IT’S OFFICIAL – RODON TO START
Carlos Rodon has officially been named the starter Friday for the White Sox in a battle against the Athletics. It sounds like he’s got a spot in the rotation locked down with Hector Noesi being sent to the bullpen moving forward as well, great news for his steadily climbing fantasy value. At the same time, the club will monitor Rodon’s workload meaning he won’t take the ball every 5th game and he may get some extra days off from time to time. The reason is that his young arm doesn’t have a lot of innings on it. Here are his innings totals the last three seasons: 114.2, 132.1 and 123 last year (Rodon threw 24.1 big league innings last season after 98.2 innings in college). He probably won’t get much more than 150-160 tops this year, but he has one dynamic arm, could bring a strikeout an inning, and if he can limit the walks the ratios figure to be better than the league average. A depth arm in mixed leagues, though an intriguing one with oodles of talent.
INJURIES
Jose Bautista (shoulder) is in the lineup but he admitted to not knowing when he would be able to play in the field as his wing is giving him issues. Bautista has gone 12 games without a big fly though his Isolated Power mark of .250 is still higher than his total the last two years signaling that not all hope is lost with his power game.
Kevin Gausman had an MRI on his shoulder. The results came back clean. Whew. The 24 year old is expected to start throwing by the end of the week and then head out on a rehab assignment to stretch out his arm with the expectation being that when he returns to the Orioles he does so as a starter, not a reliever. The Orioles could really use him as Bud Norris (1-4, 9.88 ERA, 1.87 WHIP) and Chris Tillman (2-4, 6.25 ERA, 1.67 WHIP) are both looking hideous at the moment.
Leonys Martin re-aggravated his wrist Monday and is out of the lineup again Tuesday. No telling how much time he misses but it might be time to reassess the 
value of speedster Delino DeShields Jr. who might be looking at an extended run as the Rangers starting center fielder if Martin is placed on the DL. Still tough to get excited about Jr. as anything more than an AL-only play.
George Springer is starting a rehab assignment at Double-A as he works his way back from a concussion. He should be back later this week, barring a setback of course.
Matt Wieters shall return from Tommy John surgery on June 4th according to manager Buck Williams. Of course, they thought he would be ready to return on April 4th so we shall see. Wieters owners will continue to have to be patient for another three weeks before unleashing their power hitting backstop.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).