7 Frustrating Players & How Much FAAB for Prospect Promotions? (6/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Let's talk groceries. Specifically your groceries with Instacart. You want your groceries just the way you like them, right? Well, the Instacart app lets you do just that. They have a new preference picker that lets you pick how ripe or unripe you want your bananas. Shoppers can see your preferences upfront, helping guide their choices. Instacart. Get groceries just how you like. Carders has your family covered for every summer first, for steps, for swim lesson, or for sleepover. Our close-help kids and parents shine thanks to comfy design and easy dressing details. Visit carders.com to shop the latest styles or find a carder store near you. [Music] Happy Cuckoo Mote Friday and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on June 12th. I am Frank Samful, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show I have seven players. I want to take a closer look at in a new segment called What's Going On? How much fab will we spend on cold carrying and braid a Montgomery this weekend? I made another trade with Ian Conn so we'll grade the trade and much more. Let's jump in. Holy Couser! Holy Couser! He did hit another home run. We'll get to him a little bit later on. Scott, why don't we start things off with a different outfielder who also homework today? Yes, that outfielder would be Lars Newbar who if you haven't noticed has been pretty awesome since returning. Two for four with a home run his second. He also had a double. The home run was hit 109 miles per hour and the double was hit almost 113. And entering the game Lars Newbar had an average ex of velocity of 95.3 miles per hour so obviously it's only gone up from there. We are talking for him about a sample of I believe this was his fifth game. So you know tiny he's not at average 95 miles per hour all season but he's coming back from surgery. He'll surgery right? I'm coming back from dole heel surgery. Dole heel surgery. So like a significant injury significant recovery not not something we hear about very often unsure how this is going to go for him and he has come back playing like his hair is on fire. Walks a ton. You know we've always marveled at the power potential if he could just angle it off the bat properly and you know there's still plenty of reason to doubt it but I think given that he's 17% rostered given that he's hitting the ball as well as he is right now. It's worth a look again in any way where you need outfield help probably a five outfield or league you probably don't need it that does really not feel the league buddy. You know I want it necessarily shoot down that possibility either he is one of these guys who is better in a point league than a road o league but. You know are we ready to say Lars new bars at top 36 outfield or no i'm not. But this was a guy that people have had a lot of interest in for a long time and he's ever really lived up to the the expectations and you know I've said it a couple times I think since he came back but I think a lot of people look at the 135 games he played last year and they're like oh he finally stayed healthy and he was terrible but he was playing through the injury that ultimately required surgery on both heels so. I do think to a certain extent we can give him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt for last season and yeah he remains a very interesting player he's got a great approach to the played he's a very good athlete who hits the ball hard and it's just. A question of one staying healthy something he's never done 135 games last year was the first time he's played more than a hundred and 17 in his major league career but it's also a question of optimizing what he does but the physical tools have always been there so I think there's. Yeah a lot to be at least moderately excited about with with new bar here probably worth mentioning he did sit against the one left hand or the car knows have faced since he returned. I don't think that's going to be a recurring thing I think that was more about easing him in the code okay the left hand are presented an easy opportunity to sit him but. Something to keep an eye on because it'll be harder for him to make an impact in the shallow leagues if he doesn't platonic. Yeah I think you guys hit all of it I mean he's better in a point's league he's good I have to play good OBP throughout the course of his career he's always hit the ball hard again it's just can he. Angle it correctly to get the most out of that power he he did here on Thursday to very hard hit balls and obviously a home run that traveled over 440 feet so 17% roster widely available. I think an add in all five out of the leagues would you guys take him over either cold carry or break a Montgomery or just well behind those guys for now. Not not ahead of Montgomery I can't hear close but I think I go with care. Yeah that's a tough question I think I'd rather just looking at next week I'd rather start lose large new bar. Then those other two for next week but I think if you're just talking about. Giving yourself the best chance at a player that. At an upside player that you lose somebody else you probably have to shoot for the two rookies over him. I might prefer care to Montgomery though it's it's yeah it's. I think that his extra base ability is going to play huge at course field with the very deep corners and very wide gaps anytime it gets the ball passed in our field or he might be standing on third base and I think he's going to strike out a lot less than Montgomery to. And he just home heard here on Thursday so he's already on the board obviously great home ballpark we'll talk a little bit more about and steal a ton more bases that might be the obvious yeah yeah we'll talk we'll talk more about carrigan Montgomery a little bit later on. Chris let's go over to you oh my goodness gracious Kyle Bradish or Kyle bad ish. Yeah yeah I think we're there with Kyle Bradish. I don't want to give up on him entirely because look we have seen Bradish's career for the most part he's been excellent you know the parts of I think three seasons before this one. He was a sub three year a guy with a bunch of strikeouts and even coming back from Tommy John surgery last year he was great. And that now this season he's just really. Given very little to be excited about we had that one stretch in May where he did put up a 280 year in a 1116 whip. And it was still about four walks per nine and less than a strikeout per inning and it never felt like Kyle Bradish had fully figured it out. And now his two starts in June it's right back to being terribly given up 10 runs and eight innings six walks to eight strikeouts. I I am very hesitant to just give up on Kyle Bradish because. Look Jose Soriana right like pitchers can just turn around overnight and that goes in both directions right pitchers are. Incredibly volatile and if Kyle Bradish goes out in his next start and strikes out nine over seven innings and goes on to be a top 20 starting picture the rest of the season I would not be shocked. But at this point I would definitely be surprised if you understand the distinction I'm trying to make there because I don't think you can expect Kyle Bradish to be an impact arm at this point I think he's capable of it but clearly he's not there yet I don't know what specifically the issue is. The four seamer has been really bad at missing bats it's getting hit really hard the sinkers actually been good at limiting hard contact but then you have the inconsistent command the fact that the slider has not been quite as good as it's been in years I think it really hard I think that's the biggest thing is his best pitch hasn't played like that this year to the point where when Kyle Bradish had that good stretch in in May. He faded the slider and really emphasize the curve ball and that worked for him he had he had a stretch of. Trying to find the exact number of starts where he threw his curve ball at least a quarter of the time 25% or more it was five five start stretch you have one 72 ERA and those five starts and then. Here in the last two he's thrown the curve ball less than 25% of the time you know it's I'm kind of doing a Ryan Nelson thing with the 60% curve ball use which by the way he did not throw his I mean fastball he did not throw his fastball 60% of the time Wednesday and got rocked and got pummeled I hope you guys pointed that out I wasn't on. But but it has been at least of the as far as this season goes that 25% curve ball use has been the threshold where Bradish is good with that many bad with that with. not throwing that many, which, you know, maybe there's a reason why he didn't throw his curveball as much the last two starts. Maybe he kind of lost the feel for it a little bit and it just wasn't working for him the same way. So it's not actually a magic number, but I do think it's a good signal, maybe of, okay, if he's able to lean on his curveball more this year, the times where he does have it working, you can have a little more confidence in him. Yeah. And on top of the slider, it's just that control too. I mean, I was thinking earlier, like, is there anything we could have done or known to see this coming, right? Like we were all, and it wasn't just us, right? It was kind of like industry wide. Everyone was excited about Kyle Bradish, but I don't really, you know, sometimes weird stuff just happens, right? Like his control has never been this bad in his career. I'm even close. 2.9 walks per nine leading up to the season. And so far this year, 4.8 walks per nine. I just don't really see how there's any way we could have predicted that or seen that coming three or more walks in 11 of 14 starts this season. It's just that and the slider has been the main two issues here for Kyle Bradish. He's still 88% rostered. He's 52% started. He's at the Mariners next week. The team that just hit him hard. And he's been much worse on the road this season. I don't think there's any way outside of a deeper league like where you just don't have a choice. You shouldn't start Kyle Bradish, but I mean, are you guys thinking about dropping him? Like would you drop him for redembers? I would come no closer to starting Kyle Bradish in that game than I would have to starting short of even Agaq's field. Oh, that means Bradish is going to have a great start next time out. Exactly. Exactly. I definitely want to hold on to him. I think I've made that clear so far, but yeah, I don't think you can start him. Now, whether I would drop him for redembers, I do think in my rankings update today, I moved redembers ahead. So if it came to that, if that was the worst player I had, the player with the least immediate, I mean, I don't even want to think about it as a media utility because you can still stash guys, right? Like unless you're in a daily league and you really just need to maximize volume, you can still stash guys who are interesting, but aren't useful right now. And that's where I want to be with Kyle Bradish. So I would hope I have someone more boring than I can drop. But if that's my worst player, yes, I would rather have redembers than Kyle Bradish right now. Yeah, I think I would put it like Kyle Bradish should still be rostered by somebody in your league. Just by, I glean from people sending snapshots of their rosters to me where there's like, there's nobody to drop. Oftentimes, they're like, who can I drop for this guy? And it's like, well, nobody, your roster stacked. I don't know how it came to be that way. I think what happens in a lot of like home leagues is half the league just isn't that active on the waiver wire. And so one guy loads up on all the interesting pickups and just can't move. And he has no room for movement in his roster. And in the case, yeah, if that's your case, you might have to drop Kyle Bradish. I think you could justify dropping Kyle Bradish. But somebody who has been asleep and missed out on redembers should then pick up Bradish just because there is still some hope there. I agree with that. All right. The team of the day or the team of the night, bombs away for the Detroit Tigers. They won the game 11 zip. They put up six home runs in this game. They were awful in May. They were six in 22, but so far in June, they are much better. They are six and two in this game. Riley Green, one for three with his eighth home run to RBI. His power is coming around finally for home runs in his past nine games still hitting over 300 on the season. Glaber Torres, another day, another solid game, one for four with his fourth home run in eight games since returning from IEL. He's hitting 364, two home runs and OPS over a thousand very small sample size. Obviously, 53% rostered points leagues, much better format for Glaber Torres. I would take him over any of Jackson, holiday, Luke, Keishel, Marcus, Semian. Glaber Torres is rostered in less leagues than all three of those names. Do you guys disagree in a points league? Glaber over holiday, Keishel, Marcus, Semian. Oh, yeah. Points league. Yeah. Point league for sure. Okay. So if you play in a point league, you go ahead and make that swap. What about Spencer Torkelson, one for four with his tenth home run last 14 games. He's been better. He's not blowing the doors off, but hitting 263 homers and OPS over 800 during that stretch, hitting them all harder. 54% rostered for Torkelson. The problem first base is just absolutely loaded right now. How would you guys rank Bryce Eldridge, Curtis Mead and Spencer Torkelson? Bryce Eldridge. Way ahead. Yeah. I kind of think I'd take Mead over Torkelson. I know Torkelson has a better track record, but I like what we're seeing for Mead right now. He's playing against righties now. I think I'd just go with that just because even the good versions of Torkelson, it's really just homers that you're getting out of him. Yeah. I guess last year he got like 90 RBI, right? It was pretty good, but he really doesn't last year. I think it was like that other good year he had. Okay. He's 80. But he doesn't really score many runs. I guess it was 80, 82 runs 78 RBI. That's okay. But yeah, I just, it doesn't feel like I'm missing out on much with Torkelson, whereas with Eldridge especially, I really worry. Torkelson's not that hot, is he? No, no, he's been a little bit better as of late, but there are signs under the hood. He's starting to hit the ball harder. The barrel rate looks good. So it wouldn't surprise me if he goes on like a home run bench here, but it's just all three of these names are very close in roster rates. So that's why I bunched them together. But I think I bring it up because the Tigers have the fourth best hitter matchups for next week. And I consider Torkelson for the sleeper hitters, but ultimately decided against it. Do you have Claibertora on the list? I agree. Thank you. What? Yeah, let's go. Honestly, this trio, when you say you give us a group of players to rank, this might be the easiest group you've given us all this season because I think, you know what? Sometimes I got to give you guys some layups here, man. Yeah, Eljur is the one that I'm worried like, if I don't add him now, I might be missing out on a legitimate difference maker. Absolutely. I don't have that worry, certainly with Torkelson, and even with me. Did you guys hear the sound drop from that giant scheme the other day right before Eljur hit the home run? Oh my God. That's what's up. I'm not going to repeat it, but I would just say to everyone go out there and listen to it. Just go on Twitter and search for John Crook, Tark's off. Yeah. And it was interesting. Yep, for sure. Last name here is Colt Keith, who went two for four with a sock and a shoe. His first home run of the season here on June 11th. I think it was his third stolen base of the year. I don't really think there's much here at all. I know earlier on in the season, the stack has stuff looked better, but it's kind of come back down. Just wanted to shout out Colt Keith. Also just like literally does not play against lefties. I live and play to parents against lefties. So even if he was good, it's like cool, great. Awesome, but he's not good. So it doesn't matter. No, it's like, A.O. only leagues if that basically for Colt Keith. Just a reminder that you can find all of Scott's week 13 content on the website, cbsports.com/fanise/baseball. And on the fantasy app as well, cbs fantasy, two star pictures, sleeper hitters, all that fun stuff. Also our usual FBT express episode will drop Saturday where we also preview week 13. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Let's talk groceries, specifically your groceries with Instacart. Shoppers can see your preferences up front helping guide their choices. Instacart. [MUSIC] [FOREIGN] [FOREIGN] Welcome back, fantasy baseball. Today let's hit the news and notes. Shohei O'Connor left early on Thursday with left knee inflammation. Dave Roberts said it was precautionary and O'Connor is expected to play on Friday. Before he left, he went two for two with two walks and his 13th home run. So the bat is starting to come around. You know, he's been pitching like an ace basically all season as well. Hopefully in the lineup on Friday like Dave Roberts said here. Reinforcements are coming for the Tigers. Despite, you know, they bounce back so far in June, it looks like they're about to be even better. Tarrick's Google will start on Saturday against the Guardians, Casey Meis tentatively lined up to start on Sunday. And Kenley Jansen expected to return on Friday. I assume he'll jump back into the closures role. Not that he's been great this season, but nobody else in that bullpen as dead either. So are the Tigers good? I had them as like a dark horse world series. He's coming into the season. Are the Tigers bad? I don't think they are. Like, but like just over the last two years has there ever been, I mean, really two and a half years now. Has there been a point where you are confident in who the Detroit Tigers are? Because they had, remember, they had that historic comeback in the second half of the 2024 season. Where they were completely out of it in July and then they traded Jack Flarety that season. And then went on that crazy run to make them get us. Then last year, historic September collapse, awful in the second half, awful for the first two months of this season to the point where everybody was basically like, "Oh yeah, they're definitely trading to our school. Now, and now it's like, what is this team? Who are you? I have no idea what the Tigers are." And it's not like they've had like dramatically different lineups and pitching staffs throughout that time. They're just like the most jekyll and hide team I've ever seen maybe over the last two and a half years. It's been crazy. Yeah. They have had a lot of injuries. The season obviously school bull. They miss labor torres for a month of the year. KCMIS has been in and out of lineup. Their bullpen has not been very good. I've always felt like their lineup needed one more big thumper in there. And obviously they have not really addressed that. Although Kevin McGonagall has been good, it's not like he doesn't provide a lot of power, but he's just like, obviously a good all around hitter. But yeah, I could see them, you know, take it off a little bit here with all these names coming back. Justin Robleski left early Thursday with a hamstring contusion. He was hit by a comebacker rough outing before leaving four and two-thirds in in six hits four runs, two walks, one strike out two homers live there for Justin Robleski. I would drop him before Calbrade. I should even be healthy. By the way, yeah. I would agree. White socks manager Will Venable said the team is considering promoting pitching prospect Hagen Smith to start Saturday against the Dodgers. What a great landing spot. Hey, hey, kid, come on up and face the Dodgers. How about that? 22. He said you can't throw strikes. Come face the Dodgers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He has Hagen Smith, uh, 6.2 walks, per nine innings at Triple A this year. If bad, he was the fifth pick in the 2024 draft, but his his prospect stock has gone down since then in large part because he can't throw strikes. Only once has he gone five innings in a start this year too. So I'm not saying Hagen Smith doesn't have a future on the majors, but it doesn't have a future in my lineup, even if he is getting the call here against the Dodgers. Okay. So no interest outside of like the deepest of leagues, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I I'm not saying you can't pick him up as a whole to just to see if she happens. You know, there was a time when I worried about the prospect Clayton Kirsch on not throwing enough strikes. There was certainly a time when I worried about the prospect Jacob Mizorowski not throwing enough strikes like it it it can change quickly, but in the immediate term, it's hard to have much confidence in Hagen Smith. The debax will reinstate Jordan Waller on Friday. It will be interesting to see who plays for the debax between Ryan Walchemit, Tommy Troy and now Jordan Waller who probably just going to play outfield because that's where he was playing in spring and before he got hurt, 37% roster. He does have third base in outfield eligibility. Uh, what is your interest level here in Jordan Waller? It's not zero. I think the questions about playing time are real, but it's not like Tommy Troy is more talented than Jordan Waller. I don't think I'm not sure. Ryan Walchemit's more talented than Jordan Waller and Troy has held his own so far. Uh, he's walking a lot 110 WRC plus. Walchemit, it's like a 91 WRC plus. He's been a below average, he's striking out of tons. So it wouldn't totally shock me if they just sent Walchemit down and just had Lawler play center field. And then, you know, between Tommy Troy and Jordan Lawler kind of fight it out to see if, I mean, frankly, I'm not sure Lord of Scoreal needs to play every day, but when he gets back, you know, they'll happen to have to say so. There are roadblocks, aplenty for Jordan Lawler, but he was showing signs of life before the injury. He's still young and super talented. So I remain interested in Jordan Lawler, at least in in a road-oatly context. As expected, the Dodgers place will Smith on the aisle with neck inflammation retroactive to Monday. Dalton rushing should see a lot of playing time in his absence. I think a pretty clear just if you're in a one-catrily and you need a replacement for Will Smith, I think Dalton rushing makes a lot of sense. I also think Gabriel Moreno, Francisco Alvarez, those are a couple names there and one-catrily. Colt Emerson returned to the lineup after missing three games with back spasms, both Adley Rutchman and Samuel Bessio returned to the Orioles lineup here on Thursday. Shane Bieber had a strong rehab outing at AAA. He threw five shutout innings with four strikeouts. He had eight whiffs on 62 pitches. That is a 13% swinging strike rate. He averaged 91.4 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball, which is down 1.2 miles per hour compared to last year, but this is his spring training. And so it could continue to tick up, you know, over the next couple of weeks. 59% rostered. I do want to get to some other rehab outings as well and then I'll bunch these together. Mick Abel, he was sharp in his first rehab outing on Wednesday. He struck out five over three scoreless. His fastball velocity was actually up 1.5 miles per hour and he looked great in his last two starts before going on the aisle. He's 48% rostered and Cody Senga, a strong rehab outing at AA on Thursday, allowing just one run over six innings. He struck out five to just one walk. He is 24% rostered. How would you guys rank Bieber, Mick Abel, Cody Senga in terms of stashes? I definitely sang a last because I mean, I just don't know how many more times I'm willing to get faked out by this guy. Senga. He looks so good in spring training with the velocity increase and then he just puts you in a huge ERA and Whiphole right at the start of things and he's never going to throw strikes with great consistency. Though there was a time I worried about the prospect Clayton Kershaw and how many anyway. Bieber enables more difficult. I want to say Bieber just because he's shame Bieber and he was mostly good last year. I know he started out pretty hot and then wasn't quite as dominant after that and then had the issues in the postseason. But I don't know. Abel looks so good for that. For appearance stretch, one was technically in relief. But at the start of the year, missing so many bats with his fastball, 34% Whiprate on his fastball. And that was true in spring training too. So it's in that way, I guess you could say it's a larger sample than four appearances. Scott, I guess I'm going to make a comp that will draw you to Mick Abel. Okay. Yeah. Clayton Kershaw. I'm kind of like a young Clayton. No, it reminds me of gosh, it must have been 2024 Chris Boobitch. Remember, we saw like two starts from him and they were awesome. And then he had the Tommy John surgery. Obviously Abel's injury didn't end up being that serious. And he made at least one start before that. That was not good. But he looked really good. His velocity is actually up from where it was early on, whereas shame Bieber is down from last year. Bieber was okay last year, 357 ERA, really good whip. It was like 1.04 Whip or something last year. It was less than a strikeout per inning. The velocity obviously being down from last year, suggests that I don't think the the strikeout upside is super high here. So I think it's close, but I actually do think it's pretty clearly Abel. Even if he's likely a little further away than Bieber. And then there's also just the fact that like yeah, Abel made three starts or whatever and they got hurt. Well, Bieber made nine starts last season including the playoffs. And then couldn't pitch for like eight months. So that that seems like a pretty good reason to to be very skeptical of shame Bieber as well. I think you should be stashing both. I agree. That's my cowardly answer. But if you're you're forcing me to choose a gun to your head for some reason. Gun to your head for some reason. Water gun like a little green emoji thing. It's one of those things where people are like, gun to your head. Would you pick this player? This player is like, why would you put me in this situation? I mean, there's been this great societal collapse. Yeah, the situation. Not that you're selling. Yeah, this is not that important of a call, you know? Yeah. So what did you say? It's got beer over Abel. I said Abel. Oh, Abel. All right, Chris. Abel. Yep. I was clean sweep. We're going Abel as well over over Beaver. Luis Roberts said Thursday that he expects to return the season. He's on the aisle with Lumbar spine disc herniation that's kept him out since late April. The pirates recalled as Merlin Valdez with O'Neal Cruz going on the aisle. He hit two home runs in five games before getting sent down six percent rostered any interest in as Merlin Valdez. Teeny, tiny. Interest. I don't I don't think there's enough impact potential there for most leagues, but deep enough five outfield to league. He plays enough. He could better. This is an interesting one. MLB investigators plan to question Dodgers head doctor Neil Elitrage after he supported Conor McGregor's use of PEDs when recovering from injury. So that whole story is wild. Yeah. I don't know what to make of it, but I was reading it earlier today. I'm out in the New York Times. The whole story. wild. Yeah. Pure speculation, but come on, man. That budget isn't enough for the touchers. We'll see. We'll see. Innocent till proven guilty. So I did get another phone call from Ian Khan earlier today. He wanted to make a trade in the Southwest Champions League and guess what? We did just that. We made another trade. So great to consummate it. Yes. Yes. We'd grade the trade at 12 team headhead categories daily lineups. I traded Drake Baldwin for Garrett Cole. Context. I picked up Dylan Dingler right when Drake Baldwin went down with injury. My pitching is pretty bad. I have Chris sale. I have George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Nicola Dolo, Walbert Arania, and a bunch of relievers. So it's not great for a 12 team league. What do you guys think? I don't like it. I don't love either. But like the context that you have Dylan Dingler who's just been phenomenal all season and just keeps getting better, frankly. That does change things for sure. This is what catcher. I thought it was Roto lineups. What one catcher? It's 12 teams headhead categories daily lineups. So it's only it's shallower. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much Yahoo. So yeah. So utility and one catcher. Yeah. I just think I wish I had more faith in Garrett Cole. If you had waited a week and Baldwin's back, I feel like you should be able to get I mean that he's arguably the top catcher in fantasy when when he's healthy and hitting like he was and like I expect him to again. I don't know. I don't want. I want like a top 25. I kind of I kind of got a deep plus Frank. I can't feel that way too. But you know my my team is I think I'm in like 10th place out of 12 headhead categories man. It's just a different beast. I've lost so many weeks by like one little thing in one category and it's only one win in one loss of whatever I'm making excuses. But yeah. I don't know that I could have like people will see that you have two catchers in a one catcher league and like they're going to low ball. You like you're just not going to get you're not going to get fair value trading sucks these days. But you're not wrong about that. I'm like I wasn't going to drop Dylan Dingler. Right. So I was like I'll just run out with Dingler and whatever. See what happens. But I think Dingler. No, I think in a vacuum I probably lost that trade. But we'll see what happens. Hopefully Garrett Cole turns back into Garrett. I mean, that's the thing about category scoring is you can it's very straightforward in points leagues. Like you get the better player you want to deal. I suppose there is still an element of you could be blocked in a position or whatever. But it's more complicated in categories. League you could you could improve your team's bottom line even though you're taking the best player just because he meets the categorical needs better. So we'll see how it goes. Frank will see if your fortunes improve. Yeah. D plus. All right, man. Rough crowd. Ian also asked me to send a shout out to fellow actor and listener Fred Weller. So shout out to Fred. We appreciate you, man. Let's take our final break when we return. What's going on? Seven players. Let's take a closer. Well, we already talked about Brad. So six players will take a closer look right after this. Shoppers can see your preferences upfront helping guide their choices. Instacart. Resman toivottaa kesan tervetuleiksi upe alla kampanjalla. Set 30% of the percentage of the income from the income of the short and the peak of the day. This is the most important thing in the world. Now resman is going to be able to take a look at the resman piste koma. What's going on with these six players? Just like, what's up with these guys? What do we do if anything within a company sound drop? Great song. Just incredible song. First up, someone we haven't really a lot of these names are just ones that we haven't really talked about. South Stewart. He had an awesome April. Hasn't been very good since. 36 games since the start of May. He is hitting 232 with four homers, three steals, a 703 OPS. Scott, what's going on with the with South Stewart here? Do we need to recalibrate our expectations moving forward? I mean, gosh, he's still eligible at three infield positions. He's got the base stealing ability. He's got the on base ability. There's still a lot to like here. I think the biggest thing I see is that that pull air rates gone in the blue. I think it started out pretty good and it certainly was good the little bit of time we saw him last year, but it's it's gone in the blue now. And so he's wasting a lot of a lot of his hard hit balls there. It looks I don't know if you read off this number, but you put in the notes that since the start of May, his barrel rates 9%, which is still above average barrel. I hate that. That's like a solid barrel rate. So you would expect there to be more impact here, particularly since it's not like his strikeout rate has gone through the roof. So I think the angle of the ball is taken off the bat is a big part of the story here. But I expect him to have another hot street sooner than later. And I would I would still be clinging pretty tightly to Sal Stewart, given how handy of a player he is. The one thing I would say is this was a guy who before this season was not really a top 100 prospect. He was on the baseball, the major league baseball top 100 preseason, but not any of the other big lists. And he was like an 856 OPS guy throughout his minor league career, which is good, but not superstar level. And now we're 85 games into his major league career. And he has an 817 OPS with the underlying numbers to mostly back it up. He has underperformed a little bit. He has a 369 X WoB versus a 354 WoB. There's something there, but it's not like a massive distinction. He might, you know, air quotes just be, you know, let's give him a little more credit than he's gotten an 840 OPS bat. You know, maybe he's a 265 hitter, 270 hitter, good power, good, like a good player, but maybe not the superstar he looked like an April. I think that, and I'm not sure I ever bought that he was a superstar. You know, when he had that, I looked up the, I believe I wrote it at the beginning of May, it was there or something like that. I know it was like 25 games in the season, the 43 games, I think it was the first 43 games of his career. He had really good numbers, but also the underlying numbers were elite. And I looked up to see just a random 43 games stretch last season. I picked, I think the beginning of June through the middle of July. And I found that Willie Adama's had a 43 games stretch last year where he was the third best player in baseball by X WoB, which is to say that even the talent stats can fluctuate. And a guy can just get hot for 43 games and look like a superstar without actually being one. That's, that's what I think happened with South Stewart. I think he's good. I don't think he's a superstar though. I mean, it's a very clear. This was like like a consensus top 25 prospect coming into this season. Yes. Yeah. That was a, that's normally, but that was a pretty close, that was a pretty new thing is what I'm saying. Sure. It's, it's rare you'll find a player that that's high for multiple seasons, usually once they get that high on the prospect list, they search to the majors pretty quickly, which is what happened with Stewart, who had a, you know, he was a really good hitter in the miners from the beginning. It's just he kind of took a step forward with the power production last year. As you'd expect for a guy who was in his early 20s and has that kind of hit tool, I still am really excited about the upside here. I mean, we're talking about a rookie. What's yeah, like he's playing with house money pretty much no matter what he does here, the rest of the season in terms of what his future looks like. It's just a question of how, how good is he going to be as a rookie? Right. My question is if he's just a 265 hitter with 25 homers and 18 steals. I mean, hope you wanted the best rookie season. That's really good. That's really good. But they were put on earlier this season disappointed by that people earlier this season after the first month thought like, oh, he might be a second or third round picking fantasy next year, where I would lean towards if we're just being realistic, like, you know, just a median expectation. He's a 800 OPS again, 260 hitting 25 to 30 homer, 18 to 20. Like that's a very good season. That's probably like a top 60 pick next year. He's still my number five second basement. Yeah, just like recalibrating because like I know people were really excited about it early on in season. I was too. Like I have a rookie the year bet on it. But I don't think you're excitement for what you paid for him. - Yeah, yeah. - And a top 60 player, like that's still awesome, that. - Right, no, 100%. - And this whole conversation is just, this is what happens when guys get a little overinflated or when the perception of players gets a little overflated. It is, it probably was never fair to think that South Stewart was in the Pita Lonzo class among first baseman, let's say. It just, that's just not a fair expectation. And so then you reach, well, okay, he's only in the Josh Naylor range. It's like, okay, he's still, I think the difference is there between a Lonzo and Naylor. I think there's, I mean, a couple of rounds difference. - Honestly, this is all this year. - This is all semantics. - But would Pita Lonzo be a second round pick now? - No, but I, you know, he maybe shouldn't have been a second round pick. - I mean, I'm pretty sure we were telling people he should be. - That's my point. It's kind of a thin line that's the line you're drawing. It's third or fourth round pick versus fifth or sixth round pick. It's not a huge distinction, but it's not nothing. - Yeah, again, it's, I think we're kind of quibbling over semantics again. It's just, I wanted to recalibrate like our expectations because people and us were like really excited after the first month of the season. So just wanted to talk about that 'cause he just hasn't been as good lately. Similar case for Nico Horner, who had a great April, 36 games since the start of May, he has had 207 with zero homers, five steals, a 548 OPS during that time. Expect this to add to that, say that he's been pretty unlucky during that stretch. Chris, what's going on here with Nico Horner? - Nothing. - Yeah, it's probably not nothing. Like if I really dug into it, I'm sure I could find something that's actually gone wrong for Nico Horner over the past month and a half, but he's been so solidly consistent going on five years now that I look at him hitting 247 with the exact same strikeout he's always had, actually better, 6.6%. And it's just, I can't bring myself to get worked up about it at all. I think this is a classic, the hits just aren't falling in, but this is a 290 hitter. - Let me ask you guys something, 'cause I asked myself a couple days ago when I was updating my rankings and I couldn't come up with a good answer. What does Nico Horner have on Xavier Edwards at this point? - Much longer track record. - Much longer? - Oh yeah, much longer. Nico Horner's been doing this exact thing since 2022. - That's right, very. - He's five years. - He's got a couple more years on that. - That's a little bit more. - Xavier Edwards had a really good stretch at the end of 2024. He was pretty mediocre last year. I think he's got a much longer track record success. - Not because of his bet. He hit 283 with 27 home runs, 27 steals. Excuse me, 283 with 27 steals last year, which sounds like a typical Nico Horner season even last year. - Right, but those aren't the only two categories. - No. - He had 75 runs and 43 RBI. Nico Horner's much better than that. - Yeah, it was 89 runs and 61 RBI last year for Horner. - Yes, and part of that was the difference between the Cubs lineup and the Marlins lineup, which I think that gap is narrowed. And I think obviously Edwards has become better. - I think it's a conversation. I think they're pretty close. - I ended up dropping Horner behind Edwards. I mean, we've talked about how that's a tight group at second base in the word stop eligible now. But I think Edwards is a slightly better bet for batting average. - Oh, I strongly disagree on that one. Yeah. - Okay. - Yeah. - Like, that's just the underlying numbers of nothing else. I mean, beyond the track record and the fact that Nico Horner hit about 20 points better than him last year. I mean, you're talking about a 296XBA this year versus 280 for Nico Horner. Sorry, 296 for Xavier Edwards. Jesus. I'm sorry, I'm very tired. My nieces are in town. We went to the Bronx Zoo yesterday, went to the museum today. I'm exhausted. - Where the cop is on? - So much going on. Xavier Edwards, his XBA is about 17 points below Nico Horner's. Last year, it was like 30 points below. I, look, they're similar skill sets for sure. But like, Sam Antonacci has a very similar skill set to Xavier Edwards too. But you would take Xavier Edwards over Sam Antonacci, right? I think that's, it's basically-- - Yeah, that's, that Antonacci's played like a month. So, or a month and a half. Just, so go on back to when you say it started for Horner 2022. It's 280 batting average. Start of Edwards career. So you know, half as many games, but like 300 games versus 600 games. 299. 20 points, the advantage for Edwards. - Sure, if Xavier Edwards is a 300 hitter, I just don't buy these a 300 hitter. Okay. - All right, we need to move infinitely faster through the rest of these names. Michael Garcia has regressed so far this season. Last year, he hit 286 with 16 homers, 23 steals in 800 OPS. Right now, he is on pace for seven homers and nine steals. - Wolf! So, God, what's up with Michael Garcia? - I wish I had an answer for you. He is part of a quartet of third baseman that I am hesitant to move down in my rankings because I'm hesitant to give up on them. His pull air rate, Michael Garcia, actually slightly up this year, his expected batting average is higher. - Is underlying stuff that looks pretty good? - Yeah, exactly. I mean, part of it's like, what's up with the whole royals lineup? They moved in the fences this year. Why is their offense got, why is every hitter in their lineup gotten worse? - So we. - Yeah. - Except for Jack Kags. - Well, finally, took him long enough. Yeah, I don't have a good answer for you. Just, um, God, she's even, four stolen bases all year for Michael Garcia, that's. He's also been dealing with this hamstring thing, so that. - That's what I'm wondering. - That probably will determine from running too. - Well, that's been a recent development. That's just been in the last couple of weeks there, right? - Would you guys try to buy low on Michael Garcia right now? - Yeah, I think on both Nico Horner and Michael Garcia, I would try to buy low, yes. - We have not talked much about Alex Bregman, but he did hit his sixth home run here on Thursday in Corsfield. I will add, but Scott, looks like you might have been spot on with this one. If you look at his OPS at home this season in Riggly, 591 OPS there, 786 OPS on the road. I mean, if he was just a 786 OPS guy, like that would be pretty close to the rest of his career, but he has not hit very well in Riggly, so that seems to be the problem. I don't know how much better it's gonna get. - I went back and looked at my bust 1.0 from the start of the year. We won't talk about 2.0, 'cause. - I don't even know what you're talking about. - Plus 1.0 though, where my initial list of 12 busts. I think 11 of them are looking really good right now. The one that isn't Jacob Mizorowski, which is the only one anybody talks to me about. - We didn't have to bring that one. - Yeah, I mean, look, I'm not ready to declare victory for real on this, 'cause that's just not. That's not being consistent in terms of how long I give players with this kind of track record to get back on track, but I do think it is a bad sign. - But what's really funny, go ahead. Is Alex Braggman's expected home runs by Ballpark? Here, what will do this? Los Angeles Dodgers 9, that's the highest. Houston Astros 3, that's weird. Boston 4, that's weird. Chicago Cubs 7, it's the Chicago Riqui. - It doesn't do Riqui field right there. There are too many environmental factors that can't account for that. - Yeah, that's just hard to say. - All the wind and all that stuff, right? - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, no, it's, I mean, this is what we were worried about with Alex Braggman. I think we gave him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt for his strong track record and everything like that, but you shouldn't be surprised that we're seeing this from Alex Braggman. I think he'll be better than this moving forward. A guy who has always outperformed his expected stats is now underperform them. He also has the worst expected stats of his career. He has the highest strikeout rate of his career since his rookie season, I guess. - He's getting a little bit older too. - And he's 32. - Yeah. You know, he's the name on this list that I would not confidently try to buy low on right now. - I agree on that. - Yeah, I think as, did you mention this, I think his bats has gotten, like bats beat has gone down this year too. - I did not mention that. - Yeah, but I like a little over a mile per hour, which had been very consistent for. So, that's worth mentioning also. - Speaking of bats beat, George Springer looks like it's not happening. Maybe last year was a fluke. Maybe that fractured toe is just still affecting him. He is hitting 204 with five homers, three seals of 633 OPS. All the underlying stat cast off is much worse than last year. His bats beat is down 1.2 miles per hour. his fast swing percentages down twelve percentage points 94% roster should George Springer be roster in that many leagues. He was one of the players on my when I came out with the all over roster team earlier this week. He was one of my outfielders George Springer because then you mentioned it. I mean, the whole argument, the whole justification for his redemptive season last year was that he was swinging with more intent to got that swing that fast swing rate over 40%. And it started out pretty good. Early this year, but it's it's been cratering here for a while. I think he's I don't know if it's just he's gotten overly cautious at the play again. Honestly, the same things happened with Dalton Varsho who was also on that list of most over rostrid players. The blue jays seem like they had figured something out here just getting their players to swing harder. And with Springer though Varsho being the clearest examples and both of them have like given it all back this year. So I don't have a lot of confidence in Springer going forward. I just moved him down in my outfield rankings quite a bit. I'm not saying he should be dropped in every league, certainly not in any five outfield or leagues, but I I'm not calling them a by low. He is one if someone dropped him. I think I would probably try to add him at least in any five outfield or league. And if three out of your league it's harder to make that case. But I think that's what I would do. But I can't say it with a lot of confidence. It's just a Hopi figures it out kind of thing. And it's not someone that I would give up much of value at all to try to acquire. Last name on this list is Brian Wu who got hit hard. There's now two starts in a row, two rough outings in a row, five innings, seven runs allowed, two homers allowed at the Orioles in this one. Chris with Brian Wu. You said Chris the way my niece does. Chris. So that was I don't really think there's anything going on with Brian Wu. He had a weird start to the season where he wasn't getting strikeouts. He had 41 in 35 and 2/3 innings in the month of May. I want to say his most recent start was really good. And then he ran into trouble in the seventh inning. Oh, he had a quality start and then they kept him in a little too long. He gave up two runs in the seventh. So it would have been a quality start if you had just come out of the sixth. I don't really see like the skill sets not that much different. He's getting fewer strikeouts. It's a 24.5% strikeout rate rather than a 27% strikeout rate. But walk rate remains elite. Quality of contact that he's allowing remains elite looks like it did last year. 294 XERA entering this start. That's actually better than it was last year. It's really better than it was last year. I don't really see any real reason to worry about Brian Wu. He is still he still has that foreseemer that generates a ton of bad contact in the air. And he still has the sinker that generates a ton of bad contact on the ground. And he's still thrown those pitches 65% of the time. I don't really see much reason to think that there's anything wrong with Brian Wu at all. He is I think one of the most clear by low candidates on this list. I would be actively trying to trade for Brian Wu if I can. I agree with that as well. The one thing that did stand out to me and this is usually the case with Baroness pitch pitchers is big home roads, but it's 237 area at home 593 on the road. I did just want to see if that was the case for him last year. It wasn't as extreme, but he was a run better on at home. Yeah, that's what you expect. 244 at home last year 340 on the road. I mean, this is obviously much bigger. So I would I would assume that it gets better. Hopefully it does. I kind of feel like T-Mobile Park is just kind of like course field for pitchers and sometimes like when they get away, kind of just like throws things off for them. But overall, I agree with your sentiment. I would be trying to buy Brian Wu if if anyone's panicking about him. Let's quickly run through the waiver wire players here from Thursday's action. And I did just want to ask obviously two big outfield promotions this week. Cole Carreg just hit his first home run here on Thursday. Brayton Montgomery hit a home run earlier in the week. A walkoff shot. He had two doubles on Wednesday as well. How much fab do you think both Carreg and Montgomery are going for this weekend? I looked back at AJ Ewing and Ryan Walshmit when they got called up mostly in like the 16 to 20% range. I did see some like big bids that were closer to 30%. But people don't have as much fab left now. So how much do you guys think these two names go for this weekend? Oh, I would guess the 28 and 12% I was just saying 12% yeah. Yeah. And it's just the sort like it's. This is this is a conversation people want us to have oftentimes how many dollars would you spend on this? And I'm telling you it's a maddening conversation to have because it's one dollar more than the other person bids. There will be a league of mind where he goes for $68 and there will be a league of mind where he goes for $320. That's like. You just you just got to decide how much you need him and how much you're comfortable with. And I would say if you desperately need outfield hell. I think like 15%. I would be willing to spend up to a quarter of having. Sorry. I would spend up to the point of having just a quarter of my budget left to spend for the rest of the year. If I was that desperate for outfield help, I am thinking in a five outfield there the context because that's the context where you be that desperate for outfield help. But that's kind of that's kind of how more how I'd frame it. How many how many fab dollars do you need to have left at this point? I would I would want about a quarter of my budget still. Yeah, I was thinking in 12s like eight to 10%. I think in 15 teamers like 12 to 15% I think people are usually a little bit more aggressive there. But that number also could go up this weekend like if Montgomery or Carrie have some big games over the weekend that that number could shoot up even more. So that's where we're at right now. Let's see what those guys do this weekend as well. Some less exciting outfielders I think Dom Canzone hit his ninth home run. Last 12 games he's hitting 429 with four homers. He just never plays against left hand pitching and the Mariners have three lefties in the schedule next week. Colton Couser hit his seventh home run. He has four home runs in a steal over his last 11 games. The Orioles have six games next week. All right handed pitchers. But it's got I think I saw in your email that the Orioles have the toughest hitter matchups for next week. So not sure that we have much utility for Canzone or Couser next week. Get wait, Ken Zone or Couser. Why Ken Zone? How does Ken Zone three lefties? Three lefties. Correct. But he is he is he's pretty hot right now. Just you know, three lefties in the schedule next week. And you're correct that the Orioles have the toughest matchups. But they are they are like Buster Bluth. They're all right. They are all right. Their names are Logan Gilbert George Kirby, Brian Wu, Rocky Sasaki, Yoshi, Yoshi Motoyabun, Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto. And Mishiyan. See I tried to say that real fast. And it just I tripped over my what people were giving me a hard time last time I was on because they said I was talking too slowly. You guys don't even know. You don't even know how slowly I talk in just the general day to day conversation when I'm not in performance mode. I talk with like 200% energy on the show. If you can believe it. This is Scott in performance mode. This is that press in the nitrous oxide. But 100% I had a mountain do before I came on. Like people thought I had some other substance before they were accusing me of that. He is all up on mountain do. And he's coming at you like a spider monkey. Thank you. What kind of mountain do would we go with? Bob last code red code red. So those are the only two I drank. All right, fair enough. One other name here. I think we need to see more Cole Young three for five with his fifth tone run. He plays every day. And he has let off five of the past six games. The underlying stuff just isn't that great. He's bad against lefties. They have three lefties on the schedule next week. Two very deep names. Jimmy Crookes is on the board. One for four of his first career home run. I just want him to be good because like what a cool name. Jimmy Crookes. It's like dude. Yeah, we need that kind of be good in baseball. That would be awesome. Jimmy Crookes. And then that's the gangster name. Yeah. Right. It's something you would hear in like Peaky Binders or something. Yeah. And I feel like you were a gangster. You'd want to, unless obviously, you know, like, yeah. Jimmy follows. Jimmy follows the law. I mean, you know, really keep him off your trail. That's fake. Jimmy Jimmy doesn't do crimes. What about Jared Young? That's a pretty good kind of just generic. Especially for a 30 year old. Yeah. Two for four with his fourth home run. He has started 12 straight for the Metz. He has hit clean up in each of those games. Only one leftie that he started against since returning. But since coming back, he has four home runs and OPS around 900. Very deeply stuff here. But do you guys, you know, like 15 teamers and interests in Jimmy Crookes or Jared Young? Sure. I would not. Not a lot. Not a lot. If I'm being perfectly honest, I Jimmy Crookes, I'm mainly thinking for a deep to catcher league, you know, we're at the point. If you'll also Smith in a deep to catcher league. Right. There's been enough of true. at the position in those deeper two catcher leagues where it's like anybody with a pulse is worth a shot. I don't know. Jared Young is moderately interesting just because he has been a very productive minor league hitter. Last couple of years it's been OPS is over 900 at Triple A. His stack-ass stuff is pretty good too. And he's in the ball really hard. The playtus one looks pretty good, but I just he's a 30-year-old with no majorly track record who I want to say he had to go to Korea a couple of years ago and wasn't good in Korea. Yeah, I think I saw that. I think I saw that. Yeah, so it's like what's the what's actually what's actually happening here with Jared Young? I feel very joey. Joey Minesis like. Remember Joe Minesis? Yeah. Joey Minesis man, that's a blast from past Frank Schwindal remember that? Oh yeah, Franky to it. Franky to it. It's Patrick. Patrick Wisdom. Oh man. Oh yeah. Frank Luke's voice. You want to go a little further back? Franky to that was like, wait, Luke Voight was a home run king. He was only like, well, the shortened season. Yeah, I was like, one lesson. Technically true. You know, exact please act was really good that year too. Let's talk. We were wire pitchers. Good match up for next week. Merrill Kelly, poor Merrill Kelly, man. Turn in equality start. No run support here at the Marlins. Six innings two runs one strike out, but he gets the angels next week. 73% roster. Can I interest you guys in Merrill Kelly? I think he's worth using there. I did not include him among the sleeper pitchers. Did you think about it? I thought about it. All right, but I did not. Did you think about? Because it doesn't get enough strikeouts. No, that's what the angels do. Maybe he'll get a lot against the angels. I don't know. That's the one. That's the one where boost everything up. Let's get like a 10 strikeout performance from Merrill Kelly. Also a good match up, but I think we probably need to see more Edward Cabrera bounce back in chorus field. Of course, five and a third, two runs, five strikeouts here. Under the hood, it's pretty similar last year in terms of his pitches, like individual pitches. His non fastballs are amazing. His fastballs get crushed. He gets the Rockies in Chicago next week. I don't think I could do it. What about you? I'm just starting there. Yeah. I think he's the most over-rastered pitcher in CBS Sports League. That's fine, but the Rockies stink. I'm doing it. They're even worse on the road. That's the best match up in baseball. I'm not saying he needs to be 100% rostered. I'm not saying I have any faith in him in the long term, but there are not a lot of pitchers I would not start against the Rockies on the road. I think you can do better. Like Marrakelli and singles. I would rather have Kelly against the Angels than Cabrera against the Rockies. Yes. I think so too. Some deeper names. K-Dare Montero, strong outing against the twins. Six and a third. Shout out innings with four strikeouts. Three sixty one, ERA 101 Whip, underlying numbers. Not buying it as much. Tyler Phillips, nice start here against the D-backs. Five shout out innings, five strikeouts. He is being stretched out as a starter. Kind of interesting. Under the hood, he has good secondary pitches and he gets ground balls. I don't know. Very deep, please. I'm a little interested in Tyler Phillips. So I've noticed as he's gotten extended more and more here, the swinging strikes have really gone down. There may be enough there in terms of weak ground balls, but he also walks a ton of guys. It's almost five per nine. I'm not saying I'm disinterested entirely in Tyler Phillips, but I think I think there are just as many negatives as positives. And his minorly track record when he was a starter was really bad. He's also a maniac. Yeah, well that's what I'm wondering. I haven't been able to watch him as a starter. Does he slap himself in the face before every inning or just at the start of every game? This is the guy who. I haven't seen it. When he comes out of the bullpen. Yeah, he's a bullpen. Smack himself in the face. Maybe he's not doing that as a starter. And maybe that's why he's not getting pumped up. Yeah, I don't see much to be excited about there besides the slapping in the face. When the catcher comes out for a mound conference, he should just slap him in the face and then walk away. That should be the whole conference. Poor Joe Mack. What did he do to deserve that? I don't know. He was like, "Ketchers, you can smack him." Right? The catcher just. He walks up to the mound and just slaps him. Oh, I think he's. Tyler Phillips would smack him and get out of here. Who's the little weird guy in the Giants? He'd totally be into that. I know what you're talking about. Drew Gilbert. I can understand your guilt. Drew Gilbert, I came up with the name. He'd be. He's a. He's a. Him and Tyler Phillips would just smack each other in the face back and forth. Did he tell Matt Chapman to choke him last year? That was their home run celebration. Yes, Matt Chapman would choke him. All right, let's keep things moving. Oh, Mark Simpson. Is that me, Matt? He got crossed at the Tigers seven runs over six innings. He has now allowed seven earned runs in two of his last three starts. I think we could probably drop seven Matthews. Right? Yeah. I'm doing the Marcus Camby Jeff. Get out of here. Get him out here. Look at us. All the Nick's references lately. How about that? Some hitting leftovers. Alec Burleson picking up the power. He has homered in three straight. He has four home runs in his past six games. Boba Shett, six home run. His first homemer since May 19th. He is hitting better as of late, but. Still not enough power. Otto Lopez is having a monster June so far, where he's hitting 425 with a homer, three steals, a 1089 OPS. Corey Seeger, hit his ninth home run, has two home runs in five games since returning from the aisle. Strong game for Pete Crowe, Armstrong, two for five with his 15th steal. He has been great. Over his last 11, 404, batting average, five homeers, three steals. Say, Suzuki, some signs of life, hit a grand slam. His 10th home run has three homeers in his past eight games and Brandon Lau, contract year, Brandon Lau, one for four with his 16th home run of the season. Anything to add on these names? I think we're going to see a bounce back from Sayus Suzuki. That is one I would be buying low on. Are you guys still confident in the Boba Shett by low? I am. It's like the further we get into the season, you start to lose some confidence. The only reason I've become less confident is because I don't remember where, but something I read drew my attention to how significant that injury was, that cost him. He missed most of the postseason came back from the series. Quad or hamstring? I think it was me. Yeah, sounds right. Yeah. Somewhere on the leg. But he's had a lot of lower leg injuries in his career. Yeah, no. That kind of wrecked his, I believe it was a growing injury that wrecked his 2024, right? Not confident it was a growing injury, but leg stuff is all leg stuff. Yeah, something like that. He needs to get on the leg day and really emphasize that Boba Shett. Yeah, so that's like, okay, the expected batting average still looks really good. So that's good. You stood last round. That's about two AD. Yeah, overall, I'm probably more confident than the average person, but not as supremely confident as I was earlier this year when he seemed like the most obvious by-located to me. I think I like Suzuki, for instance, better as a by-located. Yeah. One lonely pitching left over, Michael Waka. He is going through a little regression right now over his last three starts, 713-RA with a 170-WIP. 65% started. He's at the Nationals next week. Would you guys use Waka and that's about a few of them. I think we're seeing some good old-fashioned regression here from Michael Waka the last three starts, and now he's regressed about to the point he should have been all along with a 358-RA, I believe it is. You said he is facing who? At the Nationals. I think I'd rather not. I agree. I think I'd rather start Edward Cabrera against the Rockies. I would rather use Merrill Kelly. Sure, that's fine. You got to find a scenario where Frank is willing to start Edward Cabrera. Would I do it? I probably, I think I'd probably use Waka. I think I would use Waka over him, but I don't know. I don't like you. I don't like you. I don't like you. This is a bravery starting Waka after three-bouted bad starts. And the Nationals are awesome, right? Exactly. Yeah. It's not a cowardly thing. Cowardly. Don't use either one. Don't use Waka or Edward Cabrera. The call to the bullpen for the match. Devon Williams got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his ninth save. For the Marlins P Fairbanks got the ninth with a two-run lead. He struck out two for his eighth save. For the Rangers Jacob Lads pitched the final two innings. Both were perfect with three strikeouts for his second win. I was trying to figure this out. I know if the starting pitcher doesn't go five innings and there is no other pitcher of significance, it's kind of up to the scorekeeper to determine who gets the win. Oh, right. I think it's just if the starting pitcher doesn't go five innings, scorekeeper just decides who gets the win. No, but usually it's whoever the pitcher is in the game when they take the lead. But they had the lead. That's right. That's if they had the lead. But they had the lead when other relievers came in, but somehow Jacob Lads got the win. But he was the final pitcher. I don't know. There is still, there I, yeah, no, that's still leeway there for the score. If the a pitcher who would be of record just clearly didn't deserve the win because he pitched like garbage. So I don't know who that pitcher was. In this instance, they were just leading by the time they were leading and rocker left the game before five innings. So he wasn't eligible for the win, but there was no lead change after that. But that's why I just I thought it would have been one of the other like the other two pitchers that pitch after rocker. They pitched fine. Like, yeah, it's just it's just scores discretion there. That's kind of weird. I just I kind of feel like we would we would rather have the save right from Jacob Lads and the win. I think you take either one. Yeah. He wins too. That's true. But I feel like saves are a little bit more scarce. Anyway, Jacob Lads has been really good for the Orioles. Andrew Kitchner. He got the ninth with a two run lead. He picked up his first save. Rico Garcia recorded two outs in the eighth inning. They really have not had it set closer since Ryan Helsie went down. And I believe he's starting a rehab assignment this weekend. So should be back soon for the Dodgers. Tanner Scott recorded the final four outs three via strikeout for his seventh save of the season to stream or not to stream on Friday. We have Zach Littell against the Mariners, Griffin Canning at the Orioles, Jack Flourty at the Guardians, Andrew Painter at the Brewers, Tattooi Imae at the Royals, Gage Jumpkets Arachies in Las Vegas and Javier Assad at the Giants. A whole lot of not to stream. I think I would go Imae, Flourty and Littell if I had to. I think Imae and Jumpkets, but it is both of them are really risky. I has this for a lack of cowardice. Give me jump. Give me jump in Las Vegas. He says jump. I say how high? I still have to come up with a sound bite. I don't know. I'll put out a poll. Should we do the, what was the one that you said, Chris? Well, there's, it's Chris Cross, right? Yeah, there's Chris Cross, but then there's also like, I said, jump for your love. Jump, jump for my love. There's a jump around by House of Pain. That's a good one. Van Halen. Van Halen jump. Jump. Jumper by Third Eye Blind. That's a great song. Kind of a bummer. Yeah. Catchy song. Good song. Kind of a bummer. Yeah. So there's options. There's options. Let us know. Hit me up on Twitter. Let me know what time we should use. On Saturday, Matthew Libertor at the Twins, Connor Prelip against the Cardinals, Luis Castillo at the Nationals, Kate Cavali against the Mariners, Baba Chandler against the Marlins, Aaron Nola at the Brewers, Shane Drowin against the Phillies, Jeffrey Springs against the Rockies in Vegas, Trevor McDonald against the Cubs, and Griffin Jacks at the Angels. Some options. I think the Castillo and Cavali doodle, doodle, works. Yeah. That one. That one. I like the Thursdays. Thursdays are a little looser. I get. Yeah. I think those are my two favorites. I don't really like anyone else. It's about to be the weekend. For us. For us, it's about to be the weekend. Yeah. I don't know about Castillo. Like I like the general direction, the Wies Castillo is trending, but at Washington is. I like Griffin Jacks at the Angels. I think I would give some thought to Shane Drowin against the Phillies. I'm intrigued. I don't. Yeah. It's another knock. So great day. I think Kate Cavali against the Mariners is my top choice. I would go Jacks Cavali Castillo in that order. And then on Sunday, we have Walker Bueller at the Orioles, Trevor Rogers against the Padres, Zach Gowon at the Reds, Stephen Colick against the Astros, Michael McGreevy at the Twins, JT Gain against the Rockies in Vegas and Colin Ray at the Giants. Jumped Jive and Whale by the Brian Setser Orchestra. All right. I'm going to have to listen to that one. Baby, baby, it looks like it's going to hail. Yeah. Yeah. Scott remembers the late 90s. I was. I was. Man, that was. Scott was wearing bowling T-shirts with large collars. That was my prime right there. Scott and like the UFO pants back in the day. I don't know what that is. Trevor Rogers. What will get a good Trevor Rogers start? Podgers are very bad against lefties. Yeah, we will. The Roger's the Podgers are terrible. So Trevor Rogers. Oh, yeah. I don't think I like anybody else here. I'll say Rogers McGreevy and Gain, but. Yeah, I think McGreevy is very risky. I think McGreevy is my top choice. I really like Gain, but I don't. I don't know if I chose Jump, maybe I should choose Gain too. Jump. Jump and jump and buy Destiny's Child. That is a good song too. Lots, lots of options. Lots of good songs about jumping. We are going to wrap there. For Skycrest, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple. It's Spotify and we'll be back again next week. Bye-bye! Paramount Podcasts. Criminal Minds Evolution is back on Paramount Plus. Do you think it's possible? It just turned some hidden pattern shared by all serial killers. With a new killer each week. I see those wheels turning. When a convict get killer emerges, the VAU will form a dark alliance with a familiar foe. 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