Roto Riteup: Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

– Is there any way Starlin Castro turns himself into a .300-15-20 guy next year? Because that would sure be sweet. I don’t think owners have noticed that Starlin has hit for more power this year and stolen over twenty bags, but I’m sure it’ll be advertised enough this offseason that he won’t be a value pick come draft day.

– Carlos Lee has had somewhat of a resurgence during the second half of the season, hitting just under .290 and smacking 11 homers since July 1st. I’m thinking Lee will be a .275-15 guy next year, which is certainly worthy of having in an NL-only league.

– Trevor Bauer really knows how to strike people out, and it’s a shame he didn’t get promoted to the majors, because now owners in Yahoo! leagues won’t get a chance to keep him heading into next season. While most fantasy players gave up hope after September 1st, I always held out hope that the D’Backs would call him up in the middle of the month to help out in the bullpen. It appears that there will be no such promotion. He’s by no means a finished product, but he’ll be able to step right in and perform at a big league level in 2012.

I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more talk about Evan Longoria.

– Longoria has been proving why he was a first round pick in many leagues this past offseason. Over the past 30 days, Longo has hit .288/.415/.615 with a sub-.290 BABIP. If you want a little larger sample, he’s hit .263/.358/.561 over the past 45 days with a sub-.250 BABIP.

– If you want to see how a player improves over time, look no further than Longoria. His strikeout rate has dropped at least two percentage points each season while his walk rate has made small gains.

– Hopefully his season long BABIP fueled slump will allow him to drop to the middle of the second round next year and be a great value pick for an intelligent owner. I can see him easily posting a .275-30-5 season with over 100 RBI.

Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

A Pitcher for Today: Jason Vargas at MIN
Vargas has showed signs of life lately, and even if he hadn’t, he gets to face the Twins. The Twins suck, if you didn’t already know.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Randy Wolf at CHC
Wolf isn’t going to be available in deep leagues, but he’s a great play in standard leagues. If you’re looking for a deep league option, go with Chris Schwinden on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals.

PickSix Lock of the Day: Eric Hosmer ($12.25) vs DET (Brad Penny)
I have a really good feeling about this one. Penny may get grounders, but all he has to do is miss once.
Prediction: 2-5, 2 2B; 12 points
Last Week’s Results: 4 players (2 SP), $34.50, 52.50 points