It’s Monday morning, waivers have processed and you’ve got an early game starting off the week.
So, are you a Tommy Boy? Are you the guy in your league who forgets to check the MLB schedule on Sunday night to see if you need to get up early to do a little roster housekeeping? If you are, then thank you for your annual donation to the league and feel free to go back to sleep.
Wait? What? You’re up? You’re ready to wipe the crusties out from the corner of your eyes and you’re ready to set your lineup for the day/week? Good, because you’ve got some serious work to do before that first game starts up.
You should have looked at the injury status of every one of your players prior to doing your waiver claims, but on the off-chance you didn’t, you may have wasted some FAAB dollars and may want to re-think your Sunday plans in the future as there are a number of key players expected to make their return to their team’s starting lineups.
Let’s start here:
- Austin Nola , C SD
- Christian Walker , 1B ARI
- Mike Moustakas , 2B/3B CIN
- Gavin Lux , 2B LAD
- Jose Altuve , 2B HOU
- Ketel Marte , 2B ARI
- Anthony Rendon , 3B
- George Springer , OF TOR
- Tim Locastro , OF ARI
- Lorenzo Cain , OF MIL
- Lance Lynn , SP CHW
- Joakim Soria , RP ARI
Whoa! Seriously? All of these guys are coming back? According to their teams, yes. Maybe not all on Monday, but throughout the week and if your league has weekly lineups, not daily, then you’re going to need to make some hard and fast decisions. When you’re talking about guys like Altuve, Moustakas, Marte, Rendon and Springer, yes, you’re putting them into your lineup. You can’t tell me that you’d rather have Rio Ruiz in your lineup over Altuve or Marte. Hell, I wouldn’t have him in there over Moustakas or even Lux. These are marquee players coming back and even if we’re talking about a short week where they’re knocking some of the rust off, I still want them active for me.
It’s the same with a guy like Lance Lynn . Some people will say they want to see him make a start before activating him, and while there are some cases where I agree, it was a cranky back that sidelined him and not a shoulder or an elbow injury. I’m not diminishing the severity or impact of a back injury, but I wouldn’t mind having Lynn active against Cleveland this Friday as opposed to someone like a Michael Wacha or José Quintana -- some mediocre starter you have filling in.
If you missed the boat this week, well, please make sure you’re at the dock on-time next week. Not every Monday will have an early game, so you will hopefully have more time, but again, this is research you should be doing Sunday night before you put in your waiver claims/bids. Imagine not knowing when your studs are coming back and you’re still shelling out FAAB dollars for guys you probably don’t even need. Yeesh!
Quick Cuts:
If you’re bummed out that you missed on adding Padres lefty Ryan Weathers this week on waivers, just remember that this kid hasn’t thrown more than 100 innings yet and while the early love is nice, not only is he going to hit a few speed bumps down the road, but he’s going to have his innings capped at some point. The hype is nice, but this isn’t a kid who is delivering a fantasy baseball championship to your front door. He still has a long way to go.
If you’re looking for some starting pitching to stream this week, don’t be afraid to take a look at the Colorado Rockies. Yes, believe it or not, I’m looking at Jon Gray , Austin Gomber and one of my favorite punching bags Germán Márquez . So far this season, at Coors, Gray is sporting a 1.85 ERA while Gomber’s is at 3.00 and Marquez’ lands at a 3.13 mark. Both Marquez and Gray have thrown more than 20 innings at home while Gomber has split his time more evenly regarding home/road innings-splits. This isn’t to say that these guys have figured out how to pitch at Coors (didn’t we learn our lesson from Marquez a few seasons ago?), but they’ve found some early-season success in the colder weather in Colorado. That will change moving forward, but we’re just looking for this week and a road trip that takes them to San Francisco and Arizona is looking really tasty for this week.
Speaking of the weather, prepare yourself for a dramatic shift in your league standings as the temperatures start to rise. The warmer weather is going to start delivering some pretty sick offensive performances and with all these superstars batting under .200 right now, we should prepare ourselves for a major upswing in offensive output. Yes, they’ve deadened that ball, but that’s not what has Eugenio Suárez hitting .141 or limiting Joey Gallo to just one home run. Cold starts are about to heat up with the weather changes and you’re going to start seeing some teams (maybe yours) climb up the standings in a hurry. If you’re playing in a roto league, go take a long look at your standings breakdown. For the categories in which you are struggling, assess which ones will change once your studs heat up and which ones you genuinely need help in. Once your bats heat accordingly, your roster moves will have that much more impact.
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.
Endy Rodriguez (finger) had his splint removed this week.
Rodriguez suffered a lacerated right index finger on April 14th. Now that he is out of his splint, he “is playing catch and doing a slightly modified swing.” Once he can progress to taking full swings, we’ll have a better sense of the timeline for his return.