Roto Lunch – July 29
Posted by Rob McQuown on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 8:06 am
Jayson Stark on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning yesterday had a great trivia question, which honors Rickey Henderson just in the asking, and which fantasy players should be more apt to get than “regular fans”. Rickey scored 2295 runs, and stole 1406 bases. Which 3 active players are within 1100 of each of these totals? Answer tomorrow.
Making moves last night for 12-team STATS Alumni League (Yahoo format), I noticed there were a lot of available SP who could be good starts for today. I ended up picking up Feldman and Tillman and passing on Contreras and Rowland-Smith. It’s a bad quartet to get wins with, anyway, as the opposing SP’s are all strong.
Starting Pitchers:
- Chis Tillman may not be the Next Mike Mussina. Or he might be. But either way, his opponents today are the Royals, and that should be good for a nice debut. Too bad he’s going against Greinke, and the “W” is unlikely.
- Scott Feldman is risky in Texas, of course, and Verlander isn’t the guy you want to be opposing on Detroit. But Detroit doesn’t seem to have much ooomph against RHP. And Feldman’s season totals are exceptional. He’s always been a high-GB% pitcher, and this year the Rangers are putting fielders behind him who can really pick it up.
- Jose Contreras doesn’t seem so hot against a Minnesota team which hits RHP well, and playing in the Metrodome seems to be its own “curse” for the Palehose. A high-risk play, but Contreras is a very good pitcher, so the upside is there. We’re passing on him today, but can see both sides.
- Ryan Rowland-Smith is another risky play, but he’s at home against Toronto. He’s a flyball pitcher with an elite defensive outfield in a big park. Toronto, meanwhile, hits LHP better. Only use in emergencies.
Batters:
- ss/2b Asdrubal Cabrera
- dh Travis Hafner
- of Denard Span – Hard righty in Contreras, who is awful at holding baserunners, like the fleet Span.
- c Jason Varitek may be old and declining, but he’s whomping LHP again this year. He got one of the 2 hits last time Anderson faced Boston, and walked too.
- ss/3b Gordon Beckham – heck with the Curse of the Metrodome!
- c John Baker.
- 2b/3b Adam Kennedy – what got into this guy!?
- 1b Ryan Garko
- 2b/1b Jeff Baker has hit .280/.340/.564 vs LHP in his career. And .286/.339/.505 in day games, if you worry about such things. Anyway, we like him against Hampton today in Wrigley, even if he hasn’t gotten started yet this year.
“Safe” Plays:
- 3b/1b/of Carlos Guillen isn’t as good of a play as the past two days, but still worth considering in Texas.
- c Kurt Suzuki
- 3b/of Mark Teahen
- of Josh Willingham
- ss Erick Aybar
- 3b Pedro Feliz
