Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Christian Moore started five straight at second base.

• Denzer Guzman with five straight starts at shortstop.

• Sebastián Rivero (.491 OPS) has taken over the catcher duties.

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Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

American League

Astros

• The team doesn’t want AJ Blubaugh to face a lineup a second time and his injury history make keep him in the bullpen.

Blubaugh’s truncated outing aligned with a pregame plan concocted by Espada and pitching coach Josh Miller. Team officials are still wary of Blubaugh’s ability to navigate a lineup more than once. Having him available as a reliever during the upcoming series against the Seattle Mariners mattered, too. Limiting him to 50 pitches made that possible.
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Injuries have forced Blubaugh into the big-league bullpen after starting his entire professional career. Whether that is his long-term home is a matter of debate. His stuff has played up so well out of the bullpen that some team officials believe he is best suited for relief. Blubaugh has bumped 98 mph with his four-seam fastball when asked to pitch one inning. On Tuesday, it touched 96.6 mph, but averaged 94.1.

“It’s a tough one. He can start. He can come out of the (bullpen) — his stuff plays up out of the ’pen,” Espada said last week. “He’s not afraid to come after hitters … It’s tough because he can do a lot of things for a club.”

Blue Jays

• The starters aren’t going to go deep into games to rest their arms for the postseason.

The careful management extends to an aging rotation, too. Excluding Yesavage, the average Blue Jays starter is over 34 years old. Shane Bieber is the youthful presence at 30. To prepare for a potentially deep run, the Jays are utilizing shorter outings for the eldest starters and extra rest for the entire group.

José Berríos’ last two starts came on nine and seven days of rest, respectively. Bassitt has thrown 80 or fewer pitches in his last two starts. He “wasn’t feeling great” in his last outing, Bassitt said, and agreed with Schneider’s early pull. Max Scherzer hasn’t pushed deeper than five innings in his last three outings while recovering from back pain. The 41-year-old and Toronto’s coaches planned on a shorter start ahead of Scherzer’s Saturday outing. It’s all with the future in mind.

Guardians

• John Means will not be activated and continue rehabbing in AAA.

While Allen is expected to pitch in Minneapolis, lefty John Means does not appear to be an option to come off the injured list to make his Guardians debut.

Vogt noted that Means (who is recovering from June 2024 Tommy John surgery) came out of his Sunday rehab start with Triple-A Columbus feeling good physically. But the lefty “more than likely” will make a seventh rehab start on Friday with Columbus.

• Lane Thomas is considering off-season foot surgery.

During the home opener, Thomas was struck on the wrist by a pitch. He missed a week, came back for a few days, and then missed a month. He played in four games, and then his foot started barking, thanks to a case of plantar fasciitis. He missed two weeks. He returned for three and a half weeks. Then, he went back on the shelf. He ramped up, then stopped. He rehabbed, then stopped. He received a cortisone shot at one point, a different injection at another point, and another cortisone shot when he returned to action earlier this month. He would play an inning, and then could barely walk.

Thomas will enter free agency as a 30-year-old outfielder two seasons removed from a 28 home run, 20 stolen base season. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
The foot issues actually trace back to last season. He developed a bone bruise in his heel as the year progressed, and it flared up when he started training for the new season. He tolerated it through the spring, but it ultimately forced him out of the lineup. Thomas said he’s spoken with a few other players who have dealt with similar maladies, including Carlos Correa and Harrison Bader.

Rays

• Joe Boyle didn’t walk anyone. He didn’t rework his mechanics, but his catcher did move the target glove.

Perhaps the most telling statistic, considering the control issues that have held [Joe Boyle] back at times, is this: It was his first big league start without a walk and only his second walk-free MLB appearance.

With a fastball that averaged 98.2 mph, a nasty slider and a wipeout splitter, Boyle has the stuff to dominate opposing lineups if he is in the strike zone enough to get ahead in counts. He lived in the zone against the Blue Jays, throwing 53 of his 78 pitches for strikes while throwing only three pitches in a three-ball count.
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Boyle said he didn’t overhaul his mechanics, but he did note that he “found some fire” and “found some passion for the game” after being sent back to the Minors. That energy was reflected in his performance on the mound.
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Catcher Nick Fortes pointed to one adjustment the Rays made to help Boyle: They tweaked his target behind the plate, trying to mitigate his usual arm-side misses by setting up more on his glove side. Boyle threw 60 percent of his pitches in the strike zone against the Jays, according to Statcast, with his slider a particularly effective weapon in the zone.

“I think it really, really helped tonight. He was able to keep all three of his pitches in the zone for the most part and gain count leverage,” Fortes said. “And he’s got amazing stuff, so that’s just what it’s all about with him.”

Twins

• According to his manager, James Outman is a horse.

The more Outman produces, the more chances he’s likely to get.

“I think he’s making good adjustments at the plate,” Baldelli said. “I think his swing feels good. He’s getting some fairly regular playing time out there and some at-bats, and he’s taking advantage of it. He’s a thoroughbred-type athlete, big, strong young man that can do a lot, and we talk about it. When he barrels the ball up, watch that ball go.”

National League

Braves

• Some team officials believe Ozzie Albies’s struggles are from the wrist he fractured last season.

Some Braves officials believe his struggles in the first half, from both sides, not just vs. lefties, could be due in part to weakness in the wrist he fractured in July 2024, which sidelined him for two months. That might have been a season-ending injury if Albies had not pushed hard to get back for a late-September playoff drive.

• Reynaldo López feels healthy for the first time in years …

Lòpez threw a bullpen session Friday, his second time throwing off the mound since surgery. The right-hander, a 2024 All-Star in his first season with Atlanta, said his shoulder feels better than it has in several years.

“Throwing without pain, it feels good,” López said. “I’ve been feeling that (discomfort) for four or five years. It was, like, getting worse. So this year at spring training, that’s when I felt it the most.”

López said the plan is to travel to the Braves’ training site at North Port, Fla., on Saturday and throw five more bullpen sessions there before facing hitters on Sept. 30. He said he would probably throw live batting practice twice before going home for the offseason, aiming to be fully recovered and without any limits when spring training begins.

… and will be considered a rotation option according to the team.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos said the plan is to keep López in a starting role, with the caveat that things could change depending on how personnel moves shake out this winter.

López said Friday that he prefers to stay in a starting role and thinks he has a better chance of staying healthy with the routine of a starter. However, he also said he’s open to being a reliever again if the Braves prefer that.

Dodgers

• Roki Sasaki added a sinker and changed his sweeper.

Sasaki also started throwing a sinker 18% to right-handed hitters at Triple-A. It has posted a better zone, swinging-strike, and ground-ball rate than his four-seamer in a smaller sample of usage. The Dodgers flipped the sweeper he was throwing in the majors to more of a true bullet slider.

Giants

• Justin Verlander plans on pitching next season.

After the 42-year-old built on his strong second half on Wednesday with seven shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the future Hall of Famer said that he plans on returning for a 21st season.

“I would hope that somebody would offer me a contract now,” Verlander said following the San Francisco Giants’ 5-1 win. “Kind of showing that I can turn it around and still pitch at a high level.”

Phillies

• Zach Wheeler should have a shorter recovery because of the nature of his thoracic outlet syndrome.

Dr. Dean Donahue, director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s thoracic outlet syndrome program, said patients with vascular cases tend to rehab more quickly because “nerves recover very slowly in general.” Donahue, who is not Wheeler’s doctor and has not reviewed his medical records, said the expectation for any athlete with venous thoracic outlet syndrome is full recovery.

“That’s just the expectation for all of us that take care of this,” Donahue said. “It doesn’t mean it will happen. Obviously, it’s surgery and the human body, and people don’t always recover in a predictable manner. But, by far, the expectation is to be able to return to full function.”

I’m planning to find all the correct comps to start this offseason and get a good idea of how to value Wheeler going into the 2026 season.

• The team is setting up their playoff rotation with Taijuan Walker and Walker Buehler piggybacking this Friday’s start.

In the meantime, setting up starting pitching to be ready for the playoffs is at the front of Thomson’s mind. Tuesday, Thomson said that Cristopher Sánchez will be his Game 1 pitcher. Wednesday, before his team tried for a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thomson revealed his other plans. Those will begin the next series against the Diamondbacks, beginning Thursday in Arizona.

“Friday, we’re going to piggyback,” the manager said. “Taijuan (Walker) will start and (Walker) Buehler will piggyback. So, it will be a Walker Buehler piggyback.”

Laughter erupted in the Phillies dugout as the manager gave himself a chuckle with his word play. “I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. (Aaron) Nola Saturday, Ranger (Suárez) Sunday.”

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Instead of examining the top adds of the week, I decided to look into the drops here at the end. I hoped to see some teams trying going for it and made some major drops to move up in the standings. After looking over the moves, not much happened.

I’ll go ahead and look at a few of the interesting drops and the league standings for the drop (number of leagues dropped in parentheses).

• Kenley Jansen (1): This manager was in 14th place in Saves and needed four to get to 13th and 21 ahead of the 15th place team.

I’m surprised there weren’t more teams dropping closers. The next two “best” dropped closers were Calvin Faucher and Blake Treinen.

• Jorge Soler (1): The team was in last place in home runs and could move up in batting average. Solid move

• Nick Lodolo (1): With the drop of Lodolo, he added Bryan Abreu. The team is in first place by 20 points, but needs 5 Wins to move up or 2 Wins for the three people 8 Wins behind him. With Saves, he is four behind the person ahead of him, and one person is within one spot of catching him.

• Jasson Domínguez (2), Nick Castellanos (2), Cedric Mullins (2), Paul Goldschmidt (2), Hyeseong Kim 김혜성 (3), Miguel Andujar (3), and Spencer Steer (3): These managers are finally cutting players who are not getting regular at-bats. I parted ways with Mullins and Goldschmidt over a month ago.

These too-late drops have got me thinking about creating an automated process to highlight my players who aren’t reaching certain minimum playing time requirements.

• Trea Turner (3): Three teams decided they needed the roster space after they heard the latest news on Turner from Rotowire:

Turner is not with the team in Los Angeles on Monday for the start of their road trip, and the Phillies hope the star shortstop will return to action before the regular-season finale on Sept. 28 against Minnesota. Philadelphia won’t travel back home until the Sept. 23 contest versus the Marlins, so Turner, who’s nursing a Grade 1 right hamstring strain, appears unlikely to make his way back into the lineup for at least another week.

Sounds like the managers who kept him may get a partial week from Turner … maybe.

• Hayden Birdsong: Someone came out of a coma and checked their team’s roster.

Thoughts

Again, I was hoping for more drastic moves to highlight. Maybe there is too much talk on making major moves.

1. I’m weeks behind the major moves. These managers needed to make a move, and a week or two wouldn’t make a difference. Going back a few weeks, I found some moves from teams focusing on individual categories. For example, one manager led the stolen base category by 22 Steals and dropped Chandler Simpson. I might need to do a similar piece to this one closer to the first of September next year.

2. Dead teams. Even though these managers paid $2500 or more to be in these leagues, some may know it’s over and focus on their competitive teams or football.

3. Out of FAAB. After starting with $1000 FAAB, these managers should have some spending control and have a few dollars left to make moves. I know some don’t. Out of that $1000, I leave myself with $10 per week, or $260 total to win the week. Managers would still have $740 left over for adding pop-up players.

I’ve won leagues by streaming my leagues over the last few weeks. I’m close to doing it again this year. Just a little restraint during the season can lead to huge dividends later.

4. Sunk costs. Seeing those Goldschmidt drops is a perfect example of someone who managers probably relied on but couldn’t move on.

7:31	Jeff Zimmerman:

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Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (about 40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Mike Trout has been dealing with knee pain
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[Trout] also hasn’t played defense since April, due to lingering soreness after tweaking his surgically repaired left meniscus.

… and might rework his swing to cut down on his strikeouts.

The Angels have approached Trout about making swing changes surrounding his leg kick and hip placement, and while he has been open to them, he’s yet to actually implement those changes.

He’s described his mechanical issue as his back side collapsing. This, Trout said, causes his head to move back, which makes pitch recognition more difficult, and creates an “uphill” swing. Hence, copious strikeouts and a lack of hard contact.

It’s a problem he’s dealt with for years, he said, and acknowledged “I don’t know” when asked if it’s a product of aging.

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Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even larger entry fees ($2.5K to $15K). They are named “High Stakes Leagues,” and there are eleven of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain any advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

7:31	Jeff Zimmerman:

Read the rest of this entry »

Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (about 40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

A few days ago, I asked for any improvements for this lineup’s article. The biggest takeaway was to “not change a thing”. Some people didn’t like all the stats, so today’s edition has none except games played.

American League

Angels

• Niko Kavadas and Oswald Peraza split time at first base.

• Chris Taylor with three straight starts since coming off the IL. Read the rest of this entry »