ST Daily: Sale's Pitch
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If for some reason you were hesitant about taking White Sox ace Chris Sale among the upper crust of starting pitchers in fantasy drafts this spring, don't be.
Sale has been limited to bullpen sessions and live batting practice sessions since suffering an avulsion fracture in his right foot in late-February, but he returned to game action on the minor league side on Wednesday and completely dominated. The southpaw struck out 13 batters over six-plus innings while allowing just one run on two hits and no walks. He was only facing a group of Class-A hitters for the Reds, so some perspective is needed, but the most important thing is that he got stretched out to 90 pitches and told Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com that it felt "really good."
The next step calls for Sale to throw 100 pitches next Monday. If all goes well, he'll come off the disabled list to make his season debut on either April 11 or 12. In other words, he'll only end up missing one turn in the starting rotation.
Sale is coming off another excellent season for Chicago where he posted a stingy 2.17 ERA across 26 starts while averaging 10.8 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. He's currently listed as the No. 8 starting pitcher in the 2015 Online Rotoworld Draft Guide.
Momentum for Martinez
Jaime Garcia was the favorite for the Cardinals' fifth starter job before coming down with more shoulder issues, but the job will now go to Carlos Martinez. He appears determined to run away with the opportunity.
Martinez impressed in his latest spring tuneup Wednesday against the Mets by tossing six shutout frames. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five and now owns a 2.86 ERA with a 21/6 K/BB ratio across 22 innings of work during Grapefruit League action.
Martinez got a ton of hype after arriving to the majors, so his 4.28 career ERA isn't going to blow anyone away. He's had some issues against left-handed batters and the Cardinals figure to have him on an innings limit, but you can't deny the appeal of his raw stuff. His current ADP in Yahoo leagues is 245.9, which is plenty palatable given his considerable upside.
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Vazquez Needs Tommy John Surgery
Tough break for a talented young catcher, as the Red Sox announced Wednesday that Christian Vazquez will undergo season-ending Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. The 24-year-old backstop has been dealing with an elbow issue for most of the month and cryptically said over the weekend that an MRI revealed "something." That something, as Dr. James Andrews later confirmed, was a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Andrews will perform the surgery on Thursday.
Recovery time for position players is usually less than pitchers, but it's obviously a bit trickier with catchers, as we have seen with the Orioles' Matt Wieters in recent weeks. Still, there's a good chance that Vazquez will be ready for the start of the 2016 season if there are no setbacks.
As for the Red Sox, they appear set to move forward with Ryan Hanigan as their primary catcher and the recently-acquired Sandy Leon as his backup. Some fantasy owners would surely like to see top prospect Blake Swihart get an opportunity, but the Red Sox believe that he will benefit with getting more experience in Triple-A. However, it likely won't be long if he gets off to a hot start. Be sure to follow him closely.
Singleton Sent Out
Progress doesn't always come in a straight line with prospects. Look no further than Jonathan Singleton for an example. Expectations were high after the 23-year-old signed a historic five-year, $10 million extension with the Astros before even making his major league debut last June, but he really scuffled as a rookie by hitting just .168 with 13 homers and a .620 OPS across 95 games while striking out 37 percent of the time. After hitting just .213 with 17 strikeouts in 52 plate appearances this spring, the Astros optioned Singleton to Triple-A Fresno on Wednesday.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle that they have seen "some progress" with Singleton, but that he "hasn't been able to completely translate them into the game". The hope is that something will click for him in a lower-stress environment in the minor leagues.
With Singleton out of the picture for now, the Astros' logjam becomes a bit easier to manipulate for new manager A.J. Hinch. Chris Carter is expected to function as the primary first baseman while Evan Gattis should see most of the time at designated hitter. This allows the Astros to use their best defensive alignment in the outfield with George Springer, Colby Rasmus, and Jake Marisnick. Now that the playing time should be there, Rasmus and Marisnick both make for decent late-round fliers in deeper mixed fantasy leagues.
