| | | | Thursday, May 8, 2025 | | One of the things that's tough about Fantasy Baseball, at least relative to other Fantasy games, is that injuries are usually just bad news. In Fantasy Football, an injury typically means an opportunity for someone else to step into a larger role and become a Fantasy contributor, because football is inherently a zero-sum sport – every touch one player gets is, by definition, a touch another player doesn't get. | | In baseball, it usually isn't that simple. I mean, sure, injuries will lead to an opportunity for someone to get more playing time, obviously. But where in football, opportunity is arguably the primary factor determining whether a player is Fantasy relevant, talent is much more important in baseball, and most teams just don't have capable replacements sitting around when injuries crop up. | | So, let's hope the injuries Dylan Cease and Hunter Greene suffered on Wednesday aren't serious. The good news is, it seems like both have avoided a worst-case scenario – Cease's injury was reported as a cramp, which seems like a very minor issue, and good news all things considered. Greene's injury is less straightforward, but at least it was a groin injury and not something to his arm, which would be especially concerning given his history of shoulder and elbow issues. | | Still, you can never be sure with pitching injuries. Cease's issue is especially frustrating because he was having his best start of the season, but manager Mike Schildt did tell reporters that the "training staff's not overly concerned." Greene also downplayed concerns about his injury, saying, "Hopefully I don't have to miss any starts." However, he did acknowledge that he'll have to have an MRI taken Thursday, so we won't know for sure until at least then. | | For now, it's important to be proactive and try to identify some replacement options. Just in case the optimistic tone struck in the immediate aftermath of the injuries proves to be too rosy. Plus, even if these end up being relatively minor issues, you can never really know what, if any, downstream issues might crop up as a result of even a minor injury. Pitchers are creatures of habit, and even a relatively small issue could knock someone like Greene off track – which would be especially frustrating, given his apparent ace turn early this season. | | With all that in mind, before we get to everything else you need to know about from Wednesday's action, let's quickly run through some replacement options at pitcher to consider adding. Just in case Greene or Cease have to miss some time. | | | | Potential SP replacement options on waivers | | Michael Wacha, Royals (69%) – Even before Wednesday's excellent start (against the White Sox ), Wacha felt underrostered. He doesn't have huge upside, but he also hasn't had an ERA over 3.35 or a WHIP over 1.19 since 2021, and that's a useful pitcher even if he gives you well below a strikeout per inning. | | Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals (65%) – Liberatore is off to an excellent start to the season thanks to a velocity bump and a new slider-first approach. But he had to tweak that approach against a righty-heavy Pirates lineup Tuesday and still pitched well. He looks like he might be living up to that former prospect hype. | | Bubba Chandler, Pirates (73%) – If you're looking for immediate help, it won't come from Chandler. Though it might come, like, next week – the Pirates seem to be following the Paul Skenes model for Chandler's development, and Skenes debuted on May 11 last season. Chandler has seen a bump in the quality of his stuff this season and is unquestionably one of the most exciting pitching prospects in baseball these days. | | Andrew Abbott, Reds (61%) – I find Abbott utterly confounding. Sometimes, he looks like a great strikeout pitcher with mediocre control; sometimes, he looks like a mediocre strikeout pitcher who gets by on limiting hard contact. He always gives up a lot of fly balls, which should doom him in Cincinnati. And yet, here he stands, nearly 300 innings into his MLB career with a 3.65 ERA, so he's doing something right, even if it usually isn't the same thing. I don't have a lot of faith in him (especially at home), but he keeps getting the job done. | | | | Tyler Anderson, Angels (51%) – We know the deal with Anderson at this point: He gets the job done right up until the point when he doesn't. In 2024, he had a 2.97 ERA before the All-Star break and a 5.43 mark after. His margin for error is slim, but when he's executing well with his changeup, he can be a very useful Fantasy option. | | Gunnar Hoglund, Athletics (44%) – Only three strikeouts in five innings in his second start is a bit disappointing, but the Mariners are a much tougher matchup than you might give them credit for, especially away from home, and there was still some good stuff going on under the hood for Hoglund Wednesday. He was given room to throw 99 pitches, which is no small thing in and of itself, and he got 13 whiffs, with his fastball/sweeper/changeup combo looking pretty solid in the early going. I don't think he's a difference-maker, but I like what we've seen from Hoglund this season, dating back to his time in the minors. The big problem with adding him: He gets the Dodgers next week. | | Chase Petty, Reds (7%) – Petty's first major-league start was an outright disaster, as the Cardinals tagged him for nine runs over 2.1 innings last week. But he shrugged that one off, went back to Triple-A, and dominated, striking out eight over six innings of work with 14 swinging strikes. If Greene has to miss time, Petty seems like a good bet to get recalled, and I wouldn't hold that bad debut against him too much. He's still a solid pitching prospect. | | Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers (31%) – Kershaw has allowed just four runs in four starts on his rehab stint and might need just one more outing before he returns to the Dodgers. He's down to around 87-88 mph with his fastball and hasn't been getting many strikeouts, so my expectations aren't super high. But it's Clayton Kershaw, so he's earned at least some deference at this point in his career. | | | | Wednesday's standouts | | Max Fried, Yankees vs. SD: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K – I suppose you can call Fried a sell-high candidate, what with his unsustainable 1.05 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. But here's the problem: The Fantasy community was weirdly cold on Fried coming into the season, so I'm just not sure how much anyone is really buying the hot start. If you can move him for a top-12 SP, go for it, but otherwise, I'm holding him – he's not far from that spot in my rankings anyway. | | Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies @TB: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K – I'll just note a tiny bit of concern about Sanchez, who has walked six in 11 innings since coming back from his forearm scare. Improved control, even more than the velocity jump this spring, has been the biggest difference for Sanchez over the past year or so, so we'll just keep an eye on this one. But I'm certainly not panicking. | | Framber Valdez, Astros @MIL: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – Valdez has been a bit off in the early going, which isn't necessarily surprising – he struggled for a while last season before figuring things out. His curveball and changeup were better in this one (nine whiffs combined) and it fueled a very good start. His feel for those pitches seems to come and go, and the big strikeout leap he had in the second half hasn't carried over, which is frustrating. But Valdez remains a rare source of reliable volume, with more than good enough rate stats to be a must-start, rotation anchor type. | | Sonny Gray, Cardinals vs. PIT: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – Coming off his best start of the season, Frank Stampfl suggested trying to sell high on Gray on Wednesday's FBT episode. But the problem is similar to with Fried: There was so much skepticism around Gray coming into the season that I just don't know if anyone is going to be willing to give up enough to make it worth your while. Gray can be a frustrating pitcher to roster, but he usually ends up being more useful than not for Fantasy, and I'm just not really too concerned about the bottom falling out here. | | Robbie Ray, Giants @CHC: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K – It was nice to see Ray feature his curveball a lot more in this one, and he was rewarded with really good results – three whiffs on six swings and a couple of poorly hit balls. He's still working that changeup in, but it's nice to see the curveball return – it was a very good pitch for him in a limited sample last season as a supplement to the four-seamer and slider. After a rocky start, I think Ray is back in must-start territory. | | Shane Baz, Rays vs. PHI: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – Not to toot my own horn too much, but I did warn you. Baz's early success was obviously unsustainable, and it's caught up to him. He just pitches in the zone too often and isn't missing enough bats in the zone to make this approach work. Maybe he needs to throw more fastballs above the zone or curveballs below it to try to generate more chases, but the thing I'd really like to see is Baz trying to mix his slider back in more. He's largely abandoned it since having Tommy John surgery, but it was supposed to be his best pitch before the injury. I'd like to see him at least try to get it back. | | Kodai Senga, Mets @ARI: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 4 K – Now this is a sell-high candidate I'm actively trying to move because I do think there's some risk of the bottom just falling out for Senga. His control has never been particularly good, but he overcame that as a rookie with big strikeout numbers, and he isn't showing that same kind of upside right now. Senga's fastball velocity remains down about 1 mph, and his cutter hasn't been as effective, leaving him extremely dependent on his forkball, a pitch he almost always buries down below the zone. It's a chase pitch, and a darn good one, but I'm not sure it's enough. You've gotta get to two strikes to get strikeouts. | | Grant Holmes, Braves vs. CIN: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – I just don't think it's happening for Holmes. His curveball hasn't been as good as it was last season, and his four-seamer command remains a problem. Holmes was a star while pitching mostly in relief last season, but he carried that success over into a late-season starting role, so we were intrigued to see if he could do it for a full season. So far, it hasn't looked nearly as good, with his slider standing out as by far the best pitch for him. It just might not be enough. I'm not dropping Holmes – especially in points leagues – but I think he's just a low-end starting option, not a must-start guy. | | Tyler Mahle, Rangers @BOS: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – This is another one where the sell-high alarms are blaring. Mahle has flashed a little bit of strikeout upside this season, but it hasn't been consistent at all – his strikeout totals over the past five starts go: 9, 4, 1, 6, 0. His fastball is pretty good for being in the 91-92 mph range more often than not, but I just don't think it's good enough to make Mahle even a must-roster pitcher. I'd be trying to take advantage of the 1.48 ERA to try to move him now. | | Tanner Houck, Red Sox vs. TEX: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – Houck's velocity was still up in this one, though not quite as much as it was in his previous outing. And he couldn't carry that outing's success over, either. His sweeper was pretty good, generating six whiffs, but he had just two on 55 non-sweeper pitches, which isn't going to get the job done. I was fine hanging on to Houck after he flashed a bit of upside the last time out, but his failure to back that up in this one makes him fairly easy to discard. | | Ben Brown, Cubs vs. SF: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K – It would be so easy to buy in if Brown had a third pitch. The fastball is good enough and the curveball is killer, but I just don't think it's enough to efficiently get through lineups multiple times without a viable third pitch – he threw his changeup just three times in this one. Brown will be a dynamite late-inning reliever, but unless he finds a way to expand this arsenal, I don't think he's ever going to be more than just interesting as a starter. | | Jackson Jobe, Tigers/Chase Dollander, Rockies – I'm grouping them here because they're kind of the same guy right now: The stuff looks so good when you're watching them, as long as you ignore the results. Going head to head in this one, neither made it through even four innings, with just six whiffs a piece. I still think there will be a point where the switch flicks on and both are impactful major-league starters, but both are far enough away that in any 12-team league, it's fairly easy to just let them go. | | News and notes | | Joe Ryan has been scratched from Thursday's start due to an illness. Hopefully, he's cleared to start at some point this weekend. | | William Contreras was out of the lineup Wednesday after X-rays revealed a fractured middle finger on his left hand. He plans to play through the injury, but I suspect this helps explain why he's been so disappointing this season, and it makes betting on a bounceback a lot harder to justify. I'm planning on moving Contreras down in my rankings update today – he'll probably still be the No. 1 catcher, but he's going to come back to the pack after being the clear top option since the preseason. | | Yordan Alvarez has been diagnosed with a muscle strain on the top of his right hand and is hoping to be activated when first eligible on May 13. Sounds like close to a best-case scenario. | | Zach Eflin has been cleared to return and will start this weekend against the Twins. | | The Orioles are also hopeful Tyler O'Neill will return this weekend. | | Teoscar Hernandez, who went on the IL with a left adductor strain, hopes to return in two weeks, which is much better than I expected. | | Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell will both begin playing catch Friday, as they return from their respective shoulder injuries. I'm hoping to see them back in June. | | Apparently, Jazz Chisholm revealed that he's actually dealing with three separate tears in the oblique. I have no idea how that impacts his stated 4-6 week timetable, but it obviously creates some potential complications. | | JT Realmuto was removed after fouling a ball off his left foot. | | Noelvi Marte was placed on the IL with a Grade 2 left oblique strain. That's frustrating, both because he was actually playing well before the injury and because it will likely be a pretty lengthy stay – the Reds didn't give any clues, but Jesse Winker was recently given a 6-8 week timetable for a Grade 2 oblique strain. | | Shane McClanahan is playing catch from 60 feet as he works his way back slowly from a nerve issue in his arm. He's out until at least the end of May, and I'd bet on it being quite a bit longer than that. | | It sure seems like Brandon Woodruff is close to rejoining the Brewers. He has completed five innings in each of his last three outings, but his velocity remains about 3 mph down from when we last saw him healthy. Given how reliant Woodruff was on his fastballs before, my expectations remain awfully low – his 87% roster rate feels too high to me. | | The White Sox put Andrew Benintendi on the IL with a left calf strain. | | The Dodgers placed Evan Phillips on the IL due to right forearm discomfort. | | The Blue Jays optioned Alan Roden to Triple-A and recalled Jonatan Clase. | | | | | | | | Golazo Show | | Truist | Every goal of the UEFA Europa League Semifinals. All in one place. The Golazo Show is live today at 2 PM ET on the CBS Sports Golazo Network and streaming on Paramount+.
Watch Live
| | Rory McIlory shoots for his fifth win at the Truist Championsip this weekend. Watch live this Saturday and Sunday at 3 ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+!
Watch Live
|
| | | | |
|
|
