IN THE FIELD
Ender Inciarte still has yet to resume baseball activities for the Braves. He's been on the IL for around a month now with a lumbar strain. Austin Riley will continue to get everyday at-bats in left and still is performing well enough to hang onto that role even once Ender returns... The Padres have told other teams that they are willing to listen on Hunter Renfroe, their power-hitting outfield with 18 homers this season. The Padres have a crowded outfield and this could both clear up space for the other OFers on the team, and also for Renfroe to get everyday ABs somewhere.... Keston Hiura is dominating AAA once again and the Brewers should find space for him soon. Go ahead and look on your waivers and if you can stash him early go ahead and do it.... Alex Avila left Thursday's game with a calf strain. We should get word on soon of the severity of the injury and the playing time impacts of it.... Andrew McCutchen officially underwent surgery on Friday and it was successful. McCutchen will miss all of this year and a good chunk of next season with a torn ACL.... Jake Lamb is expected to return to the Diamondbacks by the end of the month. Lamb battled injuries in 2018 but hit 29 and 30 homers in 2016 and 2017 respectively. He's an intriguing power source for the second half, even if it's easier to find power this year compared to most seasons.... AJ Pollock was able to play catch and do some light running drills on Friday. He had the catheter removed from his arm this week which allows him to begin more of the recovery process.... Matt Adams took batting practice on Thursday and also took ground balls at first base, seemingly with no issues. He's dodged the IL so far with this oblique strain and it sounds like he'll continuing to avoid it after taking this step on Thursday.... Brad Miller was acquired by the Phillies for cash and he'll join the team in Atlanta. Miller could be in the mix to see some ABs against right-handed pitching (108 career wRC+), but that's about it.... Nolan Arenado had to leave Wednesday's game early after being hit by a pitch, but was right back in there on Thursday.... Jed Lowrie is not close to game action according to manager Mickey Callaway. He was rehabbing a knee spring when he strained his hamstring, and that's the reason for the delay for him back to the majors.... Corey Seager was placed on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reported that the MRI revealed a grade 1-2 strain, meaning that we are going to be without Seager for at least a few weeks. Chris Taylor should be the everyday shortstop for the Dodgers... Franchy Cordero left a rehab game in AAA on Wednesday with a quad injury.... Martin Prado left the game on Wednesday with a tight right hamstring. ... Buster Posey was activated this week from the IL after dealing with a hamstring strain.... Joey Votto left Wednesday's game with mid-back stiffness. Josh VanMeter came into the game to DH for Cincinnati. He returned to the lineup on Saturday.... Josh Donaldson was suspended one game for his role in a "fight" on Monday but has entered the appeal process so he's still in the lineup. The suspension should get dropped because nothing happened, but if not expect from him to miss a day over the next week or so.... Matt Kemp was placed on the minor league IL this week with a broken rib that he suffered while a member of the Reds.... Ben Zobrist is currently going through his very ugly divorce and Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported Friday that if Zobrist is going to return to the team this year, it won't be until very late in the season... Jay Bruce left Saturday's game with hamstring tightness and is currently listed as day-to-day... Daniel Murphy was a late scratch for the Rockies on Saturday, but no reason was immediately given.... Brendan Rodgers was optioned to AAA after a rough first stint with the major league club. While it's hard to get going when the team seemingly draws names out of a hat for who starts each day, a .277 slugging percentage isn't going to work. He'll likely be back at some point this year... Trevor Story left Friday's game after taking a bad hop to the face but was back in the lineup Saturday.... Robinson Cano completed his rehab assignment and could be activated when he's eligible on Sunday.
IN THE ROTATION
Matt Strahm was activated from the IL on Thursday but was roughed up in Coors allowing six earned runs in 3.1 innings. His season ERA sits at 4.66 over 63.2 innings.... Noah Syndergaard was dealing with strep throat but made his start on Saturday, but then left that start with a hamstring injury... Jhoulys Chacin is going to be activated off the IL to start on Monday for the Brewers. Chacin hasn't pitched well for Milwaukee with a 5.74 EAR in 58 innings... Chris Paddack was sent to the minors as a way to limit his innings for the season but he's expected to be back with the team in just a few weeks. We all assumed that Paddack would be shut down at some point this year, but I figured it would be at the end of the season but if the Padres believe they can stick around for the playoffs it would keep him available for that push.... Daniel Ponce De Leon will start Friday for the Cardinals. There were some small grumblings that Alex Reyes could have been in line for the start, but he started for Memphis on Thursday instead after a prior start lead to him needing some more work in AAA. De Leon is filling in for Adam Wainwright who is dealing with a hamstring injury.... Josh Duplantier underwent an MRI on his right shoulder on Thursday and he's being shut down from throwing for the next week.... Mitch Keller was recalled this week to start against the Braves and allowed six runs in three innings. He's struggled in his first two major league starts but he still is a high-upside arm for the Pirates.... Jordan Yamamoto was called up by the Marlins to start on Wednesday after Jose Ureña was placed on the IL this week with a lower back strain. Yamamoto allowed three hits over seven shutout innings in his major league debut.... Trevor Williams has started a rehab assignment in AAA..... Sean Newcomb started Saturday for the Braves but left the game early after being hit in the back of the head by a line drive.... Dallas Kuechel is slated to make his second minor league start, this time for AA Mississippi, on Saturday. Kuechel and the Braves agreed on tentative June 18th date for him to be called up to the majors but a rainout last weekend pushed that back. He'd line up for a June 21st start against the Nationals if he's going to be promoted after this start.... Dario Agrazal was called up by the Pirates to start Saturday. He has a 3.27 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 74.1 innings across two levels this year.... Kyle Hendricks was placed on the IL on Saturday with right shoulder inflammation. There's no timetable yet on his return..... Caleb Smith was cleared on Friday to return to baseball activities. He's currently on the IL with hip inflammation.
IN THE BULLPEN
Koda Glover is going to be shut down for six weeks after receiving a PRP-injection. He's been working back from a forearm strain but it doesn't sound like surgery is an option right now, rather they are going to see how he responds with this.... Craig Kimbrel threw a 24 pitch live BP session on Thursday and is expected to throw another session in the next few days. There's still no ETA on his arrival to the Cubs, but expect him to get the ninth inning their as soon as he's ready..... Carl Edwards Jr was placed on the IL with a left thoracic strain. Edwards had an awful start to the season that resulted in a trip to the minors, but he's been excellent since his return.... Keona Kela is expected to resume throwing on either Thursday or Friday.... David Robertson played catch on Tuesday. This was the first throwing he's done since he was shut down last month, and hopefully, for the righty, this can get him closer to resuming the rehab process... Steve Cishek had to be carted off the field on Wednesday after being hit by an errant throw but was ultimately diagnosed with a bruise on the inside of his knee. He said later that day that he expects to be ready to return in a few days.... Brett Cecil is aiming to start throwing bullpen sessions next week.... AJ Minter is back in the Braves bullpen after a strong 10 inning stint in the minors. Minter still has the most exciting long term potential for the Braves, but Luke Jackson (blown save Saturday) is continuing to do a solid job in the 9th even with a bit of regression.... Jared Eickhoff has been shifted into the bullpen for the Phillies. He was slated to start Sunday in Atlanta but the Phillies haven't announced who will fill that void yet.... Archie Bradley is going to open for the Diamondbacks on Sunday. Bradley has been disappointing for fantasy this year with a 4.26 ERA, but maybe the Diamondbacks can get him going in a non-traditional role.
PLAYERS TO ADD
Obviously, Dallas Kuechel and Craig Kimbrel need to be owned now that they have signed with the Braves and Cubs respectively. Kuechel should be up with the Braves this upcoming week and Kimbrel will immediately slot into the closer's role for the Cubs once he's ready for game action.
Keston Hiura, Milwaukee Brewers - I'm not hopping off this Keston train. The Brewers need to find everyday at-bats for him because of Travis Shaw and Jesus Aguilar have both been awful this year. Keston has been on fire in AAA since being sent down when Shaw was activated off the IL, and it shouldn't be long before he's back up in the majors playing every day. Get ahead of the waiver flurry when he eventually gets called back up.
Scott Kingery, Philadelphia Phillies - The Scott Kingery hype came one year only as he's crushing the ball this year at a .347/.389/.669 slash with eight homers, the same amount he had in almost 500 plate appearances last season. He's being fueled by a .395 BABIP but it's backed up a bit with his near 50% hard contact rate and a jump in his exit velocity by 5 MPH. His barrel rate is also up by double what it was last season, so we could easily be seeing the Kingery breakout this season.
Dakota Hudson, St Louis Cardinals - Dakota Hudson still isn't striking out batters at the rate we would like, but he still had an outstanding May/Early June with a 2.40 ERA and he picked up three wins. Hudson is running a ridiculous 65% ground ball rate for the month and he's combined that with a near 20% soft contact rate over the same span. He's going to be reliant on BABIP but limiting hard contact and keeping the ball on the ground will help him outperformer his FIP (3.47 for May/June). In quality start leagues, he also was outstanding over this span, earning a QS in seven of his eight starts
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