| | | | Friday, May 9, 2025 | | I was mostly willing to write William Contreras' slow start to the season. He's been a major disappointment as the top catcher off the board, but it's not like his .311 wOBA has been a disaster – he had a 35-game stretch between May and June of last season where he had a .247 wOBA, after, and he went on to hit .268/.381/.502 from July 1 on to cement himself as the top catcher in baseball. | | I was pretty confident he'd get back to that level up until about three days ago. Then the Brewers acknowledged that Contreras has been playing through a left finger injury, an injury that turns out to have been a fractured left middle finger – an injury he's apparently planning to continue to play through. All of a sudden, that makes it a lot harder to just assume he's going to be fine moving forward. | | And it does create a situation where, if you have Contreras on your roster even in a one-catcher league, you should probably be looking for a compliment to him. I'm not burying Contreras in my rankings – on the contrary, when I did my update Thursday for the Trade Values Chart, I kept him as my top option at the position. However, while he's been an outlier in the overall rankings since the spring, he's now moved back to the pack – I can no longer treat him like he's far and away the best option at the position based on this position. | | | | So, whether you're in a 10-team, one-catcher league, or a deeper, two-catcher league, I do think it's time to find some insurance for Contreras. Hopefully, he gets past this injury and starts to hit like himself before long, but whether he muddles through it at this same level or ultimately needs to go on the IL and let it heal, having an alternative to turn to is vital at this point. | | The good news is, at least in shallow leagues, there are actually a decent number of options to choose from who might be available. None of them are as good as Contreras at his best, but there are multiple catchers in the low-end No. 1 catcher range of the rankings with plenty of upside, including two who might actually have top-five upside at the position. So, before you do anything, go check your league waiver wire to make sure none of these six are available – and I would prioritize them in exactly this order: Ivan Herrera, Cardinals (68%); Agustin Ramirez, Marlins (62%); Hunter Goodman, Rockies (75%); Austin Wells, Yankees (75%); Tyler Stephenson, Reds (57%); Francisco Alvarez, Mets (52%). | | For those of you in deeper leagues, the options aren't nearly as good, but there are some interesting options out there. Here are a few who are available in at least half of CBS Fantasy leagues to consider: | | Edgar Quero, White Sox (18%) – I'm kind of surprised at how little interest there has been in Quero so far. He's a top-50 prospect on most lists who has played regularly and played well since his promotion – he is hitting .293/.397/.345 with just a 16.2% strikeout rate in his first 19 MLB games. The zero in the HR category is tough, and the lineup context with the White Sox is going to hold him back. But Quero looks like a legitimately good hitter for a catcher, and the lack of power just doesn't matter that much at a position where upside is awfully hard to find. | | Gabriel Moreno, Diamondbacks (40%) – Moreno has been terrible so far this season, hitting .244/.327/.311 through his first 31 games with just one homer, 25 combined runs, and RBI. And I do wonder if his struggles continue whether we might see Adrian Del Castillo before long. But Moreno plays every day and has a swing geared to generating batting average – he has struck out just 17.8% of the time so far despite the slump – and he just hit his first homer of the season Thursday, so hopefully that's something for him to build on. He's not a star, but he's usually a very solid starting option. | | Connor Wong, Red Sox (17%) – Wong has struggled while dealing with a fractured finger of his own this season, but he's also coming off a season where he hit .280/.333/.425 and had surprising five-category contributions. The Red Sox have shown a willingness to play him in other spots when he isn't catching, and he could factor into the team's first base plans if he gets hot. | | Here's what else you need to know from Thursday's action: | | | | Friday's top waiver-wire targets | | Cade Horton, SP, Cubs (32%) – I think the likeliest outcome for Horton, who is joining the Cubs rotation this week to help replace Shota Imanaga, is that he's another Ben Brown . That's not necessarily a knock – Brown is a talented pitcher who has flashed some real upside. But his limited arsenal has held him back from being a must-roster pitcher. Horton has a curveball and changeup to go along with his fastball and slider, but he has thrown his two lesser pitches just 11% of the time this season, so the fastball and slider will really have to carry the load. He's a talented pitcher who has pitched with a velocity bump this season after overcoming a bunch of injuries in recent years, and I'm very intrigued to see what he looks like when he makes his MLB debut against the Mets this weekend. | | Ty France, 1B, Twins () – France is back to his old swing and is looking like his old self after a pretty disastrous season in 2024 when he tried to remake his swing. That clearly didn't work, but France is back to his old swing and finding plenty of success with the Twins so far, hitting .277/.346/.401 through 38 games. You'd like more power from a first baseman, but that's never been France's game – he's a contact-first guy who hits for enough power to make his batting average truly useful. It's not a difference-making skill set, but in categories leagues, batting average specialists are more valuable than they get credit for. | | Yu Darvish, SP, Padres (59%) – Darvish is working his way back from preseason elbow troubles, and he cleared a big hurdle Thursday, as he faced live hitters for the first time since the spring. Darvish has had a lot of trouble staying healthy as he has entered his late-30s, but he was still a very useful Fantasy option when healthy last season, sporting a 3.31 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and nearly a strikeout per inning in 81.2 innings of work. It's asking a lot for him to do that again at 38 coming off an elbow injury, but he's worth rostering just in case. | | | | Thursday's standouts | | Spencer Schwellenbach, Braves vs. CIN: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – Schwellenbach mixed in a few more secondaries in this one, and the slider especially was excellent, generating seven of his 13 swinging strikes. He's off to a solid start, with a 3.61 ERA, but he hasn't exactly been the ace many were hoping for. That upside is still there, but he's giving up more hard contact than last season and generating fewer whiffs, so he'll need to turn those things around if he wants to take that next step. He's good enough as is, even if "good enough" might be slightly disappointing based on the preseason hype. | | Jesus Luzardo, Phillies @TB – 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – We're typically looking for more strikeouts from Luzardo, but in fairness, the Rays had a bunch of righties in their lineup, which kind of neutralizes his best pitch, that new sweeper. It was still a good result in a tough environment, and Luzardo's velocity continues to sit right around 96 mph, which is where he needs it to be. As long as he stays healthy, think Luzardo is going to remain a must-start pitcher, and he might just be a top-24 SP right now. | | Bailey Ober , Twins vs. BAL: 5 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – Ober continues to be fine, it'd just be nice to see something more than "fine" from him a bit more consistently. The six strikeouts in five innings here were nice to see because, believer it or not, this was the first time since his first two starts where he had more strikeouts than innings – and in those two starts, it was eight in 6.2 innings combined, which is hardly impressive. Ober's diminished velocity seems to be holding him back, and while he remains a solid starter, I'm not sure he's likely to be a difference-maker this season. | | Kris Bubic, Royals vs. CHW: 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – That's more like it. Bubic bounced back from a couple of subpar outings with arguably his best start of the season. Yes, it was against the White Sox, so the degree of difficulty was about as low as it gets, but it was still nice to see. Bubic continues to enjoy a healthy, breakout season, and while I'm not sure he's going to be much more than around a strikeout-per-inning kind of pitcher, his plus control should help the whole profile play up. I more or less view him as a must-start pitcher at this point. | | Nick Lodolo, Reds @ATL: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K – I'm still just not sure this approach is going to work out in the long run for Lodolo, as he continues to get significantly less break on his curveball than in years past. That wasn't an issue Thursday, as he generated six of his 14 swinging strikes with the pitch, but his overall whiff rate with the pitch remains down about 10 points from last year, and that's a big deal. I see his 3.23 ERA, backed up by an xERA near 4.00, and it just screams "sell high" to me. | | Ryan Pepiot, Rays vs. PHI: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – The results are solid, but I still just don't like the process for Pepiot. His fastball has gone from an elite swing-and-miss pitch to a merely pretty-good one, and the rest of the arsenal hasn't exactly stepped up to fill the void. Coming off a start like this, Pepiot looks like another fairly obvious sell-high candidate. | | Casey Mize, Tigers @COL: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K – I'll be honest: I don't really know what to do with Mize. I'm inclined to just hold on to him and start him against the right matchups – which does include the Rockies at Coors Field right now – but I'm certainly open to the idea of selling high on him as well. His 2.53 ERA isn't backed up by his underlying stats, though his xERA does come a bit closer, thanks to all of the weak contact he has been generating. The problem is, Mize still mostly isn't getting many strikeouts – Thursday's was his first start with more than five since his first two of the season – and he hasn't exactly shown the ability to limit hard contact at an outlier level before this season. On the other hand, his whiff rates on his splitter and slurve are impressive enough that I could definitely see Mize tapping into more strikeout upside moving forward. So, a tentative sell-high, but I'm intrigued enough by Mize that I'm fine holding on to him if the right offer doesn't come around. | | Brandon Pfaadt, Diamondbacks @LAD: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K – Given the matchup, this is an obvious success for Pfaad, but I remain pretty unimpressed by him. 10 swinging strikes on 99 pitches is fine, but hardly exceptional, and he was probably pretty lucky not to get tagged in this one – he had eight batted balls with an xBA of at least .540, which turned into three singles. Another sell-high candidate? You bet! | | Jack Leiter, Rangers @BOS: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K – Sigh. Maybe the successful first two starts were just a fluke, but I do wonder if the blister just knocked him out of rhythm. Leiter's stuff is good, and I want to hang on to him to see if he can get back on track. But he has a very limited track record of success even dating back to the minor-leagues, and he has 10 walks to just eight strikeouts in 13 innings since coming off the IL, and if you can't afford to keep him stashed on your bench, I get it. | | Brayan Bello, Red Sox vs. TEX: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 1 K – 12 walks to 13 strikeouts in 22.1 innings of work since coming off the IL. It could be explained away by rust, but it's not like Bello has some long track record of success to point to. I'm not sure he needs to be rostered in even half of CBS Fantasy leagues at this point. | | Dean Kremer, Orioles – vs. @MIN: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K – Great start. Way to go. But there's a reason I didn't include Kremer in the waiver-wire segment despite his excellent start here. He still has a 5.24 ERA for the season with mediocre (at best) underlying metrics, in addition to a middling 4.11 ERA over the previous two seasons. Any pitcher in the majors is capable of good stats, but I don't really see any reason to think Kremer is going to be consistently useful moving forward. | | Keider Montero, Tigers @COL: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – The Rockies are an exploitable matchup, even at home, right now. But we have very little reason to think anything about this was sustainable for Montero, who has a 4.65 ERA for his career. Just keep moving along, there's no need to stop and shop here. | | News and notes | | Hunter Greene was diagnosed with a Grade 1 right groin strain and is headed for the IL. Even if the injury is minor, putting him on the IL to make sure he's 100% healthy is the right call. | | Rafael Devers has refused the Red Sox's request to switch to first base, and honestly, I get it. He already switched positions once this spring after the Red Sox signed another guy to play his position, and now they want him to learn a completely new position on the fly for a team with playoff aspirations? Just when he's starting to hit like himself (four homers, 10 RBI, an OPS over 1.100 over the past 12 games)? I think he's being perfectly reasonable here. | | Spencer Strider is scheduled to throw another bullpen on Saturday as he continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury. I'd guess a one-start rehab assignment will follow shortly. | | Joe Ryan, who missed his start Thursday due to illness, will start Saturday against the Giants. | | Zach Eflin is lined up to return Sunday against the Angels. He's been out about a month with a right lat injury. | | Freddy Peralta threw off flat ground Wednesday and expects to make his next start. | | Ivan Herrera is expected to return Friday. He's been out a month with a left knee bone bruise. | | Justin Martinez has resumed throwing. He's working his way back from shoulder inflammation and it looks like he might not be out too long. Shelby Miller figures to continue filling in for him as long as he's out. | | Max Scherzer threw a bullpen Wednesday and then faced live hitters for 20 more pitches. Hopefully, he can avoid any further setbacks with his thumb and continue to make progress. | | The Dodgers have bumped Tony Gonsolin up to start this Sunday against the Diamondbacks, making him a two-start pitcher this week. | | | | | | | | Golazo Show | | Truist Championship | Every goal of the UEFA Europa League Semifinals. All in one place. 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