Roto Riteup: September 18, 2015

Yesterday Son Heung-min scored his first two goals for Tottenham. Sure it was in the UEFA Europa League and not the Premier League, but still. Via UnitedFaxMachine from Reddit — which is a 10/10 name given the David de Gea transfer fail — we have Son’s first goal and his second.

On today’s agenda:
1. Bad news for Jung-ho Kang
2. Matt Moore’s strong outing
3. Welcome back, Jorge Soler
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Bad news for Jung-ho Kang
As good as it was to see Son — who I affectionately call Sonaldo — score a pair of goals, not all was perfect in realm of South Korean athletes. Kang’s season came to an end after a slide took him out while attempting to spin a double play. The Pirates told reporters he suffered a tibial plateau fracture along with a lateral meniscus repair, with a timetable of six to eight months before he’s fully recovered. For those of you in redraft leagues, it’s time to drop Kang and look elsewhere for middle infield help. I listed a number of options in yesterday’s Roto Riteup when the Joe Panik injury news broke, so be sure to take a look at who is available in your league.

Matt Moore’s strong outing
The left-hander spun seven shutout innings against the Orioles, allowing a pair of hits and zero walks, striking out nine. Moore induced 17 (!) swinging strikes out of his 93 pitches with his fastballs sitting 93-94 mph. On top of the velocity gains compared to earlier starts this year, Thursday’s start marked his first outing this season where he didn’t allow a walk. I’m not ready to declare him back and ready to take on any team, however this is his first start where I’m really encouraged. I’d expect him to make three more starts this season, and if the the Rays current rotation holds he’ll face off against Boston and Toronto on the road before likely ending the year at home versus the Blue Jays. I’ll be starting him on the road against the Red Sox, but I don’t have enough faith in Moore just yet to give him starts against the best offense in baseball.

Welcome back, Jorge Soler
The Cubs activated the right fielder prior to Thursday game, though he didn’t make an appearance at the plate or in the field. He should be back in the starting lineup if not today then tomorrow as his oblique was deemed healthy enough for him to be activated. I’d recommend giving him a day or two to get back up to game speed, but for weekly leaguers I’d start him next week. Admittedly I was skeptical of Soler playing again this season, and I actually dropped him in a redraft format. Given his ownership rates of 63 percent in CBS leagues, 58 percent in Yahoo! formats and 35 percent in ESPN settings, I wasn’t alone in that thought.

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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: Zachary Davies vs CIN (Brandon Finnegan)
I’m not too scared of the Reds offense against right-handers as they rate about league average, and I’m a fan of Davies’ changeup. He’s free to stream in over 95 percent of the three major fantasy sites.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Jerad Eickhoff at ATL (Ryan Weber)
Speaking of offenses that don’t exactly inspire fear in me, the Braves rate in the bottom three in both wOBA and wRC+ when going up against a right-handed pitcher. I like Eickhoff to post a quality start and possibly nab a win today. I’ll be using him as my cheap DFS pitcher in at least one lineup. Look to use him in over 85 percent of CBS formats as well as more than 95 percent of ESPN or Yahoo! leagues.