Towers breaks down the top targets on the wire
Let’s dive right into this one — here are Tuesday’s top waiver-wire targets.
Dalton Rushing, C, Dodgers (18%) – This one is totally speculative, but with Teoscar Hernandez a candidate for an IL trip after injuring his hamstring and adductor Monday, maybe the Dodgers opt to finally give Rushing a call. He isn’t on the 40-man roster, which is the biggest obstacle to his promotion, as is the fact that he’s relatively inexperienced in the outfield. But if Hernandez has to miss significant time, it might make sense to call on Rushing ahead of someone like James Outman, who just doesn’t have the same upside. It’s a speculative add for now, but if Rushing was promoted, he would be pretty close to a must-add in any two-catcher league.
Cade Horton, SP, Cubs (23%) – With Shota Imanaga going on the IL Monday, Horton looks like the obvious option to take his place. Horton has struggled with injuries, but he is healthy right now and averaging 95.8 mph, up nearly 2 ticks from where he was last season and he has been dominant in Triple-A, sporting a 1.24 ERA and 30.6% strikeout rate. The walk rate is a little higher than you’d like to see and the injury history is concerning, but Horton has multiple promising secondaries to go with the velocity jump, and could be ready to make an impact already.
A.J. Smith-Shawver, SP, Braves (41%) – I don’t think Smith-Shawver suddenly figured it out Monday while flirting with a no-hitter against the Reds. His control was still iffy (four walks) his stuff wasn’t exactly overpowering (10 whiffs, five strikeouts over eight innings), and there was certainly plenty of good luck on his side – the Reds had four batted balls with an xBA over .500 and they went 1 for 4 on them. But I still think the 22-year-old remains a pretty interesting talent, with a good fastball and a splitter that looks like it has some real potential as he continues to lean on it. He’s still looking for a good breaking ball – he mostly shelved his slider in this one, throwing his curveball 12 times, but with just three combined called and swinging strikes – so he very much remains a work in progress. But one I’m intrigued enough by to think he’s worth a stash in deeper formats.
Trent Grisham, OF, Yankees (47%) – We have a pretty decent track record of Trent Grisham being a pretty mediocre hitter, so it’s hard to buy into his incredible first month. But he just keeps hitting – he homered out of the leadoff spot Monday, his ninth of the season – he had just nine in more than twice as many PA last season. Grisham is crushing the ball while showing the best plate discipline of his career, and he’s made himself fairly indispensable for the Yankees with both his bat and glove. Let’s see where it goes while he’s hot.
Ben Casparius, RP, Dodgers (28%) – At some point, the Dodgers just need to give him a chance to be a real starter, right? The team’s depth, once the envy of the league, has already been depleted, and Casparius certainly looks like one of their five best options right now. He got a chance to pitch in a bulk role Monday, coming in after opener Jack Dreyer got the first four outs, and he allowed one run in four innings of work while striking out five and walking two. I have my doubts about whether he would be able to sustain his stuff in a full-time starting role, but he does have a legitimate four-pitch mix led by what looks like a very good four-seamer and rounded out by three secondaries he throws regularly for whiffs. He’s earned a longer look.
Alex Verdugo, OF, Braves (13%) – Verdugo is a pretty unexciting talent. There’s a reason the Braves were able to sign him off the street on the eve of the season, after all. But he’s hot right now and starting at leadoff for the Braves, and this is still a lineup I expect to be pretty good moving forward, so Verdugo is going to have value as long as he’s at the top of the lineup. And, with Ronald Acuna seemingly still several weeks away, Verdugo’s got some runway here.
Now let’s get into some of the players that caught our attention during Monday’s action.
Monday’s standouts
Cole Ragans, Royals vs. CHW: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K – I guess there were no lingering issues from that groin injury. Ragans looked like himself, which is to say, he looked awesome, if a bit inefficient. The only knocks against him are occasional control issues that lead to both shorter outings and a higher WHIP than you’d otherwise want. But he’s one of the best strikeout pitchers in the league and might just be a top-five SP for Fantasy at this point.
Carlos Rodon, Yankees vs. SD: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – I think this is the best version of Rodon we’ve seen since his best days in San Francisco. I don’t think he’s that good, but I think the changes he has had to make to his arsenal in recent years has worked out well for him, even if there have been bumps in the road along the way. And likely still will be in the future, given his still-shaky command. But relying on his four-seamer less is never a bad thing, and Rodon now has multiple ways to approach hitters if the four-seamer isn’t working, something we couldn’t say about him at previous points in his career. Rodon looks like a must-start pitcher again.
Bryce Miller, Mariners @OAK: 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 K – If it wasn’t for the fact that Miller has talked about having some back and arm soreness so far this season, I’d be fully prepared to write this off as just a bit of a slump. But that makes it even harder to ignore his lower strikeout rate and significantly higher walk rate in the early going. If he’s healthy, I think Miller will be fine, but I do think it might be worth looking into selling him, even off a slow start, given the lingering injury weirdness.
Nick Pivetta, Padres @NYY: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K – Given how good Pivetta’s control has been since the start of last season, I think this one is probably just a fluke. His margin for error has always been small enough that I can’t say that with as much confidence as I might like, and I think it’s at least worth shopping Pivetta to see if anyone is buying the ace turn he has shown this season. If not, I’m fine holding him – I think he’ll be a top-40 SP the rest of the way.
Matthew Boyd, Cubs vs. SF: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K – We’ve seen a bit more strikeout upside from Boyd in recent starts, which is necessary for me to have much interest in him at all, despite the good results to date. His changeup was awesome in this one, generating seven of his 16 swinging strikes, and the development of that pitch looks like a big deal for Boyd’s ability to generate weak contact against righties. I don’t think the ceiling here is particularly high, but Boyd looks pretty useful right now.
Griffin Canning, Mets @ARI: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K – The Mets are a smart organization, and they’ve especially done a great job maximizing pretty marginal pitchers in recent years. That includes Canning, who is throwing his slider way more and finding tons of success with it. The problem is, the fact that the Mets are a smart organization now also means they are likely to keep limiting Canning’s usage moving forward – he has finished six innings just once, and most of his outings have seen him pulled before he even gets to the sixth. I think that’s going to remain the case moving forward, which limits his value, even if I do think he should continue to pitch pretty well.
News and notes
Yordan Alvarez was placed on the IL with right hand inflammation. That’s a big loss, especially because it came late enough Monday that you might not have had time to get him out of your lineups. Hopefully it’s just a minimum stay on the IL, because Alvarez has to make up for some lost time already with his slow start.
The Cubs placed Shota Imanaga on the IL with a left hamstring strain.
Corbin Burnes threw on flat ground Monday. We’ll see how his shoulder responds and whether or not he’ll start later this week. Either way you should bench him for the one projected outing against the Dodgers.
The Rangers released Leody Taveras on Sunday and then recalled Evan Carter on Monday. Carter was a top prospect just a few years ago and is still just 22. But he struggled mightily before having back surgery last season and is off to a mediocre start at Triple-A, hitting .221 with a .749 OPS and pretty mediocre quality of contact metrics. He’s worth a flier in deeper leagues if available, but I don’t have anything I can point to that’s worth being optimistic about since 2023, unfortunately.
Spencer Strider advanced to long-toss throwing on Sunday. He’s on the IL with a right hamstring strain.
Jackson Merrill is expected to return from the IL Tuesday against the Yankees.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Freddy Peralta hasn’t undergone any imaging on his groin but he could be given a day or two of extra rest before his next start.
Justin Martinez, who’s on the IL with shoulder inflammation, will begin a throwing program later this week, so it sounds like that’s a pretty minor issue.
Randy Arozarena was out of the lineup Monday after leaving Sunday with a hamstring issue.
MacKenzie Gore remains sore after tweaking his ankle during Sunday’s start but is feeling better. Hopefully he won’t have to miss any time.
Anthony Volpe returned to the lineup after missing Sunday with that shoulder injury.
Frankie Montas remains on track to return in early June. Apparently Sean Manaea has fallen behind Montas, but could still return at some point in June.
The Giants recalled Kyle Harrison this weekend but plan to use him in a bullpen role.
