Greetings, friends. We’re back after a ROUGH weekend of injuries. We already had a tough run-up to the beginning of the season, and the weekend brought more of them in a big way. Spencer Strider could be headed for Tommy John surgery. Shane Bieber IS headed for surgery. Trevor Story might be out for the year with a shoulder injury. Luis Robert. Eloy Jimenez. We’re going to be without Josh Jung for at least two months. And we’re only into the first week of April. Let’s take a look at the rest of the news and notes around baseball with today’s Fantasy Baseball Opener.
Also, be sure to check out our NEW SHOW on the FantasyPros Baseball Podcast feed. The Cycle, featuring Ryan Wormeli and yours truly (along with other recurring analysts like Kelly Kirby and Chris Welsh), is a new weekly fantasy baseball show to complement the daily Leading Off offering. We’re stoked about it, and we hope you are, too. Give it a listen, let us know what you think, and leave us a review on Spotify, Apple or wherever you listen to such things.
Have questions or just want to talk baseball? Feel free to reach out on Twitter @mikeMaher with questions or feedback anytime. Or even better, join the FantasyPros Discord!
Check out all of our weekly fantasy baseball content 
Fantasy Baseball News & Notes
Tyler O’Neill is off to a hot start with the Red Sox. He hit three more home runs this weekend to give him five already on the season. Through nine games, he’s batting .357 with 5 HR, 5 RBI (all solo shots!), 12 runs scored, and 1 SB. And while we’re talking about incredibly small sample sizes here, it’s worth noting his walk rate is an absurd 18.9%, his hard hit rate is north of 40%, and his strikeout rate is down to 16.2%. Is it sustainable? Probably not. At least not at those rates. But he is available in more than 20% of Yahoo leagues and nearly 70% (!!!) of ESPN leagues.
Ronel Blanco followed up his no-hitter in his first start of the season with six one-hit shutout innings in a win over the Rangers on Sunday. Through two starts: 15 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 6 BB, 11 K, 0.47 WHIP. I still think Blanco is a sell-high candidate, especially if you are fortunate to have some pitching depth. But it is hard to ignore the early results, especially with all of the injuries to pitchers around the league. This appears to be a direct result of incorporating and leaning on a new changeup. We’ll see if it sticks, but he seems to have found something here in the early going.
Ronel Blanco 2.0 is leaning HEAVILY on a new changeup.
We'll see how sustainable this is, especially after teams adjust their approaches against him, but his early success is a direct result of this change rather than pure dumb luck. pic.twitter.com/4SJKxSwpvC
— Mike Maher (@mikeMaher) April 8, 2024
I took a look at my Fantrax leagues this morning. Here are the players who have been added the most over the past week:
And here are the players who have been dropped the most over the past week:
Alec Marsh makes the above list more due to his first start than his second, but his second wasn’t terrible. After tossing seven two-hit, one-run innings in a win over the Orioles to start the year, he allowed three earned runs over 4 2/3 IP in a no-decision against the White Sox. I’m not the biggest Marsh believer, but he’s available everywhere. If you need a warm body for some innings, there are worse players to roster.
Cody Bradford has a 2.13 ERA, 0.47 WHIP, and 10 strikeouts over 12 2/3 IP to start the season, and he matches up against the A’s this week. His numbers last season weren’t great, and his numbers throughout the minors have been closer to meh than good. But again, if you need some pitching…
Fun!
most consecutive outs without allowing a hit, starting pitchers since 1990:
2015 Max Scherzer: 52
1996 Dwight Gooden: 51
2011 Justin Verlander: 47
2018 Sean Manaea: 45
2009 Mark Buehrle: 45
2024 Ronel Blanco: 44h/t @EliasSports
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 8, 2024
From the News Desk
- J.D. Martinez dealing with soreness, will not join the Mets in Atlanta
- Josh Sborz placed on 15-day IL
- Gerrit Cole (elbow) to begin playing catch
- Sonny Gray (hamstring) slated to start Tuesday
- Jonathan Loaisiga (elbow) placed on 60-day IL
- Jakob Junis (shoulder) placed on 15-day IL
- Spencer Strider‘s MRI reveals UCL damage
- Michael Lorenzen (neck) says he is ready to join Rangers rotation
- Nick Lodolo (calf) to make final rehab start Sunday
- Joey Votto (foot) still doing defensive work
- Alek Manoah (shoulder) to make rehab start Sunday
- Jordan Romano (elbow) close to starting rehab assignment
- Erik Swanson (forearm) throws live BP
- Brandon Lowe (oblique) expected to return to lineup this weekend
Arm Barn Report
Here is every player who recorded a save this weekend (the number in parenthesis is how many saves they converted this weekend):
- Edwin Diaz (2)
- James McArthur (2)
- Jose Alvarado (1)
- Adbert Alzolay (1)
- Chase Anderson (1)
- Shawn Armstrong (1)
- Emmanuel Clase (1)
- Camilo Doval (1)
- Carlos Estevez (1)
- Kyle Finnegan (1)
- Chad Green (1)
- Josh Hader (1)
- Ryan Helsley (1)
- Clay Holmes (1)
- Raisel Iglesias (1)
- Kenley Jansen (1)
- Pierce Johnson (1)
- Craig Kimbrel (1)
- Alex Lange (1)
- Jose Leclerc (1)
- Andres Munoz (1)
- Daniel Palencia (1)
- Colin Poche (1)
- Dennis Santana (1)
- Chris Stratton (1)
- Thyago Vieira (1)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
