Roto Riteup: June 10th, 2012
Today’s Roto Riteup might be a little more brief than the norm. I’d like to say that it is because I’m watching the free HBO weekend that is currently going on, but that would be a lie. The truth is that I am enjoying the other major league passion of mine, Major League Gaming. Today marks the final day of MLG’s Spring Championship, so go watch some StarCraft II already!
• So what if I told you that the leader for shortstops with 2.6 WAR who happened to lead the SS position in home runs was available in one third of Yahoo! leagues? It sounds pretty crazy huh? Well Jed Lowrie is exactly that. Somehow he still only owned in 67% of Yahoo! formats. For the love of cake, pick him up and play him if he is still available! His ESPN ownership rating is a full 100%, so to my colleagues in Yahoo! leagues: wake up already.
• Andrelton Simmons hit his first career major league home run last night. Power was never the strongest part of his game, but it is nice to see that he does possess the strength to knock one out. The ZiPS RoS on him isn’t too pretty but I think he has a chance to surpass those numbers. He might go off for a .280 average with lots of doubles and he’ll probably end the season with more triples than homers. Keep an eye on him. Simmons should be available in 95% of leagues.
• Justin Masterson may be back on track. Yesterday he held the Cardinals to just six hits over seven innings. More importantly, yesterday marked the second start in a row where he didn’t walk an opposing batter. His last three starts have been a total of 19 innings and 17 strikeouts against just three walks allowed. Although his ERA, FIP and xFIP are all above his career norms, I think that maybe Masterson is finally turning the corner. Perhaps most importantly is that his velocity is back up in the 92 mph range throughout May and June so far. I would pick him up if he’s out on the waiver wire, but I would spot start and be cautious against good lineups.
• I think my new favorite player might be Mike Trout. He got on base three out of five times last night, scored every time he reached and stole two bases along the way. If he wasn’t an Angel or if I wasn’t an A’s fan I would probably buy his shirsey. I guess I’ll settle for having him on one of my fantasy teams.
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: A.J. Burnett vs KC
The Royals don’t strike out much, but they walk even less. I think that bodes pretty well for Burnett.
A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Edwin Jackson at TOR
Jackson is still a pretty good pitcher. How he is available in 40% of Yahoo! leagues is something I don’t understand. I wouldn’t even just stream him; I’d roster him.
A Hitter for Today: Matt Joyce vs FLA (Anibal Sanchez)
As good as Sanchez has been these past couple seasons, I still love Joyce against any right-handed pitcher.
5×5 OPS league. Seager or Lowrie ROS?
I have to go to Lowrie there.
6 man H2H league wanted to know if i should drop johan santana, felix doubront, or jeff samadriza and pick up josh johnson. Im skeptical on santana because pitchers usually have bad outings after throwing a no hitter or perfect game and he is injury prone?
I’d drop Doubront for Josh Johnson. I think Santana is still an above average pitcher and Samardzija is pitching too well to drop.
On a side note: A six man h2h league? That sounds so wild.
This is a 12 team, AL only league. After the strong performances by Ubaldo Jimenez and Franscico Liriano, should I keep them? I was bold enough to hold on to them during their terrible first two months which also included Sergio Santos, Brandon McCarthy, Evan Longoria, Travis Hafner, and Vernon Wells going on the DL (Despite that, along with the poor starts of Erick Aybar and Eric Thames, I am in 6th place (Thank you Mike Trout)). Looking at Ubaldo’s latest game in which he went 7 innings with no walks, I can’t find a definitive reason why this was such a good outing. It appears that his velocity is up by about .7 mph, but that is the only significant change. Should I expect a repeat performance?
Haha, I am too bias on this issue to answer objectively right now. Despite being a hardcore A’s fan, I am rooting for the Indians this year because I predicted them to win the AL Central.
I’m really hoping that Ubaldo and Masterson can continue to improve (they weren’t going to get worse than their April and May).Brooks has him throwing his fastball more and his sinker less, so keep an eye on that. Maybe they decided to throw his four-seamer more?
His velocity is back above 93.5 too, so that is of course a big help. I don’t know how good Ubaldo will be, but he CAN be very good.