Fantasy Sports

Bednar could not find the curve today and actually plunked two batters while throwing it six times. He also issued a leadoff walk. The three basehits against him were all pretty soft — one would have been the routinest of outs if the infield hadn’t been drawn in — but he dug his own grave with the free baserunners. This is already Bednar’s third blown save, though the first two were one-run games and still ended up as wins for the Pirates. In fact, he had come into this one with a 6/0 K/BB and just three hits allowed in four innings. So, we’re not too worried about Bednar for the long haul. Still, the Pirates might want to give him a little break from closing and try to find a consistent routine for him for a couple of weeks after he missed most of the spring with a lat injury. If so, Aroldis Chapman would become the favorite for saves.

Olivares was lined up to be the hero today until David Bednar turned in a 3-1 lead into a 5-3 loss in the ninth. At .321/.367/.679 in 30 plate appearances, Olivares has been the Pirates’ best hitter thus far, though he’s been on the bench for five of the team’s 12 games. Still, he seems to have gained ground on Andrew McCutchen at DH, and one imagines today will help him remain in the lineup for the rest of the week, at least.

Not another one. Gray winds up on the injured list shortly after being scratched from Tuesday’s scheduled start against the Giants. The 26-year-old righty wasn’t off to a great start this season with an inflated 14.04 ERA, 2.40 WHIP and 9/5 K/BB ratio across 8 1/3 innings (two starts), but it would be devastating for Washington if he’s going to miss significant time. We’ll have to monitor what the next steps are for Gray and the organization, but the 2024 season continues to be rough one with the health of starting pitchers.

One of the Cardinals’ key offseason acquisitions will make his highly-anticipated season debut on Tuesday against the Phillies after opening the season on the shelf with a hamstring injury. He’s not expected to pitch all that long as manager Oli Marmol told reporters he’ll throw about 65 pitches, which most likely gives him about three or four innings to work with. Fantasy managers that stashed Gray may want to hold off on starting him until he’s given a green light to go further into contests.

It appears to be a quick stint with the Mets for Teheran who was hooked early in his season debut after he allowed four earned runs over 2 2/3 innings against the Braves on Monday. It’ll be interesting to see if any other MLB teams take a chance with the 33-year-old, but he’s an afterthought for fantasy managers this season.

Good to see India’s late scratch on Monday was more precautionary than anything. The 27-year-old bruised his leg when he was hit by a ball out of the batting cage during pre-game warmups. The second baseman is 8-for-42 (.242 AVG) with three RBI in the leadoff spot for the Reds this season.

The White Sox are moving Sosa up in the lineup Tuesday after he went 2-for-5 in the seven hole in his first two games since being called up. Sosa was brought up to the majors after Chicago placed Luis Robert Jr. (hip) on the injured list.

This is better news than what we initially thought. Pivetta was scheduled to start against the Orioles on Wednesday, but the team will have to move on with the rotation and likely go with Kutter Crawford.

The six-month recovery timetable for the procedure to address a fractured right shoulder and possible additional damage means Story is unlikely to make it back before next season. It’s a huge blow to the Red Sox who now plan to platoon at both shortstop and second base with a combination of Vaughn Grissom, David Hamilton, Pablo Reyes and Romy Gonzalez for the immediate future. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters rookie Ceddanne Rafaela, who played shortstop in the minors, will remain in center field for now. It’s possible they’ll make a move leading up to the trade deadline to address the position, if they’re still in playoff contention.

Cowser got the day off against the Pirates in the series finale on Sunday, but the 24-year-old will be in left field and batting seventh in the lineup Tuesday afternoon. The young outfielder is slashing an impressive .455/.455/.636 in his 11 plate appearances for Baltimore this season and could see more reps with the ball club if he can continue his success at the plate.