Nick Franklin (Getty Images)

The Seattle Mariners, as you might have heard, are not exactly a run-scoring juggernaut. They currently rank 13th in the American League in OBP and slugging percentage. They've lost seven of their last 10 games, and the team's run differential is now -31. They just replaced Brendan Ryan with Robert Andino, which is sort of like replacing passionflower tea with chamomile.

The Mariners, in a nutshell, are not good.

But things are going a bit better for Seattle's Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers.

John Axford, possibly still in the saves game (USAT Images)

For many of you, the act of cutting John Axford from your fantasy roster was probably the high point in your season. Very few events in fantasy are as satisfying as the vengeful drop. I get it. No argument.

Alas, if you're still chasing saves, it sounds like you're just going to have to pick up Axford again. His name remains in the ninth inning conversation for the Brewers, apparently.

This from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt:

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was asked Wednesday what it would take to re-install John Axford as his closer.

"Probably not much," replied Roenicke.

[...]

"That's nothing against [Jim] Henderson. He's done a great job for us pitching there. But I think with Ax, because of his breaking ball, and when he's throwing it well, I think he has a chance to repeat that season he had two years ago."

So it sounds as if Henderson doesn't have much of a leash — odd, because he's off to a fantastic start. Henderson currently ranks as a top-12 fantasy pitcher, thanks to his excellent ratios (0.90 ERA, 0.80 WHIP), his stellar K-rate (14 in 10.0 IP), and his 5-for-5 performance in save opportunities. He's done nothing wrong.

Chris Carter gets a post-homer handshake (Getty Images)

Everybody enjoys mammoth home runs, right?

Of course they do.

Take a look at this blast off the bat of Houston's Chris Carter, and tell me that wasn't one of the deepest, baddest, loudest homers in recent memory. Ridiculous. That thing was destroyed.

It's tough to identify the ball's impact area in the clip above, but the in-stadium eyewitness accounts had it hitting the top of one of those upper billboards in left, a zillion feet away from home plate. (Officially 440, but c'mon.) The homer was Carter's fifth of the year. He's cleared the fence 21 times over his last 295 big league at-bats, dating back to his call-up last June.

Yup, Jose Valverde is back in our lives, returning to our rosters (USAT Images)

Remember when Jim Leyland was gonna go bullpen-by-committee, mixing and matching based on match-ups?

Yeah, that was hysterical. Good one, Tigers.

Jose Valverde has returned to Detroit, and Leyland has handed him the keys to the ninth. Here's the news, straight from the team's Twitter feed:

Valverde will be with the club in Detroit tomorrow and manager Jim Leyland says he will be the team's closer.

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 23, 2013

So there you go. Valverde has pitched 3.0 scoreless frames for Single-A Lakeland this year (1 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks), and apparently the Tigers liked what they saw. The Joaquin Benoit Era has ended. It lasted nearly as long as the Phil Coke Era.

Anthony Rendon, prospect of distinction (Getty Images)

Washington's Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring issue on Saturday, prompting the team to call up 22-year-old Anthony Rendon as a placeholder. Zimmerman's injury isn't believed to be severe — "Doctors said he needs to rest for 10 days," per manager Davey Johnson — so his fantasy investors shouldn't panic. Instead, let's simply kick the tires on Rendon, one of the game's more interesting young prospects.

Rendon, you might recall, had a terrific spring for the Nats, going 12-for-32 with four doubles, four homers and 11 RBIs. He's hit .292/.462/.500 over his first 14 games at Double-A Harrisburg, homering twice and drawing 14 walks. Rendon was the sixth overall pick in the 2011 MLB draft, so the expectations here aren't modest. You'll like Rendon's swing (take a look), you'll like his on-base skills. He's expected to bat sixth for the Nats in his big league debut on Sunday, facing Dillon Gee. As a short-term add, this is a player of interest.

Joaquin Benoit, saver of games (USAT Images)

On a night when the Tigers and Mariners somehow combined for 40 strikeouts, Joaquin Benoit didn't register a single K. He did, however, earn his first save of the 2013 season ... barely.

It can be argued that catcher Brayan Pena, a guy who spent 14 innings behind the plate on Wednesday night, actually deserves a share of the save, if not the whole damn thing. Pena survived a game-ending collision at home with Justin Smoak, recording the game's final out. Smoak attempted to score from first on Dustin Ackley's line-drive double, hammered into the right field corner, but the relay throw beat the base-runner with ease, so he flattened Pena. Watch the play right here via MLB.com.

Pena held onto the ball, gloriously...

Matt Adams, spectator (Getty Images)As of this moment, Matt Adams is on pace to finish the season with just 249 plate appearances — clearly not enough to make him a no-doubt fantasy option, despite his ridiculous early-season performance. Adams is 11-for-18 so far with three homers, eight RBIs and an OPS of 1.872. He's only started four games this year, yet he somehow has more total hits than Ryan Braun (10-for-30), Matt Kemp (10-for-51) and Buster Posey (9-for-39).

Adams is, for lack of a better cliché, absolutely on fire.

But as everyone knows, he's also blocked at first base in St. Louis by Allen Craig. Defensively, Adams really doesn't fit at any other spot. The Cards have zero motivation to trade him, because he's cheap ($490K), young (24) and enormously talented (see above). Adams hasn't seriously struggled at any pro level, MLB included. He hit .310 in the Midwest League with 22 homers in 2010, then .300 with 32 bombs in the Texas League the following year, and then .329 with 18 homers in just 67 games in the PCL last season. He's verifiably great.

As St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said this spring, "The bat plays."

And still, Adams is a part-timer, a pinch-hitter with benefits. An extremely high-maintenance fantasy asset.

If you're among the 13 percent of Yahoo! fantasy managers who currently own Adams, then no doubt his playing-time situation is wearing you down. He's fine for folks in daily transaction leagues, as long as A) they have no shortage of bench spots, and B) they're available to run pre-game checks of the Cardinals' lineup every day. But if you're the type who prefers to set a lineup and forget it, then it's tough to deal with players like this — even if they're hitting .611.

Tony Cingrani (USAT Images)Cincinnati prospect Tony Cingrani pitched two clean innings in a start for the Louisville Bats on Sunday, allowing no hits and no walks, striking out five. For Cingrani, those numbers were fairly typical. In his two previous starts for Louisville, the 23-year-old lefty recorded 21 Ks in 12.1 innings, yielding just three hits, two walks, and no runs.

The atypical thing about Sunday's start was that Cingrani pitched only two frames before he was lifted. The Reds, apparently, are planning to call him up to take Johnny Cueto's spot in the big league rotation. Cueto is headed to the DL with a lat strain; Cingrani is almost certainly headed to Cincinnati.

Fantasy owners, this is an actionable event. If you're in need of pitching assistance, you'll want to kick the tires on Cingrani.

First of all, you have to like the way the Reds' schedule sets him up for short-term success. He'll likely face Miami and Chicago in his next two starts, teams that aren't exactly adept at reaching base or scoring runs.

And secondly ... well, just take a look at Cingrani's minor league totals. C'mon. Those stats are obscene.