I will be doing this dance move in the club.
NEW NESTOR CORTES MOVE UNLOCKED! pic.twitter.com/d90G8iQwAC
— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2024
Below you’ll find a roundup of notable moves and roster notes from the past few days, as well as future expected moves and a Minor League Report, which includes a list of recent major league debuts and top prospect promotions. For this column, any lineup regulars, starting pitchers, or late-inning relievers are considered “notable,” meaning that middle relievers, long relievers, and bench players are excluded. You can always find a full list of updated transactions here.
RosterResource News:
•View all 30 projected lineups (vs RHP and vs LHP) on one page, updated daily with 2024 Stats (PA, 2B, HR, BB, K, OPS, wRC+) and 2021-2024 Stats (PA, OPS, wRC+).
•Our 2024 Minor League Power Rankings leaderboard is active. Click HERE to see how the rankings are determined.
•“Knocking Down The Door” will make its debut in this column sometime next week (April 16-21). This feature will highlight minor leaguers who are making a case for a major league promotion
•Jon Becker is writing a weekly “Reliever Roundup” column each Saturday during the regular season.
Lineup Regulars
Kansas City Royals
•C Salvador Perez left Sunday’s game with a strained groin/hip.
Perez, who walked slowly off the field after being injured, is a candidate for the 10-Day IL.
Daily SP Chart archive
Pitchers drafted in 150-250 range in the Main Event that I’m really looking to hold through this early storm:
You can find that ADP here and then select Main Event. I think I want at least 5-6 starts before moving off this group if I bought in on them at the draft table. League size and who is available of course plays a role as these are mostly for 12s or more.
| 7:30 |
: Welcome.
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| 7:31 |
: Here are the bids from the two 15-team Tout Wars leagues.
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| 7:32 |
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| 7:32 |
: Do you think Kerkering has a good chance to be the Phillies closer?
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| 7:32 |
: No, I think they will continue to share the role
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| 7:33 |
: Drop Jose Alvarado or Abner Uribe for Jeff Hoffman or Michael Kopech? Hoffman getting more 9th inning chances and Uribe came in today in the 7th for the heart of the BAL order and struggled.
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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 »
Below you’ll find a roundup of notable moves and roster notes from the past few days, as well as future expected moves and a Minor League Report, which includes a list of recent major league debuts and top prospect promotions. For this column, any lineup regulars, starting pitchers, or late-inning relievers are considered “notable,” meaning that middle relievers, long relievers, and bench players are excluded. You can always find a full list of updated transactions here.
RosterResource News:
•View all 30 projected lineups (vs RHP and vs LHP) on one page, updated daily.
•Our 2024 Minor League Power Rankings leaderboard is active. Click HERE to see how the rankings are determined.
•“Knocking Down The Door” will make its debut in this column sometime next week (April 15-21). This feature will highlight minor leaguers who are making a case for a major league promotion
•Jon Becker is writing a weekly “Reliever Roundup” column each Saturday during the regular season.
Lineup Regulars
Oakland Athletics
• 4/11: OF Brent Rooker (costochondral cartilage injury) placed on 10-Day IL; OF/INF Max Schuemann has contract selected from minors.
Rooker’s injury, which has kept him out of the lineup since last Sunday, created an opportunity for Abraham Toro to get regular at-bats. The switch-hitting Toro had been the leading candidate to be the starting third baseman until J.D. Davis signed with the team just before Opening Day. After starting just three times in the first eight games, he’s now had six consecutive starts out of the leadoff spot and is making a case to stay there with nine hits in 25 at-bats.
Despite being an All-Star in 2023 with an .817 OPS and 30 home runs, Rooker proved to be a very streaky hitter with subpar numbers in May (77 wRC+), June (74 wRC+), and August (94 wRC+). He was off to a slow start this season (6-for-30, 2 HR, BB, 16 K), but had back-to-back two-hit games last Friday and Saturday. There has been no update on how much time he’ll miss.
Below you’ll find a roundup of notable reliever-related news from April 6-12 , organized by team (not every team will have notes).
You can also view the Closer Depth Chart for a full picture of bullpen hierarchies.
John Brebbia’s injury has cleared the way for Michael Kopech to be the undisputed closer. Pedro Grifol would ideally like to use him in one-inning stints but he’s often had to be deployed as a fireman as the White Sox try to eke out some wins.
Will Smith continues to get hit around, and James McArthur has put his early-season struggles behind him. It sure looks like the latter is the closer and the former may pitch in lower leverage—as he did Friday—to work out the kinks.
Robert Stephenson is set to start a rehab assignment Sunday; Carlos Estévez is expected to remain the closer but Estévez, Stephenson, and Matt Moore should form a good back-end troika once Stephenson is ready for his Angels debut.
Jhoan Duran threw a bullpen session on Friday and will throw another before hopefully departing on a rehab assignment within the week. The Twins have a staggering seven relievers on the IL, and getting their closer back will go a long way towards idealizing the full-strength bullpen that was projected as the league’s best before all the injuries hit.
Still no back-to-backs for Mason Miller, and frankly I’m not sure he’ll ever be green-lit for pitching on consecutive days this year. That makes earnings saves hard to line up, but pitch for pitch he looks like the most dominant arm in baseball.
Since getting destroyed in Colorado and blaming the baseballs from the humidor, Pete Fairbanks looks back on track. His command will always come and go but the stuff looks great and his velocity is normal for him.
José Leclerc pitched in lower leverage on Friday and while he didn’t give up any runs, his command is still erratic. My guess is he’ll stay there for a bit, with David Robertson and Kirby Yates handling the eighth and ninth.
Chad Green, Trevor Richards, and Yimi García have all performed admirably as substitutes, but it’s great for the Blue Jays that Erik Swanson and Jordan Romano both started rehab assignments on Friday. Romano should regain his closing role right away, with Swanson helping set him up.
Alexis Díaz hasn’t looked quite right—and really he hasn’t since the first half of last year—but there’s no inkling that he’ll be moved out of the closer’s role. Lucas Sims and Fernando Cruz are the only Reds relievers pitching particularly well anyway.
The ninth is an absolute mess for Colorado, with Jake Bird recording their only save of the season and presumed co-closers Justin Lawrence and Tyler Kinley both pitching terribly. Keep an eye on Nick Mears, who throws hard and—although he’s got control issues—has allowed just two earned runs in 6.1 innings thus far.
I’m starting to get concerned with Tanner Scott, whose control has been awful. He’s walked 30% of the batters he’s faced (nine out of 20), landing just 53% of his pitches for strikes. But he’s been effectively wild, keeping runs off the board so far. It probably helps his case that the Marlins aren’t going anywhere and Anthony Bender isn’t exactly pushing for saves.
As has been the case with Rob Thomson’s bullpens, a flexible closer-by-committee situation is brewing. José Alvarado, Jeff Hoffman, and Gregory Soto have all recorded saves, and Seranthony Domínguez may get more leverage if he can shake off the early-season rust. Matt Strahm and Yunior Marte have both pitched excellently as well.
I’m really not liking what I’m seeing with David Bednar, whose command just looks off, with a lot of misses high and to the glove side. Fortunately, the stuff looks just fine and Derek Shelton gave him a vote of confidence, even with Aroldis Chapman starting his Pirates tenure incredibly well.
Not sure how long it’ll last, but it’s interesting to see Ryan Helsley transforming into a workhorse in the early going, pitching in eight of the Cardinals’ first 14 games. Him being more available than in years past will limit save chances for Giovanny Gallegos and JoJo Romero.
Similarly to Bednar, Kyle Finnegan just doesn’t look quite right, and his top setup man (Hunter Harvey) is pitching quite well. Still, there’s no sign of a change in the offing.
Angels
• Brandon Drury (.429 OPS) has started in 11 of 12 games so far.
• Mickey Moniak (vs RHP) and Aaron Hicks (vs LHP) are in a right-field platoon. Hicks does play against a few righties.
Astros
• Jake Meyers (.673 OPS) and Mauricio Dubón (.639 OPS) are splitting time in centerfield.
• Jon Singleton (.581 OPS) and José Abreu (.227 OPS, wrist injury) are splitting time at first base. Read the rest of this entry »
4/12/24
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Play of the year so far.
This catch from Ali Newland of @LSUSoftball is top-notch. 👏
🎥: @ESPNpic.twitter.com/2DqYveFsfd
— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2024