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Roto Roundup: Masahiro Tanaka, Devon Travis, Hanley Ramirez and others

Ray offers his thoughts on some of the top fantasy perfomers from Monday's MLB action, including Masahiro Tanaka, Devon Travis, Hanley Ramirez and others.

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Masahiro Tanaka to miss a month

After pitching like the ace he is over his last three starts, Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka was placed on the disabled list with a lower right forearm strain. Here is more from Jack Curry:

Small forearm strain? I also read that the injury is closer to his wrist. Sounds like fluff to me, but time will tell, I guess. He will rest for the next 7-10 days according to reports and will miss about a month. That means he won't be back before Memorial Day.

It appears Tommy John surgery is in the cards for Tanaka, it's just a matter of when. I think we knew this already, but some pitchers can pitch through partial tears in their UCL, and there is a school of thought that there are many other starting pitchers who are doing just that right now.

For more on Tanaka and the Yankees options, make sure you check out Pinstripe Alley, SB Nation's Yankees fan site.

Davon Travis: Early breakout candidate or just a hot start?

Late in spring training, the Blue Jays were still trying to figure out who would be Jose Reyes' double play partner. They were looking at Macier Izturis, Ryan Goins and Devon Travis. Goins appeared to be the favorite in spring training, but the Blue Jays went with Travis to start the season and haven't looked back.

And they have looked good for doing so.

All Travis has done is hit since earning the starting second base job. Last night, Travis went 1-5 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and an RBI in the Blue Jays 11-8 win over the Red Sox. Travis is now hitting .356-.413-.685 with 6 home runs, 17 runs scored and 19 RBI in 78 plate appearances. He currently leads all second baseman in home runs, runs scored, and RBI, and ranks third in batting average. Pretty impressive for a guy who wasn't a top prospect or the favorite to win the second base job in Toronto.

Can he keep this up? I doubt it, but he has shown some power in the minors, hitting 10 home runs with a .162 ISO in AA last season, and 10 home runs and a .216 ISO in 55 games in High A in 2013. ZiPS projects him to hit .256-.303-.414 with 14 home runs, 54 runs scored, 51 RBI and 9 stolen bases for the rest of the season, so a 20 home run, 10 stolen base season from your second baseman would be pretty damn good.

Should he be able to meet or exceed ZiPS' projections for the rest of the season, Travis could be a front runner for the American League Rookie of the Year award.

For more on Travis and the Blue Jays, make sure you check out Bluebird Banter, SB Nation's Blue Jays fan site.

Roto Roundup

It appears Red Sox outfilelder Hanley Ramirez likes playing left field in Boston. Well, I can't speak for his defense, but my guess is it isn't very good, but his bat has been pretty aweome this season. Last night, he went 2-5 with a home run and 2 RBI, raising his slash line to .295-.345-.641 with 9 home runs, 15 runs scored and 20 RBI, and looks like he could be in for a career year if he can keep up this pace. He will have to stay healthy to do so, but he hits in one of the best lineups in the game, and they are going to have to score a lot of runs if their starters don't go longer than 3-4 innings every start.

The Royals signed DH Kendrys Morales to a two year deal worth $17 million back in mid-December and I am pretty sure this deal was panned in the baseball community, but Morales has been well worth the contract to date. Last night, he went 3-5 with a double, home run, 4 runs scored and 3 RBI in the Royals 11-6 win over the Indians. The big night raised his slash line to .321-.374-.500 with 3 home runs, 17 runs scored and 14 RBI in 90 plate appearances this season. Morales probably won't hit .300 all year, but he has the power to hit 20+ home runs and drive in 85-90 runs hitting in the middle of the Royals lineup.

The Padres had a very busy offseason, making several huge trades to improve their lineup, and signing James Shields to bolster their starter rotation. On Monday night, Shields was dominant, limiting the Astros to 3 runs, one of which was earned, on 6 hits, a walk and 12 strikeouts. He didn't factor in the decision as the Astros got to the Padres bullpen to pull out the win, but he is now 2-0 with a 2.90 ERA, 3.18 FIP, a 1.13 WHIP and a 41-9 strikeout to walk rate in 31 innings. Everyone expected his strikeout rate to rise, but not by this much. His K/9 has risen from 7.14 K/9 to 11.90 K/9 thus far. I doubt he keeps this up, but even if he can strike out a batter per inning, he should strike out well over 200 batters this season. Only about 10-15 pitchers accomplish that every season.

Dan Uggla hasn't been fantasy relevant in several seasons, but last night he put up a big night at the plate against one of his former teams. Uggla went 3-5 with a triple and a game winning three run home run off of Braves closer Jason Grilli in the Nationals huge come-from-behind 13-12 win. Uggla scored 2 runs and drove in 5 raising his slash line to just .190-.244-.405 with one home run and 7 RBI.

Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday is one of the more consistent hitters in baseball, one that fantasy owners could draft with confidence that he will not disappoint in 2015. I have to admit I was concerned that age could begin to catch up to him and there was a chance we could see the start of his decline, but Holliday has other plan, I see. Last night, Holliday went 3-5 with a double, 2 runs scored and an RBI in the Cardinals 11-5 win over the Phillies. Holliday is now hitting .383-.500-.467 with a home run, 9 runs scored, 12 RBI, 2 stolen bases and a spectacular 15-14 strikeout to walk rate in 74 plate appearances thus far. I do see his home run total continuing its decline, but he should be solid in runs scored, RBI and batting average going forward. ZiPS projects him to hit 17 home runs and drive in 72 for the rest of the season, and that is right about where I would project his end of season stats.

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