Roto Riteup — Presented by DraftKings: June 12, 2014

That’s me in the corner. That’s me in the spot-light, crying like a baby. Trying to write for you, and I don’t know if I can do it.

Oh, hi there. The Roto Riteup is below.

On today’s agenda:
1. Uh oh, Adam Wainwright’s Elbow
2. The Bauer-Ventura Duel
3. Phil Hughes is on fire
4. Fun with arbitrary endpoints
5. The Fine Five

Uh oh, Adam Wainwright’s Elbow
The Cardinals ace went into the MRI tube on Wednesday, and he came out with a diagnosis of tennis elbow, which is actually great news. As a former recipient of Tommy John surgery, the greatest fear would have been a recurrence of UCL problems. The present author has suffered from tennis elbow in the past as a result of playing, well, tennis, and can say that while it’s not fun, it’s certainly not fatal (#analysis). Wainwright’s status should be made known in time for weekly owners to set next week’s rosters.

The Bauer-Ventura Duel
Yesterday, fans were lucky to experience a Trevor Bauer and Yordano Ventura matchup, and in the daytime no less. Even against a poor Kansas City offense, Bauer couldn’t make it out of the sixth, striking out just one of the 24 batters he faced. Ventura was much better, throwing seven strong despite striking out just three, though he walked only one.

Other fun pitchers on the mound yesterday were Marcus Stroman and Tyler Matzek, making Wednesday far more enjoyable, even if they didn’t all perform so great. The next starters I’m excited about — in no particular order — are Jonathan Gray, Archie Bradley, and Noah Syndergaard.

Phil Hughes is on fire
Homer-prone Hughes faced off against the Blue Jays on their home turf yesterday, and he somehow managed to keep the ball in park for all seven innings. Hughes fanned nine, walking none, and allowing seven hits. Hughes is in the middle of what is easily his best stretch since 2009, and though he will likely give up more dongers going forward, what he’s done can’t all be considered a fluke of sorts.

Fun with arbitrary endpoints
All stats are through Tuesday unless otherwise noted.

Khris Davis, last 30 days: 104 PA, .315/.385/.609; 6 HR, 19 K
Chris Davis, last 30 days: 118 PA, .216/.322/.451; 7 HR, 38 K

Matt Garza, May and June: 43.1 IP, 35 K, 19 BB, 3 HR; 3.95 ERA, .291 BABIP

Fernando Rodney, last nine outings: 8.1 IP, 7 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 0.00 ERA

---

The Fine Five

SP: Kyle Kendrick | $6,800 | vSD
SP: Chase Whitley | $6,400 | @SEA
C: Carlos Ruiz | $3,900 | vSD (Eric Stults)
OF: Khris Davis | $4,100 | @NYM (Jonathon Niese)
OF: Marlon Byrd | $3,900 | vSD (Eric Stults)

For the hitters, you’re getting platoon advantage out the yin-yang. Kendrick should be fine, even in Philly, and Whitley has been outstanding thus far and Eno loves him more than his own son.

---

This post, covering one of the leading sites for daily fantasy, is sponsored and made possible by the generous support of DraftKings. FanGraphs maintains complete editorial control of the postings, and brings you these posts in a continued desire to provide the best analytical information on the latest in baseball.