IN THE FIELD
Austin Nola could return to the Padres on Tuesday. Nola has missed the entire season with a broken finger but has been playing in games at the alternate site since the 20th. Victor Caratini likely has a spot locked down on the roster as he's Yu Darvish's person catcher, which means that Luis Campusano is likely the odd man out behind the plate for the Padres... Yadier Molina left Friday's game with foot soreness and is being held out of the lineup on Saturday. He's being considered day-to-day at this point... Miguel Rojas has slid up in the lineup to the second spot in the order with Starling Marte on the IL... Jorge Alfaro is dealing with hamstring tightness and could be placed on the IL... Ehire Adrianza has been getting playing time all over the field due to the Braves injuries. He's recently started at both second base and right field while Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña deal with their minor injuries... Jean Segura was diagnosed with a strained quad and will most certainly end up on the IL... Mookie Betts missed some mid-week games after getting hit on the forearm by a pitch, but returned to the lineup on Thursday... Brandon Crawford was pulled from Wednesday's game with tightness in his side but he returned to the lineup on Friday. He's been dreadful at the plate this season with a .197 average and three homers... Brandon Belt returned to the lineup on Friday after leaving Tuesday with an injured quad. Like Crawford, Belt has struggled at the plate with a .186 average and three homers over 65 plate appearances... Evan Longoria was held out of the line on Friday with a hamstring issue. It doesn't sound like it's an issue that is going to linger over any sort of stretch of time. Wilmer Flores placed third base in his absence... DJ Peters was called up to the major leagues after Zach McKinstry was placed on the IL with a strained oblique. McKinstry was originally just scratched from the lineup with back tightness but after further evaluation, it was revealed to have a strained oblique. Peters hit 23 homers in 125 games in 2019 and because the Dodgers are the Dodgers, he should at least be on radars right now to monitor the playing time... Brad Miller was scratched Friday with a stiff neck. He should just be considered day-to-day at this point but it's something to watch over the weekend... Mike Moustakas is expected to return from the IL as soon as he's eligible next week. Moose has been dealing with an illness and is expected to ramp up his baseball activities this weekend and be good to go early next week... Avisail Garcia left Friday's game against the Cubs with a back issue, but that was equally in part to the score being what it was. Craig Counsell said that Garcia could return to the lineup as early as Saturday... Didi Gregorius returned to the Phillies lineup on Friday. Gregorius had been held out of the lineup for most of the week after banging his elbow while diving for a catch, but he's back in action now. He's off to a strong start with a .296/.322/.426 in the first few weeks of the season... Ke'Bryan Hayes had a scare this week with a reported setback on his wrist, but luckily after treatment on Thursday the wrist is reportedly feeling much better. Reports out of Pittsburgh are saying that he's likely going to have to play through some pain over the course of the year, which isn't great, but the hope is that he's back in the Pirates lineup in the near future... Ronald Acuña returned to the Braves lineup on Friday. He missed the Yankees series with a lower abdomen strain but was able to return to his normal leadoff role on Friday... Christian Yelich will not be activated from the IL when he is first eligible on Friday. He's been doing baseball activities but just isn't to the point where he's ready for game action quite yet. It previously sounded like he was on track for activation next week, but now he's headed for an MRI now that his recovery has hit a standstill... Luis Urias left Monday's game with a calf cramp and returned to the lineup on Friday... Kolten Wong is back with the Brewers after missing two weeks with an oblique strain. He's back to hitting leadoff and playing second for the club... Josh Rojas started for the Diamondbacks at shortstop on Friday as Nick Ahmed's struggles at the plate continue. Rojas has hit well lately with a homer and three RBI over his last five games, starting three of those. He's worth keeping an eye on after his hot spring but a slow start to the season... Carson Kelly has been a force at the plate with a .341/.517/.756 slash like and five homers on the season. He's absolutely worth a pickup while he's on this hot streak... Shogo Akiyama has been cleared to play in scrimmage games at the alternate site. Akiyama has been out since mid-March with a hamstring injury and on this timetable, we could see him at some point in early May if all goes well in the scrimmages... Tyler O'Neill has been held out of the lineup with a minor foot issue after fouling a ball off it. It doesn't appear to be anything serious and should be back in the lineup this weekend... Christian Pache was activated from the IL on Saturday but optioned to the alternate site. Pache has been off to a slow start in the majors this year but is still excellent defensively so it's a surprise to see him sent down. Guillermo Heredia will remain the everyday centerfielder for the Braves in the meantime... Juan Soto is progressing well with his shoulder strain, but isn't to the point where he's started baseball activities... Joc Pederson was placed on the IL with a wrist injury, but there are no plans for him to undergo an MRI at this point. The hope is that rest will help him get back to normal, but we'll see what happens with him in a few days. Jake Marisnick should benefit in the OF from Pederson's absence... Gavin Lux is expected to be activated from the IL on Monday after working at the alternate site recently. He's been on the IL April 15th and should immediately slot back in as the everyday second baseman for the team... Cody Bellinger is taking BP but there's still no telling as to when he'll be back with the team. He's on the IL with a hairline fracture in his tibia and that needs to be 100% healed considering its role in weight-bearing for the body... Ketel Marte is taking live BP as he works his way back from his hamstring injury. Marte was on a tear to start 2021 before getting injured so the Diamondbacks offense would greatly benefit from getting him back in the lineup everyday... Jason Vosler was called up to the majors by the Giants and could get some work while the Giants are depleted across the infield... Nico Hoerner is off to a strong start to 2021 with four hits in his first six at-bats, including a double and two RBI on Saturday. Hoerner was called up this week and should get the majority of work at second base going forward because David Bote and even more so Eric Sogard don't need to be playing every day.
IN THE ROTATION
Jon Lester is expected to throw 90 pitches Saturday in a bullpen session as he works his way back from the COVID-19 List... Jacob deGrom asked for an extra day of rest before his next start. He proceeded to strike out 15 batters in his second career shutout... Brett Anderson underwent an MRI on his hamstring and was placed on the IL Saturday with a hamstring strain. Anderson faced only one batter on Friday before leaving the start. Josh Lindblom pitched poorly in relief of Anderson and then was placed on the IL with a knee injury on Saturday... Adrian Morejon was transferred to the 60-day IL after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He'll obviously miss the rest of 2020 and a good chunk of 2021 as well... Kyle Freeland threw 25 pitches in a bullpen session on Saturday. Freeland hasn't thrown a bullpen session since late March and is still a few weeks out from potentially returning to the Rockies rotation... The Cardinals are going to move to a six-man rotation for a chunk of time as they have 17 games over the next 17 days. Johan Oviedo is going to start next Wednesday against the Phillies as he'll get the first chance to win the 6th spot for this stretch of time... Huascar Ynoa picked up his first win of the season with two runs over six innings against the Diamondbacks. Ynoa rebounded well from his outing against the Cubs where he was shelled and actually has those same Cubs on Wednesday in Atlanta... Max Fried has yet to begin mound work for the Braves as he rehabs his hamstring injury. The initial hope was that he would only miss one turn through the rotation, but it's clearly advanced to more than that. Huascar Ynoa and Bryse Wilson will continue to fill into the back half of the rotation for the time being... Mike Soroka still has not started throwing and Brian Snitker said that he's "nowhere close" to making his season debut. He was shut down with shoulder inflammation at the beginning of the month... Sixto Sanchez still isn't throwing off a mound yet, but he's increased his throwing distance to 60 feet and has had no issues according to the Jordan McPherson. Kim Ng said though that Sixto is still a long way out from making his return to the Marlins this year... Elieser Hernandez is throwing from 90 feet, a move that had just recently been made. He's set for a bullpen session next week and after that, we should have a better guess at when exactly he'll return to the Marlins this year... Dinelson Lamet left Thursday's start after just 29 pitches due to forearm tightness. The team isn't expecting to send him for an MRI quite yet though as they are trying to see if he'll be able to start in 10 days. Considering he's already been rehabbing the same arm for a while before leaving his first start with an issue, I'm not optimistic here... Drew Smyly will be activated to start game two of the Braves/Diamondbacks doubleheader on Sunday... Stephen Strasburg threw from 75 on Wednesday and all the reports say that his should felt good. He's dealing with inflammation in his right shoulder and while he says that he feels good, the team will certainly take their time with the righty... Ryan Weathers is going to stick in the rotation for now after both Morejon and Lamet went down with injuries. Weathers has struck out 16 batters in 15.1 innings and has allowed just one earned run. He's definitely worth monitoring now going forward since there's a chance he has a spot in the rotation long term... Tony Gonsolin has started a throwing program at the alternate site. This is the first time he's started throwing since he was shut down two weeks ago after feeling soreness in his shoulder... Noah Syndergaard hit 97 MPH in his intrasquad game on Saturday and has been throwing all his pitches in the outings. Since he was placed on the 60-day IL he won't be able to be activated until the end of May, but it sounds like he'll be available for a call-up shortly after that time is up... Carlos Carrasco is targeting the second week of May for him to make his Mets' debut. He threw four innings on Saturday in a scrimmage and should have one or two more outings before being activated... Adbert Azolay was recalled by the Cubs to start on Saturday. He struck out seven batters over 4.2 innings and didn't factor in the decision. There's no word yet on whether he's going to stick around in the rotation but he'd get the Braves next time around if he stays with the team.
IN THE BULLPEN
The Reds bullpen is an absolute disaster right now and Ryan Hendrix and Heath Hembree have been called up to try and help. Hendrix is interesting with his high strikeout rates in the minors but both are likely just a middle relief role for the time being... Will Smith tossed a perfect ninth inning on Friday to notch save number four on the season. He hasn't been lights out with a 4.00 ERA over his first ten outings, but he's yet to blow a save and has 14 strikeouts... Alex Reyes allowed two inherited runners to score Friday but closed out the save with two strikeouts and two walks in .2 innings. Reyes' performance has taken a small step back in recent outings as his 8:8 K: BB rate isn't ideal, but he's managed to not allow a single earned run this year... Seth Lugo has started throwing bullpen sessions and it sounds like he's still on his May timeline for making his 2021 debut... Chris Martin is back to throwing and could make his return to the Braves bullpen next week... Joe Kelly is targeting a May return to the Dodgers. He's been dealing with shoulder soreness since Spring Training and would slot into the back end of the Dodgers bullpen once he's officially activated... Corey Knebel is going to miss multiple months with the lat strain he suffered this week. Knebel was the primary handcuff to Jansen in the back end of the pen and those opportunities will likely go to Blake Treinen for the time being.
PLAYERS TO ADD
Jazz Chisholm, Miami Marlins - Jazz Chisholm's rostered percentage has skyrocketed over the last week but he's still hovering at 71% on ESPN. Chisholm is up to a .315/.415/.630 triple slash with four homers and four stolen bases, and he's been hitting towards the top of the lineup in recent games. He ranks among the league leaders in barrel rate and is well above average in all of the hard-hit categories. It's the last chance to get him with how he's been playing lately.
Carson Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks - Catcher is a wasteland, and Kelly has been outstanding over the last week pushing his line to .341/.517/.756 with five homers. Kelly is pushing a 93rd percentile barrel rate and he's in the 99th percentile for walk rate. He's not chasing many pitches out of the zone and he's punishing anything that's in the zone. His rostered percentage is still under 50% in ESPN leagues.
Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs - Here's to hoping Nico Hoerner is up for the long haul as he's easily the best option they have at second base. Hoerner is off to a great start since being called up with a .571/.700/1.000 triple slash with three RBI. Bote and Sogard aren't players that need to start over him and it's highly suspected that Hoerner was sent to the alternate site from the jump to preserve his service time.
