The Week Ahead: Week Ahead: Moore Money

Moving from the AL East to the NL West figured to be rather beneficial for Matt Moore. The young southpaw had shown many promising signs during his time with the Rays, but injuries and inconsistency prevented him from reaching his true potential.

Now that he has shifted away from a league that uses designated hitters, and from a division that features power-packed offenses like Boston, Baltimore and Toronto, Moore is poised to truly emerge as a star.

In the coming week, he’ll appear on our two-start list as a Giant for the first time.

In his initial starts with San Francisco, Moore was plagued by uncharacteristically severe control struggles, issuing 11 walks in 12 innings. He has had his erratic bouts before, but not like this. Moore hadn’t handed out five free passes in a game since 2013 before doing so in both of his first two starts with the Giants.

Needless to say, we don’t expect it to keep up. And everything else has been positive for Moore since the trade; in 12 innings he has allowed only four runs and six hits, while striking out 14 and inducing 27 swings and misses.

He’s looking ahead to home tilts against the Pirates and Mets. Pittsburgh has a .692 OPS on the road and the Mets rank third-to-last among NL teams in scoring. Moore, owned in less than 60 percent of Yahoo leagues, should be in for a strong week.

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* After lighting it up out of the Miami bullpen over the first four months with a 2.65 ERA and 11.4 K/9 rate, David Phelps is finally getting a chance to start here in August. We like what we’ve seen so far from the right-hander, who has allowed only one run over 9 1/3 frames during his first two turns in the rotation. He’ll look to keep it going in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

* Ryan Vogelsong is two-for-two on quality starts since returning to the Pirates rotation after a long absence following a scary injury. Granted, his match-ups have been very soft (San Diego and Atlanta) and things will get a bit tougher next week when he faces the Giants and Marlins, but we’re still intrigued based on what we’ve seen thus far.

* Since returning to the Rockies rotation after a stint in the bullpen, Jorge De La Rosa has rattled off nine quality starts in 11 tries. He has also picked up wins in six of his last nine decisions, thanks in large part to tremendous run support. He gets a pair of first-place clubs (Nats and Cubs) at Coors Field in the week ahead.

* Anthony DeSclafani remains unowned in a significant portion of leagues despite his 6-1 record and 3.11 ERA for the Reds. I’m loving his upcoming home match-ups and have him listed as a Strong Play.

* The Diamondbacks will face off against two of the NL’s lowest-scoring offenses this week, so both of their two start-pitchers — Robbie Ray and Braden Shipley — are worth a look. Ray, in particular, is a nice option because he offers big K potential and is out there in 85 percent of Yahoo leagues.

* Many jumped off the Drew Smyly bandwagon while he sputtered through much of the mid-summer months, but he appears to be back on track with a 2-0 record and 2.52 ERA in his last four starts. He merits consideration at home against the Padres and Rangers.

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Going Twice…

American League

Strong Plays

Felix Hernandez: @LAA, MIL

Ervin Santana: @ATL, @KC

Danny Duffy: @DET, MIN

Ian Kennedy: @DET, MIN

Justin Verlander: KC, BOS

Corey Kluber: CWS, TOR

Jose Quintana: @CLE, OAK

Decent Plays

Martin Perez: OAK, @TB

Drew Smyly: SD, TEX

Luis Severino: TOR, @LAA

Dallas Keuchel: STL, @BAL

Daniel Norris: KC, BOS

Josh Tomlin: BOS, TOR

Steven Wright: @BAL, @DET

Drew Pomeranz: @CLE, @DET

At Your Own Risk

Jhoulys Chacin: SEA, NYY

R.A. Dickey: @NYY, @CLE

Ross Detwiler: @TEX, @CWS

Ricky Nolasco: SEA, NYY

Yovani Gallardo: BOS, HOU

National League

Strong Plays

Max Scherzer: @COL, @ATL

Gio Gonzalez: @COL, @ATL

Noah Syndergaard: @ARI, @SF

Anthony DeSclafani: MIA, LAD

Jason Hammel: MIL, @COL

Jose Fernandez: @CIN, @PIT

Matt Moore: PIT, NYM

Decent Plays

Jeff Samardzija: PIT, NYM

Ryan Vogelsong: @SF, MIA

Vincent Velasquez: LAD, STL

Bartolo Colon: @ARI, @SF

David Phelps: @CIN, @PIT

Scott Kazmir: @PHI, @CIN

Jorge De La Rosa: WAS, CHC

Brandon Finnegan: MIA, LAD

Braden Shipley: NYM, @SD

Robbie Ray: NYM, @SD

At Your Own Risk

Luis Perdomo: @TB, ARI

Chase Anderson: @CHC, @SEA

Joel de la Cruz: MIN, WAS

Streamer City

The following pitchers are generally available in over 50 percent of fantasy leagues and have favorable match-ups this week:

American League

Tuesday, August 16th: Blake Snell vs. SD

The rookie has been pitching extremely well for the Rays and draws a soft assignment at home against San Diego.

Wednesday, August 17th: Anibal Sanchez vs. KC

It has mostly been a rough year for Sanchez, but his last two starts certainly suggest he has it going again. He struck out 10 Mets over eight innings of one-run ball his last time out.

Thursday, August 18th: Matt Shoemaker vs. SEA

Shoemaker has four quality starts in his last five turns, and owns an outstanding 123-to-27 K/BB ratio for the season.

National League

Wednesday, August 17th: Homer Bailey vs. MIA

The veteran has shown some decent signs since re-joining the Reds rotation, and will get the chance to pitch at home against one of the league’s least powerful lineups.

Thursday, August 18th: Adam Conley @ CIN

Conley has scuffled in his last two outings while trying to navigate past the Cubs and Rockies on the road, but will find his task much easier in Cincy.

Friday, August 19th: Tom Koehler @ PIT

Since the start of July, Koehler is 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in seven starts.

Total Games

American League

6: BAL, CWS, HOU, MIN, NYY, OAK, TB, TEX, TOR

7: BOS, CLE, DET, KC, LAA, SEA

National League

5: STL

6: ATL, CHC, COL, LAD, MIL, PHI, PIT

7: ARI, CIN, MIA, NYM, SD, SF, WAS

The Infirmary

You can get a full listing of injured players at Rotoworld’s Injury Page but here’s the latest on a few prominent players who have been out of action:

David Peralta: Out for the season (wrist)

Miguel Gonzalez: Out indefinitely (groin)

Avisail Garcia: Out until late August (knee)

Cameron Maybin: Out until late August (hamstring)

Nick Castellanos: Out indefinitely (hand)

Colby Rasmus: Out indefinitely (ear)

Scott Van Slyke: Out until late August (wrist)

A.J. Ramos: Out indefinitely (finger)

Junior Guerra: Out until late August (elbow)

Yoenis Cespedes: Out until late August (quad)

Nathan Eovaldi: Out indefinitely (elbow)

Sonny Gray: Out indefinitely (arm)