Just in case it has somehow escaped your attention: San Francisco’s lineup has been remarkably bad this season.

The Giants are currently in last place in the National League West, winners of just two games in their past 10, and they rank last in MLB in both run-scoring (3.12 R/G) and home runs (19). The team has already been shut out seven times. Things are bleak.

Not an ideal start to the year, all things considered.

Fortunately, one of baseball’s better hitting prospects has been thriving at Triple A for San Francisco, and the team has finally decided to promote him to the big leagues. Bryce Eldridge has slashed .333/.445/.518 at Sacramento with 11 extra-base hits, including six homers. He’s feasted over the past week, too, hitting three bombs and driving in 11 runs in his past eight games.

At 6-foot-7 and 250-plus pounds, this is a young player with significant power potential:

Strikeouts are definitely part of the profile with Eldridge (30.3 K%), but that’s often the case with batters of unusual size. He belongs very much to the three-true-outcomes tradition of power-hitting first basemen.

Without question, the Eldridge callup is the simplest and most obvious way for the Giants to shake up a lifeless lineup, although he’s blocked at his natural position. Rafael Devers clearly isn’t going anywhere despite his early struggles. Casey Schmitt has stubbornly refused to yield the DH spot in the batting order, but he offers a degree of positional versatility, allowing Eldridge to find regular at-bats.

If you’re playing in a competitive league, the 21-year-old deserves an immediate add.

Jack Perkins owns the ninth for A’s

Save-chasing fantasy managers have spent the past six weeks flirting with various A’s relievers, including (but not limited to) Hogan Harris, Joel Kuhnel and Mark Leiter. Finally, after weeks of uncertainty, a clear favorite appears to have emerged in the A’s bullpen.

Jack Perkins has earned three of the team’s past four saves while stringing together six straight scoreless appearances and piling up strikeouts. The 26-year-old converted starter has a closing-quality four-pitch arsenal, including high-90s velocity and elite swing-and-miss stats (30.9 K%, 33.1 Whiff%).

Officially, ninth-inning responsibilities for this team might still be in the hands of a committee, but Perkins has established himself as its chairperson. He’s been exceptional all season, with only one hiccup on his game log. For the year, he’s punched out 17 batters in 13.1 frames while issuing just three walks. Perkins remains widely available on all platforms, but he’s clearly atop the relief hierarchy for a frisky team. Go get him wherever you can.

Alas, the buy-low window on Kazuma Okamoto may have just shut

Okamoto ranks among the leaders in average exit velocity (92.8 mph) and hard-hit rate (51.9%) this season, so it was only a matter of time before the on-field stats caught up with the underlying numbers. He’s been a bit contact-challenged (28.6 K%), but there’s no doubting about his raw power.

Behold:

Okamoto averaged 33.1 home runs per season in Japan between 2018 and 2024, and, following a weekend binge in Minnesota, he’s now up to nine for the Jays over his first 33 MLB games.

He may not ultimately hit for average, but he also seems unlikely to be stuck in the .230s for the balance of the season. Okamoto should cruise past the 30-homer plateau this year, assuming good health. He found his way to thousands of waiver wires a couple weeks ago when his batting average dipped below .200, so he might still be available to a few of you.

If you’re looking for a power boost, Okamoto remains a sensible trade target, even if this week’s price is not last week’s price.

Joe Mack is up for the Fish; Agustin Ramirez sent down

We don’t need to react to this promotion/demotion situation in any sort of dramatic way, because a great deal of Mack’s prospect appeal involves his plus-defense. If you suddenly need to replace Ramirez in a one-catcher league, you can probably do better than Mack. He has modest power, but he was hitting .244/.388/.378 at Triple A.

One thing Mack is fully capable of doing, however, is throwing out the occasional baserunner. Ramirez and Liam Hicks have combined to cut down only three runners on the season while allowing a combined 42 steals. Not great. And Hicks has been the hotter hitter in the early weeks, so here we are.

Long term, Ramirez still has the most fantasy-friendly profile from this group and he was actually batting second for the Marlins on the day of his demotion. The team knows he’s a quality future asset. He’ll be a player of interest whenever he’s recalled.

If you stream it, you can do it

For those who dabble in the streaming arts, the following two-start pitchers are approved for use in the week ahead:

  • Nick Martinez, TB (vs. Tor, at Bos) — Fortune has certainly shone upon Martinez so far this season (.225 BABIP, 3.85 xERA), but he’s also pitching for an excellent team and he’s won back-to-back starts. We’re getting 8-10 Ks from him this week, with at least one W.
  • Davis Martin, CWS (at LAA, vs. Sea) — Martin has perhaps enjoyed more than his fair share of luck as well (4.55 xERA), although he deserves credit for limiting walks and piling up strikeouts at a healthy rate (8.03 K/9). The Angels and Ms shouldn’t scare you away.
  • Payton Tolle, BOS (at Det, vs. TB) — OK, nothin’ fluky about this guy’s stuff, but the matchups this week are not ideal. Still, we can expect double-digit Ks from one of the game’s most interesting young arms.
  • Luis Severino, ATH (at Phi, at Bal) — Severino’s past two starts have been near-gems, as he’s struck out 13 over 13.2 frames, earning two wins and allowing just two runs. The best version of Severino is still a quality pitcher, so let’s hope that guy shows up this week.
  • Cade Cavalli, WAS (vs. Min, at Mia) — Definitely not for everyone. We’re mostly chasing strikeouts here. Cavalli is a certified WHIP bomb even in his good starts, but he’s coming off consecutive 10-K efforts.