| | | | Monday, August 5, 2024 | | Here's a peek behind the curtain here at the FBT headquarters: I'm taking over hosting duties for the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast this week with Frank Stampfl on vacation, so of course I wrote more words for this morning's newsletter than maybe any other newsletter all season. There's a ton of stuff to get to from what was a pretty fascinating weekend of action around MLB , and I've got everything you need to know about covered below, so let's get to it! | | Week 20 Preview | | | | The biggest quirk of the schedule this week is that the White Sox, Cubs, and Royals only play five times. It's easy enough to get away from the White Sox, and there's no way you're sitting Bobby Witt or Salvador Perez, but those three teams have a lot of pretty fringe-y starters that you might want to consider sitting this week, especially with nine teams slated for a full seven-game schedule this week. | | Week 20 waiver targets | | First things first: If Spencer Schwellenbach, Yusei Kikuchi, or Shane Baz are available in your league, make sure you run out and add them right now, as I wrote here. Here are the top players to consider adding ahead of Week 20 at each position besides that pitching trio: | C: Austin Wells, Yankees (36%)
1B: Josh Bell, Diamondbacks (51%)
2B: Luis Garcia, Nationals (63%)
3B: Jake Burger, Marlins (60%)
SS: Masyn Winn, Cardinals (66%)
OF: Juan Yepez, Nationals (51%), Joshua Lowe, Rays (67%), Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox (50%), Parker Meadows, Tigers (14%)
SP: Edward Cabrera, Marlins (22%), Cody Bradford, Rangers (32%), Spencer Arrighetti, Astros (26%), Martin Perez, Padres (14%)
RP: Hunter Harvey, Royals (17%), Ryan Thompson, Diamondbacks (10%), Calvin Faucher , Marlins (4%) | | For more deep-league targets, plus my thoughts on each of those players and more, head here. | | | | Week 20 sleeper hitters | | Best hitter matchups for Week 20: | 1. Giants @WAS4, DET3
2. Reds @MIA4, @MIL3
3. Padres @PIT3, @MIA3
4. Mets @STL1, @COL3, @SEA3
5. Braves MIL3, @COL3 | | Worst hitter matchups for Week 20: | 1. Tigers @SEA3, @SF3
2. Cubs MIN3, @CHW2
3. Rangers HOU3, @NYY3
4. Pirates SD3, @LAD3
5. Rays @STL3, BAL3 | | Top sleeper hitters for Week 20: | 1. Colton Cowser, OF, Orioles (75%) @TOR3, @TB3
2. Michael Toglia, OF, Rockies (50%) NYM3, ATL3
3. Mark Vientos, 3B, Mets (75%) @STL1, @COL3, @SEA3
4. Jorge Soler, OF, Braves (69%) MIL3, @COL3
5. TJ Friedl, OF, Reds (60%) @MIA4, @MIL3 | | Week 20 sleeper pitchers | | You can check out Scott's two-start pitcher rankings here, too. He ranks every projected two-start pitcher for the upcoming week, tiering them from must-starts to "no-thanks." | | Top sleeper pitches for Week 20: | 1. Hayden Birdsong, Giants (47%) at WAS, vs. DET
2. Spencer Schwellenbach, Braves (79%) vs. MIL
3. Sean Manaea, Mets (73%) at STL, at SEA
4. JP Sears, Athletics (31%) vs. CHW, at TOR
5. Andrew Abbott, Reds (75%) at MIA | | | | Weekend Standouts | | Good pitching | | Blake Snell , Giants vs. CIN: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K – Yep, that's a no-hitter, alright, and it comes off Snell's career-high 15 strikeouts in his previous start. It gives him a 0.55 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 33 innings since coming back from the IL in early July and oh my god he's doing it again, isn't he? Snell has spent the past four seasons vacillating between being one of the very worst pitchers in baseball and one of the very best, often with little notice or tangible change you can point to as an explanation. This season, he's throwing his curveball a bit more since coming back from the IL and throwing his slider less, which is funny because there have certainly been times in the past like in 2022 when prioritizing the slider was seen as the reason for his production taking off. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to why Snell goes through these stretches, but it happens often enough that we shouldn't be surprised when he struggles; we also should need much confirmation to buy back in when he turns it around. Snell should be viewed as a top-20 pitcher the rest of the way, and think about telling somebody that back in May. | | Zack Wheeler, Phillies @SEA: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – I mean, come on, nobody was actually worried about Wheeler after his rough start the last time out, right? The Mariners are arguably the best matchup for a pitcher in the game right now, but you've still gotta take care of business, and Wheeler did just that. | | Hunter Greene, Reds vs. SF: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K – I want to believe in Greene's breakout since I was in on him as a breakout before the season. But here's what I can't get out of my head: Dylan Cease in 2022. Like Cease that season, Greene's strikeout rate is actually down in his breakout season, while his control remains iffy, so the primary source of his improvement has come with the quality of contact allowed, and that's tougher to buy into. Greene has gone from below average in expected wOBA on contact (.402 and .384 in his first two seasons) to an outlier in a good way, sporting a .307 xwOBACON that would be the third-best mark by a starting pitcher in the past five seasons. Cease's 2022 breakout was fueled by his xwOBACON improving from .383 to .313, only to regress to .383 the following season. It's a stat that measures skill, but it's also a very noisy stat that takes a long time to stabilize. Again, I want to believe in Greene, but selling high might not be the worst idea if you get the chance. | | Jack Flaherty, Dodgers @OAK: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – Sometimes when a player goes to a team like the Dodgers, we expect them to make some shrewd changes to their approach to unlock some latent upside, but nobody wants to see anything but the status quo from Flaherty, and that's what we got in his debut Saturday. His pitch mix was identical to his Tigers days, and hey, the results were too. As long as he can stay healthy, I expect Flaherty to pitch like an ace. He just has to stay healthy for two months, right? | | | | Robbie Ray, Giants vs. CIN: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – After a rough second start, we needed something like this from Ray. He generated a ton of swinging strikes with his breaking balls and was able to consistently locate both in and out of the strike zone, a great sign after his command was iffy in the first two outings. The stuff looks terrific from Ray, and so while there may be some ongoing inconsistency – it is Robbie Ray, after all – I do feel pretty confident starting him after two great starts in his first three back. | | Spencer Schwellenbach, Braves vs. MIA: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 10 K – The Braves have had four Cy Young winners in their history, not to mention some pretty awesome pitchers like Spencer Strider in recent years, and here's something none of them have done before: Strike out 29 without walking a batter over a three-start span. Schwellenbach has done it now. His 4.04 ERA isn't incredible, but his 3.19 xERA is pretty terrific, and Schwellenbach continues to generate strong whiff numbers; if he qualified, his 13.7% swinging strike rate would tie Tyler Glasnow for 11th-best among starters. I don't think Schwellenbach is an ace, but I can't just write the possibility off based on what we're seeing right now. | | Yusei Kikuchi, Astros vs. TB: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 11 K – That bit about smart teams like the Dodgers making immediate tweaks with new acquisitions? That's what we saw here, as the Astros had Kikuchi ditch his curveball (his second-most used pitch this season previously) for more sliders and especially changeups, and it worked out beautifully. This is relatively low-hanging stuff, as Kikuchi's changeup (.209 xwOBA, 38.1% whiff rate) has been much better than his curveball (.303 xwOBA, 27.4% whiff rate) this season, but Kikuchi still deserves credit for going out and executing the new game plan – especially since he reworked his changeup this offseason, making this version of it a new pitch for him. Kikuchi's career has been defined by inconsistency, so if he goes out and gets shelled in his next outing, I wouldn't be particularly surprised. But this is a guy who has been a must-start pitcher before and just showed that upside again, so why not buy in? | | Matt Waldron, Padres vs. COL: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – When Matt Waldron throws his knuckleball 40% of the time or more (10 starts): 2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 9.2 K/9. When he doesn't (13 starts): 4.91 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 7.2 K/9. I don't want to oversimplify, because "just spam your best pitch!" doesn't always work out, especially a weird pitch like a knuckleball. But it seems indisputable that Waldron's success is closely tied to his knuckleball, and I hope he finds a way to lean on it more heavily and more consistently moving forward. | | Bryan Woo, Mariners vs. PHI: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K - Hey, he threw 92 pitches in this one. That's a season-high for Woo, who has struggled to stay healthy this season. Of course, he still threw his fastballs around 70% of the time and still doesn't have a reliable swing-and-miss secondary, so I remain skeptical of Woo's ability to keep getting away with this. It's fine to use him as long as it is working, but I do think there will be a point where Woo's usefulness runs out – though I recognize I'm in the minority on that one. | | Zach Eflin, Orioles @CLE: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K – The case for Eflin post-trade was pretty straightforward: Even if the underlying skill set isn't significantly different, the improved surroundings in Baltimore would improve his value. So far, he has a 3.65 ERA with two wins in two starts. That'll play. | | Spencer Arrighetti, Astros vs. TB: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 12 K – That's now two double-digit strikeout efforts by Arrighetti, which makes him just the 38th pitcher in the majors to accomplish that feat this season. Of course, that doesn't guarantee dominance – DJ Herz, Dean Kremer, Jake Irvin , and Sean Manaea are all among the iffy pitching talents who have pulled it off this season. But it does speak to a certain upside Arrighetti clearly has, armed as he is with two breaking balls sporting a 40% whiff rate or better. Consistency is the issue here, not talent, and skepticism is warranted; after all, this is a pitcher who just finished off a July with a 5.33 ERA. But I will say this: I think there is going to be a point, maybe not this season, but at some point, where Arrighetti is widely viewed as a must-start Fantasy pitcher. | | DJ Herz, Nationals vs. MIL: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – Speaking of Herz, he continues to look pretty interesting, with 18 strikeouts to four walks over 15 innings since returning to the rotation three starts ago. Control has been the primary issue for Herz throughout his career, but he's showing flashes of figuring that out, and it threatens to make him a pretty interesting young pitcher. He's not a finished product, and I'm probably passing on him in most leagues– the lone exception is one 15-team league where I need to make up a lot of ground specifically in pitching counting stats – but he's certainly someone to watch over the next few outings. | | Paul Blackburn, Mets @LAA: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – Here's another one where the new team immediately made dramatic changes to a pitcher's approach, as Blackburn largely ditched his four-seam fastball, replacing it primarily with more cutters and changeups. It worked wonderfully against a very bad Angels lineup, but the jury is obviously still out on how effective it will be moving forward. Blackburn is usually just a streaming type, and with his next matchup coming in Coors Field, he definitely doesn't need to be a priority add. But he does get the Mariners and potentially Marlins next week, which could make him a must-start two-start option. | | Martin Perez, Padres vs. COL: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K – Let's keep the theme going! In his first start with the Padres, Perez faded his fastballs for more changeups and especially curveballs, which went from around a 10% usage rate with the Pirates to 26% in this one. He generated a bunch of whiffs with those two pitches leading the way, though it's worth noting that it came against the Rockies away from Coors Field, arguably the best matchup in baseball. So, let's not overreact, we're still talking about a streamer at best. | | Bad Pitching | | Tarik Skubal, Tigers vs. KC: 6.1, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 8 K – I don't see much noteworthy here outside of the obviously very ugly line, and even that comes with a pretty important caveat: Skubal made it through six innings with a quality start intact before running into some trouble in the seventh. Don't give this one a second thought. | | Max Fried , Braves vs. MIA: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 6 K – You're obviously hoping for better than this from Fried, one of the most reliable aces around. But seeing as it was his first start in nearly a month due to a forearm nerve issue, it seems fair to give him a pass, especially seeing as testing showed no underlying structural damage. Still, it's alarming to see someone with Fried's control walk five in 3.1 innings, and his zone rate was down from 48% for the season to 40% in this one, a massive drop. It's just one start from a guy who has earned the benefit of the doubt, but it was a very bad start, to be fair. | | Tanner Houck , Red Sox @TEX: 5 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – In three starts since the All-Star break, Houck has a 6.88 ERA, 11 strikeouts, and nine walks in 17 innings over three starts. I point that out to note that Houck is already at 134 innings on the season, a career-high, and his first season above 120 at any level. His velocity was fine in July but was down about 1 mph in this start, so maybe there's something there? Or maybe we're just starting to see natural regression from a guy who hasn't really shown much more than flashes as a starter prior to the first half of this season? I think that might be the answer here, as evidenced by his 3.96 xERA for the season. | | Garrett Crochet, White Sox @MIN: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K – Crochet probably still has significant per-start upside, but I think he's going to be a frustrating pitcher to rely on for Fantasy the rest of the way. He racked up 77 pitches in his four innings in this one, and I just don't see any way the White Sox are likely to let him pitch deep into games if he's going to be that inefficient. There will be gems sprinkled in moving forward, but I no longer think it's reasonable to view Crochet as a must-start pitcher at this point. | | Gerrit Cole , Yankees vs. TOR: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – He just isn't right. Now, that doesn't mean Cole isn't healthy, to be clear. If anything, the fact that his fastball velocity was up 0.6 mph in this one seems like a good sign that he's feeling fine, physically. Despite that, this just isn't the same guy we've seen dominate lineups all over the AL for years, mostly, I think, because he just doesn't have his slider yet. He threw it 21% of the time last season, but he was down to 13% entering this start, and it didn't go up after he threw 12 of them among his 91 pitches. He generated zero whiffs on six swings with the pitch, too, so the results just aren't there, either. He's tried to compensate by throwing more curveballs or cutters, varying by start, but neither has proved an effective replacement for the slider. I don't want to give up on Cole, but I certainly don't few him as a must-start pitcher right now. | | Tyler Anderson , Angels vs. NYM: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – Anderson has been, weirdly, generating a ton of strikeouts lately, as he finished July with 32 in 26.2 innings. Despite a very solid 16 whiffs Friday, he had just three strikeouts against the Mets, which is hard to make sense of – on the one hand, I don't expect Anderson to be a strikeout pitcher; on the other, 16 whiffs is a really solid amount that typically leads to more than three strikeouts in five innings. Anderson gets the Yankees in his next outing this week, so I'd prefer not to start him in that matchup even if I thought he was more than just a low-K streamer. | | Nick Pivetta, Red Sox @TEX: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – Pivetta threw only 70 pitches in this one, and his fastball was down 2.2 mph, which is pretty concerning. I didn't see any sign that Pivetta was hurting, so I'll just chalk it up to a bad day from a guy who is no stranger to them. Pivetta has been driving Fantasy players crazy for years with his inconsistency, so this should just be baked in at this point – and, frankly, all things considered, it could have been a worse day for him. | | Kutter Crawford, Red Sox @TEX: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – The Red Sox managed to win this series against the Rangers despite the poor showing from their starters, and Crawford's was, unquestionably, the worst outing of the trio. He allowed four homers in the game, giving him a frankly astonishing 12 homers allowed over his past three starts – there are 17 different pitchers who have thrown 100-plus innings with fewer home runs all season. Yikes. Crawford isn't consistently giving up a ton of hard contact despite the poor results, so this might just be a bit of especially bad luck, but I don't see any way you can start him right now, no matter the explanation. | | Gavin Williams, Guardians vs. BAL: 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 8 K – Williams is having a similar issue to Cole, where he just doesn't seem to have his slider right now. His second most-used pitch last season, he threw just six of them Sunday, generating a single whiff. Being that predictable against a lineup like Baltimore's isn't going to work if you don't have absolutely overwhelming stuff, and Williams simply doesn't right now, despite a fastball he got up to 97.8 mph on average Sunday. The rest of the arsenal just isn't there, and right now, he's just an upside stash for Fantasy until he figures it out. | | Kyle Harrison, Giants @CIN: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K – After his 11 strikeout-outing in his previous outing, I wondered if maybe I've been giving Harrison short shrift this season. After all, he was a top prospect with a 3.69 ERA at the MLB level, maybe there was something there despite his mediocre underlying metrics. Maybe so, but I think Saturday's outing showed how thin the margin for error here is, as he generated just three swinging strikes and gave up an average exit velocity of 94.6 mph on 12 balls in play. His velocity was down significantly in this one, and given his fastball-heavy approach and inconsistent secondaries, there's just no way Harrison can survive like that. And he didn't. I remain unimpressed by his 4.09 ERA and 4.89 xERA. | | Tyler Phillips, Phillies @SEA: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – I didn't see much reason to get excited about Phillips despite a complete-game shutout against the Guardians in his last outing, and I certainly don't feel any regrets after this one. He's likely not long for the rotation with Taijuan Walker and Ranger Suarez on their way back, and there's no reason to add him after this one. | | Hitters | | Shohei Ohtani, DH, Dodgers – Ohtani is just ridiculous. He stole three bases Saturday and is on a 93-steal (!!!) pace since July 1. He is hitting .287/.400/.604 with seven HR, and 15 SB in that time while ramping up his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery. We've never seen anything like him before. | | Ketel Marte, 2B, Diamondbacks – After homering twice Friday and then again Sunday, Marte now has eight in 15 games since the All-Star break, and it's not just some random hot streak – he's in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 96th percentile in hard-hit rate. We're seeing the high end of what Marte is capable of, but it's not a fluke. | | Royce Lewis, 3B, Twins – It's just completely ridiculous at this point. Lewis needed all of two games to his first homer after returning from yet another stint on the IL last week, and he added two more, along with seven RBI and four walks in three games against the White Sox this weekend. At this point, I'm pretty much convinced that if he ever stays healthy he's going to win an MVP. | | Tyler Fitzgerald, SS, Giants – Homered again Sunday, and now has 10 in 16 games and a 1.001 OPS. He's rostered in 84% of CBS Fantasy leagues and, honestly, that feels low at this point. | | Jackson Holliday, SS, Orioles – Remember when Holliday seemed overwhelmed back in April? Well, he's homered twice in five games since coming back from the minors and has three straight multi-hit games after Sunday – with 11 hard-hit balls out of 13 batted balls total. Oh boy, this might be about to get really exciting. | | Zach Neto, SS, Angels – Neto homered Saturday after being moved up to the No. 2 spot in the order. He's been having a quiet, solid season and is on track for 20-plus homers and 30 steals, with mediocre counting stats being the primary knock against him. Well, that might be changing with this lineup spot swap, and it could make Neto a must-start SS in all categories leagues. | | Anthony Volpe, SS, Yankees – Volpe homered Friday and Saturday, and has been both swinging harder and hitting the ball to the pull side more since the All-Star break, with five homers in 15 games as a result. And, unlike last year, where he had to totally sell out for power, he's doing it with a manageable 21.5% strikeout rate during this stretch. If he can marry last year's power with this year's contact gains, well, that was the whole hope coming into the season, right? Let's keep an eye on this one. | | News and notes | | Great news: Freddie Freeman is expected back sometime during the team's upcoming series, as his son has been released from the hospital. | | Mookie Betts (hand) won't be back this week, but he is expected to return during next week's home stand, per Dave Roberts. | | Yoshinobu Yamamoto (shoulder) threw a 20-pitch bullpen session Saturday and will do so again Tuesday. He's likely out until September in a best-case scenario, but it seems like he's recovering well. | | When asked if he thinks Kyle Tucker (shin) will be back before September, Astros manager Joe Espada had this to say: "It would be too aggressive for me to say we'll have him by the end of the month." Remember, this was an injury that was initially viewed as day-to-day, and he's been out since early June, with no apparent timetable to return yet. | | Ranger Suarez (back) is unlikely to return next weekend when first eligible, though he should throw a bullpen session in the next day or two, so hopefully it won't be too long of an absence. | | Justin Verlander (neck) threw a simulated game Sunday, throwing 37 pitches and hitting 94 mph with his fastball. We'll likely see him begin a rehab assignment shortly and could be back in the next few weeks. At this point, anything I get from the veteran is a bonus. | | Jacob deGrom (elbow) threw a 45-pitch bullpen session Saturday and could begin a rehab assignment soon. It looks like he'll be back in September, and I don't need to remind you of what deGrom is capable of in short bursts, do I? | | Jared Jones (lat) threw live batting practice Saturday and should be out on a rehab assignment soon. I would prioritize stashing Jones over Verlander and deGrom, despite his flagging performance before the injury. Maybe this will have the unexpected benefit of getting him fresh for the stretch run. | | Kerry Carpenter (back) ran the bases Sunday. He could be cleared for a rehab assignment soon and might be back before the end of August. | | Clarke Schmidt (lat) will face live hitters for the first time since late May. He could begin a rehab assignment shortly after that and might be back before the end of the month. I might prioritize stashing him ahead of Verlander, given how well Schmidt was pitching before the injury. | | Mason Miller (finger) will throw a simulated game Monday and has been playing catch in recent days, a sign he is close to returning from the fractured finger on his non-throwing hand. It could happen this week. | | Walker Buehler will make at least one more minor-league start before returning to the team's rotation. He has given up eight earned runs in 7.1 innings while walking five in two starts at Triple-A, but hey at least he has nine strikeouts. Like with Verlander, anything I get from Buehler at this point is a pure bonus. | | Bobby Miller was scratched from his Triple-A start Friday due to adductor tightness. Miller was initially sent down to work on his mechanics, but now he has an injury on top of that, making it awfully tough to justify stashing him at this point. | | Casey Mize (hamstring) will be cleared to begin a rehab assignment Sunday, but he isn't eligible to return until Sept. 1. Looks like he'll be back around then, and he'd have to show something really impressive -- like, say, a breaking ball he can consistently get whiffs with -- in his rehab assignment to excite me at this point. | | Anthony Rizzo (forearm) has been swinging a bat at low intensity, so he's making slow and steady progress ... though it's not clear he has a job waiting for him if and when he returns. | | Liam Hendriks will face live hitters for the first time Tuesday since undergoing Tommy John surgery. He could be back by September, though is unlikely to matter much for Fantasy. | | Taijuan Walker (finger) will make another rehab start Tuesday and could be cleared to return shortly after. He gave up 2 ER in 2.2 innings in his previous rehab outing, and I'm not expecting much from him at this point. | | Charlie Blackmon missed Sunday's game after being hit in the face while running the bases by a throw. | | Merrill Kelly (shoulder) will make a minor-league rehab start Tuesday at High-A. He's been out since April but should be able to return after a few turns through the rotation if he avoids a setback. | | Matt McLain, on the IL recovering from shoulder surgery, will be limited for at least the next few days with a stress reaction in his rib. It may not change his timetable for a minor-league rehab assignment next week, but that's unclear at this point. | | Start them this week? | | Michael King (calf) was scratched from Sunday's start against the Rockies after being struck by a line drive during last weekend's start. It doesn't sound like it's too serious, but we don't know when he'll make his next start. I would probably try to avoid him just in case he doesn't slot into the rotation this week. | | Heliot Ramos (thumb) missed Sunday's game after leaving Saturday with an injury that has been bothering him for a while now. It doesn't sound like an IL stint is happening, but I'm a little wary of starting him, at least in three-outfielder leagues. | | Tyler O'Neill missed Saturday and Sunday's games with an illness, but I would hope he'll be back early this week. | | Byron Buxton exited after colliding with a wall, though the removal was precautionary, according to the team. I'm starting him absent a negative update Monday morning. | | Ian Happ was scratched Sunday with a sore shoulder after hitting the wall Saturday. I'm leaning toward starting him. | | Yandy Diaz left Sunday with a left wrist contusion suffered in the field. He's a fringe starter at best, so I don't mind sitting him if you're nervous. | | Wyatt Langford missed Saturday and Sunday's games with back tightness. Bruce Bochy did say he could play if necessary, so I'm hoping we'll see him back in the lineup early in the week. | | Tyler Mahle (elbow) will make his season debut Tuesday against the Astros. I'm interested to see what Mahle looks like, but he's definitely a wait-and-see guy. | | Eduardo Rodriguez (shoulder) will make his season debut this week. Ditto for him. | | To the IL | | Max Scherzer (shoulder), retroactive to July 31. This has been an ongoing issue for the veteran all season, and at this point, I'm not sure he needs to be stashed if you need the roster space. | | Drew Thorpe (elbow) was placed on the IL Friday with a flexor tendon strain. It's not clear how long he'll be gone, but I don't think Thorpe has enough upside to be worth stashing if you need the IL spot. | | Luis Rengifo (wrist), after initially being expected to be available off the bench Saturday. | | Michael Siani with a right oblique strain – likely to miss 3-4 weeks. Victor Scott was recalled but he's been awful in AAA and doesn't seem to have anywhere to play on an everyday basis, so I don't see much reason to get excited about him right now. | | Richie Palacios (knee) will miss 4-6 weeks, so his season is pretty much over. The Rays called up Kameron Misner, who has decent minor-league numbers but who probably won't play enough to matter in most Fantasy leagues. | | | | | | | | 24/7 Sports News | | Golazo Network | Stay up to date on all the sports you love with CBS Sports HQ. We bring you the top stories, news, picks, highlights and more anywhere, anytime, all the time.
Watch Free
| | Watch LIVE global soccer coverage on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, available FOR FREE on the CBS Sports App, Pluto TV and streaming on Paramount+.
Watch Live
|
| | | | |
|
|
