
Lincoln’s latest start didn’t look great, but his outing against the Cardinals last week was super duper nice. He’s got good stuff, he just needs to figure it all out.

PickSix Lock of the Day: Albert Pujols ($62.50) vs MIL (Randy Wolf)
He costs an arm and a leg, but g-d it if he’s not worth it on this day.
Prediction: 3-4, HR; 22.2 points
Last Week’s Predictions: 4 players, $116.25, 24.2 pts, 1 perfect prediction
All Past Predictions: 20 players, $357.75, 128.1 pts, 1 perfect