| | | | Monday, August 12, 2024 | | We've got a ton of news and performances from the weekend to get to this morning, so let's not waste any time. Here's everything you need to know to set your Week 21 lineup: | | Week 21 Preview | | | | Six teams play seven games this week, while the Athletics and Marlins drew the short straw, playing just five games. You've got some tough decisions to make with Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler, and Jake Burger, but I think you can pretty safely sit everyone else from these two teams this week. | | Week 21 waiver targets | | There's been a ton of changes to the closer landscape lately, and if you need saves, Justin Martinez (25%), Ryan Walker (36%), and Lucas Erceg (14%) should be at the top of your priority list this week. Here's who else we're looking to add this week: | C: Austin Wells, Yankees (42%)
1B: Jake Burger, Marlins (71%)
2B: Luis Garcia , Nationals (75%)
3B: Zach Dezenzo, Astros (13%)
SS: Zachary Neto, Angels (80%)
OF: Kerry Carpenter, Tigers (54%), Jesus Sanchez, Marlins (14%), Jake McCarthy, Diamondbacks (26%), Masataka Yoshida, Red Sox (61%)
SP: Spencer Arrighetti, Astros (45%), Tobias Myers, Brewers (63%), Ryne Nelson, Diamondbacks (36%), Jeffrey Springs, Rays (64%) | | For more deep-league targets, plus my thoughts on each of those players and more, head here. | | | | Week 21 sleeper hitters | | Best hitter matchups for Week 21: | 1. Mets OAK3, MIA3
2. Phillies MIA2, WAS4
3. Padres PIT3, @COL3
4. Yankees @CHW3, @DET3
5. Dodgers @MIL4, @STL3 | | Worst hitter matchups for Week 21: | 1. Pirates @SD3, SEA3
2. White Sox NYY3, @HOU3
3. Rays HOU3, ARI3
4. Athletics @NYM3, SF2
5. Tigers SEA3, NYY3 | | Top sleeper hitters for Week 21: | 1. Josh Bell, 1B, Diamondbacks (61%) COL3, @TB3
2. Gavin Lux, 2B, Dodgers (31%) @MIL4, @STL3
3. Neil Walker, Mets (71%) OAK3, MIA3
4. Wilyer Abreu, OF, Red Sox (64%) TEX3, @BAL4
5. Masataka Yoshida, DH, Red Sox (57%) TEX3, @BAL4 | | Week 21 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 21: | 1. Paul Blackburn, Mets (42%) vs. OAK, vs. MIA
2. Spencer Arrighetti, Astros (32%) vs. CHW
3. Tyler Anderson, Angels (79%) vs. TOR
4. Jose Soriano, Angels (45%) vs. ATL
5. Hayden Birdsong, Giants (72%) at OAK | | | | Weekend Standouts | | Good pitching | | Gerrit Cole , Yankees vs. TEX: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – Okay, now that's more like it. For the first time all season, Cole's slider returned the kind of results we're looking for, generating seven of his 18 whiffs. The physical characteristics of the pitcher weren't much different than his previous starts, so I'm not sure exactly what changed, but he just had everything working in this one – nine whiffs with the four-seamer and seven with the curveball in addition to the work he did with the slider. I'm not 100% ready to declare Cole is back, but this is unequivocally the best he's looked since coming back. | | Logan Webb, Giants vs. DET: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – Webb continues to rediscover the feel for his changeup, and that's a very good sign. For the season, his whiff rate is still just, but it's up to 30.8% over the past two starts, and he got a bunch of whiffs with his sweeper in this one as well. Webb is never someone you want to rely on for strikeout volume, but part of why he has been relatively frustrating for much of this season has been a step back from even the modest levels we're used to. So this is a good sign. | | Robbie Ray, Giants vs. DET: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K – The command remains iffy, but hey, what else is new? You can live with that if Ray is generating tons of whiffs and strikeouts and that's what we're seeing so far, with a whiff rate of over 40% on both his slider and curveball to date. The trick for Ray has always been about balancing the chase for whiffs with avoiding walks, and he's mostly been on the right side of that this season. I'm pretty encouraged by what we've seen and do think he'll be a very solid starter moving forward. t has to stay healthy for two months, right? | | | | Spencer Schwellenbach, Braves @COL: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – In light of his double-digit strikeout efforts in the previous two starts, this one almost feels underwhelming until you remember he did it at Coors Field. I generally think Coors Field makes it impossible to analyze any pitcher's performance, good or bad because it's such a unique environment for pitchers. But given how good Schwellenbach has been recently, I don't think you can be anything but pleased with this performance, even if it might not have a ton of predictive value moving forward. The stuff still plays very, very well and Schwellenbach's 3.20 xERA suggests even better days could be ahead. | | Tanner Houck, Red Sox vs. HOU: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – The result here is good, but I don't think this is one you can feel super optimistic about. Houck has been struggling of late, and this is now the third time in his past six starts where he has more walks than strikeouts. The results have still, on the whole, been decent, as he has a 4.18 ERA during those six starts. But with 19 strikeouts to 19 walks in his 33.1 innings, it doesn't feel sustainable. I'm feeling very iffy about Houck these days. | | Zach Eflin, Orioles @TB: 7 IP, 4 H 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – Eflin doesn't look exactly like he did last season since getting to the Orioles, but I also don't think his success is just a fluke. The strikeout rate is up a touch from prior to the trade, though there isn't a simple explanation for why that would be the case in his underlying metrics – he's throwing his changeup more, but that's actually a pretty poor swing and miss pitch, so that doesn't explain it at all. His curveball and cutter have both simply been significantly better, but I think the bigger thing here is just that he's in a much better environment than in Tampa, both in terms of the ballpark he pitches in and the team surrounding him. That alone makes Eflin a more valuable Fantasy option, even if I don't necessarily buy that he's dramatically improved. | | Tobias Myers, Brewers vs. CIN: 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K – So, here's the problem with running out and adding Myers where available: His next start is against the Dodgers, potentially with Mookie Betts back. He's been more than solid this season, and his 3.89 xERA suggests that even when he regresses, he shouldn't be bad, but I just don't know if I want to trust him against that matchup, even if I do think he should be pretty useful moving forward overall. | | Jose Berrios, Blue Jays vs. OAK: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – There just never seems to be much to explain why Berrios swings so wildly from being dominant to being terrible and right back. His velocity was actually down a bit in this one, but his slurve and changeup both played up as swing-and-miss pitches, leading to the strong result. It was his second very good start in the past three, though, so if you want to buy in, maybe Berrios is about to go on one of those good runs. I just won't have much to say about how he's getting there if he does. | | DL Hall, Brewers vs. CIN: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 9 K – Control remains a big hurdle for Hall, but it was promising to see his velocity up more than 2 mph on three of his four pitches, including the fastball. The stuff has always been impressive when he's working in this range, and I could see Hall going on a nice run through the end of the season if he can just keep the walks in the "normal, bad" range. I'm not saying he's a must-add, but I'm very interested in seeing what the next start or two looks like because there's upside here. | | Osvaldo Bido, Athletics @TOR: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – Since returning to the Athletics' rotation, Bido has three starts in four tries with two or fewer runs. So, should we be buying in? I don't really see it, to be honest. It's a low-to-mid-90s fastball with mediocre shape and a bunch of decent secondaries, but none that really stand out. He can be a decent pitcher moving forward, I suppose, but let's not forget what happened in the other start he made – seven runs in 3.2 innings. That's the downside. | | Bad Pitching | | Garrett Crochet , White Sox vs. CHC: 2.1 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 5 K – I think we're at the point where Crochet can be dropped in shallow leagues. That's not to say I don't think he'll have any value the rest of the way, but it's hard to see what the path to upside looks like for someone who probably isn't going to throw 90-plus pitches in any outing moving forward. His margin for error is just extremely slim now, and he also just isn't pitching well right now. The biggest thing for the White Sox is making sure he enters the offseason healthy, either with an eye on a trade or to rebuild his value early on next season. Either way, they're going to keep treating him with kid's gloves, and that's going to make it basically impossible to trust him. | | Max Fried, Braves @COL: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 9 K – I never want to hold a bad start in Coors against a pitcher, because the ball literally moves differently there. But Fried was coming off a poor start in his last outing before this one, and that was also coming off that forearm injury, which is hard to ignore. I'm not panicking just yet, but I might be if he struggles again this week in a sneaky tough matchup against the Giants. | | Nick Lodolo, Reds @MIL: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – Lodolo's curveball just hasn't been the same lately, and that's the biggest reason he's been so underwhelming. In this one, he generated just five swings on it, leading to two whiffs on 19 pitches. The problem is, that's the pitch he throws trying to generate chases, and if batters aren't going after it out of the zone, it tends to drag the whole profile down; he's going to issue more walks and have more trouble putting hitters away leading to longer at-bats and just general inefficiency. Lodolo now has a 5.87 ERA with a 23.2% strikeout rate since July 1, and I just don't think you can view him as a must-start pitcher at this point. | | Cristopher Sanchez , Phillies @ARI: 4.2 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – It's worth pointing out that this is a pretty tough matchup, but that wasn't something that really mattered for Sanchez earlier in the season. He has now allowed six or more earned runs in two of his past three starts and three of the past season, which is pretty tough after it looked like Sanchez was truly breaking out. Given his midding strikeout rates, there might just be a relatively hard ceiling on his range of outcomes, with his 3.63 ERA looking pretty reasonable in that context. He's got a good matchup against a Nationals team that ranks 27th in wOBA vs. LHP this week, so I'm probably still starting Sanchez this week, but I wish I had more optimism about it. | | News and notes | | The Giants optioned Camilo Doval to Triple-A on Friday, one day after he gave up three runs and took his fifth blown save. His walk rate is up to an untenable 14.3% rate on the season, and he has a 6.75 ERA since June 1, so while it seems extreme, it's actually pretty reasonable. Ryan Walker has been named the team's closer and got his first save Saturday. He has a 2.24 ERA and 0.88 WHIP for the season and could just run away with this job moving forward. | | Joe Ryan went on the IL with a Grade 2 right teres major strain. Manager Rocco Baldelli said Ryan's recovery will take "weeks to months". The Twins could promote pitching prospect Zebby Matthews to take Ryan's place in the rotation. Matthews has a 2.60 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and 114 strikeouts over 97 innings across three levels, though he hasn't been great in four Triple-A starts. He's not really someone you have to stash until we see him get the call, and potentially until we see him actually have some success in the majors. | | Astros manager Joe Espada said Sunday that Kyle Tucker seems to have turned a corner in his recovery and is "getting close" to running the bases. He's been out since June 7 with his shin injury | | Julio Rodriguez was activated from the IL Sunday, going 0 for 5 with five strikeouts. Rodriguez will likely be limited to just DH duties for a little while, but he's obviously worth getting back in your lineups in all formats. | | Dave Roberts said Mookie Betts will play right field when he returns Monday against the Brewers. Betts will also bat second with Ohtani remaining in the leadoff spot, and we are absolutely getting him active in all leagues. It would be great to see him get 20 appearances in the outfield to have extra eligibility next season – and he only needs four more at second base to lock in eligibility there as well. | | Ketel Marte exited Saturday with a left ankle contusion. He was out Sunday but sounds like he avoided serious injury. The team didn't even send him for X-rays, so I'd start him this week. | | Mike Trout underwent successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, his second one this year. He should be ready to go for Opening Day 2025, but it'll be tough to justify using a top-100 pick on a | | CJ Abrams missed all three games this weekend due to back spasms. He said he's hoping to return Tuesday against the Orioles, but he's a risky start this week given the risk of a setback. I might start Zach Neto over him if I had both. | | Jarren Duran could be suspended after he got caught on a hot mic saying a derogatory term towards a fan. We've seen players suspended for similar incidents in the past so that's something to keep an eye on before lineups lock. | | Zac Gallen was removed from Saturday's start due to general body cramps, but he doesn't expect to miss time. | | Yoshinobu Yamamoto will throw a bullpen Tuesday and then rejoin the team next weekend to throw a live batting practice session. He's been out since June 16 with a strained rotator cuff, and will probably need at least a few weeks' worth of rehab outings, which probably won't start until at least after next week at the earliest. He's probably out until September in a best-case scenario. | | Grayson Rodriguez, who went on the IL with a right lat strain earlier in the week, will be shut down for 10 days and hopes to be back in September. | | Max Scherzer, who was placed on the IL with right shoulder fatigue on August 2, returned to Texas on Sunday to receive further evaluation. Apparently, his shoulder hasn't responded to extra rest like they had anticipated, and if you need the roster spot, I think Scherzer is droppable at this point. | | Justin Verlander looked good in his first rehab start Saturday, striking out three over three innings while getting up to 52 pitches. I would guess he'll need at least one more rehab start, if not more before he returns from his neck injury. | | 3 IP 2 H 2 BB 1 ER 3 K, got up to 52 pitches | | Riley Greene is expected to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday at Triple-A. He's on the IL with a right hamstring strain and could be back next week if all goes well. | | Lourdes Gurriel left Sunday's game due to left hamstring tightness. | | Dodgers president Andrew Friedman told reporters that he expects Max Muncy and Tommy Edman to be activated during the Dodgers' next homestand, which begins on Monday, Aug. 19. | | Nathan Eovaldi was removed early Saturday due to right side tightness. He'll return to Texas to meet with the team doctors, and I would sit him this week if I can get away from him. | | Alex Cora said Triston Casas will be activated whenever Casas feels his timing at the plate is ready. He's currently on a rehab assignment at Triple-A. | | Yankees GM Brian Cashman said there is "no current lane" to call up Jasson Dominguez. It's unfortunate that Dominguez was hurt right at the same time Stanton got hurt and Alex Verdugo was slumping, because there just might not be a path to the majors without another injury. | | Matt McLain will not begin his rehab assignment Monday. It's not clear what's going on, but it seems reasonable to assume it's related to the stress reaction in his ribs from earlier in July. | | Walker Buehler will return Wednesday against the Brewers. His last start in the minors was better, but his velocity remained down and we just haven't seen very much positive out of Buehler this season. He needs to prove himself before you trust him again. | | Here's a name we haven't heard in a while: Trevor Story will take batting practice on the field Monday. He underwent successful surgery for a fractured left shoulder in mid-April and the feeling was that he would miss the entire season. Alex Cora now says he's "truly believing" Story will make it back before the end of the season. | | To the IL this weekend | | Austin Hays with a left hamstring strain. | | Brooks Lee with right biceps tendinitis. | | River Ryan with right forearm tightness, left his start early on Saturday, and he's done for the season. | | Hunter Harvey with mid-back tightness. I'm expecting Lucas Erceg to serve as the primary closer for the Royals moving forward. | | Wenceel Perez with a left oblique strain. | | | | | | | | 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.
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