Friday Lineup Card: Going Back to Great Britton

This article is part of our The Lineup Card series.

Sponsored by DraftStreet

Friday's Starters
Cubs (Travis Wood – L) at Pirates (A.J. Burnett – R), 7:05
Yankees (Phil Hughes – R) at Orioles (Wei-Yin Chen – L), 7:05
Rockies (Jeff Francis – R) at Phillies (Cliff Lee – L), 7:05
Marlins (Jacob Turner – R) at Nationals (Stephen Strasburg – R), 7:05
Rangers (Derek Holland – L) at Rays (Jeremy Hellickson – R), 7:10
Blue Jays (Henderson Alvarez – R) at Red Sox (Felix Doubront – L), 7:10
Astros (Lucas Harrell – R) at Reds (Homer Bailey – R), 7:10
Braves (Paul Maholm – L) at Mets (Jon Niese – L), 7:10
Indians (Jeanmar Gomez – R) at Twins (Liam Hendriks – R), 8:10
Royals (Luis Mendoza – R) at White Sox (Francisco Liriano – L), 8:10
Brewers (Yovani Gallardo – R) at Cardinals (Kyle Lohse – R), 8:15
Tigers (Max Scherzer – R) at Angels (Ervin Santana – R), 10:05
Diamondbacks (Tyler Skaggs – L) at Padres (Andrew Cashner – R), 10:05
Athletics (A.J. Griffin – R) at Mariners (Felix Hernandez – R), 10:10
Dodgers (Josh Beckett – R) at Giants (Tim Lincecum – R), 10:15

Day Game After Night Game: None

Injuries

Day-to-Day
Jered Weaver, SP, LAA (shoulder) – Has tendinitis; will be skipped this weekend
Mark Teixeira, 1B, NYY (calf) – Ran without issue Thursday; hopes to return this weekend
Aramis Ramirez, 3B, MIL (back) – Team taking a wait-and-see approach
Travis Snider, OF, PIT (hamstring) – Expected to be out the next few games
Neil Walker, 2B, PIT (back) – Unlikely to be back this weekend
Chris Tillman, SP, BAL (elbow) – Examined Thursday; could be back soon (or maybe TJ? Hm? Hm?)
Jose Tabata, OF, PIT (foot) – Scratched late Wednesday
Michael Saunders, OF, SEA (groin) – Expected back in Friday
Ryan Raburn, 2B, DET (quad) – "Probably ready" if needed off the bench
David Lough, OF, KC (hamstring) – Hurt himself Wednesday; out Thursday, but not serious
Sean Burnett, RP, WAS (illness) – Won't pitch this weekend
Xavier Nady, OF, SF (hamstring) – Left Wednesday with a strain

Disabled List
Jed Lowrie, SS, HOU (ankle) – Going to Double-A for rehab games; likely back next week
Mike Napoli, C, TEX (quad) – Seems to be getting closer
Brandon McCarthy, SP, OAK (head) – Had surgery Wednesday after being line-drived in the head
J.P. Arencibia, C, TOR (hand) – Will rejoin the Jays on Friday
Brandon Inge, 3B, OAK (shoulder) – Surgery next week; done for the year
Jim Thome, DH, BAL (neck) – Examined again Thursday; "proceeding positively"
Starling Marte, OF, PIT (oblique) – Getting close to returning
Justin Christian, OF, SF (wrist) – Expected to be activated Friday
Alex Gonzalez, SS, MIL (knee) – Ahead of schedule in his rehab; could return at some point
Troy Patton, RP, BAL (ankle) – Throwing off mounds Friday and Monday
Tim Byrdak, RP, NYM (shoulder) – Surgery successful and full recovery expected

Transactions

Placed on DL
Brandon Inge, 3B, OAK

Activated from DL
Jason Hammel, SP, BAL

Called Up
Rob Scahill, RP, COL

Closer Watch

Brewers – Jon Axford has been reestablishing himself as the closer in Milwaukee, and I'd go so far as to say that he's again at the stage of rolling with confidence.

Padres – Tom Layne collected his second save on Wednesday, but Luke Gregerson remains the fill-in closer of choice. Huston Street has already missed his target return date and we're not sure quite when he'll be back.

Recommended Pickup
Zach Britton, SP, BAL – Britton carried a 2.35 ERA over the first 10 starts of his big-league career last year, then collapsed in a blaze of ingloriousness, giving up four-plus runs nine times in his remaining 18 starts. This year started off little better, as Britton was stuck in the minors until mid-July, then was inconsistent in his first few starts back in a Baltimore uniform. Lately, though, a switch has flipped – Britton's turned in four straight sparkling outings, allowing a grand total of three runs in 28.2 innings in that span. And here's the kicker: He's struck out 29 and walked just seven, a massive improvement on his historically awful K:BB ratio in the majors. It's no secret that Britton's got all kinds of upside, so when you see him starting to miss bats like this, take notice.

Other Recent Recommendations: Mark Reynolds, Adam Eaton, Luke Gregerson, A.J. Griffin, Xavier Nady

DraftStreet Competition

If you missed out on our recent free roll with DraftStreet, don't worry - we have another chance for you to take home some serious cash.

Register for a free account at DraftStreet.com today and start practicing. Remember to use bonus code Rotowire on your first deposit to get some extra cash released into your account as you play.

As a reminder, the competition will be an MLB Salary Cap league where values for each player are set based on projected fantasy value each day and your mission is to find the bargains and make the best 14 player team possible within the $100,000 budget.

Be sure to come back to RotoWire's Daily Lineup Card every day for all the analysis you need to dominate the competition and take home cash on DraftStreet.

DraftStreet Lineup
C: Salvador Perez, KC ($7,256)
1B: Ryan Howard, PHI ($6,574)
2B: Jose Altuve, HOU ($5,840)
3B: Manny Machado, BAL ($5,936)
SS: J.J. Hardy, BAL ($5,820)
OF: Desmond Jennings, TB ($7,551)
OF: Ryan Ludwick, CIN ($6,486)
OF: Scott Hairston, NYM ($6,392)
UT: Chris Davis, BAL ($5,742)
UT: Jon Jay, STL ($6,882)
SP: Stephen Strasburg, WAS ($17,225)
SP: Tyler Skaggs, AZ ($13,372)
RP: Addison Reed, CHW ($1,946)
P: Tyler Clippard, WAS ($2,671)

Total: $99,693

Register for a free account at DraftStreet.com and start playing daily fantasy sports games today!