A couple weeks ago, I wrote in this space that Clayton Kershaw was making nice progress recovering from his back injury. Finally, we may see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Following a successful simulated game on Monday, Kershaw is slated to make a rehab start in Triple-A on Saturday, and if all goes well, this should clear the way for his much-anticipated return to the rotation. The timing would put his next major league start on either August 31st or September 1st, giving owners a full month of Kershaw goodness down the stretch.
His recovery comes at an ideal time for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have seen both Yu Darvish and Alex Wood hit the DL in recent days. Neither is expected to miss much time — in fact, Darvish should be back as soon as Sunday — so the Dodgers hope to have their rotation at full-strength by the first week of September. When that occurs, Kenta Maeda remains the most likely mainstay to get bounced to the bullpen.
Now, onto the latest depth chart news around the league and how it might affect your fantasy teams.
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In Other Dodgers News…
Sticking with the Dodgers for a moment, the deepest team in baseball managed to further bolster their roster with the acquisition of Curtis Granderson last week. Granderson hasn’t missed a beat since joining his new team, already slugging two dingers in four games. Although he’ll presumably lose some at-bats to lefty-masher Enrique Hernandez against southpaws, Granderson should get regular playing time against righties, batting in the top-half of the order. He’s hitting .227/.333/.484 with 21 home runs, and should continue to be a solid deep league asset on teams that can stomach the low batting average.
Granderson’s arrival meant the demotion of Joc Pederson, who has struggled through a disappointing 2017. Pederson was hitting just .156/.253/.312 since the All-Star break and will look to figure things out in Triple-A. With a similar skill set as Granderson, even when he’s right, Pederson won’t hit for average, but has nice pop, coming off back-to-back seasons with at least 25 dingers. He has 11 long balls across 295 plate appearances this season. While it’s widely expected he’ll be back with the team when rosters expand in September, given the depth that the Dodgers have in the outfield, it’s unlikely he’ll find enough playing time to garner much fantasy value the rest of this season.
Los Angeles also put Cody Bellinger on the DL with a sprained ankle, but he should return by the end of the month. The move should give regular playing time for the now healthy Adrian Gonzalez in the short-term, but that shouldn’t move the needle much outside the deepest of leagues. Over 206 plate appearances, Gonzalez is hitting just .247/.298/.333 with one home run. He figures to return to the bench when Bellinger is healthy.
Dropping Like Flies
Of course, the Dodgers aren’t the only team dealing with injuries. On Tuesday, the Cleveland Indians put Danny Salazar on the DL with elbow inflammation, and he could miss at least a couple weeks. It’s a frustrating turn of events given how well Salazar was throwing since returning from a shoulder injury. Prior to getting shelled in his most recent outing, across five starts, he was working a 1.39 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 38.0% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate. It may be a small sample size, but that’s some ace production right there. The timetable is unclear, but hold onto him and hope he regains that form when he returns in September.
Miguel Sano hit the DL this week with a stress reaction in his shin and also has an unclear timeline. Still just 24, Sano just keeps getting better every year, slashing .267/.356/.514 with a career-high 28 home runs. Like many premier sluggers in 2017, he struggles with strikeouts, but his 45.3% hard-hit rate remains one of the best in the league. Hope for a speedy recovery.
In the meantime, his absence means a promotion for Kennys Vargas, who has shuttled back and forth between Triple-A and the majors this season. Vargas ought to get fairly regular at-bats as long as Sano is out and could have potential deep league value for his pop. Dating back to last year, across 376 plate appearances, he’s hit 19 home runs with a .229 ISO.
Max Scherzer (neck) and Jon Lester (shoulder fatigue) went to the disabled list last week as well, but neither is expected to miss much time.
Closer Shuffle
Entering this season, Aroldis Chapman was arguably one of the safest closers you could draft, with a stranglehold on his job and armed with a triple-digit fastball. Well, nothing has been easy in the ninth inning this season, and Chapman is the latest to lose the closer role. Thankfully for his owners, the move is expected to be temporary, but this isn’t exactly what you signed up for when you spent an early draft pick on a closer. In the meantime, Dellin Betances and David Robertson will be the beneficiaries, while Chapman tries to figure things out.
Keep on eye on Kelvin Herrera, who had some forearm tightness on Tuesday night. Brandon Maurer could jump into the closer role if Herrera needs a DL stint, although Maurer has an ugly 6.12 ERA. That said, Maurer converted 20 saves for the San Diego Padres this year before being traded to the Kansas City Royals.
If you’ve been holding onto Mark Melancon with the hopes he’ll reclaim the San Francisco Giants’ closer role from Sam Dyson, last week’s news that he’s considering surgery poured a whole lot of cold water on that notion. Still, Melancon continues to pitch well since coming off the DL, and the Giants are claiming he’s ready for the ninth inning, so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. It’s a little curious considering San Francisco is toiling in last place, but he could be worth holding onto a little longer in formats devoid of waiver wire options.
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Kenyatta Storin is a featured writer with FantasyPros. For more from Kenyatta, check out his archive and follow him @kenyattastorin.
