| | | | Friday, April 4, 2025 | | The Rockies are really bad. | | I know I'm not telling any tales out of school here, but it feels worth bringing up after Thursday saw them fall to 1-5 to open the season with a new low – they were shut out by Taijuan Walker, who has recently looked so hopeless that he got booed during a Spring Training game. This is a team that is extremely short on MLB-caliber talent, and they're playing like it. | | It's frustrating to see a .576 OPS next to Brenton Doyle's name, let alone the .255 mark Michael Toglia is carrying or the .292 one Ezequiel Tovar has – if it seems like Hunter Goodman is the only player I've had anything positive to say about in the first week of the season, there's a reason for it. But it should also go without saying that your frustration shouldn't cause you to do anything drastic like drop any of these players, and there's one especially good reason for that: They haven't played a game at Coors Field yet! | | One week shouldn't change your opinion about any player, of course, but that's especially true for players on the Rockies when they haven't played at Coors Field yet. Coors Field is, of course, the best hitting environment in baseball and a big part of the case for drafting any Rockies hitter. If you liked Doyle, Tovar, or Toglia enough to draft them two weeks ago, it would be foolish to even think about moving on from them when they haven't played at Coors Field. | | It might not work out for any of them, of course. Toglia and Tovar were viewed by many Fantasy players as pretty fringe-y options in draft season, and Doyle had plenty of doubters coming off his breakout season. It would be perfectly reasonable not to believe in any of those players. But the point here is that you shouldn't believe in any of them any less after one week, especially one week away from Coors. | | I'm gonna give all of these guys a fairly long leash. The Rockies are about to play 15 of their next 26 games at home, and while that isn't a huge sample in and of itself, I want to see what they all look like with at least a chance to take advantage of Coors Field. | | If you're wondering why I'm taking the time to highlight one pretty unimportant team with my previous newsletter real estate this morning, it's because Thursday is probably going to go down as one of the most uneventful days of the entire season. There were only five games on the schedule, and that included names like Carlos Carrasco, Antonio Senzatela , and Taijuan Walker taking the mound, so there really wasn't much you needed to know about happening yesterday. | | What you do need to know about is here, of course, but there won't be any waiver-wire targets in today's newsletter because there just weren't many to talk about. We'll be back Sunday to highlight the top targets for every position heading into Week 3, so stay tuned for that. And if you want more to read this morning, I wrote about three buy-low and one sell-high candidate from the first week of the season here, while Scott White's first Prospects Report of the season is here. | | For now, here's what you need to know about from Thursday's limited action: | | | | Thursday's Standouts | | | | Joe Ryan, Twins vs. HOU: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K –p Ryan's velocity was down a bit this spring, which set off some mild alarm bells. Well, those claxons are starting to get a bit louder, because his performance Thursday was exactly what you worry about with him. Ryan wasn't terrible, but he certainly wasn't great, giving up back-to-back homers en route to a pretty disappointing showing. He just hasn't looked right so far, leaning way more heavily on his fastball than we've gotten used to in recent years – which is especially worrisome given the velocity, which was actually down to 92.2 mph, 1.8 down from 2024. His fastball has generally been pretty effective even in the low 90s, but he's always been homer-prone, and that problem is exacerbated by both the lower velocity and the lack of faith in the secondaries. I'm not panicking yet, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. | | Hunter Brown, Astros @MIN: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K – Brown is suddenly one of the hardest-throwing starters in baseball, averaging nearly 98 mph with his fastball through his first two starts. It allowed him to feature his four-seamer more without losing effectiveness, a big deal since his turnaround last season was fueled by a focus on his sinker. That sinker is still here, holding strong with a 25% usage rate, but if he can throw the more whiff-prone version of the fastball without sacrificing, that could be huge. He's off to an excellent start with two quality starters and 15 strikeouts to three walks in 12 innings, and there just might be another level he's reaching for here. | | Tanner Houck, Red Sox @BAL: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – It's been a decidedly underwhelming start for Houck, though I'll note two caveats: First, starting on the road against the Rangers and Orioles is a pretty tough combo; Secondly, he did at least get some strikeouts in this one, albeit with a pretty underwhelming nine whiffs. Houck took a big step back in the second half of last season and has looked pretty pedestrian for his past dozen or so starts, and it's not like he had a long track record of success before that. He might just be an end-of-rotation option for Fantasy now. | | Nick Lodolo, Reds @MIL: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – The strikeouts still aren't there, but Lodolo was back to leaning on his curveball after largely avoiding it in his first start. We'll need strikeouts and whiffs to show up at some point, but this was a solid enough showing that I don't have too many concerns moving forward. | | | | Nestor Cortes, Brewers vs. CIN: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – The thing about Cortes is, his success has always derived, at least in part, on being one of the more unique pitchers in baseball. Which means that teams tend to perform better the more they've seen of him, and it might make sense that the Yankees would dominate him after seeing so much of him over the years as a teammate. The Reds have seen very little of him, and whaddyaknow, he put up a great showing. I'm not saying you need to run out and add him, but if you don't drop him yet, this start was a good reminder of what he's capable of in the right matchups. | | Charlie Morton, Orioles vs. BOS: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – Yeah, that's kind of the Charlie Morton experience in a nutshell at this point. There will be moments where he looks pretty useful thanks to his ability to rack up strikeouts, but too often, it'll come with a harmful ERA and WHIP. He's just a streamer at this point. | | Taijuan Walker, Phillies vs. COL: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K – If Walker could manage to become a viable streaming type again, that would feel like a pretty huge win for him, and for the Phillies, who don't have much depth in the rotation despite their incredible high-end options. But I need to see a lot more than one good start against maybe the worst lineup in baseball to buy in at any level. | | Jose Alvarado, RP, Phillies – There have been hints that the Phillies were leaning this way, but this was the first save of the season for them, and it did indeed go to Alvarado. He's throwing even harder this season, which is scary because he's always been pretty dominant. I don't think Alvarado will get every single save for the Phillies moving forward – that he wasn't exactly dominant here didn't help – but I would bet on him being the most likely to get the next save, at least. | | Jose Altuve, 2B, Astros – Altuve struck out five times Thursday against the Twins, the first five-strikeout game of his career. He had struck out six times in his first 25 trips to the plate before that, which isn't altogether concerning, so I don't want to worry too much about this. File this one under "Stuff Happens," but with a flag that Altuve is 35, so a drastic drop-off wouldn't be shocking. | | Kristian Campbell, 2B, Red Sox – Campbell hit his second homer of the season Thursday and is 10 for 24 with four walks to five strikeouts in the early going. It's a long season, but this is certainly what we wanted to see from him. And a good reminder that the Red Sox know more about him than anyone else, so if they weren't worried about his poor numbers in the spring, maybe we shouldn't have been either. He has top-five 2B upside, and he's not far from being a top-10 option. | | Jackson Holliday, 2B, Orioles – Holliday only had one hit Thursday, but it came along with two batted balls hit over 100 mph, and it pushed him to a .311/.333/.478 line through the first six games. However, it has still come with a 33% strikeout rate. It's still too early to draw any conclusions, but some of the warning signs are still here, including a 28.9% whiff rate, nearly four points higher than league average. Better than last year, but still a little concerning. | | Cedric Mullins, OF, Orioles – Mullins is off to an electric start, with his third homer and second steal of the season coming Thursday against the Red Sox. He's hitting .308/.400/.692 in the early going and showing no signs of losing playing time like we thought might happen – Colton Cowser 's thumb injury surely helps here. I wouldn't be looking to sell high on him just yet. | | | | News and Notes | | Freddie Freeman was placed on the IL with his lingering ankle injury, retroactive to March 31. It's concerning that Freeman couldn't even make it a week before suffering a setback with his surgically repaired ankle, though the fact that it was a freak off-field accident might make it easier to stomach. It's pretty worrisome either way. If you need a first baseman, Spencer Torkelson is probably the first option you should look for, though I would also consider Ben Rice, who is off to a solid start for the Yankees. | | Gunnar Henderson is expected to be activated Friday against the Royals. He's been out since the spring with an intercostal strain, and it's possible he gets off to a slow start as a result. But he's been healthy enough to play for about a week, so I'm hoping he hits the ground running. | | Ranger Suarez could face live hitters before the end of the week. He's on the IL with lower back stiffness. | | The Braves transferred Reynaldo Lopez to the 60-day IL. No surprise, he's scheduled for arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder and will be out until at least June. | | Edward Cabrera tossed three innings in a rehab start Tuesday. He'll likely need one or two more outings before joining the Marlins, but I probably need to see something from him in an MLB game before he's worth adding. | | Lucas Giolito threw 51 pitches over 2.1 innings in his first rehab start at Triple-A. He'll need at least two more rehab outings before he joins the Red Sox rotation, and also needs to show us something before I'm adding him. | | | | | | | | Final Four® Coverage | | Serie A | CBS Sports HQ is your final stop for Final Four® coverage all week long! Stay up to date with the latest news, analysis and game previews leading up to that one shining moment.
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