Roto Roundup

Roto Roundup: Anthony Rendon (Again!), Carlos Martinez, Blake Swihart and Others

Alex offers his thoughts on some players in the news on Wednesday, including Anthony Rendon, Carlos Martinez and Blake Swihart.

By Alex Kantecki Apr 2, 2015, 7:00am EDT

Consensus Rankings, Sleepers, and more

For those of you who haven't drafted yet, here is a link to all of our position rankings, sleepers, players to target, players to avoid, and more.

2015 Rankings, Sleepers, Targets and more

2015 Consensus Position Rankings

Below are links to our consensus position rankings:

Catcher: Part 1| Part 2

First Base: Part 1| Part 2

Second Base: Part 1| Part 2

Shortstop: Part 1 | Part 2

Third Base: Part 1 | Part 2

Outfielders: Part 1 | Part 2

Starting Pitcher: Part 1 | Part 2

Rendon (knee) expected to miss three weeks

Ray has already covered the Rendon saga, so I won't bore you with too many details. But, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Nationals second baseman is expected to miss about three weeks with "rest and rehab," and will not require surgery. That's more good news than bad for fantasy owners who already drafted Rendon, but you're probably already fuming after drafting the second baseman with a high pick.

I was fine with Rendon as a second-round pick, but I was never fully on board with the late first-round stuff. My concern now is Rendon doesn't run as much when he returns; a lot of his value was tied up in his ability to provide stats across all five roto categories. Last year, he stole 17. I'm not sure he makes it to 10 anymore. Prepare to miss a month of Rendon.

Yunel Escobar, Danny Espinosa and Dan Uggla are in the mix to play second base while Rendon is sidelined. As crazy as it sounds, Uggla has the most upside of the three as he looks to extend his playing career after a fine spring. I'm not buying any resurgence, however; the 35-year-old is a career .243 hitter, and hasn't hit above .233 since 2010. There's cheap power, but I'd look elsewhere unless it's an NL-only league.

Carlos Martinez named Cardinals fifth starter

And all it took was another Jaime Garcia injury. With the fifth job all his, at least to start the year, Martinez could run away with the job and keep it. Or... he could struggle with the extra workload and his command.

There aren't too many fifth starters with more upside, however, and I think he's a fine investment to round out your starting rotation. I'd like to see him add a third pitch to the mix, as he relies mostly on his fastball and slurve. That's fine for the first three innings, but when you're up against major league hitters for the second and third time, you can run into trouble.

In addition, there are some ugly splits to talk about (.289/.387/.462 versus left-handed bats in 2014). If I had to guess, Martinez will find his way back to the bullpen and be a dominant reliever. FWIW, Martinez threw six scoreless innings against the Mets Wednesday, and finishes the spring 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 22 innings.

Christian Vaquez to undergo Tommy John surgery

The Red Sox catcher was set to have an expanded role this season, but now he'll miss all of 2015. The Red Sox don't have great options, which includes Ryan Hanigan and recently acquired Sandy Leon. They do have one of the best catching prospects in baseball, however, in Blake Swihart.

Swihart, 22, was more than likely ticketed for Triple-A before Vazquez went down, and I'd suspect that's still the case, but his timetable probably moved up with Vazquez's unfortunate injury.

Swihart is a rare switch-hitting catcher who can hit for average, but he hasn't shown much of anything else. Fortunately, at a position like catcher, one strong category can go a long way. He's the top dynasty play at his position, so he's worth scooping.

Chris Sale is still very good on one foot

Chris Sale (foot) struck out 13 in a minor league game Wednesday and is scheduled to make his first start on April 12 against the Minnesota Twins. Yeah... he's still awesome.

Some predictions from yours truly (everybody's doing it!)

AL Central

AL East

AL West

NL Central

NL East

Washington Nationals
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Atlanta Braves
Philadelphia Phillies

NL West

Fantasy Rundown

If you are looking for more fantasy baseball rankings or news, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown, your one place on the 'net for all things fantasy.