Roto Riteup: Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

There are all kinds of little injury-related news that I’d like to get to, and today feels like a good day to do just that:

– While Tommy Hanson may say his shoulder is fine, a mere nine-pitch bullpen session begs to differ. Sure, he can say that he intended to throw a short session all along, but nine pitches just feels really abrupt. Also, wouldn’t you at least throw ten instead of stopping at nine? Color me skeptical, but Hanson is still on pace to get a rehab start in this weekend. As a Hanson owner, let’s hope this latest respite heals him up enough to finish the season strong.

– Jose Reyes was not ready to come back from his hamstring injury when his 15 days were up, but he’s going to be starting a rehab stint in Double-A on Thursday. He should be back in the majors by next week if all goes well, and you should immediately insert him back into your lineup.

– Stephen Strasburg is continuing his preparations for a comeback tour, and he had a good outing in Single-A. Strasburg’s fastball was sitting above 95 mph, and he struck out six batters while throwing 60 pitches in three innings of work. There’s talk that Strasburg could be back in the majors at the beginning of September, but it’d be a good idea to build up his workload in the minors for another couple of weeks before unleashing him on the fan base.

– Jose Constanza hurt his ankle on Monday, hopefully opening up playing time for Jason Heyward. For some reason or another, Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez has been reluctant to play Heyward while he slumps. One can only pray Heyward starts to get going just so he can stay in the lineup every day.

A Pitcher For Today: Wade Davis vs DET
Davis has been good since coming back to the majors, and while Detroit has some good offensive threats, I think Davis could go six innings without allowing more than a couple of runs.

A Pitcher For Tomorrow: Brett Cecil vs KC
I’ve said it before, but I’ll have to say it again: Cecil has been good since coming back to the majors, and this is a good matchup for him.

PickSix Lock of the Day: Dustin Ackley ($11.25) at CLE (Josh Tomlin)
Tomlin isn’t going to strike Ackley out, so there’s a good chance for a double-digit day from your middle infield spot.
Prediction: 2-4, 2B, BB; 13.1 points
Last Week’s Predictions: 4 players, $83.75, 23.3 pts
All Past Predictions: 13 players, $203.5, 90.5 pts





Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

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