Roto Riteup — Presented By DraftKings: March 30, 2014
Opening Day — at least in the northern hemisphere — is now here! Stick with the Roto Riteup, brought to you by DraftKings, for relevant fantasy baseball news from yesterday and picks for today. The Daily Five will be an ongoing subsection of the Roto Riteup where Zach Sanders and I will recommend certain players that we see as good picks that day. In order to play, you sign up for free and then select your 10-man roster and spend as much of the allotted $50,000 filling up your lineup card.
On today’s agenda:
1. Clayton Kershaw to the disabled list
2. Rajai Davis‘ value
3. Jenrry Mejia to the rotation
4. The Daily Five
Want to win $10,000 playing Opening Day fantasy baseball? All first time depositors get a free entry into this contest by clicking the link!
Clayton Kershaw to the disabled list
Probably the best pitcher alive was placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with upper back inflammation. The Los Angeles Dodgers already had a bit of a heads up on this injury as they had Hyun-Jin Ryu already scheduled to start today’s game, though the knowledge of it doesn’t soften the blow. Manager Don Mattingly seemed confident for Kershaw to get back on track as soon as possible, telling reporters “We know what it is. We’re not concerned that he’s going to do any damage to it.” The sooner Kershaw gets back on the mound, the better and not just for his roto-owners, but baseball itself.
Rajai Davis’ value
With the Detroit Tigers officially moving Andy Dirks to the 15-day disabled list following back surgery, the door is open for Davis to establish himself as Detroit’s everyday left fielder. After Torii Hunter enlightened some reporters regarding the potential Tigers lineup, it seems as though Davis will be hitting eighth most of the time. He’ll be able to accrue his steals — after all, you didn’t take a late round flyer on him due to his RBIs — and his legs will get him into position to score a few runs. For a man that has averaged over 40 steals per season for three straight years to be available in 93% of ESPN leagues, 75% of Yahoo! leagues and over 60% of CBS formats. He may be a mostly one-category guy, but is value in that category shouldn’t be overlooked.
Jenrry Mejia to the rotation
The New York Mets named Mejia him their fifth starter yesterday. Despite injury and general durability questions, the club opted to pick the 24-year-old over Daisuke Matsuzaka for their final rotation slot. The Mets have faith in Mejia holding up for at least part of the season as a starter, though the club did make it clear that if Mejia maintains his status as a starter until mid-season, he could be moved back to the bullpen to limit his innings. The team will have to cross that bridge when it gets there, as it is possible that Mejia will be scratched from his start Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. Matsuzaka should be the first to get the call should any of the current big league starters falter. For now, Mejia’s injury history and current health questions make him too risky to play in all but the deepest of leagues.
The Daily Five
Infield: Brandon Moss — $4,200
Moss smashes right-handed pitching and Justin Masterson’s struggles against lefties is well known. A dinger from Moss wouldn’t surprise me.
Outfield: Bryce Harper — $5,000
Harper is facing off against a right-handed pitcher in Dillon Gee and that heavily favors Harper. For his career Harper has smashed righties to the tune of a .292/.373/.532 line. Gee’s career wOBA against of .341 when it comes to facing left-handed hitters isn’t encouraging for Mets fans.
Other hitter: Chase Utley — $4,100
A lefty with power in Texas? Yes please. Last year as per our Guts! page, the Ballpark at Arlington ranked in the top 10 for doubles, triples and home runs for left-handed hitters.
Starter: Jeff Samardzija — $9,600
The Shark’s ability to induce swings and misses dovetails nicely going against the strikeout prone Pittsburgh Pirates. Last year Samardzija’s 10.5% SwStr% and 23.4% strikeout rate were top 25 in the league for qualified starters. Looking at his opposition, the Bucs struck out at a 21.7% frequency, good for the sixth highest strikeout rate in baseball.
Reliever: Luke Gregerson — $4,700
With Ryan Cook on the 15-day DL, primary setup duties should fall to Gregerson.
Remaining Budget: $22,400
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
I hope the integration of a promotion into this previously useful daily article isn’t permanent.
I hope the free daily strategy column I read doesn’t generate any ad revenue for this site!
It already did.
@Ryan
Hello, my name is sarcasm, pleased to meet you. Would you like to know what I do for a living?
I hope useless comments from Ryan in the comments section of a useful daily article isn’t permanent.
Good stuff. I have a mild obsession with Rajai Davis this year and am hoping for 50+ steals with the increased playing time from Dirks’s injury.
In a deep (15-team) weekly league, would you sit either of Alex Wood (one start at MIL) or Carlos Carrasco (one start vs MIN) and slot in a reliever instead? Options would probably be Benoit or Valverde (on the off chance he snags a save in the first week). Thanks for any thoughts.
I’d sit Wood and roll with Benoit.
I think Wood has two starts actually
Apparently you didn’t read Eno’s article on Mejia, where profiled that the guy sports 3 above average pitches by SwStr%. Those sort of per pitch numbers should correlate to a high K%, high GB%, and as normally follows low ERA. I get there’s injury concern, but for now, you’re looking at a guy with demonstrated talent at the MLB level, clear opportunity, and dirt cheap price tag….seems like a pretty solid pickup.
That was a great article. Mejia definitely has sleeper potential in deep leagues and streamer potential in any league. Unfortunately I had to send in my keepers before this announcement, so I cut him.
Love your username. That is all.
Just a difference of opinion. Eno is much smarter than me, so I’d defer to his. All I can do is present mine.
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Rajai Davis has improved many a fantasy team for cheap. I have picked him up off waivers several years and even when he was platooning he drastically improved my steals category.
He’s definitely a favorite of mine for stream starts against LHP. Too bad he’s starting now.