Roto Riteup: September 21, 2013

Today’s Roto Riteup is being written in the wake of a 12-hour work shift. Exhaustion is something that can be cured by good craft beers, right?

On today’s agenda:
1. The return of Jason Heyward
2. Welcome back, David Wright
3. Hanley Ramirez to miss some time
4. Stephen Strasburg to start today

The return of Jason Heyward
Yesterday the Atlanta Braves activated Jason Heyward from the 15-day disabled list prior to the day’s game. Heyward was scheduled to receive three plate appearances or play five innings before being lifted. He ended the day 0-2 with a walk and said he felt he “swung at strikes” and “it wasn’t hard for him to get up for the game.” The fact that he is back so soon following the broken jaw that he suffered is a surprise. Heyward will take the day off today but is expected to play tomorrow. With barely a week remaining in the season, hopefully he establishes himself back atop the Braves lineup in time to make a difference in fantasy leagues.

Welcome back, David Wright
Another National League East team saw a big time player come back from injury yesterday when the New York Mets announced that they activated David Wright from the 15-day DL. Wright has missed six weeks with a hamstring injury and his return was marked with a home run in his first plate appearance back. Mets skipper Terry Collins acknowledges Wright won’t play in every game, but Collins is hopeful Wright can play in eight out of 10 games down the stretch. Play Wright as if he were totally healthy and feel comfortable starting him in every league format.

Hanley Ramirez to miss some time
The Los Angeles Dodgers, having already clinched a playoff berth, will be playing it safe with some of their banged up players in the final nine games of the season. Manager Don Mattingly said he expects Hanley to play three or four games, though that is subject to Hanley’s day-to-day health. The club will be playing it safe rather than sorry with players like Ramirez, Andre Ethier, and Adrian Gonzalez, though Ramirez is expected to miss the most time. Not starting even half of the remaining games makes Hanley a tough play as Mattingly didn’t specify which games he expects to rest Ramirez. Be particularly diligent when setting your daily lineups as starting a player who isn’t in the real lineup is frustrating — not to mention fantasy titles have been swung on mistakes like that.

For owners in Yahoo! leagues who are hesitant to head into the final week with Hanley manning shortstop, grabbing someone like Billy Hamilton — 34% ownership in Yahoo! — makes sense. Unfortunately for ESPN and CBS owners, Hamilton is not shortstop eligible there, but perhaps Xander Bogaerts (43% CBS and 3% ESPN) or Zack Cozart (47% CBS, 42% ESPN) could help. Cozart has hit .288 since the All-star Break and while his power is nonexistent, empty average still counts for average.

Stephen Strasburg to start today
Merry Strasmas! It has been almost two weeks since we’ve had the pleasure of watching Strasburg make a start and many fantasy owners have been quite anxious. He’ll face off at home against the weak hitting Miami Marlins in what should be a nice fantasy outing. No word on whether or not this will be his final start of the season, but enjoy this start nonetheless.

Bonus
A tip of the cap to Sports Illustrated and a lovely gifmaker out there for capturing Jose Molina tagging up to advance to third. Not only is the poetry-in-motion known as a Molina running captured in gif format, but the smiles and cheers from his teammates too. As the original article points out, Chris Archer looked particularly excited. He must love sac flies as much as Tim Kurkjian.