Roto Riteup — Presented By DraftKings: May 3, 2014

Happy Lumpy Rug Day! According to some sources this really is a thing. According to other sources, sometimes a rug can really tie a room together (warning: language).

On today’s agenda:
1. Jason Kipnis to the disabled list
2. The Los Angeles Dodgers rotating rotation
3. Thoughts on Travis Wood
4. The Daily Five

Jason Kipnis to the disabled list
Yesterday the Cleveland Indians placed second baseman Jason Kipnis on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique. He’s been out of action for several days and the move is being made retroactive to Wednesday, but don’t expect Kipnis to be back in the minimum time frame. The club is expecting their keystone player to miss 3-5 weeks, though Tribe general manager Chris Antonetti admitted given the nature of oblique injuries the time frame was subject to change. His exact words were “it can be shorter, it can be longer.”  Let’s all hope Kipnis gets back on the field healthy and ready to produce sooner rather than later. The in-house replacements for the Tribe consist of Mike Aviles, Elliot Johnson and Jose Ramirez. For my money I like Ramirez the most as his speed could be helpful in the stolen base department.

The Los Angeles Dodgers rotating rotation
Dodger nation received good news with Clayton Kershaw coming back to make a start on Tuesday only to lose starter Hyun-Jin Ryu to the disabled list. The South Korean sensation (sadly that was not my nickname in high school) is being afflicted with shoulder inflammation. Given the velocity drop in his most recent start it is no surprise to see an injury surface for Ryu. Skipper Don Mattingly said if Ryu misses the minimum 15 days he may not require a minor league rehab start before rejoining the rotation.

Thoughts on Travis Wood
If you’re scrambling for starting pitching help with Ryu hitting the DL, take a look at the northsiders Travis Wood. Though the Cubs haven’t been too helpful with the run support for Wood, his 2-3 record is not indicative of how well he’s pitched, shocking news, I know. In the wake of yesterday’s 7-inning, six strikeout performance Wood is up to 37 K’s against just seven walks in 37.2 innings this season. His 3.35 ERA is close to his 3.41 xFIP and 3.31 SIERA. Without drastically changing his pitch selection or adding a new pitch, Wood has upped his swinging strike rate compared to previous seasons and his K-rate has jumped because of it. We have seen a sharp uptick in overall strike rate. His career average is 46.8% Zone% but this season he is up to 52.3% prior to yesterday’s 71.4% Zone%. If he can continue to pound the zone and get whiffs, Wood may be poised for a big season. Despite his early season success, Wood is still largely available in most fantasy leagues. In both Yahoo! and CBS leagues Wood is available in over 40% of leagues and is free to grab in over 80% of ESPN leagues.

The Daily Five
Starting Pitcher: A.J. Burnett — $8,700
Swing-and-miss stuff against a Washington Nationals lineup minus three starting position players in Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper and Wilson Ramos.

Starting Pitcher: Drew Smyly — $6,300
The southpaw should have a good time against the Kansas City Royals as they have hit a collective .233/.298/.296 against left-handed pitchers thus far.

Infielder: David Wright — $5,000
The game is in Colorado and Wright crushes lefty pitchers. And he’ll be facing Franklin Morales, a lefty with a career 4.61 FIP.

Outfielder: Giancarlo Stanton — $5,100
Stanton gets to hit against Paul Maholm and his career .286/.353/.447 line against right-handed hitters.

Other Hitter: Shin-Soo Choo — $4,400
Another platoon advantage for the hitter, plus Garrett Richards has given up 16 walks in 32 innings.

Remaining Budget: $20,500

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