Roto Riteup: September 6, 2012

I’m sorry I don’t have any fantastic baseball gifs to share. I have some lovely My Little Pony gifs, but I’d rather not have Eno make me disappear with his probable mob connections.

• Post All-Star break Howie Kendrick is hitting like a man possessed. I guess I should clarify that: a man possessed by a really good hitter. He is hitting .317/.363/.437 since the break and has even chipped in seven stolen bases. In about half the at-bats as the pre All-Star break, Kendrick has just four fewer extra-base hits so far in the second half. There is still almost a full month of baseball yet to play. It’s pretty safe to think that Kendrick has rediscovered his BABIP. If your league will allow you to trade for him, I would go ahead and do so.

• Joey Votto made his return to the starting lineup yesterday. He finished the day 2-for-4 with a strikeout and a walk. A very “Joey Votto” line, if you ask me. And even if you didn’t ask me, I still told you. Of course he isn’t available to pick up but now that we’re in the playoff run/stretch, it’s nice to see Votto back on the active roster. I would assume that he will be rested for the playoffs so keep an eye on the lineups for the Reds. It’s possible that he doesn’t play as much as you might think.

• Mike Minor pitched another excellent outing last night. Even before last night’s seven inning, zero run performance his post ASB ERA was 2.88. He has now 10 starts since the break and has 46 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings pitched. He is owned in just 50% of ESPN leagues and not even 40% of Yahoo! leagues. If you’re looking for a good stream candidate for the playoffs, Minor could be it.

• Something, something go grab Mark Reynolds, something.

• Erik Kratz hit another homer last night. Since it’s really common for a 32 year old to come up and hit nine homers in 120 plate appearances you can probably ignore him. I’m kidding. This doesn’t happen. Enjoy his story and his hot streak. Pick him up.

• In case you haven’t been around for the past, oh I don’t know, two years or so, Bryce Harper is really good at baseball. He powered two home runs yesterday en route to his 2-for-3 night with a pair of walks. I’m sure he’s owned in your league by now but man, what Harper is doing at 19 is just bonkers.

• Alex Rios and Rickie Weeks also both hit two home runs each, but that is less exciting. Well, for Weeks that is actually pretty darn exciting, giving how that was just his 15th and 16th dinger of the season. Weeks is now on a three year decline in terms of home run count and may or may not be worth keeping for next year. It all depends on how much/where you drafted him initially. For those fellow frustrated Weeks owners, shoot me some comments or emails and we can discuss (read: commiserate) Weeks.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here are a couple matchups you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Today: Tim Hudson vs COL
I adore Huddy. His ground ball tendencies should serve him well; they have for his entire career so far.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Andrew Cashner vs ARI
Cashner has one of the best SwStr% of any pitcher in the league and his 11 K/9 is a testament to that. The Diamondbacks strikeout more than 22 other ball clubs. Cashner should have plenty of strikeouts tomorrow.

A Hitter for Today: Alex Gordon vs TEX (Scott Feldman)
With a short slate of games, I’m going with my (beer and fried food inflated) gut here.