Roto Riteup: September 11, 2015

One of my favorite — possibly my very favorite — bands, The Wonder Years, was on the ESPN Music podcast on Thursday. They spoke about their new album, No Closer To Heaven, their tours, the vinyl resurgence and on a number of other things as well. I didn’t personally love the album (I like their previous work, specifically The Upsides and Greatest Generation more), but I would still rate it as a solid B, maybe B+.

On today’s agenda:
1. Rangers tab Alex Gonzalez for Sunday
2. Matt Holliday’s pending return
3. Ariel Pena possibly sticking in the rotation
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Rangers tab Alex Gonzalez for Sunday
Alex “Chi Chi” Gonzalez will make a weekend start against the A’s. Cole Hamels was originally penciled in, but the team is pushing his start back a day in order to line up the rotation for the next series against the Astros. Our own Kiley McDaniel rated Gonzalez as the No. 2 prospect in the Rangers system back in August of last season and the No. 43 prospect the “Lost Prospect Eligibility” in his mid-season report earlier this year. Gonzalez features an excellent sinker and a plus slider, both generating a ton of ground balls. In 224 2/3 minor league innings he’s posted 51.9 percent ground ball rate, and in his limited time in the big leagues, Gonzalez burned worms at a 49.7 percent of the time. I’ll stream him against the light-hitting A’s as Chi Chi can be picked up in 90 percent of CBS leagues as well as more than 97 percent of both Yahoo! and ESPN formats.

Matt Holliday’s pending return
The left fielder is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list during the upcoming road trip reports Jim Hayes of Fox Sports Midwest. Out since July 29 due to a right quad injury, Holliday is set to go through some base running drills as the final hurdle before being activated. Given how well rookie Stephen Piscotty has hit in Holliday’s place, the team may limit the 35-year-old to pinch hitting appearances for a spell. Until he gets some reps in the outfield — it’s possible Jason Heyward gets time in center with Randal Grichuk banged up, thus allowing Holliday and Piscotty to go to the corners in some fashion — I’ll be holding off on reinserting Holliday back into my lineups.

Ariel Pena possibly sticking in the rotation
After spinning five innings of two-run ball in his first start big league start of the year on Wednesday, it seems as though he earned at least one more go around in the Brewers rotation. According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brewers skipper Craig Counsell has Pena lined up as next Tuesday’s starter at home against the Cardinals. If he performs well enough it’s possible the Brewers will use Pena on regular rest, thus making Pena a two-start guy next week with the second start coming at home against the Reds. For those of you in weekly transaction leagues, you may want to look at picking Pena up as both the Cards and Reds rate in the bottom third of team wOBA in the second half. He’s free to pick up in about 98 percent of the three major fantasy sites.

Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers or play DFS, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Jake Peavy vs SD (Andrew Cashner)
Peavy will be facing off against a mostly punch-less Padres offense, at least against right-handers where they own a collective .301 wOBA and 92 wRC+. Look to stream him in 65 percent of CBS formats and more than 90 percent of ESPN or Yahoo! leagues.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Marcus Stroman at NYY (TBA, either Michael Pineda or Ivan Nova)
Had to go with my boy Stroman here. He’s still owned in just 44 percent of CBS leagues, 28 percent of ESPN settings and 23 percent of Yahoo! formats.