Roto Riteup: September 4, 2018

by
September 4, 2018

How the Roto Riteup reacts before the Bullpen Report comes out:

On the Agenda:
1. Closer Chaos
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitchers

 

Closer Chaos
According to manager Mike Shildt, Bud Norris will be unavailable on Tuesday after blowing savees in back-to-back games. Schildt did not give him a vote of confidence, stating that he could not answer the question if Norris will continue to close down the stretch. Save needy teams may want to grab Dakota Hudson in case he is next in line.

According to MLB.com, the Dodgers are weighing whether or not to to pitch Kenley Jansen during their upcoming series in Colorado. With the high altitude, the Dodgers are concerned it could cause a recurrence of the irregular heartbeat that sidelined him last month. The high altitude in Colorado has caused issues for athletes in the past, but that is usually reserved for NFL players that have the sickle cell anemia trait. The Dodgers are consulting with doctors and other medical professionals on the decision. Scott Alexander or newly acquired Ryan Madson would likely be the next in line for saves.

 

Various News and Notes
Josh Donaldson was placed on the 10-Day DL by the Indians. This is largely procedural as Donaldson still needs some time on a rehab assignment and the club hopes to get him back before the end of the year.

According to multiple reports, the Nationals will recall Victor Robles today. Robles has been in the minors all season after a nasty dive earlier in the season which resulted in a hyperextended elbow. He has been good in the minors this season, hitting .271/.368/.362 with two home runs and 19 stolen bases in 51 games. While he doesn’t have a clear path to playing time, this is a nice audition to be Bryce Harper’s replacement for 2019.

You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

The general manager for the Chicago White Sox, Rick Hahn confirmed that top prospect Eloy Jimenez will not be called up to the Majors this year. This isn’t shocking news as the White Sox don’t want to start his clock. It appears that the grievance that Jimenez issued will not guilt the club into bringing him up. He should make his debut early in 2019, which could make him a highly sought after player in redrafts next year.

Michael Fulmer was removed from his start yesterday after being struck with a comebacker in the game versus the White Sox.

via GIPHY

Fulmer was diagnosed with a shin contusion after the game which means he appears to have avoided serious injury. He is considered day-to-day at this time.

Willie Calhoun has been recalled by the Texas Rangers. Calhoun was a popular sleeper coming into this year, but spent almost all of 2019 in the minors working on his defense. Calhoun has an MLB ready bat, but if he cannot find a defensive home, he will continue to struggle getting on the field.

 

Streaming Pitchers Options
A pitcher for today: None
Hail Mary Options: Cody Reed @ PIT, Wade Miley vs CHC, Alex Cobb @ SEA, Jason Vargas @ LAD, Mike Montgomery @ MIL.
Lots of lower end streaming options. I prefer Montgomery and Reed over the pack, but they all have warts.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Framber Valdez vs MIN
He hasn’t gone over five in any of his first three Major League starts, but he has only allowed two total runs in that span.





 

Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.

7 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
stever20Member since 2017
7 years ago

The Jansen/Colorado thing is going to be fascinating to watch. Especially given really what happened last night in LA where Maeda had to pitch the 9th due to Jansen being out and what happens? 3 run homer to cost LA the game. Maeda has a 19.29 ERA in the 9th inning with a .545 avg allowed.

0