| | | | Monday, September 16, 2024 | | There's two weeks left in the MLB season, and we've got a whole bunch of injured stars to account for coming out of this weekend. Let's get to everything you need to know from this weekend's action and get those lineups set for a pivotal Week 26: | | Week 26 Preview | | | | Week 26 Waiver Targets | | The most important thing to know about Week 26 as of right now is that the shortstop position is in dire straits. Francisco Lindor is the biggest question mark at the position, as he left Friday's game with a back injury, missed Saturday's, and was forced to leave Sunday's after he tried to get back to it. He'll undergo imaging on his back to determine the extent of the injury, but as of Monday morning, I'm approaching him as if he won't be available for this week. | | CJ Abrams (shoulder) and Tyler Fitzgerald (back) also both missed all three games this weekend with injuries, while Oneil Cruz left Sunday's game with a left ankle injury. It's not clear how serious any of these injuries are right now, but you'll need to have replacements ready to go for any and all of them if you have been relying on them. | | And the first place you should go check is Tommy Edman. He is 69% rostered, so it's unlikely he is available in your league, but he's probably close to a must-start option this week, coming off a five-homer week. He is hitting .300 with an .855 OPS and five steals in 24 games since joining the Dodgers and should remain a very useful option the rest of the way – and with his second base and outfield eligibility, you can probably find a spot for him even if you don't need a shortstop. | | Here are some other names to consider if you need SS help: | | Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks (31% rostered, better in points) Trevor Story, Red Sox (28%, better in Roto) Orlando Arcia, Braves (19%)Jose Tena, Nationals (13%) Otto Lopez, Marlins (10%, better in Roto) | | Here are some waiver-wire targets to consider from the other positions: | C: Hunter Goodman, Rockies (5%)
1B: Jonathan Aranda, Rays (5%)
2B: Spencer Horwitz, Blue Jays (43%)
3B: Connor Norby, Marlins (62%)
SS: Trevor Story, Red Sox (28%)
OF: Parker Meadows, Tigers (32%), Victor Robles, Mariners (34%), Tommy Pham, Royals (20%)
SP: Reid Detmers, Angels (40%), Clarke Schmidt, Yankees (62%), Edward Cabrera, Marlins (30%)
RP: Porter Hodge, Cubs (37%) | | For more deep-league targets, plus my thoughts on each of those players and more, head here. | | | | Week 26 sleeper hitters | | Best hitter matchups for Week 26: | 1. Dodgers @ATL1, @MIA3, COL3
2. Braves LAD1, @CIN3, @MIA3
3. Diamondbacks @COL3, @MIL4
4. Pirates @STL4, @CIN3
5. Cubs OAK3, WAS4 | | Worst hitter matchups for Week 26: | 1. Rangers TOR3, SEA3
2. Reds ATL3, PIT3
3. Tigers @KC3, @BAL3
4. Athletics @CHC3, NYY3
5. Brewers PHI3, ARI4 | | Top sleeper hitters for Week 26: | 1. Dylan Crews, OF, Nationals (73%) @NYM3, @CHC4
2. Tommy Edman, OF, Dodgers (69%) @ATL1, @MIA3, COL3
3. Taylor Ward, OF, Angels (71%) CHW3, @HOU4
4. Jorge Soler , OF, Braves (62%) LAD1, @CIN3, @MIA3
5. Wilyer Abreu, OF, Red Sox (66%) @TB3, MIN3 | | Week 26 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 26: | 1. Reid Detmers, Angels (40%) vs. CHW, at HOU
2. Matthew Boyd, Tigers (60%) vs. MIN, at STL
3. Albert Suarez, Orioles (37%) vs. SF, vs. DET
4. Andrew Heaney, Rangers (51%) vs. SEA
5. Kumar Rocker, Rangers (32%) vs. TOR | | | | Weekend Standouts | | Good pitching | | Jacob deGrom , Rangers @SEA: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – The biggest news here: He looked like Jacob deGrom, more or less. Given that he only threw 60 pitches and didn't make it out of the fourth inning against one of the easiest matchups he'll face, it's fair to wonder whether deGrom will be useable at all in either of his final two projected starts, but if you wanted to throw him out there against the Mariners again this week in categories leagues, I don't mind – I certainly expect more than four strikeouts from him the next time out. His velocity was down a bit from when we last saw him, and obviously, if you're projecting out for next season, I don't see how you could possibly expect a 36-year-old Jacob deGrom to stay healthy when he hasn't thrown more than 100 innings in a season since 2019. But I do expect him to be good when he's on the mound, if perhaps not quite as dominant as he's been at his best. A pick around 100th overall sounds alright, at least off the top of my head, without having ranked everyone. | | Dylan Cease, Padres @SF: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – Cease has had a pretty rough second half, so it was nice to see him settle back in this one. Especially because, for the first time this season, he was finally struggling in a way that really raised red flags; his command had gone. In five starts prior to this one, he had walked 4.9 per nine innings, by far the best stretch of his season. That's the one thing that could make me lose faith in Cease, but seeing him get back to throwing strikes and dominating (22 whiffs!) gives me the confidence to keep him in my lineup, even against a tough Astros matchup this week. As for next season, I'm probably adopting the same approach with Cease I have with Blake Snell: I'll fade him the years his price is higher and buy when it's lower. Seeing as he'll probably be drafted as a top-15 SP next season, I'll fade. | | | | Spencer Schwellenbach , Braves vs. LAD: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – Schwellenbach is one guy I'm extremely excited to draft next season, and I know I won't be alone – Scott White has talked about him as a potential top-24 SP for 2025. He has a deep, varied arsenal, led by a splitter that was at it's best in this one, generating seven whiffs on eight swings against the Dodgers. There have been some bumps in the road, and Schwellenbach is at a completely unprecedented inning total, so if he stumbles again over the final couple of starts, it won't shock me. And it won't really scare me off of drafting him next year. | | Joe Musgrove, Padres @SF: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K – So, Musgrove just came back from an elbow injury as good as ever, I guess? This was his seventh start since coming back from the IL, and he has a 2.37 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 10 K/9, and 1.7 BB/9 in those seven starts, which is pretty stunning, given how low expectations for him were coming back. He gets the White Sox this week, and yes, I expect him to continue rolling. | | Kevin Gausman , Blue Jays vs. STL: 7 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – Gausman's stuff has been greatly diminished pretty much all season, but he has figured out how to remain healthy and, increasingly, effective, in spite of it. Since the All-Star break, he now has a 3.27 ERA in 10 starts, though admittedly, in a way I don't totally buy. His 3.81 FIP is decent enough, but it's come with just 6.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9, pretty mediocre numbers. Maybe a healthy offseason will help Gausman rediscover his strikeout stuff, but absent some signs of a velocity rebound, he feels like a pretty easy fade for 2025. | | Mackenzie Gore , Nationals vs. MIA: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K – Gore still got good results because it was against the Marlins, but this wasn't exactly a super promising start in my eyes. His velocity was back down after trending up over his previous few starts, and while he managed to find some extra whiffs by leaning on his curveball, on the whole, he had just 10 on 46 swings, a pretty uninspiring mark. Gore is going to end up with an ERA right around 4.00 for the season, and until he shows he can sustain his velocity over a full season, it's going to be hard to rely on him as anything but a back-end rotation arm for Fantasy. | | David Peterson, Mets @PHI: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – I still don't quite buy it, but Peterson just continues to get the job done. He generated 18 swings and misses on 99 pitches in this one but also gave up 14 hard-hit balls, which is a pretty scary number. On the whole, I remain pretty skeptical of his success, or at the very least, think there's some serious boom or bust potential here, and I would be at least a little hesitant to trust him for a second straight start against the best offense in baseball against lefties. But he's proven me wrong a lot lately. | | Nick Martinez, Reds @MIN: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K – I think Martinez is mostly just fine, with his 2.92 ERA in nine starts since rejoining the rotation not quite backed up by his 3.76 FIP and 3.93 xFIP. So I'm mostly just highlighting him here to point out that, assuming he opts into his contract and remains in the Reds rotation in 2025, he's likely to be the best SPaRP (Starting Pitcher as Relief Pitcher) for Fantasy, at least to start the season. After an embarrassment of riches in that regard in 2024, the options look a lot less desirable right now. | | DJ Herz, Nationals vs. MIA: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – Early call, but I think I'm going to have Herz on my sleepers list for 2025. His 3.70 ERA for the season is already pretty solid, but I think there's plenty of room to grow from there, as seen by his 3.28 xERA. He's done a good job limiting hard contact while also generating a bunch of whiffs (29.2%, 77th percentile among all pitchers) and strikeouts (28.7%, 87th percentile). The Nationals feel like a team poised to take another step forward in 2025, and I think Herz might be the best pitcher on the staff in 2025. I don't know if that's a hot take or not. | | Alec Marsh , Royals @PIT: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K – Marsh had both of his breaking balls working in this one, generating 12 swinging strikes with his slider and curveball combined, and it does come after a five-start stretch back at Triple-A where he had a 1.42 ERA and 0.74 WHIP with 11.8 K/9, so I don't want to dismiss this entirely. He took advantage of a beatable matchup, and we've seen similar upside from him before without it necessarily leading to anything sustainable, but he also gets another pretty beatable matchup in Week 26 against the Tigers, so if you need pitching help and want to run him out there, I don't hate the idea of chasing some upside here. | | Richard Fitts , Red Sox @NYY: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – Fitts hasn't allowed a run through two MLB starts, and while he has just four strikeouts to four walks in 10.2 innings, it wouldn't be quite fair to say it's a total fluke – he has allowed a hard-hit rate of just 26.5% with zero barreled balls through two starts, both of which would be elite marks. It probably isn't a sustainable approach, and I can't say I'm super excited about Fitts as a long-term option. But he's going to close out the season with a start in each of the next two weeks against the Rays, and he could be decent to close it out. | | Bad Pitching | | Jack Flaherty , Dodgers @ATL: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – This was a disappointing showing from Flaherty, but I'm not sure there's much to be concerned about – he had a 2.61 ERA over his previous seven starts after joining the Dodgers, so I think it's fair to say he just didn't have it in this one. His velocity was fine, and he generated a solid 11 whiffs on 30 swings, so it mostly came down to not having his usual command. There have been points this season where it has felt like things might be coming apart for Flaherty, but I'm not thinking about benching him down the stretch. How we'll handle him for 2025 is an interesting question, the answer to which may depend at least somewhat on where he signs as a free agent. So, I'll punt on trying to answer it until we have an answer. | | Gerrit Cole, Yankees vs. BOS: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – Since joining the Yankees, Gerrit Cole has a 5.87 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with 19 homers allowed in 14 starts against the Red Sox; he has a 2.86 ERA and 1.01 WHIP with 83 homers in 109 starts against everyone else in that span. Cole has had his share of struggles this season, which have been well-documented in this newsletter, and they certainly didn't help overcome his well-documented struggles against his team's greatest rival. But I also can't say I'm any more worried about Cole than I was before this – maybe the Red Sox are just his daddy? | | Bailey Ober, Twins vs. CIN: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – Every year, there are a handful of pitchers who are mostly very, very good but struggle through a few truly dreadful starts that make their overall record look pedestrian, and Ober sure looks like | | Max Scherzer, Rangers @SEA: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – It could have gone worse! Scherzer was fine, but that's all he was against a very beatable matchup. His velocity was still down to 92.1 mph with his fastball, and I just don't have much faith that he can be much more than fine at this point. If Scherzer is back next season, I think it's likely as an end-of-rotation arm to supplement deGrom and Kumar Rocker, but his days as the front-end guy are likely in the past. | | Brandon Pfaadt , Diamondbacks vs. MIL: 1.2 IP, 7 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 K – Let Pfaadt be a warning. He was getting by, even thriving, earlier in the season with average-ish control and strikeouts and really good results on contact. That's not to say it was a fluke because his quality of contact metrics were really good. But that skill takes a long time to stabilize for pitchers, so unless someone has shown a multi-year trend of being elite at limiting hard contact, there's always a lot of risk that things will fall apart, absent other skill changes. The fact that Pfaadt was pretty brutal on contact last season should have made us especially wary that it was a real change. I have very little hope for him as a Fantasy-relevant pitcher in 2025. | | Landon Knack, Dodgers @ATL: 2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – Knack was generating very solid results without much impressive in the underlying skills, so while I was hopeful that his eight-strikeout showing the last time out against Cleveland could be the sign of him figuring it out, Knack is pretty easy to drop after a start like this one. | | Hitters | | Julio Rodriguez , OF, Mariners – Rodriguez is going to be one of the most interesting players in Fantasy to rank in 2025. I was pretty much ready to write this off as a lost season for him after he rushed back from his high-ankle sprain late in the summer, but he's gotten back on track, hitting .333 with five homers and four steals over his past 17 games, generally looking like the guy you drafted him to be way back in the spring. I'm probably not going to draft Rodriguez as a first-rounder in 2025, but with his underlying skills still mostly looking like they did in his first two seasons, I'm not going to be the one who lets him fall out of the second either. | | Fernando Tatis , OF, Padres – It's been another disappointing, difficult season for Tatis, who missed a significant amount of time in the middle of the season with a stress reaction in his leg and wasn't playing up to his potential prior to that. But he's catching fire here right at the end of the season, homering in four of his past five games and hitting .295 since coming back from the IL overall. I still think there's first-round potential here for Tatis, though it's now been four years since we've seen it. There will be a discount to be had for Tatis in 2025 if you're willing to take on some risk. I will. | | Riley Greene, OF, Tigers – Greene homered twice Sunday as he continues to build on his breakout season. There have been some ups and downs, including time missed with an injury, but he's putting up a near-30-homer pace over 162 games, with solid all-around production and the underlying numbers to match. He's not the star I might have hoped for, but I think he can be a Nick Castellanos type for a long time, with room to grow into something more if his contact skills improve. | | News and notes | | Tyler Glasnow now has a sprained right elbow, and it's unlikely he returns this season. I think it's worth noting that, despite the injury, if you drafted Glasnow this season, you should be pretty happy with how it turned out – he finished with a 3.49 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, and a career-high 134 innings pitched. You took a gamble, and you got a top-12 SP season for two-thirds of the season, more or less. There were definitely worse picks to be had, though this is also a reminder that this guy probably just isn't built to get through a full season and should be discounted as such in 2025 drafts. At this point, we really don't know any details about the injury, but assuming he's healthy come the spring, he's probably going to be drafted as a top-15 SP, and you'll have to decide for yourself if you can stomach the risk. | | Dave Roberts also told reporters he doesn't believe Clayton Kershaw will return before the end of the season. | | Tarik Skubal's right hand has checked out fine after testing, and he's expected to make his next start Wednesday against the Royals. | | Jose Altuve returned to the lineup Friday after missing Thursday with side soreness. | | Braves manager Brian Snitker said Friday that he's not sure if Ozzie Albies will play again in 2024. He suffered a fractured left wrist in late July. | | Tanner Houck was scratched from his start Friday due to right shoulder fatigue. Given the very big red flags in Houck's profile since the All-Star break, I don't mind dropping him at this point. | | Steven Kwan missed all three games this weekend due to body fatigue. He's a risky start this week, given his extended second-half slump, though maybe this also helps explain why he has slumped. | | Alec Bohm was reinstated from the IL Sunday. He was in the lineup, batting fifth. | | Carlos Correa was reinstated from the IL Saturday. He's been out since the All-Star break with Plantar Fasciitis, and it's worth remembering that he was having a great season before this injury, hitting .308 with 13 homers and an .896 OPS in 75 games. | | JT Realmuto returned to the lineup Friday after missing five straight with a left knee contusion. | | Jordan Westburg has begun hitting in the cage and is participating in full baseball activities. He's recovering from a fractured hand he suffered in late July but probably won't have enough time to be a Fantasy difference-maker for the stretch. | | Ryne Nelson was placed on the IL with right shoulder inflammation. My guess is Jordan Montgomery would jump back into the rotation. | | Daulton Varsho has missed four straight with shoulder soreness. | | Merrill Kelly has been cleared to pitch Monday, which makes him a two-start pitcher … at COL and at MIL. Yeah, I'm not starting him this week. | | Heston Kjerstad was reinstated from the IL Sunday, in the lineup, and batting fourth vs. RHP Keider Montero. He's just 26% rostered, but it just isn't clear how much he's going to play, so I wouldn't rush out and add him just yet. | | Ben Joyce was diagnosed with a right shoulder impingement and will miss the rest of the season. | | The Yankees moved Marcus Stroman to the bullpen. That means they're rolling with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt in the rotation for now. | | Matt McLain is unlikely to return before the end of the season. He had shoulder surgery back in April and then suffered a stress reaction in his rib cage as he was ramping up to return. | | Other players who went to the IL this weekend: | | Paul Sewald with left neck discomfort | | Samuel Aldegheri with a blister on his left middle finger | | | | | | | | Golazo Network | | 24/7 Sports News | 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+.
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