| | | | Wednesday, May 8, 2024 | | Scott White here. With Chris Towers on vacation for the next couple weeks, I'll be filling in with a daily roundup of the most significant developments from around baseball. | | The biggest on Tuesday was a fractured forearm for Willson Contreras, which will sideline him for 6-8 weeks. It's just the latest in what's been an onslaught of injuries so far, but if there's a silver lining to this one, it's that it frees up at-bats for Ivan Herrera, an up-and-comer who has put up impressive exit velocity readings in a part-time role. | | While we've lost Contreras, we've regained three other players of real consequence in Fantasy Baseball. Cody Bellinger returned from a fractured rib to go 3 for 4 with his sixth home run in 101 plate appearances. That's an even better home run pace than a year ago, making those preseason bust claims harder to justify. Meanwhile, Paul Sewald was back from an oblique injury and worked the ninth inning, though not for a save. You can expect him to return to closing duties right away. Finally, TJ Friedl was back as the Reds' starting center fielder and leadoff hitter. He's somehow rostered in only 56 percent of CBS Sports leagues. | | | | Sandoval strikes | | The unlikely pitching standout of the day was Patrick Sandoval, who threw seven shutout innings at the Pirates, striking out seven and walking one. He struck out 10 over five innings in his last start and has been much more effective since ditching his four-seamer, heretofore his most-thrown pitch, for more changeups and sliders. The ERA estimators all like him, too. He's deserving of some looks, but I still prefer Cristopher Sanchez, who bounced back from a couple shaky outings to allow just one run in seven innings. Kyle Harrison did one better, allowing no runs in seven innings at Colorado, but he struck out only two and is still lacking a quality secondary offering to go with his fastball. Now seems like a good time to sell on him. | | Digging a bit deeper into the numbers, Sandoval delivered 17 swinging strikes on 103 pitches -- nine on his changeup, four on his slide, three on his sinker and one on the curveball for a 37% called swinging strike rate. He allowed just six hard hits and an 82.5 average exit velocity against. He has completely ditched his four-seamer over the last three starts and actually lead with his changeup in this one. Perhaps the most impressive improvement has been the fact that Sandoval has walked just three batters over his last three starts. He's 37% rostered with a start at Texas next week. | | | | Prospects Report | | There's not much more I enjoy than unpacking prospects, but not every prospect story takes a happy turn. In the case of Max Meyer, it might be time to move on. Here's what I wrote about Meyer in my recent prospects report update: | | I'm not saying he isn't one of the top 10 prospects to stash, but this article only concerns itself with the top five. And even after a recent flurry of call-ups, I don't see how he fits anymore. | | The biggest reason is that he's no longer next in line for the Marlins. Roddery Munoz is, having recently been sent down to make way for Braxton Garrett . Granted, Muñoz is no great shakes, but there's a reason why the Marlins turned to him before Meyer: They're not actually looking to win right now. They just traded their most celebrated hitter, Luis Arraez, to the Padres for a handful of quasi-prosects. So even though Meyer has already proven to be one of their five best starting pitchers, they've given every indication that they intend to keep him down for developmental reasons. | | The biggest of those reasons is innings preservation. The Marlins said when they sent Meyer down that he would throw three innings once a week, and they've more or less stuck with that plan. It's not even clear he'd be able to handle a starter's workload if he were to get the call now, and the truth is he hasn't been pitching well anyway. | | But that's strange isn't it? After all, he put together a 2.12 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in his three major-league starts. Yeah, but he relied on his slider 49 percent of the time in them. The Marlins are having him emphasize his changeup at Triple-A because, again, they're prioritizing development over performance. | | Nothing that they're doing with Meyer right now would suggest a return to the majors is even in the discussion, which is why I'm looking elsewhere for my ... | | Five on the verge | | Paul Skenes, SP, Pirates | | Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays | | Jackson Holliday, 2B, Orioles | | Coby Mayo, 3B, Orioles | | Orelvis Martinez, 2B, Blue Jays | | | | News and Notes | | Gerrit Cole completed his second bullpen session on Tuesday and is expected to throw another this weekend. He appears on track to return at some point in June.Cody Bellinger was activated from the IL. It was Alexander Canario who was optioned back to Triple-A not Pete Crow-Armstrong. Bellinger went 3-4 with his 6th HR in his return.Grayson Rodriguez feels much better and hopes to be reinstated once he becomes eligible on May 15. He's on the IL with right shoulder inflammation. Kodai Senga is scheduled to throw another bullpen later this week.Seiya Suzuki will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Wednesday.Paul Sewald was activated from the IL. Kevin Ginkel could be dropped right? Sewald was thrown right back out there on Tuesday, got the 9th inning with a five-run lead, gave up a solo homer and struck out one.Brayan Bello will return from the IL Sunday against the Nationals. Cristian Javier will return from the IL this weekend to face the Tigers.Lane Thomas took batting practice on the field Tuesday, his first time doing so since he went on the IL with a MCL sprain in his left knee.TJ Frield was activated and hit leadoff for the Reds against the righty Zac Gallen. Friedl finished 0-4 with a strikeout Jasson Dominguez is about two weeks from beginning a rehab assignment. He's 48% rostered, big prospect, lots of upside, not sure he'll just get called up to the Yankees when he's ready. The outfield is full with Verdugo, Judge, Soto and then you have Stanton at DH.Tylor Megill will make another rehab start at Triple-A on Sunday.Jack Leiter is likely to make his second career start Wednesday against the A's (second game of a doubleheader). | | | | | | | | UEFA Champions League | | The Golazo Show | Today at 3 PM ET, watch the match that will decide who moves on to the UEFA Champions League Final, Real Madrid or Bayern, LIVE on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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