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Roto Roundup: A-Rod, Hanley Ramirez, Nelson Cruz and Others

I am back from vacation and ready to talk some baseball with you in the morning Roundup. Today, I discuss Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, Hanley Ramirez and others.

By Ray Guilfoyle
David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Before I get into the Sunday Roto Roundup, I want to extend my thanks to Jason, Andrew, Zack and Alex for filling in for me while on vacation last week. They did such a great job, I thought I would come back from vacation and be the first Fake Teams managing editor to ever be Wally Pipp'd! Sincerely, thanks guys. You did a great job.

Biogenesis Fallout: Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta and Others

Alex Kantecki discussed possible replacement players for some of the soon-to-be (or already??) suspended players in his The Biogenesis Fallout article yesterday afternoon. In his piece, he offers waiver wire recommendations to replace Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, and Jhonny Peralta who will be suspended later today.

Nelson Cruz ends weekend with a bomb

Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz ended his last weekend of the season by hitting a home run on Saturday and Sunday, and will finish the season hitting .269-.330-.511 with 27 HRs, 49 runs, 76 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 108 games played. He will certainly be suspended later today, but should be back in time for the playoffs, should the Rangers make the playoffs this season. Cruz was on pace for his best season ever, as he was projected to finish the season with 39 hRs and 110 RBI. You can make of that what you want. Cruz will be a free agent this offseason and I could see the Rangers re-signing him, as they are in desperate need of power bats.

I own Cruz in an AL-only keeper league at $28 and plan to keep him next season if he re-signs with the Rangers. I am not sure how I will replace his power on my roster, but I did trade for Kendrys Morales a few weeks ago in anticipation of his suspension. With that said, I will attempt to make a deal for another power hitter before our August 31st trade deadline.

Then again, we have these quotes from Cruz via MLB.com:

Cruz said he has not decided whether he would appeal a suspension.

"I haven't decided what I'm going to do about anything," Cruz said before Sunday's game against the Athletics.

If Cruz does appeal, the punishment would likely be delayed until the case is heard and decided by an arbitrator. That could mean Cruz would remain in the Rangers' lineup for the rest of the season.

"It's not just about myself, it's also about the team," Cruz said. "I don't know what will happen, but it's supposed to happen tomorrow."

Asked if he expects to play against the Angels on Monday, Cruz said, "That is my hope."

Quite interesting. I wonder if the Rangers have reached out to him on a contract offer for next season if he does appeal the suspension.

For more on Cruz and the impact of his suspension on the Rangers lineup, make sure you check out Alex's Biogenesis Fallout piece, as well as Lone Star Ball, SB Nation's Rangers fan site.

Everth Cabrera: Top 5 Shortstop in 2014?

Everth Cabrera is another of the 12-13 players who will be suspended due to links to Biogenesis today, so his suspension will have a big impact on fantasy rosters. Cabrera will finish the 2013 campaign with a .283-.355-.381 triple slash line with 4 HRs, 54 runs, 31 RBI and 37 stolen bases in 49 attempts. I do wonder though, why a speedy glove only shortstop would take PEDs. To recover from an injury?

Anyway, ECab has had a great season, one that I did not see at the beginning of the season. His 37 stolen bases in 95 games out him on pace to steal 54 bases this season. A shortstop who can steal 50+ bases is pretty damn valuable and could put him in the Top 5 shortstop talk come 2014. The top 3 will be Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez and Jean Segura, probably in that order, followed by two of the following: Jose Reyes, Ian Desmond and Cabrera. We ranked Cabrera as our 6th ranked shortstop in our Midseason Shortstop Rankings, with the assumption that players would not serve their suspensions this season. Had we known that, he probably would have been a good bit lower in our rankings.

For more on Cabrera and the impact of his suspension on the Padres lineup, please check out Alex's Biogenesis Fallout article, as well as Gaslamp Ball, SB Nation's Padres fan site.

Round'em Up

This will be my last mention on Biogenesis in today's Roundup, but I can't wait till these suspensions and appeals are over with, as a guy who lives on the east coast, I tire of hearing about Alex Rodriguez's every move, every interview. I just want this to be over with. With that said, he is planning on appealing the MLB suspension, and from what I gather, he is the only player appealing the suspension, mainly due to the sizable contract that the Yankees owe him.

We learned last night that A-Rod will be in the Yankees lineup tonight, as MLB will allow him to play while he is appealing. I recommend grabbing him only if you are in a super deep mixed leagues or AL only leagues. Otherwise, I am not sure how many games you will get out of him, if any.

Since giving up 10 earned runs over two starts in mid-July, Cardinals starter Lance Lynn has pitched extremely well, including his start on Sunday on the road vs division rival Reds. Lynn limited the Reds to just 2 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts in the Cardinals 15-2 win. Lynn moved his record to 13-5 with a 3.78 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 140-52 strikeout to walk rate in 143 innings. He has given up two runs or less in each of his last three starts.

Tigers starter Rick Porcello has a history of imploding fantasy owner's ERAs and WHIPs in just a single start, and he has a few of them this season. Recently, though, he has been more consistent on the mound, and has been better than his overall stats indicate to date. Porcello limited the White Sox to just one run on 8 hits, a walk and 4 strikeouts over 7.2 innings yesterday, but was left with a no decision after the Tiger bullpen blew the lead for him in the ninth inning.

On the season, Porcello is now 8-6 with a 4.28 ERA, a respectable 1.25 WHIP and an un-Porcello-like 88-25 strikeout to walk rate in 120 innings this season. He has given up three runs or less in 15 of his 20 starts this season.

After starting the season hitting no better than .240 in each of the first three months of the season, Tigers DH Victor Martinez has been on fire over the last month or so. Martinez went 2-3 with 2 walks on Sunday and is now hitting .272-.325-.396 with 9 HRs, 47 runs and 60 RBI this season.

Injury Roundup: CarGo to DL, Hanley next?

The Rockies started the season playing very well, but injuries to Troy Tulowitzki and now Carlos Gonzalez have derailed their season. The Rockies are considering placing Gonzalez on the DL today after he aggravated his sprained right middle finger swinging the bat on Sunday. According to Troy Renck of the Denver Post, the Rockies will call up Josh Rutledge should CarGo land on the DL. Renck stated that the Rockies want to see what they have in some of their young players over the last seven weeks of the season.

The Dodgers road winning streak continues, as they swept the Cubs this weekend for their 14th straight road win, a team record. What is notable from Sunday's 1-0 win was the fact that Hanley Ramirez had to leave the game after jamming his right shoulder running into the stands to catch a fly ball. So much for Hanley not being a team player. Anyway, he is to be evaluated by team doctors on Monday and as a Hanley owner in the Tout Wars league, I hope this is just a minor injury.

The guys over at True Blue LA have video of Hanley running into the stands, and you can click here to see it.

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