Speaker 1Hey, 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 fact 1417, before 1859, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs. Snapple real fact 1483, 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.
Speaker 2Alright, now let's get back to the show. Delivered by Little Caesars, the official pizza sponsor of the NFL. Right now. Score two favorites just for you with Detroit-style slices and sticks. You get two pieces of Detroit-style deep dish pepperoni pizza with crispy caramelized cheese edges and four pieces of buttery garlic-flavored dippable cheese sticks with a side of crazy sauce for just $4.99. Heck, that's the biggest duo since Monday nights and football, since touchdowns and victory dances, since armchairs and quarterbacks. Well, you get the idea. But hurry, because this dynamic delicious duo is available for a limited time only and only at Little Caesars. Make your game day delicious all season long with Little Caesars. Officially delicious. Available at participating locations for a limited time. Prices may vary and are higher in Alaska, Hawaii, California, many areas in New York, Oregon, Washington, and third-party online sites. Taxes and fees may apply.
Speaker 3Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports.
Speaker 4And first pitch, rushing deep left field. This is way back.
Speaker 3Walk the 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, and Chris.
Speaker 1Hello. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Wednesday, September 23rd. I am Frank Stample-Joy. Brought to you by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we will break down everybody's favorite breakout for 2027. Waiver wire names for the rest of the week if you are in a daily lineup league and you're still playing. And some buy or sell for 2027. Let's jump in. Oh my goodness! Unbelievable! All right, Chris, let's start with everybody's favorite breakout pick for 2027. Bubba Chan. Sorry, no. No. Sorry. Jared Jones? Jared Jones! And we can only do. Totally different guy. We can only do that today because Scott isn't on the podcast. Jared Jones was awesome against the Cardinals. Seven shutout innings. One hit. Zero walks. Nine strikeouts. 18 whiffs on 86 pitches. 11 of those on his fastball. Three on the slider. Three on the curve. And he did change things up in this one. He actually used his slider less, which is typically his best pitch. Lean in on the fastball and the curveball more in this one. And. Really had all three of those working quite a bit. The curve was a little bit different. The velocity down a touch. And it had three less inches. Excuse me. The velocity was up a little bit. And it had three less inches of drop. But whatever he was doing, it was really good. He had everything working here. Did Jared Jones. And in four September starts, he now has a 108 ERA, a.64 whip. 35 strikeouts to four walks over 25 innings. He has eight or more strikeouts in each of those starts. And has gone. Six plus innings in three of four. So, he's been more efficient. He isn't walking as many. Obviously, four walks in four starts. But that has allowed him to go deeper into his starts. And he's finishing really, really strong. So. Buy yourself. Before I get to the buy yourself. I guess give me your thoughts on Jared Jones and the possibility of him being everybody's favorite breakout for next season.
Speaker 5It is extremely possible. I would say very likely that Jared Jones is going to be everybody's favorite breakout. Candidate for 2026. Or, you know, not everyone's, right? Like, there's always going to be people who aren't on board. People who are pumping the brakes. I might be one of those people who's pumping the brakes. But, yeah. I think he's clearly going to be one of the most popular breakout candidates for 2027. He'll be in that Cam Schlittler, Nolan McClain, Bubba Chandler, Jacob Mizurowski. Yeah. I think he's going to be in that Cam Schlittler, Nolan McClain, Bubba Chandler, Jacob Mizurowski. McClain and Jacob Mizurowski. -
Speaker 1That's why I think it's gonna be higher. - Yeah, I think it's gonna be higher. just because we have like a dearth of those kind of breakout it's going to be a very different pitching landscape because usually and look there will be other breakout candidates that go a little bit later in the draft but just that i'm talking about that specific range around sp30 sp36 we had all these guys last year what i think is different is that we have a lot of young pitchers for next season but we've seen a bigger sample of them it's like logan henderson kate cavalli peyton toley i think all those guys are going to be like top 25 starting pitchers drafted i think they're going to go clearly ahead of where that breakout group was going last year and then i think it's going to drop off a little bit and as a result i think people are going to be searching for oh who is this year's cam schlittler who is this year's mizurowski
Speaker 5everybody had their own version of that last year like everybody had one person had chase burns one person had yuri perez one person had cam schlittler and so and i think a lot of
Speaker 1people are going to fall on jared jones
Speaker 5when it's when there's just one i think there could be a lot of upward pressure on that price so yeah by by him being more expensive than schlittler who was sp32 maybe sell on miz at 28 that's right now there's that
Speaker 1little area that range sounds right though it's like sp30 at pick 115 like that's i could see that just kind of being the price tag for jared jones next season and uh i don't know it could turn out to be too high but the way that i'm leaning right now it's there is a lot of talent there and and we are being reminded of that now with jared jones uh the updated k minus walk rate for him is uh 21.6 percent that's 14th best among starting pitchers with at least 90 innings this season it's better than kade cavalli christopher sanchez jerasmuson paul skeens braxton ashcraft joe ryan like it's a good number it's a really really good number there for jared jones uh one of the names i mentioned there chris was jerasmuson your player of
Speaker 5the night yeah what a i assume this is the last start of jerasmuson's regular season the rays have locked up the division he threw 114 pitches today uh did i i got that right right that yeah i saw that number and that is a career high 114 pitches for jerasmuson i have to imagine they only did that because they they know he's going to get a cup you know six or seven days of rest no
Speaker 1more than that he took a no hitter going into the seventh so i think that was part of it too and they just didn't really they didn't have relievers up because he still had the no hitter going at that
Speaker 5but he also definitely won't be pitching the wild card round right so they've got he's gonna have extended rest yeah it's probably like 10 days until his next start so but that is notable because that is continuing with a theme that has been prevalent all season with jerasmuson remember last year he he didn't throw more than 92 pitches in a start at any point all season this was the 13th time he's thrown more than 92 pitches this season so he has topped last year's total uh his his top last year's season high in inning or pitches 13 different times he has thrown 22 more innings than last season in one fewer start so they've been giving him a little extra rest here and there but they've also been giving him the rope and he has just gotten better at absolutely everything career high wins career uh yeah that's going to be a career low in innings because those other seasons wouldn't count although amazingly no matter what role he's in jerasmuson hasn't had an era higher than 284 since 2021 which is incredible uh career best whip career high 174 strikeouts career high strikeout rate career best walk rate like everything is better than it's ever been he's still in a great organization he's going to be 31 next year so that's a little older but it's not so old and okay i think this is a guy who's had reconstructive elbow surgery three times i think it was two tommy johns and a uh internal brace so you gotta factor in some heightened injury risk but it's also now two and a half years of no injuries for him at all so i'm not sure how much more injury risk he has than your typical pitcher and so i don't know man you look at it all and is this guy a top 12 starting pitcher for next season
Speaker 1it is a fantastic question one that i was thinking about a lot here
Speaker 5on tuesday night i just i haven't started my starting pitcher i'm planning on doing uh rankings probably next monday i'm way far out and i'm gonna
Speaker 1work even slower than you guys on this like i really want to just let stuff breathe a little bit scott has already ranked like 55 catchers i'm like oh my gosh how are you
Speaker 5doing this scott it's crazy i i've done i'm done with like the hitter positions for the most part i'm still tweaking outfield but i'm only going like 20 deep at the infield and like 40 at the outfield i'll i'll get to the rest in november i'm gonna do i just wanted to get you know a first draft here
Speaker 1i'm gonna do a lot of my research just as part of like after a lot of position recaps just to see like who finished top 12 at every position and everything so i will do a lot of my research then and that will kind of just factor into my you know rankings analysis for next season but yeah raspis is raspison man it's just crazy consistency this year number five sp
Speaker 5right now a heavier
Speaker 1workload yeah i mean he's top five in roto he's top six in total head-to-head points his second half has been even better 186 era 0.87 whip and a handful of
Speaker 5double-digit strikeout starts including 11 on uh tuesday night right i know this doesn't
Speaker 1this doesn't always play out the way i bring it up a lot but it really i don't think it plays out as much as i think it does but like next year he the race have a club option for him and then 2027 is basically just a contract year for to raspison i think it's a little bit different for a guy that just hasn't really had that big contract in his career and you know he's had so many injuries and so like if he can go out and show the world that he could do this two years in a row he might get like a pretty big payday like a you know four or five year contract a ranger
Speaker 5suarez contract yeah
Speaker 1and that's that's a big deal so i could see it actually mattering more for someone like raspison who's like trying to get the bag for the only time in his career basically so i think that factors in as well he's he is a fascinating pitcher my first thought was i i think he's probably going to be like top 15 starting but you're also buying him at the highest cost that's ever been in his career so it's he's he's gonna be a tough player to break down for next season would
Speaker 5you rather have him or hayes's lizardo i mean before
Speaker 1the the shoulder injury it would have been lizardo easily that's
Speaker 5why i'm asking now because there's still we just have like a 30 to 40 strikeout difference but i think lizardo got over 200 right i think
Speaker 1i would lean raspison but i mean you hear it in my voice there's there's no conviction in that right now it's just we have to find out more with with uh with lizardo and does he return in the postseason what does the velocity look like yeah there's gonna be a lot of offseason updates but i i think right now i would lean lizardo over raspison there there is no way the
Speaker 5race trade him right they could probably get a haul for him but like but like there's no way they could do that right just because he's gonna be so cheap too that's what they do you know like they trade everyone in the agency that nobody ever walks nobody walks away from the race uh like there's no way right non-zero chance but i would say it's highly unlikely that they like they trade but they traded blake snell going into a walk year coming off a world series appearance and a you want cy young that year right i yeah that sounds right now you want to say on the second sign with the padres right yeah his first i young i think was his was
Speaker 1first full season right second yeah second full season okay yeah he won the scion with the padres so but that was yeah that would change the calculation for me if raspison is not with the rays next year i
Speaker 5think it would a little bit yeah um just
Speaker 1top of canada being such a great place to pitch and the familiarity the organization knows how to handle them and stuff like that so
Speaker 5they traded and just i think that fastball heavy i know it's a cutter sinker four seamer but he throws well like 70 80 percent fastballs it's it's pretty much the cam schlittler it's a lot like
Speaker 1cam schlittler he just doesn't throw as hard yeah but um it's that same mold
Speaker 5and i think pitching at tropicana helps like i think that's part of why he's been even better this season as a strikeout pitcher but i think
Speaker 1he'll be top a top 15 pitcher in adp i don't know that i'll be the one to draft him though i just don't it's a mental thing for me just yeah drafting a guy coming off his career year it's it's just hard for me to
Speaker 5do i agree but i also you know it's one of those things where it's like the name doesn't matter it's the the production you're getting the the production you're expecting to get from them is what should matter yeah but it's it's hard i agree i mean it's
Speaker 1like we just did that with hunter brown and brian woo this year and look how that turned out you know it's just i don't like every pitcher is different but yeah that i think rasmussen is a a pretty fascinating one big thanks to everyone being here make sure to hit that like button and if you're listening on audio drop us a five-star rating and review on apple or spotify we really would appreciate that let's take a break and we'll be back 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 ballpark 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. 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. Home or 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 Ookla Speedtest, based on analysis by Ookla of Sports, Speedtest Intelligence data first half 2026. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission.
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Speaker 1Welcome back. Fantasy Baseball Today. Let's hit the news and notes. Shohei Otani is expected to return on Wednesday. And I have to believe that's bad news for Josue DiPaolo. Right, Chris? Um, probably.
Speaker 5But man, can they really bench this kid right now? He had another walk today, along with two hits. He is hitting.323 with a.500 on-base percentage. It's only 42 plate appearances, but 11 of them have ended in walks compared to five strikeouts. He's hit for power. I kind of just think Josue DiPaolo is one of the Dodgers' nine best players.
Speaker 1I think Teoscar has been pretty hot lately, too. Yeah, that messes it up. Probably. Probably. Yeah, Teoscar. Yeah, I mean, entering today in September, it's a.358 batting average, OPS over 1,000 for Teoscar. And he's just, you know, he's been there for the World Series the past couple of years. He's a veteran. He kind of, he has that respect on the team. They could just make him a short side platoon, Teoscar. I don't think they're going to do that, though. I would guess DiPaolo doesn't get sent down, though. Yeah, maybe he's just a pinch hitter off the bench type thing.
Speaker 5Yeah. Especially because you don't really know what you're going to get from him.
Speaker 1But that would kill his fantasy value for the final. Yeah, for sure. For the final. For the final phase of the season. Yeah. Yeah. So, Otani is back. The same cannot be said for Aaron Judge. It turns out that his calf strain was described as moderate. And he's not expected back for the wild card round. Could be ready for the ALDS if the Yankees make it that far. But I don't feel great about that possibility. I mean, to be honest, I don't even know that they're going to make it past the wild card round. Got to go up against the Red Sox who, you know, having a big second half of the season. Really good pitching. And I think that's going to be a really tough series for them. It's a scary matchup, yeah. And then if Judge with a calf injury, he probably needs to DH. And that just completely throws everything off, too. Like, you're going to have Aaron Judge who is extremely rusty. And his timing is probably completely off. And then you need the DH spot for one of Ben Rice or Luis Garcia. And it just doesn't really work. So, I don't really think Judge will. Maybe if they go really deep into the playoffs, like, Judge could be back and play the outfield. But I just, I don't really see it happening. And we were talking beforehand, Chris. You have a bit of a hot take here on Aaron Judge for next year.
Speaker 5Yeah, I'm not, I'm still working on it, right? I'm still preheating. Yeah, we'll call it a mild take for now. Mild take. But, I am not 100% sure Aaron Judge should be a first rounder next season. I don't think that's crazy. Yeah, it'd be one thing if he just missed 103 games or whatever it's going to end up being. I think he got to about 60. 60 games? Because Juan Soto only played, what, like 80 games? Something like that?
Speaker 1I think he's over 100.
Speaker 5Is he over 100? He's DH'd a decent amount? Okay. Yeah, he's at 106. But if that's all it was, it'd be, you know, me. I'm more willing to give guys the benefit of the doubt for injury concerns. Especially when it's not, like, recurring things. But Judge is going to be 35 next year. And he is very large. And I think injuries certainly have been an issue for him throughout his career. Although he's mostly stayed healthy over the past five seasons. There have been a couple of issues. But for the most part, he's stayed healthier lately. And if that was all it was, I think it'd be easier to overlook. But then you start to get into the fact that the skill set did slip this year. His expected WOBA. His 396. That's an amazing mark. It's the worst for Aaron Judge since 2020. And it's, like, the third worst of his career. The strikeout rate, back up to 30%. It's the highest since 2019. The ISO 270, that's the worst since 2021. And I'm open to the idea that he just wasn't healthy. He was really good in April. And then I think he started slowing down in May. We started to hear. That's what I was going to say. Like, shoulder issue that turned out to be the rib that caused him to miss all the time. I'm totally open to the idea that that's just what happened. That he just wasn't healthy. Is that a bet you want to make with your first-round pick who's going to be 35? Like, 35-year-olds, even Hall of Famers like Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge isn't going to be an inner-circle Hall of Famer. He might be the best right-handed peak hitter in baseball history. But 35-year-olds usually don't go back to being. Who they were once the decline starts. The decline will probably be slower for Aaron Judge than it is for Teoscar Hernandez or whoever. But because you're not going to get any stolen bases out of him. I think after this season, I think you can be pretty confident that you're not going to get 15. And can you bet on the 300-plus batting average that you've gotten the last three out of the last four seasons before this one? I think it's a decent bet, but it's not. I guarantee. Is he a 50-homer guy or a 45-homer guy? You know, it's all these things that are like, he's still really good probably. But he's 35. And he's coming off an injury-plagued season. And there was some skills decline. And so it's just, it's all pointing in the direction of maybe we just need to be a little more cautious with where we're drafting Aaron Judge. Does that mean I'm taking, I think, Pekar Armstrong and Jordan Alvarez over him. I think. I think those are fairly easy calls. Am I taking Juan Soto over him? I think that's pretty easy for me. I would take Soto. I think so. Fernando Tatis? That's iffy.
Speaker 1Yeah. James Wood? The way I feel right now is that I think it's probably closer to late first round. I think I would take Ellie over him pretty comfortably.
Speaker 5Yeah. I mean, if you're taking Ellie, why not Jackson Shurio?
Speaker 1Junior Caminero? I mean, Caminero. Caminero will probably give you 80% of the production of like a healthy Aaron Judge, but he's also younger and doesn't have the injury risk that Aaron Judge does. You mentioned in there that I think him getting hurt, because he mentioned that he got hurt in late April. And I think basically from anything on that, like anything after that point was just he was playing hurt. Yep. If you look at through April, he hit 12 home runs in his first 31 games. That is still a 60%. That's a 60-2 home run pace. Oh, yeah. He was himself. He was basically still, you know, the best power hitter in all of baseball. The batting average was a little bit lower. But I agree. I think it comes with a lot of risk. I mean, it's tough because this is one that can, if you're out, Chris, I mean, it can make you look really, really foolish. Oh, yeah. Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Like, if he stayed healthy, we could still get a 280-plus hitting 50-homer season out of Aaron Judge. But it's just like, when do you take the risk on that upside? the first round, the downside being. kind of what we saw this year that like he just deals with a bunch of injuries next year and maybe he plays half a season I don't know maybe that risk is like mid first round or late first round but it it's it's another tough
Speaker 5one and and the median outcome is probably Juan Soto right like that's that's kind of the crazy thing about Aaron Judge is like you just look at the the expected woe but it's not very different from what Juan Soto actually produced this season so there might just be he's not what he was but he's still the second best hitter in baseball and that would be worth it assuming he stays healthy you know that's the that's that's the thing yep he
Speaker 1is another tough one uh let's run through the rest of these news items here Ronald Acuna what left early on Tuesday night after fouling a ball off of his left leg x-rays were negative and he is day-to-day so obviously the Braves will play that cautiously because they've already wrapped up the division and they need him healthy for the playoffs Blake Snell is penciled in to start Saturday against the Giants he left his previous start early with groin tightness but felt good after throwing a bullpen on Tuesday Alex Bregman will not go on the IL he suffered multiple facial fractures after getting hit by a foul ball on Sunday and on Monday Jeff Passon reported that Bregman is expected back at some point in the postseason we just don't really know when that is going to be for Bregman so not on the IL now uh I there were some cool pictures Chris I guess not cool depending on who you ask but him sitting at the top of the dugout and he had his hood on he kind of looked like one of the like the Seth Lords and real real Anakin Skywalker Sith Lords I said Seth Lords Sith Lords
Speaker 5well yeah have you have you seen Star Wars I I've seen
Speaker 1some of them yes I've seen seven of the nine nine okay like the three trilogy movies the main
Speaker 5the Skywalker's yeah I've seen seven as we refer to that that's pretty good right it's not yeah I'd say there's one more worth watching but that's a controversial take that I know the the internet people don't agree with but yeah um yeah yeah he did though
Speaker 1there was definitely some Star Wars gnarliness going on with with Alex Bregman's face Garrett Crochet threw a 16 pitch live BP on Tuesday and he touched 96 miles per hour again trying to get back in the Red Sox bullpen for the playoffs definitely don't want to see that going up against the Giants but yeah I'd say that's a controversial take that I know that's a controversial take but yeah I'd say that's a controversial take that I know against the Yankees Christian Javier left early Tuesday night due to right groin tightness and he was pitching well before he left it was two shutout innings with two strikeouts here he's someone that we all liked as a streamer I know Scott had him as a two-star pitcher for this week it's it's tough because the last couple starts have been pretty good for Javier this was a great matchup but unfortunately he just left with the groin injury and if I had to guess I don't I don't think he'll make that second start later this week so uh pretty tough break there for Christian Javier Kyle Tucker was back in the lineup Tuesday after missing Sunday with soreness in his knee slash shin Jazz Chisholm was activated from the aisle for game two of the doubleheader against the Rays Wilson Gutierrez has missed four straight with a bruised right hand Aroldis Chapman who's dealing with a lat issue should be cleared to pitch in the next day or two some good Red Sox news Cedon Rafaela is expected to return on Wednesday he's been out since September 6th with a right quad strain the MRI on Andres Munoz's right knee came back negative so uh looks like he will avoid the IL and he is the Mariners closer for the rest of the season assuming they get any wins bad game here against the uh the Astros on Tuesday night the Mets reinstated Devin Williams from the IL and they immediately had a save situation Williams was not used at all it was Kodai Senga who got the ninth inning and uh it was a clean inning he struck out two he picked up his eighth save I don't really know what this means long term for the Mets bullpen Chris but my guess is they just didn't want to throw Devin Williams like right back into the highest leverage situation coming off the aisle
Speaker 5yeah did he even make a rehab appearance or was it just bullpens I think it was just you know I think AAA season's done so yeah that's a tough spot and it doesn't necessarily mean anything for 2027 but I also think just looking at it from the five games at this point right uh four games um and keep him confident in that role worst case scenario you could have two high leverage relievers that you potentially feel decent about heading into next season and look Devin Williams has been flat out bad for two years now so no that's that's fair I mean I think in 2025 it was kind of just like a couple of bad stretches early on he finished pretty strong but yeah it turns out that wasn't a total fluke and so not necessarily a guy you can go into 2027 and think okay we got our closer situation settled and he's got a couple years left on his contract and it's going to be potentially awkward but yeah I don't think they have to just hand him the job
Speaker 1back and the Dodgers still hate Emichi and he was optioned to AAA so my guess is he won't pitch this week but you never know maybe someone goes on the IL goes on a paternity list goes on some kind of list and boom as of now he is not Christian Scott was placed in the IL with left knee inflammation Jock Peterson is finally going on the IL after suffering a fracture in his left hand last week and we had some pitchers get shut down they will not start this final week that includes Cade Cavalli and Landon Roop the Cavalli got
Speaker 5locked in that contract good for him
Speaker 1the Cavalli one it it especially sucks because the Nationals were one of six teams that played on Monday night and then they announced this on Tuesday so if you play in a weekly lineup league you're going to get nothing from Cavalli yeah I mean I did there was um Dr. Dave actually pointed this out on Twitter to me that the Nationals had a TBD in Cade Cavalli's spot in the rotation like on MLB.com I didn't realize that but usually if that if that's the case there they're probably going to shut down that pitcher so that is something to remember I guess for next year which I'm sure nobody will remember and some manager news the Red Sox gave Chad Tracy a three-year contract the Mets gave Andy Green a three-year extension and uh I believe he's right around 500 since he took over so the Mets have played much better over him uh under Andy Green and um I don't know he I know his first thing with the Padres didn't go very well but you know I've seen some you know press conference related things and like just the way he handles the media and stuff like seems like he knows what he's doing I I don't I don't know I mean it's the Mets are always going to Mets but I don't know well that's
Speaker 5the thing yeah I remember the Mets are always going to Mets but I don't know I kind of like the thing yeah I remember you know I'm a Marlins fan you guys know this I remember every time the Marlins would have a manager vacancy and they'd fired they went through a period where they fired a bunch of managers and like you remember when they hired their like they just moved their GM into the manager role for a little bit it was a whole mess and I remember people saying like why would anybody choose to be the manager for the Marlins you're just gonna get fired and it's like well one things go bad nobody's ever blaming like nobody around baseball is gonna look at the Mets and be like well that was Andy Green's fault so like you're you got no downside worst case scenario you get fired you don't have to work they still got paid three-year guaranteed contract from the Mets yeah in a in a state of huge dysfunction where their manager their GM's probably on the hot seat next year you might get fired next June you got two and a half years of paychecks baby it sounds like a great gig I'm just surprised I'll take the Mets I'll take the Mets manager gig every time just
Speaker 1knowing who's available to me I'm just surprised I'm just surprised I'm just surprised I'm just available right i i just i thought maybe they would go after an alex cora in the offseason or maybe revisit carlos beltran i know he was going to be the manager and then it sounds like beltran just wasn't interested oh
Speaker 5really okay yeah i i saw some speculation about that that it was like he did an interview recently where he was asked about it and it was like it didn't seem like it was like a huge priority for him so all right that might have played a part in this decision as well
Speaker 1all right some waiver wire options for the rest of the week the final week if you do play in a daily lineup league and uh nolan arenado i know scott has had as a pretty high ranking sleeper hitter for this week he is back in chorus field he crushed another home run his 28th home run of the season just having a massive september man 338 batting average seven homers ops is over 1100 he's 76 percent rostered so this is a uh a very shallow league name he has two more games in chorus and then three at san diego casey myers walker bueller they have michael king listed but the padres are locked in by sunday michael king will not pitch in that game so uh could be kind of a bullpen game there um but yeah i i think if you need a third baseman the rest of the week or just a utility hitter chris and arenado is one of the hottest hitters in
Speaker 5september so yeah it's um it's gonna be fascinating i wrote about um the toughest third baseman to rank for tuesday morning's fbt newsletter so did you just have all of them on there or well yeah i mean i didn't include arenado but yeah that's a tough one uh i have no idea what to do with this season he had 32 homers the previous two seasons up to 28 now imagine it's
Speaker 1the 30 imagine i told you before this season arenado home
Speaker 5runs um i didn't think the move to arizona was going to be this good for him but he's he's bounced back a little with the underlying numbers and he's got that that pull swing locked in and has pretty much all season he's gonna have a great year um i i'm looking at you know i have done some of the rankings for next season and I've got him 17th at third base. That sounds appropriate. That's behind Caleb Durbin and Zach Galoff, who I have zero faith in either of those guys. Just full honesty, I don't believe in what they've done this season.
Speaker 1I would imagine your faith level in Arenado is also very low.
Speaker 5It's also very low, but then Colson Montgomery has been awful for the last two. There was something, I think he had 50 strikeouts in 30 games or something recently. But it's been, I think it's close to a 40% strikeout rate in the second half of the season.
Speaker 1I think it's over 40%.
Speaker 5Let's see, I'm pulling it up right now. 40.4%. Yeah, 613 OPS.
Speaker 1The top two strikeout rates in the second half, both on the White Sox, Colson Montgomery and Murakami.
Speaker 5I did not realize how awful Colson Montgomery has been since the start of June, actually. That is, this is a way more. Alarming. I know we're not talking about Colson Montgomery, but let's talk about Colson Montgomery for a second, because he's got a 39% strikeout rate, and he's hitting 186 since the start of June.
Speaker 1And this is what people were worried about. What's crazy is he still has 31 home runs and 87 RBI.
Speaker 5Yeah, so like, I've got Arenado 17th, I've got Montgomery 14th. It wouldn't take much for me to jump Arenado to 14. I don't think I would put him ahead of Curtis Meade or Isak Paredes, although Paredes and Arenado are kind of the same guy. Paredes is just younger, but it is to say that he's going to go into next season. Fantasy relevant, which hasn't been true in a couple of years. So, great season for him.
Speaker 1Caminero round one or J-Ram round two, man. Lock it in, get one of those third basemen.
Speaker 5Or Sal or Miguel Vargas in round two. They might get pushed that high just for at least a 15 team. I think they're going to be second rounders. I don't necessarily feel super great about it, just because they've each only done it once. But I don't feel great about Jose Ramirez either. Like what we said with Aaron Judge, 35-year-olds don't generally get healthier and bounce back. So, third base is rough.
Speaker 1Yeah. Well, continuing on with third base, Eugenio Suarez has somewhat salvaged his season here. Hit his 25th home run. 42 games since the start of August. He's hitting only two. But it comes with 11 home runs, 31 RBI. His OPS is around 900 during that time. He had an injury earlier on in the season. I think that kind of derailed just everything for him. He's 69% rostered. He only has road games left. Obviously, you'd like these more if they were in Cincinnati. He's going up against Chris Sale, Tyler Malley, Jose Soriano, Trey Yassavage, Spencer Miles. So, I don't really like the matchups for Suarez. Yeah, he's, you know, he could pop a couple home runs. But yeah, I'd much rather Arenado the rest of the season. So, this week, Chase Meidroth, he is finishing.
Speaker 5Did you see the little girl who ended up with his. It was his 350th career home run. No, I didn't see it. Little girl in the stands ends up with it. Everybody's celebrating. She's super happy. She throws the ball back on the field. She's like three or four years old. It's very funny.
Speaker 1Nice. Chase Meidroth is finishing very strong. He went three for five with his 16th home run and five RBI. And in the second half, he is hitting 275, nine homers, 35 runs, 32 RBI, two steals, 817 OPS. The underlying numbers do not buy it at all. But the final five days, very favorable here for Meidroth. He's going up against Seth Lugo, Randy Dobnak, Jose Quintana, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Kyle Freeland. Two of the five being lefties. He crushes lefties. Those games against the Rockies are in Chicago. So, unfortunately, he doesn't get Coors Field. But, look, I don't really buy it long-term for Chase Meidroth. But, man, if you just need a. second-base shortstop middle infielder for the rest of this week, I like those matchups quite a bit for Chase Meidroth. And the last name here is Walker Jenkins, who hit his fourth home run last seven games. Extremely small sample, but he is hitting 440 with three homers. So, slowly starting to figure things out a little bit here. And he has four games left. They are against lefty Cesar Perdomo, Jordan Montgomery, Jacob deGrom, and Mackenzie Gore. Do you have any interest in Jenkins for his final four games?
Speaker 5Yeah, I don't think the bad two weeks to kick off his career should have changed your perception of Walker Jenkins at all. He's a super, super talented player. And, yeah, I'm totally open to using him down the stretch. The matchups, you know. The problem is he has. A couple of lefties. Three or four lefties. Three lefties on the schedule. Three out of four lefties. And. Jacob deGrom.
Speaker 1He is 1-4-16 against lefties so far. That's not great. I don't think I'd use him the rest of the way. But I think he's a pretty exciting sleeper breakout for next season.
Speaker 5I'm thrilled that he has a 7-0-9 OPS. Because I think that's going to help keep the cost down. And I think Walker Jenkins is just really talented.
Speaker 1All right, let's take our final break. When we return, I do have some pitcher options for this weekend. We'll do some buy or sell. We'll do all of that right after this. 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 postseason. 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 1Fastest based on analysis by Uclo Speed Test Intelligence data of national speed score results incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball Today. Some waiver wire pitcher options for this weekend. Michael Soroka, an awesome start here. In Coors Field, he is 80% rostered. So this is just some very shallow league stuff. But I think for those playing in daily lineup leagues, like most of the streamers, like a lot of pitchers get added and dropped all the time. So roster rates are pretty different in leagues like that. But Soroka was great in this one. And it looks like he will pitch again Sunday at the Padres. I don't mind it. I mean, he's had a good season. And obviously this was a great start. I think he'd be okay.
Speaker 5Yeah, he's not this good. You know, I don't think he's a low 3ZRA guy. But he's had a good season, like you said. He's pitched well since coming back from, what was it, a back injury?
Speaker 1I think it was a, I don't know. I was going to say knee, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 5It's hard to keep track of this stuff at this point in the season. But either way, he's pitched well. Obviously went seven innings in this one, 93 pitches. So you like to see that. I think it's okay to pitch him. On Sunday. The problem with any of the guys we're about to talk about is there is zero margin for error. Their teams could just decide to not give them that extra start. And in Soroka's case, the Diamondbacks do have something to play for. So it seems unlikely, but it's possible that they just push him back.
Speaker 1It was a strained glute in June. That kept him out almost two months. And then it was. Right arm inflammation that only kept him out 17 days. Okay. But, I mean, the pitch count is all the way up to 93. So I think he's fully ready to go.
Speaker 5And they have to, like, even if they sweep the Padres this weekend, they might not make the playoffs. They cannot afford to.
Speaker 1They need some other things to happen here in order to get in. That's why I'm like, if the D-backs are just out of it by Sunday, will they even pitch him? I don't know.
Speaker 5Yeah, I mean, so as long as this is updated, they both have five games left and they're down by four. Yeah. So they would have to win out and the Padres would have to lose out. Not likely, but not impossible.
Speaker 1It's tough. Andre Palante took a tough loss at the Pirates. Six innings of one-run ball, two walks, two strikeouts. And he's been pretty consistent this year. Three earned runs or fewer in 21 of 28 starts. He is 58% rostered. And it looks like he has one more outing on Sunday at the Brewers. He has started against the Brewers twice this year. five plus earned runs in each of them so it's going to be slim pickings this weekend Palante has been a pretty high floor pitcher like maybe the Brewers just kind of rest their guys this weekend so that could work out but but that's kind of the whole thing with the Brewers is
Speaker 5their depth is so good that even when they rest guys like okay we're not going to start Jake Bowers I don't love it I don't love it for Andrew Vaughn's pretty good you know as it turns out so you know they're averaging at least entering play on Tuesday 6.4 runs per game in September the Brewers so uh their pitching has actually kind of taken a step back down the stretch but the offense has been so good that it hasn't mattered um so I I would lean against that one
Speaker 1Sean Minaya had a quality start with some big whiffs here at the Rangers six innings three runs two of those earned nine strikeouts 16 whiffs on 99 pitches his fastball was awesome had 14 of his 16 whiffs don't really know where that came from uh and he was pitching very poorly before this he is looks like he'll go against Sunday at the Nationals he has faced them twice this year he gave up four plus earned runs in both of those so don't really love that one
Speaker 5either yeah I I would probably hope to avoid it but as we said yesterday you know your situation uh if you don't care about your ratios and you're just trying to make up last second uh counting stats go for it
Speaker 1Minaya is much more likely to get you strikeouts over Palante so if you're just thinking about strikeouts in particular that would make some sense what about J.R. Ritchie lots of whiffs here too many walks against the Reds five innings one run eight strikeouts to three walks he did have 12 whiffs on 86 pitches you know he was a decent prospect coming into the season there was some hype because he had a good spring training he pitched well last year in the minors but if you dig into his individual pitches his curveball is great I don't really know if he has anything else outside of that curveball uh the walks have been a problem this year he is 15% rostered and it looks like he will start again on Sunday at the Marlins do you have more interest in Ritchie over some of the other names I like
Speaker 5the matchup more yeah but I don't like the pitcher he has just shown no real ability to um to generate swings and misses this season he does not generate a lot of chases he does not generate a lot of swings and misses in the zone he doesn't throw in the zone very often it's just kind of all been bad for J.R. Ritchie I'm not writing him off him off entirely the Braves have obviously done a very good job of developing a lot of their own pitchers but I have not seen anything from him to make me feel confident in
Speaker 1starting him all right and the last name up here is Jansen Junkie pitched well at the Cubs of all places five shutout innings with six strikeouts for him and uh he is home against the Braves he will oppose J.R. Ritchie on Sunday uh he allowed eight earned runs to the Braves on May 20th so uh I don't I don't think we're doing the Jansen Junk Junk thing are we Chris I don't think he's
Speaker 5totally hopeless um he rates out really well by the various like stuff metrics surprisingly so I don't get it because I don't
Speaker 1really get it yeah I know I know stuff doesn't necessarily mean you have to get whiffs but like he gets no whiffs at all so and his
Speaker 5velocity fluctuates a lot I think he was up like a mile and a half per hour his most recent start before this and then it was back to mostly normal today so yeah I look the Braves will probably be running out a pretty crummy lineup that day again there's they're in a team with nothing to play for but I um I don't have a lot of confidence in Junk
Speaker 1all right some pitcher appreciation slash buy or sell for next season and Zach Wheeler he racked up the whiffs here against the Brewers five and two-thirds innings three runs allowed 11 strikeouts he had 23 swinging strikes on 101 pitches uh 10 of those came on the splitter seven on the fastball four on the curve had it all working and the last five starts for Wheeler 171 ERA 0.95 whip 40 strikeouts over 31 and two-thirds innings so definitely a scary part like uh part of the season there in late July into August but now finishing very strong is Zach Wheeler buy or sell top 12 starting pitcher season top 50 overall pick I chose top 50 because looking at last year's ADP the SP 12 went right at like pick 48 so buy or sell top 12 SP top 50 overall pick all right well
Speaker 5let's go through all 50 picks no um okay Jacob Mizurowski, Cam Schlittler, Yoshinobi Yamamoto, Chris Sale for sure Christopher Sanchez, Tarek Skubal those six for sure ahead of Zach Wheeler right I yeah I'm good with all that Dylan Cease a little bit tougher with the shoulder now yeah both him and Lizardo I'm forever linked by cereal um Rasmussen well that that was my
Speaker 1next buy or sell
Speaker 5Messick Chase Burns Chase Burns yeah probably Gavin Williams
Speaker 1that's why I kind of feel like Wheeler Wheeler is in that range he's kind of in that like 8 to 12 range somewhere it feels like is
Speaker 5there anyone I'm forgetting I mean that
Speaker 1those games make
Speaker 5sense to me I yeah I think I I'm buying top 12 starting pitcher for Zach Wheeler that's uh I think top 50 pick too yeah yeah it's scary I I said it last time we talked about him but if the if the Phillies give him an extension this offseason even just like a one year um because remember when he signed this contract extension he said he was done after 2027 he was asked about that multiple times this this season and he was a lot more uh he hedged his bets a lot more so if they give him an extension even just a one year that would be a sign that everybody thinks this is going to continue to be very good so that wouldn't necessarily change my opinion uh uh uh all that much but it would make me feel
Speaker 1a little better about it yeah so I am buying both of those what about your Rasmussen I I had his buyer sell as that he will go higher than Zach Wheeler so do you buy or sell that
Speaker 5well I think I'm
Speaker 1selling it I think Wheeler will still go ahead of Rasmussen
Speaker 5yeah so Wheeler's up to 188 that's crazy 188 strikeouts and he didn't pitch the first month of the season um Rasmussen's had a very good season but he's at what 172 I think we said earlier yeah I'll take Wheeler ahead of Rasmussen I think
Speaker 1I think I think so too everything is we think right now yeah a lot of
Speaker 5yeah part of it is I haven't started pitcher rankings yet that'll be a that'll be a Wednesday and Thursday
Speaker 1problem yeah Nick Martinez took a tough loss here at the Yankees six innings two runs seven strikeouts for him but it's just another one man I don't know if he's gonna make another start I don't think he is but 294 era 107 whip his caper nine is under six but like dude he got away with it the whole season he entered Tuesday as the SP 17 in Roto and the SP 15 in total head-to-head points which is just insane buyer sell Nick Martinez will be drafted in all leagues next season will be drafted in all leagues by or sell
Speaker 5okay so he finishes with a 294 era 107 whip how many innings if you you know off the top of your head if not I can just click his name and it'll come up 171 innings okay so in 2024 he had a 310 era uh more strikeouts actually uh despite pitching 30 something fewer innings uh better whip I think I'm gonna guess if Nick Martinez got drafted in 2025 it was very very late yeah Martinez 318 0.83 and so in your typical 12-team Roto league he was a bench pick I think Nick Martinez will probably just be a bench pick again in 2027 but you think
Speaker 1he will be drafted in all leagues
Speaker 5yeah I think at some point someone will be like you know what he's done in two out of the last three years why not um yeah I mean as
Speaker 1your last pick at that point whatever yeah if he gets blown up the first month you just drop him
Speaker 5but yeah does he have gosh I have no idea what's going on with him what his contract status is so I I can't say what the chances of him coming back to the Rays are
Speaker 1actually it's a mutual option
Speaker 5so a mutual option that's probably not gonna work yeah 13 million he's probably getting traded the Rays don't really pay mutual
Speaker 1options I mean almost never get picked up
Speaker 5yeah so um you know
Speaker 1what if he's not on Tampa I might change my answer yeah if he's on Tampa bye he will be drafted in every league if he's not on Tampa sell he will not be drafted yeah
Speaker 5that might be the distinction yeah
Speaker 1Carlos Rodon was amazing here in game one of the doubleheader against the Rays eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts 18 whiffs on 96 pitches seven on the fastball seven on the slider uh three on the change-up had everything working here uh that's now three earned runs or fewer in 26 straight starts dating back to last year and buy or sell Carlos Rodon top 36 starting pitcher
Speaker 5next season I buy it yeah I I think we're basically talking about a guy who since the all-star break of 2024 has made like it's probably about 60 starts maybe a little more with an ERA right around three, well over a strikeout per inning. And that's a notable thing because he's tinkered with his pitches a lot over that span, and that second half of 2024, there was a big change where he stopped throwing his cutter, his slider started playing up, his four-seamer started playing better. There is injury risk here for sure. He had elbow surgery the offseason before this one, and missed time in season as well. But I think when he's on the mound, he's definitely a top-20 pitcher. And so accounting for some injury risk, I'll take top 36. I buy that one.
Speaker 1I think he will be right around there. It's so tough when you don't have anything mapped out at all, so you're just trying to envision in your head. I will buy it, assuming he makes it through the season, makes it through the postseason healthy or whatever, and, you know, I think we heard right after the season last year that, oh, he needs to have this cleanup procedure. So obviously that kind of messed things up. But if we don't hear anything like that, it is tough because last offseason he had the cleanup on the elbow, and then in, I think, July or August, he went on the aisle with a flexor strain this year. So that's in the back of my mind, but if he goes low enough, as your SP3, SP4, it's kind of worth it at that point. I will buy it. I will hesitantly buy it. But I think he's kind of right on that. I think he's right on that range, right on that outscore there. Cusp. Cusp. That is the word I was looking for. Right on that cusp of the top 36. Taj Bradley, a strong outing here at the Giants. Six innings, one run, six strikeouts. He had 11 whiffs on 104 pitches, and he has turned in three straight quality starts, and he has six-plus strikeouts and seven straight, and it looks like that is the end of his season. He gets up to 205 strikeouts. Just a really good season all around for Taj. I know there's always ups and downs, but look, if you left him in your lineup all year, you got a 373 ERA, a 122 whip, 10.4K per nine, did all that over 170 innings, and it's a fine season. Buy or sell, there is another level for Taj Bradley.
Speaker 5I would probably sell this one. There are still some pretty big red flags in his profile. He still gets hit very hard. He still gives up a lot of home runs. His control is still pretty shaky, so I would lean towards, this isn't the best case scenario for Taj Bradley, but I don't know how likely it is that he gets better. I would guess it's pretty unlikely.
Speaker 1I am going to buy this for Taj Bradley. I think if he uses his fastball less, that there is a little bit more upside here. It's kind of a give and take. I don't think he can command his secondary pitches very well, and that's where the walks come into play and hurt Taj Bradley, but his secondary pitches, cutter, splitter, curve, all have whiff rates over 36%. They all have ex-wobas below 250. His fastball gets hit really hard, but I think he needs to throw that fastball just to get me over strikes and things like that because he just can't command those other pitches as well. I did want to look up very quickly, Gavin Williams. Gavin Williams last year.
Speaker 5Didn't have the strikeouts, but had much better control.
Speaker 1I wanted to say Gavin Williams could kind of be the blueprint for Taj Bradley, but as bad as Gavin Williams' walk rate was last year, four and a half walks per nine, his location plus was 98. Taj Bradley's location plus this year is 91. That is really bad.
Speaker 5Here's something that I think kind of tells a lot of the story about Taj Bradley. When the batter, is ahead in the count, Taj Bradley throws his four-seamer 60% of the time and it gets crushed. 481 ex-woba, 96 mile per hour average ex-floss.
Speaker 1When the hitter is ahead. Yes, when the hitter is ahead. He needs to throw a strike basically, yeah.
Speaker 5When the batter is, when the pitcher is ahead, when he's ahead, four-seamers are awesome. 80, 225 ex-woba, 88 mile per hour average ex-floss, and he throws it 36% of the time. So when hitters consider, if they sit on the fastball,
Speaker 1they can crush it.
Speaker 5Yeah. And when he's in situations where they have to guess on the splitter, the cutter, or the curveball coming, he can be absolutely brilliant. It's just for as hard as he throws, 97 miles an hour with pretty good shape. It just doesn't miss a lot of bats. It gets hit hard. And so it's that balancing act of, if he could consistently throw his four-seamer 40% of the time, he'd probably be really good. But I just don't know if he can get away with that. -
Speaker 1Yeah, even if his location plus, like as a rookie was 97, this year it's 91. If he can get it to 97, yeah, I think he could probably be a mid three ZRA guy with a, you know, 10 or 11K per nine. That would be pretty awesome. And I don't think he's gonna be that like sought after for next season. I think people will just kind of view him as like a, all right, kind of fall back, you know, SP five, - Yeah. - Maybe a reserve pitcher. or something like that. I could be way off on that, but that's how I read the situation right now. Let's wrap up here. A couple deep sleeper names that I'll just throw out there for next season. Drew Anderson of the Tigers turned in a quality start here against the national six innings, three runs, five strikeouts. He has made 11 starts this season, a 261 ERA, a 120 whip, just under a strikeout per inning. I think there might be something here. His changeup and curve both have very good whip rates. Fastball gets a decent amount of whips. I don't know if he's in the Tigers' plans as a starter for next season, but you know, it was his first year back. I think he was either, he either came over from Japan or the KBO last year. Overall, it was a successful return to the majors for Drew Anderson and Anthony Molina of the Giants. He had a strong outing here against the twins, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts, one walk. And he's just 24 years old. He's been okay in the minors, but he's looked pretty good. These last couple of starts. So at any deep sleeper interest, appeal for either of these two for next season, Drew Anderson, Anthony Molina. -
Speaker 5So Anderson, you've got Frambois Valdez, Jackson Jobe, River Ryan, definitely in the rotation for next year, I think. I don't know, River Ryan, I'm going to say it. -
Speaker 1Troy Melton will be in there. -
Speaker 5Troy Melton, assuming he's healthy, yeah. Reece Olsen probably won't be ready. Although I don't know, he'll be like 13 months removed from surgery by the start, spring training. So maybe, I'd say he's in the, he's going to be fighting. Cater Montero might be there in the rotation. So I think Drew Anderson's fighting for the fifth rotation spot probably in Detroit. -
Speaker 1Is Jack Flaherty still under contract? -
Speaker 5No, his contract's over at the end of this season. - Gotcha. - And then, so I think that's one that you can throw on the back of your mind as a sleeper for, you know, if he wins that fifth starter job, especially if he looks good in spring training, then maybe we can have that discussion. But I don't know. I don't know if the control is good enough. Anthony Molina, just because, one, the Giants just have had so many pitcher injuries this season. They've had four different starting pitchers have Tommy John surgery now. We found out about Blade Tidwell today, Carson Wisenhunt, Trevor McDonald, and Hayden Burnsong all had Tommy John surgery this season. So Anthony Molina might be like the number two starter next season. - I guess they're in the groups ahead of him. He might be the number three starter next season. Yeah, boy, the Giants could just be an absolute disaster next season, as opposed to this season. So yeah, I think that's a name to watch. I'm not convinced Anthony Molina's like a great talent, but it's a very good infield defense behind him unless they manage to trade everyone. I'm not sure if they will be, but yeah, I think that's a good spot for a, for a sleeper. For a pitcher to come from San, San Francisco. -
Speaker 1Some leftovers here. CJ Abrams, two for four with a double dong, three RBI, 33 homers, 33 steals for CJ Abrams. - He's been running a lot lately. - Yeah, he has seven steals in September. He's one of just two players to get to 30, 30. The other one being Pete Carl Armstrong. Ellie De La Cruz looks like he is eyeing 30, 30. He had a sock and a shoe, his 29th home run, his 29th steal. His last 28 games, just bonkers, 411. Nine homers, seven steals. His OPS is around 1250 over the past month for Ellie De La Cruz. And he's trying to go 30, 30 with an IL stint in the season, which is crazy. Jordan Alvarez hit his 41st home run. He is now up over a hundred RBI. Also has that OPS up over a thousand. And Zach Netto, one for four with a walk, two runs, two steals. Last 29 games for him, 296, six homers, six steals, OPS over 900, so finishing strong as well. Any thoughts? Any thoughts here on Netto, Alvarez, Ellie and Abrams? -
Speaker 5Yeah, I think Netto is the most interesting of this group 'cause it's been a mildly disappointing season, but then you look at the numbers and it's like, well, he's probably gonna go 25, 25 and score a hundred plus runs. And yeah, the batting average is bad. It's probably never going to be great, but you know, okay. He hasn't been as good as he was last season in a, you know, slightly larger sample size. You'll take 25, 25 from your shortstop every day. I think he's more, or let me see, I need to find a better way. to sort the rankings that I've done so far because I've got every position in one sheet, and that's dumb. But yeah, I have Netto.
Speaker 1Sixth? Yeah. Who are the five you have ahead of him?
Speaker 5Lindor, Abrams, Griffin, De La Cruz, and Bobby Witt. Because McGonigal's an incredible player, and in a points league you'd probably take him over Netto, but in a roto, I just don't think he has the five-category juice. I think Gunnar Henderson and Trey Turner are going to be tough, and maybe Jeremy Pena as well. He left today's game with a wrist injury after getting hit by a pitch, by the way. Did we mention that?
Speaker 1I did not, no.
Speaker 5Yeah, so that's something to note. But yeah, I think Netto's going to be in the 6-10 range at shortstop. You know, good season, slightly underwhelming. Maybe there's not another step to take.
Speaker 1Yeah. X-rays negative on Jeremy Pena. Okay. That came from Joe Espada, so.
Speaker 5Yeah, I would like for him to get through more than like six games in a row without getting hurt this season. Yeah. Because he's been awesome when he's on the field.
Speaker 1Scott and I did some bold predictions last Friday, and one of mine was Jeremy Pena goes 25-25 and finishes as a top three shortstop next season.
Speaker 5I mean, that's basically the pace he's been on the last two seasons, right? Yeah. Pretty close, yeah.
Speaker 1So, let's do it. I will be. I'm very interested to see where the cost winds up here for Jeremy Pena.
Speaker 5I think I could end up drafting a lot of Jeremy Pena.
Speaker 1Pitching left over, Shoti Imanaga pitched well against the Marlins. Five innings, one run, seven strikeouts to zero walks, and having himself a big September. Looks like that is his last start of the season. I know there have been lots of ups and downs with Imanaga this year, but 374 ERA 110 whip. I think if I told you that before this season, you would sign up for that with Imanaga. And Logan Gilbert, bad outing here against the Astros. Four innings, four runs, ten hits allowed, two walks. I mean, he had a three whip in this game. Chris, can we just end the Mariners season?
Speaker 5I mean, with the exception of Randy Orozarena, has anyone had a good season on the Mariners? Like, I guess Cole Young. Who has exceeded expectations for the Mariners in any role? Cole Young and Randy Orozarena. And I think that. That's it. I think every other player on that team has been a disappointment. That sounds right. That's wild. I can't push back. Even Andres Munoz. Isn't he all right? Like above four? Down season, yeah, for sure. So yeah, it's absolutely been a disastrous season. I wonder if they're going to make some changes. I know Mariners fans especially want a lot of changes. I think there's no way. Dan Wilson's back. But other than that, will they make any changes beyond that? I'm not sure. There was an interesting discussion the other day on Twitter between Scott and Lance Brozdowski about the Mariners and just whether their pitching development has stagnated, something we've talked about on the podcast a lot. And, you know, I think this is still a good organization for pitching development. Certainly a lot of smart people think that. But I don't think so. I do wonder, though, like you can reach a point even when you've got smart people where you just need a different voice in people's ears. And I do wonder if we're just kind of – the Mariners are just kind of stagnating organizationally in a way that doesn't necessarily mean these people are bad at their jobs. But, you know, when everybody takes a step back all at once, I do think you have to ask some questions there. And then Shota, man, I know it will never happen. You know what I would love to see is him going to Tampa. I think that would be so good for him. I think he could pitch like an ace with half his games in Tropicana. He's going to be a free agent too, right? Yeah, and he's a free agent. So that's why I'm bringing it up. It's like, I don't know if the Cubs are going to bring him back. Remember, they – I
Speaker 1think San Fran will have big interest in him.
Speaker 5Yeah, they've – That would be – I
Speaker 1mean, not that they're a great pitching organization, but it's a great ballpark for a fly ball pitcher. It's a great fit, and they have a need.
Speaker 5And they've talked about, you know, wanting to extend their – Yeah. Their reach in Japan. So that's – Or even San Diego.
Speaker 1Like, San Diego is going to need pitching this offseason. I would love either of those for Imanaga.
Speaker 5Yeah. And remember, the Cubs had – was it like a two-year option on him that they turned down? Yeah. And it turned into – they just gave him a qualifying offer instead? Yeah, that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1Call to the bullpen here for the Yankees in game one. David Bednar, a clean ninth inning for his 35th save. And it's turned out to be a great season for Bednar. 254 ERA, 102. Whip over a strikeout per inning. He is also going to be a free agent this offseason. So it will be interesting to see where Bednar winds up. For the Nationals, lefty Eric Tolman picked up his fourth save, and he has four of the past six saves for the Nationals. They do not have a closer, and they never will ever again. But it might
Speaker 5be Eric Tolman. He might get one more save. Yeah, it's possible. I do think the Nationals are a pretty good bet to be like the Marlins this year and go out and get – You know, not a huge name at closer, but someone who – Just someone who's done it. Is the guy who has the job, yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah. For the Pirates, Mason Montgomery was unavailable, and Gregory Soto picked up his 16th save. For the Phillies, Yohan Duran gave up a run, but he picked up his 33rd save. For the Guardians, Cade Smith picked up his 40th save. And just another one, awesome season. 199 ERA,.98 whip, 104 strikeouts over 72 and a third innings. Just massive, massive numbers there from Cade Smith.
Speaker 5Wire-to-wire pitched well. Yep. Rare for a closer this season.
Speaker 1And there were slight questions just because, hey, we haven't seen him in the closer role, you know, over a full season. Nah, he's that dude. He answered all of those questions and then some. For the Twins, Jeff Hoffman got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He allowed a run on two walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a fielder's choice. Very rocky save, but he picked it up. And Yoendris Gomez completely – has completely imploded here in September. I think if they get one or two more saves the rest of the way, it probably goes to Jeff Hoffman. And he's still under contract for next year. I think there's a pretty good chance that he just opens next season as the Twins' closer, Jeff Hoffman. I know it was really bad with the Blue Jays, but basically since – I think since, like, June 1st on, he's been amazing. For the Athletics, Hogan Harris picked up his 16th save. And then for the Marlins, Chris, I don't know what your Marlins are doing, but they're having fun. Uri Perez pitched in the eighth inning with the game tied, and he struck out the side. He looked awesome. I don't know why this happened, but last week we got Sandy Alcantara with a save. That was weird.
Speaker 5We're breaking the wheel. This is how we get back to 200-inning starters. Instead of throwing your bullpen session between starts, just throw an inning of relief. And everybody does that 30 times, and the Marlins end up with five broken pitchers. by the end of next season. Imagine that. We got, like, 30
Speaker 1starts from Uri Perez and Sandy Alcantara, and they each got, like, five saves or something crazy like that.
Speaker 5I have no idea what's going on. I'm interested to see if there's, like, some quotes. My guess is that it's just, like, Sandy looked like he had fun. Why not see if Uri – but, like, maybe Uri won't make another start, and this was just a way to get some work in. But I don't know. I'm joking about this. It's actually being a thing with, like, an organizational philosophy. But what if I'm not?
Speaker 1To stream or not to stream, on Wednesday, we have Matthew Liberatore at the Pirates, Andrew Abbott at the Braves, Seth Lugo home against the White Sox, Ryan Gustos at the Cubs, Connor Prelip at the Giants, Walbert Arania at the Athletics, Ethan Pecco at the Mariners, Cody Bradford home against the Mets, and Max Scherzer at the Orioles.
Speaker 5Arania, even though I don't love at Athletics, and then Connor Prelip, who I do love, at San Francisco. So those would be my two favorites. If I have to pick a third, I really don't want to. I think it would be Scherzer, but – Yeah, I don't have any faith in that. But, yeah, I guess that might be the best one.
Speaker 1Very, very scary. And then on Thursday, Randy Dobnak home against the White Sox, Tyler Phillips at the Cubs, Zach Thornton at the Rangers, Brady Singer at the Braves, Nick Pavetta at the Dodgers, Peter Lambert at the Athletics, Grayson Rodriguez at the Mariners, Kumar Rocker home against the Mets.
Speaker 5I hate this. Maybe Grayson Rodriguez, maybe Kumar Rocker. I know Randy Dobnak has mostly gotten good results, but I don't have any faith in that whatsoever.
Speaker 1Pavetta at the Dodgers scares me a lot. Otani will be back. I will say Zach Thornton at the Rangers, Peter Lambert at the Athletics, Grayson Rodriguez at the Mariners. Thornton is the only one I – I kind of like. The other two I think are pretty risky, but, yeah, those are the three I would rank. Thornton, Lambert, and G-Rod on – Yeah, I don't like it. We 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.
Speaker 4Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts. Paramount Podcasts. College
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