Email Not Displaying? Click Here
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
And now we wait. Obviously the most important news in the world of Fantasy Baseball is regarding one of the faces of the sport in Fernando Tatis. He left Monday's game after appearing to re-aggravate a left shoulder injury. You can find more on that below.
Monday was filled with some big performances from players who may be available on your waiver wire. Most notable were Carlos Rodon, Steven Matz, and Akil Baddoo. Rodon and Matz, both regarded as former top prospects, are trying to climb back into Fantasy relevance. Both wound up with nine strikeouts each and should be speculatively added in 10-team leagues or deeper. Baddoo doesn't come with as much prospect pedigree but he had a great spring and has now homered in each of his first two games. The Detroit Tigers aren't exactly flush with talent so as long as Baddoo performs, he should play. Find out more about Monday's action below and on today's podcast.
And of course, you can subscribe to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify.
Tatis suffers left shoulder subluxation
Padres SS Fernando Tatis Jr. fell to the ground and clutched his arm after a big swing-and-miss on Monday night and he left the game. San Diego has since confirmed that Tatis suffered a left shoulder subluxation and he will be re-evaluated tomorrow. A subluxation is an official term for a dislocation. Tatis has dealt with his shoulder popping out at times in the past, and the broadcast booth for tonight's game mentioned him dealing with a shoulder injury in the spring, but this one looked particularly painful. That's all the speculation we'll be doing -- we'll wait for the official word on his status -- but a trip to the IL seems likely.
More news and notes
  • Assumed Blue Jays closer Julian Merryweather may not pitch in back-to-back games early in the season. He almost didn't make the initial 26-man roster due to back tightness late in the spring. Given his lengthy injury history, the Jays intend to be very careful with his workload. Well, thanks for telling us this after we spent all our FAAB on him! After picking up two saves on opening weekend, Merryweather was one of the highest-priced early waiver additions, but it's possible he might be sharing the saves with former presumed closer Jordan Romano
  • The Marlins placed SP Elieser Hernandez on the IL with that right biceps injury he suffered in his first start Saturday. 
  • Marlins 1B Garrett Cooper was placed on the COVID IL after a bad reaction to the vaccine. Craig Mish reported it shouldn't be a long stay for Cooper.
  • The Orioles placed OF Austin Hays on the 10-day IL with a hamstring injury. That should help shore up playing time for OF Cedric Mullins, who is off to a nice start and led off against a lefty Monday.
  • Blue Jays C Danny Jansen left Monday's game after getting hit with a pitch on his knee. Maybe this opens things up for C Alejandro Kirk. If he's still on the waiver wire in your two-catcher leagues, rush to scoop him up. 
  • Padres OF Trent Grisham should be able to return from his hamstring injury this weekend against the Rangers. 
  • Padres C Austin Nola is close to taking at-bats at the alternate site.
  • Reds SP Sonny Gray, dealing with a mid-back strain, said he felt "really, really, really good" during a 60-pitch outing at the Reds' alternate training site on Monday. He is targeting a mid-April return.
  • Rays OF Kevin Kiermaier was removed from Monday's game with quad tightness. 
  • Twins IF Luis Arraez left Monday's game after going 1 for 1 with a walk and two runs scored. The Twins say he left the game with upper gastrointestinal discomfort. These are unrelated to the stomach issues that caused OF Byron Buxton to leave Sunday's game.
Monday's OMGG player 
Scott White's pick: Tigers OF Akil Baddoo
The Rule 5 pick went 2 for 4 with a grand slam during Detroit's loss to Minnesota on Monday. While there is competition in the outfield in Detroit, Baddoo possesses enough of a power/speed profile to make him an interesting player to watch in shallow mixed leagues. He also has underrated plate discipline. This was his second straight game with a home run and both of those were hit the opposite way. He also now added his first stolen base to his stat line. In deeper five-OF leagues, Scott is advising to pick Baddoo up now.
Chris Towers' pick: Blue Jays SP Steven Matz
Matz allowed just two hits, one walk and one earned run over 6 1/3 innings with nine Ks in securing the win for Toronto over Texas. This was his first start with his new team and it followed up an impressive spring. His fastball velocity was 95.3 MPH -- up about 1 MPH -- and last year he had the fastest velocity he's ever had before. He had 15 whiffs on 91 pitches with a legitimate four-pitch mix. Chris plans to go get him if he's available on the waiver wire.
My pick: Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez
Martinez went 2 for 3 with two walks, his second home run of the season and three RBI. It's early, but his 95 MPH average exit velocity and only three strikeouts to two walks are a good sign. Last season, Martinez had a .680 OPS and he blamed it on not having in-game video. Some started to worry if he was fading at 33 years old, but we kept the faith here and felt he was a value at ADP all spring. Martinez finished as the 21st-best hitter in Roto and H2H points back in 2019 and he had an OPS over .900 each season from 2016-19. 
Lineup notes from Monday
  • Angels DH/SP Shohei Ohtani was not in the lineup Monday. He reportedly argued to play, but they're playing it safe. He should be back on Tuesday.
  • White Sox SS Tim Anderson (hamstring) and OF Adam Eaton were out for the White Sox. It sounds like Anderson will miss the entire series against the Mariners.
  • Athletics OF Ramon Laureano and Astros OF Michael Brantley, both dealing with wrist injuries, were out of their respective lineups again Monday.
  • Dodgers 2B Gavin Lux and OF A.J. Pollock were both out on Monday.
  • Orioles OF Anthony Santander and Mariners OF Taylor Trammell were also out.
  • Giants 1B Brandon Belt sat against a lefty.
  • 1B/OF Dominic Smith on the bench for the Mets for their delayed Opening Day against LHP Matt Moore. Kevin Pillar was in CF with Brandon Nimmo in LF. This is despite the fact that Smith had a .876 OPS against lefties in 2019 and a .900 OPS against lefties in 2020. 
  • Brewers 1B Travis Shaw and OF Lorenzo Cain were out of the lineup. Shaw has sat back-to-back games after starting the first two. Cain is working his way back from a quad injury he had during spring training.
  • Cubs OF Joc Pederson and OF Jason Heyward were both out of the lineup against lefty Brett Anderson.
  • Red Sox 1B Bobby Dalbec was out of the lineup against Michael Wacha. Dalbec went 0 for 10 with five strikeouts over the weekend.
  • Reds OF Jesse Winker was out of the lineup Monday due to a non-COVID related illness. 
Deeper league names from Monday to watch
Royals SP Danny Duffy at CLE:  6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 11 whiffs on 97 pitches and he averaged 93.1 MPH on the fastball. This was up about a tick from last year. He's got a start later this week at the White Sox, but if you want to add him for next week, when he's home vs. the Blue Jays, he is only 9% rostered.
Reds SP/RP Jose De Leon vs. PIT: 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 K, 12 whiffs on 81 pitches and he used his sinker 73% of the time. De Leon is only 8% rostered.
Cubs SP Trevor Williams vs. MIL: 6 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K and 17 whiffs on 85 pitches. Williams is 22% rostered and with a juicy matchup at the Pirates later this week, but he draws the Braves next week. Williams had a 3.11 ERA back in 2018, but his ERA has been 5.38 and 6.18 in two seasons since.
Red Sox SP Nick Pivetta vs. TB: 5 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 4 K, 10 whiffs on 92 pitches, and his fastball velocity was up 2.1 MPH to 94.9 MPH. Pivetta is only 11% rostered.
Bullpen updates
  • Detroit Tigers: Bryan Garcia pitched the seventh inning down 13-1 and allowed three hits and two runs. Gregory Soto pitched the eighth and allowed one hit, one walk and struck out two.
  • Kansas City Royals: Scott Barlow pitched the seventh and eighth, Jesse Hahn then came up in the ninth with the Royals up 3-0. Hahn was warming up in the eighth so maybe they just went to him because he was already good to go? He got into early trouble and then Greg Holland started warming up. This bullpen seems in flux.
  • Cincinnati Reds: Lucas Sims entered in the eighth inning up 3-2 and facing 9-1-2 in the batting order. Amir Garrett was then used in the ninth up 5-2, allowing two hits (one being a HR) and a walk. Garrett finished the job to get the save.
  • St. Louis Cardinals: Jordan Hicks in the sixth, Giovanny Gallegos in the seventh and eighth and Alex Reyes in the ninth. Reyes allowed one hit but converted the save. He is only 51% rostered and the Cardinals manager has already hinted he will get save opportunities early this season.
  • Two closers who weren't used tonight because they've been used a lot recently: Phillies RP Hector Neris and Cubs RP Craig Kimbrel. Jose Alvarado had a rocky outing but picked up the save for the Phillies. Alec Mills picked up a clean save for the Cubs.
 
 
Both Real Madrid and Liverpool look to absolve the concerns around their underperforming seasons while an underdog Dortmund club tries to take down the peerless Manchester City. Stream all of the action on Paramount+.
Learn More
 
Enter Golf Props for the big major and take your free shot to win the $250,000 jackpot with another $10,000 guaranteed going to the winner. Best of all, it's 100% free to play.
Play Now
FOLLOW CBS SPORTS
You are receiving this email because you're opted in to receive Fantasy Baseball Today from CBSSports.com.
To ensure delivery of emails from CBSSports.com, please add contact@email.cbssports.com to your address book.
Not a Fantasy Football Today newsletter subscriber? Sign up here.
© 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. | 1401 West Cypress Creek Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309