Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to sit out ASG due to back

Butera highlighted Abrams’ strong play at shortstop recently as a motivating factor behind the decision to reverse course on their original plan. There’s a chance the Nationals bring up top prospect Seaver King when rosters expand later this week, which would further complicate the equation. Regardless, it sounds like the club is slowly backing away from a permanent move off the position for Abrams, which is going to be a variable to monitor during the offseason and spring training.

It’s a massive development for fantasy purposes after De La Cruz made an early exit from Sunday’s game against the Cubs with left quad tightness. Reds manager Terry Francona told reporters De La Cruz has been diagnosed with a small strain, but the expectation is that he’ll be able to manage and play through the injury unless it gets worse. There’s always a chance that De La Cruz ultimately winds up requiring a trip to the injured list, but it sounds like the Reds are going to let him play through the minor ailment for now.

Francona declined to elaborate on the exact innings limit. This latest development was alluded to by Reds analyst Jeff Brantley during Burns’ latest start against the Cubs on Sunday night. The hard-throwing 23-year-old, who has delivered top-10 fantasy value among starters this season, has already thrown 145 1/3 innings, which is nearly 40 more than he posted during last year’s professional debut. The move is designed to allow Burns to make his final handful of starts without a shutdown prior to the end of the season. It’s a tough development for fantasy managers in the middle of the playoffs, but he’s still worth hanging onto and starting outside of extremely shallow mixed leagues.

Gibson has a 5.87 ERA in 38 1/3 innings with the Marlins so far this season. He’ll work in low-leverage innings.

González was just called up over the weekend and did not appear in an MLB game. He will return to a 6.62 ERA in 34 Triple-A innings this year.

Serna was one of three players acquired in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade. He has hit .221/.303/.378 with 12 home runs and 14 steals for Triple-A Jacksonville so far this season.

Edwards left Sunday’s game after colliding into Jorbit Vivas’ shoulder when he was sliding into second. He’ll now be out for at least the next 10 days, but the Marlins have not given an exact timeline for his return as of Monday afternoon. They remain just 3.5 games out of the playoffs, so we don’t believe Edwards is at risk of being shut down just yet.

Mead no longer has a cast on his left wrist after fracturing it back on July 27th. It’s nice to see him playing catch without the cast on his glove hand, but we’ll need to see him hit before we have a better sense of exactly when he’s going to return to Boston’s lineup.

Gasper was just sent back to Triple-A on Sunday with Roman Anthony off the injured list, but he’s eligible to return to Boston because Willson Contreras (hamstring) is now going on the IL. Gasper has hit a solid .278/.374/.466 with five homers and 19 RBI in 156 plate appearances with the Red Sox. He’s starting at first base and batting second on Monday against the Mariners.

According to the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey, Contreras has been dealing with a hamstring issue for about a month. Between that and getting hit in the head against the Dodgers on August 1st, Contreras has slashed 217/.330/.386 since then. Perhaps a two-week reset will help the first baseman recapture some of his previous form before the end of the season.