Fantasy Baseball: Robbie Ray's injury, replacement options headlines opening weekend recap

Robbie Ray didn't look quite right during his first start of the season Friday, walking five and lasting just 3.1 innings, and we learned why Saturday. Ray told reporters he felt tightness in his left forearm and had an MRI that revealed a Grade 1 flexor strain.

Ray was placed on the 15-day IL as a result of the injury and will be shut down from throwing for a minimum of two weeks. Ray's velocity had been up in spring training, but it was down a bit in the first outing, and he didn't even throw the new splitter he debuted in camp. Chris Flexen pitched in relief of Ray Friday and will step into the rotation for however long Ray is out.

That will likely be about a month or so, at least. Ray will play catch to start his recovery program if he feels okay in two weeks, and then he will have to work his way back to full strength. That probably isn't going to take any less than three weeks, in all likelihood, even in a best-case scenario; a longer absence is, of course, wholly possible.

Flexor strain injuries are worrisome because they can sometimes be a precursor to more serious injuries, though as The Athletic's Corey Brock points out, Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzalez missed a month with a similar injury two years ago. Hopefully, that won't be the case for Ray, but this is a big blow for Fantasy players who drafted him as a No. 2 starting pitcher – something I did in many leagues, including two different leagues where I also lost Justin Verlander to the IL this week. Great.

There are some pitchers who flashed this weekend to consider adding if you lost Ray. They might not replace what you were hoping to get from Ray, but there's plenty of upside here among these five, who should be prioritized in this order on waivers:

That was the biggest piece of news from the weekend of baseball, but it was by no means the only one. Every Sunday evening here, I'll be recapping everything you need to know about heading into the next week of Fantasy action – and, of course, you'll want to make sure you keep an eye on Scott White's sleeper pitchers and sleeper hitters as well as his two-start pitcher rankings before you set your lineups.