The Main slate for today looks nice and juicy as we get 11 games to play around with here. While you’ve got some strong pitching options to contend with, there’s plenty of hot-trash potential on the mound too. I’ll likely play around with more mini-stacks tonight than with full-stacks, but there are definitely a number of options for either.
Cleveland Indians vs Bartolo Colón
The Tribe have the highest implied runs total on the Main slate as they continue to roll through AL pitching like a hot knife through butter. Both Francisco Lindor and José Ramírez are in-play if you can afford the bats and using Michael Brantley in between the two should prove positive as he’s got the strongest BvP versus Colon of the three of them. With temperatures hitting triple-digits and the wind blowing out, this one should be pretty chalky.
Seattle Mariners vs Dylan Covey
Covey has been abused by big league hitters over his last five starts, allowing 26 earned runs (six homers) over just 20 innings. You’ll definitely want a piece of the lefty bats – Kyle Seager , Dee Gordon , Denard Span and even Ben Gamel , so depending on how manager Scott Servais sets up his lineup, you may also throw in Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger if looking to pay up or maybe Ryon Healy if looking to pay down. Just a matter of what pitcher you use to determine which stack will fit better into your lineup. The top part of the lineup is probably going to be the chalk, so if looking to maintain a share of the lineup while differentiating yourself from the pack, the bottom part of the order might work better for you.
Minnesota Twins vs Jakob Junis
As I mentioned in the Hitting Coach today, I’m definitely digging on the Twins bats – Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar , in particular. You can work it a couple of different ways as Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler could be involved for a cheaper stack than the Rosario, Brian Dozier , Escobar one. The Twins have the third-highest implied runs total on the slate, but they may go low-owned with so many paying attention to the Indians and Mariners.
Game Stack:
Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds
I actually like using the Pirates more than the Reds here, but both teams should put up some solid run totals. Anthony DeSclafani has been slapped around in three of his last four starts and continues to pitch to an enormous amount of contact. I love Starling Marte in this match-up, so if you want to stack Pirates here, make sure it’s built around him. As for the Reds, you’re going to want to get Joey Votto and Scooter Gennett into your lineup as both lefties could pound Nick Kingham tonight. I’ll have one lineup that just stacks this game and then I’ll figure out which pitcher(s) fit best.
Player News
Tommy Edman is not in the lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Marlins.
It’s an extremely rare day off for Edman, who is hitting .243/.284/.514 with eight homers, 19 RBI and one steal through 28 games. The versatile 29-year-old has cooled off considerably after a scorching-hot start to the year, hitting .111 (3-for-27) over his last seven games. It’ll be freshly-minted NL Player of the Week, Andy Pages, in center field on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Monday that Marcus Stroman is still dealing with left knee issues.
It certainly doesn’t sound like Stroman is close to making it back to New York’s rotation mix at any point in the near future. The 33-year-old righty received a cortisone injection a couple weeks ago after landing on the shelf with left knee inflammation and has yet to resume throwing. It’s looking like he’ll be out until sometime around midseason.
Rangers selected the contract of RHP Dane Dunning from Triple-A Round Rock.
Dunning rejoins the Rangers’ relief mix just a couple weeks after being jettisoned from the club’s 40-man roster altogether. The 30-year-old righty failed to make Texas’ season-opening roster, but he’ll get another look in long relief after posting a pedestrian 5.40 ERA, 1.55 WHIP and 21/9 K/BB ratio across 20 innings (five starts) for Triple-A Round Rock in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.
Rangers optioned RHP Caleb Boushley to Triple-A Round Rock.
Boushley heads back to the minors after posting a serviceable 5.87 ERA across 7 2/3 innings (three appearances) for the Rangers since his call-up back on April 8.
Orioles claimed LHP Walter Pennington off waivers from the Rangers.
Pennington will head to Triple-A Norfolk as extra organizational relief depth after being claimed off release waivers from the Rangers. The 27-year-old southpaw made 16 relief appearances last year between the Rangers and Royals in his shot at the highest level.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reports Luis Arraez (concussion) is expected to be activated for Tuesday’s series opener against the Giants.
Arraez landed on the 7-day concussion injured list last Monday following a scary on-field collision the previous night in Houston. The 28-year-old infielder dealt with concussion symptoms for a couple days last week, but has been symptom-free of late and was able to complete workouts. All signs point to him being ready to return for Tuesday’s showdown in San Diego.