Roto Riteup — Presented By DraftKings: June 14, 2014

Hooray, we survived a full moon on Friday the 13! I consider myself lucky, particularly considering we also made it through Y2K and the Mayan 2012 end-of-the-world scenario.

On today’s agenda:
1. Thoughts on Juan Francisco
2. Oscar Taveras down to Triple-A
3. Return of Mat Latos
4. The daily five

Thoughts on Juan Francisco
Yesterday Francisco blasted his 11th home run of the season in just 159 plate appearances. His 34.6% strikeout rate is tough to swallow, but his power is for real. With Brett Lawrie scuffling at the plate a bit, Francisco has gotten plenty of starts at third base. I don’t love his game, but Francisco’s power and the park he calls home makes for a worthy pick in most daily leagues. Standard 5×5 managers could use him in 14-team mixed leagues. If nothing else he is useful against right-handed pitchers in deep leagues.Francisco is available in 50% of CBS leagues as well as 70% of both ESPN and Yahoo! formats.

Oscar Taveras down to Triple-A
Welp, I had high hopes of Taveras being able to handle center field as well as showcase some of his hitting talent, but it wasn’t meant to be. In 40 PA’s he hit just .188/.225/.297 in his first taste of the big leagues. With the St. Louis Cardinals activating Matt Adams from the 15-day disabled list, Taveras was left without regular playing time. I’m glad he’ll get the chance to play in Triple-A rather than get into 2-3 games per week in the majors. It’s nearly impossible to draw conclusions from a 40 PA sample size — and a .200 BABIP didn’t help — but I was impressed by his ability to make contact. Taveras celebrates his 22nd birthday in a few days and I expect him to be back in St. Louis shortly after his birthday and certainly before rosters expand in September.

Return of Mat Latos
The Cincinnati Reds will activate Latos today before his start against the Milwaukee Brewers. It will be his first start of 2014 and comes after multiple surgeries and delays. Despite the long wait I still like Latos to post strong numbers for the rest of the season. With his return the Reds rotation is in a bit of a situation and Tony Cingrani may be left standing when the music stops. Reds skipper Bryan Price was unsure where Cingrani may land, as he could be kept with the big league club and shifted to the bullpen or sent down to Triple-A to continue as a starter. I’d rather see Cingrani get regular innings in the minors than be relegated to a bullpen role. Whether he gets sent down or shifted to the pen, I would hang on to him if you haven’t let him go yet. I don’t trust Alfredo Simon’s 2.95 ERA given his 4.02 xFIP and 4.12 SIERA.

The daily five
Starting pitcher: Scott Kazmir — $9,400
He’ll be at home against the New York Yankees, a club that has been quite mediocre (97 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers, rank 17) this season.

Starting pitcher: Shelby Miller — $8,000
Miller will face the Washington Nationals and their 18th ranked wRC+ against righties.

Infielder: Adrian Gonzalez — $4,400
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Gonzalez should feast on Josh Collmenter today. I usually find Collmenter as a decent stream option, but not against the club with the second highest wRC+ when facing a right-handed pitcher.

Outfielder: Shin-Soo Choo — $4,300
Though the Texas Rangers don’t hit righties particularly strong, they’re facing Erasmo Ramirez, someone who isn’t a particularly strong starter.

Other hitter: Adrian Beltre — $4,700
Another Ranger at home against Ramirez.

Remaining budget: $19,200

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