Roto Riteup — Presented By DraftKings: September 22, 2014

Welcome to the final Monday of the 2014 regular season! It’s been a wild ride and I wish you all the best here in these final days.

On today’s agenda:
1. Masahiro Tanaka’s return
2. Thoughts on Eric Hosmer
3. The daily five

Masahiro Tanaka’s return
Although he lasted just 5.1 innings, to see Tanaka back on a major league mound is great. Of the 21 batters Tanaka faced, he sat down four on strikes while scattering five hits and zero walks. He threw 70 pitches and gathered six whiffs en route to his 13th win of the season. New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi believes Tanaka will be ready for Saturdays start and the pitcher agrees. Tanaka spoke through a translator and said he felt no pain in his pitching elbow.

It’s hard to speculate on the long term future of Tanaka’s elbow, but for now it seems as though the rest and rehab route has worked for this season. His fastball averaged 90.2 mph as per Brooks Baseball against a seasonal average of 91.2. Tanaka topped 91 mph on his heater more than a dozen times, however the lower than average velocity is a concern. I’d be cautious on him next season yet I’m probably going to start him this weekend.

Thoughts on Eric Hosmer
After posting a 95 wRC+ in the first half of the season we’ve seen Hosmer’s numbers jump up a notch to a 110 wRC+ after the All-Star break. That jump is before we include his 2-for-3 (plus a walk) game yesterday. A .333 BABIP in the second half tends to help the rate stats and when compared against his .304 first half mark and .305 career average, it’s no surprise to see where his good numbers are coming from. Of course using BABIP as a blanket/catch-all for hitting would be naive, and Hosmer’s batted ball rates are interesting. He actually hit grounders at a higher rate in the first half against the second — 52.5% and 48.4% respectively — something I wouldn’t expect. Another key component of BABIP is infield fly rate and after posting an 8.8 IFFB% in the opening months of the season, Hosmer hasn’t popped up to the infield since early July. If that previous sentence sounds impressive, remember Hosmer missed all of August with a hand injury.

He’s had two solid years with a terrible season in between, and lost one sixth of the year this season. I’m not bailing on him nor am I drinking the kool-aid just yet. While I’ve never been as high on Hosmer as others, I do like what I’m seeing from him over his past six weeks of action. Small sample size caveats and questions on his power remain unanswered for me, however I do think he’ll be a productive mid-tier first baseman next year.

The daily five
Starting pitcher: Carlos Carrasco — $9,100
I’m a big fan of Carrasco’s new slider and him pitching from the stretch. He’s up against the Kansas City Royals and their 21st ranked 90 wRC+ against right-handed starters. Their just 15.7% strikeout rate against righties isn’t encouraging, but I trust Carrasco’s stuff to generate whiffs today.

Starting pitcher: James Paxton — $8,800
I know he’s facing a solid lineup in Toronto, yet the Blue Jays have hit a mere 93 wRC+ against southpaws this season, tied for 21st in baseball.

Infielder: Miguel Cabrera — $5,700
No real secret here, just Cabrera facing a rookie pitcher in Chris Bassitt.

Outfielder: Dexter Fowler — $4,000
Fowler is great against left-handed pitchers while I think Derek Holland is a solid pitcher, I give Fowler the edge.

Other hitter: Jose Abreu — $4,900
Like Cabrera, Abreu gets to tee off on a rookie pitcher in Kyle Lobstein today.

Remaining budget: $17,500

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