In The Field
Johan Camargo has started his rehab assignment for his back/side discomfort and is likely going to make his 2018 debut sometime next week assuming everything goes well with his assignment. While it looked like Camargo was going to get most of the at-bats at 3rd base in Spring Training, his route to playing time is a little more blurry with the Ryan Flaherty's .400/.516/.560 triple slash.... Tyler Flowers is still expected to be back in May after hurting his oblique on opening day. There's been no real update on his potential timetable or him in baseball activities yet.... Stephen Vogt played catch for the first time Saturday as he's dealing with a right shoulder strain. Vogt mashes right-handed pitching but that's really about it and Manny Pina rates very highly behind the plate so it'll be interesting to see how he fits in as Pina also is significantly better against righties than lefties.... Christian Yelich missed games Thursday and Friday with oblique discomfort and it's kept him out of the lineup Saturday as well. Oblique injuries always make me a bit nervous so it's something worth monitoring as we move through the rest of the weekend.... Jedd Gyorko was placed on the DL April 3rd and there's no initial timetable of when he might return. Yario Munoz and Matt Carpenter have been splitting time at third in Gyorko's absence.... Anthony Rizzo was scratched from the Cubs lineup Friday and Saturday with back tightness, backup catcher Victor Caratini has started both of the games at first base in the meantime.... Nick Ahmed has been dealing with flu-like symptoms all week and will return to the lineup whenever he is feeling better. Ahmed is off to a really hot start slashing .471/.526/.824 in his first four games.... Jake Lamb is dealing with a sprained AC joint and hasn't been yet cleared to return to baseball activities..... On Friday, Dave Roberts told MLB Network Radio that Justin Turner was slated to pick up a bat next week in his recovery from a broken left wrist. No timetable update for him returning to the majors though.... Steven Souza is progressing in his rehab for a pectoral strain and he's now started throwing at 135 feet and took batting practice on the 5th. He's still a way out from his return to Arizona but is rehab is going well so far.... Hunter Pence is dealing with a thumb sprain and while it's kept him out of the lineup, he's still been able to pinch hit so it's likely he returns to the lineup soon.... Martin Prado is recovering from knee surgery and has been running the bases since April 2nd, so we might see him set out on a rehab assignment in the near future.... JT Realmuto has been working on both catching and swinging recently at the Marlins spring training complex and the team is hoping that he'll return in around two weeks..... Dominic Smith started his rehab assignment April 5th as he returns from a quad strain. Adrian Gonzalez is off to a good start for the Mets slashing .294/.429/.353 so it'll be interesting to see how they incorporate Smith into the team when he returns..... Michael Conforto returned to action this week and homered in his first game back while starting in centerfield. While the team likely will ease him in with an extra off day here or there, he's going to get the majority of the at-bats in center. Brandon Nimmo no longer needs to be owned outside of a reserve in NL only.... Adam Eaton is dealing with some loose scar tissue in his ankle and it's held him out of the lineup since April 5th. He pinch hit in the game on Saturday. Eaton said that it likely just needs a couple days to realign itself and he feels like he can avoid a DL stint. Brian Goodwin is getting the starts in center in the meantime.... The Nationals catcher Matt Wieters was placed on the DL April 2nd and began hitting off a tee this weekend..... Franchy Cordero is starting the season in AAA and had a huge game Saturday launching his first homer of the season. It's possible he returns to action in April but it will take another development to get him back in the majors.... Wil Myers was placed on the DL April third and while there's no structural damage that is causing his nerve irritation, it still sounds like it could be at the end of late April before we see him back in action.... Gregory Polanco was scratched on Saturday from the lineup with foot discomfort. Right now it doesn't sound like anything worth worrying about but Polanco did deal with a lot of injuries last season....
In The Rotation
Luiz Gohara is still working in extended spring training on recovering from his ankle sprain and it sounds like he's trending in the right direction for getting back to the Braves rotation. He's one of the better DL stashes that you can have.... Jimmy Nelson is recovering from shoulder surgery at the end of last season and the team is hoping he'll be able to get to throwing off a mound in April. Nelson posted the 8th best fWAR among starters last year finishing the season with a 3.49 ERA and the 11th best K% in baseball. A long-term DL stash right now and could be an impact arm in the second half, but shoulder injuries are scary.... As of 3/31, Alex Reyes had been throwing to batters every three or four days in his recovery from Tommy John surgery last spring. The Cardinals are working him back as a starter and if your league has a lot of DL slots he's 100% worth a stash.... Shelby Miller threw a bullpen session at the end of March but there have been no updates on his progress since. Still targeting a June return to Arizona.... Julio Urias was shut down in his rehab from shoulder surgery..... After getting his tonsils removed. He's expected to return to throwing on flat ground next week.... Madison Bumgarner is still in the recovery stages of his rehab from hand surgery and there's been no update to his timetable aside from the initial possible May return.... Jeff Samardzija has been completing bullpen session with no issues and the team is still hopeful for a late April return.... Wei-Yin Chen threw a simulated game Thursday (42 pitches) and provided there are no setbacks overnight it sounds like he may be out on a rehab assignment soon.... Dan Straily has been throwing on flat ground and was scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Friday.... Jason Vargas is throwing simulated games for the Mets already after undergoing hand surgery in March. It's possible we see him soon if he's already throwing 65 pitches in those sim games.... Dinelson Lamet is progressing nicely in his throwing program after injuring his elbow in his final spring start. Lamet was a trendy breakout candidate this year but assuming that the injury wasn't anything overly serious he still has upside potential, even if it took him a little longer to get going.... Jared Eickhoff suffered a lat strain in March and is expected to miss 6-to-9 weeks putting him sometimes in May as a potential return date.... Joe Musgrove was placed on the DL on April 2nd (retroactive to March 30th) and the team is describing it as "acute and isolated" so it sounds like he should be back sooner rather than later.... Brandon Finnegan is slated to have a rehab start in AAA on Monday, April 9th as he's currently returning from a bicep strain. Finnegan likely can slot into the back end of the Reds rotation but he will need to work on cutting down on walks (4.5 per nine for career) if he wants to make an impact in fantasy..... Jeff Hoffman is likely going to start throwing in minor league games this month but as of now, there isn't any sort of indication when....
In The Bullpen
Corey Knebel strained his hamstring earlier this week and is expected to miss around four weeks which would put his return in mid-May if everything goes right. Josh Hader is a slam dunk add this weekend, more on him in the pickup section below.... Brett Cecil is on the DL with a shoulder strain but there is no update on a potential timetable for him since he went on the DL.... Luke Gregerson is recovering from a hamstring strain and threw a successful bullpen session on Thursday. He's beginning a rehab assignment Saturday. The Cardinals currently have a bullpen with four relievers who are posting ERAs over 4.50 so any help that the bullpen can get right now is going to be useful....Randall Delgado threw a simulated game on Tuesday and had no issues afterward. Delgado was solid last season for the Diamondbacks over 26 games (five starts) with a 3.59 ERA and 8.52 K/9 but he's unlikely to get late innings in the bullpen or slot into the rotation so there isn't much here for fantasy.... Mark Melancon was still feeling discomfort in his right forearm in late March and it's unsure when he's going to return to the Giants.... Anthony Swarzak was placed on the DL April 2nd with a left oblique strain.... Pat Neshek has no structural damage in his shoulder and after a cortisone injection in that shoulder Saturday the team is hoping he can begin throwing in two weeks.
NL PLAYERS TO ADD
Josh Hader, Milwaukee Brewers - Josh Hader is becoming borderline rosterable in leagues anyway with his role for the Brewers but now that Corey Knebel is going to miss significant time with a hamstring injury. Hader has a career 13.33 K/9 and while he does have some walk issues it can be negated fairly easily when batters are hitting a career .146 off you and this season he has a 16.7% hard contact rate against him. He's been in an Andrew Miller/Archie Bradley role this year and now you can get the prospects of potential saves in there as well. He's extremely valuable.
Dansby Swanson, Atlanta Braves - Dansby Swanson is on an absolute tear to start the season hitting .370 over the team's first seven games. Swanson was horrific as a whole last season but we have seen him be very good at times as well as very bad. The biggest issue for him last season was his complete inability to hit a slider but (insert head tap meme) you can't have terrible numbers against sliders if you don't swing at them. Brooks baseball has him labeled as extremely aggressive against fastballs this year and "exceptionally" patient against anything offspeed. Swanson has the pedigree to hit at a high level and I think he may move up in the lineup if Ender Inciarte continues to struggle.
Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks - The industry may have just been two years early on the return of form to Patrick Corbin. I owned him EVERYWHERE in 2016 and then the hype fell back off after one bad season and one average season. So far this season he's posted a near 14 K/9 and is walking just 1.38 per nine. He's dominated both the Rockies and Dodgers over his first two starts so it's not like he's doing this to a bunch of nobodies. He looks like an elite arm once again.
Mike Foltynewicz, Atlanta Braves - Mike Foltynewicz is extremely volatile on the mound and his last start showed perfect evidence of that. He began an inning with two strikeouts before hitting a batter and then after a wild pitch and Max Scherzer single, a few batters later he struck out Bryce Harper to end the inning. Folty has switched up his pitch mix a bit this year too relying a little less on his fastball and incorporating a changeup a bit more in his last start. He's striking out 34% of his batters this season and with his stuff, he has the ability to keep that percentage at a high number.
For members, click to see the AL Report as well as the NL report.
