Roto Roundup: Bryce Harper, Jered Weaver, Carlos Gonzalez, and Others

Before I get to the Roto Roundiup, I just want to make sure everyone knows about SB Nation's Pick 6 Daily Fantasy Game. You can learn more about the game here and enter your rosters here. You can play against Fake Teams writers and other Fake Teams readers, so make sure you enter your rosters before the first pitch everyday. Actually, you can enter rosters for the next day in the evening, so go ahead and play SB Nation's Pick 6 game daily.

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun left Wednesday's game in San Diego with a sore achilles and will be re-evaluated on Thursday. He originally injured it stealing a base on Tuesday night, and aggravated it yesterday. He may miss a few games, but should avoid a DL stint. His injury came hours after Mat Gamel was diagnosed with a torn ACL and will be out for the season. Braun's teammate Cory Hart took ground balls at first base yesterday and could gain additional position eligibility in some leagues should he play some first base over the next few weeks.

With Mat Gamel out for the season, Travis Ishikawa should see the majority of starts at first base for the Brewers. Like I said in yesterday's Roundup, he is only rosterable in NL-only leagues. His best season in the majors was 2009, where he hit .261-.329-.387 with 9 HRs and 39 RBI. He won't provide much value, but if he is playing everyday, he is better than a bench player sitting on your roster.

After Tuesday's terrible outing, the Rockies sent starter Jhoulys Chacin to AAA to work on some things. He has started the season with an 0-3 record with a 7.30 ERA and 1.865 WHIP. He has given up 20 earned runs, 7 home runs and walked 15 batters in his 24.2 innings thus far in 2012.

More Roto Roundup after the jump:

Angels starter Jered Weaver threw a no hitter last night, vs the Twins. He was one walk away from a perfect game, striking out 9 in the process. Weaver is now 4-0 with a 1.61 ERA and 0.78 WHIP and a 45-7 strikeout to walk ratio in 44.2 innings on the season. Weaver has gone at least 6 innings in each of his 6 starts this season, and the complete game was his second of the season. I was lower on Weaver than most coming into the season, and I admit, I was wrong in thinking that Dan Haren should be ranked higher than Weaver at this point.

Blue Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion is on one heckuva power streak as he homered for the 5th time in his last 6 games yesterday, and is now hitting .320-.376-.680 with 9 HRs and 24 RBI. Encarnacion is off to the best start of his career and we could be seeing his break out season at the ripe young age of 29.

Fantasy owners saw the Blue Jays scored 11 runs yesterday and probably thought that Jose Bautista had something to do with the team scoring 11 runs. Well, not exactly. He went 0-3 with a run scored and an RBI, and is hitting .180-.321-.337 with 4 HRs, 12 RBI and a 14-18 strikeout to walk rate. He should turn things around soon.

The Dodgers are nearing an agreement to sign former Angels outfielder/DH Bobby Abreu. As a Dodgers fan, I like the idea and could see him playing 3-4 days per week in left field.

Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez is red hot and he put on a power show yesterday afternoon. He went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 3 RBI in the Rockies 8-5 win over the Dodgers. He has homered 7 times in his last 9 games, and has hit 4 homers in his last 3 games. For the season, he is hitting .310-.383-.631 with 7 HRs, 23 RBI, 4 stolen bases and 21 runs scored in 21 games. Both of his home runs yesterday came off of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

Phillies ace Roy Halladay had probably his worst outing in many years last night. He was cruising through 4 innings, but gave up 6 runs in the 5th and 2 runs in the 6th, including a grand slam to Braves catcher Brian McCann. All told, he gave up 8 runs on 12 hits in 5.1 innings. He struck out 5 and walked none and his ERA now sits at 3.40 on the season.

Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz had a huge night at the plate last night going 3-4 with a HR and 7 RBI. He is quietly hitting .333-.367-.583 with 4 HRs and 17 RBI after Wednesday night's game. The Phillies offense appears to like hitting in Atlanta as they have scored 16 runs in the last two nights, which is more runs than they scored in their 4 game series with the Cubs.

Royals outfielder Jeff Franceour went 0-4 with an RBI yesterday and is now hitting .242-.281-.319 with zero homers and 4 RBI. After a solid 2011 season where he hit .287-.329-.487 with 20 HRs, 87 RBI and 22 stolen bases. One has to wonder how long he will remain a starter, especially with Wil Myers hitting well, and almost ready in AA.

Nationals outfield prospect Bryce Harper had his best day at the plate in the big leagues last night, going 3-4 with 2 doubles, one of which came in the 9th inning. Harper is now hitting .385-.400-.615 in his first three games in the big leagues. Fantasy owners should not run to your league site and start making offers for him, unless, of course, you are in a keeper league.

Astros third baseman Chris Johnson had his best game as a major leaguer yesterday as he went 4-4 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI. The homers were the first two of the year, and he is now hitting .311-.340-.467 with 14 RBI. Johnson is only rosterable in NL-only leagues.

Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran is making Cardinals fans forget about Albert Pujols, especially after going 4-5 with 2 HRs and 7 RBI last night. For the season, he is hitting .279-.398-.535 with 7 HRs and 18 RBI. Beltran is injury prone and I would be shocked if he stayed healthy all year, but for some reason, veterans sign with St. Louis and are reborn. See Berkman, Lance and Furcal, Rafael.

Beltran's monster game came at the expense of Pirates starter A.J. Burnett, who gave up 12 runs on 12 hits and a walk in just 2.2 innings last night. Burnett totally destroyed 2 of my team's ERA and WHIP last night, as his game ERA was over 40 and his WHIP approached 5.00. It will take me weeks to bring my ERA and WHIP back to where it was coming into yesterday.

Orioles starter Jake Arrieta had the best start of his career last night, shutting out the Yankees for 8 innings, giving up just 5 hits and striking out 9. He is now 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA and 0.99 WHIP through 6 starts. He owns a 33-9 strikeout to walk ratio in 38.1 innings and could be breaking out. Like most young pitchers, though, he will have some gems mixed in with some very bad starts.

What got into Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez recently? Alvarez went 2-3 with a walk and scored all 3 runs for the Buccos last night. Over his last 10 games, he is 14-36 with 4 HRs and 10 RBI. He has raised his BA from .118 to .242 over those 10 games, and the lightbulb may have turned on for him. Finally.