| | | | Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | | Attrition is the name of the game at starting pitcher, and it's all about just trying to find a way to survive. Already this season, we've lost Gerritt Cole for the season and we saw spring injuries to George Kirby, Shane McClanahan, Grayson Rodriguez, Brayan Bello, Yu Darvish, and Sean Manaea thin the ranks at the position. And that's not an exhaustive list of the pitcher injuries we're dealing with, as we also have names like Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, Kyle Bradish, Joe Musgrove, Braxton Garrett, Eury Perez, and others working their way back from injuries (a few of whom won't even pitch this season). | | And it's not getting any easier since the season started, with Reynaldo Lopez, Max Scherzer, Jack Leiter, and Blake Snell (among, obviously, others) added to the IL in less than two weeks since Opening Day. And that list got longer Tuesday, with Spencer Arrighetti suffering a fractured thumb when he was hit by a line drive while playing catch in the outfield during batting practice. | | No, really, that's what happened. As if pitchers aren't at enough risk just from pitching. Now that's bad luck. | | So, you're probably looking for some help at pitcher, I'm guessing. Before we get to everything you need to know from Monday's action around MLB, here are a handful of pitchers rostered in 60% or fewer of CBS Fantasy leagues who could help you overcome whichever injuries have befallen your pitching staff, predictable or otherwise. | | | | Chase Dollander, Rockies (43%) – The Rockies threw Dollander right into the fire with his first start at Coors Field, and he mostly held his own. That bodes well for the top prospect's chances of being really useful for Fantasy moving forward, at least when they aren't at Coors. It may not work, but I think he's simply the most talented widely available pitcher, and I'll bet on that this early. Max Meyer, Marlins (58%) – Meyer went into the lab this offseason and emerged throwing more than one mph harder, with better shape on his fastball, plus an expanded arsenal that has helped his signature slider play up even more. The problem is, he's on one of the worst teams in the league, so he'll get little help from the defense, offense, or bullpen around him. That limits his upside in H2H points especially, where win potential matters so much. Jordan Hicks, Giants (60%) – With his fastball velocity back up closer to where it was when he was a reliever, Hicks suddenly looks a lot more interesting. He's going to generate a bunch of weak contact with that 98-mph sinker, so the question now is whether he'll be able to reintegrate the splitter into his arsenal after that was such a key pitch for him last season. If he does, we're talking about real upside here. Matthew Boyd, Cubs (47%) – The biggest problem for Boyd is the schedule, as he's currently in line to face the Padres and Dodgers in his next two starts. That makes it tough to trust him, but the truth is, the pickings are awfully slim for pitchers rostered under 60%. Before you add Boyd, just make sure names like Eduardo Rodriguez (62%), Reese Olson (69%), and Jeffrey Springs (75%) aren't rostered first. Hayden Wesneski, Astros (43%) – This would've been the week to add Wesneski, since he's on a two-start week. But if you're in a H2H points league, he's still worth a look thanks to his RP eligibility. I don't think Wesneski is likely to be much more than an average pitcher, but an average pitcher with RP eligibility can have a lot of value in a points league if they're starting every five days, so go check if he's out there in that format. He flashed a new curveball in this one that generated a couple of whiffs and some weak contact, so maybe there's a path to some upside there. | | Here's what else you need to know about from Monday's action, beginning with a few other waiver-wire targets to consider: | | | | Tuesday's top waiver-wire targets | | | | Here's who else we're looking to add coming out of Monday's action: | | Casey Mize, SP, Tigers (74%) – I'm not quite ready to say Mize is a must-roster Fantasy player or anything close to it. His breaking ball command remains iffy at best, and I'm not sure he has a reliable putaway pitch besides his splitter. But he came within an out of registering a quality start in his first outing and then limited the Yankees to just one run in six innings in his second, with just the one run allowed in his first two starts combined. Six walks in 11.2 innings isn't ideal, and his strikeout and swinging strike rates are still more "good" than "elite" in the early going. So, keep expectations in check, while still viewing him as a viable add to any Fantasy rotation, and you won't be disappointed. | | Ben Rice , 1B, Yankees (64%) – I think we're approaching the point where the Yankees owe it to themselves to give Rice a chance against more lefties. He's already forced his way to the top of the lineup against righties, and after tripling and walking twice Monday he's up to a .333/.471/.704 line for the season with as many walks as strikeouts (seven). Until they let him play every day, Rice's ceiling is capped, but I really do believe he's a plus hitter already, who mostly struggled last season due to bad luck. He's hitting the ball harder this season without sacrificing contact and could be a must-start Fantasy option if he shows he can hold his own against lefties. | | Tommy Kahnle, RP, Tigers (21%) – We came into the season without any real clue who the Tigers would turn to as their closer, but I think it's probably Kahnle, even though he has just one save so far. That obviously isn't many, but the only other one the Tigers have recorded went to multi-inning reliever Brant Hurter , so I'll take his work with a four-run lead Monday as a sign that he would have gotten the save if the opportunity had been there. Kahnler is nobody's idea of a typical closer, what with his near-90% changeup usage so far this season, but he also hasn't had an ERA north of 3.00 since 2019, so who cares what it looks like when he's this effective? If you're speculating on saves, he's one of the more obvious options who isn't widely rostered (yet). | | Justin Wrobleski, SP, Dodgers (4%) – It's probably just going to be for one start, but Wrobleski is a name to know for deeper leagues. He struggled in eight appearances in the majors last season, but his 3.76 ERA in the minors last season hints at some upside – at least when taken in conjunction with his excellent supporting cast in LA. There's an opportunity here with Blake Snell on the IL, so if you've got a roster spot to play with in a deeper league, Wrobleski could be worth a look. | | | | Monday's standouts | | Logan Gilbert, Mariners vs. HOU: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – Gilbert continues to tweak his arsenal, and in the early going this season he has settled on a more limited version than before, focusing on his slider, splitter, four-seamer, and curveball, largely ditching the cutter and sinker from last season. It's led to more whiffs so far, including 17 on 99 pitches in this one, which could help unlock even more strikeout upside after he took a step forward last season. There could be some tradeoffs here – is that why he has failed to finish six innings in two of three starts so far? – but I think Gilbert is going to remain an elite starter for Fantasy no matter what the arsenal looks like. | | Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks vs. BAL: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K – Not to make excuses, but Gallen's had a pretty rough schedule to start the season, going up against the Cubs, Yankees, and O's. And we did at least see a glimpse of true, difference-making upside when he struck out 13 against the Yankees, so I'm not going to give up on him just yet. In this one, he just didn't have his curveball, throwing it 11 times for just one swinging strike, zero called strikes, and two hard-hit balls. If he doesn't have that one working for him, yeah, Gallen's gonna struggle. I'll write this one off, but it's been a discouraging start to the season for Gallen, to say the least, with four walks in two of his first three starts. | | Michael King, Padres @ATH: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – This wasn't a bad start for King, but it was a weird one, which has kind of been the theme for him in the early going. He had more walks than strikeouts in his first start, then followed it up with an 11-strikeout, one-walk gem where he only managed to last five innings. We're still looking for the first quality start of King's season, but there isn't really much worrisome going on in his profile otherwise. His velocity is still where it should be and he's still getting decent whiff numbers, so I'll chalk this up to something he's working through and not get too worried about it. | | Logan Webb, Giants vs. CIN: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K – The matchup helps, as the Reds have been one of the worst lineups in baseball so far and were playing without Matt McLain , to boot. But this is also an extremely encouraging starter for Webb, as he rediscovered the feel for his changeup, throwing it 20% of the time and generating six swinging strikes with it to lead his arsenal. Webb's changeup was once his signature pitch, but he's had to adapt to a less effective version of it over the past year or so. If that can be a consistent weapon for him and his new cutter still acts to extend his arsenal, it's fun to imagine a level-up here. | | Hunter Greene , Reds @SF: 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – My skepticism on Greene is quickly looking like one of my worst calls of the season less than two weeks in. He's somehow throwing even harder than ever and racking up massive swing-and-miss numbers. If his arm can hold up, Greene looks like he might be the best version of himself yet, though I will note that he did have four different outs on batted balls with an expected batting average of at least .460 in this one. There was a bit of good luck here, as he did give up eight batted balls with an exit velocity of 99.8 mph or harder. That's nit-picking, which is just about all you can do with Greene right now. | | Justin Steele, Cubs vs. TEX: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K 0 – I was never too worried about Steele's "slow start" and that faith was rewarded here in a tough matchup. It was his first quality start in four tries and lowered his ERA to 4.76 – to go with a 3.58 xFIP that certainly suggests more good days are ahead than bad. | | Mackenzie Gore, Nationals vs. LAD: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – Dominates the Phillies, struggles against the Blue Jays , dominates the Dodgers … okay, Mackenzie, you weirdo. The "bad" start wasn't even that bad, as he still had a strikeout per inning and only allowed three runs, so I think this qualifies as an unqualified success to open the season for Gore. He has 25 strikeouts to just three walks in 17 innings of work, and he's doing it while continuing to tweak his arsenal – in this one, he leaned more heavily on the four-seamer, curveball, and changeup, as he continues to favor his new slider vs. lefties. This certainly looks like the best version of Gore we've ever seen, and while inconsistency has always defined his career, I do think it's reasonable to feel pretty optimistic about his chances of breaking out after this one. | | Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers @CHC: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – Following up a complete game with this is very much the Nathan Eovaldi experience. He's usually a very good pitcher, but he's never quite as dominant as you want him to be for as long as you want him to be. But you knew that going in, right? | | Kodai Senga, Mets vs. MIA: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – Despite two excellent matchups to open the season, Senga has yet to go more than five innings in a start, and he was pulled after just 77 pitches in this one. I have to imagine the Mets are just being careful with him after he missed nearly all of last season with injuries, but they'll have to unleash him at some point, right? He's already at a disadvantage relative to most other pitchers because he'll probably never start on four days' rest, and if the Mets are going to have a quick hook during his starts, even Senga's high strikeout upside isn't going to be enough to make him a must-start pitcher for Fantasy. | | Carlos Rodon, Yankees @DET: 6 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 8 K – Watching this one, you could see where the wheels came off for Rodon: When he walked Ryan Kreidler in the third inning on a, frankly, terrible call. Rodon dotted a slider at the bottom of the zone on a 3-2 pitch for what should have been the second out of the inning. Instead, Kriedler walked, and a visibly upset Rodon would eventually give up a three-run homer to Andy Ibanez. That's not to make excuses for Rodon, who continues to struggle with his command and generally wasn't terribly sharp in this one. He deserved better results, but I don't think you can really say he got unlucky, either. He remains frustratingly inconsistent. | | Zach Eflin, Orioles @ARI: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – This was a weird one. Eflin got just four swinging strikes to go along with that lone strikeout, but the Diamondbacks just couldn't do anything with their contact. There were some hard-hit balls, including six that hit over 100 mph, but Eflin managed to allow just two extra-base hits. This isn't a sustainable formula for success, and it's the second start out of three with two or fewer strikeouts so far. Eflin's pitch mix doesn't look much different from what we're used to, and his velocity isn't down so much that I'm too concerned, but he will need to miss some more bats at some point. I will note he left this start with shoulder fatigue, though he did say it was a precautionary move. We'll keep an eye on this one. | | Dustin May, Dodgers @WAS: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K – May should be a useful Fantasy option, but I'm just not sure the upside we're hoping for is ever going to be there. That's not a bad thing given the team he pitches for, but if you're hoping there is going to be some big breakout here with elite strikeout rates to match his filthy stuff, I think you might be bound for disappointment. For as much movement as he gets on his pitches, May has never really missed bats, and he somehow had just two whiffs Monday. He still managed a decent performance for Fantasy, but I do think there is potentially some room to sell high on May if you try to move him for a slow starter like Tanner Bibee or Bryce Miller. | | Jose Berrios, Blue Jays @BOS: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – The Random Number Generator came up on the good side this time for Berrios, despite the lack of strikeouts. That comes off an eight-strikeout effort in his previous start, hence the nickname. Berrios is usually worth starting, but you never really know what you're going to get out of him in any given start – and he's prone to really harmful blowups like we saw with his three-homer Opening Day showing. | | Gunnar Henderson, SS, Orioles – Henderson struggled a bit in his first couple of starts back from the IL, but he looked like himself Monday, going 2 for 4 with a double, a walk, and a couple of steals. He's gonna be just fine. | | James Wood, OF, Nationals – Wood hit his second homer of the season Monday, but he hasn't really shown any signs of fixing his biggest issues as a rookie. Wood is still striking out too much (37.5% strikeout rate), and he still isn't hitting the ball to the right parts of the field – both homers have been hit to the opposite field, and he has yet to hit a ball in the air to the pull side. Wood remains a useful Fantasy player despite his limitations, but we aren't seeing the obvious signs of a superstar-level breakout yet. | | Xavier Edwards, SS, Marlins – Edwards ends up missing no games with his knee injury after Sunday was rained out, and he looked fine against the Mets, going 2 for 3 with a walk and a steal. He's hitting .282 in the early going, but with just three stolen base attempts in his first 10 games, so we'd like to see that pace pick up, especially since he probably isn't going to score many runs in a bad Marlins lineup. | | Tyler Soderstrom, 1B, Athletics – At this point in the season, we can't say much definitively, so I have a saying I like to fall back on: If Soderstrom were breaking out, this is what it would look like. He's striking out at a totally manageable 23.8% rate, and he's crushing the ball, with a 92.1 mph average exit velocity, leading to six homers in 11 games. He still hits the ball on the ground a lot, but when he does elevate it, he's hitting it to the pull side, which is what we want to see. Soderstrom's power is legitimate, and the A's are giving him a shot at everyday playing time, though I will point out one thing: Just six of his first 46 plate appearances have come against lefties, so we still don't really know how he'll handle them yet. | | Masyn Winn, SS, Cardinals – Winn had such a miserable spring that he lost the leadoff spot we assumed was his entering the season, and then he went hitless in his first five games of the season with eight strikeouts, a pretty disastrous start by any measure. However, he's starting to turn it around, as he has hit safely in five straight after hitting his first homer of the season Monday. He's still buried at the bottom of the lineup and has a lot of work to do to pull himself out of it. But at least we're seeing signs of life. | | News and notes | | Blake Snell revealed that he had been dealing with left shoulder inflammation for the past three weeks before going on the IL. He hopes to miss only a couple weeks of action, but this isn't ideal, obviously. | | George Kirby has progressed to throwing bullpen sessions. He's on the IL with right shoulder inflammation and is probably on track to return early in May if he avoids a setback. | | Jackson Merrill was out of the lineup Monday due to a hamstring injury. | | CJ Abrams was out of the lineup with right thigh tightness. | | Matt McLain has missed four straight due to left hamstring tightness. Was available to pinch hit, but he didn't appear in the game. | | Ivan Herrera will miss at least four weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee. Manager Oliver Marmol said Willson Contreras is not a candidate to move back to catcher, so we're going to see a lot of Pedro Pages , who has some appeal in two-catcher leagues. | | Max Scherzer resumed playing catch Monday but said that he's still experiencing lingering tightness in his right thumb. | | Tyler Stephenson's oblique injury is moving in the right direction. He'll start being more aggressive in his recovery in the coming days and could be back around the end of the month if all goes well, hopefully. | | Jorge Polanco returned to the Mariners lineup as the DH. He missed the previous two games with side soreness, even though it was reported as knee soreness. That's actually better news. | | Victor Robles was officially placed on the IL with a dislocated left shoulder. Luke Raley started in RF with Rowdy Tellez at 1B. | | Cam Smith was on the bench for two games in a row after a rough start. I did drop him in one 12-team points league where I just didn't have a spot for him, but I want to hang on to Smith for at least a few more weeks to give him a chance to figure it out. | | Marlins SP Edward Cabrera could return this weekend. He started the season on the IL with a blister on his right middle finger, and there's still some upside here if he ever approaches even an average walk rate. | | Jake Fraley was scratched from the lineup due to left side pain. | | Connor Wong left Monday's game and will go on the IL with a fractured finger. | | The A's optioned Joey Estes to Triple-A. Mitch Spence is a candidate to replace him in the rotation. | | The Brewers acquired Quinn Priester from the Red Sox in exchange for Yophery Rodirguez, a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick, and a player to be named later or cash considerations. Priester will likely get a chance to start for the Brewers and has some appeal in deeper leagues, though I'm not expecting much more than a streamer here. | | | | | | | | UEFA Champions League | | Golazo Network | Catch the most anticipated match of the UEFA Champions League Semifinals with Arsenal vs. Real Madrid at 3 PM ET streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
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