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Speaker 3From CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasybaseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris.
Speaker 4Hello. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Wednesday, September 16th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we've got to fire up the Worryometer for just one name. And that is Christopher Sanchez. What is going on with that man? I am irrationally excited about Bryce Eldridge for next year. We were just talking about that. Way too early buy or sell for next season and much more. Let's jump in. In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. All right, Chris, let's get the bad out of the way here. And I want to talk about Christopher Sanchez. We had another rough outing this one at the Nationals. Granted, Nationals great against left-handed pitching this season. They had no James Wood or CJ Abrams in the lineup, which was interesting. And Sanchez wasn't in the lineup either. Dale Lyle was not in the lineup. Yeah. So a lot of those lefty specialists in there and Christopher Sanchez had a rough one, six and a third, eight hits, five runs, two walks, five strikeouts here. And he just didn't really have his changeup working. He could not locate it at all. So we're going to talk about that. Let's get all that pitch had just a 12% zone percentage and just a 35% strike percentage. And I think you could say this for almost any pitcher, even the best pitchers in the game. If you take away their best pitch, if they have a start where they just don't have that pitch working, it's probably not going to go well. So that I think was the case here for Sanchez, but that's now five plus earn runs and back-to-back starts. And over his last five, he has a 501 ERA, a 125 whip just hasn't looked as sharp here. And I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's down the stretch, especially in the second half. So, uh, Chris, I will throw a worryometer your way one to 10 worryometer on Christopher Sanchez. It's not really for this season. Like if you have Sanchez, you're just pitching them, but I guess heading into next season, does this kind of scuffling towards the end? Where are you at all?
Speaker 5Well, let's, um, I, it has to, and, and I think part of it is just the defense behind him is so really not helping. Um, but like, he's still got an 18% K minus walk ratio since July 1st. He has a four 34 ERA in that span. The XERA is like three 95. The FIP is like three 40. The XFIP is like two 95. He's given up a ton of home run. He's got like 20% home run to fly ball ratio. Uh, that's, that's a stupid high mark, even in a tough pitchers park. So I, I think there's some bad luck here. And I think there's probably some bad defense here. One, one aside, uh, the Phillies have been a very scary post-season team the last couple of years. Like even when they haven't looked especially good in the regular season, they're just a scary post-season team because they've got so much high end talent. Is there a, this could end up making me look stupid. Is there a team in the playoffs you're less afraid of than the Phillies right now? They've got like two good hitters. They've got no Jesus is Ardo probably completely messes them up. And they've got the worst defense of any playoff team. Yeah. I mean, look, anything can happen in the playoffs, but it's, that is not an especially scary team. Zach Wheeler and Christopher Sanchez might be good enough that it doesn't matter, but, and Aaron always looked really good lately, but yeah,
Speaker 4that's probably fair, at least in the national league, because I was going to say the Padres, but their bullpen is amazing. And obviously their offense has been awesome in the second half. So, uh, you know, their pitching is not anywhere near what the Phillies can offer, but yeah, outside of, uh, Sanchez and Wheeler, which is a great one to punch, but you know, Sanchez has looked vulnerable as we're talking
Speaker 5about. Yeah. Yeah. So Wheeler's had some stretches, so yeah, it's, it's a tough spot. It kind of feels like we're getting to the end, but I bring that up to say that I think the Phillies almost have to look pretty different next season. Like, I don't know if it's going to be Trey Turner moving to second base and Aiden Miller, if he's healthy playing shortstop, but I think that shortstop situation is just untenable, uh, defensively and they've got to find a way to upgrade multiple spots around the diamond. It's going to be tough with how much money they have, but I say that all that, all that to just to say, I think this defense has to be better than it has been this season, right? Like it just, it can't be as bad for a team that intends to contend and they, they have to know that. So, I would expect the defense to be better behind Christopher Sanchez next season. He's got like a one 23 whip on the season. Now that's really bad for a, for a high end pitcher. And that's how you have a guy who is probably going to strike out 225 batters this season and has a sub three ERA and entering this start. He was only the number 10 starting pitcher in fantasy because that whip is really harmful. Yeah. And I think, I think we've all just kind of penciled him in as a top five starting pitcher all season. And we're probably planning on doing that for 2027, but it's, you know, you start going through the names. You're definitely taking Jacob as you're asking. You had definitely taken camp Slitler ahead of him. I think we're probably taking Yoshinobi Yamamoto ahead of him. I think so. Taking Tarek Scooble ahead of him. And so then it's like, I think Chris sales done enough to go ahead of Christopher Sanchez. Although the, the volume is obviously going to be a big difference there. Sanchez 40 innings ahead of him. And I know,
Speaker 4I know sale has stayed healthy the past couple of years, but for any pitcher that old, you just,
Speaker 5you worry about it. Yeah. Um, but I, I, I think he's five at best. Yeah. And I think you could talk yourself into Dylan cease ahead of him. Um, I don't know if anybody's going to, but you could talk yourself ahead of Jesus Lizardo ahead of him. If he, if this shoulder injury ends up being relatively minor. So I I'm not sure Sanchez is the locked in top five starting pitcher that would
Speaker 4we expected him to be? I think he will be in a points league because of the volume that he provides in a categories league. I do think that is more of a question because of the whip. And we talked about this for years with Logan Webb. It's everything else that you get from Sanchez. You're going to get volume, ERA strikeouts, most likely wins. Cause he goes deep and has a pretty good offensive, but that whip, I mean that whip, especially here, it's cause he does it over so much volume. So I guess the one, the one good, good thing about taking Sanchez early is that you already know you have in the back of your mind, like, okay, I need to be conscious about whip. Whip is not the easiest category to project year over year. So you might look at some pictures and say like, oh yeah, I'm going to draft Joe Ryan and he's going to help my whip. But I mean, you never know what if Joe Ryan has a bad year and his whip is like one 15, which I think is around where it is this year. That's, you know, that's not really the help that you need. So you really have to be conscious about that whip. If you do draft Christopher Sanchez, if I had to put a number on it for next season, the Worry-O-Meter, it's probably like a two or a three. I think most of it is bad luck. I think some of it is defense. I think some of it is just the feel for the change up in the second half. There have been starts where the drop on the change up has been less. And I think it's just being up and being up in the zone a little bit more, even if it's just a little bit, I think that's where you can get in trouble and give up some home runs. So
Speaker 5and change up such a field pitch, right? Like that's so that, that that's fair. The point is he's really good. Yeah. And when you're talking about this range of the draft, it's just you got to make, you know, small, small differences can matter a lot. And so, you know, you set the over under at SP four and a half. I'm taking the over. Yeah. You said it at five and a half. That becomes a more difficult question, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 4And for this season, I get it. It's frustrating. That's why we're talking about it, because this is the most important time of the year. People who are playing in head to head playoffs. Obviously, it's like you don't really have enough time to make this up with Christopher Sanchez. Obviously, in a Roto League, he's done so much good to this point, like you'd rather him not finish poorly. But he's you've already banked so many good stats from Sanchez that you could kind of afford to take some of the bad. But yeah, I get it. In head to head playoffs, this this has been kind of a stinker here from Christopher Sanchez. All right. That's the bad, Chris. Let's let's talk about some good. Who's your player of the night?
Speaker 5Cook Eric, who we talked about a little bit last night, and then he went out and had probably the best game of his major league career on Tuesday night against the Padres. He went four for five. Two home runs, a double, two runs, five RBI. He attempted a steal, got caught stealing. We'll take that as a positive because one of the complaints that we've had about Cole Carrick is he hasn't been as aggressive on the base paths as we'd like to see him be. And so I'm encouraged to see him running. I made a comp to Zach Netto yesterday. And I think, you know, in retrospect, Netto has more pop. I think that's a fair complaint to say, but that like, I think there's 20 homer upside here. Carrick now has 10 homers in 82 games. I don't think it's a stretch to say he could hit 20 plus homers next season. And given that he was like a 40 or 50 steal guy throughout the minors, I don't think it's a stretch to say he could be a 30 steal guy. He's only got nine right now, but I think that can go up. Obviously, Coors Field is going to help a lot. You know, he's got a 330 Babbitt. Typically you would think, well, that's probably unsustainable, but at Coors Field, maybe not. And it's worth remembering it's his first taste of the majors. So this is a guy who needs two more appearances at shortstop to gain middle infield eligibility for next season. He's already got outfield. I think Cole Carrick should be a very popular breakout pick for next season. And I know, betting on Coors Field and betting on young Rockies players has been pretty bad decision really since like, has it really worked out since like Trevor story? I guess there was the one Ezekiel that there's been like pop-up seasons, Ezekiel Tovar, not Spencer Jones, Nolan Jones. I guess Hunter Goodman has worked out, but for the most part, there's been a lot of disappointment in Coors Field lately. I feel like the Rockies, the Rockies are starting to turn a corner. They're still bad, but they are not like historically bad anymore. Yeah. And I think they've got, gosh, what's his name? Jonah Hill, Paul D Podesta running the tax. I saw Jonah Hill in Fort Green the other day. He introduced himself to someone as I'm Jonah Hill, which I thought was a very weird thing for a person as famous as Jonah Hill to do. But that's a, that's a different topic. But Paul D Podesta is not, he's not a, he's not a Dick Monfort's son. You know, I think he's a little more qualified to run a baseball team. Maybe not a football team, but anyway, I, I just, I say this all to say that I think there's some forward momentum for the Rockies. It's very slow. You got to go uphill. Those mountains are very tall, but I think Cole Carrick is a player I'm going to be betting on for 2027.
Speaker 4Yeah. I like it. You know, I've been trying to think of the comp that makes sense. And I hear you on Netto. It's kind of like a Netto with less power. What about Starling Marte? Like early career Starling Marte, who I don't know if the batting average will get there for carrying, although playing in Coors Field obviously helps, but I mean, you look at some of these early seasons from Marte, 280, 12 homers, 41 steals in his second season, 291, 13 homers, 30 steals, 287, 19 homers, 30 steals. Like I could kind of see that as an outcome here for Cole Carrick, and, you know, Starling Marte was a, I mean, routinely like top three or four round player early on in his career. I mean, how about like a Jaron Duran?
Speaker 5Yeah. That might be a little more like, I think Duran's a little more physical. Like he hits the ball a little harder, but his career high in homers is in the twenties, right? It's not like he's, cause I think Netto, you know, last year he was on like a 30 homer pace. He's not far off now. I think that's, you know, what, what people get stuck on, but yeah, Duran's career highs, 21 homers, 34 steals. That's a high end outcome. That's asking a lot to, you know, hit 285 and score 111. Like, I don't think he's going to do that, but you know, a poor man's Jaron Duran. Yeah. I think that can be a very useful player.
Speaker 4Yep. And for the rest of this week, obviously the Rockies are in court this entire week. So, I mean, for some crazy reason, if Carrick is out there in your shallow daily lineup league, obviously you're picking them up. You're using them. He's 72% rostered and then has a score. Split week next week. So the first three games will be at home in cores against the D backs. And then the final three games of the season will be on the road at the White Sox. So for at least the next eight games, I think you could be pretty excited to use Cole Carrick here down the stretch. Want to give a few shout outs as well. This Pete Alonzo thing, Chris is just unreal. I mean him coming back to city field and I understand why like he's a beloved, he was a beloved New York Met and the Met season has gone downhill. The fans, the fans are chanting for him and they're chanting to fire David Stearns because Stearns, you know, builds a team and he did not bring back Pete Alonzo, but he homered his first series back in city field in the ninth inning to tie the game off of Kodai Senga. It was also his 300th career home run. It's just like the sweet, sweet irony here. And then got a curtain call as a road player. I mean, just insanity all over the place here, Chris. I mean, it was, it was a pretty wild scene there. Pete Alonzo back in city field.
Speaker 5Yeah. Um, I, I get the curtain call and I think that was a nice moment. I think booing Joe, Jonah Tong yesterday was really weird. Yeah. I think like this, not cool. I think the celebrating Pete Alonzo, like cheering for the home run is weird. I, there's some like weird, his 300th career home run when he gets so many of them as a man, like I get it. I get it. But like, the Mets have not been a disaster lately. Like they've been kind of fun. Yeah. They've been good in the second half lately. And I get that it's been a bad, frustrating season. And the decision to not resign Pete Alonzo has been become like emblematic of why it's been a bad season. I don't really think if they had resigned Pete Alonzo, the season would be all that much better. Like they'd still be bad. So I, I'm not really like I get it. And fandom is not rational and, and all that stuff. I think the whole thing's been kind of weird. It was a cool moment, but yeah, I think the, the reaction from the fans has just been a little strange. I will say.
Speaker 4So I think me along with everybody else probably assumed that the American league MVP race was over and it was just, Hey, let's hand this over to Jordan Alvarez. But I don't know, man, junior Kevin arrow might be making this kind of close. I'm an arrow.
Speaker 6I'm an arrow.
Speaker 4He hit yet another walk off home run. His 41st Homer of the year, 92 runs, 96 RBI and eight 98 OPS here for Kevin arrow. You're not Alvarez also Homer here on Tuesday, his 39th home run. He has just four, four home runs in 38 games since the start of August. He recently sat out some games with ankle soreness. So there's a chance he's just been playing through that for a while. Now his season is still incredible, but I was surprised to see how, how similar the numbers have, have gotten here. Like, I mean, Alvarez still has a 100 plus point, you know, lead in, in OPS, but all the counting stats are, are pretty close between the two.
Speaker 5Yeah. Not to be Jonah Hill and money ball, but like it's a 60 point gap in OBP. That's a lot. Yeah. Like it's a, it sounds it's a 60 point gap in slugging percentage actually, or yeah, something like that. Close 50 something. I, I just can't see it. I can't get like Kevin arrow is an awesome player. He's having a great season. He's had a bunch of big moments and obviously the rays are a better team than the Astros. But if you're just going to give it to an offense, like a bat only guy, I can't see the argument for Kevin arrow ahead of yard. Don Alvarez hours has just been a much, much better hitter than junior Kevin arrow. And that is not a knock on junior Kevin arrow. That is just a reflection of how like Jordan Alvarez is having a, an Aaron judge level offensive season. And junior common arrow just isn't that kind of complete offensive player, or at least that kind of complete hitter. He's really good. I think if you're going to go the non Jordan Alvarez route, it, It should probably be, frankly, it should be Bobby Witt. He's actually been the best player in the AL, but I know the Royals are so bad, and his offensive numbers are not MVP caliber, so it's not going to happen, but Bobby Witt's probably been the best player in the AL. If you're not going to give it to Jordan Alvarez or Bobby Witt, I would go Cam Schlittler. Yeah. But that's to say that I think it should be Jordan, Witt, Schlittler, Caminero is how I would vote for it. Take that, Aaron Judge. Yeah, I just can't exactly see the case for Caminero beyond like, well, his team's in the playoffs and the Astros might not make the playoffs. I don't care. I really, I don't care that Junior Caminero has better teammates than Jordan Alvarez, you know?
Speaker 4Yeah. The counting stats, too. The counting stats are close. I think that's like the main argument that you make and the Rays being better, but yeah, the gap in OPS, the gap in WRC+, I mean, Jordan Alvarez 177 and it took Caminero's 145.
Speaker 5If 145 is an awesome mark, by the way.
Speaker 4Yeah, and look, if Caminero was even like average or slightly above average defensively, this is a different conversation, but even the updated F4 numbers, Alvarez is at six wins and Caminero's at 4.9.
Speaker 5He also leads the majors and grounded into double plays for the second year in a row. Who does? There's actually a great piece on Fangraphs.
Speaker 4Is that Caminero or Alvarez who does it?
Speaker 5Caminero. Interesting. About, I think it was, it might've been on baseball, but one of those sites did a piece talking about how likely it is that Junior Caminero breaks the all-time record for grounded as a double plays. It's more likely than you'd think given how young he is, but he's off to a great start.
Speaker 4Yeah. The problem with that is that he hits the ball so hard and he does have an elevated ground ball rate compared to other sluggers.
Speaker 5And he's not very fast. Like it's just a perfect, and he's gonna, he plays every day and he's super young. Like that's just like, I think the all-time record is Albert Pujols. I think Miguel Cabrera second. Those are two of the best hitters of our lifetime. So it's not a knock on him. I was just pointing it out.
Speaker 4And you could see Caminero's, I mean, this is, we're projecting pretty far out, but you could see his body kind of aging similarly to a Pujols and Miguel Cabrera later on in his career. He's nowhere near that now, but yeah, look, both players are awesome. But yeah, I would agree. I think Alvarez still takes the AL MVP. Big thanks to everyone watching live. Make sure to hit that like button. We appreciate you being here late in the season. And if you are listening, on audio, drop us a five-star rating and review wherever you listen, Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Hey, before we jump back into the show, let's take a quick break, but not just any break. This is a refreshing break with Snapple. We all know about Snapple's iconic real facts. So let's take a minute to go over some of my faves. Snapple real facts, 14, 17, before 1859, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs. Snapple real facts, 14, 83, more than 100 baseballs are used during a typical professional baseball game. Snapple real fact, 253, the first TV remote control introduced in 1950 was called Lazy Bones. Snapple real fact, 2105, professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville in the off season. So grab a Snapple, take a second and enjoy the moment because let's be honest, this might be the most refreshing part of your day. Snapple, make your break more interesting. All right, now let's get back to the show. Baseball season is coming to an end. Baseball season is in full swing and there's no better place to be than Calshi, America's number one prediction market platform. Atlanta is currently trading at 7% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out over $1,200 with a win. On Calshi, you're trading against other people in a live market. No house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out anytime throughout the post season. Download the Calshi app and use code FAN to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. K-A-L-S-H-I, Calshi, trade on anything. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Calshi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see Calshi.com slash regulatory.
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Speaker 4would be that that would kind of even out right like if if he was having a normal course field season it it's just as likely that his numbers on the road would be worse so i guess i guess you could play both sides either way an awesome season for goodman but would be nice to have him healthy for these course field games let's wrap up the news here samuel basaya was out of the lineup for a second straight game and has only started five of the past 12 he missed a month on the il with right shoulder inflammation and it seems like that injury could still be bothering him shane boz left early after taking a 105 mile per hour line drive off of his right arm nolan arenado left early tuesday due to right thumb inflammation roki sasaki is scheduled to throw a simulated game on wednesday i guess depending how that goes he could return as a starter this weekend maybe as a bulk reliever something like that shane mcclanahan who is on the il with left forearm tightness has resumed playing catch but still has a long way to go before returning that is according to his manager kevin cash brandon woodruff has extended his flat ground throwing to 105 feet and his readiness for mound work will be re-evaluated at the end of september there is still a slim chance that he can pitch in the postseason for the brewers michael garcia was reinstated from the il he went 0 for 3 both royce lewis and cale and cold pepper returned to the lineup for the twins chase de lauder was out of the lineup with renewed wrist soreness he has been battling that basically all september so that's been kind of annoying for de lauder the dodgers moved hoseway to the lineup for the twins and he's up to lead off on tuesday against the right-handed pitcher and ret louder and unfortunately he responded by going over five so that wasn't great trey is savage had a rough go in his rehab start at triple a he gave up two runs he needed 34 pitches he could not get out of the first inning and his fastball velocity was down one mile per hour he's coming back from a shoulder injury i the blue jays are like two and two games out of a wild card spot now and they're just running out of time i just really think that they let's play it safe with trey de lauder
Speaker 5let's maybe think about next season for for you uh did want to go back cale and cold pepper left that game oh yeah with a hamstring right i think it was a leg injury yeah i'm not sure exactly what
Speaker 4but yeah that that worth noting max meyer has been shut down from throwing and will not return the season due to that next rain and his season ends with 20 starts 268 era 114 whip over a k per inning chris we saw real growth here from max meyer but he has had a hard time sustaining seasons he he gets off to these good starts and honestly to his credit he was good for the entire time he was healthy but he just he hasn't been able to go i think his this season was his career high at least in the majors at just 111 innings so i just i don't know i still have questions about whether he can hold up for a full season i have questions about the skill but
Speaker 5the the injuries are are the bigger concern at this point um i had somebody ask me you know would you keep max meyer or kate anderson and for all the skepticism rightly that Kate Anderson's debut has engendered I think I'd
Speaker 4have to go with Anderson if it's the same cost I think I would go with Meyer but that is uh let's let's see how Max Meyer is doing uh in the offseason and if he shows up to spring training and everything is fine then I I think Meyer will probably get drafted ahead of Kate Anderson but I could be wrong about that it's uh I don't know it's kind of a toss-up right now Gage Jump was placed in the IL with a left shoulder impingement the Braves also placed Ronaldo Lopez on the IL with right shoulder inflammation Jock Peterson has a small fracture in his left hand and he will sit out the next few games but hopes to play again this season Curtis Meade will begin hitting off a tee on Wednesday he's been out since late July with a fractured wrist Carlos Correa will not return this season it looked like he might make it back but he's not back yet from ankle surgery but it turns out that is not the case and the White Sox were called Noah Schultz from AAA he was getting good results in five starts since getting sent back down uh but no strikeouts only 10 strikeouts in 21 and two-thirds innings uh so we'll see how he looks in a relief role he was a highly regarded prospect but he looked terrible in the majors this season that is Noah Schultz his counterpart Hagen Smith has looked much better at a bullpen uh so far this year before we get to some waiver wire names we're going to talk a little bit about the games uh Chris I just wanted to highlight Max Freed and uh he looked like he was all the way back to form here at the twins seven innings of one run ball six strikeouts zero walks he had 14 whiffs on 88 pitches he actually doubled his sweeper usage in this start and it was really good it had seven of his 14 whiffs uh the velocity remained down on his fastballs I was more nervous about him coming into this week to you and Scott's credit you guys were still like let's just stick with Max Freed um and his pitch count has changed a lot over the last couple of years he's been steadily jumped up 63 72 80 and then 88 in this start so looks to be all the way back for the I
Speaker 5guess his final start will be next week yeah I will say just looking ahead to 2027 though it's gonna be real tough to figure out what to do with him multiple IL stints with an elbow injury velocity down coming back from the most recent one look we're gonna get a postseason run and so we probably got at least three more starts out of Max Freed so we'll see what
Speaker 4it looks like um I he's been pretty terrible in his postseason career too yeah I but like he's got
Speaker 5a 263 RA for the season the peripherals all back it up he's a really good pitcher he has a sub one whip it's just man can you rank him as a top 24 starting pitcher with with those kind of injury concerns I don't think so like he just he's and we've done this so many times in Max Freed's career and and he has been a reliably I would say a reliably uh I was gonna say a word and now I can't think of it profitable that's the word he has been a reliably profitable pitcher because these little kind of nagging injuries have dropped him down draft boards and he's pitched like an ace more often than not but man it does feel like at some point just with any pitcher at some point they're going to get hurt seriously and with Max Freed we've had multiple elbow scares over the past three or four years um so yeah it just I don't think we're going to be able to do him as a top 24 starting pitcher and that might be really stupid passing on Max Freed yeah no it's a pretty unknowable
Speaker 4situation right now the way that I've kind of viewed this Yankee season is that all of these guys are just giving it one great effort one full go before their bodies just all fall apart I feel like that's the case for Max Freed Rodan keeps coming back from these elbow injuries Garrett Cole coming back from Tommy John I guess it's not really the same situation but like Judge coming back from the rib and stuff so I just feel like man they're like let's get through one post season let's give it all we got let's try and win it if they win it great uh and then you know everyone's body just falls apart after that but it's just a lot of these guys are getting older you know so it's hey our bodies are all going to fall apart at some point that's true that that is fair um I'm still it's way too early to be thinking about next season I know we've been talking about it a lot but I've already started in my head to like think about just pitching strategy for next year and I just I think that I'm going to be really really judicious about the pitchers that I'm willing to take and when I will take them and I think any pitcher that has like anything of an injury that has popped up this year or in just previous seasons like I'm going to stay far away unless there's a really really big discount um just because I pitchers are going to get hurt I'd rather not start with one or two that have like a recent injury of being hurt so and and that might be dumb like max for you might stay healthy next year and just be awesome but there's just way too many pitcher injuries and I just don't want to start with them already on my team but that's just like a I don't know way too early thought let's take a our final break when we return I've got a bunch of waiver wire names we'll do some buy or sell for next season we'll do 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 important game of the year and it's going to be a game of seconds and 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 that's not a coincidence that's what happens when the most innovative network in the country powers the most innovative network in the country 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
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Speaker 4hitters from Tuesday's action. I realize that there's only one week left in the season, but if you play in daily lineup leagues, I'll mention some rest of week matchups and what things look like for next season as well. This is not really a waiver wire name, but I just wanted to mention Joe Adele. His matchups the rest of the way, there are a lot of lefties on the schedule, and he just crushes lefties. He has a 968 OPS against lefties this year, and he has had a down season. He somehow has 90 RBI. I was shocked to see that for Joe Adele, who has a sub 700 OPS and just 22 home runs on the year, but he has a matchups against the A's pitching staff this weekend, which is bad. He faces Jacob Lopez, who we think is a good pitcher, but again, Adele crushes lefties, and then he has four lefties on the schedule next week. So looks like a really, really good setup for Joe Adele. Some other shallow league names. Spencer Jones. Speaking of crushing lefties, Chris, this one is just so weird. He hit his 10th home run, and it was off of a lefty. He hit his 10th home run, and it was off of a lefty. He hit his 10th home run, and it was off of a lefty. And in 46 at-bats against lefties this season, which is an incredibly small sample, I realize that. 435 batting average, 1251 OPS, and the expected stats kind of, like, not that, but his expected stats are really good against lefties too. And then against righties, he's hitting 214 with a 665 OPS and a 38% K rate. So I don't really know what to make of that, but he's playing every day, and he's got power and speed. He's got some real juice. So, even in a points league, I know the strikeouts are there. Like, he makes a big impact. I think you can throw Spencer Jones out there in any type of league the rest of the way.
Speaker 5He somehow has, like, a 35% strikeout rate against, actually, probably even higher than that. Yeah,
Speaker 4he's got, like, 38% against righties. 38% strikeout rate against righties,
Speaker 5and it's, like, 28% against lefties? Yep. That is, it's 51 plate appearances. So, again, it probably isn't real. Yeah. But it's weird. It's very weird. It's, like, not at all what you would expect from a 6'7 lefty. He's been a very pleasant surprise, I have to say. I really did not think this was going to work. And, look, we have talked about Munataka Murakami, and things can go south for this kind of profile very quickly. But he's been very, very good so far.
Speaker 4Mm-hmm. Moving on to Bryce Eldridge, I mentioned at the top. Irrationally, excited about him for next season. I am scared to do first base rankings, because I just, I, how high can I get Bryce Eldridge will be the question. And I'm sure everyone will love him,
Speaker 5like, everyone can see. It can't be top 12, though.
Speaker 4Everyone else can see what I see with Bryce Eldridge. I'm not, you know, some kind of first base whisperer here. But he hit his 17th home run. He destroyed it. 112.7 exit velocity, 461 feet. His last 30 games, 327. Six homers, 29 RBI in 30 games, 972 OPS, 94.3 average EV during that time. The strikeouts have been manageable. It's like a 26% rate this year. He's actually been better against lefties than he has been against righties. So, I, I just love to see the even splits early on for a young player. He hits the ball hard. The strikeouts are fine. He's 69% rostered. We've talked about this for a while. Like, it should just be higher. Although, like, he has two more series against the Dodgers coming up, and their pitchers are, like, he's getting the meat of the Dodgers. So, it's, it's tough matchups the rest of the way. But, Chris, I am so excited about Bryce Eldridge
Speaker 5next year. You know, I said there's no way it can be top 12. But then I'm, I'm going through it. And like, first base, and I would definitely take over him. Okay. Ben Rice, Sal Stewart, Pete Alonzo, Alec Burleson, Matt Olsen, Miguel Vargas. What's that? Matt Olsen. Matt Olsen, Rafael Devers, Nick Kurtz. Nick Kurtz. Oh, yeah. How many is that? Eight? That's eight. There's, there's got to be someone I'm forgetting. But then you get into, like, Jake Bowers and Jonathan Aranda and Wilson Contreras and Jack Caglione. I think you take Jack Caglione ahead of him. Freddie Freeman. And it's like, there's going to be. The Contreras one is tough because
Speaker 4I really like his bat in Fenway, and it just feels like a perfect match. And his stack cast stuff is still really good. So, the Contreras one, I think, is really close.
Speaker 5I think I'm probably going to still rank Vladimir Guerrero ahead of Bryce Eldridge. I know that's
Speaker 4probably stupid, but. I get it, though. Like, he has the track record. Yeah. Like, I think
Speaker 5drafting him in the second round last year, obviously a mistake. I think we could go too
Speaker 4far in burying him. You know, talking about, I think both Cags and Eldridge could kind of be at the back end of the top 12. I think, yeah, I think
Speaker 512 to 15 for sure. Goldschmidt, I don't know about Gold, or not Goldschmidt, Bellin. Like, wait, who? Probably isn't going to be first base Eldridge. He's barely played first base, right? Who, Bellinger? Bellinger. I don't think he will. Luis Garcia will. And, you know, I think that's a close call. Yeah. The counting stats since he got to the Yankees are awful. Like, he really regressed hard. He's on like an 80 run, 70 RBI pace since he got to the Yankees, he still hits in the middle of the lineup. Yeah, but he's only started, I think, 32 of 39 games or something. Like, he's just, he's not an everyday player. That's one of the ones I wrote about. Yeah, Bellinger won't have eligibility next season. So, it's that 10 to 20 range is going to be, there's going to be a lot of guys in that range worth having that discussion about. And we might get to the point where it's just, you know what? Screw it. Bryce Eldridge, you're awesome. Let's go. Yep. And that, well, one thing that's going to frustrate it is like, there are a couple of catchers. Certainly, you're going to have to rank Liam Hicks around where a top 12 catcher would go, even if you're not, or a first baseman, even if you're not actually going to use him as a first
Speaker 4baseman. I know that we're supposed to leave those guys in our first base rankings. Yeah. I still just take them out. I take them out. Like, I, because it's not helpful. Like, you should not use a catcher eligible guy at first base. I mean, part of the appeal is that, you know, he has first base eligibility because he plays more than the average catcher. And that's most useful at the
Speaker 5catcher position. No, I get it. But the way we are supposed to do the rankings. Yeah. Don't tell
Speaker 4anybody I said that, by the way. Travis Bazzana finishing strong two for four with a double dong three RBI. One of those came off of a lefty. His last 10 games, 441, five homers, 15 RBI, more walk than strikeouts for most of the second half. I mean, it has been really unplayable here for Travis Bazzana. But, um, you know, what I said about Joe Adele obviously applies to Bazzana too. Lots of lefties still on the schedule the rest of the way. So I can't really recommend him the rest of, you know, for the final 10 games of the season or whatever it is. But I think it's encouraging Chris that, you know, he struggled and now he's kind of bouncing back and finishing strong. His full season pays 20 homers, 27 steals. I don't know if he's going to be an everyday player next year, but he's, he's got a little
Speaker 5juice for fantasy. I don't think the guardians have the, the kind of depth to be taking him out
Speaker 4of the lineup, but it's also a five 74 against lefties. He struggled, but I think he's young
Speaker 5enough and important enough that they should give him the reps. I do want to ask, uh, did you ever add, I remember back in when he got called up, I asked the audience to send in, uh, a, a, a drop of someone saying his name in the minions voice and someone did. Did you ever add it to your list? You gotta, we gotta find it. I, Oh yes. Look, someone did. Let me see. Uh, CJ Pendergrast. Yeah. Let's get that, that guy's stuff in there. Uh, you know what? Great. I can, I haven't listened to it, so this is a little scary, but I can, I can download it and throw it in the, I remember it not being, it's not super loud or, or anything. I don't think it was, I don't think there was anything wrong with it. Let's see.
Speaker 4Let's see if I could throw it in here. Oh no, it's not the right format. It's not the right file
Speaker 5format. It's very good. I just listened to it. It's very good. Uh, you know what? I will, I will
Speaker 4try while Chris is talking to just like import it into a program and then export it and we'll see if I can get it going here. Uh, but continuing on with some other waiver wire names, uh, we left off with Bazana, some corner infielders. I wanted to mention it was a big game for Spencer Torkelson. He had a sock in the shoe, his 24th home run, his first deal. We know he's not really going to run, but he has had himself a big September. He also has sat out five of the... past nine games against righties so i i don't think we could really recommend torkelson but it was a huge game um and then the orioles the uh the lefty mashers here kobe mayo had an inside the park home run against the mets in extra innings the updated second half numbers 274 12 homers 902 ops and uh looking at the rest of the schedule there's three lefties this weekend so i think both mayo and ces are in play uh if you play in a daily lineup league again mayo and and carnassian strand for this weekend but it looks like there's only one lefty on the schedule for next week so i like them for this weekend but probably not for next week chris yeah i i did
Speaker 5see somebody tweet that kobe mayo hit a home run off a righty and then when i went and checked it was like okay no you were you were being misleading i mean look he cried like it was hit really hard off the bat it was uh i think aj ewing like got a glove on it and crashed into the wall in dead center and and that was how he got the inside the park home run but it's like all right it wasn't actually a home run off a righty let's let's be let's be fair but he's been really good lately and he does have i think three or four homers off of righties in the past couple of weeks so some signs of life there he's got that op like the ops was below 500 against righties like two weeks ago and now it's all the way up to 551 so hey that's look i mean that's a that's a big improvement in a two-week span this late in the season he probably isn't good against righties but still uh it's worth noting how good he has been and it has not just been against lefties lately which has been a big thing that we've talked about with him so kudos to kobe mayo um having a nice little season right now all right i think i've got this
Speaker 4ready to go that was great filibustering chris uh let's see drop it in there and if there's one
Speaker 5thing i can do it's it's i can talk for longer than i'm supposed to it's very good
Speaker 4that is great and again that came in from uh cj pendergrass pender gas so thank you for sending that in i hope you're still listening at this point in the season and you just heard yourself make the show some deeper names deeper waiver wire hitters uh anthony volpe went two for four with his 10th stolen base five games since returning he has six hits one homer and three steals should be in the air at least i think so i think he's going to be in the air at least i think he's going everyday player with uh jazz out emmanuel rodriguez two for three with a double and rbi he just missed a home run off of a lefty in ryan yarbrough late in that game it was right down the line but a hooked foul uh he is 15 percent rostered and then andres chaparro hit his 11th home run this one off of christopher sanchez he has started just seven seven of 12 september games i wish the nationals would play him every day just to see what he could do because like his his splits are actually pretty even it's actually better against righty this year um and he's got he's got some juice in the bat but some deeper names chris any interest the rest of the way in chaparro emmanuel rodriguez and anthony volpe i think rodriguez is um a clear
Speaker 5level bot beyond volpe and chaparro just from a a talent standpoint you know it's early only 15 percent rostered so yeah it's early and look there there's only so much that can improve at this point in the season so i i think he's probably not going to get above 25 percent but this is a really talented young player who has put up big numbers throughout his minor league career the comp i made when he got called up was like max muncie with 20 homer or 20 steel potential he's had a lot of trouble staying healthy that's been the biggest knock on him but i always say when you have guys like i made this point with chaste a lot or a lot when you have these guys who just can't stay healthy but they keep producing i find that almost more impressive because these are the most important developmental years of their careers and they're being totally derailed by injuries and they're still producing that that says a lot about the baseline talent level and work ethic of these guys and it's worked out in uh in chase the lotters case i mean he has had his trouble staying healthy at the major league level but he's been a very good hitter and i think emmanuel rodriguez is going to be good as long as he stays
Speaker 4healthy some waiver wire pitchers chris can i interest you in any of these uh for the final week of the season michael soroka looked good against the marlins it was five innings one run six strikeouts he is uh looks like he's at the rockies and at the padres the final week so he is a two-star pitcher but one is in course field griffin jacks shut down the a's five shutout innings with seven strikeouts he is a spark he gets the red socks this weekend and then he's at the phillies in the final week davis martin i think davis martin is bad let me be very clear about this his final start is against the rockies in chicago so do with that what you will sean a solid outing against the orioles five and a third two runs six strikeouts to zero walks and he is uh part of a six-man rotation so he has this one start left it looks like it will be at texas next week and the rangers are actually good against lefties but they're really bad against righties and ryan johnson pitched well against the mariners six innings one run seven strikeouts he's been doing some good things last seven starts 204 era 101 whip and he is home against the twins this weekend and then his final start is at the mariners who he just dominated in a good place to pitch in seattle so chris can i interest you in any of these five in the final week of the season
Speaker 5soroka it's just i don't like the matchups at colorado and then yeah that's just a it's a tough matchup right now so he's the kind of pitcher who when things go wrong they tend to go really wrong and so that that's the scary thing but i think he's a most interesting is griffin jacks again don't love the matchups boston and philly the last two but that's probably okay you can use him there especially you know he pitched five innings in this one but it was only 67 pitches that's the thing that i forgot about is they have not let him go over 70 pitches i would expect the same yeah so that that's a really thin margin for error because that's just one bad inning it's a bad start you know it's really the only one i
Speaker 4really want to use for next week that i have any interest in is the one that i'm going to use for
Speaker 5interest is ryan johnson i i think that's the most interesting one he has completely changed his arsenal since they fired mike maddox he was like the sinker change up that he was leaning on before uh no sinker splitter and now it's cutter sweeper like he has completely reversed it's like 70 cutters and sweepers since the the pitching coach change i i don't really think he's like a super talented pitcher i know there are people i think i'm on the rates and barrels podcast they've talked about they like ryan johnson and frankly they're smarter than me so i'm open to being wrong on that one i'm not terribly impressed by him but this was a very good start obviously versus minnesota at seattle the final two starts very good spot for streaming so i think he's okay it's risky but i think it's okay
Speaker 4and then two deeper names drew anderson of the tigers pitched well at the blue jays five shutout with four strikeouts and in 10 starts this season he has a 236 era a 125 whip 4.6 walks per nine so the walks are untenable i think there's some interesting stuff here under the hood i don't want to use them against the pirates in the final week but i think a very deep name just to remember for next year if the tigers give him a shot to be in the rotation to start the season and then uh jack perkins i don't know where this came from at tampa bay tough matchup six and two-thirds one unearned run with eight strikeouts here i've always thought that there was like solid stuff here chris and the ability to get strikeouts but pitching in sacramento as your home park at no way around it i mean he has an era over six so it's been just bad all around i i kind of thought that there might be something there with jack perkins early
Speaker 5in his career yeah now i'm not so sure i i think he's an interesting pitcher and i can almost guarantee that next season when i write whatever deep sleepers for every team article that i do usually in march jack perkins will will definitely be one of the a's that i consider because i i think one he's locked in spark eligibility for next season he has made 20 appearances at rp so he will be spark eligible in 2027 i have him as a cheap keeper in the scott white dynasty league that's that's a nice one and and i think he's i think he's got decent swing and miss stuff it's just the control has been pretty bad all season he's given up a lot of loud contact he has to get better but i think there's tap in here and so that is a name that i'm going to be keeping an eye on like off-season reports and and what he does in spring training and i don't think it's guaranteed he's in the rotation next season but i think it's because they've got another pitching prospect who's on the verge i think so that rotation will probably look different jamie arnold he was their first round pick oh yeah yeah he he did his season i think is over because he got he was hospitalized last week he got hit by a comebacker in the face so that was scary but yeah yeah he's a very interesting pitching prospect i don't know if he'll be ready but he could be in the discussion but yeah i i think jack perkins is moderately interesting let's let's say that yeah i i think
Speaker 4that's fair jamie are very very moderately jamie arnold 22 years old he uh he did get up he got up to triple a this year made two starts there uh his 23 starts at double a jamie arnold 357 era 145 whip so okay walks are high hits per nine we're over nine um yeah i mean i think there's still some development to be had there with Jamie Arnold. Let's wrap up here some buy or sell. Way too early buy or sell for next season. And I'll pull up some nice little graphics here for those watching on YouTube. That's why you gotta watch. YouTube.com slash FantasyBaseball today. And this one, Chris, Teoscar Hernandez. Stayed hot, hit another home run. His last 28 games, he's hitting .320, four homers, an OPS over .900. Buy or sell. Teoscar Hernandez is not dead yet.
Speaker 5You have never seen Monty Python on the Holy Grail, right? No. That is not a reference you would get. Okay, Scott, Scott, I think would. I think we've talked about that. Scott has seen it, yep. Very, very good movie. I, yeah, I, I don't know. I guess I buy it, but it depends because there's a chance he's not on the Dodgers next year. And we don't know where he'll go. You start to think like, ooh, would the Mariners try to trade for him? If they lose a Rosarena in free agency, then I would definitely sell Randy or Teoscar Hernandez as a viable fantasy option for next year. But if he's back with the Dodgers, I'll buy it.
Speaker 4The Red Sox tried to sign him a couple of years ago, but there's just, there's nowhere on the Red Sox that makes sense either at this point. So, yeah, we'll, we'll have to see. But, you know, maybe giving the Dodgers something to think about. I know we all have kind of assumed that they will trade Teoscar to open up a spot for DePaula to be an everyday player for next season. But I don't know. If Teoscar finishes strong and looks good in the postseason, maybe, maybe they won't pull the plug just yet. So next we have Vinny Pasquantino. I'm seeing now that I, rushing to make these graphics, I have a, I have a little bit of a Vinny with two I's at the end of his name. Vinny Pasquantino.
Speaker 5That's when you have two Vinny Pasquantinos.
Speaker 4Yes, the Vin-I Pasquantino. And he had his 12th home run, 25 games since returning, 264, six homers, 888 OPS. Hitting the ball really hard. He looks like himself again since coming back. So buy or sell that you should buy the dip next season on Vinny P.
Speaker 5Baby. Uh, I mean, he, yeah, buy, but is he, he's not a top 15 first baseman next year.
Speaker 4I don't think so. But if, if I can get him as my corner, I would be interested in that. Yeah, as a very cheap corner. A corner around pick 200.
Speaker 5Yeah, I think that's. Yeah. I'd be down. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think that that Royal Siam's got to be better next year. We'll say every year until it happens. Well, it happened two years ago. Yeah. All right. Three, three years ago at this point. Yeah.
Speaker 4Yeah. I don't know. Next up, we have Jeremy Pena, who went three for four with a double dong here on Tuesday night. He was struggling before this in September. 13 games, 157, two extra base hits, zero homers, zero steals, a 33%. K rate. So he was scuffling, but overall it's, it's been a good season. I think he's, I think he's kind of showed the last two years. Like he's entered not superstar, but I, I think he's kind of a star at the position. And if you just take his numbers and paste them out from this year, full season, 30 homers, 117 runs, 14 steals. I mean, that's a really good player. So buy or sell Jeremy Pena top 10 shortstop in ADP next season.
Speaker 5I think he's gotta be. It's a tough position to break top 10, but. It is, but who has joined the top 10 who wasn't there this season? Kevin McGonigal. Connor Griffin. Connor Griffin. Okay.
Speaker 4Whether or not you agree with it, but yeah.
Speaker 5No, I mean, I agree.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5Otto Lopez.
Speaker 4Rough second half though.
Speaker 5So what do we do with that? Yeah, maybe, maybe, but I think Boba Shett is not going to be there. He's not going to be, well, yeah, he, he played enough to, to retain shortstop. He filled a lot for, uh, Lindor. Um, but I, I don't think we're drafting him as a top 10 shortstop, um, Gunner Henderson, we will, but I think it's an open question whether you'd rather have Gunner Henderson or Jerry Pena in 2027. That's close. I think those guys should be close. Um, I think I might take Pena over Trey Turner just straight up. Yeah. I think so. Geraldo Perdomo's definitely dropped out. Um, Pena versus Netto. Um, that's going to be close. I, I, Mookie Betts is out of that conversation. He'd definitely rather have Jeremy Payne. So yeah, I think he's gotta be a top 10. I'm buying this one for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I'm buying it. I think it's, I think it's closer to top six than top 12, like closer to top six than not in the top 10, I would guess.
Speaker 4Yep. Next up, Dale and Lyle hit a pinch hit home run his 21st homer, his three RBI. He did not start against Christopher Sanchez, but last 35 games, two 76, seven homers, 29 RBI, four steals. His OPS is around 80. That's a lot. Eight fifties, lifting the ball a lot more during that span, 91 mile per hour, average EV, 15% barrel rate. It's been a very productive season for Dale and Lyle. Buy or sell. There's another step coming for Dale and Lyle.
Speaker 5I think I buy this one just cause I, I think he's better than a two 48 batting average. I think everything else is pretty close to what I'd expect. 20 homers, 15. Like I, I think, I feel, I feel like he's a, a 20, 20 ish player, 85, like he's very, very Brian Reynolds-y. Yeah.
Speaker 4To me.
Speaker 5That's fair. And he just hitting two 48 this season. If he was hitting two 70, which I think is reasonable, I think you'd feel pretty good about that. So I, I buy this one, but it's, you know, it's not like I expect a huge step forward.
Speaker 4Yeah. We'll see if he can maintain any of these late season games, just lifting the ball in the air and hitting it harder. If he improves even a little bit against lefties too, and just fully plays every single day, it's a 600 OPS against lefties. So I get why he sits against some tougher lefties, but yeah, I think there could be another step here. Just good all around season for, for Dan Lyle. Very profitable player. Carson Benj hit his 18th home run. He has actually had a rough September, but he, he still has been better in the second half than he was in the first half, 18 homers, 22 steals, two 72 batting average, very even splits against both lefties and righties. Buy or sell Carson Benj top 100 pick. And ADP next season. That's a tough one because just for a little bit of a reference point, I know it's a sample of one, but in that too early meatball draft, Carson Benj went at pick 87. Okay.
Speaker 5So, I mean the comp we've always made and it, it kind of worked out perfectly as Brandon Nemo.
Speaker 4Like he has played early season Yellich, uh, early career Yellich. Yeah.
Speaker 5Not MVP Yellich, but Marlins Yellich. Um, the walk rates a little lower. More than both of those guys, but in the minors, it was way better. So I do think that's a place you can expect him to take, take a step forward. I think the quality of contact has been a little bit disappointing.
Speaker 4Agreed.
Speaker 5Uh, he hit the ball a lot harder at the minor league level last season. So there's room for improvement there as well. I, so Brandon Nemo's ADP last year was one 30 now, but he's old. He had a park downgrade. Um, I think I'm going to sell it, but I think it's going to be real close.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5I mean, the top 100, I mean, that's a, that's tough. It's tough, but it's also like, you look at the guys who were just outside of the top 100 and it's pretty trashy. Jose Altuve, Luis Robert, Joe Adele, Teoscar Hernandez. Like that was just the Luke Kieschel, uh, said I'm Raphael, I guess has been the best pick there.
Speaker 4But even that, uh, just inside the top 100, you had say a Suzuki, his ADP drop because he had the like fractured hand right before the season. I think it was a fractured hand, right? Or something like that. Uh, yeah. Or maybe it was a leg injury. I don't know. It was something in the WBC. Mm-hmm. Michael Harris was at 98. I don't know. That's kind of an interesting comp because like Michael Harris, you, you pretty much expect the 2020, two 70 season out of, and I mean, that's what Carson bench is doing right now.
Speaker 5Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I think I, that's a good number. A hundred is a good number. I think by 100, um, yeah, that no LV Marte was one 37. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So are we buying or selling this one? I'm buying it. I, I think he'll just get in there.
Speaker 4Yeah. All right. And the last name on the list here is, uh, Gabriel Moreno, who went two for three with two walks, a sock and a shoe, his 14th home run, his sixth stolen base. And he's hitting three Oh four with an eight 58 OPS buy or sell. He is a top eight catcher in ADP next season. Gabriel Moreno.
Speaker 5Well, he's the number seven catcher in the fantasy, in the fan graph player Raider, um, but he had an IL center idea, a concussion want to say, um, I think he missed some time for something. I don't remember, but he's, he's kind of having the bounce back. We hoped he would have, and it's been very quiet, you know, amid all that we've talked about at the catcher position. I feel like Gabby, this might be actually the first time we've mentioned his name all season. That's a joke, but not, not a huge one, right?
Speaker 4Like he's really good in a way that where he just flies under the radar because he's not putting up like gaudy home run numbers.
Speaker 5He's going to hit a ton of homers, but like he's been better than Yvonne Herrera and Carter Jensen. And we've talked way more about those guys than, uh, than Gabrielle Moreno. So I don't think it's top eight because you just, well, so rice is out Goodman Baldwin Contreras. I think dangler will be ahead of him. I think Herrera will be ahead of him. Jeffers Langoliers will definitely be ahead of him. Jeffers is a tough one Adley, Basayo, I don't know I don't think Adley. Basayo, maybe. I don't think I'm going to be able to take Gabriel Moreno if Cal Raleigh's on the board. Maybe that's a personal failing of mine, but I'm going to...
Speaker 4I was actually going to make this buy or sell. Gabriel Moreno over Cal Raleigh.
Speaker 5Yeah, I think I'm going to have to take Cal Raleigh.
Speaker 4I don't know, man. The skills are so interesting for Moreno. I don't know that there's massive upside for him, and he does have an injury history, but I really like the fact that he has maintained putting the ball in the air more this year. He started doing that last season.
Speaker 5Yeah, and that batting average is really valuable from a catcher.
Speaker 4A career-high 17% pulled air rate for Gabriel Moreno. I still think there's another level here where can he get to 20 home runs while hitting 300? I think we could get a William Contreras-type season out of Gabriel Moreno if everything clicks.
Speaker 5Yeah. No, it's a really solid, well-rounded skill set.
Speaker 4I'm buying it. Top 8, baby. Let's go. So we wound up buying everything on the list.
Speaker 5You know, I noticed it as we were going, and I was like, I think I'm buying everything. You know what? I'm bad with money. That's perfectly in fitting with my approach to life. I'm just spending all the time.
Speaker 4Let's wrap up here with some leftovers. Kyle Schwarber hit his 45th home run of the year. He now has 45 or more home runs in four of the past five seasons. Ronald Acuna remains hot since that mental day off. 18 games. Since that day off. 366, five homers, 13 runs, 14 RBI, two steals. Ozzy Albies, two for four with a sock and a shoe. His 22nd home run, his fourth steal. And he really got off to a great start. And his OPS by month, 923, 594, 738, 736, 606, 551 in September.
Speaker 5Yeah, and this is, one, a testament to the value of getting off to a good start. Because you build a nice base and you set that storyline in our heads that, oh, he's having a good season. And he's not really having that great of a season. He's been okay, but...
Speaker 4245, 22 homers. The counting stats are good. 83 runs, 71 RBI is okay. But the 22 homers, 83 runs for where he was going in drafts has been pretty valuable.
Speaker 5But only two steals, 245 batting average. This is not a...
Speaker 4Everything else is kind of blah.
Speaker 5This is not a... This is not a top 100 pick anymore, right?
Speaker 4No, no. I was going to do a buy or sell, like, is Ozzy Albies cooked? I kind of am leaning towards him being cooked, but...
Speaker 5I don't think that's wrong. I'm not saying he's, like, totally useless for fantasy, but he's the number 14 second baseman this season.
Speaker 4I think part of what is affecting his overall line is that he does not crush lefties the way he used to. So he's been right around, like, a 750 OPS, like, 750 to 800 OPS against lefties the past two years. And before, he used to crush them. Like, 900-plus OPS against lefties. And that's the difference between the Ozzy Albies we used to get that would hit, you know, 260 or 270, and he would pop, you know, 25 homers, and he also just doesn't really run anymore. And the counting stats would just be better. But he's now just kind of, like, good against lefties, whereas he used to just completely crush them.
Speaker 5Yeah, the bat speed's gone down. Yeah, it's... He's not that dude anymore, yeah. And he's... I don't know. This is... This is something I've pointed out with Austin Riley. He's, like, he's 29 now. Yeah. You know, like, that's... It's not the age... He's not so old that it's like, oh, he's completely washed up, but it's also, like, you probably shouldn't expect things to get better from here.
Speaker 4Yep. A couple other names here. Drake Baldwin hit his 24th home run, and he hasn't been as good since coming back from injury. It's an OPS around 750. I wonder if it's just natural regression or did the oblique just kind of... mess up this full-on breakout. Cody Bellinger hit his 16th home run. He's been very good since coming off the IL. 3-26 with five home runs. Fernando Tatis hit another home run, his 23rd, and the updated second half numbers, 307, 18 homers, 12 steals, and OPS over 1,000. Anything else here, Chris, on Tatis, Bellinger, Baldwin, Acuna, Schwarber?
Speaker 5Yeah, Baldwin didn't make my toughest catchers to rank list on Tuesday, because, again, I was trying to limit myself, but... it's going to be interesting, because I think you're making a case for him as a top two or three catcher. But, I mean, he's going to have... he has such a playing time edge when he's healthy. But, yeah, the production since coming off the IL has been a lot more pedestrian. It's going to be real interesting to see not so much where he ranks among catchers, because I think he's definitely in that, you know, first tier. You know, maybe it's... maybe it's a top five. I'm blanking on it right now, but... I think him, Langeleers, and Goodman are kind of... Goodman, Contreras, probably a step below.
Speaker 4I think at this point, he's a little bit below those guys, yeah.
Speaker 5Yeah. But it's more, how early is it actually worth taking him? Is he going to be like a third round pick or a fourth round pick? That's going to be pretty scary then. That's a big price tag, yeah. Yeah, so I... I like... I like Drake Baldwin for sure. I'm not sure if, you know, pushing him up to where, like, William Contreras has gone in the past or where JT Real Muto used to go, like that third or fourth round range, that feels a little scary for me. Just because I'm not sure he's that huge difference maker.
Speaker 4Some pitching leftovers. Five aces that looked the part here on Tuesday. We had Jacob Mizurowski, Yamamoto, Jacob deGrom, Hunter Brown, and Logan Gilbert. All had somewhere between good and great starts. A couple of numbers I'll just throw out here. Logan Gilbert, the whiffs have been massive over his last three starts. It's a 21% swinging strike rate over his last three. Jacob deGrom in his last four starts, 150 ERA, .46 whip, 35 case to two walks over 24 innings. And Yamamoto, the strikeouts have really come back as well. Last five starts, he has a 17.8% swinging strike rate. Anything else on this group of five?
Speaker 5Yeah, I mean, that was the only knock on Yamamoto. I guess... It's volume, kind of, but he pitches so deep into games that it makes up for the six-man rotation. I think... He has a .87 whip. That's insane. And I think he leads the majors in innings per start. Maybe he's second behind Alcantara, but he's right there. So that's helped make up for the volume in a way that I thought was going to limit him. I was pretty skeptical of him as a top four starting pitcher, but... Yeah. He's absolutely been worth drafting as the number four starting pitcher. I think he will be a top five starting pitcher next season. And then I do think it's worth mentioning Hunter Brown. Figuring it out is a very good sign. He was pretty shaky when he first came back from the shoulder injury, but last three starts have been pretty good. Gosh, I wrote about him earlier. I think his August was better. So I think he's... Mostly figured it out and quieted some of the doubt that, yeah, it's 345 ERA, 54 strikeouts in the past 44.1 innings since the start of August. So he's looking better given that he missed almost three months with a shoulder injury and has been shaky this season. I don't think we're going to be drafting him as certainly not a top 12 starting pitcher again, maybe not a top 20 starting pitcher again, but I think a lot of the concerns can... be sidestepped a little bit here with Hunter Brown with the way he's finishing the season. So that's promising.
Speaker 4You are spot on, by the way, with Yamamoto. He does lead all of Major League Baseball in innings pitch per start this season. Yeah, I thought that was what I saw, yeah. The call to the bullpen for the White Sox. Grant Taylor got the eighth inning with a one-run lead. It was a clean inning. Then he came back out for the ninth and he gave up a single. Strikeout, walk, ground out, and finally a two-run double to Brian Rocchio. Just brutal, brutal loss there for the White Sox. And it feels like a lot of the blown saves that have happened for Grant Taylor have been multiple. Multi-inning relief appearances, so...
Speaker 5I was just about to say that. It feels like it always goes wrong in that second inning for him.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think he's super talented. And if they transition him into being a starter next year, I will be very interested. I think there will be some kind of innings cap for him, but he looks like... I don't want to say Garrett Crochet, but once upon a time, the White Sox did this. They turned a reliever into a starter and it worked out very well. I don't know that Grant Taylor can do all that, but I think there's a lot of upside for Grant Taylor. For the Nationals, left-handed pitcher Eric Tolman got the ninth with a three-run lead. He picked up his third save, and he has three of the last four saves for the Nationals. Pretty sure they don't have a closer. They never will, ever again. But if I had to choose someone right now, it would be Eric Tolman. For the Athletics, Elvis Alvarado got the ninth inning with the game tied. He gave up a walk-off home run to Junior Caminero. And, you know, I was texting my little Yankees group chat that I have going on, and I'm like, oh, well, the Rays are going in, so the bottom of the ninth inning tied. How are they going to win this one? My buddy's like, oh, Caminero's going to hit a walk-off homer, and then boom.
Speaker 5Yeah, that's his second walk-off homer in the last five days, I believe. Yeah, so he's really good.
Speaker 4For the Mets, Kodai Senga got the ninth inning with a one-run lead, and he gave up a game-tying home run to Pete Alonzo. He took his first blown save. The Mets would eventually lose in extra innings. For the Orioles, Rico Garcia got the ninth with the game tied. He allowed a hit and a walk. He recorded two outs. Later in the game, Andrew Kittredge came on to pick up his 10th save. He did that in the 11th inning. I still kind of lean towards Rico Garcia being their highest leverage reliever right now. For the Cubs, Jacob Webb got the 7th with a one-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer, took his, I believe, league-leading 8th-blown save and his 5th loss. It feels like the Cubs are moving towards a combination tandem of Ryan Rolison and Ryan Zephyrjohn as their closer right now, and that's not really a position you want to be in as the Chicago Cubs.
Speaker 5Ryan Zephyrjohn's been great since he got there.
Speaker 4No. For the Braves, Rizal Iglesias picked up his 33rd save. For the Rangers, Jacob Latz picked up his 30th save. He retired the final five outs in that one. Josh Hader picked up his 26th save. I just want to give a shout-out to Josh Hader, man. We have not talked about him, but .85 ERA and .66 whip, 55 strikeouts over 42 and a third innings. He looks like prime Josh Hader. This might be the best version of Josh Hader we've ever seen.
Speaker 5The ideal fantasy closer is the closer who never gets mentioned on a fantasy baseball podcast.
Speaker 4Yeah, no, that's right.
Speaker 5Like, we don't talk about Mason Miller, you know? Like, there's nothing to talk about. That guy's awesome. And that's been the case with Josh Hader this season, and he had, was it a biceps injury?
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5Didn't pitch until, like, June.
Speaker 4And I think it was a shoulder thing last year, too, and I was completely spooked off taking him this offseason because I'm like, look, he's already kind of being slacked off. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He's been slow-rolled in spring training, and, like, he was starting the season injured. I wanted nothing to do with Josh Hader. And, yeah, I mean, by XERA, 174 is by far the best of his career. I mean, what is going on?
Speaker 5Because he doesn't have, like, the 40% strikeout rates like he used to.
Speaker 4Yeah, and his age 32 season, man, like, man. Yeah.
Speaker 5Shout out to Josh Hader. He has been, despite missing, like, the first two months of the season, he's been the ninth best reliever in fantasy, and that includes, I guess, no sparps are in there. They're all true relievers. But, yeah, that's very impressive.
Speaker 4And then for the Angels, Ben Joyce was unavailable. Ryan Watson picked up his third save of the year. To stream or not to stream, and I do apologize to anyone who used Andre Palante on Tuesday because he got absolutely crushed, but I just had so much confidence against that Giants team. The one name we did bring up as a hitter in their lineup was Bryce Eldridge, and he hit a mammoth home run off of Andre Palante. On Wednesday, Zebby Matthews is home against the Yankees. Matthew Libertor home against the Giants. Cade Air Montero at the Blue Jays. Max Scherzer home against the Tigers. Jared Jones home against the Brewers. Chris Bassett at the Mets. Revenge game. J.R. Ritchie at the Cubs. Christian Javier home against the Royals. Yusei Kikuchi home against the Mariners. And Merrill Kelly home against the Marlins.
Speaker 5You bring up some of these revenge games, and I'm like, man, I do not remember. I guess he had the one year. He was with the Mets for one year. I love a good obscure revenge game. Yeah, that was, yeah. One year, five years. Five years ago, I guess, technically is a revenge game. It's a rough day. It's a rough day. Well, the Giants should be the best matchup, but they just teed off on a better pitcher. Matthew Libertor's so bad, I can't do it. I don't think I can either. I don't really have any faith in Max Scherzer. I don't. Cade Air Montero, I guess the results have been pretty good this season, but I don't have a lot of faith in that. It's a really tough matchup. I get it, but I would still put Jared Jones at the top of the list. I think it's got to be Jared Jones and Christian Javier. And then, Kikuchi, that's really risky,
Speaker 4but vibes in Seattle are real bad. I think all four of these are risky options, but I would rank them Jared Jones, Javier, Kikuchi, and then Merrill Kelly.
Speaker 5I agree with that, and I think those are the four best options. I don't love any of them.
Speaker 4On Thursday, it is a shorter slate. There's not much here. Dustin May at the Pirates. They crush righties. Brady Singer against the Dodgers. Oh, my gosh. Jeffrey Springs at Tampa Bay. Revenge game. Seth Lugo at the Astros. And Walbert Arania home against the Twins.
Speaker 5I do remember Jeffrey Springs on the Rays.
Speaker 4Yeah. I like Arania here. I legitimately like him.
Speaker 5Arania's the only one I like, yeah.
Speaker 4If I had to choose two others, I would say Dustin May and... Give me the revenge game, but it is... Those last... May and Springs are also very, very risky. So I can see that going very sideways.
Speaker 5I guess Springs in Tropicana Field, I could see that going well. They're not great against lefties either. Yeah, I could talk myself into that going okay. But I wouldn't want to.
Speaker 4We are going to wrap there for 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.
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