Roto Riteup: September 7, 2013

Today is “Neither Rain Nor Snow Day.” The present author’s feelings on snow — despite living in Michigan the vast majority of his life — can best be summed up by Harvey the mailman from Hey Arnold.

On today’s agenda:
1. Scott Kazmir’s excellent start
2. David Robertson sidelined
3. More bad news for Matt Kemp
4. Three Oh Three and Billy Hamilton

Scott Kazmir’s excellent start
Though it lasted just six innings, Scott Kazmir was masterful in yesterday’s start. He struck out 12 and gathered 24 (!) swinging strikes on the day while allowing just one walk. This was a great start — albeit it did come against the New York Mets — and a nice rebound from Kazmir’s recent struggles. Prior to yesterday’s game he had allowed 15 earned runs in his previous four starts, totaling 19 innings. Given that Kazmir’s next two starts should be against the Kansas City Royals, rostering him rather than streaming him may be a good move. Kazmir is available in 59% of CBS formats, 85% of Yahoo! leagues, and 96% of ESPN formats.

David Robertson sidelined
The New York Yankees are facing a bit of a bullpen crisis and now you can add David Robertson to the list of their injured and ailing hurlers. An MRI revealed that Robertson is suffering from shoulder tendinitis and figures to miss the next five or six games. For fellow holds league roto players, Robertson has been one of the steadiest arms of the past three seasons. Since 2010, he has racked up at least 30 holds and has maintained a strikeout rate above 26%. After struggling with walks in the early parts of his career, Robertson has posted back-to-back seasons of a sub 8% walk rate. With reports of Mariano Rivera retiring this offseason, the Yanks may be extra cautious in bringing back Robertson too early. Robertson figures to be the leading internal candidate to replace Rivera and the club would be wise to let the shoulder soreness pass.

More bad news for Matt Kemp
Yesterday the Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Matt Kemp’s rehab process has been shut down indefinitely. The reason for the shutdown isn’t the ankle that originally placed him on the disabled list, but instead his hamstring is now giving him issues. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly acknowledged the possibility that Kemp may not return this season. Keep in mind the hamstring that is currently giving Kemp struggles is the same on that landed him on the DL earlier this year, Kemp owners in redraft leagues can probably let him go at this point. Hopefully no one was depending on an outfield of Kemp, Carlos Gonzalez, and Domonic Brown to power them to a fantasy championship

Three Oh Three and Billy Hamilton
No, speedster Billy Hamilton didn’t record a track with some terrible band named Three Oh Three. What he has done is appear in three games, have zero plate appearances, and record three steals. Count the present author among the people who were skeptical about Hamilton’s speed translating to big league production, but through this small sample size, Hamilton has looked good.

It isn’t that his steals have come, but it is who the steals have come against that is surprising. Hamilton has nabbed two of his steals against Yadier Molina’s cannon and his other steal came against A.J. Ellis last night. Ellis doesn’t have the same defensive reputation of Molina, though Ellis has held the running in game check this year. Both Ellis and Molina have held runners to a sub-60% success rate thus far (56% and 58% respectively). Recent work by our very own Max Weinstein echos the defensive prowess of Molina, as he and Adam Wainwright have been the best battery at preventing steals in the game this year. Both Molina and Ellis appear multiple times on the best battery top 25. Given that everyone knows that Hamilton is running and that he has done it successfully against two catchers who are among the best in the game at holding runners is even more impressive.

Hamilton is still available in the majority of leagues and should be grabbed for his stole base and run scored potential. He is free to own in 60% of CBS leagues, and over 80% of both ESPN and Yahoo! formats.