Roto Riteup — Presented by DraftKings: August 20, 2014

Tuesday is often my favorite night of the week, simply because I get to watch a couple hours of Chopped. So while it’s Wednesday now, this Roto Riteup was written in a state of bliss last night.

On today’s agenda:
1. Yu Darvish’s return now uncertain
2. Travis Snider’s slugging
3. Pedro Alvarez and first base
4. The Frank Five

Yu Darvish’s return now uncertain
When Darvish originally went down with an elbow injury, the Rangers believed he’d be back after the minimum amount of time at the DL. Now, Ron Washington is walking back those past remarks, saying he has no clue when his Ace will be back on the mound. While it’d be weird to see Darvish out for the rest of the season, it wouldn’t be a shock since Texas has been out of it for quite some time.

Travis Snider’s slugging
After hitting double (and a single) last night without striking out, it’s time to start talking about Snider. You may remember Snider as the former Blue Jays prospect who slugged .463 in the majors at the age of 22. With the Pirates since mid-2012, Snider is now having the best season of his career, and he’s become a serious standard league option. Snider has hit 10 dong-dongs in less than 260 plate appearances, and his strikeout rate is well below his career average, leading to a .272 batting average. When Andrew McCutchen was out, Snider had an obvious place in the Pirates lineup, but he’ll have to compete with Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte now. Polanco and Marte as seen as future mainstays, but if the Pirates want to make a serious go of making the playoffs, Snider has proven he deserves to play.

Pedro Alvarez and first base
Pittsburgh has made it quite clear that Pedro Alvarez is no long their third baseman, handing over those duties to All-Star Josh Harrison. Alvarez has been taking grounders at first, and that’s where he’ll be spending the rest of the 2014 campaign. Alvarez’s bat hasn’t come through this season, and with Ike Davis and Gaby Sanchez already in place, Pedro will play sparingly the rest of the way, primarily coming into the ballgame for pinch-hit duties against righties; but, he may have competition there, with Polanco or Snider stepping up after falling out of the outfield.

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The Frank Five

SP: Alex Wood | $7,300 | @PIT
SP: Cole Hamels | $10,800 | vSEA
1B: Chris Davis | $4,200 | @CWS (Hector Noesi)
1B/OF: Garrett Jones | $3,700 | vTEX (Nick Martinez)
OF: Michael Brantley | $5,000 | @MIN (Ricky Nolasco)

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