| | | | Monday, April 19, 2021 | | Happy Monday! Another wild weekend is in the books, which included me eating my hat because Fernando Tatis returned from what looked like a serious injury in 10 days! Not only did he return in the minimum amount of time, but he homered in his first game back. Don't bet against youth, friends. The weekend was a busy one, filled with ace performances, injuries, but most of all, waiver-wire adds. Whether you play in a 10-team league or a 20-team league, names continued to emerge this weekend. | | We've talked about Joey Votto and Jazz Chisholm before but we're now at the point where these guys are must-own hitters, especially Chisholm, who is just oozing with swag and upside. As we work our way down to the starting pitchers, Anthony DeSclafani and Kyle Gibson continued to show out. Is it time to trust either? Both? We hit on those two and many deeper names, including J.T. Brubaker and Michael Wacha, who both impressed recently. Make sure to set your lineups with the White Sox-Red Sox set for 11:10 am ET! Good luck everybody. | | 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. | | | | Injury-riddled news and notes | | | | The Nationals placed SP Stephen Strasburg on the 10-day IL with right shoulder inflammation. Braves OF Ronald Acuna left Sunday night baseball with an abdominal strain. We won't know more until Monday but it doesn't sound too good. After missing five straight games, the Brewers finally placed OF Christian Yelich on the 10-day IL with back tightness. Concern level? White Sox placed SP Lance Lynn on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 17, with a strained right trap. The expectation is that he'll only miss one start. Yankees C Gary Sanchez exited Saturday's game after getting hit by a foul tip on the right hand. He was out of the lineup Sunday. Dodgers 1B Cody Bellinger originally went on the 10-day IL with a left calf contusion. It turns out now that he has a hairline fracture in his left fibula. No timetable was given but he will miss more time than expected. The Diamondbacks placed OF Tim Locastro on the IL with a dislocated left pinkie finger. Nick Heath, who started in CF on Sunday, had 60 steals in the minors in 2019. He's 0% rostered, any interest in deeper category leagues? He went 3 for 4 on Sunday with a CS. Braves placed SP Drew Smyly on the 10-day IL with left forearm inflammation on Friday. Giants C Buster Posey is day-to-day after suffering an elbow contusion. He was not in the lineup Sunday. Marlins OF Starling Marte was removed Sunday after an awkward swing. It looked like an oblique, which makes me pretty pessimistic about his status for this week. He was off to a great start, too. Twins OF Byron Buxton was slated to return Saturday from his mild hamstring strain before the Twins had their game postponed. However, the Twins had three positive COVID-19 tests over the weekend. Two games against the Angels were postponed as well as Monday's game against the A's. Speaking of COVID situations, Jose Altuve/Alex Bregman/Jordan Alvarez were all cleared for individual drills but we still don't know when we will see them for sure. The Diamondbacks recalled reliever J.B Bukauskas from the team's alternate training site Sunday. His spring: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 14 K. He makes sense as a speculative closer-type waiver add. Padres OF Trent Grisham was scratched Sunday with a tight quad. He's day-to-day. Mike Moustakas missed the Reds' entire weekend series dealing with a non-COVID related illness. Yankees OF Jay Bruce retired after Sunday's game. He hadn't been playing after they traded for Rougned Odor. | | | | OMGG players from the weekend | | Scott's pick: Reds 1B Joey Votto | | Votto cracked three home runs and three doubles throughout the entire week, so Scott is extending this to OMGG player of the week. What makes Scott so excited is that his expected stats show good signs moving forward. Also, Votto talked in the offseason about how he wanted to hit for more power and now he's showing exactly what that is all about. He was basically the Reds' entire offense against Shane Bieber this weekend. | | My pick: Mets SP Marcus Stroman | | Stroman has continued to pitch extremely well for the Mets this season. This weekend against the Rockies he had the following stat line: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K and 10 whiffs on 90 pitches. He has allowed just two earned runs over his first three starts (only 11 K but just three BB in 20 IP). Stroman entered today with a 65% groundball rate. | | Hitters to consider adding | Reds 1B Joey Votto (60% rostered). See above. Dodgers 2B Zach McKinstry (56%). The most-viewed player in CBS Fantasy, McKinstry has been yet another random great find by the Dodgers. Scott thinks the playing time will dry up eventually and we don't consider him a "must-add" in normal-sized leagues. Marlins SS Jazz Chisholm (71%). Close to being a must-add, Chisholm has excelled thanks in part to a high walk rate early in the season, and while we don't see that continuing at its current pace, his .737 xSLG means it's worth adding him in all league and taking a shot on his upside. Diamondbacks 2B/3B Eduardo Escobar (86%). With six homers so far, Escobar looks like he might have another 35-homer season in him. In a points league, it's a close call between Escobar and Chisholm but Scott is leaning with the Marlins second baseman in both formats. Rays 2B/3B/SS Joey Wendle (42%). Wendle has been hot so far, but he's yet to steal a base and could eventually lose his lineup spot to Wander Franco. He's fine in the short-term but doesn't have a ton of upside. Diamondbacks OF Kole Calhoun (54%). Calhoun has shown capable of providing a big home run total so he's a useful option for teams that need cheap power.
Pirates OF Bryan Reynolds (40%). The Pirates have had several surprising performances on the hitting side thus far, but the one that's most interesting to Scott is Reynolds, who was a startable Fantasy option in 2019 when he hit .314/.377/.503 with 16 home runs. He's delivering on batting average so far in what's been a tough start for many Fantasy managers in that category. | | | | Pitchers to consider adding | | Angles SP Andrew Heaney (65% rostered). While Heaney doesn't seem to have a clear plan of attack on the mound thus far, he's certainly worth taking a chance on ahead of guys like Marco Gonzales, Kwang-Hyun Kim and Zach Davies. White Sox SP Michael Kopech (57%). Kopech made a start during a doubleheader over the weekend and pitched three solid innings. He reportedly made a strong impression on Tony La Russa, who now sounds like he'll use him as a starter "down the road," whatever that means. Giants SP Anthony DeSclafani (38%). He had just six whiffs in an otherwise strong start against the Marlins this weekend, and now DeSclafani has back-to-back quality starts. He's starting to deliver on the promise he's showed in away starts during his time with the Reds, but he doesn't have a great matchup this week against the Phillies. Rangers SP Kyle Gibson (27%). Eight shutout innings with no walks and six strikeouts against the Royals on Sunday for Gibson, who also has a tough matchup this week. He may not be a startable pitcher this week, but with just one earned run allowed in 21 innings over his last three starts, he's definitely worth considering. Rays SP Michael Wacha (18%). Wacha impressed with six shutout innings and nine strikeouts against the Yankees in front of yours truly, with the slumping New York lineup making him look like Jacob deGrom. He's a deep-league name who might be worth your time. Pirates SP J.T. Brubaker (38%). Brubaker delivered six one-run innings with eight strikeouts and no walks against the Brewers in Milwaukee. He's at Detroit this week, which makes for a nice one-week option if needed. | | | | | | | | |
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