| | Thursday, April 25, 2024 | Wednesday wasn't the worst day of injury news we've had this season, which is mostly a testament to how tough this season has been for injuries, because it was a bad one. Before we get to Wednesday's waiver-wire targets and performance standouts, let's begin with a quick recap of the injury news you need to know about from yesterday: | Blake Snell was placed on the IL with a moderate left adductor strain. Manager Bob Melvin said Snell could miss beyond the minimum 15 days, which is pretty tough news given Snell's poor start to the season. I'm still optimistic we'll see a must-start version of Snell at some point, but that's a lot harder to project when he isn't actually healthy. Cody Bellinger was placed on the IL with multiple rib fractures, which led to Pete Crow-Armstrong's promotion. I've got thoughts on Crow-Armstrong's Fantasy appeal below, but his upside makes him work chasing in Roto leagues, even after he struggled in his first taste of the majors last season. Lane Thomas was placed on the IL with a Grade 2 MCL sprain, and while he doesn't have a timeline to return, I'd be surprised if he was back within a month, given the severity of the injury. The Nationals did not take the opportunity to call top prospect James Wood up, which isn't a surprise; I think we won't see him until June at the earliest, though I'll admit, I hold that opinion loosely. Brayan Bello was placed on the IL with right lat tightness. The team is optimistic he'll be ready to return after the minimum 15 days.Corey Seager was removed after taking a pitch off his shin. He's off to a slow start, batting .256 with just 1 HR, .661 OPS, but I have little concern he'll get going, assuming this isn't a serious injury; we have no reason to think it is at this point. Merrill Kelly, who was placed on the IL earlier in the week, is expected to miss at least one month with a teres major strain in his right shoulder. Zack Gelof was scratched due to left oblique soreness and is likely bound for the IL. Oblique injuries have a tendency to linger, so this one might be more than just the 10-day minimum stay. Gavin Williams will receive an injection and be shut down for seven days after feeling right elbow discomfort Wednesday. I dropped him outside of my top 300 in the overall rankings after this setback. Anything we get from Williams is a bonus at this point, and I'm ready to drop him in leagues without an IL spot. | We've had a ton of injuries to deal with in Fantasy this season, and while things slowed down for a few days, Wednesday made up for lost time in a big way. We have no choice but to keep marching forward, and in the rest of today's newsletter, we've got some waiver-wire replacement targets to consider, plus all the rest of the news and performances you need to know about from Wednesday. | | Wednesday's top waiver targets | | Andy Pages, OF, Dodgers (42%) – The Dodgers teed off on the Nationals Tuesday, and Pages got in on the action down at the bottom of the order, going 3 for 5 with a homer and a double. He has homered twice in his past three games and is 7 for 27 with a .903 OPS since getting the call last week. There's some swing-and-miss in his game, but he's also playing everyday and showing the power we hoped he would – and, with an 85th percentile sprint speed, more speed than I was expecting. I'm not sure he needs to be rostered in three-OF leagues, but Pages should probably be rostered everywhere else at this point. | Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs (26%) – Here's hoping this time goes a bit better for Crow-Armstrong, after he was 0 for 14 with seven strikeouts in a cup of coffee last season. That's too small a sample size to draw anything from, but he's also struggled at Triple-A to open this season, striking out 29% of the time and hitting .203/.241/.392. When he's going well, Crow-Armstrong is an intriguing potential Fantasy option, even if much of his real-life appeal as a top-20 prospect comes from his elite center field defense. He's playing 126 games between Double-A and Triple-A, and he has 22 homers and 42 steals, so it's easy to see the upside for Fantasy. Whether he'll make enough contact in the majors to live up to that upside is a different question, but if Pages isn't available, Crow-Armstrong is an interesting bench bat flier. | J.D. Martinez, DH, Mets (57%) – I'll admit, Martinez suffering a back injury immediately after he started ramping up for the season didn't make me feel great about his chances of having another big season. But I'm not going to hold it against him too much because of how good he was last season, when he hit .271/.321/.572 in 113 games with the Dodgers. He's healthy now and expected to make his debut for the Mets Friday, and while he might not play every single day immediately, there's still plenty of room for him to be a difference maker in Fantasy once he's ready to go. | | Hunter Goodman, OF, Rockies (4%) – It's the Rockies, so we can't be sure they're going to develop him or play him even if he does play well. But Goodman looks pretty dang interesting right now. He's hit .329/.380/.781 in 35 career games at Triple-A, and while that's a small sample size, he is a career .381/.352/.582 hitter in his minor-league career, so I'm not sure we should totally discount it, especially since he'll be playing half his games in Coor Fields. There's the Rockies of it all, but if he gets the opportunity, Goodman could be a legitimately useful Fantasy option, and I hope they do give him that opportunity. | Hector Neris, RP, Cubs (29%) – Neris worked the ninth with a two-run lead Tuesday, and though he gave up a solo homer, he did successfully convert his second save of the season. That came with former closer Adbert Alzolay working parts of the sixth and seventh innings, while Mark Leiter worked the eighth. So, it certainly looks like Neris is going to be the closer at least for the immediate future for the Cubs. That's what we expected after Alzolay was removed from the role, but this was confirmation. | Wilyer Abreu, OF, Red Sox (28%) – I wrote about Abreu as a waiver-wire target yesterday, so of course he had to go out and go 4 for 5 with a couple of doubles Wednesday night against the Guardians . He's hitting .322 with a .954 OPS for the season, and while there's little in his minor-league track record to support that kind of production, he does have 22 homers and eight steals in 86 career games at Triple-A, and now has four homers and seven steals while hitting .318 at the major-league level in 48 games. He probably needs to be added in all category-based leagues just in case this is even a little bit real. | | News and Notes | Framber Valdez completed a 40-pitch bullpen Wednesday and is scheduled to pitch Saturday or Sunday against the Rockies in Mexico City. Do not start him in daily lineup leagues, because that start is taking place in a stadium that is both at a higher elevation and with smaller dimensions than Coors Field. | Jordan Walker was optioned back to Triple-A. He was hitting just .155 with zero homers and zero steals in 20 games, and while there are some positive signs in his batted-ball profile, like a significant increase in barrel rate and average exit-velocity, he just hasn't shown enough of the skills that made him a top prospect yet. He was sent down last season before earning his way back after about five weeks, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him around that same timeframe. But he can be dropped in most leagues, unfortunately. | Corbin Carroll was dropped down to seventh in the Diamondbacks lineup. The broadcast said it was temporary to take some of the pressure off Carroll, so he should be able to hit his way back up to the top of the lineup … once he gets hot. I'm mostly unbothered by Carroll's slow start, however it's hard to ignore that, between last season, the playoffs, spring, and then the start of this season, he has just 11 homers in 136 games since injuring his shoulder at the end of last June. I've moved him down more to the lower-half of the first-round range of my rankings. | Jhoan Duran is scheduled for a second rehab appearance at Triple-A on Friday, and he could be back from his oblique injury soon. | Paul Sewald met with the Diamondbacks medical team to determine whether he needs another rehab appearance or if he's ready to return from the IL, and we should get word sometime Thursday. Kevin Ginkel's time as closer is running out. | Max Scherzer made his first rehab start at Triple-A Wednesday. He threw 52 pitches, allowing three runs in 2.1 innings, with his fastball velocity down around 1.5 mph from last season. He's coming back from back surgery and this was his first outing, so I'm not too concerned about a guy who famously never put up good numbers in spring training either. | Nolan Jones was out of the lineup with back stiffness. He left Tuesday's game early. | Thairo Estrada was removed due to left hamstring tightness. | J.P. Crawford was scratched from the lineup due to right oblique soreness. | A.J. Puk will pitch out of the bullpen upon his return from the IL. Tanner Scott lost Wednesday's game for the Marlins and has mostly struggled dating back to the start of spring training, so the door could be open for Puk to become the Marlins closer … once he gets healthy and proves he can pitch effectively out of the pen again, of course. | Miguel Sano was removed Wednesday due to left knee soreness. | Kevin Kiermaier was placed on the IL with left hip flexor inflammation. Blue Jays prospect Addison Barger was called up to make his debut in Kiermaier's place. He was hitting .314 with 3 homers, 10 doubles, and a 1.021 OPS in 19 games at Triple-A, so we'll keep an eye on him this weekend as a potential waiver-wire target. | Wednesday's standouts | Garrett Crochet, White Sox @MIN: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – Alright, let's get into it. Crochet opened his season with three incredible starts, striking out 21 and walking just one batter across his first 18 innings of the season and generally looking like an ace in the making. And now he's allowed 17 runs over his past 11.2 innings, with 19 strikeouts but also seven walks, and plenty of you are probably thinking about dropping him. Given that we have literally no track record for Crochet as a starter in his professional career, any confidence I might have in him is largely based on faith at this point … but I still have plenty of faith. Do I think he's an ace? Well, no of course not; I'm not 100% sure Jared Jones is an ace, and he has a lot more going for him than Crochet. But what I will say is this: There isn't a widely available pitcher who pitched Wednesday that I would take over Crochet, and among pitchers available in more than 25% of CBS Fantasy leagues, I don't think there is one I would drop Crochet for. So, I'm holding. | Nick Lodolo, Reds vs. PHI: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – This was a pretty iffy start for Lodolo, but there was still plenty to be optimistic about, most notably his seven whiffs with his changeup. That's been a pretty terrific pitch for him so far this season, and it seemingly gives him yet another weapon in addition to his terrific curveball. I remain bullish on Lodolo. | Reynaldo Lopez, Braves vs. MIA: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – I just have a hard time buying into Lopez, though I'll grant that it could be because I just wasn't interested in him coming into the season outside of SPaRP value in H2H points leagues. He's been terrific so far, allowing just two runs in 25 innings, with a 26% strikeout rate to go along with it. He has multiple solid swing-and-miss pitches, but he also throws his fastball 55%-plus and that's where I start to lose trust; he had a .338 expected wOBA with that pitch when he was throwing it 98.2 mph out of the bullpen last season, so I just don't buy his current .249 xwOBA with 95.2 mph. He can still be useful, especially with that SPaRP eligibility, but I lean more toward Lopez being a sell-high candidate than anything else. | Spencer Turnbull, Phillies @CIN: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K – I really wish Turnbull was going to stay in the Phillies rotation, because he's earned it and I really think he might be a useful Fantasy option if he did. Unfortunately, with Taijuan Walker coming back from the Il this week, it just doesn't seem like there's much hope for him to stick around. I wouldn't drop Turnbull just yet, because something could always happen to leave him in the rotation, but if and when they announce he's moving to the bullpen, he's a drop. | Yariel Rodriguez , Blue Jays @KC: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – Like with Turnbull, I want to like Rodriguez more, but it just doesn't seem like he's going to have a ton of value in the long run. The Blue Jays have to be careful with his innings after he sat out 2023, and that likely means we're mostly going to see more outings from him like this, where he only gets through four innings because he struggles with his command and is pulled after 69 pitches. I like Rodriguez's stuff, but given the limitations, it's just hard to project him as someone who will be useful in Fantasy more often than not. | Dean Kremer, Orioles @LAA: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K – I have no clue where this came from. Kremer has never been much more than an average strikeout pitcher, and he had just one double-digit strikeout outing last season; he followed that up with eight strikeouts in his next outing, but just four in his next two combined. This was a heck of a start, but I don't see much reason to think it should change how we view Kremer. | Alec Marsh, Royals vs. TOR: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K – Hopefully Marsh is okay after leaving this start with a contusion caused by a comebacker that hit him on the forearm. It doesn't sound like a serious issue, which is good news for the 25-year-old who is off to a pretty tremendous start, with eight runs allowed in his first 26.2 innings of work. However, that has come with just 17 strikeouts, so I don't see much reason to be excited for Fantasy even if he's fine. | Joel Payamps, RP, Brewers – Payamps worked through a couple of baserunners reaching due to poor defense behind him, but he got his fourth save. With Abner Uribe off to a poor start and working the middle innings more often than not, Payamps sure looks like the Brewers closer for as long as he can keep the job; seeing as he has a 2.72 ERA since joining the Brewers, that might be for as long as Devin Williams (back) is out. | Freddie Freeman, 1B, Dodgers – There are few things more disappointing in Fantasy than seeing a team go off for 11 runs and 20 hits, and then checking the box score to see that the guy you have from their team going 1 for 5 with the lone hit a single. Freeman hasn't been bad this season, but it's fair to say he's been a bit disappointing, what with his OPS sitting about 300 points behind both Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani ahead of him. But the underlying numbers all look mostly fine, so I see absolutely no reason to be concerned about Freeman. You shouldn't need me to tell you that, but if you did, there you go. | Nick Castellanos, OF, Phillies – Castellanos went 0 for 5 Wednesday against the Reds and is now down to a .174 average and .428 OPS. I know a lot of you are worried about him – judging by the comments from our YouTube stream last week, plenty of you are ready to drop Castellanos, even. But I'll just point you to this MLB.com story where Castellanos acknowledges that this slow start isn't even anything new for him . "I know that last year I was pretty much worthless in the month of July," he said. "You know? I've gone through stretches where I'm out of whack. All of a sudden it clicks. Everybody's like, 'Holy [crap]. What did you figure out?' Nothing. It's just baseball. The highs and lows." He's been awful, but he's also established enough that I just don't see any reason to give up on a guy who had 100-plus RBI, 29 homers, and 11 steals last season. It's a long season, and April just doesn't matter that much, even though it feels like it does. | Xander Bogaerts, SS, Padres – Bogaerts went 3 for 4 Wednesday, and that shouldn't really come as much of a surprise. He entered play Wednesday with a .258 wOBA compared to a .331 expected wOBA, making him one of the biggest underperformers in the league. Seeing as he has outperformed his xwOBA by at least 25 points in four of five seasons prior to this one, my concern level is extremely low right now. | Connor Wong, C, Red Sox – Wong homered twice Wednesday and now has a 1.053 OPS for the season, and catchers who show any signs of life tend to be high priorities on waivers in two-catchers leagues. So, go out and add him right now, right? Well, no, not exactly. His underlying numbers don't back up what he's doing at all, and even if they did, I would still prefer Ivan Herrera , who is rostered in a similar amount of CBS Fantasy leagues. So, I can only even consider Wong if I'm in one of those leagues where Herrera isn't available. | | | | | 24/7 Sports News | | The 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. Watch Live | | Catch LIVE UEFA Champions League and Europa League coverage on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, available FOR FREE on the CBS Sports App, Pluto TV and streaming on Paramount+. Watch Live |
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