Roto Riteup: September 28, 2015

Today marks the 14th anniversary of Zoolander being released. The line “But why male models?” slays me to this day, and I still slip it into conversation from time to time.

On today’s agenda:
1. Ryan Braun’s season is over
2. Sonny Gray’s hip injury
3. Quick thoughts on Ender Inciarte
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Ryan Braun’s season is over
A herniated disc has caused the Brewers and Braun to call it a season. He’ll head into the off-season a bit early and is likely to undergo surgery to address the injury in early October. As the linked article notes, it is apparently microsurgery and Braun is expected to have a normal offseason. The outfielder surprised me by his big season where he posted a .285/.356/.498 and slugged 25 dingers. Perhaps most unexpected is Braun’s 24 steals on 28 attempts. It’s been a big bounce-back year after a pair of injury plagued seasons and though he’ll be playing his age-32 season next year, Braun is looking to be a solid contributor.

Sonny Gray’s hip injury
Speaking of seasons being over, the A’s may shut down Gray after his hip injury continues to flare up. It remains to be scene if he’ll be scratched from his start against the Angels, but with the A’s so far out of the race, the team has no reason to push Gray. Going month by month, his velocity has consistently dipped after peaking in May and June at just a tick above 95 mph, according to Brooks Baseball. Despite owning him on a pair of rosters, as an Athletics fan, I’d much prefer seeing the team pull the plug on Gray’ season.

Quick thoughts on Ender Inciarte
Even before posting a 4-for-5 game on Sunday — including a pair of home runs, not to mention a steal — Inciarte has enjoyed a breakout season. The left-handed hitter now owns a .304/.338/.406 line (translating to a modest 99 wRC+) with six home runs and 21 steals, though he’s been caught 10 times. No surprise to see Inciarte has done his best work against right-handed pitchers where he’s hit for a cool .324/.364/.431 line and 114 wRC+. He’s benefited from a .354 BABIP when digging in against righties, though his 28.9 percent Hard% is merely about average, so I’d be surprised to see him repeat at this year’s performance. I’m still optimistic he can be cheap source of batting average and steals, however he will need to work on his reads and jumps if he wants to be able to run efficiently. I’m unsure just how much time he’ll be able to see in a fairly crowded Arizona outfield with Yasmany Tomas, A.J. Pollock and David Peralta all competing with Inciarte for time, but even as a platoon or part time guy, Inciarte is at the very worst a great DFS option when the D-backs face a righty.

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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: J.A. Happ vs STL (Lance Lynn)
The Cardinals don’t hit left-handers too well and if you want to read into it, Happ cruised to a 2.64 FIP in August and owns a 1.77 FIP in September thus far. He’s free to stream in over 40 percent of CBS formats as well as about 50 percent of ESPN or Yahoo! leagues.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Matt Moore vs MIA (Adam Conley)
I’m back aboard the Moore train even though the Marlins hit lefties pretty well. The southpaw is available in 67 percent of CBS leagues and more than 90 percent of Yahoo! or ESPN settings.