| | | | Thursday, July 3, 2025 | | So, you need to replace Spencer Schwellenbach. | | Schwellenbach suffered a fractured elbow in his most recent start and was placed on the IL, an injury that came out of nowhere Wednesday afternoon. It's bad timing for this week – you already locked your lineup with Schwellenbach in it – and we don't even know if or when Schwellenbach will be back this season. It's bad news. | | I wrote about Schwellenbach's injury, the potential timetable for return, and how to handle it for CBSSports.com Wednesday after the news came out. And I included 10 pitchers to target on waivers to try to replace Schwellenbach, highlighted by Edward Cabrera, Emmett Sheehan, and Ryne Nelson. Head here for the full list of 10, plus some buy-low targets to consider looking for in trades. | | But here's a name I neglected to mention in my writeup on replacing Schwellenbach: Andrew Painter. And that was a mistake! | | A few weeks ago, it wasn't exactly clear if there was going to be a spot in the rotation waiting for Painter after all, what with Mick Abel looking like a potential difference maker in his MLB debut. Well, after being tagged for five earned runs in 1.2 innings of work Wednesday, Abel now has a 6.63 ERA with just 12 strikeouts to nine walks in nine innings since returning from Triple-A. | | Painter hasn't been quite as dominant as expected in his time at Triple-A, sporting a 4.24 ERA and ugly 10.2% walk rate, but he's still sitting in the high-90s with his fastball and it would make perfect since if the Phillies were more focused on the process of finishing off his development than the results, knowing the plan was always to call him up sometime in July. | | July is here, and suddenly it looks like there's a real need in the Phillies rotation. I'm not saying Painter is definitely going to get called up soon, but I think his future is now in his hands. If his next start goes well at Triple-A, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see him after the All-Star break. After all, that was always the plan as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery. | | Here's what else you need to know about from Wednesday's action around MLB: | | | | Thursday's waiver-wire targets | | Noelvi Marte, 3B, Reds (56%) – Marte is nearing a return from his hamstring injury, as evidenced by the fact that he played all nine innings at third base during a rehab appearance Tuesday at Triple-A Louisville. Marte is eight games into his rehab stint and is hitting .357/.455/.643 in those eight games, so it looks like he's pretty locked in. I would guess we'll see him by this weekend, and he should step back in as the team's primary third baseman when that happens. Marte was hitting .294/.342/.515 with three homers and four steals before the injury, so here's hoping the time off doesn't slow the one-time top prospect's apparent breakthrough. | | Jason Adam, RP, Padres (36%) – Robert Suarez is going through it right now. After he gave up a run on three hits en route to the save in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Phillies he's now up to a 4.04 ERA for the season. That's in large part due to 10 earned runs allowed over his past 5.1 innings of work. And, while he was pretty much an elite closer last season, he's been truly shaky in 2025, posting an xERA of 4.06 to match the actual mark. I don't know how close the Padres are to actually making this switch, but Adam has been the team's primary eighth-inning option and has a 1.69 ERA, so he seems like a good bet to step up if they do. And I think he'd probably be really good in the role, so if you're the type of Fantasy player who is always looking for the next closer, Adam is worth rostering right now. | | Tyler Freeman, 2B, Rockies (29%) – We give the Rockies a lot of guff, but they seem to have nailed the Nolan Jones trade. While Jones continues to struggle in Cleveland, Freeman has probably been the Rockies best hitter this season, and he doesn't seem to be slowing down. He went 3 for 5 with a pair of steals Wednesday and is now up to a .323/.412/.427 line for the season. Sure, Tyler Freeman probably isn't a true-talent .323 hitter, but he does have a .311 expected batting average plus the benefit of playing half his games at Coors Field, so it's at least possible he might be a true standout in that category, while continuing to provide strong stolen base production. And he's hitting leadoff right now, so a 90-steal pace probably isn't asking too much. Freeman might be a a legitimate Fantasy starter in either the outfield or second base. | | | | Wednesday's standouts | | Logan Gilbert, Mariners vs. KC: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K – Gilbert just isn't quite there yet. He hasn't finished the sixth inning in any of his four starts since coming back from his elbow injury, and has actually only done so once in 10 starts on the season, back on Opening Day, believe it or not. His stuff still looks mostly fine, and his splitter has arguably never been better, but his command was off Wednesday, especially with the slider, which he led with but sprayed all over the strike zone without much intent. Command is usually Gilbert's strongest trait, but as we've seen with other pitchers coming back from arm injuries, it doesn't always come back right away along with the stuff. I still have a lot of faith in Gilbert, but it would be nice to see him justify that sometime soon. | | Nick Pivetta, Padres @PHI: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K – Pivetta hit a bit of a rough patch in June, when he gave up 15 runs over 21.2 innings of work, and given his struggles in the past, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit concerned. But he's rebounded splendidly, with 16 strikeouts and only one run allowed over the past two starts. He's still giving up a ton of hard contact – among 105 pitchers who have faced at least 300 hitters this season, his expected wOBA on contact ranks 94th – but Pivetta can survive if he keeps missing bats and limiting walks. So far, so good. | | Sonny Gray, Cardinals @PIT: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – It feels very fitting of the whole Sonny Gray experience that he followed up one of the best starts of his career with a pretty mediocre one, though it's worth noting that Gray was cruising through six innings before letting three of the first four batters he faced on in the seventh. He was pulled for a reliever, who allowed both inherited runners to score. It wasn't as bad as the line, though Gray finished with 78 pitches, so it's not like he should've been gassed, either. Weird start, but you know what Gray is at this point, and that's a must-start, if occasionally frustrating, pitcher. | | | | Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers @NYM: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – Misiorowski hasn't been missing as many bats as you might think given the quality of his stuff, and it finally caught up to him in his fourth start. The Mets did a good job of laying off pitches out of the zone, and that kind of exposed Misiorowski's middling command. Because his stuff is so special, Misiorowski seems to just be aiming for the middle of the zone and letting the quality of his stuff carry him. But the Mets simply laid off basically everything out of the zone and jumped on the pitches that caught too much of the zone. For as impressive as he's been so far, Misiorowski is more of a thrower than a pitcher, and growth is going to come when he figures out how to pitch in and out of the zone with more intention. I still think the raw stuff is good enough to carry him to Fantasy relevance, but there were always going to be some rough patches. I think there's room to try to sell high on the Misiorowski hype, but I also think you'll generally be happy with him in your lineup more often than not. | | Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers vs. BAL: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – In his second start back from a triceps injury, Eovaldi was still limited to 72 pitches, but he was efficient and effective enough that it didn't matter. His velocity on the fastball was down 1.2 mph, but everything else was right where it usually is, so I don't know how concerned we should be about that. On a more general note, Eovaldi's margin for error tends to be pretty slim, and he usually falls off after hot starts, usually after dealing with some seemingly minor injury, so if you want to view him as a sell-high candidate after this start, I wouldn't argue with you. | | Tanner Bibee, Guardians @CHC: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K – I really don't know what to make of Bibee right now. He's been tinkering with his pitch mix all season long and seemed to have figured some stuff out, posting a 3.65 ERA in May and June with 57 strikeouts and 12 walks in 61.2 innings across 10 starts – not dominant stuff, but not a guy you're afraid to have in your lineup, either. This is the first time he's really struggled with his control since April, so I'm mostly willing to write it off … but I also look at the whole profile, and I just don't know if there's much to get excited about. Of course, I was singing a different tune after his last few starts before this one, as his new sweeper-first approach seemed to be unlocking some strikeout upside. That was nowhere to be seen in this one, unfortunately, and I'm just wondering if Bibee is good enough to be worth the trouble. I'm not saying you should drop him, but I just don't know if he's going to be much more than a frustrating high-3.00s ERA guy. | | Mitch Keller, Pirates vs. STL: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – Well, he's certainly helping his trade value! Keller's name has been mentioned plenty in trade rumors lately, and it makes a lot of sense – after Wednesday's start he has allowed more than three runs just once in his past 11 starts. And it comes as the Pirates are reportedly looking to move Keller, which would only be good news for his Fantasy value, as the biggest thing holding Keller back right now is the fact that he has just three wins despite a 3.64 ERA. He's not an ace, but Keller is certainly useful when he's locked in, and going to a contender would only help. | | Ryan Pepiot, Rays vs. ATH: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K – Oh Ryan Pepiot, why can't you just be normal? In his first four June starts, Pepiot struck out 35 while allowing just seven runs over 24.2 innings of work, and it looked like he might be figuring it out. The whiff rate was trending back up on his four-seamer and everything! And then he gave up four runs in his last start, only to bounce back for this one. I guess on the whole Pepiot has been a lot more good than bad lately, but I wish I felt better about trusting him moving forward. I suppose I do, but I don't have as much confidence as I want in it. | | Clay Holmes, Mets vs. MIL: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K – Holmes just keeps rolling, and it just keeps looking unsustainable. Since the start of June he's now up to 16 walks to just 20 strikeouts in 33 innings of work, with a 3.00 ERA in that stretch. Yes, Holmes' groundball rate should help him keep the ball in the yard and runs off the board better than his otherwise mediocre peripherals might make you think, but he still carries a 4.12 xERA for the season, and that feels more like what we should expect moving forward. I'm slapping that "sell high" tag on him. | | Will Warren, Yankees @TOR: 4 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – Warren's underlying numbers are significantly better than his actual 5.02 ERA, but he's been so prone to blowups so far that I don't know if I can just ignore the ugly ERA. Especially when he struggled so much last season in both the majors and minors. There's talent here, but Warren clearly hasn't figured out how to put it all together yet. If you have space on your bench to keep him stashed just in case he does, I don't hate that, but I can't say Warren is a must-roster pitcher right now. | | News and notes | | Bailey Ober was placed on the IL with a left hip impingement. He has been awful this season, especially lately, and I think the hip probably explains at least some of it. There's no guarantee he gets back to his 2023 and 2024 form by the end of the season, but I'm willing to stash him on the IL to see what he can do once he gets past this injury. | | Hunter Greene threw one inning and 20 pitches in a live batting practice session Wednesday. He's expected to face hitters again this weekend. Could start a rehab assignment next week, putting a potential return sometime in late July if all goes well. | | The Dodgers' Max Muncy left Wednesday's game early with a pretty nasty looking left knee injury. He had to be helped off the field by a trainer and will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury Thursday. Hopefully it wasn't as bad as it looked. | | Yordan Alvarez was transferred to the 60-day IL as a procedural move to make room on the 40-man roster. He's still in limbo after suffering a seeming setback with his hand injury after taking batting practice earlier this week. | | Both Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado were out of the lineup for the Cardinals. Contreras with a left wrist contusion, while Arenado continues to be held out with a finger injury he suffered Sunday. | | Spencer Steer was out of the lineup in game two of Wednesday's doubleheader due to a hand injury. He experienced swelling after being hit by a pitch in the first game. | | Josh Naylor returned to the lineup after missing four straight with neck soreness. | | Jordan Westburg has now missed five straight with that left index finger strain, and I'm pretty worried that this injury is just going to continue to limit him even if he's able to play through it. | | Bo Bichette has missed three straight with a sore right knee but John Schneider said Bichette's "feeling better than he did" on Tuesday. | | Brandon Woodruff will officially make his season debut Sunday against the Marlins. My expectations are awfully low with his velocity and strikeout rate both way down on his rehab assignment. | | Reese Olson could make his return Friday against the Guardians. Remember, he had a 2.96 ERA, 1.17 WHIP in nine starts before the injury. | | The Rangers activated Jake Burger and optioned Josh Jung to Triple-A. Jung hit .158 with a .429 OPS in June and just hasn't looked the same over the past couple of years. Hopefully they've got some mechanical adjustments in mind for him to work on and he'll be back, but there's no real need to stash Jung at this point. | | Tyler O'Neill is returning Friday. He's 44% rostered and certainly has some upside if you have the roster spot to play with. | | Zack Gelof is likely to be activated sometime during this weekend's series against the Giants. In 13 games at Triple-A he is hitting .263 with one homer, three steals, and more walks than strikeouts. He's worth a look in category leagues. | | With Jurickson Profar back, the Braves designated Alex Verdugo for assignment. | | | | | | | | PGA Tour | | WNBA | Watch live as the third and final rounds of the John Deere Classic tee off this Saturday and Sunday at 3 ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+!
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