| | | | Monday, April 14, 2025 | | There weren't quite as many hugely impactful injuries around baseball this weekend as last, but unfortunately, we did get one significant pitching injury. So, before we get to everything you need to know about from around the league from this weekend, let's start with the IL moves to know: | | Justin Steele, SP, Cubs (elbow) – Steele's season is over, though it hasn't been confirmed whether he'll have Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure to repair his elbow. The difference between the two is a few months of recovery time, so if Strider avoids a full ligament replacement, he could be back next April. Either way, he's done for this season, which is a bummer. CJ Abrams, SS, Nationals (hip) – Abrams is dealing with a hip flexor strain, and at this point, there's no indication of how long he's expected to be sidelined. The in-house replacements here are pretty unexciting, but if you're looking for a middle infielder with some upside, look for Adael Amador, the second base prospect called up by the Rockies this weekend. He has some athleticism and has been hitting the ball harder in Triple-A this season. Masyn Winn, SS, Cardinals (back) – Thomas Saggese will get some playing time at shortstop in Winn's absence, and he's a mildly interesting option for deeper leagues. Jake Cronenworth, 2B, Padres (rib) – Jose Iglesias will see more playing time in Cronenworth's absence, and he can be a cheap source of batting average (and little else). | | Here's what else you need to know before setting your lineups for Week 4: | | | | Week 4 Preview | | | | Before we get to everything you need to know from this weekend's action, let's get those lineups set, with some help from Scott White and me. | | Week 4 waiver targets | | Kris Bubic, Max Meyer, and Jordan Hicks all look like potential difference-makers after two starts. Maybe the two starts after that will go the wrong way and we'll be dropping them en masse, but for now, I'm looking to add all three anywhere I have room for another upside pitcher. Head here to read why, and then here's the rest of the top targets: | C: Francisco Alvarez, Mets (50%) 1B: Ben Rice, Yankees (75%)
2B: Christopher Morel, Rays (51%) 3B: Connor Norby, Marlins (39%) SS: Jordan Lawlar, Diamondbacks (33%) OF: Taylor Ward, Angels (59%), Jorge Soler, Angels (54%), Zac Veen, Rockies (46%) SP: Clarke Schmidt, Yankees (66%), Edward Cabrera, Marlins (16%), David Festa, Twins (15%) RP: Hayden Wesneski, Astros (51%), Tommy Kahnle, Tigers (31%) | | For more deep-league targets, plus my thoughts on each of those players and more, head here. | | Week 4 sleeper hitters | | Best hitter matchups for Week 4 | 1. Pirates WAS4, CLE3
2. Nationals @PIT4, @COL3
3. Rays BOS3, NYY4
4. Dodgers COL3, @TEX3
5. Athletics @CHW3, @MIL3 | | | | Worst hitter matchups for Week 4 | 1. Blue Jays ATL3, SEA3
2. Orioles CLE3, CIN3
3. Cubs @SD3, ARI3
4. Brewers DET3, ATH3
5. Rangers LAA3, LAD3 | | Top sleeper hitters for Week 3 | | Kyle Manzardo, DH, Guardians @BAL3, @PIT3 Michael Conforto, OF, Dodgers COL3, @TEX3Jacob Wilson, SS, Athletics @CHW3, @MIL3 Michael Toglia, 1B, Rockies @LAD3, WAS3 Hunter Goodman, C, Rockies @LAD3, WAS3 | | Week 4 sleeper pitchers | | You can check out Scott's two-start pitcher rankings here, too. He ranks every projected two-start pitcher for the upcoming week, tiering them from must-starts to no-thanks. | | Top sleeper pitches for Week 4 | | Jeffrey Springs, Rays (76%) at CHW, at MIL Grant Holmes, Braves (73%) at TOR, vs. MIN Mitch Keller, Pirates (79%) vs. WAS, vs. CLE Easton Lucas , Blue Jays (35%) vs. ATL, vs. SEATylor Megill, Mets (78%) at MIN, vs. STL | | | | Weekend Standouts | | Good pitchers | | Garrett Crochet, Red Sox @CHW: 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K – That's two dominant starts and two pretty mediocre ones from Crochet so far. Add it all up, and it's a 1.38 ERA 0.88 WHIP, and 28 strikeouts in 26 innings, so it probably doesn't matter that the ride's been a little bumpy. I still have some concerns about how Crochet is going to hold up over a full season, but he's clearly an ace right now. | | Hunter Greene, Reds vs. PIT: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – It's kind of the same thing with Greene as with Crochet: I don't have a lot of faith in his ability to stay healthy for a full season – his 150.1 innings last season are his highest total ever – but it seems silly to have any performance concerns at this point. The 4% walk rate feels unsustainably low, but it's not necessarily new, either: Last season, he had a 7.5% walk rate over his final 12 starts last season, too. He might have just made a leap. | | Michael King , Padres vs. COL: 9 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – It didn't take King nearly as long to lock in as it did last season. King was still floundering at this point in 2024, but after a rocky debut, he's up to 21 strikeouts to just four walks in 19.2 innings over his past three starts. Sure, facing the Rockies away from Coors helped – the entire Padres staff didn't allow a run this weekend – but King was dealing in this one, racking up 17 swinging strikes and allowing just three batted balls with an expected batting average over .500. Last year's breakout doesn't look like a fluke. | | Zac Gallen , Diamondbacks vs. MIL: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K – I was kind of half paying attention to this one Sunday, and I'm amazed that Gallen ended up with a quality start. He was in trouble from the word go, but he turned things around well enough to put the Diamondbacks in line for the win. He didn't seem to have the feel for his curveball in this one, especially early, which has been a weird trend over his past two starts – he threw it just 13% of the time Sunday and just 11% of the time in his previous start, a far cry from when he carved up the Yankees with a 30% curveball usage. I'm not saying the answer is just "spam curveballs," but it's been weird to see him going away from it after dominating with that pitch against the Yankees. | | Taj Bradley , Rays vs. ATL: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – There was one start where walks and homers were a problem, but Bradley's been pretty impressive overall. He has seven strikeouts in each of his first three starts, with a whiff rate of at least 25% on all three of his pitches. His overall pitch mix has shifted a bit, but he's still throwing his four-seamer around 42% of the time just like he did last year while trading a few splitters for cutters. The fastball tends to be the pitch that gets hit hardest, and both homers he has allowed so far have come on that pitch. Given that his pitch mix is mostly the same, I think Bradley is probably still the same frustrating, up-and-down pitcher he was last season, but it's been a promising start. | | Kodai Senga , Mets @ATH: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – This was a good start from Senga, but not exactly a promising one, if you get my drift. Seven shutout innings is great, obviously, but we need more than four strikeouts from Senga, who has hit that mark in each of his past two starts. The Mets have had a very short leash with Senga so far – he went just five innings in his first two starts and only threw 79 pitches in this one – which means he probably needs to be a high strikeout pitcher to maximize his Fantasy value, and that hasn't happened yet. I'm frustrated with Senga right now, and I'm not sure how much upside there is here. | | Jackson Jobe, Tigers @MIN: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K – Another one where the result is good, but the process remains frustrating. Jobe managed just eight swinging strikes on 87 pitches, though at least his command was good in this one after he walked seven in his first two starts combined. All in all, Jobe remains baffling – the stuff should be getting significantly better results than this, and I haven't seen a good explanation for why he isn't getting more whiffs and strikeouts. I don't want to give up on the evident talent, but I'm also definitely not expecting Jobe to be the dominant strikeout pitcher I hoped he would be right away. | | Luis Ortiz, Guardians vs. KC: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – Our pal Nick Pollack highlighted the change for Ortiz here: He executed incredibly well with his four-seamer up in the zone leading to an impressive eight whiffs on 17 swings against it. It's a good fastball, but not one he has typically used a ton as a swing-and-miss pitch, and I'm not inclined to think that's going to change moving forward. This was interesting enough that I think Ortiz is worth adding anywhere his SPaRP eligibility matters, but I need to see more before I'm looking at him as an option in 12-team Roto leagues. | | Joe Boyle , Rays vs. ATL: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – The stuff has always been ridiculous, and it absolutely was in this one, as Boyle sat at 97.7 with his four-seamer and generated 12 swinging strikes on just 74 pitches. The problems are many, however: The untenable 18.8% career walk rate in the minors and the reliever arsenal, as he threw just fastballs and sliders in this one. I'd like to see Boyle get an extended look in the rotation just to see if he's solved the control problem, though with six walks in eight innings in his two Triple-A starts before this, I'm inclined to think it's still a problem. And I'm not sure he is going to stick in the rotation anyway. | | Kyle Hart, Padres vs. COL: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – The hope was that Hart could be useful in certain matchups this season, and that's been the case so far: Two runs in five innings against the Guardians plus this one against the Rockies, while he didn't even get out of the first inning when he faced the Cubs. So we look at the upcoming schedule and see … The Astros and Tigers in his next two? I'm probably not on board with that. Prove me wrong, Kyle! | | Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals vs. PHI: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K – Liberatore is not so far removed from being a prospect of some renown that I'm willing to entirely ignore an impressive start like this against a good Phillies lineup, and it was interesting to see him feed the Phillies slider after slider with no ill effects. It was his most-used pitch, and he racked up 11 whiffs on 17 swings and a weak contact when they did manage to hit it. That slider has always been his best swing-and-miss pitch, and maybe featuring it even more can be what helps unlock Liberatore, but I'm not counting on it. Especially on the road against the Mets in his next start. | | Jose Quintana, Brewers @ARI: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – Quintana came out cold, no minor-league tune-up starts, and just befuddled a good offense. He'll do that occasionally, and against the right matchups, he was pretty useful last season. But I don't think there's much upside here, and a lot of downside if the 4.52 xERA in 2024 comes out of hiding. I could see a good start coming against the Tigers, but there are more interesting pitchers I'd rather be chasing. | | AJ Smith-Shawver, Braves @TB: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – It's a little frustrating to see Smith-Shawver sent down to Triple-A right as he finally showed a hint of some upside. But the truth is, he still needs work, so it's hard to argue with it. He doesn't command his fastball well enough yet, and his non-splitter secondaries remain a work in progress to be kind – he has allowed a lot of hard contact with both his curveball and the rare slider, with just one strikeout through three starts between both pitches. Smith-Shawver is still just 22, but with Spencer Strider back in the rotation this week, he's going to get a chance to keep refining his approach down in Gwinnett. | | Bad pitching performances | | Chris Sale, Braves @TB: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K – That's now five innings or less in each of the first four starts for Sale when he had no more than two starts in a row with fewer than six innings at any point last season. Sale hardly looked irreparably broken – his velocity had been down, but he averaged 96.2 mph on his four-seamer in this one, higher than all but one start in 2024 – so I'm inclined to treat this as a bump in the road. But he needs to put together a good start at some point. | | Jacob deGrom , Rangers @SEA: 4 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – I'm not the one you want to hear from, because I wasn't convinced deGrom was going to be the same dominant force we've gotten used to when we saw that his velocity was down significantly this spring. I think he'll still be good moving forward – how could he not be with a whiff rate over 40% on both the slider and changeup? – but he's just not blowing it past guys like he used to. deGrom is still going to be a must-start pitcher, and if the diminished velocity helps him stay healthy for 150 innings, it's probably a trade-off we'll take. But he's not the same guy right now. | | Robbie Ray, Giants @NYY: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K – Given the matchup and the rainy, cold conditions during this game (it was called in the sixth inning), it's probably fair to give Ray a pass for this one. Of course, he was pitching in considerably better conditions in his previous start and walked five, so this is just what life is like with Robbie Ray sometimes. The walk rate will tend toward the higher side, but it'll be lower than his current 16.1% mark; on the opposite side, I'll also take the over on his current 21% strikeout rate. Ray hasn't been quite as good as we hoped after his tremendous spring, but I still think he's a must-start pitcher. | | Tanner Bibee , Guardians vs. KC: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – I think there's a buy-low opportunity here for Bibee, but obviously I haven't been thrilled with what we've seen from Bibee. The main problem so far has been his cutter, a pitch he threw 26% of the time with terrific results last season; he's still getting whiffs with it, but he's also allowed two home runs with that pitch, twice as many as he allowed all of last season. He's lost a bit of velocity since last season, but hardly an alarming amount, so I think this is more about execution and command. I think Bibee will be fine, though obviously if you were hoping for a breakout from him, this has been especially disappointing. | | Sandy Alcantara , Marlins vs. WAS: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – This one was especially disappointing coming off extra rest against a beatable opponent. That's four walks in two of his first three starts back, though any concern there is mitigated by the fairly common knowledge that command is often the last thing to come back after Tommy John. The stuff still looks exceptional, so I think this is another one that comes down to execution, and that'll come. I'm not opposed to sitting Alcantara in his next start in Philadelphia if you have better options, but I do still think he'll be a must-start pitcher in the long run. | | Casey Mize, Tigers @MIN: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K – Even as hype has built around him, I've been hesitant to buy in on Mize. The fastball is a good pitch, but his command and feel for spin with his breaking ball remains very lacking, making his splitter an all-important pitch, which isn't that much different than where he's been in recent years. I still think Mize can be useful, but I'm more likely to view him as a sell-high candidate right now than someone I'm buying at any price. | | Jordan Hicks, Giants @NYY: 4 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 3 K – Well, this is frustrating. The Yankees are clearly a tough matchup at this point, but Hicks lost another mph off his fastball, and while he's still up from last season, it's not quite where he was out of the bullpen. And he still hasn't found the feel for his splitter, throwing it 15% of the time in this game, his highest mark of the season but still well below where he was last season. I remain hopeful, but Hicks can't be called a must-roster pitcher on hope alone. He's gotta show us something concrete soon. | | Emmanuel Clase, RP, Guardians – Clase has already allowed more earned runs than he did all of last season. And combine it with his postseason struggles at the end of 2024, and … I'm not even a little bit worried. Even if you include the postseason, you're talking about him struggling for 15 innings. There are some starters who haven't even thrown 15 innings this season so far, so no, I'm not at all worried about Clase. Just thought you should know. | | Notable hitting performances | | Jung Hoo Lee , OF, Giants – I was pretty optimistic about Lee coming into the season, and I'll admit I never saw anything like this coming. After he homered twice Sunday to cap off a three-homer series against the Yankees, Lee is now hitting .352/.426/.704 on the season. He's not this good, of course – nowhere close. He'll cool off dramatically at some point. But he makes a lot of contact and isn't a total slap hitter, so I do think Lee should be viewed as a must-roster player, and certainly a must-start one while he's on this heater. I'm not sure I'm ready to say he's a top-30 outfielder, but … he might not be far off. | | Sean Murphy, C, Braves – I was worried Murphy might get off to a slow start coming off a rib injury, but that hasn't been a problem at all so far. He homered in his first game back and then hit two more Saturday, and he's 5 for 19 with the three homers in the early going. Strikeouts have been a minor issue so far, but the bar is so low for catchers offensively that it's hard to be too concerned, given the production otherwise. | | Josh Jung, 3B, Rangers – Injuries continue to be an issue for Jung, but he's been raking since coming back from his latest. Jung homered Friday and is now 8 for 20 since coming off the IL with five extra-base hits in as many games. We've barely seen Jung since his 23-homer breakout in 2023, but I still believe there's 30-homer upside here, and he's showing it lately. | | Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Tigers – Maybe it's happening. Torkelson homered Saturday and Sunday this weekend and is now up to five for the season while hitting .309/.409/.673. The strikeout rate is a little elevated at 30.3%, but you'll live with that when he's sporting a 93.8 mph average exit velocity and 55.9% hard-hit rate. There's still some risk the strikeout rate makes this all unsustainable, but his underlying plate discipline metrics aren't quite as bad as all that – his zone contact rate is way up, to 88.9%, the highest mark of his career, which is helping him overcome a slightly increased chase rate. I wouldn't bet a ton on Torkelson keeping this up, but it's not impossible, either. | | Keibert Ruiz, C, Nationals – Ruiz is off to a nice little start, hitting .373/.439/.529 with a couple of homers, so you might be wondering if there's anything going on under the hood to suggest he can keep this up. Not really, no. His average exit velocity is down to 84.8 mph, a career-low rate, and while he's generating a lot of line drives, I think this is more of a hot streak than anything permanent. Ruiz will run stretches with a very high batting average, but there just isn't a strong enough skill set otherwise to sustain it as anything more than a No. 2 catcher in most leagues. | | News and notes | | Some good middle infield news: Matt McLain is expected back when first eligible Tuesday. He's been on the IL with a left hamstring strain, but it'll end up being a minimum-length stay, and I'd get him in my lineup as long as there isn't an unforeseen setback. | | Spencer Strider remains on track to make his season debut Wednesday against the Blue Jays. We're starting him, yes. | | Ketel Marte resumed baseball activities on Friday. He is still probably several weeks away from returning from his hamstring injury, but this was a good sign. | | Clarke Schmidt will make his season debut Wednesday against the Royals. Last year was the best he's looked, as he put up a 2.85 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 93 K over 85.1 IP. I'm not expecting an exact repeat of that ERA, but he should still be plenty useful with that lineup backing him up. | | Brandon Woodruff began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Saturday. He allowed 2 ER over 3.2 IP, striking out five. He was down 3.5 mph on his four-seamer from 2023 to 92.3 mph, and it's hard to envision him being effective against MLB hitters at that velo, so hopefully he's just building up his arm as he recovers from shoulder surgery. | | Trevor Megill recently underwent an MRI on his knee, but it came back clean. Then on Sunday, it was reported he'll receive a second opinion. | | This news came after he had a brutal blown save Saturday night, which could just be a coincidence. But if he does have to miss some time, we could see Abner Uribe get back into the ninth-inning role for the Brewers, as he's looked pretty good in the early going. | | Seiya Suzuki left Saturday's game due to right wrist pain and was out of the lineup Sunday. Hopefully, we get an update Monday, but I'd lean toward sitting him if we don't hear back. | | Brenton Doyle has missed three straight with a quad injury. There have been few details on this one, so again, keep an eye on his status before setting your lineup. | | Jonathan India left Saturday with right quad tightness. | | Lane Thomas has missed five straight with a right wrist contusion. The fact that they haven't put him on the IL yet is kind of surprising, but I'd prefer to sit him either way. | | George Springer left Sunday after tweaking his left wrist during an at-bat. X-rays came back negative, which is a good sign. | | Connor Norby started a rehab assignment Saturday. He's been out with a left oblique strain | | Joey Bart missed two straight with lower-back discomfort. As a result, Henry Davis was recalled. He has to show us something at the MLB level before he's worth adding. | | Grayson Rodriguez threw a side session Saturday, his third throughout his rehab. The next step in his progression would be to face live hitters, and he's probably still a month away from getting back to the majors, I'd guess. | | Clayton Kershaw will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Wednesday. He isn't eligible to return until May 17 and is probably only worth stashing in deeper leagues. | | The Twins reinstated Brooks Lee from the IL and sent Jose Miranda back to Triple-A. Lee is 21% rostered and is worth a look in deeper leagues. | | The Marlins placed Nick Fortes on the IL with a left oblique strain. Instead of promoting their top catcher prospect Agustin Ramirez, they brought up veteran catcher Rob Brantly. Boring! | | The Mariners promoted third base prospect, Ben Williamson. He's only worth a look in AL-only at this point. | | | | | | | | Golazo Network | | 24/7 Sports News | Watch LIVE global soccer coverage on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, available FOR FREE on the CBS Sports App, Pluto TV and streaming on Paramount+.
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