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Heim is out of the lineup for Friday's game against Baltimore.

Advice: Heim will get a break after starting the last four games for the Rangers, during which he went 6-for-14 with a solo home run. Andrew Knizner will take over catching duties and bat eighth. Rotowire.com Today, 1:20 pm

Carlos Rodon allowed eight runs in five innings and took the loss against the Blue Jays on Thursday.



Advice: Rodon gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out eight. That Rodon was able to complete five innings and strike out eight batters were positives, but if fantasy managers weren’t concerned about him before this start, they certainly are now. Rodon has allowed at least five runs in each of his last three starts and seen his ERA rise from 2.93 to 4.42. Rodon isn’t a big time strikeout pitcher like he was in his pre-Yankees career. His strikeout percentage is 23 percent this year compared to his 33 percent strikeout percentage with the Giants in 2022. Rodon had a 3.17 xFIP in 2021 with the White Sox and 2.91 xFIP in 2022 before his disaster 5.30 xFIP in his first year with the Yankees last year. His 4.34 xFIP this year is an improvement, but was also a sign that his ERA wasn’t going to remain below 3.00. This version of Rodon is also easier to hit as his 0.88 HR/9 in 2021 and 0.61 HR/9 in 2022 have turned into a 2.10 HR/9 in 2023 and a 1.54 HR/9 this year with the Yankees. There’s no way around the fact that Rodon’s $162 million pact with New York has become one of the biggest bust signings in the franchise’s long free agent history. The 31-year-old left-hander is set to face the Reds at home next week, but fantasy managers have to think about sending him to the bench if he wasn’t there already.

Rotoworld Yesterday, 6:43 pm

Nolan Gorman is not in the Cardinals’ starting lineup on Thursday.

Advice: With the Cardinals facing a lefty, Gorman will head to the bench and the team will turn to Jose Fermin at second base. Gorman has been a good source of power this season with 16 home runs, but he’s also hitting .191 on the season with a 36 percent strikeout rate and has been worse in June with a .148 average and 38 percent strikeout rate in 24 games. However, he also has four steals in June, which has saved his fantasy value a bit, but he’s hard to roster in batting average leagues if you have ample power because of the drain he puts on your team with his average. Rotoworld Yesterday, 12:35 pm

Ohtani went 1-for-2 with a solo home run and two runs scored in Wednesday's win over the White Sox while also drawing two walks.

Advice: For the second game in a row, Ohtani crushed a leadoff home run to open the contest, giving the superstar slugger 25 long balls on the season and 11 in the month of June. He's now homered in five of his last six games and has posted at least one RBI in 10 straight, raising his league-leading average to .322 on the campaign. Ohtani has also drawn at least one walk in six consecutive games. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 4:48 am

Cease (7-6) earned the win over Washington on Wednesday, pitching seven scoreless innings during which he allowed one hit and issued two walks while striking out nine batters.

Advice: The only hit Cease surrendered during his seven frames was a two-out single by Nick Senzel in the fifth inning. Remarkably, this was the San Diego right-hander's third outing this season during which he gave up exactly one hit in seven frames, and he unsurprisingly has picked up a victory in all three of those starts. Cease had been struggling coming into Wednesday, giving up 11 runs over his previous two starts covering 8.1 innings during his worst two-game stretch of the campaign. He's had a few clunkers among his 17 appearances this season but has solid numbers overall with a 3.84 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 125:30 K:BB across 98.1 frames. Rotowire.com Wednesday, 8:50 pm