Add Logan Henderson, Injury Updates & Bryce Eldridge Promoted! (5/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports Got a fantasy question email fantasy baseball at CBSi.com Get ready to win your league Now here's Frank Scott and Chris it was a very busy weekend Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Monday May the fourth be with you. I am Frank Stanford joint by Scott White and Chris towers I have seen almost all the Star Wars movies by the way. I know everyone's already thinking about it today on the show I like how you say almost almost yeah, which one's I love to get a rundown as some maybe off the air No on the air because I've something to talk about today I've seen them all at least like ten times. I'm one of those sickos. I left off there after watching the the first One of the new trilogy. So I guess the seventh movie. So what that makes I'm a last Jedi head But I know that's a controversial take do not I mean I don't need anyone's like I really No, I don't care if you don't like that movie. I like I've heard it all. I don't care It was the only good one of the I love the secret trilogy Where the eighth and ninth movies good should I watch them? They ate the one the eighth one is it's controversy controversial The night one is awful because it was actually interesting. Yes It actually it actually tried to do things. Yeah Today on the show we have a lot more injuries. They will not stop We have waiver wire decisions the giants are promoting Bryce Eldridge and another one of their top prospects Jesus Rodriguez and much more but let's begin with the players of the weekend. Oh my goodness Let's talk about it Emerson Hancock He looked like an ace on Randy Johnson's Jersey retirement night How about that against the royals seven innings of one run ball 14 strikeouts to zero walks 21 whiffs on 103 pitches 11 on that 14 fastball seven on the sweeper three on the cutter and In recent starts it looked like he had been reverting back to an Emerson Hancock of old where you know starting to throw that sinker more again But he used that 14 fastball a bunch in the start. It was amazing mentioned It had the 11 whiffs that sweeper was really good and that kind of feels like the recipe And that's what we saw in that first start of the season where he went very 14 fastball sweeper heavy and just got a bunch of whiffs and we're like whoa new version of Emerson Hancock This guy might be really good and once again he looked really good in this start So where you guys at I feel like we kind of need to recalibrate here on Emerson Hancock Yeah, I mean I think he's got a spot in the rotation, right? Like whatever happens with Bryce Miller. I don't think Hancock's coming out after this so we can just start with that He certainly doesn't look like the worst pitcher in that rotation. Yeah Kind of looks kind of looks like the best pitcher now which is its own problem even beyond Emerson Hancock Yeah, so one thing we I don't think correct me if I'm wrong I don't think we've talked about this with Hancock yet, but I was watching some highlights of this start And I was struck by how low the Armago was and I didn't remember hand I don't know how much I've seen Emerson Hancock in the past to be honest But I'm sure I've seen him some and I don't remember being struck by that and sure enough He's throwing with a 12 degree Armago this year Chris say alike With that Armago and that's down from 18 degrees last year and it's down from 27 degrees Two years ago so just in the span of two years he's pretty much has a new delivery and You know one thing about that Armago It's it it tends to make the fastball The forcing fastball really effective it creates this sort of artificial Rise on it that that batters have a difficult time squaring up so that Totally squares what we've seen from Hancock where when he leans into that fastball Good thing seem to happen. So I'm always I'm always Fascinated by pictures who have that really low Armago just because it's such a I mean, I guess the really high Armago - either way. It's an unconventional look That can make a picture play well beyond his stuff and I thought that was the biggest takeaway At least my biggest takeaway from this star for Hancock Yeah, what was interesting I noticed this in Nick Pollock's right up of this start on Saturday Sunday Yes, Sunday yet because it was Saturday's Saturday night start Is that the movement profile in the four seamer was actually Worse in this start he was getting ten inches of hurt instead of more like 12 to 13 like he'd been getting earlier in the season And that's one of those things where it's It's weird because when you're pitching from this steep or up from this Extreme of an arm angle to the side. He's basically a side armor now You're never going to get you know 18 inches of inter-induced vertical break You just can't get behind the ball in the same way gravity's not going to affect it So you're not necessarily looking for more ride The way you are with most four seamer's you know, Chris sale his is like I think 11 to 13 inches of induced vertical break on his four seamer But it's different you know we talk a lot If you can't be great be weird and there just are not a lot of right handed pitchers starting from the arm angle Then Emerson handcock is now I do think when you talk about like the the quality of the stuff on its own makes me think He's probably not going to be an elite pitcher once the scatting reports and the traject machines and all this stuff get out on him but I don't know I he's He's definitely a different pitcher than he has been in the past and he's a super unique Unique pitcher now. It's like this 94 mile an hour four seamer from a sidearm slot plus a 77 mile per hour sweeper which That is extremely slow even for a sweeper. You know, mo that that's like frisbee stuff. You most sweepers even for For breaking balls Generally speaking the rule is harder is better But he's making it work for him right now I wonder how much of his novelty of it, you know, not a guy who's gotten a lot of reps not a guy who You know, it always a guy who's a very different pitcher than he has in the past so I think there's definitely a sell high window for here for Emerson handcock here I mean he's got one a 240 year a that's not gonna last but I do think I would need like a top 40 type of starting pitcher To trade Emerson handcock even if I'm not going to rank him that way You know that that's the kind of return. I'm gonna look for based on what he's doing right now. So I really like to see it I'm excited for Emerson handcock even if I don't necessarily believe it I think that's well said. I think handcock probably pushes himself up inside like the top 60 starting pictures and Erankings after this start But again, if you want to sell high, I would be looking for you know a top 40 top 30 type starting pitcher in return Agreed that he's probably more like at least based on what he's done so far more like a mid three ZRA guy But mid three ZRA with over a strike out for any and a you know good whip. That's that's a pretty valuable pitcher Anything what that's a boyd was last year. Sure. Yeah might be yeah Yeah, that's what I'm thinking and Chris just to piggyback off what you said about the the sweeper that was my biggest takeaway watching highlights of this like His sweepers kind of it looks like a wiffle ball like it just kind of floats in there. It is a very unique looking pitch And I could see why he's getting so many good results on that sweeper this early on in the season Scott, let's go over to you for your player of the weekend My player of the weekend is somebody you might actually be able to pick up off the way of wire I wonder if you could pick up Emerson handcock and Yahoo leagues. Yeah, I it's good point 78% rostered on Yahoo is Is that not me but some yeah, but this guy's probably available regardless of your platform And his name is Logan Henderson and we are no stranger to Logan Henderson of course But I think we expressed a great deal of frustration when we talked about him last time would he fill the spot vacated by a branded Woodruff And even if he did what the brewers Give him or give him an honest chance because that's what he hasn't gotten before We still don't know the answer to that second question But the first question yes, he will fill that spot and he'll do what Logan Henderson has done Basically every time we've seen him in the majors pitch well Two-on-runs in six innings no walks eight strikeouts through just 76 pitches. That's all he needed to get through six innings Which you could take as a good sign or a bad sign that the brewers didn't let him throw more I don't know. Well, will you talk about they were babying him in the minors He had been throwing like three four innings throughout his first few starts So in fact, so now in seven career starts as a major leager 243 ERA a point nine six whip eleven point nine k per nine at triple A Prior to this promotion in sombre abbreviated outings and I know some of them were relief appearances technically At triple A Logan Henderson had a 102 ERA a 1119 whip 13.2 k per nine So obviously the performance has been there this year he has changed some aspects of his arsenal So last year at least in the majors it was like 45% fastballs 45% change ups and then a few looks at other stuff that, you know, hardly counted as pitches. This year, and this was true in the miners too, he has been throwing a cutter about 20% of the time in the miners. It's mostly served to rob his change up, which I think is his best pitch. So that's like, is this really a good development for Logan Henderson? I suppose it feels like it's what he needs to do to stick around at the majors as to broaden out his arsenal. And because it was working in the miners, again, he had a 102 ERA 13.2 Kpernine down there, it's probably fine. I just want him to stick around is the main thing. And if this helps to justify that, having a broader arsenal, then I guess I'm for it. In any case, in any case, like Brandon Woodruff isn't about to come back. So I would imagine Henderson gets the next turn, probably the next turn after that. And we'll reassess at that point if he's pitching well and Brandon's broke isn't. I think, I think, I think that's the point that God- - Yeah, I think that God- - Brewers would have to say Henderson deserves to stick around. I think, I mean, they've made the opposite choice before, but I think you go for Henderson and hopefully it works out this time. So Logan Henderson is widely available on CBS 33% rostered. He does face the Yankees this week. That's the way that it lines up. And obviously the Yankees lineup has been very good so far. They are fourth and woebug and it's right hand to pitching. So you don't love the matchup, but there is a good amount of upside here with Logan Henderson. I'll just compare him to a few names out there. You guys tell me who you'd rather have. Henderson or Chase Doeander, who, welcome back to Course Field, buddy. - God- - I gotta say Doeander, if I won that lottery, I'm not dropping him for the next hot thing that may not have as much job security. - I'm not giving up on Doeander after I start against the Braves at Colorado. That's just-- - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I mean, I think it's fair. These are a lot of kind of the upside-e type questions that I received this weekend. Logan Henderson or Cade Cavali? - I'd probably go Henderson. - Yeah, I like Henderson more. I get understand needing Cavali for the two starts this week. Since they're good matchups and maybe making the choice based on that. But if it's just about, I'm speculating for the rest of season Henderson. - What about Henderson or J.R. Richie? - Richie's also two-start guy this week. - Yes, he is. - Yes, he is. And they're kind of in the same position in terms of job security. It's not clear yet who's coming out of the rotation with Strider rejoining it on Sunday. I presume it's Martine Perez since Richie's still scheduled to start Monday. Martine Perez was already DFA'd once this year, right? - Yes. - I'm not making that yet. - Sounds right. What about Logan Henderson? - I just actually give an answer. An Anderson. I didn't actually give an answer. And I don't know what I would answer. So I'll let Chris answer. - I think I'd stick with Richie if I already have him. - That's the way I was leaning. I like you to answer with Braves first. - I've noticed that recently. Logan Henderson or his teammate Kyle Harrison? - I would go Harrison. (laughs) I think so too. - Yeah, I mean, it's a sort of thing where you already fought so hard to pick up. Like with Dolanter, you already fought so hard to pick up this guy and. - Nothing I've seen changed my mind about Kyle Harrison. So it does feel like I would be giving up some kind of just throwing fab away by spending more fab on the next guy who I'm not sure is more talented in the many way. So in the 12 strikeout and two turns ago, Kyle Harrison had four extra inches of drop on his slur, which he'd never really had much of a breaking ball before it got a ton of whiffs. Part of the reason why he had 12 strikeouts, four extra inches of drop. It was more like one extra inch of drop in this latest start. So that. We hadn't really seen much. Harrison actually pitched much this year prior to that 12 strikeout start and so it's like, "Hey, maybe there's a real breaking ball now." He looked a little more like Kyle Harrison prior to 2026 in this most recent start Saturday, but he got a good result against a national's offense that had been productive so far this year. And so it's like, well, am I gonna abandon him after six one run innings? Probably not. - What about Logan Henderson or Noah Schultz? - I would say Schultz. - I'd go Henderson. - I would just go Schultz there. - We're just not seeing it from Schultz. His one good strikeout game. I guess he had two of the six strikeouts of five innings, the eight in six innings. This time around six shut innings. I'm not sneezing at that or whatever the term would be, but I used like an old-timey idiom the other day and as soon as I said it, I knew people were gonna not get what I was referring to. So now I'm not guard about my idiom use. - What was it? - I don't wanna repeat it 'cause I'm laughing about. - No, I'm laughing about. - I wanna laugh at you. It was, no Schultz, three walks to strikeouts today or on Friday. It was six shut out innings, but I don't know. I just don't think he's there yet. I think he's talented, but he's not getting chases at all with any of his pitches. That's putting a real ceiling on how many strikeouts he can get. To me, it's just the job security. I feel better about Noah Schultz's opportunity than I do for Logan Henderson. And then the last one is Peyton Toley. Henderson or Toley? - Toley. Yeah, it's a sweep for me, even though I like the idea of picking up Henderson. I'm taking Toley in that scenario. Give me a, give me a chump. Give me a chump I can drop. - What about Justin Roblesky? - Randy Vaskis. - Yeah, I drop either of those guys for Henderson, there you go. - Actually, I have a bunch of like drop candidates later on like Zach Galen, Luis Castillo, Merrill Kelly. - But look, I think it's just-- - Don't just get us in, I don't know. - Just putting up a period on it with, we like Logan Henderson. I think we all do. I'll speak for the three of us. I think we all think he's a good pitcher. He's another weird pitcher, like 93 mile an hour, writing who misses a lot of bats somehow. It doesn't make a ton of sense, but this is eight major league starts where he's just been dominant almost every time out and he's been very good in the minor. So it's just, we have no idea what the job security looks like here. And he's not such a can't miss player that like, I feel like Peyton Toley has a chance that like if he pitches the way he can, I think he's just gonna stay in the rotation. Henderson, we've already seen that he has not been able to do that in the past despite being very good. So that's the biggest concerns. I just don't know where the brewers are on him. So the last comment when you started into, we all like Logan Henderson was Scott hates Hendo. - Wow. - That's why I wanted to make clear that we do not dislike him. We like him. - In the words I say mean anything anymore. It's just people just take vibes. That's all that happens. My vibe is always going to be dour. I'm sorry. Chris, I know you want to talk about Justin Robleski, but we'll talk about him a little bit later on. I want to keep things moving here. Lots of news to get to. - I hope you have the drop ready. - I will, you know what, now that you're reminded me, I will get the drop ready for exactly that. - No, what drop it is. - I do want to just give a quick shout out to, I hope you held on to Cosmo Okamoto because he had four home runs this weekend, a double-dong on Friday, and apparently just missed a third home run. He said that he didn't have his pre-game case idea. If he did, he would have hit three home runs in that game. So Cosmo Okamoto do not skimp out on the case ideas anymore, my friend. And then, Chase Dolander, I apologize to everyone who used him this weekend. It is all my fault. I have him and my-- - And my ender. - My ender. - My ender only labor team. I didn't start him all season until this week. I put him in the lineup. He gets crushed. I knew that was going to happen. It was the easiest call of all time. - I did that in one league too. - Big thanks to those watching live. We appreciate you being here. Make sure to hit that like button. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in, fantasy baseball. Today, lots of news to get to the injuries. They will not stop. They will never stop. Ronald DeCunio was placed in the aisle with a grade one left hamstring strain and looked pretty bad immediately. He just stopped running the first base and was basically limping. I guess the good news is that it's only a grade one and it's only a hamstring. It's not like knee related or anything like that. Outfielders on Scott's sleeper hitter list for week seven, this upcoming week, Brandon Marsh, Spencer Stier, Dom Canzone, Jung Huli. So if you need a short terminal placement, those are some names for you there. Ryan Helsley placed in the aisle Friday out of nowhere with right elbow inflammation, imaging showed no structural damage. In the meantime, who do you guys like for saves in Baltimore? There's Rico Garcia, Anthony Dunez, Yineer Kanow has been around forever. - Yeah, Rico Garcia got the first one over the weekend and he has the best numbers. So he has really good numbers. It's obviously a small sample, but he had good numbers last year too, actually, between three teams. So I would say Rico Garcia is definitely the one to target there. - Yeah, Andrew Kitchgayva, I believe seven runs in a third of an inning today. So we're not gonna be Andrew Kitchgay, I guess. - They didn't have a save this weekend. I'm not sure that we know for sure that that it's going to be recon. Or did I see that? I thought it was this way. I see it does have a save. I'm not sure. He does have a save. I thought I saw it in the box scores. I'm sorry. It's all good. I was saying, Yenir Kno. Well, maybe I spent too much money on him then. Yenir Kno has been. I fell in closer for them at various points and is good enough. I think he was very bad last year, but who wasn't on the Orioles, you know? He's seemingly bounced back this season. He's off to a nice start. So it wouldn't surprise me if it was Kno as well. Anthony Nunez has been. Garcia has six holds. Yeah. It's worth. Nunez has been used in the eighth inning at time. So far this year, his numbers are pretty good too. I do lean Rico Garcia, but it could be a mix and match situation. I think Anthony Nunez would be second on that list. More prospects on the way. The Giants are promoting both Bryce Eldridge and catcher, Jesus Rodriguez. Eldridge in 30 games at AAA this year was hitting 333 with five homers, a 963, of the ball like he always does, but also striking out 30% of the time, which I think is close to what we should expect. He is 43% rostered, you till only on CBS. I think you'll gain first base eligibility pretty soon. I would imagine Scott is Bryce Eldridge just a must add anywhere you can get your hands on him. I wouldn't say that. I mean, Roto, sure, you got somebody hit her spots to fill. The strike at Ray Day Imagine is going to be a problem in points leagues two. I don't think it's wrong to pick him up anywhere. It's never wrong to gamble on upside. He has a ton of it. Where's the play? Well, presumably they're going to move Casey Schmidt into a super utility roll, bounce him around and have devours at first. Eldridge at DH have them trade off some. I mean, I don't think they're calling him up to sit on the bench. That wouldn't make a lot of sense. He had gone hot at AAA. I'd been saying all along in the prospects report. I thought the first hot streak would get him up 14 for 28. That's 500 batting average quick math there. With three home runs in his last seven games. Well, the strikeouts were there. The strikeouts are always going to be there. He's six foot seven, but he hits the ball hard enough that you hope it's an on issue. And giants are willing to give him another shot. Yeah, I've had him stashed in Towers a 15 team road league this whole time. And he was stashed in the other two 15 team road league, I'm in by somebody else. 12 team, though, I think I'm going to make a play for him. It kind of depends too. If you have Schroerber or somebody like that in your D.H. But I mean, you hope Eldridge picks up first base eventually, but I don't think he's going to be the every day first baseman. So it might take a while. I just want to petition officially for his nickname to be the horror. Eldridge horror. No, no, I like it. Yeah, that's a good one. Those terms. Yeah. The giants are also calling up 24 year old catcher, Jesus Rodriguez. He came over from the Yankees in the Camilo D'Voltre last year. 24 games at AAA this season. He was hitting 330 with two homers, four steals in 840 OPS more walks than strikeouts. I hit the ball very hard at all, but it's an intriguing skill set. He does run a little bit as a catcher. He can play all over the infield too. It's just a very intriguing kind of player here. Chris, you have any interest in Jesus Rodriguez and like two catcher leagues? Did they announce what the concurrent move for this would be? I did not see that. I'm trying to figure out how he's going to play much. Yeah, because if they get rid of Eric cost, then it's easy. He's just a backup catcher. Maybe he plays elsewhere. If they don't, then it's like, is this a utility guy? He's not going to play much second base. I would guess because they have now Casey Schmidt going into utility role and Luis Rias is actually. Have you guys noticed Luis Rias has been like the most valuable defensive player in baseball this season? It's like one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a month. I don't know if his Rodriguez is a good defensive outfielder, but their weakest spot in the outfields probably center. I would guess he's probably not good enough to play a bunch of center field in. He has played back bell parks. He has played everywhere except for center and right field. So I would guess in short, it's just not going to be a lot of playing time unless they're just kind of souring on Patrick Bailey. He's a phenomenal defensive player, probably the best of baseball. I think they're kind of leaning that way. There were a couple of reports weeks ago that like they were going to start to work in other catchers and things. So as great as he is defensively Patrick Bailey, there's no doubting that he is a future offensive player. So perhaps they're just starting to go with a youth movement and see what they can get there at catcher. So I think in like the deeper to catcher leagues, take a shot, especially if you lost out on like Augustine Ramirez or something. We'll talk about that in a second, but yeah, kind of an intriguing skill set there for Jesus Rodriguez. Spencer Strider made his return on Sunday and not so great. It was in Cores field. Didn't love the fact that it was going to be there is a first start of the season three and a third innings three runs five walks six strikeouts did get a good amount of whiffs here, but fastball velocity down a little bit. Didn't have that IVB that we were looking for. Scott, would you see here from Spencer Strider's debut? I mean, he walked way too many batters. So it's hard to it's hard to get past that through 55% of his pitches for strikes walk five batters and less than four innings. So it's yeah, that's bad. And I wouldn't expect it to continue the fastball did not look better. It looked worse as he said down another mile per hour on average down another inch of induced vertical break. It's already lost some of those. It is course. I like that's just the biggest thing I just. But I hate yeah, the velocity. But I just hate that they had his debut come of course feel because there's just. It's so they're so little you can do from an analysis standpoint on a start of course field now. There was one interesting development that could be positive and I wonder how much it had to do with him pitching at course field and that's that he didn't throw a slider much and instead he threw his curve ball at. Which is the reverse of how he's used those two pitches historically in fact in his heyday he hardly use the curve ball at all. And managed to get 14 whips on 87 pitches. That's a great with rate. Of course he had no trouble getting whips at a high rate last year either. But this was even higher than last year's with rate and seven of the whips came on 31% curve balls. Again, it that may have been a decision based on the thin air environment. He just didn't think the slider would break enough in the in in a course field. Maybe I don't know just guessing or and or it could be and or. He's looking to mix in that curve ball that more this year and that is one way that he could overcome. The diminished fastball is just having a second breaking ball to make make it so hitters can't just sit on that fastball and avoid the slider like that give him another look. That's that's one way this could potentially work. So I thought that was an encouraging development for strider. Did I see and it is it enough. Especially given the control issues that I want him starting next time out. No. Not at the Dodgers especially at the Dodgers. That was the next question. So 39% started on CBS. I would shy away from using Spencer Shredder this week. Ryan Pepeo will undergo season ending hip surgery on May 13th. Rest in peace to the pet boys Joe Ryan left Sunday start after just nine pitches with right elbow soreness. Not great. So we'll see what happens with Joe Ryan. Did I see do I get credit for my Pepeo bus call. No. Probably not right incomplete grade. Inca please. I mean yeah you can. All right, I'll take credit. Wow. Celebrating injuries. Not celebrating. I'm sad. I'm sad. I'm sad. Unbelievable. It is a bust. Injury victory lap. No, no, no, no, no, no. I did not see this one coming, but it sounds like maybe Chris did the Marlins option to Augustine Ramirez to triple A and are calling up prospect Joe Mac Joe Mac 23 years old 31st overall pick in 2021. He's had big power in the minors not that it showed up very much so far this year, but three true outcomes he walks a lot big pulled air tendencies. He also is a great defender apparently. Chris, what is your interest level in Joe Mac and do you hold Augustine Ramirez in two catcher leagues in two catcher leagues maybe. Because I would be surprised if he was down forever. My guess is my guess is Augustine Ramirez is not going down to work on his catching defense. My guess is Augustine Ramirez is going down to. He hasn't played first base since he got to the Marlins. The Marlins have tried to make the catcher thing work. He's the worst catcher in baseball. I think it's not actually particularly close. He's not good at anything as a catcher. Weirdly was good at challenging pitches actually this year. I'll give him credit for that. But everything else he's probably the worst in baseball and he wasn't hitting me where 167 168 games into his career he has a sub 700 OPS. We all like him. We all think he's interesting. There are things to like about him, but he's been pretty bad. And so I'm not surprised shocked that the Marlins sent him down, but I'm not surprised if that makes sense like it was shocking to see, but then you take a step back and it's like. Yeah, that actually makes perfect sense. Joe Max probably the better player right now. just based on his defense and lump. So they got to get Augustine Ramirez's swing locked in. It's just a very loose swing is the way I put it. He doesn't seem very controlled. He makes a decent amount of contact, although that's gotten worse this season in addition to a pretty bad plate discipline overall. So last year he was making hard contact and making a lot of contact. This year the whiff rate has gone up. So I think they got to figure something out. Is it get him reps of first base till he's comfortable there or is it just you're going to be a DH and you just got to get the bat going. And one way or the other, I think we'll see him again by the summer. But given the depth at the catcher position, I don't know if he's a must-deaf. I think I'll be sooner than that. I think once his back gets going, which you know, maybe at the moment he sets foot at triple A is back gets going and they keep him down for the minimum 10 days. I think it's still 10 days the minimum. Yeah, I want to drop Ramirez in two catcher leagues. Unfortunately, I think you have to drop him in one catcher leagues. I say unfortunately because you invested a decent amount in him and I still think he has a ton of upside at that position just by virtue of being a potential base dealer if he's getting on base. So you know, you just can't devote that kind of roster space to a second catcher. Gabriel Moreno just came off the aisle. There are options. There are options in one catcher leagues. It's not the greatest tragedy just given the depth there. But it is unfortunate that that investment didn't pay off and it may end up paying off for somebody else later in the year, but them's the breaks. I do think there's a like a path for Ramirez, even if Joe Maxx sticks behind the plate. Liam Hicks has first base experience. Even this year, he's played some first base and so they could just have Hicks the first base. Ramirez at DH, slide counter nor be back over to third to the extent he needs to be playing at all. I think it'll be fine as long as Ramirez does his job just thinking rest of season. You're great. Who are you guys more interested in a two catcher league Joe Mac or Jesus Rodriguez? Joe Mac, I think. Don't play more, I think. I'm not that interested in Mac. I think he's going to be a defensive standout with some pop. He's like a classic number two catcher. Like the classic archetype of the number two catcher for most of the time I've played fantasy baseball has been a guy who hits two-thirty and you just hope he gets 20 home runs instead of 15 home runs. I think that's what Joe Mac's going to be. That's a good player in real life because he should be very good defensive player. But yeah, right. I think he's a fringe fantasy. I think deep enough two catcher leagues, he's worth pursuing. Kind of like an Austin Wells profile, but maybe you're like more raw power than Austin Wells. Cal Raleigh, Miss Saturday and Sunday with right side soreness, the Mariners say that he is day to day. Garrett Crochet underwent an MRI on his left shoulder that came back clean. On Sunday, he was able to play catch for the first time since going on the IL. Jackson Trio left a rehab game this weekend after fouling a ball off his foot. X-rays came back negative. Josh Hader will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. Ben Rice left early Sunday with a left hand contusion X-rays came back negative. It was another big weekend for Ben Rice two more homers. He had a steal on Saturday. He is hitting 343 with 12 homers and a 1214 OPS early on the season. Ranger Swares, Ron Harris Swares. You know, someone tweeted at me that like the Red Sox broadcasters call him Ranger. So I don't know what to call him anymore. He said his name is Ron Hare. Yeah, he's fine if people call him Ranger. But his name is Ron Harris. So yeah. Well, he left early Sunday with right hamstring tightness. He is not expected to go for an MRI. And the hope is that he will make his next scheduled start. Jacob Mizierowski left early Friday with a right hamstring cramp. He participated in running drill Saturday and said that he felt fine. Before leaving Friday, he threw five and a third. No hit innings with H-trike outs. He has been awesome. Nico Horner left Friday with neck tightness. But then return to the lineup on Sunday. Why Langford will be shut down for the next week after aggravating his injured forearm. The Cubs reinstated at Daniel Palencia from the aisle so you can get him back in your lineups. The Braves are planning to activate rice alleglaceous prior to Tuesday's game so you can get him in. Yoan DeRon hit 100 miles per hour in a bullpen on Saturday. And he may return in the next couple days without a rehab assignment. That has not been confirmed. Would you guys start Yoan DeRon in weekly line up leagues this week? I think I'd lean no. But he could get three saves even if he comes back on Tuesday or Wednesday. So I lean yes. If you need an interview. I think in roto, I lean yes. And head to head. I lean no because the the stakes for starting a goose egg and head to head are much higher. AJ Hinch said Saturday that Kenley Janssen is day to day with right groin and abdomen soreness so Kyle Finnegan just a name to look at there in deeper category leagues. Carlos Rodon will make his decks rehab start Tuesday at triple A and it could be his last before rejoining the Yankees. Christian Walker was back in the lineup Sunday after leaving Saturday. He took a fast ball off the head during his final at bat. So scary stuff there. But he did pass all concussion testing. Yandee Diaz left Friday with left side tightness and then he missed both Saturday and Sunday. Starter sit Yandee Diaz this week. I mean, I'd rather sit him. It depends on how deep it is and what alternatives you have. But if I have a first baseman, I can slot in. He's lean off that played safe. The raise our transitioning Griffin Jax to a starter role. He threw two and two thirds scoreless innings. He built up to 45 pitches this weekend. They have had success with this type of move before Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen. They were relievers turned starters by the Tampa Bay Rays. So do you have any interest here in Griffin Jax 23% roster? I was picking him up in the 15 team or sure. I picked him up in Towers. Yeah. He has six pitches. So like I don't even, he's going to show us a version of him that wasn't even possible in relief. And I know he had some good years starting in his minors. I don't think his last one was very good. But he had some good years as a starter in the minors. That was a long time ago. But yeah, the raise, I trust them to make good decisions when it comes to implementing pitchers. And I think Jax has the arsenal for it and so sure. And leagues were pitching his deep or in points leagues where he can take advantage of that relief pitcher eligibility from a starter. Yeah, I'd go for it. I would just say it would only be 15 team leagues for me right now. I would need to see what he actually looks like trying to throw 90 pitches. Yeah. And it's going to take a while. He only got up to 45 pitches this weekend. So, you know, maybe next time out, it's like 50 to 60. The next one after that, he's like up over 70. So it's going to take some time. Andra Vaughn appears on track to return on Monday. He missed the first month with a Hamay bone fracture in his left hand. He is 34% rostered. Chris, this is someone I know that you have interest in at least in the past. Andra Vaughn, what do you think there? Yeah. I mean, he had a very good run with the Brewers last season. They showed no inclination to not hand him the starting job this year. And then he had an awesome spring. And then he got her four played appearances into a season. And we have no idea whether he can replicate what he did last season. But I still think he's a pretty interesting player. So I'm going to hope that Andra Vaughn gets a legitimate chance here. I know they've gotten, you know, decent production out of their first base alternatives. But Jake Barracks can play in the outfield. And I think Andra Vaughn's probably still the highest upside of their first base options. So I would hope they give him a real chance here. The Reds plans call of Chase Petty to start Monday against the Cubs. He has, he gets whiffs in the miners, but everything else not so good. So I don't think we have interest in Chase Petty. Lars Newbar is on track to begin a rehab assignment. As soon as next week, the hope is that he'll return late May early June. So a deeper name to stash their Lars Newbar and other names who went to the aisle this weekend. You say Kikuchi with left shoulder inflammation. Her mon mark has with right forearm nerve irritation. Ronnie Mauricio with a fractured thumb and twins reliever Coltsans with a right forearm strain. Let's take our final break. When we return, we've got waiver wire pitchers, hitters from the weekend. Starter, sick questions. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball. Today, let's talk waiver wire pitchers from the weekend aside from Logan Henderson. Some names in shallow leagues. We spoke about him, but no assaults. He kept the Padres off the board. Six shutout innings, three walks, two strikeouts, only six whiffs in this one. But has looked better after that first start. 253 ERA 103 Whip for him. 79% rostered. He's at the Angels this week. Kyle Harrison, another strong start. He was at the Nationals. Six innings, one run, five strikeouts here. 13.3% swinging strike rate is a career high. And he gets the Yankees this week. Unfortunately, Max Meyer was masterful against the Phillies. Seven shutout innings, only one hit and one walk. Seven strikeouts. He have 15 whiffs on 83 pitches. 59% rostered. And he gets the Orioles this week. Chris, how would you rank Max Meyer, Kyle Harrison and no assaults? I would probably go Harrison Meyer shultz. I think Harrison and Meyer are closer to each other than shultz is to them just because I think I think Shultz is really interesting. interesting in the long term. And I think there's a lot of upside there, but he just doesn't look like he's all that close to figuring it out. He's just not missing a lot of bats right now, which seems like the one thing he should be able to do. So I'll put him a tear down, but Meyer, I think, is a lot more interesting than he ever has been at the major league level because he has gone basically all in on spamming sliders and sweepers. He's up to about 55% usage across those two pitches. Sliders always been his best pitch and remains his best pitch. It's a pitch he can throw against lefties against righties for whiffs for called strikes. It's wild how good that pitch is. And after that, it's never really been anything all that impressive, but the sweepers been really good for him. The whiff rate's been about 38% this season. I think you have five whiffs with it in this start. And so the interplay between those two pitches has me pretty interested in Max Meyer because his fastball has never been great. His changeup has never been more than a show me pitch. But if these two pitches can carry him, can give him the slider he can throw in any count, the sweeper can be a different putaway pitch. I'm pretty interested in what Max Meyer's doing right now. I don't think it's a sub three ERA kind of guy, but add a run to it and it's a 368 ERA and close to 10K per nine. And that seems possible for him. So I like Max Meyer quite a bit. I think they're almost roster. I think I'd rank them in the same order Chris did. I think Meyer passed Schultz with this start. I think Schultz is like, there are some warts with Schultz, the woks and the lack of swinging strikes. But I think he's shown enough that I want to see it through with him. But Meyer, he's down to a 260 ERA 103 whip 9.7 K per nine. I feel like sometimes we get so deep in the weeds that sometimes we overlook the simplicity of that of that stat line. 267 103 9.7. He hadn't gone even six innings in a start prior to this seven inning outing. So I just felt start to start. Well, how functional is this for fantasy? But you know, he goes seven. He has those numbers. Yeah, I think Max Meyer absolutely must roster at this point. Two names that feel more like streamers, but I don't know, maybe high end streamers moving forward. Mitch Keller had a great start against the Reds. Seven innings, one run, six strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 104 pitches. Three earned runs are fewer in six of seven starts for him. He is at the debacks this week. And Steven Matt's another quality start. This one against the giant six innings, one run, two walks to one strikeout. Looks bad on the surface. But he did have 14 whiffs on 89 pitches here. He's a spark. He's at the Red Sox this week, which means Revenge game for Steven Matt Scott. Who do you like more about you? I forgot he was a Redsuck. Mitch Keller was Steven Matt. Oh, he did get traded there at the end of last year, didn't he? Yeah. Yeah. And back when we were done carrying a bat in fantasy, because he was a reliever, I think we should back. I think we should probably still be there. Yeah, I mean, look, I think I think at the long run, you're going to regret picking up Keller or Matt's. If you ask me to choose one rest of season, I'm going to say Keller. All right. Some deeper names here. Aaron Savali, a quality start against the Guardians Revenge game. Michael McGreevy shut down the Dodgers six shut out innings with three strikeouts there. Connor Prelyp was solid against the Blue Jays five innings, two runs, four strikeouts. And Sean Burke, a great outing here at the Padre six shut out with eight strikeouts. And he's been doing some interesting things. So far this season, maybe deserves a little bit more attention. They're Sean Burke. Chris, how would you rank these deeper ish names? Sean Burke, Connor Prelyp, Michael McGreevy and Aaron Savali. I think I would go Prelyp, Burke McGreevy Savali. There were, I intentionally left some pauses in there to let you know that I do not really have any interest in McGreevy or Savali. You'd have to be, I think even in a 15 team league, I have to think I have better options than those two guys. But Prelyp has a really good slider. And there's some interesting things about his fastball. I think it's just going to be, even the good start are going to be hard to get more than five innings out of him. Burke, you know, his fastball is pretty interesting. And he's getting a lot more whiffs on the slider this year. And he's got a new cutter. So I don't think any of these guys are great. But I think Prelyp and Burke are at least interesting enough that they're worth looking at and some deep reliefs. Another big thing that stood out to me for Sean Burke is that his control has been much better. He's down to 1.8 walks per nine. His location plus is up from 101 to 108. That is a massive jump. So he's locating very well and gets the mariners this week. It's not like a terribly scary offense. So in a deeper league, I'd be all right with streaming Sean Burke this week. Some deeper names. Part two, Christian Scott looked pretty good at the Angels five innings. Two runs, eight strikeouts to zero walks. He gets the Rockies in course field this week. That is the problem there. The Red Sox called up this kid Jake Bennett. And he picked up his first Major League win against the Astros. He's 25 years old. A second round pick came over from the Nats. This offseason five innings one run. Three strikeouts there. Kder Monterey pitch well against the Rangers. Six and two thirds one run. Only two strikeouts. Griffin Canning made his Padre's debut on Sunday. He was solid against the White Sox five innings one run. Seven strikeouts. 16 whiffs on 73 pitches. His first start back from a torn Achilles. And honestly, all in all, a very good one for him. And Walbert Urania pitch well against the Mets. Five innings one run. Four strikeouts. So Scott, a bunch of deeply names, but any of these stand out to you. Christian Scott, Jake Bennett, Kder Monterey, Griffin Canning. And Walbert Urania. I would say the one who's most interesting as Christian Scott, I think he has the most capacity for strikeouts. And if I'm going to bet on an obscure pitcher who probably isn't going to amount to much, that's that is the most likely variable to change that. How good you are missing bats. Canning has shown that kind of potential in the past. And obviously he didn't this start. So I'm open-minded to him mattering, but obviously he's been around a while. He's been pretty mediocre. I'm not moved to act on that now. Outside of the very deepest leagues, Arania has shown some swing and miss ability. Walbert Urania, especially with that change up, though it wasn't. It didn't get big results in this latest star. So I'm keeping an eye on him too, but these are more curious. These are more curiosities, I would say, than actual assets at this point. I will say for some reason the stuff models love Griffin Canning's start. The pitcher list version had like an A-stuff grade for him. The pitch profiler one was I think like a 108 stuff plus, which is a very good post. He was like, "That's with everything." Yeah, I don't quite know what was going on there, 'cause I don't think Griffin Canning's ever been like a stuff model darling. But yeah, the pitch profiler one, one 10 stuff plus. The care keeping an eye on that. Of the pitches, didn't seem that different to me. The change up had three extra inches of drop. That's not that's notable. But it's not like it was the change up was, the star pitch of this outing. Yeah, I just, I want to see more. Yeah, no, I'm Griffin. I'm putting that down as a, huh? Yeah, okay. I kind of think more than a Griffin Canning is good thing. Would you guys hesitate to drop any of these pitchers? Zach Galen, Jack Flierty, Merrill Kelly, Luis Castillo, or Ret Louder? I drop Zach Galen and at least one league. I drop Jack Flierty, multiple leagues. There was one league where I tried not to drop Merrill Kelly, 'cause I still want to give him, oh yeah. The benefit of the doubt, he's the one I'm least likely to drop. But I mean, Castillo, I think we're there. I think he's just, at that point in his career, look, at home, I think he'll still be useful as a streamer. But I do not think Luis Castillo is someone you need to roster. I will rank them in the order I'm most likely to drop them and that would be Jack Flierty, Zach Galen, Luis Castillo, Merrill Kelly. Oh, sorry, I forgot about Red Louder. That would be, Red Louder, Jack Flierty, Zach Galen, Luis Castillo, Merrill Kelly. I don't know that I drop any of them for the previous group. We just talked about the Griffin Canyon group. Yeah. Anyone else we've talked about on this podcast is a potential ad. I'd be fine. Red Louder really got all the regression in. Oh, gee. Like what? Just like the last two starts his year, it was like sub three before the most recent start, I think. Yeah. Let's get into WaiverWire hitters here. This Ildemaro Vargas thing, it is so unexpected, but he had another four hit game on Friday, and that extended a 27 game hitting streak at the time. He did go hit list the rest of the weekend, but he's still hitting 382 with six home runs, a 1063 OPS, expected stats, love them. He's up to 78% roster, so there's not much more you could do with him. but in the shallowest of leagues, like 10 teamers, or even points leagues, like does Ildemar of Argus does need to be rostered while he's hitting like this? - I am struggling to think of something more unexpected than this 'cause there have been like, Aristides Aquino had, you know, a great like three weeks, but he was young and had real some prospect category and Ries Heinz kind of the similar though. Ildemar of Argus is a 35 year old, like, career 640 OPS guy, and all of the underlying numbers suggest he's been one of the best hitters in baseball this season. I have no idea what to make of that. It's probably not real and it'll probably fall apart at some point, but I'm totally fine with riding it until it does. - It actually kind of reminds me of Pharrell to Pradomo last year. I mean, I understand Vargus is eight years older. - Yeah, that's something like 10, 8 to 10 years older. - Yeah, Pradomo was a 25 year old top prospering. - It's similar in that like, the exo velocities are still bad, but Ildemar of Argus is hardly striking out at all. He's pulling the ball in the air much, much better than ever. And, look, if I have, you talked about even in shallow leagues, if I have Freddie Freeman at first base and Catelle Marte at second base, those are the two positions where Vargus is eligible. I probably don't have any interest in picking him up. I probably need my precious roster space on another arm or whatever. - But if I had Matt McClain at second base or I think first base, there's enough decent options to go around in a shallow league. Like, I could see a scenario where somebody wants to pick up Vargus, maybe they start him over slumping then he past Guantino or something. I think past Guantino is gonna be fine in the long run. I think he homeered this weekend. - Yeah. - But I could see picking up Vargus in that scenario. Travis Bazonah is often running. He went one for four with two RBI in his first steal on Saturday then he went two for two with another stolen base on Sunday. He has started all five games since getting called up. He is 66% rostered and just wanted to see how much fab he went for in the leagues where things have run so far. So I picked him up in Tout Wars. That is a 15 team Roto League for $116 back up with 67. I overspend a little bit. We did win him in the beat FBT league for $53. That is a 12 team Roto League and then I also got him in TGFBI for $68. That is a 15 team Roto League. How much were you guys putting in for Travis Bazonah this weekend? - Not that much. I didn't really have any range. - One league I had, Glaber Torres in my middle in field spot and I wasn't sure how available he was gonna be so I think I put. I don't know, $40 to $50 down on Bazonah. Like my top waiver wire targets in the deep Roto leagues where our fab has already run Logan Henderson and Jack Perkins if he was still out there. Other safe sources like that. - We got a big game from Jason Dominguez on Sunday, three for five with his first home run. He added two doubles and three RBI. Both doubles came against left handed pitching which I thought was encouraging because he has struggled against lefties. So far in his career, the Yankees play seven games this week, two lefties on the schedule. So my assumption is Dominguez will only play five games but you get exposure to a really high Yankees lineup right now. 49% roster, do you guys think that number should be higher for Dominguez? I think then we start to get into some like three outfielder formats there for Jason Dominguez. What do you think about that? - I would say any five outfitter league. If you're in a five outfitter league where he's not, rostered Adam. I can't make the argument for three outfielder league right now. - Yep, a couple of their names here. Signs of life from Bryson Stott, one for three with a sock into shoe on Friday. He homeworked again on Sunday. He has two homers and six deals. He's also hitting two 11 with a 590 OPS. Casey Schmidt has been hitting well. He went two for four with an RBI and his second steal on Sunday. But yeah, there's a little bit of question about like just where does he play with Bryson or is getting called up. And we did get some signs of life from Mark Viento's two for four with a double dong four RBI on Sunday. Scott, do you have any interest here in Bryson's stock? Casey Schmidt, Mark Viento's. - By kind of when Bazzana Schmidt was the other one I hope to get, again, that's a 15 team league. I'm not sure you need to care about Schmidt and anything shallor than that, especially now that Eldridge is on board. Viento's, he had been starting consistently. His struggles, makes him sitting more often. He's been sitting more often recently for Brett Bady at first base. So I don't know. I mean, a deep enough road to league you can gamble on some power upside there, but it didn't come through last year. It had been pretty quiet this year. I don't know that Viento's is a high priority for me anywhere. - Some deeper names Jeff McNeill quietly has his batting average up over 300. He has multiple hits in four of his last five games. Marcelo Zuna, since April 14th is hitting 265 with three homers, 13 RBI and OPS around 800. Bryce Matthews has been doing some things with the Astros lately, last 12 games for him. He's hitting 300 with two homers, nine RBI and two steals and JJ Bladay, homered on Saturday. He has started five straight and six of the last seven. The reds play seven games this week. Just one lefty on the schedule. So perhaps Bladay will get some playing time. Chris, do you have any deep league interest in JJ Bladay, Bryce Matthews, Marcelo Zuna or Jeff McNeill? - I think some of these guys are interesting. I added Jeff McNeill or at least I tried to in one league. Second base, hand out field eligibility, batting average help. He's got a 296XBA. So I think he's gonna be moderately useful. I don't think he's gonna give you much besides that, but that's fine because you need some batting average help. I think Bryce Matthews is interesting. He still swings and misses too much. So I can't buy in and anything but deep leagues. And then Bladay, the one thing I'm looking at though is you brought this up last week. No, I mean, Marta has just been red hot at AAA. I do wonder how long until they shake things up and bring him back. - He was the top prospect to stash. - Yeah. - In this last prospect, obviously. It's not prospect anymore, but yeah. I feel like, I mean, Reese Hines hasn't done anything. - It doesn't anything, yeah. They've been playing Marta, let me see if that's changed much over the weekend. They be playing No Elvie Marta in center field. - Okay. - Some which I know there's a prevailing theory, I don't know if it's the prevailing. There's been a theory I've heard expressed more and more of the past couple of years where when you're converting an infielder to the outfield center field is actually easiest because of, it's, you read the angles easier. - The ball doesn't slice as much when it's hit to center field. - So maybe the primary thing. They seem to be, they seem to think Marta has the athleticism and it's more just outfield instincts that need help. And let me see if he's played mostly center field or just some center field. It looks like most, about half and half, but more recently center. - That's interesting. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I was looking to add Noelvie Marta this weekend as like a, you know, not prospect, but minor leager right now I guess to stash because I still think there's a good amount of power and speed upside there with a Noelvie Marta. So we'll see. What do we do with Blank? And the first Blank is Brian Wu. He got roughed up by the Royals. Six innings, six runs, two strikeouts, two homers allowed in this one, lots of hard contact. And his strikeout rate is down a lot so far. So Chris, what's going on with Brian Wu? What do we do? - Go back in time and not draft him coming off his career year. - Sure. - Other than that, keep starting him 'cause I think he's super talented and he just probably won't be as good as he was last year. I don't see any really good reason why his strikeout rate has completely collapsed. He's gone from 27% to 18%. Like maybe the 27% just wasn't sustainable. He was like a 22 to 23% guy before that. But even then, 17.5% is a huge drop off, even though the four seamer still hasn't above average with rate. And the sweeper is still getting a ton of whiffs. So I don't really have a good feel for why things have gone so wrong for Brian Wu, which makes me think that he'll just figure it out. There's nothing glaring in the profile that makes me think he's just lost it. It's just probably won't be as good as he was last year. Cole Reagan's not great at the Mariners, five and a third innings, four hits, four runs, three walks, three homers allowed in this one as well. He has three or more walks in four of seven starts this year. He was coming off one of his, well no, his best start of the season before this, but now takes another step back. Scott, what is going on with Cole Reagan? Is there anything that we can do? I mean, the biggest thing I saw here was he threw his fastball like 70% of the time. And I don't, I don't know why, but like normally if your secondaries are as good as his are, the slider, the change up especially get a ton of whiffs, you don't want to be, you don't want to be thrown less of them. Like not that he's the guy who doesn't want to be the guy. have a good fastball, but like you need the whole mix there. I think if you're going to be Cole Reagan's and I still keep wondering if you know he took the liner off the thumb. I know the slider usage in particular has been down. He didn't throw it at all in the 11th shirt. What was 11th Shrek out game? Two-starting was it zero sliders in the 11th Shrek out game? Zero Shrek out against the zero sliders. Yeah, there's not throw a slider. You're right. The Roy, the Royals. So I just want to hear in this start. I still wonder if he's nursing that injury. Like if if if he got really used an eye else tent to get 100% and have his full arsenal. I don't know. I can't I can't make a strong enough case to sit him. Given that he did have the 11th Shrek out two turns ago. And even in this one, it was eight Shrek out. It was just you know the RA and whip were not great. A lot of hard hit balls, a lot of walks. It's been the issue for them all year. 15% strike walk rates on the season is just crazy high. And I think the barrel rates like 15% to 17% barrel rate for for Cole Reagan. So that is it's really bad stuff. He's earning it right now. Speaking of walks, Kyle Bradish. Some more walks from him as well. At the Yankees four innings, five runs allowed four walks, four Shrek outs, two homers allowed, three or more walks in six of seven starts here. Over five walks per nine. His location plus is 95 right now. Like he just he is really struggling with control. And this is something that hasn't really been a big issue for him in his career. 36% started. He gets the athletics this week. Chris, what do we do with Kyle Bradish? Hold him. Do we go back in time and not draft him? I mean, yeah, I'm I'm open to the possibility that we all got over our skis on Kyle Bradish. And he's not really a top 15 starting pitcher. And we just over extrapolated from some very impressive, small sample size performances over the past two seasons. I'm I still think he's going to be really good. But I think that would be a perfectly reasonable conclusion to draw from what we've seen from him so far. The idea that he's just not good forever. Now I just have a really hard time believing that because basically everything we've seen from Kyle Bradish since 2023 has been at least a must start pitcher. And unless he's hurt, I don't see any reason why he can't get back to there. He just needs to start pitching better. And that is the worst kind of thing that you can say about a pitcher from our perspective. Because there's not really anything you can look to except once he starts doing it, right? Like with Cole Reagan's we can say, well, once he starts incorporating those secondaries more in that should be a sign that he's feeling a little better, right? And Bradish is just like you just have to stop like throwing first pitch balls to literally every single hitter. I didn't see his I didn't watch his start this time, but the first start this week. I think it was like seven first pitch strikes on 20 something hitters. It was really, really bad. And so he just needs to start pitching better. And that's not that is simple, but it's not easy to put it another way. I don't see evidence that he is broken here beyond repair. Yeah. Like it's not like his velocities are way down his most important pitch isn't moving in the way he used to move. Like the main thing is he's like throwing way too many balls, not like you said, not getting ahead of hitters. And it's like, yeah, so remain bad if he continues to do that. But like that's just not the way baseball seasons normally play out. You have ebbs and flows. And so like I've seen with Kyle Bradish. He's probably the player, you know, in my ex-feed that I see the most frustration over whenever he pitches. And it's like, can I drop him? He is the latest player that people are begging us to drop. Like he's dropped him. You can absolutely drop him. All I can say, like I can't run your team for you. And I can understand at this point, like it's he's not cool. Raykins. He's Kyle Bradish. So if you really want to drop him, I'm not going to tell you you can't. But I will tell you if I saw him dropped in any league of mine, I would try to pick him up because and it's like, oh, well, what evidence have you seen some people, you know, respond when I say that? What evidence have you seen that he's going to be okay? Are we just going to forget everything else he's done in his career? Right. That's previous three years history history history. History didn't start on March 27th. Yeah. It's it's just it's it's frustrating. Honestly, one of maybe the most frustrating part of the job is the collective amnesia that comes over baseball fans at the start of every season. Where they just decide that even though they've seen countless times in the past, a slow start still turn into a pretty normal season for a player. They just presume this is the year it's not going to be so. This is the year where what we've seen through the first six weeks is exactly what's going to be forever more. No matter how talented the player was, no matter what kind of track record he has, no matter what the underlying data like in, you know, there's that that's a big umbrella, but you know, in this case, like velocity and stuff for Bradge, no matter what it looks like, this is the time things are that it's that a tiny six week sample is just the permanent outcome for the player. I understand he hasn't been good the last six weeks, but there's 20 weeks to go. There's 21 weeks to go and the highest probability of how Kyle Bradish is going to look over those final 21 weeks is like Kyle Bradish. So I would still pick him up if I saw him drop to one of my leaks. Go look at fan graphs, leader boards up to this point last year and just search by ERA and tell me whether you thought that was a good way to judge players for the rest of the season. It worked out with Yoshino B. Yamamoto and Max Fried. Tyler Malley was third in ERA last season at this point in the season. Hazel Sosardo was sixth. He had a pretty bad ERA last year. Like that's ERA is not very useful through a six start sample or seven start sample size. Yes, I think how Bradge will be better than Justin Robleski the rest of the way. Soon. Wow, I know hot take buddy. Justin Robleski. Well, that brings us into our next segment. These pictures might be better than we thought. Or maybe not Zach Wheeler, show to Imanaga, we'll warn clay homes. Justin Robleski, they all had strong starts this weekend. I feel like we could probably do just like a 20 minute segment on just these pictures, but we don't have that much time left. So Chris, you have a quick thought on some or all of these pictures who might be better than we thought. Okay. Imanaga and Warren, I think are fairly straightforward. I think they are better than we thought they were this season. I think both of these guys are just pitching better. Imanaga, I have a better sense of why that is because I think he just got hurt and got the railed last year and he doesn't have a huge margin for error. Warren, I'm not quite so sure. He gets a lot of swinging strikes. So I'm a lot of a lot of strikes, a lot of called strikes. He doesn't get a lot of swinging strikes. So I wonder how sustainable the strike outrate is. Like you have to be able to put guys away. I don't think he's an 11k per nine guy. So I don't think he's in elite pitcher, but I think he's good. Wheeler feels like Brandon Wooder from last year all over again. The velocity was down even further in the second start. And it just didn't matter. He got 14 whiffs on 94 pitches, including seven on his four seamer, which was down two and a half miles per hour from last year. Maybe it doesn't matter. I don't know. I genuinely don't know. I'm going to continue to assume that losing two and a half three miles per hour off your fastball will affect your performance. It didn't for Brandon Wooder last year. He was arguably as good as he's ever been. Maybe it will continue to be the same for Zach Wheeler. Who is a similar type of pitcher? Well, it's got a lot more weapons than Wooder did. Yeah, but it's still very fastballed, a very four seamer sinker dependent, veteran pitcher, amazing control. If anybody's going to make that work, it's that archetype, but I'm still going to bet against it. So I don't know. I'm going to say Zach Wheeler's probably not going to be a must-start pitcher moving forward, but it'll be good. Like I'm not saying he's going to be useless, but I think it's more 40-ish rather than top 20 or certainly top 10. Clay Holmes, I don't think he's very good. I don't think that should be controversial. We saw it last year. He had stretches where he was good because that can happen. The ground ball pitchers, but it doesn't have great control. He doesn't get strikeouts. He just gets ground balls. Eventually that will stop working, or at least it will be a headache. And then there is nothing about Justin Roblesky's current level of success that is sustainable. I don't. Like we can't keep getting away with it. He's not. He can't keep getting away with it. He won't. He won't. That's the line. Like I don't know. I did it. I looked it up. All right. Last year, tell me you, Kisagano had a 15 or 13% strikeout rate at this point in the season and a three year array. Tyler Malley had a 119 ERA this time last year. [BLANK_AUDIO] In 2024, it was Jose Bereos and Jordan Hicks who had sub-2 ERAs without getting any strikeouts. Wade Miley has done this like six different times throughout his career. It just these weird things happen with guys who have good control but don't get strikeouts. And there are always people who try to argue that well yeah, okay, it didn't work for the previous version of this. But here's why it will work for Justin Reblesky 'cause he's got great command. And he's backed up by a great team. And it's just, no, I'm sorry, it's not gonna happen. Like he's gonna have a four plus ERA the rest of the way unless he dramatically changes almost everything about himself as a pitcher. If you wanna bet on that, that's fine. If you wanna keep running him out there when he's getting 3.8 strikeouts per nine angst, okay, I guess play the hot hand, but there's gonna be a start where it bounces back on you. Colervin, I think last year was really hot early on and then lost it almost immediately over the course of two or three starts. I, yeah, I don't know, whatever. It's not even mad, it's funny to me. - I think I would, I would continue to use him in a point sleep as like a spark. - Sure, obviously a spark. - Yeah, I would try and look to sell high, but like, no one's gonna give you anything for him. I won't drop him, but just realize there will be a lot of give back at some point here with Justin Reblesky. We got a pitcher's duel here on Sunday between two young guns. - Time to do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Chase Burns up against Braxton Ashcraft. Chase Burns, seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts. He had 18 whiffs on 94 pitches and on the other side, Ashcraft, seven and two thirds shutout with six strikeouts for him. Scott, I feel like you've been very excited about both of these guys all year and there you go. Both of them did it against each other on Sunday. They did it. I think the most encouraging thing for Chase Burns is three of his last four starts. Now he's gone six innings or more. - Mm-hmm. - So it's, I mean, if the reds are gonna turn him loose like that, he might already be a, not gonna call him an ace, but like on the border of being an ace potentially. Not gonna rank up there yet, but like he's trending that way. And Ashcraft, gosh, I don't think I have a single share of Ashcraft. And I wasn't talking about that much in the preseason to be fair, so it makes sense. But basically since his first start, I've been like this guy's legit. And I know he had a bad turn last time out, so clearly he bounced back from this. Didn't even use his full arsenal. I used it, but didn't mix his pitches as much as usual, just really leaned on that curveball, 44%. Still got a good result. Gets a lot of ground balls, missing bats, a higher rate than last year, which we saw improve toward the end once he moved into the rotation that bad missing and actually improved. Yeah, I think Ashcraft's legit, he's working deep into games. I don't know that anyone's higher on him and then just read the me right now. All right, some other pitching leftovers, hit the music. ♪ Here comes the money ♪ ♪ Here we go, money talks ♪ ♪ Here comes the money ♪ I said I wouldn't play it until we get our first quality start and here we go. Shane O'Mac, Shane McClanahan, six shutout innings with five strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 73 pitches, did not walk anybody. That is a great sign from him. Chris Sale dominated the Rockies in course, seven innings, one run, 11 strikeouts there. Jesus, Lazardo, the by-low window, even though I said it was closed earlier in the week. It's officially closed or it's more closed than it's ever been. - Sealed right. - Six and a third innings, two runs, 10 strikeouts at the Marlins, and then a nice bounce back here for Chris Babitch at the Mariners, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts for him, Chris anything to add on, Babitch, Lazardo, Chris Sale and Shane O'Mac. - I mean, with Lazardo, like the by-low windows closed until the next time he gives up eight runs over two starts. (sniffing) I'm just being real. - Wow, he leaves your Marlins and now you hate the guy, come on. - This is who he was with the Marlins, too. - Sure. - I think there's just some inherent volatility to him that is going to make those blow-up starts a fact of life and you just gotta know what you're in for with Lazardo. It's gonna be a higher ERA than you hope for. Everything else should be very good. McLean and Great Start, awesome to see the control has been better than the last couple of starts and that's gonna be the big thing because the rays are being very careful with his pitch counts. I think there's gonna be a lot of jurasmus in here where even when he's pitching well, it's like six innings at the most and this one's 73 pitches and they pulled him after six. I don't know, I think he should still be useful moving forward but I don't think we're gonna get Ace McLean a hand again. Don't worry if anything else to say about these guys. - I really liked the zero walks from McLean a hand and the fact that he got whips on his fastball in the start, eight whips on eight of his 14 whips came on that fastball. So that was a really, really good sign there for Shane O'Mac. Some hitting left overs, Pete Alonzo is coming around. He homeward both Friday and Saturday. He had two hits on Sunday as well. Jaren Durand homeward twice this weekend and has let off six of the past seven games. Byron Bucston, he continues to rake. He had two more home runs this weekend. He added a steal on Sunday. Jordan Walker, he is heating back up four for four with a steal on Friday, two for four with his 10th home run on Saturday. Julio Rodriguez, he is off to a better start than usual. He had two home runs with four RBI on Friday. Cody Belinger had a monster game on Saturday. Four for four, two socks in the shoe, three runs for RBI. If you're only wearing, well no, it's two socks, but I guess if you're Scott, make sure they're the ankle socks. - Two socks stand a shoe. - Yeah. - You ever walk around with just one shoe on? It's disorienting. - It is. - Yeah, much, much better that I would rather that though than walking around with two shoes on and only one sock. - That's crazy. - That's what I think that's the scenario that led to the ankle sock discussion. - Yeah. - I mean, you would much rather have, like out in public, you would much rather have. - Yeah, I guess, but man. - A sockless shoe than a shoeless sock. - Yeah, outside. - Outside, but not inside. - Yeah. - Where's the shoes inside? - No, inside you just take the offending shoe off and then you're fine. - Wearing a shoe. - You wearing a shoe inside Frank? - No. - No. - Wearing a shoe with no socks. - No, it doesn't matter where it's inside. - I mean, you can't in New York City. Like it's just the sidewalks are, you don't know what you're dragging it. We are a shoes off immediately household. My wife tries to play cool and guess her over. They're like, shoes off, shoes off, and she's like, whatever you want. I'm like, shoes off, just trying to be nice. Shea Langleers, he continued his awesome start, double dong on Saturday for him. Connor Griffin posted a for hit game, the first of his career on Saturday and all the sudden his numbers look much better than before. Austin Riley, he listened to Friday's podcast. He also got to hit in course fields, so that was nice. Socking to shoe for him on Saturday. He had two hits on Friday as well. Mickey Moniac, he continues to break as well. He had three home runs this weekend. Also a huge weekend for Chase the Lauder, four for four on Friday. Then he home again on Sunday. He has multiple hits in four straight. And all of a sudden he's hitting 304 with a 946 OPS. So shout out to Chase the Lauder. Call to the bull pin on Friday for the Rangers. Jacob Latz picked up his third save and he has the last three saves for the Rangers. Jacob Junis does not have a save since April 12th. So. I think I dropped like 160 bucks on him and the TGFBI. It's one of my all time worst bids. I picked up Junis I think for like 80 or 90 bucks in a few spots. I finally dropped him this weekend. So. Just awful. Yeah. Yeah, I think you can go ahead and drop him. Let's see what it was. Oh, sorry. It's Brad Keller for 141 just as bad. Oh, geez. Four of the rays on Friday, Brian Baker struck out one for his eighth save. 72% roster still out there in a few leagues. He looks like the race closer for the braves on Friday. Robert Suarez picked up his fourth save, but rice, a leglacious expected to return on Tuesday. For the Metz on Friday, Devon Williams struck out two for his third save. He desperately needed that for the Brewers on Saturday. Trevor McGill a clean a thinning it. Then it was Agner Arrebae who allowed a hit in the ninth but picked up his third save. This still feels like the formula for now. I understand things could change, but still feels like McGill and the eighth Arrebae in the ninth for the Brewers. For the Astros on Saturday, it was left the Brian King who picked up his second save. Eniel De Los Santos recorded five outs across the sixth and seventh innings. So Brian King the guy until Josh Hader is back. For the twins on Sunday, Justin Topa allowed two runs but picked up his second save. Twins ballpen as mess. Nationals on Sunday, Gus Varland. He came on for the final out of the eighth inning with a two run lead. He then started the ninth. He got the first out. He allowed a hit. He was replaced by Richard Lovelady who picked up his first save. That was just a lefty thing, I think. Yeah, but that's what the nationals do. They play a lot of magic stuff. But I think it was three lefties in a row came up when Varland gave up the hit. So my guess is like Varland would get the next save for the nationals. But they do mix and match quite a bit. For the giants on Sunday, Ryan Walker got the eighth. with a one run lead, he'll out of run on a walk in a hit. He took his third blown save. He just has not been very good. Like he just doesn't really deserve to be the closer, but I don't know who else does. - I've been holding on to Keaton win in those 15 team roto leagues. Like he hasn't gotten his chance yet, but I feel like he has to at some point. - For the Dodgers on Sunday Tanner Scott got the ninth inning with a three run lead, he struck out two for his second save. - I do want to point out there, Alex Vesia hasn't worked later than the seventh inning in a game since he got those two saves. - Well, Scott's previous two appearances were in the seventh also. - So it's. - I think those were games that they were losing, but yeah, it is still kind of weird. - Mm-hmm. - So. - But I was just pointing out it's probably not Vesia. It may not be Tanner Scott all the time, but. - Yeah. - It's not. - Scott's not the one to bet on. - Yeah, I think I don't know how reliably he's gonna be converting saves, I don't know. - To stream or not to stream on Monday, Jansen Junk against the Phillies, Nick Martinez against the Blue Jays, Shane Bos at the Yankees Chad Patrick at the Cardinals, JR Richie at the Mariners. - Richie. - I'm gonna go. - Richie and Junk. - Well, Martinez. - Junk's a better version of Martinez. - I think Martinez is a better version of Junk. - Maybe. - I'm not gonna fight you on it. - I would rank them Richie Martinez Junk for Monday. - Sure. - Yeah, okay. That was my initial inclination too. - On Tuesday, we have Luis Severino at the Phillies, Chris Bassett at the Marlins, Kate Cavali against the Twins, Elma Rodriguez against the Rangers, Andrew Abbott at the Cubs, James Tion against the Reds, Brandon Sprote at the Cardinals, Eric Fettie at the Angels and Wardo Rodriguez home against the Pirates. - Gotta go Cavali one here. - I think I'd go Tion too. - Yeah, I guess that's fine. - Then Bassett three might be the answer for me. - I think I'd go Abbot at the Cubs, but it's risky. - Yeah. - I think a lot of them. - Luis Severino at the Phillies might be okay too. - I was thinking that too. He looked better at his last two starts, but there was some blow up potential there as well. So yeah, I would go Cavali and then probably Tion Severino, but those Tion and Severino just proceed with caution. We are gonna wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank, thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. 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