The Miami Marlins announced on Friday that they placed catcher Nick Fortes (oblique) on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 10) with a left-oblique strain and selected the contract of catcher Rob Brantly from Triple-A Jacksonville in a corresponding move. Fortes will miss time with a Grade 1 left-oblique strain, which means Liam Hicks will be Miami's primary backstop moving forward. Hicks is batting seventh on Friday against the division-rival Washington Nationals. Brantly will serve as his backup until further notice. It's bad timing for the 28-year-old Fortes, as he opened the 2025 season hitting .300 (6-for-20) at the plate, albeit with no home runs, three RBI and only one run scored. Even though it's a minor oblique strain for Fortes, don't be surprised if he's forced to miss more than the 10 days on the IL.

Miami Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine and first baseman Matt Mervis are both out of the starting lineup for Friday's series opener against the division-rival Washington Commanders at loanDepot Park with left-hander Mitchell Parker on the mound. Javier Sanoja is starting in left field and is hitting eighth, while Eric Wagaman is serving as the designated hitter and is batting cleanup against Parker. These moves won't register in most fantasy leagues. Conine has started his second year in the big leagues hitting .237 (9-for-38) with a homer, double and an RBI in 12 games played. Mervis, meanwhile has displayed some power (three homers, seven RBI) in 29 at-bats for those in deep NL-only leagues. Sanoja is still searching for his first career homer in his 23rd game, while Wagaman should be considered one of the weakest cleanup hitters on Friday's slate of action.

New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil (oblique) is starting his minor-league rehab assignment on Friday at Single-A St. Lucie and is batting leadoff. Catcher Francisco Alvarez (hand), who started his rehab assignment on Wednesday with St. Lucie, is batting in the two-hole. Barring setbacks, both McNeil and Alvarez could come off the injured list to make their season debuts at some point next week for the Mets. The 33-year-old McNeil has been out of action since suffering a strained right oblique in spring training, but when healthy, he figures to be New York's primary starter at the keystone. In his absence, the Mets have been using a platoon with Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuna. McNeil, a former batting champion in 2022, hit a career-worst .238 last year and never had much power to begin with, giving him a low floor and ceiling in fantasy if he's unable to rebound.

Cincinnati Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott (shoulder) will be activated from the 15-day injured list to make his 2025 season debut on Saturday against the division-rival Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Abbott wants to get off to a strong start and said the spin on his fastball was good during his minor-league rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville, in which he allowed four earned runs on 10 hits (three homers) while walking five and striking out eight in two starts (10 innings). The 25-year-old southpaw is also excited about his new cutter becoming his fifth pitch. Abbott threw 92 pitches in his final rehab start, so he should be sufficiently stretched out, but he'll still be a risky deep-league streamer in his first start of the year after finally getting over shoulder issues that date back to last year. His strikeout rate will need to improve for him to become relevant in mixed fantasy leagues.

Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto will head to the bench for Friday's series opener at Busch Stadium against the hosting St. Louis Cardinals after catching all 11 innings of Friday night's loss to the Atlanta Braves that was delayed by rain. With Realmuto on the bench, Rafael Marchan will catch right-hander Aaron Nola and will hit ninth against Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante. The 34-year-old Realmuto should be back in the starting lineup for Game 2 of the series on Saturday. While it's not quite time to panic yet, Realmuto is still searching for his first home run of the year after 10 games played. He's gone 9-for-35 (.257) with a double, triple, three RBI, four steals, and two runs scored. Fantasy managers should be able to find better catching options in DFS than Marchan, who has gone 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run in the early going as a backup.