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Andrew Painter vs. Jacob Lopez, Andy Pages Replacements & More! (8/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

88m 58s

Andrew Painter vs. Jacob Lopez, Andy Pages Replacements & More! (8/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

The Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on August 24th covers key player performances, waiver wire adds, and injury updates. Andrew Painter is highlighted as a must-add after a dominant start against the Cardinals, where his fastball gained induced vertical break, leading to 20 swinging strikes. Blake Snell continues his hot streak with three straight quality starts, solidifying his value as a top pitcher down the stretch. Kate Anderson’s debut was solid but raised concerns about his fastball velocity and shape, suggesting he may be a top-40 starter rather than an ace. Andy Pahez’s fractured hand opens playing time for Alec Thomas, but fantasy owners should drop Pahez in redraft leagues. Waiver wire priorities include Jacob Lopez and Andrew Painter, both around 40% rostered, with Lopez boasting a 2.33 ERA over his last seven starts. Droppable pitchers include Bryce Miller and Nicola Doley, while Kyle Leahy faces innings limits. Start/sit decisions favor Logan Webb, Mackenzie Gore, and Shane McClanahan, but Eduardo Rodriguez and Jose Soriano are sits due to tough matchups and poor peripherals. Hitters like Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, and Fernando Tatis Jr. are surging, with Tatis posting a 1.100 OPS in the second half. Injury updates include Garrett Crochet potentially returning as a reliever and Joe Musgrove as a stash. Bullpen situations for the Orioles and Royals remain unclear, with no definitive closer. Overall, the episode emphasizes strategic roster moves as the fantasy playoffs approach.

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Speaker 2Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, rushing deep left field. This is where the walk-a-walk... Got a fantasy question? Email fantasybaseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now, here's Frank Scott. What's up, Ed?
Speaker 1Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Monday, August 24th. I am Frank Snapple, joined by Scott White and the returning Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have Kate Anderson's debut to talk about, waiver wire ads and drops, Andy Pahez replacements, unfortunately, and much more. Chris, you're back. How was the vacay? How was Camden Yards?
Speaker 3It was nice. I went to Washington, D.C. I went to... Why did I go to Washington, D.C.? I went to Washington, D.C. for something. There was something we were... Oh, I saw My Chemical Romance in concert. That was cool. That was fun. And then I went to Camden Yards, caught the Yankees and O's. The O's. The Yankees. I saw the podcast House of R recorded a live podcast episode there, so that was cool. It was Camden Yards. Lovely. Starting to show its age a little bit. The only thing I will... My only critique is it's like... Because it was the first of the new stadiums. The first of the modern. Yeah, the first of the modern, because it's 30 years old now, which is crazy.
Speaker 4And you're saying it's old. I mean, it's 30 years old. What has happened? What has happened to time?
Speaker 3The concourses aren't open to the field. That's the one... Comparing it to Citi Field, which is one of my favorites of the newer stadiums, I think that's the only thing Camden Yards doesn't have going for it. Everything is beautiful. It's great sidelines, everything. That's the one thing is the concourses are closed. At least the two that I was in. Maybe there's ones that are open. But that was my only critique. But I think it's a top five ballpark that I've been to. Had a great time. Easy to get to. Love public transportation near a baseball stadium. Always a fan of that. Eight and a half, nine out of ten for Camden Yards, for sure.
Speaker 1Very good. I went last year for the first time. It was very cool indeed. We were talking beforehand. I got any type of food item covered in crab meat while I was there. We were talking, obviously, you mentioned you didn't eat any of the crab meat in the stadium. Did you eat any crab cakes while you were just in Baltimore?
Speaker 3I did. Where did I...
Speaker 1I had one in a bar while I was there, and it was amazing. It was so good.
Speaker 3Yeah, I did have the Steady Eddie IPA, which is a pretty good one. I'm a fan of that one. The Eddie Murray branded IPA. Nice. Yeah, it was good. It was a good time. Look, it's lovely. Love the whole Northeast Corridor. Love it. The whole Acela Corridor, as they call it. I'm a fan.
Speaker 1All right, Scott, you are here, too, and you are coming to us from parts unknown. I guess we should address this at the top for those watching and figuring out, where is Scott? What's going on?
Speaker 4Yeah. I'm in Fort Lauderdale, back in my own old stomping grounds, if I could get the words out. I've been traveling all day. But, yeah. It's, you know, I'm here. I'm ready to podcast. There's a bed behind me, which I think I did a pretty good job of. I did a pretty good job of hiding it, and now I'm drawing attention to it anyway.
Speaker 3I think you should have recorded the whole podcast from the bed. Just from bed. I was just thinking that.
Speaker 1Scott just laying down on the bed, just lounging up the microphone while he's podcasting. I also think it would be hilarious if he gets a noise complaint while he's in a hotel. Like, someone comes knocking on the door. Stop yelling about baseball in there. I think it would be, make for a pretty good experience.
Speaker 4That would be funny. Yeah. But, to you it would be funny.
Speaker 1I don't think I'd enjoy it that much. Maybe not so much for you. All right. Let's get into the players of the weekend. Oh my goodness gracious. All right, Scott. We are going to start with you. Who was your player of the weekend?
Speaker 4I got to go with Andrew Painter, who has been trending up since he returned from the minors. Five starts. And all a 362 ERA, a 106 whip, 8.6 K per nine is pretty good numbers. Definitely better than what we were seeing from Andrew Painter before, but this latest start was dominant, flat out dominant against the Cardinals on Saturday. Andrew Painter allowed one earned run in seven innings. No walks, eight strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes on 103 pitches that change up that seems to be responsible for the turnaround. It was his most thrown pitch. Uh, it was also up 1.4 miles per hour. So it was throwing it harder. It was responsible for six of the whiffs, which tells you, you know, he got a bunch of whiffs on other pitches, two, five on the fastball, four on the sweeper, three on the slider. Uh, the fastball had two extra inches of induced vertical break. It was up to 18, which that's, that's a good induced vertical break on the fastball. That, that, that makes sense. Make, can make it a bat missing offering again, as we saw in this start, his 100th pitch of the start was 99.6 miles per hour, which was the hardest he's ever been recorded. He became with this start. This was an interesting stat from MLB.com Andrew Painter with this start. I'll just read it the last Philly to throw at least seven innings of one run ball with eight strikeouts at painter's age was Aaron Nola in 2016. Prior to that, it was Cole Hamels in 2007. So basically the last two pitchers that the Phillies graduated that young, you know, they're both obviously Cy Young caliber pitchers. Neither actually won a Cy Young, but in their heyday, they were Cy Young caliber pitchers and Andrew Painter now joins them. And, uh, you know, all those other stats I gave for this start, things are really, really starting to look up for, uh, uh, a rookie who, you know, used to be the top prospect in baseball and, and had been looking like a bust up until very recently.
Speaker 3Yeah. His, um, to go get into the, so the changeup is new ish. That was when he went down to triple a, he swapped out his splitter for a changeup. And it was interesting because the splitter was never a bad pitch for him, but the changeup has been much better. But I think the key thing. Is the fastball here, which he has now had a whiff rate over 20% in four straight starts with his fastball. Uh, before this stretch, he had four starts all season with a whiff rate of 20% or better on the four seam fastball. Now, these are all relatively small sample sizes. We're talking about 25 to 35 pitches, but his extension on the pitches is up a couple of inches across the board. Lance Prostowski wrote about it in his newsletter this weekend. I think it came out on Tuesday. And he didn't notice any kind of like grip change or orientation change in the four seamer to explain the IVB increase. So his speculation that was that it was probably more of like a lower half mechanical adjustment. And I did see some talk that he had a different cue with his lower half when he was pushing off, um, that he credits with some of this, uh, painter that is. So it's all to say that. All season, when we've talked about painter, the, the storyline has been, he's just got to survive when he throws fastballs and not get destroyed with them. And the rest of the arsenal kind of looks pretty good, right? The sweep, the sweeper slider and change up. I think all have whiff rates, 30% or better. Um, now all of a sudden, if the fastball can even play average, that would be a huge deal. Let alone. I mean, it looked legitimately great. great today. I mean, if he's throwing 97 mile an hour average fastballs with 18 inches of ivb that could be a a legitimately good pitch which could change the whole outlook for andrew painter i mean this is the first time that i think in his major league career which is only 18 starts but still i think this is the first time andrew painter has looked like the guy he was supposed to be since 2023 right that was when he got hurt no no it was 2022 was the last time he knows before that um like this is this is what andrew painter was supposed to look like and it's one start and yeah who knows if he can because uh sustain this but
Speaker 4this fast the fastball yeah was great for one start he had been trending up for yeah and the
Speaker 3ivb had been up the previous couple of starts and so if the fastball is just average i think andrew painter can be a pretty good pitcher if the fastball is like a legit plus pitch then we can start to get really excited about him so i i kind of think you have to react to this start you know small sample size as it is i think you have to react as if he's a must-add pitcher you know i think yeah him versus jacob lopez is a really interesting question and i'm not sure what the answer is i know painter has better raw stuff um but i i think i would lean lopez because he's been doing it longer but i think painter probably has the higher
Speaker 4ceiling of these two i i feel like painter was pretty close to must-add even prior to this start and if you know if this start was the beginning of him rediscovering a good fastball a quality fastball then of course the upside's very high but you know it is and you and you did point out it's right to point out that it's not uncommon to see a pitcher gain two inches of induced vertical break in a start in isolation and it goes back to normal after that so we don't know we don't know that that we don't know that that aspect of this is going to stick but we do know that he had been trending up and it just keeps getting better and so at at this point yeah there's there's no way you can leave andrew painter available in your league to answer the obvious everybody needs another
Speaker 3pitcher to give the obvious answer yes drop bryce miller for
Speaker 1andrew painter drop bryce miller for anybody yeah uh painter just a reminder again the last five starts since returning 362 era 106 whip 26 strikeouts to 10 walks over 27 and a third innings chris you brought up jacob lopez there i will point out uh with painter by the way at the angels this week so that is a fantastic matchup but this is a really close conversation because they're both right around 40 rostered i think if you can add both that would be the most optimal answer but if you had to pick one of the two that would be the most optimal answer but if you had to pick between the two jacob lopez six innings of one run ball nine strikeouts this weekend last seven starts 233 era 103 whip he gets the orioles this week who would you guys take painter
Speaker 3or jacob lopez i think the difference is so small and the remaining number of starts is so small i mean we're talking about what six more starts probably for most pitchers that the fact the painter gets the angels is probably enough to give him the edge um but i i do feel more confident starting jacob lopez than painter right now um as excited as i think you should be about painter it's still a lot of risk whereas i think lopez should just kind of be good the rest of the way it's just a question of can he be as great as painter could be if this is real you know
Speaker 4we saw this from from lopez down the stretch last season and he was very good in his minor league career i don't know if he's going to be as good as he was in his minor league career i don't know what happened early this season i think he's just going to be one of those guys with a very thin margin for error since he's not overpowering but i i think andrew painter is must roster and definitely in the discussion to be started every week right now jacob lopez looks must start
Speaker 3i don't i don't care who he's facing yeah it's three strikeout three starts of at least eight strikeouts in his last five for lopez including two in the past four with nine
Speaker 1so very good yeah so i i don't want to kind of disparage painter by putting lopez ahead of him but lopez just has been that good over his last seven starts so try to add both i agree with scott i think if you can only choose one i would probably go with jacob lopez at this point
Speaker 3chris over to you for your player of the weekend i will personally never be ranking blake snell as a top 30 starting pitcher again but he is doing the thing where he shows you why someone will draft blake snell as a top 30 starting pitcher again next season he had a third tremendous start in a row since coming off the il he has allowed two runs in 18 innings and three starts since coming off the il i think he's got 21 strikeouts or no uh yeah 21 strikeouts in 18 innings uh only five or six in this one three walks the pirates still couldn't do anything he had 19 whiffs on 94 pitches and six shutout innings and and and the thing about i just watched uh i re-watched all the x-men movies yesterday that was how i i re re rewound and uh don't worry it'll make sense um you know the juggernaut that sounds like you got a lot of time to spend there in one day all of them in one day we did the whole i think we only watched like the first five that the other two are really i don't want to watch apocalypse or dark phoenix but i mean it's not like they're all good before that but anyway you know the juggernaut next three the last stand uh his power is once he gets going nothing can stop him and that's kind of the thing with blake snell right it's not like framber valdez where he's a headache because it's two good starts three bad starts with snell it's kind of two bad months or he gets hurt but then once he's good he tends to just keep being good and so i think the reason that somebody will always draft him with the top 30 starting pitcher price is the hope that he just finally has another season where it's just 30 starts where he's good from the beginning and i don't think you should ever bet on that but you can understand why once he gets going people can talk themselves into it and i think he's gonna win some people some championships this year because he's probably gonna be a top 10 starting pitcher
Speaker 1the rest of the way yeah i i think that's all fair and i i just would expect as long as he's on the dodgers that what we have gotten the first two seasons is pretty much what we're going to get doesn't necessarily mean that is how it's going to play out but that would probably just be my
Speaker 4my safe assumption i mean you make it sound like blake snell's just some hot hand play like look at his overall numbers every year ace like yeah he's really he's really good he spends too much
Speaker 3time on the il and that's you know but that's but but he also does have we we talk about it every year he's streaky but in the
Speaker 4you're mr full season stats are more predictive than partial seasons but the thing is we always
Speaker 3have this stretch where people are like oh i'm gonna drop blake snell and so like that's like yes at the end of the season his 108 innings are really good um but it's never 108 really good innings in a row you know there's always something that goes wrong usually multiple somethings as did this season but the point is once he's rolling like this he doesn't tend to stop until he gets right and and so it's is in some ways more predictable in that way sure yeah i mean i i'd rather that than the the frambois valdez situation or you know whoever whichever streaky but pretty good pitcher you want to pick because at this point maybe frambois valdez isn't actually any good anymore
Speaker 1yeah blake snell by the way 81 started on cbs i i just think that number should be closer to 100 obviously he's been amazing since returning uh you don't need me to tell you but i'll tell you anyway start blake snell every single week uh my player of the weekend really just need to highlight him up top and that is kate anderson who did some good things in his debut obviously there were a couple concerns as well uh but he finished one out short of a quality start against the cubs five and two thirds innings three runs allowed five strikeouts to two walks he did give up two homers in this one actually could have been a third homer allowed but randy orozarena robbed it so thank you randy 11 swinging strikes on 81 pitches it was a four pitch mix he averaged 93.6 miles per hour on his fastball and you know some people asking like oh like you know they're he only throws 93.6 i mean that was kind of the expectation we didn't we knew he wasn't a flamethrower but he has four quality pitches here with the fastball the slider the change up and the curve and i do just kind of wonder like first start some nerves going here a 60 fly ball rate in this one all year in the minors it was 36 percent so i don't know that it's going to be that he's just expected to be a fly ball pitcher here uh but kate anderson 84 percent rostered on cbs still out there in a bunch of yahoo leagues 29 started what did you guys see from kate anderson in his debut would you use him at the blue jays this week i thought it was a solid debut uh i i
Speaker 4think all the three the two home runs in the near home run those all came in the sixth inning right he was cruising before then went five and two thirds innings and he didn't go beyond five innings much at double a this year it's it's also worth pointing out. So, um, I, I, yeah. The velocity was the one question that came up with some people. I think most people came away pretty satisfied, but there were a few people like, this guy only throws 93.6 is what he averaged. We didn't have velocity readings at AA. You don't get those until AAA or if you know people. State League at low A or if you know people, I guess. But looking back at the scouting reports, 92, 94 is where they say he's since. This isn't a guy with a fastball on the level of Chase Burns or Paul Skeens. It's more the whole arsenal is so well-developed, so polished with the control and everything that he should have an easy time transitioning. And is he going to be... I don't know. I really don't want to put a limit on his upside. I think I'd absolutely start him against the Blue Jays. That's a very favorable matchup. And he showed enough that I trust him in my lineup. But I don't know. And I would have said this the other day, too. I don't know that he can quite repeat the K per nine rate he had at AA, which was over 12, right? He's probably not going to be that big of a strikeout pitcher. Will he be like a strikeout per inning guy or more like 10 per nine? Somewhere in that range, I would guess, in the end. But he's not... It's a different kind of pitcher than Chase Burns, Paul Skeens.
Speaker 3So I know we're running kind of long on the first segment, but I guess... I do want to get into this a little bit because there was a lot of interesting stuff going on with his fastball. And Kyle Boddy from Driveline talked about this. And Lance Brosnowski, I'll cite him again. He's super smart. It's always smart to cite him. Both of them talked about this weekend. MLB uses the same baseball in AAA and in the majors. They use the same ball from the same manufacturer. They use a different ball in... AA and below. And one thing that has become pretty clear is that the ball that they use at AA and below has more carry than the major league ball. And so, according to Lance Brosnowski, Kane Anderson's fastball averaged 93.7 miles per hour at AAA. That's right where he was in this start. He averaged 18.8 inches of induced vertical break with his four-seamer. That was down to 15.4 inches. In this debut. And one thing Lance talks about is usually the way he describes it is high-efficiency, low-spin type pitchers like Kane Anderson tend to struggle more with the change from the AA ball to the major league ball in terms of the way it affects their fastball shape. And so now we're looking at a guy who has average velocity even for a lefty. 93.5, I think, is the average for lefty starters in the majors this year. He's right around there. And he has kind of average-ish, maybe below average shape if what we saw in the first start continues. The four-seamer could be a problem for Kane Anderson. And now I think the control and the feel for the rest of the pitches should be good enough. And I think the slider especially looked really good. But I've had a little bit of trouble getting in on like... Like I've seen comments that like, Kane Anderson's already a top-20 starting pitcher in the majors. And I just like, I can't... I'm never going to be able to do that with a guy who's never faced major league pitch hitters. But also just this specific pitcher archetype, it's a little harder to get to that level. You know, the great command, but you know, the stuff is more good than great. And in this start, if you look at the various stuff models, maybe closer to average than good. But I think, you know, I'll give him... Give him good. I just... I don't know, man. This is one where I feel like I'm being negative about Kane Anderson. If I say he's a top-40 starting pitcher in fantasy, right? Just because expectations...
Speaker 4We all have them between 30 and 40. Yeah.
Speaker 3So you're right in line with us. I think the audience would take that as, wow, you guys really hate Kane Anderson. I saw some comments to that effect. I watched the show and he got called up. And when you're talking about him in that kind of air, you know, we're talking about him as one of the best pitching prospects in the last few years. You have to split hairs. And I think he's... I don't want to say he's overrated, but I think the people who are talking about him as like an immediate ace at the major league level were probably maybe overrating Kane Anderson. Like, I think he's good. Yeah. But I think it's really hard to be an ace at the major league level without great stuff. And I'm not sure he has great, great stuff. Maybe the command is good enough, but like, I think it might be more of a Parker Messick type of pitcher. And Parker Messick's a top 10 pitcher in fantasy, but I feel like people will take that as an insult to Kane Anderson.
Speaker 1I think all fair points. I think one thing that is also in his favor, even though the stuff might not be on the level of other elite pitching prospects, is the fact that he makes his home starts in Seattle. Sure. That absolutely helps. That definitely helps Kane Anderson. And I would use him this week, even though that start is on the road at the Blue Jays. They are 30th and well against left-handed.
Speaker 4Yeah. One thing, too, like a lot of times when we say stuff, we reduce it just to fastball. Sure. Like, he's got a lot of stuff beyond just the fastball.
Speaker 3But the overall stuff plus rating for him, I think, was 48 per the Fangraphs model, which is above average, but not elite, you know? Mm-hmm. Yep. Actually, that's closer to average. But that feels like if you said Kane Anderson has average stuff, I think that would be unfair. But if the fastball plays down the way it did in this start, maybe, you know?
Speaker 4I don't know what the Fangraphs stuff plus... I don't know.
Speaker 3It's on the 2080 grading scale. So they gave him a 48 overall.
Speaker 4I don't know the inputs for that, I guess.
Speaker 3Oh, yeah. It's based on the physical characteristics of the pitches.
Speaker 1Okay. Fair enough. Again, that was Kane Anderson who made his debut this weekend. I want to give a shout-out to two of the hottest hitters in baseball right now, who just keep rolling. PCA, 2-for-4 with a sock in the shoe on Sunday. He also homered on Friday. His last seven games, 345, six homers, two steals. He has 33 homers and 32 steals in the season. And Fernando Tatis Jr., multiple hits in all three games this weekend. Huge game on Sunday, 4-for-5, two socks in a shoe, four RBI in that game, and updated numbers in the second half alone, 328, 12 homers, 30 runs, 32 RBIs, six steals. An OPS right around 1,100 here for Fernando Tatis in the second half of the season. And I'm just wondering how high the overall numbers could get to, because I just assume that there is no way that he could pay off where he was drafted. Now he's up to 290, 17 home runs, 29 steals.
Speaker 3His OPS is exactly what it was last season, amazingly.
Speaker 1If he gets to somehow like 25 homers and 35 steals with a 290 batting average, that's pretty good. What you expected, right? Coming into the season, so.
Speaker 3Pretty good player.
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Speaker 1Welcome back. Fantasy baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes from the weekend. And we have a bunch of Dodgers updates. And first and foremost, Andy Pahez suffered a fractured left hand on Friday. He had a compression screw inserted in an attempt to expedite the healing. He is expected to miss four to five weeks, which basically rules him out for the rest of the regular season. So if you play in a league with no IL spots, I think you go ahead and drop Andy Pahez, unfortunately. Maybe he's back for the playoffs, but that doesn't really matter. For us in fantasy, Alec Thomas was called up and should see time in center field against right-handed pitching. So if you're playing in an NL only league, I think Alec Thomas is a name you could look at.
Speaker 4We've been waiting all year for James Tibbs and the center fielder goes down.
Speaker 1Right? Yeah.
Speaker 4I mean, gotta bring up another center fielder.
Speaker 1There's no way Tibbs could play center, right? I think he's a corner guy. Has he even been playing the outfield much lately?
Speaker 4I don't know. He's been splitting outfield in first base.
Speaker 1Okay. He's not even in their outfield. So it's Oscar Hernandez who definitely cannot play center and then Kyle Tucker who definitely cannot play center.
Speaker 4You're not going to put any of that. You're not going to put those guys in center.
Speaker 1Yep. So it's, uh, it is Alec Thomas, unfortunately. Sleeper hitters for this week. If you're looking at outfielders, just playing it kind of week by week right now, there's a Zach Gelof, West outfield eligibility, Trent Grisham, who's pretty hot here over the past month or so Henry Bolte and Lawrence Butler, I know the A's have six home games this week and lots of righties on the schedule. So that's good news for Lawrence Butler. Other Dodgers update Shohei Ohtani through 30 pitches of live BP on Saturday and could pitch in a game as early as next week. But it sounds like he will be slow played quite a bit. If he does return next week, it sounds like he'll only throw about like one inning in that one. So I think they're going to, you know, kind of ramp him up very, very slowly here. Tyler Glass now will return Tuesday and it looks like that should make him a, uh, doesn't make him a two star pitcher. Um, are they going back to six man? I know Eric Lauer.
Speaker 3Uh, they've got some, they've got some days off this, uh, in the next couple of weeks, I believe.
Speaker 4Oh, I didn't bring my schedule with me because, because they move lower to the bullpen. I think they just have a five man rotation, but I haven't gotten a chance to update two star pitchers yet.
Speaker 1So the probable pitcher is great on schedule with me on fan graphs has glass now going Tuesday at the Braves and Sunday at the tigers. So I know it's risky first start off the IL, but I don't know, I think I'd probably throw them out there for the, for the two starts.
Speaker 4Oh yeah, definitely. Yep. As good as he looked on his rehab assignment. I mean, I guess that's not everything, but he's really good. Obviously.
Speaker 1It's Tyler glass now. Yeah. Yep. Uh, Justin Robleski will serve as a multi-inning reliever once he returns from the IL. So I think that's a pretty comfortable drop, right? 71% rostered for Robleski. Yep.
Speaker 3Uh, yeah.
Speaker 1Edwin Diaz will move into a lower leverage role once he returns from the IL, uh, it seems like the closer role is pretty safe for Tanner. Scott who picked up another save this weekend. Will Smith will take, uh, took live BP on Friday, excuse me. And we'll start a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. So he's been out since June probably needs, uh, I mean, maybe there's a chance he returns this weekend, but if they want to play it safe, we're probably looking at like early next week. I would think with Will Smith, I just mentioned this one, but Eric Lauer, again, will be pitching out of the bullpen. Moving forward. Nick Kurtz was transferred to the 60 day IL and will officially miss the rest of the season with that right thumb strain. So you can go ahead and drop Nick Kurtz in any redraft leagues. Brian Woo threw a bullpen on Sunday and he left his start last weekend, which shoulder soreness did not make a start at all this weekend. Woo said he was encouraged by the bullpen. No decision has been made on when he will start next. Do you roll the dice with Brian Woo this week or, uh, play it safe and, you know, maybe use a Jacob Lopez or Andrew paint or someone like that?
Speaker 4Well, that all depends. Is it at home or is it away?
Speaker 1That's fair.
Speaker 4It is. Uh, when is he scheduled to start?
Speaker 1It's determined. Yeah.
Speaker 4So the first half of the week, it's at home. If it's the second half, it's away.
Speaker 3More likely to be away than home.
Speaker 4I think probably, uh, I I'd like to play it safe, you know, in a, in a deep league, your best bet may still be woo. But.
Speaker 1Uh, the, again, the probable pitchers grid off fan graphs has him going Wednesday against the Phillies. So that start would be at home, but I don't know. We don't know exactly. Like, will he be as effective? Will his velocity be impacted at all? Cause he's coming back back from my shoulder. So yeah, I think the prudent move is to, uh, probably play it safe and go with someone else other than Brian will Garrett crochet has started throwing a with greater intensity from 90 feet. And if he can make it back, it will likely be as a reliever. And I think Garrett crochet will be a fascinating player too. We'll have to figure out his value for 20, 27, because it's like, okay, last year he was one of the best pitchers in fantasy, easy top three pitcher drafted this year, but obviously, you know, pretty long injury absence to his pitching arm. So I dunno, he's gonna be pretty fascinating one. Garrett crochet.
Speaker 3Yeah. As long as he's healthy, I, I think I'd have to rank him as a top 12 starting pitcher. Yeah. Um, but he has made it through one full healthy season.
Speaker 4One time in his whole life. What wasn't he the consensus number three pitcher two years ago too, before anyone even knew if he could get through healthy C he was number four.
Speaker 1When he got traded to the red Sox, I think he was being drafted as a top, definitely top 10 starting pitcher. Yeah.
Speaker 4I don't know if it was as high as top five, but I remember being, I remember us having conversation like he might've gotten close there. Yeah. It's crazy to draft crochet that high when you've never don't even know if he could take on that workload. And then of course he did.
Speaker 1Yeah. But the innings jumps, the past three years have really been pretty massive. So yeah, it's kind of scary stuff there for crochet max free through a 26 pitch bullpen on Saturday. It went really well according to pitching coach, Matt Blake and freed remains optimistic that he will only need the minimum time on the IL. Let's hope that's the case. Joe Ryan completed a 35 pitch bullpen on Saturday. He is recovering from a left glute strain. Ryan weather is left early Saturday with forearm tightness. And on Sunday he went on the aisle with a forearm flexor strain, pretty rough news. He was pitching really well. Uh, for those who had him in fantasy, he'll be shut down from throwing for two to four weeks, but apparently he has a great chance to return the season as a reliever. So another one where I think you can drop Ryan weathers in redraft leagues. I just don't really see enough impact as a reliever for him from him. Michael Soroka was placed in the aisle with right shoulder inflammation. He also got blown up on Saturday night against the reds. Okay. And the D backs are hopeful that it will be a minimum stay here for Soroka. CJ Abrams has missed four straight with a sprained left ankle. Start or sit Abrams this week. We just don't really have much as of now.
Speaker 3Boy, that's a, that's a, that's a million dollar question for me. Cause I'm staring at like three different leagues right now, or I've got to make that call. And I hope I have a better answer for you on Monday when I have to make that decision right now, I'm leaning towards starting him, but I don't feel super confident in it. Yeah.
Speaker 1Uh, and the, yeah, the nationals do play at 6 45 PM Eastern time on Monday. So, um, we'll have an answer. See if he's in, in the lineup again, that CJ Abrams, Connor Griffin progressed to taking swings on Friday. He's working his way back from a finger injury. And it sounds like they're hoping he can return in early September. Michael Garcia was officially placed back on the aisle with a left hamstring strain. The Royal scratched Jack Caglione on Sunday with ankle soreness. Kind of similar thing here with, uh, Caglione. I believe the Royals, let's see if they play on, they do not play on Monday. So that is a little bit tougher there with, with, uh, with Caglione. Bryson Stott left early on Sunday due to a right foot contusion. So pay attention to that. Casey Mize left Saturday, start with a sprained ankle. X-rays came back clean. Uh, and he hopes to make his next start. He's been kind of up and down lately. I don't. I think it would be okay to go a different direction than Casey Mize this week.
Speaker 4Right? Oh yeah. He's good chance. He goes on the aisle.
Speaker 1Yep. Uh, this is an interesting one, not really for fantasy, just for the brewers, I guess, but Brandon Woodruff wound up not having shoulder surgery and is scheduled to be in a throwing program on Wednesday. So could potentially factor into like their playoff bullpen or something.
Speaker 4So, and I don't, I don't know that I went back to the primary source. I think I was reading. Aggregation on this. Uh, but the way it put it was that there was unexpected healing and he no longer needs capsule surgery rather than he's just delaying the inevitable yeah um which is good news for him i mean we'll see that i hope so but yeah it's i i i think it's i think it's fair to be skeptical of that but like at the same time that i mean that is the report and if that's the report then we could see him next year potentially i also just think you have to look at it like this dude's
Speaker 3what 33 34 last time he had this surgery it took him 20 months to get back you know when we heard about this injury i think everybody's thought was well that might be it for brandon woodruff so yeah you know is it well it showed unexpected healing or is it it showed enough healing to
Speaker 4try to avoid surgery you know right that's that's that's why i framed it the way i did like i'm just relying on the way an aggregator put i i should have had the initial report no no that was the
Speaker 3that was what uh pat murphy said okay that's
Speaker 4but it's just but even pat murphy could yeah not be phrasing it exactly right yeah reading you
Speaker 1know yeah what does that actually mean who knows yeah rough weekend of cardinals pitcher injuries andre palante went on the il with right elbow inflammation hunter dobbins also went on the il with right forearm tightness quinn matthews was recalled so he will get a little bit of a leash here uh but he also got destroyed by the phillies seven earned runs over five innings so i do think we need to see more from matthews before we consider re-adding him or even using him in fantasy louisa rise left early saturday with hamstring cramps then he was out of the lineup on sunday uh he did appear in the game after bryson stott left with a foot injury so some good news there for louisa rise joe musgrove will throw a bullpen before likely making one more rehab start he is 43 percent rostered and i i think this is a pretty high priority stash if you have vial spots available joe musgrove
Speaker 3yeah the way this went down is a little concerning like was there a setback um right because he didn't make a rehab start this past week which is kind of weird yeah um so i i still think he's a high priority stash but obviously he's rostered in about the same number of leagues as painter and jacob lopez prioritize both of them well ahead of joe musgrove for sure they're they're all three
Speaker 4like below 50 right around 40 percent yeah that is that is surprising i know jacob lopez has been lagging for a while now and that happens it's easy to say it's late august but like we've seen other players make big leaps in roster rate this time of year like how are you leaving jacob lopez out there still um i was about to say i think joe joe musgrove should be 20 percentage points
Speaker 3higher than that he should be over 65 now just only only in leagues where painter and lopez
Speaker 4aren't rostered right yeah of course you had the healthy guys first
Speaker 1yep kyle teal will start a rehab assignment at triple a on tuesday so if you do play in a two catcher league and teal is available uh he won't be back yet right away this week but perhaps uh next week and beyond the mariners place brendan donovan on the seven day concussion il after being hit in the head by a baseball in the batting cage so it's really really uh unfortunate injury there for brendan donovan yeah yeah just like injury after injury even when he's played he hasn't been like that impactful so uh and the mariners gave up a good bit to get him in a trade in the offseason kyle caros returned from the concussion il on friday but then went back on the il on sunday he is still dealing with concussion like symptoms the marlins were called davison de los santos on saturday i wrote down all his numbers i was going to ask you about him and then they sent him back down on sunday so second time that's happened to him this year i believe yeah it's it's that uh it's the meme from the simpsons where the i don't know who what character it is obviously homer terrible uh it's like the grandpa walks in he puts his whatever he puts his hat on the thing and then he just like walks right back out so uh yeah poor poor davison de los santos an acceptable name for him also abe simpson abe that's it yeah yeah love that character uh rock jolowski the top pick in this year's draft will be shut down for the remainder of the season due to wrist soreness this cattell marte situation remains very bizarre to me he was spotted at a casino in arizona on friday night and the team was playing technically he's on the il so like he can't really do anything he can't help the team but a lot of times you will see players who are hurt in the dugout and still like being with the team but a lot of times you won't he can do whatever he wants but it's it's just kind of a bad look the way everything's playing out there's a lot of times players who
Speaker 3are on the il are not with the team yeah i'll just say i don't think cattell marte opens the
Speaker 12027 season on the diamondbacks they they try the way all this has gone down yeah and the last offseason yeah i think you know they had a lot of talks with the red socks but i i think it was always that the d-backs wanted one of connelly early or um payton toley and the red socks wouldn't give either one of those guys up and then the red socks wound up trading connelly
Speaker 4early for curtis mead which was the problem is when it's when it's known that a player is disgruntled well you don't you don't want him to be disgruntled for you you don't want to give up all these assets for him and then he's disgruntled for you he has a reputation for being disgruntled maybe maybe he has good reasons to be disgruntled with the diamondbacks i don't know but that's a reputation he's developed and so it undermines his trade value and i could see the diamondbacks not being satisfied with what the market is offering again and just trying to work
Speaker 3it out yeah you just gotta hope he can get gruntled at some point others who went on the
Speaker 1il this weekend nolan chanuel with an intercostal strain and ryan mcmahon uh with a sprained left thumb only wanted to mention that one because it's good news for jose caballero who should regain regular playing time there uh at third base for the yankees waiver wire hitters from the weekend i do have some shallow league names here up top joe adele a nice weekend in chorus field multiple hits in each game and he hit his 20th home run had three rbi on saturday in 17 games with the guardians he has looked better 258 four homers 17 rbi 861 ops he's all the way up to 82 percent rostered so this is a very shallow league play uh those who play in three outfielder leagues and vinnie p vinnie pasquantino has looked pretty good since returning he homered on friday added uh another hit run in rbi on sunday seven games since coming back 385 with two homers uh and he is 77 percent rostered so both of these in the shallowest of leagues can you see uh not necessarily in a head to head points league but any type of head-to-head style lineup re-adding either of joe adele or
Speaker 3vinnie pasquantino they both feel pretty fringy to me in that format um there's just so many good first basemen that it's yeah it's hard to really
Speaker 4call anyone a worthwhile ad at first base like you got guys in thai france for vinnie pasquantino
Speaker 3sure but like you've got like abamelic artis is looking really really good right now and it's hard for him to get over 50 he's a 41 roster guy i know he doesn't play every day but it's just it's really
Speaker 4hard to fit in at first base right now yeah uh and i would put i would prioritize vinnie over um ortiz for what it's worth and and like ortiz was a sleeper hitter this past week because of all the righties on the schedule i didn't do anything and i have him as a sleeper hitter for next week too because of all the righties on the schedule uh but he you know obviously he let us down once the one time where we felt like we could start him yeah and uh i i think vinnie pasquino's let basquantino's less likely to let you down he may not have as much upside for this upcoming week as abamelic ortiz but i think he's less likely to let you down all right rank these outfielders
Speaker 1jj bladet hit for the cycle on saturday against the d-backs four for six with his 21st home run three rbi he was struggling mightily before that in the second half just hitting 185 with a 650 ops spencer jones uh he is making things happen lately one for three with a homer on friday he had a steal on saturday he went two for three with two runs on sunday 48 percent rostered hoping that he still at least plays against right-handed pitching with cody bellinger back um we did see bellinger back on sunday and spencer jones was still in there so uh it looks like elliot ramos will be kind of more of a short side platoon at this point and then jordan lawler big game on friday three for five of the home run three rbi he has played six games in a row and he's been 17 games overall this season 286 batting average two homers four steals 784 ops i i say i still think there's a decent amount of upside here with jordan lawler uh how would you guys rank these three
Speaker 3bladet spencer jones and jordan lawler i would go i'd go jones lawler and bladet actually might depend on if you're in like a points league maybe you give bladet a bump but
Speaker 1i i so you're starting to buy or you're starting to buy
Speaker 4on jones a little bit just when i think i'm out on jj bladet he has one good he pulls me right back in by hitting for the cycle that's i want to put him last but you know obviously spencer jones has a major drawback it sounds like he's going to platoon now because cody bellinger's back elliot ramos got to do something platoon with spencer jones makes the most sense right the crazy part
Speaker 1for jones is it's a really small sample but he has crushed lefties in the majors yeah yeah yeah i
Speaker 4just don't think they'd let ramos go to waste on the bench though i agree with that he's been um
Speaker 3pretty terrible
Speaker 4but yeah i agree at least against yeah but i think we know he's not terrible he has been terrible but i think we know i think we have a good idea who elliot ramos is and he's not amazing
Speaker 1but he's not terrible either there is another way for them to do this i guess against lefties they could play ben rice at first base and have luis garcia on the bench and then use elliot ramos as
Speaker 4a dh right that could that could work but ben rice a catcher why not cowards i wish it's not
Speaker 1gonna happen uh did you i know chris you gave a ranking scott did you give an official ranking
Speaker 4on these three jones lawler and i don't want to no i will um it's your job uh who was the third guy lawler i because i was putting in claims for lawler and roto leagues too but i don't think i was dropping spencer jones for him so it's it's not the sort of i i don't i don't have a strong feeling because i see the upsides and downsides to both but i i think i will agree with chris at least in a roto context and go jones lawler bladay but probably bladay leaps to the top probably bladay and jones swap places actually in a points league and lawler stays in the middle either way yeah uh spencer
Speaker 1jones by the way in 27 games since returning to the yankees hitting 233 with five homers seven steals a 790 ops uh also 30 strikeouts in 86 at bats so that is uh with nine walks yeah it's over a 30 strikeout right there for uh for spencer jones during that stretch but you know this is kind of what we expected lots of strikeouts but uh lots of athleticism he hits the ball hard and he obviously runs very well also i think tim tawa should be more rostered i know i bring him up a lot but he just continues to do stuff two for four with uh another stolen base on friday he hit his eighth home run on saturday he had two more hits on sunday and the last 38 games for 298 seven homers six deals ops over 800 and he's hitting the ball really hard during that stretch he is only 23 percent rostered first second third and outfield eligible i think this is a useful
Speaker 3player right now tim tawa i think useful is the right word i i don't really believe that he's a particularly good major league hitter but he's only 23 percent rostered he's eligible everywhere except shortstop and catcher and he's got a little bit of speed and a little bit of power so i i think he's under rostered certainly at 23 percent um but that's in like an ezekiel deron kind of way right where i think his primary value comes from the ability to slot him in anywhere in your lineup rather than that i think he's a an objectively great player yeah i think
Speaker 1that's fair uh ezekiel deron by the way is um 80% rostered and the other player i view in this light castro is 55% rostered so i i think tim tawa should at least be closer to where willie castro is in terms of roster rate at at 55 two names in deeper leagues tristan peters had a nice weekend homered on saturday two for four with a sock in the shoe on sunday including a walk-off homer uh the white socks have six games this week there's only one lefty on the schedule so that's good news for tristan peters and pedro ramirez had a huge game on sunday three for six with a home run five rbi he has started eight straight and ten of his last six games on sunday and he's got a lot of 11 he should continue to play with dancy swanson on the il he's 13% rostered second and third base eligible uh scott any deep league interest in trist tristan peters and or pedro ramirez
Speaker 4uh deep league interest sure i i do like ramirez he hadn't done much and i think he only hit 212 in his first nine games starting this was the 10th straight start he got at second base but he hit three balls over 106 miles per hour in this one including the home run and i i still think it's a really good skill set and i remain intrigued um peters peters it doesn't start against lefties correct yeah only one left on the schedule this week so that helps right it would have to be obviously a five outfielder league and and on the deeper end i would think yeah uh one name in al only
Speaker 1leagues i'll just give him a shout out because he had a monster game for the royals i don't know if it's a monster game for the royals on sunday but john rave two for three with a sock and two shoes homer and two steals uh he's out the previous six games so i don't know how much he's gonna play but the skill set in the minors this year was kind of interesting and so perhaps he could play against some uh some right-handed pitchers there is uh john rave so name for al i'm throwing a rave right now for john raves scott and i tested beforehand and and he was had all these different kind of crazy lighting arrangements behind him so we were trying to find the perfect lighting and this is what we settled on so i appreciate now i messed it up i appreciate your right i don't know it looks
Speaker 6fine it's it's still right it's still good it's still good it's still good there you go all right
Speaker 1let's uh let's hit our final break when we return we'll get into waiver wire pitchers i've got starter sit decisions we'll do all that right after this baseball has always been a game of inches now it's also a game of seconds team mobile and mlb have teamed up to bring abs challenge to all 29 ballparks across the u.s this isn't a minor upgrade this is the most significant new technology in the history of the sport and it's powered by t-mobile with every pitch thrown abs challenge uses real-time precision to verify the call giving them the support they need no delays no guesswork just accuracy at the speed the game demands thanks to abs challenge t-mobile is helping power the moments that define the game when performance and reliability are non-negotiable mlb turns to t-mobile and t-mobile is the most significant new technology in the t-mobile that's not a coincidence that's what happens when the most innovative network in the country powers the most data-driven sport in the world t-mobile powers mlb's most ambitious technology and america's best network powers your connection to baseball homer away every pitch every game every day t-mobile it's better over here major league baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of major league baseball visit mlb.com t-mobile best mobile network in the u.s according to ucla speed test based on analysis by ucla of speed test intelligence data first half 2026 ucla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission welcome back fantasy baseball today waiver wire pitchers we spoke about jacob lopez and andrew painter those are top priorities right now one other name in shallower leagues that has been uh dropped because he was struggling a little bit that is jake bennett who bounced back against the giants on sunday seven innings four runs only three of those earned six strikeouts to one walk he had 13 swinging strikes on 84 pitches previous five starts 567 era 144 whip but i i still think it's a solid skill set i don't know that there's huge upside because he doesn't really get too many whiffs but it's good command he gets ground balls typically and um usually limits hard contact so at the yankees this week i i would be okay using jake bennett in that spot uh 76 percent rostered at the yankees he does something different
Speaker 4in this start it's worth pointing out he doubled his sweeper use and that is a pitch with a 36 whiff rate and a 143 batting average against doubled it through 36 of the time got a better result seemed to slow the decline here um i have pointed out that his ground ball rate has been cratering and uh that was kind of his his superpower so i still don't know if you know the i i still don't know if like obviously throwing more of the sweeper i don't think it's going to get him back to doing that but it it worked in this one and it has been an effective pitch in isolation so it's it's notable that he got better results doing something different again that was jake bennett
Speaker 1i have three names here that are between 20 and 30 percent rostered on cbs walker bueller had a strong outing here against the twins on sunday six innings one run four strikeouts to zero walks and uh he has three straight quality starts and he doesn't really get whiffs but he does have four different pitches to have an ex-woba below 300 so i mildly interesting with walker bueller uh cal quantrill another strong start here against the angels six shutout innings six strikeouts to zero walks 14 whiffs on 96 pitches last six games for him five of those being starts he has a 0.89 era and a 0.82 whip he is a spark for those who play in points leagues he's at the brewers this week uh and david peterson a great outing here at the marathon six innings two runs eight strikeouts 17 whiffs on 98 pitches and uh with the cubs he has been better still not great 393 era 131 whip uh and he gets the reds this week typically the reds lineup is pretty bad but they're actually pretty good against lefties so um don't necessarily love that matchup uh but chris do you have any interest here some deeper names but david peterson cal quantrill and walker bueller i would have to be really
Speaker 3really really desperate to start any of these three guys in an important situation against the matchups they are all facing they are all facing top 10 offenses in baseball against their specific
Speaker 4handedness um so no no thank you all right fair i do like the way david peterson is trending i had to pick him up in a 15 team roto league where i'm chasing wins and strikeouts i just need more starting pitchers to reliever heavy um his ground ball rates up to 57 or 57 96% in the second half, which is really high. And we've seen that from David Peterson before. It's useful on the Cubs, too. Yeah. Yeah. I think he might appear on the sleeper pitchers list a couple times down the stretch. I think it's possible.
Speaker 1Four other deeper names. They're all under 20% rostered on CBS. Patrick Sandoval, a solid outing this weekend against the Giants. Five and two thirds, two runs, six strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 93 pitches. He is at the Yankees this week. Randy Vasquez, a great outing against the Twins. Seven innings, two runs, only three strikeouts to zero walks. He was kind of interesting earlier in the season when the velocity was up and he was getting some whiffs. But he has, in terms of strikeout to walk rate, he has turned all the way back into Randy Vasquez again. Against the Pirates this week, they're really good against right-handed pitching. Blade Tidwell, great outing here at the Red Sox. Five and two thirds shutout, seven strikeouts. He gets the D-backs this week. They are pretty bad. Against righties. And Ryan Johnson, a great start at the Rangers. Seven shutout innings with three strikeouts. He is home against the Phillies this week. So, very deep league names. Scott Butt, anyone stand out to you here? Ryan Johnson against the Phillies. Blade Tidwell against the D-backs. Randy Vasquez against the Pirates. And Patrick Sandoval at the Yankees this week.
Speaker 4I mean, I do think it's an even worse group than before. Uh, Sandoval got a lot of whiffs in this start against the Giants. And we've seen that from him in years past. He's changing really good. Uh, it, it entered, it got, it got seven of the 14 whiffs against the Giants this weekend and it entered with a 41% whiff rate. But he's, he had only a 10.4% swinging strike rate overall. I'm changing the denominator there. Giving you the whiff rate for the change up in the swinging strike rate overall. But that whiff rate's really good. That swinging strike rate, not very good. And, uh, it's, uh, ultimately, like, I'm, I'm, I'm interested enough to keep monitoring Patrick Sandoval, but I don't want to put him in my lineup.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean, that's always been kind of the thing with him is he has one great pitch, his change up, and then not a lot else going on for him. So, um, I, like, there's some interesting stuff with Ryan Johnson throwing the cutter more and, and, you know, kind of his cutter and sweeper have very similar movement. And so, you know, maybe those two pitches tunnel really well off of each other and, and he can just kind of throw those two a bunch and, and make it work. But I'm not, I don't really have any faith in it. Like, I, I don't think Ryan Johnson's especially good. The, the director is. I like Knives Out, The Last Jedi's a good movie. But the, the pitcher for the Angels, Ryan Johnson. Not a big fan. Spicy takes. Spicy takes. Whoa, whoa, we all love the Knives Out series.
Speaker 4I know the last one. Don't, don't at me. We love Knives Out.
Speaker 7Yeah.
Speaker 4Like, I'm, I'm with you on The Last Jedi. I think it was by far the best of the sequel trilogy. Looper is great. Ryan Johnson, good director.
Speaker 1All right, I actually have seen Looper and I did enjoy it quite a bit. Really good.
Speaker 4He directed the best episode of Breaking Bad. That's true. The highest rated episode of Breaking Bad, according to IMDb. He also directed the lowest rated episode of Breaking Bad, according to IMDb.
Speaker 3That'll happen. But Ryan Johnson with an I, very good. Ryan Johnson with a Y. Not sure he's there.
Speaker 1Yeah. Ryan Johnson with a Y, by the way. His last four starts. He has a 169 ERA and a 108 whip. That also comes with a 568 X ERA during that span. So, not exactly buying it. Are we dropping these players? Some potential candidates. Freddy Peralta. He's on the raise and he's still bad. Seven innings, five runs, two homers allowed in his start this weekend. Four starts with Tampa Bay. Seven 17 ERA 136 whip. He is down to 79% rostered. He's at the Tigers this week. What do you guys think about dropping Freddy Peralta? Would you drop him for, say, Andrew Painter or Jacob Lopez? Yes.
Speaker 4I think so, too.
Speaker 3No hesitation. I think you might rather have Joe Musgrove at this point, even knowing you're not going to get anything out of him this week.
Speaker 1Yeah. Cannot dispute that. What about Kyle Leahy? This one's interesting because he's pitching really well, but it turns out that the... The Cardinals are planning to limit him here down the stretch. So, four shutout innings, two walks, two hits, four strikeouts here, but only through 63 pitches, and he's already up to 126 and a third innings. Last year, it was 88 innings, mostly as a reliever. So, tough one, Scott. I know you like Kyle Leahy a lot, but, you know, if he's being limited to sub-70 pitches, it's kind of hard to matter for fantasy.
Speaker 4Yeah, it is. And a report came out over the weekend saying ahead of this start, it was going to begin Sunday, they were going to start reducing his innings. And I thought it sounded a little too certain, but then this happens. He throws four innings on Sunday. So, it went exactly... The report was a prophecy, and it definitely has me concerned about Kyle Leahy's usability rest of season. I think... I think in... In points leagues, you could probably go as far as to drop him. I don't... Like, we don't know exactly the implementation of this, right? Like, does this mean he's never going to get another five-inning start? If he's never going to get another five-inning start, Kyle Leahy is useless in points leagues.
Speaker 3It is weird because he...
Speaker 4I think he's still going to be a whips specialist, and maybe an ERA specialist in Roto category.
Speaker 3It is weird because he... He hasn't had a lot of injuries over the past few years. His innings are... They're low-ish because he's used primarily as a reliever, but... Well, I think it's weird just because he's 29. Yeah, and also he's 29. What are you saving him for? Like, the last time he was a full-time starter, he got up to, like, 150 innings. And so, I don't know. It just... It doesn't seem... Yeah, it's a weird choice, but I'm sure they have some biometric stuff that they're monitoring that plays into it as well.
Speaker 1And I think the fact that they're falling out of the race probably contributes as well. They're now five and a half games out of a wildcard spot, so...
Speaker 3Yeah, Fangraphs has their playoff odds. It's at, like, 3% or something.
Speaker 1Yeah. Again, those are the Cardinals and Kyle Leahy. And then I think two names that are just definite drops at this point. Bryce Miller, we mentioned earlier. Last eight starts, he has a 719 ERA and a 162 whip. Chris, I feel like you'll appreciate this. It's one of those, like, weird stats from, like, when... I think I know, yeah. When the... Like, whenever the Angels had Otani and Trout, we would get, like... This hasn't happened since 1892 or something like that. Mariner starter Bryce Miller did something not... He's seen an MLB in 136 years. He became the first pitcher since George Van Haltren of the 1890 Brooklyn Wonders to lose consecutive starts by at least 17 runs.
Speaker 3That's wild. I don't even know if you should count that as Major League Baseball. George Van Haltren. Yeah, I feel like Van Haltren Street is probably a street in Brooklyn. Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1Then the other name here is Nicola Doley. Nicola Doley, who got rocked at the D-backs. I just don't think it's going to happen for him this year. And he's still 66% roster. I just... I think the blister has been just really bad for him all season. So, go ahead and drop Bryce Miller and Nicola Doley. Starters sit these starting pitchers this week. Logan Webb got rocked. Five earned runs over two and two-thirds innings in Boston this weekend. And everything has just been a little bit worse for him this year. The whiff rates are down across the board. He's still been mostly fine. Like, he was... Four starts before this were great. And he gets the reds this week. So, I think it's a pretty easy, like, continue to start Logan Webb. But it's unfortunate that he just hasn't been as sharp this season.
Speaker 3Yep, definitely start him. But it's been a frustrating... It's been a weird season because usually the ERA is good and the whip is bad. And this season, the whip's actually, relatively speaking, better than the ERA. And I don't have a good explanation for why that's happened. Me neither. But, yeah. I'm just starting him, yeah.
Speaker 1Mackenzie Gore. Everyone's favorite Charizard. Great outing this weekend against the Angels. Six shutout innings with seven strikeouts. 21 whiffs on 100 pitches. And over his last five starts, it's a 2-10 ERA, a .93 whip. 10.2K per nine. And he is at the White Sox this week. He's only 57% started, Scott. What do you think about using Mackenzie Gore this week? Looks like he is back on track. Famous last words.
Speaker 4Is Charizard learning to trust Ash? Finally. Did he get the Leaf badge? We've fallen for this so many times before that I am inclined to say no. But, man, I don't know how you sit him right now after those five starts. He's looked great.
Speaker 7Yeah.
Speaker 4You're going to get burned eventually. You just know that any time you start Mackenzie Gore. You've gotten away with something. You know. That's why Ash didn't like to use Charizard.
Speaker 3Look, he's a four-ish ERA pitcher with a bunch of strikeouts. And that means that there's going to be good starts and there's going to be really, really bad ones. It just depends on what your risk tolerance is and what your lineup looks like. If you need strikeouts, you probably just have to start him.
Speaker 1There also is no timing up Mackenzie Gore because he's looked great over his last five starts.
Speaker 3Yeah, this is not a Blake Snell situation.
Speaker 1I would say there is a real chance that he gives up. He gives up like six runs in four innings this week. there's also a very good chance that he goes six shutout and gives you like eight strikeouts.
Speaker 3If Blake Snell is the juggernaut all over the place. If Blake Snell is the juggernaut, Mackenzie Gore is the senator from the first movie. Remember they like turn him into a mutant and then he like turns into like a weird jellyfish blob after a little while. That's Mackenzie Gore. Eventually he's going to turn into like a weird jellyfish blob. I started
Speaker 1watching the second season of X-Men 97 this weekend. I got to catch up on that. It is so good, man. The episode showing the origin of Apocalypse. A plus, man. Really, really cool stuff. Eduardo Rodriguez keeps getting away with it. This time against the Reds. Five and two thirds shutout innings with four strikeouts. His velocity was down across the board. His changeup was pretty good in this one. He's allowed two earned runs or fewer in 20 of 26 starts. He is 64% started. And I think it's pretty easy to say like, alright, yeah, the guy has a 261 ERA. You just throw him out there. He faces the Cubs this week who are number one in WOBA against lefties and they are one of the hottest lineups in baseball. So rubber meets the road. Do you start ERA against the Cubs? Don't ask that question. You've got to answer it, Chris. No, because I've
Speaker 3been wrong. I've been wrong the entire literally the entire season about him. So why would I suddenly stop being wrong about him today? I don't want to start him. I don't think he's very good. All of his peripherals suggest he's not very good. But logic doesn't seem to apply in this instance. So sure, start him. He's going to go seven innings, two strikeouts, two earned runs against the Cubs. I will point out
Speaker 1while the XERA remains terrible for him, his FIP is down to 378 for ERA. So if that matters
Speaker 4to you at all, would you would you start a 378 FIP guy against the Cubs? A left-hander at that? No. Like even if you want to paint that optimistic. I think it's fringy.
Speaker 1Yep. At best.
Speaker 4Yeah. Like unless all the options would obviously be worse, you sit Eduardo Rodriguez, which I think Chris agrees with. He's just obviously.
Speaker 3No, I'm just saying like, yeah, logically you sit Eduardo Rodriguez, but logic doesn't have anything to do like this. There's nothing logical about this. So it's fine.
Speaker 4I will never abandon logic.
Speaker 3Never. I get yelled at for that. Yes. Moving on.
Speaker 4Don't be afraid to get yelled at. It's good for the heart.
Speaker 1Shane O'Mac.
Speaker 4He's really bad for your heart, probably. It's good for the constitution. Builds character.
Speaker 1Get yelled at. Sure. Yeah. Shane McClanahan looked pretty good this weekend.
Speaker 2Here comes the money. Here we go. Money talk. Here comes the money.
Speaker 1Five shutout innings with five strikeouts to one walk. Still only through 74 pitches. He is 50% started. He gets the Padres this week who have been one of the best lineups in the second half of the season. What do you think about using Shane O'Mac?
Speaker 3I think in a roto league, you probably lean towards it. But in a points league, he just does not go deep enough into games to be viewed as a must-start pitcher. So I think in a roto league, he's fine. But in a points league, he's a pretty low-end starter.
Speaker 1Another one who keeps getting away with it. That is Nick Martinez. He bounced back at the Orioles. Six shutout innings. One hit. Zero walks. Four strikeouts. His previous four starts, he wasn't getting away with it as much. 592 ERA, 132 whip. He also gets the Padres this week. What do you guys think about using Nick Martinez? Is it just take everything we said from Erod and insert here?
Speaker 3Yeah. I mean, it's a slightly different profile. Better control. Even fewer strikeouts. But he's got a much better matchup. So logically, I'd rather start Nick Martinez than Eduardo Rodriguez. But again...
Speaker 4Yeah. The problem is... Do we consider Padres that good of a matchup for pitchers right now? I think it's a better matchup than the Cubs. That is the...
Speaker 1That is exactly where I was going next, is that the Padres are pretty tough. Let's see. In the second half, Woba, the Padres are second. The Cubs are fourth. So they're both very, very good lineups right now.
Speaker 4Like, I think... What's the best way to put it? Because obviously, we're dealing with so many different league types that changes your perspective on how startable a pitcher is, especially. Like, unless it's... There are certain leagues where it's obvious you have to start Nick Martinez and Eduardo Rodriguez. If you're not in one of those leagues, then I think you try and sit... Shane McClanahan, same thing. Like, I'm thinking 12-team head-to-head leagues.
Speaker 3I'd rather use Jacob Lowe. Shane McClanahan's a guy
Speaker 4I've been moving in and out of my lineup all year. But if it's a 15-team Roto League, I've never moved him out of my lineup,
Speaker 1you know? Yeah. Last name I have here is Jose Soriano, who had a rough one at the Yankees. Five innings, five runs, seven strikeouts to three walks. And his previous seven starts before this one, he had a 275 ERA, 112 whip, but 5.7 K per nine and a 489 X ERA during that span for Soriano. He is 71% started, and he is home against the Mariners this week. Good matchup. What do you guys think about Soriano?
Speaker 4It feels like he's just unraveling, doesn't it? That's what it feels like. What justification is there for starting him at this point? He had been getting
Speaker 3good results lately, but the process wasn't very good.
Speaker 4Not with a lot of strikeouts, not with a lot of innings. I think the base runners have been high still, right?
Speaker 3It was a 111 whip the previous seven starts, but that mostly looks like just a really low start.
Speaker 4What about since he joined the Blue Jays? Because I feel like there hasn't been much of
Speaker 1anything. Yeah, and I know his velocity was way down the previous start, not this one on Sunday. Let's see. Since joining the Blue Jays, Soriano has made four starts. He's a 422 ERA at a 150
Speaker 3whip. Yeah, I think Jose Soriano's just not
Speaker 1that good. I mean, is he droppable? He's 93% rostered.
Speaker 3I mean, at this point in the season, if you're not starting someone, there's not enough time left that you're holding on to them. Drop him for Lopez or Painter? Oh, yeah. I would much rather use Lopez
Speaker 4for sure, then. Easily those two. I don't know that I'd go as far as to say if you're not using him this week, you can drop them. Because there are still, what, five weeks left? And you may have, you may be, okay, this pitcher's matchups aren't good this week, but they're great next week. You drop them, you miss those great matchups next week. But, yeah, I think the overall sentiment is correct that, like, you can't like, now is not really the time for reclamation projects. And that's what it feels like Jose Soriano is. And I'm not confident he's going to reclaim anything.
Speaker 3I think I'd rather use Tyler Malley than Jose Soriano, right? Oh, yeah. And Malley's 68% rostered, so he's pretty available. He wasn't amazing on Sunday, but he wasn't bad against the Brewers. You know, four strikeouts, one earned run in five innings. Yeah.
Speaker 4Four good starts with the Braves, four for four. And he had a couple pretty good starts with the Giants before that. Yep. Some
Speaker 1hitting leftovers here. Some names who are on fire. Pete Alonzo hit his 30th home run on Friday. He had two more hits on Saturday. In August, 367 with seven homers and a 1083 OPS. Alex Bregman, red hot. Three for five with a double dog on Friday. He homered again on Saturday. Last 36 games, 308, 12 homers, OPS over 1,000. Four, Alex Bregman. Carson Bench, three for five with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. Two more hits on Sunday. He's having himself a big August. Randy Rosarena, three for four with a double dog on Saturday. Homered again on Sunday. He has six home runs in August, and that makes six straight 2020 seasons for Randy Rosarena, who has this reputation of being like wildly inconsistent in season, just like a very tricky player. But I mean, in terms of your expectation when the season is over, he's probably one of the most consistent players there is
Speaker 3in fantasy. I think he's a free agent at the end of the season. It's gonna be fascinating to see what happens with him. Yeah, I think he is. Yeah, that's fair. He's probably in his 30s. I would guess he's right around there. Maybe 30 or 31. Oh, yeah, it's gonna be real interesting to see what happens with Randy Rosarena. Also, he let off the game with a home run and then hit a walk off Homer, which was the third time that has happened in Major League history. I'm pretty sure the second time was Pete Krohn strong like a month ago,
Speaker 1which is kind of no, no, that was like last week. Yeah, he did that
Speaker 3and then he hit a lead off Homer in the next game. Yeah, and
Speaker 1Rosarena robbed Homer in that game. Yes, it's just
Speaker 4a home run. The walk off home run was over Pete Krohn strong's head.
Speaker 1There you go. That counts for something to about that. Yeah,
Speaker 4they're playing each other. Yeah, that's like when you say he let off with a home run. He let off the Mariners half of the inning with the home run, right? They're the home team. So the bottom half let off the bottom of the first because otherwise, how do you walk? How do you walk off if you're leading off the game? He hit a lead
Speaker 3off home run. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1Jackson Merrill added two more home runs this weekend as well. And basically since early June, he has been one of the better power speed players in all fantasy baseball. I believe him and Fernando
Speaker 3Tatis are tied for the Major League lead in home runs since the All-Star break. Nice
Speaker 1hitters trying to get back on track. Boba Shett uh homer twice this weekend and he has looked much better in august o'neill cruz he's making some noise since returning uh four games back he has two homers seven rbi and a steal jj weather holtz two for four with a home run on saturday two for five with a steal on sunday uh it's been a pretty rough second half for weather holtz so it would be nice to see him finish strong and zach netto over his last six games he's 14 for 28 with two homers nine rbi and two steals so uh he was definitely going through it very rough stretch for netto so uh nice to see him getting back on track some pitching leftovers part one i'm not going to read off all the uh the the lines here i'll mention the names but jacob miziarowski outdueled chris sale on friday uh terry scoobel big whiff start against the pirates cam schlittler turned in a quality start but the control has been shaky as of late and uh yamamoto another quality start here against the pirates scott do you have anything on yamamoto schlittler scoobel
Speaker 4and the miz so scoobel remember his first couple starts with the dodgers were two of his starts with the most two of the times he's thrown the most sinkers this year and it's like oh are the dodgers making him or encouraging to throw a sinker he threw five percent sinkers in this start and got the 11ks and got the 23 whiffs so i think i think we can put that idea to rest i think terry scoobel is gonna remain terry scoobel with the dodgers and he's my number one pitch rest of season still even though we've seen no curtailment in jacob miziarowski's innings like that's that's still in the back of my mind and you know who cares at this point it's not like you're trading either of those guys but i do technically have scoobel ahead of miziarowski rest of season all right pitching leftovers part
Speaker 1two dylan sees took a no hitter into the seventh inning at the yankees he walked five the um the velocity remains down and he's been walking more but it hasn't really affected his performance like he's still just dominating but it's i don't know it's just a little eye opening i guess for dylan sees reed detmer is another strong start uh logan henderson another great outing for him chris do you have anything here on uh henderson reed detmers and dylan sees yeah you mentioned velocity with
Speaker 3cease being down um i've noticed some people kind of freaking out about it especially early on in the games and i think that's the thing is this feeling of like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god it feels very intentional from dylan cease i don't know if i've if he's necessarily talked about it but it's been happening for about a month now where every time he pitches his velocity seems to be like three or four miles per hour down in the first inning and then by the end of the game it's closer to his season average so i think he's just starting to conserve himself a little more but he's remained incredibly effective despite it i don't think there's any concern there um
Speaker 4the numbers starts with reduced velocity for cease he has a 158 era 0.85 whip 12.2k per nine yeah he's had
Speaker 3like multiple like 13 or 14 strikeout starts right like yeah he's been awesome um i i i have no idea who should be the al cy young uh but him and schlittler have both been incredible it's been really fun to watch them so that's my takeaway there and the detmers gotta be what gotta be between those two right i mean it's got um i think i'd lean cease right now but it's really close um hater what yeah yeah um and then um i don't know detmers every three good start stretch just feels like it's there's a you know maybe a less extreme version of mackenzie gore um but i never feel quite comfortable with reed detmers um just look at the totality of the numbers there
Speaker 1they're great they're good and you don't even have to like you don't have to slice and dice his numbers anymore i mean he's yeah for the season he's just down to a 362 era and a 106 whip 10.4k
Speaker 3per night like it's just it's a really good picture still underperforming his fit by about 0.4 runs right now which that's always true for him i don't think that's ever not going to be
Speaker 4true but i don't i don't think it's true for the last since the 14 strikeout game that was like three months ago i don't think it's i don't think it's been true during that time i don't think it's i think he's had a low three zr era during that time yeah okay pitching leftovers part three we
Speaker 1got a great outing from michael waka um nola mcclain good results here the walks four walks and back-to-back starts you don't love that um and christopher sanchez not great against the cardinals i just wanted to mention that over his last nine starts his babbitt is over 400 and his whip is around 1.5 during that span so uh any concern with sanchez or is it just kind of a weird coincidence for him i know the philly's defense is really bad but i think it's a good
Speaker 3bad so yeah i think it's mostly about the whip or about the babbitt but it's not entirely fluky when you give up a lot of ground balls in front of a really bad defense um so there's something there but i don't think it really affects how i view christopher sanchez moving forward um the other thing i want to say here is just um i know most of the nlmv or nl rookie of the year discussion has kind of focused on like jj weatherhole versus south stewart and like the advanced stats versus the traditional stats and south stewart's like second or third in the nl and rbi and let's not write off nola mcclain as nr rookie of the year like there's a chance he gets that era
Speaker 4below three well i had the thought the other day because he is eligible yeah it feels like um kevin mcgonigal has had the al rookie of the year locked up for months parker messick's a rookie yeah he was up for eight starts last year so or seven starts but he's he's a rookie so so is peyton toley which is kind of crazy he's yeah and baseball reference war he's a full mark a full point behind uh mcgonigal so like mcgonigal deserves to be the front runner but you just you mentioned parker messick's a top 10 fantasy pitcher this year like that's normally he'd be having a rookie of the year type season and i think he probably deserves 150 innings is really good attention that he's getting yeah
Speaker 1no that's that's a fair point yeah the call to the bullpen for the orioles on friday in a save situation andrew kittredge was used in the eighth and rico garcia in the ninth and he picked up his sixth save so they've been mixing and matching i know felix bautista made a rehab appearance on sunday he's probably going to need a week or two maybe a couple of weeks um didn't go well yeah it's one appearance but it didn't go well yeah so he's a name to watch there uh other than that do you guys have a lean on kittredge versus rico garcia i don't know if you guys have a lean on uncle rico
Speaker 3no i'm tired of there's a lot of yeah there's a lot of really rough bullpen situations right now
Speaker 1well here's the kansas city royals uh stephen cruz got four outs across the seventh and eighth innings on friday nate pearson picked up the save then on saturday both cruz and pearson were unavailable old friend craig kimbrell picked up his first save of the season um and then on sunday it was pearson in the eighth and stephen cruz in the ninth do you guys have any idea with the royals
Speaker 4i didn't notice i didn't notice what happened sunday i was kind of thinking maybe they're going with pearson here because even prior to the save he had worked the ninth that the appearance before the save he had worked i think it was the day before he worked the ninth with a four run lead which a lot of times the closer gets used in that spot and so maybe things were trending that way but since they were in the eighth and steven cruz in the ninth they were in the eighth and steven cruz in the eighth and stephen cruz in the eighth and steven cruz in the eighth and steven cruz in the eighth reversed the order on sunday i think we're back to wondering i feel pretty confident it's not craig kimbrell so don't invest anything in him but pearson may be closing the gap on steven cruz
Speaker 3yeah i i also think steven cruz just isn't very good so it might not take much for pearson to get at it but i will note it was a four run lead it was one of those situations where it was a two run lead entering the eighth uh pearson worked the eighth with a two run lead then they scored two more it would have been a save opportunity for cruz so yeah it probably would have been cruz on sunday that seems very ambiguous right
Speaker 1now but i guess lean cruz for now for the athletics on saturday hogan harrison got the eighth inning with a one run lead he picked up his 11th hold and then elvis alvarado got the ninth he picked up his third save then on sunday alvarado was unavailable hogan harris picked up his 13th save uh who do you guys think gets the next save for the a's hogan harris or uh elvis
Speaker 4i'm probably harris they did the alvarado thing before but this is this is another one like it's not quite as messy as the orioles but it's it's there's never been a stretch where we've really felt confident in anyone and we're five six of the way through the season yeah for the
Speaker 1dodgers on saturday tanner scott picked up his 19th save for the cubs on saturday jacob webb got the ninth inning with a two run lead he allowed a walk-off home run and he got a two run lead he took his fifth blown save and third loss and that is not good for his chances of keeping the role now that daniel palencia is back so we'll see who gets the next save for the cubs for the giants on saturday dylan smith entered with no outs in the eighth inning two runners on a two run lead he got out of it without giving up any runs there he started the ninth he walked one then it was reliever sam henches who came on he gave up three runs he took his third blown save and sixth loss so still think dylan Smith will get the next save for the Giants for the Cardinals on Sunday. Riley O'Brien got the ninth with a four-run lead. He gave up six runs, including a walk-off homer to Kyle Schwarber. He took his fifth loss.
Speaker 3I believe all those runs came with two outs. With two outs, that's correct. And at least three of the hits were after he got to two strikes. Brutal. It was just a brutal performance, yeah.
Speaker 1For the Mets on Sunday, Kodai Sanger got the ninth with the game tied, and he gave up a solo home run, took his ninth loss. I guess you could say that the White Sox beat it in that game. For the D-backs on Sunday, Brandon Garcia started the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He got the first two outs. He gave up a single. Then it was Kevin Ginkle who came on. He got the final out for his second save. The D-backs are not really using Garcia as just, like, the closer. His usage is kind of bouncing around, so that has been a little frustrating. To stream or not to stream on Monday, I did not write them down beforehand, so. I'm just going to scroll through the schedule. We'll figure this out. Kumar Rocker is at the White Sox. George Clawson is home against the Guardians.
Speaker 3I know Clawson has gotten some hype. I don't really see it.
Speaker 1His slider is awesome. I don't know that he has enough else besides that. Yeah, I don't really trust it. But his last two starts were really, really good.
Speaker 4Frank's a fan, Chris. I do like him.
Speaker 1That slider is awesome, but yeah, I do need to see more. Merrill Kelly is against. The Cubs. Zebby Matthews is at the Athletics. Jeffrey Springs against the Twins. And that is it.
Speaker 3I will say, I am starting Merrill Kelly in multiple leagues this week because I am dumb.
Speaker 1Merrill Kelly, the Cubs.
Speaker 3No, it's just kind of, we're at that point in the season where you've got to make a call, and it's like, eh, let's just get some. He's got two starts. Let's get some volume, and I'm not really worried about the ratios in a couple leagues or one's a points league, but if it's just the matchup against the Cubs, no, I'm sitting him.
Speaker 1I am close to dropping him in my NL-only league.
Speaker 3Yeah, no, that's totally reasonable.
Speaker 1Tells you where I'm at with Merrill Kelly.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think he's cooked. I am more on Chris's side with Clawson, but I think he's the only one I could get behind here.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't really like any of these options.
Speaker 1There's not really anybody else that I could even half-heartedly recommend. I mean...
Speaker 3No, it's a 10-game slate with a lot of aces pitching, so there's not really... No.
Speaker 1No. Monday's rough. What about on Tuesday? We have Jackson Jobe against the Rays. We have Andrew Alvarez gets the Rockies in Washington. Seth Lugo is at the Blue Jays. Max Scherzer home against the Royals. We have Zach Thornton against the Brewers. Bryce Elder, but against the Dodgers. Anthony Kaye against the Rangers. He's been pitching well. There's Chris Bassett at the Cardinals. Walbert Arreña home against the Guardians. I think Brandon Fott is too rostered at this point. Gage Jump gets the Twins at home. Aaron Nola at the Mariners.
Speaker 4Too rostered to mention here, to be clear.
Speaker 1Who?
Speaker 4You said you think Brandon Fott is too rostered. The way it sounded was like, oh, he's too rostered. We need to drop him, which maybe we do, but you meant he's too rostered to mention in this segment. I'm sorry. Yes, yes, that's what I...
Speaker 1No, no, no, that is a fair distinction. And then there's Brady Singer at the Giants, too, so... Tuesday's actually kind of good.
Speaker 3Landon Roop is still not rostered too much for this, right? Yeah, but...
Speaker 4I know. But, Chris, I've been going to that well so many times.
Speaker 3It's a good matchup. He's bad. It is. Red's in San Francisco.
Speaker 6He's had a lot of good matchups lately.
Speaker 3Walbert Arreña.
Speaker 6Trust me on this.
Speaker 3Walbert Arreña is, I think, by far my favorite. Yeah. Maybe Jackson Jobe against the Rays, but that's not a great matchup. I like Nola at Seattle. I like Andrew Alvarez.
Speaker 4Nola at Seattle. Andrew Alvarez against the... Oh, the Rockies. Yeah, that's a good one, too. Nola at Seattle, Andrew Alvarez against the Rockies. So those are... Okay. I think those are three... Three really strong ones.
Speaker 1Even Clay Holmes at the D-backs. The D-backs are bad against right-handed pitching.
Speaker 3Don't mind that one. Tuesday's good, right? Don't mind. Just skip Monday for streaming and stream a lot on Tuesday.
Speaker 1Brady Singer at San Francisco, I think, is pretty good, too.
Speaker 4If you're feeling really gutsy, Max Scherzer against the Royals, I don't hate. I don't like that. But it's obviously below those others.
Speaker 1Yeah. I would put Arreña, Nola, and... Probably Clay... Clay Holmes at the top, but I don't mind Singer or Alvarez either. So, again, that is...
Speaker 4I don't mind Anthony Kaye, who you mentioned, against the Rangers.
Speaker 1All right. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. 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 or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
Speaker 7Paramount Podcasts. you

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Andrew Painter is trending up with a dominant start against the Cardinals, showing improved fastball metrics, making him a must-add pitcher.
  2. Blake Snell delivered a third consecutive strong start since returning from the IL, with 21 strikeouts in 18 innings, reinforcing his streaky but elite potential.
  3. Kate Anderson debuted for the Mariners, allowing three runs in 5.2 innings with two homers, but concerns about his fastball shape and velocity suggest he may not be an immediate ace.
  4. Andy Pahez fractured his left hand and is out 4-5 weeks, with Alec Thomas called up to fill center field against righties.
  5. Waiver wire priorities include Jacob Lopez and Andrew Painter, with both around 40% rostered; Lopez has a 2.33 ERA over his last seven starts.
  6. Several pitchers are droppable, including Bryce Miller (7.19 ERA in last eight starts) and Nicola Doley, while Kyle Leahy faces innings limits.
  7. Start/sit decisions highlight Logan Webb, Mackenzie Gore, and Shane McClanahan as starts, but Eduardo Rodriguez and Jose Soriano are sits due to matchups and peripherals.
  8. Hitters on fire include Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, Fernando Tatis Jr., and PCA, with Tatis posting a 1.100 OPS in the second half.
  9. Injury updates
  10. Bullpen situations are messy for the Orioles and Royals, with no clear closer, making saves unpredictable.

Summary:

The Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on August 24th covers key player performances, waiver wire adds, and injury updates. Andrew Painter is highlighted as a must-add after a dominant start against the Cardinals, where his fastball gained induced vertical break, leading to 20 swinging strikes. Blake Snell continues his hot streak with three straight quality starts, solidifying his value as a top pitcher down the stretch.

Kate Anderson’s debut was solid but raised concerns about his fastball velocity and shape, suggesting he may be a top-40 starter rather than an ace. Andy Pahez’s fractured hand opens playing time for Alec Thomas, but fantasy owners should drop Pahez in redraft leagues. 33 ERA over his last seven starts.

Droppable pitchers include Bryce Miller and Nicola Doley, while Kyle Leahy faces innings limits. Start/sit decisions favor Logan Webb, Mackenzie Gore, and Shane McClanahan, but Eduardo Rodriguez and Jose Soriano are sits due to tough matchups and poor peripherals. Hitters like Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, and Fernando Tatis Jr.

100 OPS in the second half. Injury updates include Garrett Crochet potentially returning as a reliever and Joe Musgrove as a stash. Bullpen situations for the Orioles and Royals remain unclear, with no definitive closer.

Overall, the episode emphasizes strategic roster moves as the fantasy playoffs approach.

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Some facts include: before 1859, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs; over 100 baseballs are used in a typical professional game; the first TV remote (1950) was called Lazy Bones; and professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville in the off-season.

The players of the weekend were Andrew Painter, Blake Snell, and Kate Anderson, highlighted for their strong performances.

Yes, Andrew Painter is a must-add pitcher after his dominant start, showing improved fastball velocity and shape, making him a high-upside option.

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