This felt inevitable after Witt Jr. missed Sunday’s game with a back injury, then returned on Monday, only to leave that game early. The Royals have the second-worst record in the American League and are not in playoff contention, so they will likely be cautious with their star shortstop, especially when dealing with a back injury. We may not see Witt Jr. back for a few weeks. Tyler Tolbert will likely continue to play shortstop in his place.

As Healey notes, Crochet is now three months into recovery for a shoulder injury that the Red Sox were initially not convinced needed an IL stint. Of course, that has included connected issues to separate parts of the shoulder that turned an inflammation designation into a lat strain. Crochet himself has stated that his goal is to pitch for the Red Sox in the postseason, but even that is not guaranteed at this point. Once Crochet is cleared, and he has not been yet, “he’ll need a spring training-esque six weeks or so, maybe longer” to be ready to pitch in an MLB game. It’s probably time to drop Crochet in all redraft fantasy leagues if you’ve been holding on this long.

Díaz’s home run came in garbage time, but it counts the same for fantasy managers. The 34-year-old on-base machine took veteran southpaw Patrick Corbin deep for a 418-foot moonshot to straightaway center field in the ninth inning, putting the finishing touches on a lopsided win north of the border. He’s up to 14 home runs through 96 games and remains on pace to surpass last year’s career-high total of 25.

Not ideal. Caglianone will undergo further evaluation, and likely imaging, to determine the severity of the injury after exiting Tuesday’s contest in Kansas City. The 21-year-old slugger appeared to injure himself on a diving catch attempt in the fifth inning. He finished 1-for-2 with a strikeout before departing. The Royals should have a more definitive update on his status prior to Wednesday’s series finale.

He’s back. Fried is likely be limited to roughly 60 pitches in his return after throwing just 52 in his lone minor league outing last week. The 32-year-old upper-echelon fantasy starter will rejoin New York’s rotation instead of making another rehab start following a 10-week absence recovering from a bone bruise in his left elbow. He was off to a strong start with a 3.21 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 50/19 K/BB ratio across 61 2/3 innings prior to the injury. The Pirates have been unexpectedly hot the last few weeks, but it’s a decent landing spot right out of the gate.

It appears that Seattle is proceeding with an abundance of caution after Rodríguez came down hard on the first-base bag immediately after taking an 85.9 mph throw from Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz off his left leg during Monday’s series opener. Mariners skipper Dan Wilson downplayed concern after the contest and is sounds like Rodríguez is day-to-day heading into Wednesday’s series finale. It’ll be Victor Robles sliding over to patrol center field in his absence.

It’s an encouraging development for Arizona, and fantasy managers, following Carroll’s absence from Monday’s series opener after hyperextending his right elbow on a swing over the weekend. The 25-year-old franchise cornerstone is hitting .250/.344/.480 with 55 runs scored, 14 home runs, 47 RBI and 10 steals across 410 plate appearances through 96 games.

There’s always a possibility the Brewers decide to reverse course, but Misiorowski is tentatively slated to take the ball this weekend. Brandon Sproat will be bumped back to Monday against the Giants. It’s an extremely favorable home matchup given Colorado’s omnipresent struggles away from Coors Field. The 24-year-old strikeout machine went just four innings against the Mets on Monday during his first start since July 7. Fantasy managers should continue to monitor his status this week, but all signs point to him starting this weekend.

Lopez is back at shortstop and hitting leadoff following a brief two-game absence due to right ring finger inflammation. The 27-year-old’s fascinating career odyssey has taken an unexpected turn towards superstardom this season as he’s slashing .335/.368/.505 with 61 runs scored, nine homers, 46 RBI and 18 stolen bases across 419 plate appearances through 97 games.

No surprise here after Witt exited Monday’s series opener after four innings with lower back tightness. The 26-year-old franchise cornerstone has been dealing with the issue for the past few days, and Kansas City is making the sensible decision to give him additional rest rather than risk it becoming a more serious concern. It’ll be speedster Tyler Tolbert getting the nod at shortstop in his place for the second time in the last three games. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day heading into Wednesday’s series finale.