Roto Riteup — Presented by DraftKings: June 3, 2014

You poor Roto Riteup readers are stuck with me today. Because Wiers and I are swingers, is why.

On today’s agenda:
1. It’s Jonathan Singleton time
2. Robinson Cano returns
3. Jeff Samardzija to Colorado would suck
4. Yordano Ventura to start Thursday
5. The Fudged Five

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It’s Jonathan Singleton time
After smacking Triple-A hitters this season, the Astros have not only called Singleton up to the big leagues, they’ve locked him into a long-term contract extension. Singleton isn’t a standard mixed-league guy yet due to his strikeout rate, but he has some serious power — if he were to play everyday the rest of the year, Steamer projects him for about 14 homers, and that figure feels light by a couple dongers. Even if he struggles for stretches, the long-term extension gives him some leash, as the Astros don’t have a great incentive to send him back to the minors and delay his service time. You’ll find out very soon exactly where Singleton ranks among first baseman for me and other RotoGraphs’ analysts.

Robinson Cano returns
Cano returned to his rightful place in the middle of the Mariners lineup last night after sitting out a handful of games with an injury. Cano’s bone bruise in his left hand may limit him a tad, but he had been hitting pretty well for the stretch before his injury. Cano’s average is excellent this season, but he hasn’t been hitting balls into the seats, and even the doubles have been slightly down. Of note, there’s also this from former FanGraphser Mike “The Body” Axisa:

Jeff Samardzija to Colorado would suck
The Cubs are looking to deal Shark — that much is clear — but to where is the real question. Rumors are now out that they may be talking to Colorado, who could include a Competitive Balance draft choice in a deal. Shark throws hard and gets grounders at a decent rate, but moving Colorado could lead to bad times for his owners. At the positive end of the spectrum, odds are Shark would have more than one win by now if he was in Colorado, so there’s that.

Yordano Ventura to start Thursday
After an elbow scare last week, Ventura is still on track to start Thursday against the Cardinals. Ventura’s fastball velocity was noticeably down in his last start, so it’s something America will be watching out for on Thursday. Ventura has a 3.45 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in just over 57 innings this year, striking out 59 in the process.


The Fudged Five

SP: Dan Haren | $8,300 | vCWS
SP: Jeff Zimmerman | $7,200 | vPHI
1B: Adam LaRoche | $4,200 | vPHI (David Buchanan)
2B: Scooter Gennett | $3,500 | vMIN (Samuel Deduno)
OF: Adam Jones | $4,200 | @TEX (Joe Saunders)

The White Sox are surprisingly good on the road this year, but I still like Haren to slow them down, even with Jose Abreu back in the lineup. Jones for less than $4,500 against Saunders feels like a major steal.


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.





Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

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Mike Wimmer
9 years ago

After a rough start to the reason, Bartolo Colon has put together three straight nice starts. Are we buying him being part of a standard mixed league pitching staff again? I have Liriano and while his last start was encouraging and I’m cautiously optimistic about his next start in San Diego, I remain nervous starting him.