IN THE FIELD
Nate Lowe was recalled from AAA on Saturday. He slashed .257/.289/.314 in his first stint with the team this year but he's still an outstanding hitter who could make a solid fantasy impact if he's given an extended amount of everyday ABs. The Rays have a lot of position players dealing with minor injuries so Lowe is in the lineup Saturday.... Miguel Cabrera left Friday's game against the Braves with knee soreness and afterward said that the knee has been giving him issues for the last three games. Miggy is going to have an MRI on Saturday and if nothing is wrong to expect him to rest this weekend and be back at DH when they return to AL play on Monday against Tampa Bay.... Edwin Encarnacion was held out of the lineup on Friday due to a dental issue but returned to the lineup Saturday.... Steve Pearce was forced to leave Friday's game due to back spasms. He's was placed on the IL Saturday and Sam Travis was recalled from AAA.... Josh Harrison is going to get a second opinion on his injured hamstring on Monday. He was diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain earlier in the week and he's going to miss a good chunk of time. Niko Goodrum is likely going to be the primary second baseman for the team and he should also hit leadoff for the team in most games.... Hunter Dozier is dealing with a tight chest and is going to sit all weekend, but he's going to dry swing Saturday and hit off a tee on Sunday before seeing if he can return to the team on Tuesday. The team hasn't ruled out an IL stint at this point, and we'll probably learn more about that Sunday unless the dry swings Saturday go poorly.... Giancarlo Stanton is close to starting a new rehab assignment, this time for the calf that he injured while on a stint from his bicep injury. Stanton has been shelved since the opening series for the Yankees but it sounds like he could be back at some point in mid-June.... Yandy Diaz has been taking BP all week but is still feeling some discomfort in his hand when he swings. This week was the first week that he's swung a bat since being placed on the IL, so we'll have to see what the team needs him to do before they consider sending him out on a rehab assignment.... Avisail Garcia was scratched from Friday's game with a tight hamstring. Austin Meadows DH'd for the Rays and Guillermo Heredia played RF for Meadows.... Tommy Pham is dealing with leg cramping since Thursday and was held out of the lineup on Friday and Saturday.... Mike Zunino was activated from the IL on Friday and Eric Kratz was designated for assignment. He ended up returning from the IL one week ahead of the initial timetable.... Byron Buxton bruised his knee on Tuesday after crashing into the wall on defense but he was back in the lineup for the Twins first game on Thursday.... Dee Gordon has started taking ground balls on the infield as he's recovering from a deep bone bruise. He attempted to play through the injury for the most of the month but the team decided to place him on the IL and call up Shed Long to play second base.... Tyler Naquin is going to get his knee reassessed on Monday after DH'ing Friday and playing the outfield on Saturday on his rehab assignment. If everything checks out well there's a chance that he will be activated next week. He's homered twice in four games while on his rehab assignment.... Didi Gregorius could return to the Yankees during their upcoming road trip. The final hurdle for Didi on his rehab assignment is to play shortstop for a full nine innings in the field. The Yankees have been ravaged by injuries this year and Gregorius could provide a huge spark to the team. Playing time will be crammed between he, Gleyber Torres, DJ Lemahieu, and Gio Urshela but the Yankees will be able to make it all work.... Joey Gallo missed a game earlier this week with a sore wrist but he returned to the lineup Thursday and hit a grand slam on Friday. However, he left the game early on Saturday with left oblique tightness.... Mike Trout missed some time this week with a sore foot but returned to the lineup on Friday. He fouled a ball off his foot to cause the soreness so nothing to be too alarmed about here.... Cavan Biggio was called up late last weekend and while is triple slash is a solid .278/.316/.444, he only as hits in two games. He's been hitting in the lower third of the Blue Jays lineup which definitely will put a cap on his fantasy upside.... Ryon Healy is back to baseball activities this week, but he's still not expected to be back for a while.... Oscar Mercado has recently moved to the number two spot in the lineup. Since moving to that spot he's hitting .348 with two stolen bases and his first major league homer. He's still not walking much though his 21.4% K% is definitely manageable.... Carlos Correa is going to miss four-to-six weeks with a broken rib that he suffered during a massage at his house. He's hopefully going to be back with the team around the end of June to early July. Alex Bregman and Jack Mayfield have each gotten a start at SS this week since Correa was out.... Chris Davis says that he expects to be activated from the IL as soon as he's eligible early next week. He's already working out and he's not going to need a rehab assignment. Davis has ended up being sei-fantasy valuable since his horrific start to the season with five homers and 15 RBI and a 93 wRC+.... Khris Davis was activated from the IL on Saturday. Skye Bolt was optioned to AAA as the corresponding move.... Mitch Moreland was placed on the IL on the 29th (retroactive to May 26th) with a lower back strain. He's expected to be out for a good chunk of time as he's been dealing with some knee issues too. Michael Chavis and Steve Pearce (also on the IL) has been playing first since Moreland was shut down.... Dustin Pedroia is dealing with more knee issues and he's been shut down indefinitely, and there's a chance that he's going to end up having to retire because of the knee issues. Nothing has been decided, but he's been moved to the 60-day IL to clear a spot on the 40 man roster.... JP Crawford suffered a significant ankle sprain on Tuesday and is going to miss around three-to-four weeks. Tim Beckham is back to being the everyday SS for the Mariners.... Jose Altuve was pulled from his rehab assignment with some discomfort in his knee after playing in back-to-back games, but everything looks good according to the team so they are expecting him to be back to his rehab assignment soon.... Justin Upton has been cleared to take batting practice and light outfield drills and he told reporters this week that he's hoping to be activated in around three weeks, putting him in line for a mid-to-late June return. Upton could be a huge boost to the Angels lineup in the second half... Bradley Zimmer is expected to join AAA this week as a part of his rehab assignment. He's been dealing with a shoulder injury since last season and has recently begun playing games in extended spring training.... Willie Calhoun had gotten off to a fantastic start with the Rangers but is now on the IL with a left quad strain. Delino DeShields was called up to take Calhoun's place on the roster.... Nelson Cruz is going to start up a rehab assignment Saturday and he's going to play two games before being reevaluated by the team. If this weekend goes well, there's a chance that he's activated off of the IL on Monday.... Aaron Judge has begun taking some light dry swings and also has hit on a tee this week. There's a chance that he's going to be able to set out for a rehab assignment early this month.
IN THE ROTATION
Dallas Kuechel should sign very early on next week once the draft pick compensation tied to his ends, he has both suitors in the AL and NL that are interested in signing the veteran lefty.... Aaron Sanchez threw a successful bullpen session on Friday and he's going to start on Sunday. It's yet another finger issue for him, but at least it wasn't a blister this time (?) and instead, it had a fingernail avulsion. It's good that the injury won't make him go on the Il, but with Sanchez, it could flair right back up.... Jordan Zimmerman has a partially torn UCL, but he's working his way toward a rehab assignment. He threw a bullpen session on Friday and is going to throw another one on Sunday before heading to Lakeland for two starts.... The Red Sox Rotation is getting shuffled around a bit with Rick Porcello starting Saturday, David Price pitching Sunday, and Eduardo Rodriguez getting pushed back to next week. A rainout this week could have allowed them to move Price back to not face the Yankees, but he's going to start on Sunday instead. Rodriguez could end up with a two-start week next week as a result.... Luis Severino has been playing catch as of late as a part of his throwing program. He's already been ruled out through the All-Star Break so this is merely just a small step in the right direction... Jose Suarez is going to be called up by the Angels to make his major league debut on Sunday. Suarez has posted some gaudy strikeout numbers in the minors including a 40% K% over 29 innings in AA last season. The number has dipped a bit as he's climbing the ladder, mainly in Triple-A where he has around a 21% K% over 100 innings across two seasons. Unfortunately, there's also been walk issues as he's gotten to AAA with a 10.7% walk rate at the level.... Felix Hernandez is going to throw off the mound on either Monday or Tuesday according to the team. He's only won one game this year and has an ERA north of 6.00, so there's really not much going on here of fantasy relevance.... CC Sabathia is slated to return to the Yankees to start on Sunday. He has a 3.41 ERA over 41.1 innings for New York this season... Brent Honeywell has been cleared to return to throwing after dealing with some nerve irritation that forced him to be shut down. Honeywell's timeline for getting back to the majors obviously has been slowed down, but we could definitely still see him at some point in the second half.... Tyler Glasnow was moved to the 60-day IL this week, which will keep him out until at least the All-Star Break. It's probably for the best to let him take his time getting back to full strength, but it still hurts fantasy rosters in the meantime.... Forrest Whitley was placed on the AAA-IL with shoulder fatigue this week. Whitley has had a disaster of a season and he's headed down to the Astros Spring Training complex in Florida to rehab. He owns a 12.21 ERA in 24.1 innings with a 24% K% but a 12.6% BB%... Sean Manaea has started throwing bullpen sessions for the A's and is going to progress to live batting practice in the near future. The plan is for him to start facing live hitters before sending him out on a rehab assignment in the middle of the month, which could put him on a possible June return date. He's a high upside arm in the second half but is also coming off of significant shoulder surgery, so there's definitely a high chance for rust.... Brendan McKay has been promoted to AAA but it's solely for his arm as his skills at the plate haven't translated as well to the professional level. With him pushing AAA already, he could potentially be an option for the Rays down the stretch as either a starter or potentially in the bullpen like they did with David Price when he was first called up. The Rays have made it clear with this promotion though that they aren't as worried about whether McKay can hit or not and are rather just worried about his arm.... Devin Smeltzer tossed six six shutout innings in his major league debut on Tuesday while striking out seven batters. Smeltzer continued his impressive minor league season (1.15 ERA) into the majors with that outing but the strikeout numbers were a significant jump for him.... Mike Clevinger is nearing a return from the IL after he threw a simulated game on Saturday, and he's tentatively going to begin a rehab assignment this week. Clevinger will be a huge boost to fantasy rotations upon his return.... Nathan Eovaldi threw a simulated game on Friday and he's scheduled to throw another one on Tuesday. Assuming there are no setbacks with his simulated games we could see Eovaldi back in the Red Sox rotation this month.... Michael Pineda was placed on the IL with right knee tendonitis, but we haven't heard yet exactly how bad the issue is yet. Smeltzer was recalled from AAA to take Pineda's place in the rotation... Yusei Kikuchi will have his next start skipped as a way to help limit his workload this year. The start was going to come against the Astros though so it may be a good thing that this one is getting skipped.
IN THE BULLPEN
Hunter Strickland is scheduled to throw off a mound on Sunday. He's on track to return to the Mariners in June and he should immediately regain his closing role as no one has stepped up to handle the role for Seattle.... Dellin Betances could begin to face hitters again as soon as next week.... Jose Leclerc continues to pitch well outside of the closing role for the Rangers, and again was used as an opener this week.... Shawn Kelley has struggled a little bit since coming off of the IL with a 5.79 ERA.... Jharel Cotton is reportedly going to be pitching from the bullpen when he finishes his rehab from TJ Surgery.... Ryan Brasier still leads the Red Sox in saves, but he hasn't converted one since April. Matt Barnes could be closing in on him for the 9th inning role for the Red Sox.
PLAYERS TO ADD
Dan Vogelbach, Seattle Mariners - With Jay Bruce on the verge of being dealt, Dan Vogelbach is going to be an extremely popular add this weekend as he's going to benefit the most from that move. Vogelbach should be virtually guaranteed everyday at-bats once the deal goes down and while he's still slowed down from his torrid stretch to begin the year, he still has the ability to reach the 30 homer plateau with relative ease this year.
David Fletcher, Los Angeles Angels - Fletcher is having strong 2019 slashing .316/.371/.449 with four homers and five stolen bases over 213 plate appearances. Fletcher is showing some ridiculous bat and zone control with an 8% BB% and a 6.1% K%. His exit velocity and his hard hit rates definitely cause for concern as both ranks in the bottom seven percent of the league, but all of his expected stats show that what he's doing isn't entirely a fluke. He's bounced around the lineup a decent amount but primarily has been hitting from the leadoff spot since the middle of May.
Avisail Garcia, Tampa Bay Rays - Garcia is currently dealing with some hamstring issues, but as long as he stays day-to-day he's worth a look in leagues. He's hitting .301 with 10 homers and his StatCast data is off the charts. He has the highest exit velocity of his career, the largest launch angle of his carer, and a 14.9% barrel rate that is in the top 8% of the league. Garcia has even chipped in six stolen bases this year which is one off his career high from back in 2015 where he swiped seven bags but was also caught seven times.
Griffin Canning, Los Angeles Angels - Canning continues to produce for the Angels but his ownership hasn't caught up to the production yet. He owns a 3.06 ERA and is striking out 26% of the batters that he is facing. He has an extremely impressive swinging strike rate of 15% and has a 33% chase rate. He's allowed two runs over his last 18 innings and also has allowed just nine hits in that span. The strikeouts have slowed a bit since his first three outings, but he's still generating excellent results.
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