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| Monday, April 3, 2023 |
| Happy Monday! Wow, that was a fun opening weekend for baseball. I hope your Fantasy Baseball seasons got off to the start you were looking for -- it's always fun to stand atop a Roto league after opening weekend and fantasize about how many points you can rack up this year. I know I did that in the one league I am in first in after -- yup -- just four days. |
| Today we're going to dive into all of the good nuggets from opening weekend. We'll talk about the hottest hitter of the weekend who is likely on some of your waiver wires (depending on when your first waivers run and how shallow/deep the league is). We're also going to talk about how to deal with the Robbie Ray injury -- replacements for him and any other pitcher you're counting on to lead or contribute up top on your staff who went down early (looking at you Max Fried managers). We'll dive into some other fun nuggets from opening weekend as well, so let's cut the preamble and get rolling. |
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| Add Moncada now |
| White Sox 3B Yoan Moncada was at one point considered one of the best prospects in baseball. A few injury-plagued seasons later, he was left undrafted in most 12-team leagues, all 10-team leagues and even some 14-team leagues. On opening weekend, Moncada proved that he's as healthy as we've seen him in a while and there could be some serious post, post, post, post, post-hype sleeper appeal. |
| Moncada racked up eight hits over the weekend and capped his Sunday off with his second home run of the weekend. He has six games on the slate this week and is 56% rostered. If you need some help at the corner or utility spots, add the hot bat with talent now. Who knows how long this will last -- and how long he'll stay healthy -- but it's worth jumping on board now before it's too late. |
| Scott White highlights Moncada in his latest waiver wire column, but also looks at three players who sparked over the weekend but aren't worth adding ... for now. |
| What to do about Ray |
| The worst development of the weekend was Blue Jay SP Robbie Ray suffering a Grade 1 flexor strain. Ray told reporters he felt tightness in his left forearm and had an MRI that revealed a Grade 1 flexor strain. Ray was placed on the 15-day IL as a result of the injury and will be shut down from throwing for a minimum of two weeks. |
| Chris Towers wrote extensively about Ray's injury and who he would target to replace him in his weekend recap. The weekend recap is a new weekly feature at CBS Sports Fantasy where Towers aims to get ahead of your waiver wires. In addition to Ray replacements, you'll find his thoughts on other players worth investing in -- and those worth cutting bait on. You can find his entire weekend recap here. |
| These are the pitchers Towers is making plays for on teams where he lost Ray to the IL: |
| Graham Ashcraft, Reds (65% rostered) – "Ashcraft showed some interesting skills as a rookie, generating a bunch of weak contact on the ground, but his 15.3 strikeout rate rendered him largely ineffective. He spent the offseason working to add another breaking ball to generate more whiffs, and went out in the first outing and struck out six in seven innings against the Pirates. He got 10 whiffs on 95 pitches, a decent rate, though nothing spectacular necessarily. It's too early to say he's a new pitcher, but he was impressive enough to say he's worth adding in all leagues." Mike Clevinger, White Sox (32%) – "Clevinger's velocity was up in his first outing, as he averaged 94.7 mph with his fastball. That's not quite where he was at his peak, but it was 1.1 mph up from last year, and he looked a lot more effective than he did a year ago as well. Clevinger generated 13 whiffs on 98 pitches while leaning almost exclusively on his four-seam fastball and slider, finishing the outing with eight strikeouts in five innings. He also walked three and hit two batters, so he wasn't especially sharp, but he showed enough to think he could be a useful Fantasy option this season." Justin Steele, Cubs (54%) – "Steele pretty much went pitch-for-pitch with Brandon Woodruff Saturday, tossing six shutout innings with just one walk and eight strikeouts. That continues a theme from the end of last season, when he had 65 strikeouts and a 1.49 ERA in 54.1 innings over his final 10 starts. Steele has gone all-in on a fastball-slider combo, and that continued in his first outing, as those two pitches accounted for 80 of his 84 total pitches. It's fair to wonder how sustainable this is, but he's been doing a peak Patrick Corbin impression for a while now and probably deserves to be more widely rostered than he is." |
| The early waivers stud |
| Every season there seems to be one player who goes undrafted and immediately after opening weekend he's rostered in every league. Often times, that player ends up being a contributor for the whole season and someone you never take out of your starting lineups. It's early -- of course -- but Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan seems likely to be that player. |
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| Donovan worked hard this offseason to add some pop to his profile and it seems to have paid off. In addition to having eligibility nearly across the board, Donovan racked up two homers this opening weekend. Perhaps most importantly, Donovan did so while batting leadoff for a Cardinals lineup that bats Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado behind him. Donovan had just five homers in 2022 and so far he's hitting the ball harder than he has while batting first in a really talented lineup. If he can maintain his leadoff spot, Donovan seems destined to be a plug-and-play starter for the rest of the season. |
| Another post-hype sleeper? |
| Speaking of the Cardinals, they might have themselves another post-hype sleeper in a prospect I think the entire community may have given up a bit fast on. Cardinals 2B Nolan Gorman went 2 for 4 with two home runs on Sunday as he once again batted in the middle of a talented Cardinals lineup. Gorman has been really, really good and it's easy to forget that he's still just 22 years old. Over the weekend, he went 4 for 9 with two homers, four walks, six RBI, two runs and just two strikeouts. |
| The 2023 version of McClanahan? |
| Did we just find this year's version of Shane McClanahan in Rays SP Jeffrey Springs ? Of course, they're not anything close in style (Springs is more stylistically similar to Justin Verlander). But Springs looks as dominant as advertised in his 2023 debut and boy did his draft stock have serious helium -- similar to McClanahan last March. |
| Springs threw six NO-HIT innings with 12 strikeouts and just one walk. He delivered 13 swinging strikes on just 81 pitches and had a 12% sweeper usage. The breakout feels likely and Springs is a buy-high candidate in trades, certainly not a player to sell. |
| Steals gone wild |
| We mentioned on Friday how many more stolen bases we were already seeing from opening night and that trend only continued over the weekend. The Orioles racked up five alone on Saturday -- Jorge Mateo is already up to four on the season. Corbin Carroll grabbed his first stolen base of the season on Sunday before immediately stealing third base for his second (it was of course against Noah Syndergaard). Later in the game, he grabbed his third steal -- this game being a microcosm of the immense upside Carroll brings to the table and why so many people were willing to go well above ADP to snag him in the drafts. Tim Anderson had a steal on Friday and Saturday and Anthony Volpe has now stolen a base in each of his first three games. |
| News & notes |
| OF Lars Nootbaar wasn't in the Cardinals lineup Saturday but it turns out he jammed his thumb sliding into third base on Opening Day. He was out of the lineup Sunday as well.Braves SP Kyle Wright will make a rehab start at Triple-A Wednesday. If all goes well, he could be activated when first eligible.Dodgers 2B/3B Max Muncy left Saturday's game with a lower-body injury and was not in Sunday's lineup. He's not expected to land on the IL. Mookie Betts actually started at second base with Miguel Vargas on the bench Sunday. Tony Gonsolin is scheduled to face hitters in a live batting practice Wednesday. If all goes well, he could be back by late April or early May.Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Bryce Harper could resume hitting on the field as early as Thursday. Harper had Tommy John surgery in November and the hope has been that he could return in June or July.Harrison Bader has been swinging in a pool and could begin swinging in a case and throwing within a week. He was diagnosed with a strained oblique in early March and is still a few weeks away from returning.Jurickson Profar made his Rockies debut and was hitting leadoff Sunday. Aaron Boone said Anthony Volpe could hit leadoff at times during this season. DJ LeMahieu was out of the lineup Sunday and Gleyber Torres was the leadoff man. Carlos Rodon could pitch with hitters in the box for his next session. He remains likely to miss at least the first month with that forearm injury.Luis Severino threw Friday and Saturday without issues. He's on the IL with a low-grade lat strain. Sean Manaea could be used as a piggyback pitcher behind Anthony DeSclafani Monday. Gabe Kapler hasn't specified whether the team will use a six-man rotation or not. Anthony Rendon received treatment on his left knee after Saturday's game. I wonder if he could receive a suspension after grabbing an Oakland A's fan Friday night.Madison Bumgarner was sent back to Arizona to be examined by team doctors after experiencing arm fatigue in Saturday's start. If he has to go on the IL, the team could put Drey Jameson in the rotation or call up top prospect Brandon Pfaadt. Trevor Story is set to begin a throwing program in two weeks. He underwent internal brace surgery to repair his UCL and is expected to miss the first half of the season.Jake Cronenworth and the Padres agreed to a seven-year, $80 million extension on Friday. |
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