Clarke Schmidt (elbow) begins rehab assignment

Rice takes a seat with Paul Goldschmidt getting a chance to face Mets rookie southpaw Zac Thornton. The 27-year-old slugger went 3-for-4 with his 37th home run of the season during Friday’s series-opening win. He’ll continue sitting against the occasional lefty starter, but he’s been a mostly everyday option for New York regardless of opponent.

Sears has been up-and-down for Detroit over the last couple weeks, allowing six runs over 12 1/3 innings since August 23. The 24-year-old rookie southpaw became just the second player from Division III Rhode Island College, where he opened his collegiate career before transferring to Connecticut, to reach the majors since the 1980’s. He draws the starting assignment for Saturday’s showdown against the Rockies. He offers enough strikeout potential to be interesting in extremely deep leagues since Colorado tends to struggle away from Coors Field.

Montero will be away from the Tigers for a couple days on paternity leave. He allowed two runs over four innings during an abbreviated outing against the Twins earlier this week. There’s a decent chance he finishes the year pitching out of Detroit’s bullpen since he’s pitched beyond the fifth inning just one time in his last four starts.

Rodriguez joins the late-season wave of young talent sweeping into Minnesota that also includes Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins. The 23-year-old top prospect would’ve arrived much sooner if not for a laundry list of injuries that he’s dealt with on the doorstep of the majors the last couple years. Rodriguez’s combination of plate skills and approach are extremely impressive. He rarely chases pitches out of the zone and makes plenty of hard contact. His over-the-fence power should make him an impactful fantasy contributor. However, he’s probably going to need to become more aggressive from an approach standpoint, especially against big-league arms. He’s an interesting talent that is worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues. He’s more of a wait-and-see type of prospect in extremely shallow fantasy formats.

Ross heads back to the minors after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in three games for Minnesota. The 25-year-old projects as a bench player at the highest level.

It’s unclear whether Jung needs some additional time to ramp up after going 3-for-15 with one homer during four minor league rehab games for Triple-A Round Rock. He’s been out with a calf strain since late July.

The Rangers could certainly use Eovaldi as they sit roughly three games behind the Astros for the AL West division title with just over two weeks left on the calendar. The 36-year-old veteran has been out with elbow inflammation since early August. There should be an idea of his next steps by the conclusion of the weekend.

Hancock has been out with an adductor strain since late August. It’s going to be tough for him to make it back before the regular season concludes with just over two weeks left.

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay expressed optimism that Langeliers could return at some point this weekend. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI during his rehab debut on Thursday. He’s going to be limited to DH after undergoing right knee meniscus surgery back in July. He’s the type of elite talent at the catcher position that needs to be rostered in all fantasy formats for the final two weeks.

Burrows was pulled of a minor league rehab assignment last month and has continued throwing at Houston’s spring training facility in Florida. It’s unclear whether he’ll contribute again this season. He’s been dealing with elbow and shoulder issues since mid-July.