Roto Riteup — Presented by DraftKings: September 8, 2014

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September 8, 2014

The football season may now be in full swing, but there are still fantasy baseball playoffs to consider. This Roto Riteup author is in the semi-finals of his hometown league this week, where a win would guarantee finishing in the money.

On today’s agenda:
1. Adam Wainwright bounces back against the Brewers
2. Jimmy Nelson struggles, could go to bullpen
3. Carlos Carrasco asks for your attention
4. The Fantasy 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!

Adam Wainwright bounces back against the Brewers
We’ve chronicled Wainwright’s late-July and August struggles, but the Cardinals’ gigantic ace threw a complete game yesterday against the rival Brewers. Wainwright allowed one earned run on seven hits and one walk, though he only struck out three batters. Waino’s outing against the Brew Crew was his best since a July 27 shutout of the Cubs. Hopefully Wainwright’s arm feels better and he is able to perform nicely over the Head-to-Head playoff run.

Jimmy Nelson struggles, could go to bullpen
Nelson didn’t pitch great in opposition of Wainwright, allowing four earned over five innings of work. Prior to his outing against the Cardinals, Nelson had performed decently over 58.2 innings, but he could be the odd man out in Milwaukee. With Matt Garza’s return to rotation last week, the Brewers have an extra starter, and it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll stick with six the rest of the way. Nelson’s fastball-slider combo should actually play up in the bullpen, so holding onto him for the rest of the year might not be a bad idea, even if does get removed from the rotation.

Carlos Carrasco asks for your attention
The Indians starter was excellent against the White Sox yesterday, throwing eight-and-two-thirds innings without giving up a run. Carrasco struck out eight batters, and has now thrown nothing but quality starts since returning to Cleveland’s rotation in early August. In fact, Carrasco has not allowed more than one run in any of his recent starts. Carrasco has finally made good on the potential he showed before being acquired from the Phillies in the Cliff Lee trade. It’s probably too late to bring Carrasco into the fold, but you should at least be bumping him up your early 2015 board.

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The Fantasy Five

SP: Odrisamer Despaigne | $8,200 | @LAD
SP: Jonathon Niese | $7,100 | vCOL
1B: Brandon Moss | $3,800 | @CHW (Hector Noesi)
3B: Kyle Seager | $4,900 | vHOU (Brad Peacock)
OF: Khris Davis | $3,800 | vMIA (Brad Penny)

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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ABSkippers
11 years ago

week 2 of my 5×5 H2H playoff, my opponent has 9 starts this week, including 2 from Kershaw, but also 2 from DeGrom, who may be on very limited pitch counts going forward. Should I go with a 2-start Kuroda (vs.TBR, @BAL), giving me 8 total starts (maybe 9 if Scherzer goes Sunday), or a 1-start option (McCarthy (@BAL), Hughes (@CHW) or Carrasco (@DET), giving me 7/8 total starts? I’m trying to compete across all 5 pitching categories. Also, would you start any of those 1-starts over Shoemaker (@TEX) or Cashner (@LAD)?

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