Roto Riteup: September 15, 2018

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September 15, 2018

Jack Nicholson was super upset about this in The Departed.

On the Agenda:
1. Mason Mocks
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitchers

 

Mason Mocks
In honor of my colleague and friend Justin Mason, I’d like to give fantasy owners an opportunity to follow the #2EarlyMocks. For those that are unaware of what these are, it’s essentially mock drafts that are being held entirely too early so we can get a sense of where people are on players towards the end of the season – prior to free agency and offseason trades. The drafts consist of various fantasy writers and personalities in the industry, with multiple Fangraphs/Rotographs contributors participating. They’re 12-team, 5×5 roto, 22-round, snake drafts. Here’s draft data for all eight leagues provided by @smada_bb.


Justin and I are both participating in League 1. We’ve almost made it through three rounds. Our teams currently are as followed:
Justin (Pick 4)
– Francisco Lindor
– Andrew Benintendi
– Luis Severino

Me (Pick 2)
– Mike Trout (Jose Ramirez went first)
– Kris Bryant
– Carlos Correa

Be sure to check it out and definitely use the data provided to get a jump on possible player values heading into the offseason.

 

Various News and Notes
According to Carrie Muskat of MLB.com, an MRI performed on Pedro Strop showed a moderate left hamstring strain and is expected to sideline him for the rest of the regular season. As I mentioned yesterday, Strop is droppable in all formats. The Cubs figure to use a mix-and-match approach in the ninth inning, with Carl Edwards and Steve Cishek being the leading candidates for opportunities. Naturally, Jorge de la Rosa received the first save chance yesterday against the Reds, so chances are fantasy owners won’t have a very clear option in this bullpen moving forward.

Speaking of injured pitchers that we talked about yesterday, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said on Friday that Clay Buchholz will miss the remainder of the season after an MRI revealed a flexor strain in his right elbow. This is obviously terrible news all around. Matt Koch and Braden Shipley could be candidates to take his place in the Arizona rotation moving forward.

Aaron Judge was activated from the disabled list on Friday, but unfortunately he’s only available to play defense and do some baserunning.


Judge has been taking batting practice and is apparently looking good. For the time being he’ll have to stay on fantasy owner’s benches, but it seems like he’s making progress. Hopefully he’s usable for fantasy sometime in the next week or so.

Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reported on Friday that brothers Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr have both been officially declared free agents by the MLB.


This essentially means that both players are now eligible to sign deals. Victor Victor Mesa supposedly had a deal in place with the Orioles a few months back, but nothing was official at that time. These are names to become familiar with in keeper leagues.

Pirates writer for MLB.com Adam Berry reported on Friday that in addition to having surgery on his dislocated left shoulder, Gregory Polanco had to have his labrum surgically repaired as well.


The procedure is expected to have a recovery time of 7-9 months and could sideline him for a large chunk of the 2019 season depending on how quickly he progresses. Those that know me know how much I love Polanco. This is devastating news, but hopefully he’s able to get back to full strength early next season.

Trevor Bauer is making progress in his return from a fractured fibula.


He should be ready to contribute to the Indians in the postseason. Fantasy owners in redraft leagues can continue to ignore him for the rest of the year.

 

Streaming Pitchers
A Pitcher for Today: C.C. Sabathia vs TOR (If available)

High-Risk Option: Reynaldo Lopez @ BAL
To be honest, I don’t love any of the streaming options. With that said, Sabathia and Lopez could be owned in your league, but they’re the only marginally-solid possible streamers for Saturday. The only offense worse than the Orioles recently has been the Giants. Lopez has three-straight outings in which he’s logged at least 6 IP and 6 K while allowing 1 ER or less.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Antonio Senzatela @ SF
We’ll go back to the well against the SF offense – it worked out well with Tyler Anderson on Friday. The Giants upped their wRC+ to 51 over the last 30 days, but that still leaves them 20 points back of the 29th ranked offense (BAL) during that time. Senzatela has faced the Giants twice – both at Coors Field – and has allowed a combined 3 ER with 10 K and 2 BB over 12 IP.

High-Risk Options: I don’t have any low-owned, “Hail Mary” guys that I feel good enough about to recommend. Instead I’ll list three pitchers who have too large of an ownership level to be recommended options, but could possibly be available in your league.

Luis Castillo @ CHC

Jake Junis vs MIN

Shane Bieber vs DET





 

Fantasy Baseball and Tampa Bay Rays enthusiast. Restaurant manager by day, fantasy analyst by night. Contributor to Rotographs, Baseball HQ, Fantasy Pros, and co-owner of Friends with Fantasy Benefits. Follow me @MikeWernerFWFB.

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