Apparently Blake Snell was moving some granite hoozawhatsit in his bathroom and dropped it on his toe. We’ve all been there — our partners buy some unnecessary piece of furniture and we’re tasked with building it, moving it around to and fro and end up being the ones sweaty and frustrated. And don’t get me started on throw pillows — their purpose is in their name — throw them on the floor before you go to sleep…please don’t share this with my wife. Anyway — reports are that Snell will only miss one start. Granted, it’s his own report, but still it’s only his little ring toe. Fill In: If you need one start, give good ol’ C.C. Sabathia (10.8%) a shot. His next start comes at home against the Royals who are 17th in OPS vs lefties. Sabathia looked sharp as heck in his first start against the White Sox (5 IP, 1 base runner, 3 Ks.)
Rougned Odor, 2B, Knee: You could probably leave him in your lineup and actually benefit your lineup since he has 0 HRs and .167 average. He’s going to be out for two weeks and then get reevaluated. His ownership is already plummeting (down to 67.9%) and if you’re in a 12-team league or less I think you can safely drop him. Fill In: Brandon Lowe (18.2%) is still pretty under-owned, but his bat will be changing that soon — he’s already up 13.8% recently. His 30.5% K/rate isn’t looking good so far, but the 4 HRs, 2 SBs sure are! Last year across three level Lowe hit 28 HRs and stole 10 bases. I’d trust more in the power than the SBs though.
Freddy Peralta, SP, Shoulder: If only we could bottle Peralta’s 8 inning, 2 base runner, 11 K start against the Reds. Instead of the three other starts where he pitched less than 4 innings. He can safely be dropped in anything shallower than a 15 team league. Fill In: Trent Thornton (7.0%.) Before he got lit up by the Rays in his most recent start Thornton was looking pretty good: 10.2 IP, 2 ER and 15 Ks. Thornton will start tonight against the Twins who are ranked 15th against righties with a .332 OBP and on April 23rd he’ll get the Giants who are dead last with a .237 OBP vs righties. Thornton wasn’t the best pitcher in the minor leagues, but a 4.74 ERA over 239.1 IP in the Pacific Coast League is actually like a 2.5, right?
David Robertson, RP, Elbow: Right elbow soreness for a right handed pitcher? Danger, danger David Robertson! Robertson seemed to settle down holding his opponents scoreless over his last 4 appearances after allowing runs in his first 3 this season. There aren’t any reports on how long he’ll be out, but he’s been complaining about this injury since spring training. Fill In: The easy answer is Seranthony Dominguez. But I’m expecting his 21.8% ownership to skyrocket in the next few days. If you want to dip your toe into the muddy waters of the Twins closer situation then you can take a chance on Blake Parker (16.4%.) He hasn’t allowed an earned run since his first appearance on March 30th and in that time leads the Twins with 3 saves. In no way does this mean he is the sole closer in Minnesota but he might be the leader for now. I don’t love the 4:5 K:BB ratio — but he’s doing something to keep runs off the board.
Gary Sanchez, C, Calf: When everyone was declaring the Yankees World Series favorites in February and March I was telling everyone to pump their brakes due to injury risk. However, I was more talking about the walking wounded of their starting rotation, but here we are on only April 17th and the Bombers are without 5 or 6 of their projected offensive starters depending on what you think of Troy Tulowitzki. It’s seeming like Sanchez will return after the minimum 10 days, but after Josh Donaldson last season — I’m a little wary of calf injuries. Fill In: In single-catcher leagues Josh Phegley (27.9%) needs to be owned. He’s third in hits among catchers with at least 40 ABs. One of the best stats for Phegley is that he’s hit safely in every game he’s played in this season and has even crushed 3 HRS so far. Before 2019 Phegley was a career .223 hitter in 270 major league games so don’t expect this to continue — but enjoy him while he’s hot. I will say though that he hit .275 with 50 HRs in 1,290 career AAA ABs so maybe he’s finally coming around.
Arodys Vizcaino, RP, Shoulder: There aren’t a lot of updates on this injury yet, but like with Robertson — a right shoulder injury for a right-handed pitcher just isn’t good news. This is an injury he’s been nursing since last season so this could be a lengthy IL stint and maybe even lead to surgery to finally remedy the problem. Fill In: Someone I grabbed in my 14 team saves + holds league is Nick Anderson (14.8%.) Anderson has struck out at least 2 batters in his last 7 appearances which has him sitting with an outrageous 18.8 K/9 rate. The Marlins starting rotation probably won’t provide a lot of save opportunities for their bullpen, but their starters are actually 17th in ERA with a 4.68 which is better than any of us could’ve predicted. His 0.14 FIP/1.17 ERA aren’t realistic and will obviously regress, but if he can continue to rack up the strikeouts he still could be a useful reliever with some save opportunities available since Adam Conley and Drew Stickenrider’s ERAs are currently over 7.
