MLB Breaking News: Drew Rasmussen Lands on the 60-Day IL
Wow, this one came out of nowhere! Drew Rasmussen has been placed on the 60-day IL with a flexor strain, an elbow injury that is typical bad news. This is a major injury for a pitcher and will be out for at least two months now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being longer. This is a huge blow, both to the first place Tampa Bay Rays (especially when you consider the fact they also lost Jeffrey Springs and haven’t had Tyler Glasnow available yet either) and to fantasy baseball managers. He has pitched extremely well this season and will be a tough piece to replace. Make sure to give the fantasy baseball ros rankings a look and the fantasy baseball waiver wire report for possible options for your fantasy team. If your league doesn’t have IL spots, you can safely drop him at this point.
Rasmussen just tossed seven shutout innings against the New York Yankees last night while giving up just two hits and striking out seven. He didn’t give up a run in his previous start either, tossing 5.2 shutout innings against those same Yankees. He lowered his season ERA to 2.62 and has 47 strikeouts across 44.2 innings of work. He was the type of pitcher that fantasy baseball managers could roll out every start with a “set it and forget it” mindset. As for the Rays, who replaces him in the rotation?
Taj Bradley is the obvious replacement here for the Rays and is worth an immediate add if he is available on your waiver wire. Our very own Matt Selz wrote about Bradley in the Week 3 Prospect Report and Colby Conway wrote about him in the Streaks & Trends article from a few weeks ago. It was shocking when he was sent back down to AAA after posting a 3.52 ERA across his first three starts while striking out 23 batters across 15.1 innings of work. He has really struggled at AAA since being sent down though, so it will be interesting to see if the Rays go that route. Luis Patino, Elvin Rodriguez, or Cooper Criswell could also be options, but Bradley is the only one worth considering for fantasy baseball purposes. Glasnow can’t get back soon enough for the Rays at this point with all the injuries to their pitching staff. However, the Rays still comfortably sit atop the AL East with a 30-9 record (five games ahead of the second place Baltimore Orioles). They are a great team and it helps their starters have increased chances of picking up a win for fantasy baseball purposes, so keep a close eye on what they decide to do. In the meantime, add Bradley right now if you can.
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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.