Fantasy Baseball Top DL Stashes: Madison Bumgarner surging up the rankings, but don't sleep on Trevor Cahill, Marcus Semien

As we near the season's halfway point, some of the players who went down early are on the verge of returning, and not all are already stashed. Scott White shares his top 30 DL stashes.

Some of the biggest news lately has involved injured players.

Have you heard the one about Freddie Freeman moving to third base? At this point, it looks almost definite. Rarely does a player gain value while he's on the DL, but the promise of new eligibility at a scarcer position is one way of doing that. Oh, and let's not overlook the part about him beating his projected timetable by as many as five weeks. He's on the verge of a rehab assignment, for crying out loud.

Speaking of beating timetables, Madison Bumgarner's postseason resilience apparently translates to his health, too. He's already on a rehab assignment only two months after spraining his shoulder in a dirt bike accident. OK, so if you want to be technical about it, he's actually right on schedule, but for injuries of that severity to that part of the body, you almost expect to see setbacks. Just look at how the gap between him and Noah Syndergaard has widened since I last ranked DL stashes.

These are positive developments that certainly alter the trade value of both Freeman and Bumgarner and hopefully give their Fantasy owners renewed optimism. But both are so high-end that their stashability, even with long-term injuries, was never really in question. Others like Trevor Cahill and Marcus Semien, though, remain highly available as their returns near.

Let's see how stashable they are relative to everyone else on the DL.

Top 30 DL stashes

1	Mike Trout L.A. Angels CF
torn thumb ligament
2	Dallas Keuchel Houston SP
pinched nerve in neck
3	Freddie Freeman Atlanta 1B
fractured wrist
4	Madison Bumgarner San Francisco SP
sprained shoulder
5	A.J. Pollock Arizona CF
strained groin
6	Zach Britton Baltimore RP
strained forearm
7	Danny Duffy Kansas City SP
strained oblique
8	Zack Cozart Cincinnati SS
strained quadriceps
9	Eduardo Rodriguez Boston SP
knee subluxation
10	Aaron Sanchez Toronto SP
torn fingernail
11	Noah Syndergaard N.Y. Mets SP
strained lat
12	Kyle Hendricks Chi. Cubs SP
hand tendinitis
13	Chris Davis Baltimore 1B
strained oblique
14	Carlos Gonzalez Colorado RF
strained shoulder
15	Jon Gray Colorado SP
fractured foot
16	Carlos Rodon Chi. White Sox SP
biceps bursitis
17	Eduardo Nunez San Francisco 3B
strained hamstring
18	Danny Salazar Cleveland SP
sore shoulder
19	Starlin Castro N.Y. Yankees 2B
strained hamstring
20	Bud Norris L.A. Angels RP
knee inflammation
21	Trevor Cahill San Diego SP
strained shoulder
22	Dexter Fowler St. Louis CF
heel spur
23	Aaron Hicks N.Y. Yankees CF
strained oblique
24	Marcus Semien Oakland SS
fractured wrist
25	Jeurys Familia N.Y. Mets RP
blood clot in shoulder
26	Charlie Morton Houston SP
strained lat
27	Koda Glover Washington RP
back stiffness
28	Matt Shoemaker L.A. Angels SP
strained forearm
29	Yangervis Solarte San Diego 2B
strained oblique
30	Brandon McCarthy L.A. Dodgers SP
knee tendinitis

• It's possible that in a standard 12-team league, you may not be able to justify adding Cahill or Semien just yet, and both are somewhat format-dependent (Cahill's utility being greatest in a points league and Semien's in a Rotisserie league). But I'm going to guess that when each comes off the DL, you won't be able to find a better starting pitcher or shortstop on the waiver wire. Cahill was looking like a more dominant version of Zack Godley before going on the DL, combining swing-and-miss stuff with an elite ground-ball rate, and Semien is a proven power hitter at the weakest position in Fantasy. Both have already begun rehab assignments.
  
• Eduardo Rodriguez might be flying a bit under the radar as well seeing as season-ending surgery was mentioned as a possible outcome when he first hurt his knee. It's an injury he's familiar with, though, and his recovery has gone without a hitch so far, leading up to a rehab assignment in the next couple days. He had more or less graduated to must-start status, boasting a 2.77 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings, before his ill-fated decision to take that bum knee to the mound with him on June 1.
  
• Each of the first 10 have a chance of coming back before the All-Star break, with Zack Cozart's return projected for later this week, but Syndergaard's might not happen until August or later. For the purposes of this list, he bridges the divide between those who are must-starts when healthy and those who aren't. I'm sure owners with their sights set on the playoffs would be happy to take him off your hands if you're unwilling to wait.
  
• The Chris Davis/Carlos Gonzalez and Carlos Rodon/Jon Gray pairings are entirely deliberate. Those players find themselves in similar situations, Davis and Gonzalez being longtime mainstays who've struggled this year and may not stand out as much in this offensive environment anyway and Rodon and Gray being two young pitchers who've shown flashes of excellence but who no Fantasy owner is rushing back into his lineup when they return from the DL this week. All four could improve their stock dramatically in the weeks ahead, but none really carries much trade value right now.
  
• The stashability of Bud Norris and Koda Glover varies widely from format to format. They're clearly in a different category from Zach Britton, if only because neither is a safe bet to remain a closer for the rest of the season, and if a closer or two is typically available on waivers in your league, then you don't need to wait them out. But the finite number of players in the mix for saves makes them plenty valuable in deeper leagues still.
  
• Aaron Hicks would rank higher on this list -- somewhere between 15-19 probably -- if I was sure he'd regain the starting job upon returning from the DL, but with Jacoby Ellsbury back from a concussion, it's very much up in the air. Hicks didn't exactly seize the moment with Ellsbury sidelined, going 3 for 25 (.120) in his final seven games.
  
• Zack Wheeler, Vince Velasquez and Matt Harvey are the near misses this time around. None of them were productive enough to use with any real consistency before getting hurt, but if you happen to have a free DL spot, each offers enough upside to flip the script when he gets back. I wouldn't classify David Dahl as a waste of a DL spot either, especially with the Rockies having so much to play for, but the one-time breakout candidate is still without a timetable for his return.