Gavin Williams Bounce Back & Potential Trade Deadline Value Changes! (7/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
77m 35s
The fantasy baseball podcast on July 24th focuses on player analysis, starting with Gavin Williams’ impressive 11-strikeout start against the Twins. While his dominance is notable, the panel compares him to Robbie Ray, warning that his high strikeout rate comes with inconsistency due to hard contact and home runs. They advise keeping him in lineups regardless of streaks, as his improved walk rate offers some stability but not elite results. Brandon Fought’s start is dismissed as unremarkable due to low strikeouts and an unsustainable walk rate, making him a non-factor in fantasy. Ty France is highlighted as a strong corner infield option in deep leagues, with a hot streak of 10 homers in 26 games, though first base depth limits his appeal. The show also covers news like Ronald Acuña Jr.’s imminent return, Zach Wheeler’s possible retirement reconsideration, and the Cubs promoting prospect James Triantos, who offers versatility but unclear playing time. Overall, the episode emphasizes riding hot streaks while avoiding overreaction to small-sample performances.
[MUSIC] >> Happy, come on Friday and welcome in. Some fantasy baseball today on July 24th. I am Frank Samphold, Joe and pie, Scout White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, it was a five game slate. So this will be our longest podcast of the year. >> Kevin Williams. >> Kevin Williams was a maculate. Players could gain or lose value at the trade deadline. Obviously just pure speculation, but we'll read the T-leaves and let you know what we think. Plus the rubber match, fantasy, few. [MUSIC] >> Let's go. >> Wow. >> I got almost destroyed his desk. >> Yeah, I'm not feeling good now. >> Yeah, there was like a whole shaky camera effect. >> It was very impressive. >> It was like an earthquake. >> Scout is approaching this round with intimidation. >> Yeah, I'm intimidated. >> I can't. >> All right, let's up in players of the night. >> Is this happening? It is. >> Gavin Williams in a maculate inning. Yes, it did happen. The breadstick of the night goes to Scout White. >> Gavin Williams, 11 strikeouts. It was actually a good 11 strikeout start unlike his previous start. Where he got 11 strikeouts, but allowed three home runs. But that was the previous one and this one, he allowed no home runs, no runs of any kind. Two hits, no walks, dominant start against the twins. Actually, this now makes it three 11 strikeout efforts in a row. >> For Gavin Williams. >> First pitcher since 2023 to do that. Blake Snell was the last one. >> All right, there you go. So, ragging up them strikeouts, Gavin Williams. It's funny though because for having three straight 11 strikeout efforts, it felt like he was on the downswing, right? >> He very much was. >> I think that's just maybe the way this is going to go for Gavin Williams. He might be the new Robbie Ray. I understand that might be confusing for some people to put it that way because Robbie Ray is still around and he's a different pitcher than he used to be. But Robbie Ray used to be this. He used to be a massive strikeout guy who would frustrate you with these highs and lows because he gave up so much hard contact, because he struggled with walks at times, struggled with home runs at times. On the whole, it was positive, but he was never quite as good as he wanted him to be, except for that one year when he won the Saiyung. So, maybe Gavin Williams will have a year where he avoids the bad starts enough. He's a Saiyung winner. It could happen. I think there is that upside, but I don't think there's going to be the consistency that the high points like this one would make you think he's going to have. I do think he's probably a little behind pace now of where he's going to end up. I do think the home run rate is a little too high. Even though he gives up a lot of hard contact, he's more of a ground ball pitcher than a fly ball pitcher. So, having 1.4 home runs per nine, that seems too high. I think if you look at his X-Fit, for instance, it's 309. I don't think X-Fit is the best DR estimator, but it illustrates the point that for the amount of fly balls he gives up, he's probably given up too many home runs. So, I guess long story short, Gavin Williams is still good. He's not as good as he looked in this start. He's not as bad as he's looked in his previous, however many starts it's been. Overall, you should probably just keep starting him and not think about it too much. You and I have butted heads on Gavin Williams in the past. I think we are in the same spot as we've come together in opposite directions on Gavin Williams, because I mostly agree. I have him ranked 29th at starting pitcher in Roto. I mostly just think as long as you don't expect Gavin Williams to be as good as he looks at his best, you will probably be happy that you have him around. I think in the month of July, he has a 365-ERA. It's like 39 strikeouts to three walks and 24-Erings at a 365-ERA, and I feel like that is kind of the Gavin Williams thing. There's always going to be something wrong. It's last year, the control was not very good. This year, it's giving up way too much hard contact and control's actually been quite good this season. I think there are always going to be limitations in trade-offs with Gavin Williams and as long as you understand that going in, as long as you understand that the ERA is probably going to be a little higher, and there are going to be blow-up starts, you'll probably be happy with him as a number three starting pitcher on your team. It's kind of Dylan's CS-esque as well, where you can't get higher low on him. You just got to ride it out. If you can't do that, if you don't have the wherewithal to do that or the temperament for it, Gavin Williams may not be for you. I think on the whole, you just leave him in your lineup. There's going to be good stretches and bad stretches and at the end of the year, it's probably going to be something like a 360-370-ish ERA, probably a 120-wip if I had to guess. I'm not sure I'm not looking at it right now, but I would guess it might actually be even a little better than that. He's down to 110. Yeah, that's true. Because the walk rate's been, he's like 7% walk rate this season. It's been very good there. It's just the trade-off there has been, he's become much easier to give up damage on contact. So I think he's good. I don't think he'll ever be great. Just to point out a few other things from this particular start, his velocity up was up quite a bit. His fastball was up just over two miles per hour. He averaged 99.1 miles per hour on that pitch. And he used his sweeper a lot more. It was his most used pitch. 41% usage and entering the start, it was 26%. That is far and away his best pitch. So the sweeper and curveball were ridiculous in this start. They were disgusting. Never going to knock a guy for throwing his best pitch more. That sweeper was nasty in this one. It had 12 of his 20 whiffs. 43% we afraid 43% CSW. So look, I completely agree. You can never get too high. You can never get too low on Gavin Williams. We said this earlier in the season. You just have to leave him in your lineup, no matter what. You can never try to figure out Gavin Williams. Because the moment you think, "Oh, he's had six kind of rough starts in a row. This is the week I'm going to put him on my bench." Boom. Seven shut out in his 11 strike out, zero walks. It's like, you can't try and play the game with Gavin Williams. You just got to ride the wave and leave him in there and take the good with the bad, as you guys pointed out. I do wonder if at some point, just wondering, allowed. If we can get a blend of what we've seen so far in Gavin Williams career, the walks down this year and the contact quality from previous years. And if that ever happens, like Scott said, maybe we could get a side-young type of season out of it. It just depends if it's a cause and effect thing. Is the quality of contact worse because the control is better? He's more in the zone. That's where you get into what this is terminology. Chris likes to use a lot. You get a guy's 90th percentile outcome versus a 50th percentile outcome. What we may be seeing here from Gavin Williams this year is like that 50th percentile or 60th percentile outcome maybe. But there could be that one year where it all goes as well as it possibly could. Like it did that one year for Robbie Ray with the Blue Jays, right? That's who we want to sign on for. That sounds right. Yeah. Was it with them or the Mariners? I think he went to the Mariners afterward. I think so. But yeah, I think we've talked it through enough. Nine minutes on Gavin Williams is probably enough. Hey, man, I said it's going to be our longest podcast of the year. Chris, over to you for your player the night. Well, I don't think we have to spend nearly as much time on Brandon Fought. He had a good start. I think it was six and a third innings. His first start is six innings or more of this season. You sorry, I do not have the box for him in front of me. Okay, give up to earn runs over six innings. 87 pitches. One strike out to walks. Brandon Fought has made some changes since he was last in the majors. He has moved. I saw Lance Brustowski mentioned this. He's moved about a foot over to the first base side of the rubber. He's throwing. He threw his cutter more in this one. He has thrown his foreseem or more overall. I don't know if he has generated a single swinging strike on his foreseem. Since he's been back in the majors, his strike outrate is like, I think he has 14 strikeouts and 27 innings since coming back. Good start results have been good so far. It's like a 230 ERA. I don't think there's any reason to add Brandon Fought in basically anything.
think but and I'll only leaks, which I assume he's already rostered all of them. So yeah, no reason to react to Brandon Fought having a good start here. I see basically nothing here. I mostly agree five starts since being recalled. It's a 233 ERA 107 whip. 14 strikeouts over 27 innings like you mentioned. So the strikeouts are just not there. He also has just three walks during that time. So he's limiting walks, he's limiting hard contact in all the starts before this one he gave up 10 hard hits. He's getting a lot of ground balls. The X ERA fit and X-FIP are all 377 or better in this five start stretch. So I don't know what to do with that, but it's just those are numbers. And so I'm just going to throw them your way. And the ERA estimator is kind of like what Brandon Fought is doing probably because he's walking nobody. Yeah. Yeah. That's a small sample illusion. A small sample hallucination, let's call it because that walk rate is so unbelievably low. It becomes like an inflated score when you plug it into the ERA estimators. And also he has always been a guy who underperforms as the estimators. I think he's like close to a run worse. Yes. Point six runs for his career worse than his fit or his X-ERA. 9 runs worse than his ERA over 500 career innings. Yeah. I think that's just a Brandon Fought thing too. And on top of all that, he faces the pirates next week. They are first in WoBug against right hand and pitching this season. So it's a nice little run here for Brandon Fought. I hope he can kind of carve out a niche here and succeed. But you know, obviously I think we need to see more strikeouts before we can actually start to buy into Brandon Fought. My player tonight is going to be Ty friends who hit yet another home run. One for four with his 16th homer to RBI and updated numbers last 26 games. He is hitting 323 with 10 homers 24 RBI and OPS over 1100 93.9 average EV 14% barrel rate. Those numbers are outstanding for Ty friends. He has started 10 straight games for the Padres. Obviously they are desperate for offense. Although some of their guys are all coming together at the right time. Machado, Tatis, Merrill, they've all looked better. And obviously Ty friends in the middle of all that as well. So Padres lineup improving here, having a good month of July. He's 17% rostered. We talk all the time about how loaded first bases. But I don't think we should ignore what he's done over the past month. I mean, this is legitimately really, really big stuff that Ty friends is doing. And I think he's totally worthy of being a corner infield type player, even in a 12 team roadling. I'm shocked that he's only 17% rostered. Given how good he's been for as long as he's been. His overall numbers look really good. He's got an OPS almost 900 now. I think most people see Ty friends his name and they're like, "Oh man, this guy's bad for so long." Which I get. Well, he changed. But he has at least been good before, which isn't true of a lot of hot hand plays. In 2021, 291 batting average 18 homers in 2022, 274 batting average 20 homers. He was a worthy corner infield option both of those years. It was a few years ago. And look, I'm not saying you need to have a really tight grip on Ty friends. Because this could all go poof in a matter of weeks. But I do think, given that he does have some history of success, it's not like he's ancient or anything. He's 31. He's been hot for as long as he has with some solid underlying data. If you need corner infield help, it's not a bad choice. Part of the problem, I'm saying if you need corner infield help, I don't feel like he can say if you need first base help because nobody needs first base help. So that might be part of the problem here for Ty friends. He just have to be in a league that goes deep enough into the first base pool. Be great if he was eligible somewhere else. Like he has been at other times in his career, but unfortunately he's not. Yeah. Just looking at a bunch of names that are, look, there's a ton of names that are rostered in more leagues than Ty friends. But you know, like Paul Goultzman has completely fallen off the face of the earth. Yeah. You'd rather have him. You can go ahead and make that swap. Josh Bell, he had his hot stretch. He goes through those stretches. He's still 42% rostered. Go ahead and make that swap. I did notice in points leagues, Josh Bell. I looked this up the other day because I was looking up where Bryce Eldrige ranks since his debut. Josh Eldrige or Josh Bell, I think has been like the 13th best first baseman in points leagues since. That is his format. He's whatever day, Bryce Eldrige debuted. I think in May 30th or something. I thought that was shocking. There's a bunch of first baseman who were very, very close between like 10 and 22 in the rank in the points rankings. So I just, I was surprised to see that because Bell has been pretty anonymous since a hot start. Two other names that are right around 50% roster, Jake Berger and Spencer Torkoson. I think I'd rather take the shot on Typhranes. Rather just play the hot hand with Typhranes. Right. And the hot hand could change between those three, but they all seem like they're in the same basic category. Before we move on, can I make one note on Brandon Fought? Yes. He has one five starts in a row. He is the first pitcher to win five consecutive starts since Tyler Glass now in 2024. Wow. That's the flytor. That's just weird baseball. But yeah, there you go. Before we hit our first break, just a heads up that I will be out all of next week. Scott and Chris will be here to hold things down. No doubt in my mind that they will crush it. Leo will be posted a little bit later on. If you listen on audio, it won't be out at three or four a.m. It'll be more like six or seven a.m. Eastern time. You're just giving people an excuse not to tune in, Frank. I hate when you do this. No, no, no. Just let them be disappointed in the moment. At least maybe once they've downloaded the episode or whatever. I guess I'll listen to it anyway. I have nothing I'll go into. That next week will be our most viewed and downloaded week of the night. I'm going to get out of town. Maybe if you had done it in April, we might have a chance, but I don't think that's going to happen in August. Yeah, I cannot take a vacation in April. I don't think that would go over very well. So I'm off to Merle Beach family vacation. If anyone has any recommendations, hit me up. Write live food, touristy things. Let me know what to do. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back, fantasy baseball. Today let's hit the news and notes and Ronald Acunia is expected to be activated this weekend though they have not yet said which day it's going to be. Scott, you're plugged into the bravos. I think. I hope. What do you think, Ronald Acunia here on a Friday? That would be nice. Get it from the oven. I don't have any inside sources or anything. That would be nice for those leagues where you can switch your lineup one time, heading into the weekend in the middle of a scoring period. But I don't know. I have no idea. I probably do it anyway. If they're saying he's going to be back this week, even if it's weekend, I mean, even if it's a Sunday, would you rather have one game from Ronald Acunia or three from Nathan Church? Nathan Church, yeah. I mean, we're talking a deep five outfield to League. Yeah, that's the kind of decision you might be facing. Yep. Zach Wheeler, who previously said he plans to retire after his contract expires in 2027, might be having second thoughts, quote, never say never. We'll see. It'll probably depend on what happens next year. It's something to think about for sure. Yeah. I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking of H.O.F. baby. Let's go. Get that plaque. I look, if you haven't been keeper or dynasty leagues, it's big news, man. If we can get, look, I don't know the hill. Say at this level, although he's defied the odds already this season. But I mean, even if he can be a top, I don't know, 20 starting pitcher next year, top 30 of the year after that. Like, he's still super valuable. So yeah, man, just keep going until you can't go anymore. Kitsel Marte was scratched in the line up Thursday due to back stiffness. He's always kind of dealing with something, but hopefully he's all right. Jack Caglione has missed two straight after injuring his shoulder on a diving attempt on Tuesday. And I was, I guess, as a spoiler alert, looking through a bunch of last 30 day stats earlier. Oh, no. And Jack Caglione has fallen off the face of the earth, man. He had that great like two or three weeks stretch in June and then it's just, it's all the crash and down again. All right. I guess so I got about 20 minutes to start cram in some last 30 day stats. Is what you're saying? No, pay attention to the show. Cory Seager could begin facing alive BP this weekend. He's working his way back from lower back inflammation. It's possible that both Nick Pavella and Joe Musgrove start rehab assignments in the first week of August. Sean Murphy will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Friday, just a name for deeper two catcher leagues. He could be the backup catcher slash D H every now and then for the braves. Justin Garrett started at AAA on Thursday, ruling him out as a possibility to start for the Marlins on Friday, even with Max Meyer hurt. Chris, I'm not really sure what they're doing. Dude, I have no idea. They just really seem to not have any faith in Braxton Garrett and he's done everything he could to earn an opportunity to. Except for, you know, what?
eight walks and three innings across his first two starts, but yeah. I got called up earlier. You said, yeah, I think that would I don't get it. I don't understand. They have two starting pitchers in their rotation. All right. Well, three of Johnson junk, I guess I just figured out why they didn't do it. I checked the AAA box course today. I saw that the Jacksonville jumbo shrimp lost 15 to one. And Braxton Garrett, two and two thirds, eight hits, seven runs all out. But they shouldn't have even been starting him in that game if they were planning to call him. No, I wasn't even supposed to be here today. Yeah. That's probably what he was thinking. Should have gave my shot, but he'll have to wait some more. It sounds like we have a prospect promotion coming on Friday. And it's a name Scott and I spoke about on Thursday's FBT express episode. So be sure to check those out. That's why you got to listen. The Cubs are expected to promote James Trianto's in 88 games at AAA this season. He was hitting 306 with seven homers, 18 steals, a 784 OPS. And he had been hitting much better as of late. He's played all over the diamond in his mind, only career, but mostly second base and third base, three percent roster. I think he's an intriguing prospect. Scott, I think you made like the Nico Horner ish comp for James. Yeah. I just don't see where he's going to play. Right. I'm thinking, but why? Why are they calling him up? I hadn't seen this. And so I wondered who you were going to say. I assumed there were like five different players. You were going to say from that prospect's report. I wasn't expecting to hear you say James Trianto's because they already have they already have Pedro Ramirez who they can't find a bats for and defensively he profiles similarly. I think I know where he's going to play. Third base for the angels in about 11 days. Yeah. I mean, maybe, but what wouldn't it? Isn't there only downside? I guess there's not only downside, but isn't it extremely risky to call up a player before trading him? Like you know, he's in a safe place where he can know he's going to continue to accumulate numbers. You know, he can handle that level. He's not going to play. But what is the upside to it then if he's not going to play? I mean, they think it'll help their team win games right now. I think that's probably the way they already have Pedro Ramirez. But way ahead for having, yeah, having more talented players on the roster is better than not. Yeah. I don't think I'm not. I don't think this is like the most ideal time to call him up. There's clearly no way for him to play. It barely play anywhere for Pedro Ramirez to play. And Ramirez is probably the better prospect. I don't, yeah, I agree, but I think the likely or answer here is Ramirez and Trianto are playing somewhere else in two weeks. That is a possibility. Okay. I hope at least. Those are a couple of names that I have coming up for value changes around the trade deadline. So look, I would say maybe it's like a showcase thing. But again, he like you can't showcase the guy if you're not going to play him. So interesting name. If you get traded in a couple of weeks, I think we'll have a lot more interest in James Trianto's other prospect news. The Red Sox promoted breakout prospect. Franklin Aureus from AA to AAA. They didn't promote him all the way to the majors. So he's only 20 years old and he tore up AA 74 games 319 18 homers, 987 OPS 11% walk. 14% strike out rate. It's got any chance we see Franklin Aureus up with the Red Sox by the end of the season. Feels like it would be super aggressive. It would be super aggressive. But I'm, you know, frankly, promoting him to triple A is super aggressive. So they've already, they've already surprised with how quickly they moved Arias partly because Arias is super surprised with his increased power production this year. I've tried to remember where I put him in my mid season top 50. I believe it was in the top five. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's pretty close. I've put out their updates over the past two weeks or so. I think pretty much everyone has him top 10 at least. Yeah, he has joined with Jesus Made and Leo Diveries as like the, the cream of the crop as far as shortstop prospects goes. And does Erb, because he's always had great pit tool and the power breakthrough this year has been enormous and he's tundered at a very young age still only 20. I don't think he's going to come up this year, but, you know, it's hard to anticipate how things are going to go for the Red Sox in general. Yeah, third, by the way. He probably won't and Trevor's story and Marcelo Meyer are working their way back from injuries. But the current middle infield for the Red Sox is Anthony Seagler and some Chey Chey. So I'm just, it's not impossible, right? Like, if Rick and Arias goes up to Triple A and he just destroys baseballs for the next month, like maybe late August, there's a, yeah, saying there's a chance. So we'll see. I agree. Well, by that point, at least Trevor's story should be back. But there's a chance. Sure. I mean, if he crosses it a Triple A, Arias, to the point that they're thinking he's going to be a major part of our team next year, I think it's helpful to give, to let somebody like that get his feet wet without sacrificing his rookie eligibility so that he still has a chance to earn you draft pick incentives next year because he'll remain a rookie. I think it makes sense for the Red Sox to do that if, if everything aligns that way. I would say right now he's probably 50/50 to be their opening day. Shortstop next year too, at this point. All right. The pirates acquired Reliever Ron Marinaccio from the Padres in exchange for international signing bonus pool money. The pirates then DFA, Dennis Santana. So if you're looking for the next pirates closer, won't be Dennis Santana. Latest trade rumors, the brewers are looking to be aggressive at the trade deadline and have touched base with the Tigers on Terrick Scooble and the Padres on Mason Miller. So definitely two massive names to watch. And also the Phillies are looking into higher caliber starting pictures at the deadline. Let's run through some waiver wire options from Thursday's action and Ian Seymour. Pitch better took a tough loss as the bulk Reliever at the Blue Jays. Six inning two runs, seven strikeouts to one walk. He had 12 whips on 87 pitches, seven on the change up for on the fastball. He's just been a little bit off recently. He still allowed some hard contact in this one, but obviously much better than his last two starts. And Shane Bieber, two strong outings in a row for him. This one against the race, seven innings, one run, only three strikeouts, but he didn't walk anybody. He avoided hard contact. That's been a problem for him all season 81.3 average EV in this one. And that's the common theme with his last two starts that have been very good is that he's just not getting hit his hard. So whatever he's doing, it seems to be working. Last two, 13 innings, one run, nine strikeouts to two walks here for Shane Bieber. Chris, who do you prefer between the two Shane Bieber or Ian Seymour? Oh, it's Ian Seymour by a mile. I haven't really seen very much from Shane Bieber since his return to be optimistic about. And he's got a tough matchup against the nationals next week. I'm not ready to trust him there. He's got 6.5 Kp9, 3.5 walks per nine since his return, 581 FIP. I'm not saying there's nothing here. He's still, I think before this start had double-digit swinging strikes in three strikes, before this one. So he is missing some bats, which it's hard to see Shane Bieber being effective without missing a lot of bats. But I think Ian Seymour is just good. I know it's been a little rough lately. And I feel like we've taken some hits in the comments for our Ian Seymour love. But you know what? Since joining the rotation, he has a 422 ERA, which is a little high. You'd prefer that be a little lower. But it's also 53 strikeouts of 42 and 2/3 innings, a 1.01 whip. Yeah. I think, look, the fact that he throws a 91 mile an hour fastball might just mean that Ian Seymour is going to have a slim margin for error. And when things go poor for him, they could go really poorly, which we saw his previous couple of starts. But I think he's good. I basically think he should be 100% roster. Definitely in any point's league, there shouldn't be no point's leagues where Ian Seymour is not rostered with his RP eligibility. But even I would want him in any row to league, basically, as well. I think Ian Seymour is good. Yeah, he should not still qualify as a sleeper pitcher. And he was about on the verge of graduating from that with his roster rate. I think the bumpy outings last two times out dropped to 68%. So we'll get to enjoy it next week when he's facing the Texas Rangers. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good matchup. So Corey Seager in the lineup, although he's been terrible this season. But yeah, good matchup there for Ian Seymour. Like the way we're wearing our names, we've talked about a lot this week. It's been Roki Sasaki, Tatsuya Imi, Zach Thorin. I assume we're still taking a scene. I'll take Seymour over any of them.
those guys, yeah. You can make a case for Sasaki having a little more upside, but I don't think it's that much more upside. We saw 12 strikeout start from you and see more not that long ago. And has Sasaki ever had a 12 strikeout start? I don't think so. And before it's higher for see more. Like see more did this down the stretch last year as a starting pitcher. His minor league career was nothing short of dominant. So it's not like this came out of nowhere and we're making too much of a small sample. His minor league career, he had a 253 ERA 102 whip in 11k per nine. And he was always old. The stuff didn't never look good. Yeah. But yeah, he was just he's just a good pitcher. I don't know. He's he's got kind of that like Andrew Abbott crossfire delivery a little bit. The shape of the four seamers pretty good. Despite the velocity not being good. I just think like it's probably like a 3.73 80 year. I don't think he's ace or anything. But with his strike out rate and then the low whip, I think he's very, very useful in any format. All right. A couple we were wire hitters here. Stephen Kwan has looked better as of late. And I know Chris, you brought him up recently two for four with his seventh stolen base. Last 10 games. He's hitting 472 with three steals. He has let off five in a row for the Guardians 61% rostered. And there are. I have four names that are between 50 and 70% rostered that are among the most added outfielders. Kwan, Edmund, Luis Robert and Chandler Simpson. I'll let you do it by format because it feels like it changes vastly for those four specific players. But Edmund, Kwan, Luis Robert, Chandler Simpson. How do you rank those four? I mean, it's not even necessarily format because I think they're all probably, well, his Qons probably better in a point league if he's right. Yeah. So I put them at the top in a point league relative to the other three. I kind of think it depends on what you need more than what format you're in though because if you're just looking for upside, I think Luis Robert has the most upside of this group. You know, a fully maxed out version of him could do a 30/30 pace. We saw that two, three years ago. If you need speed or steals, it's obviously Chandler Simpson. And if you need batting, everything is obviously Stephen Kwan. I don't really know where Timmy Edmund. Timmy Edmund. Timmy Edmund. Timmy Edmund. Chandler Simpson's hitting, it's like 380 with 12 steals and it's like 25 games or something. Yeah. I'll tell you where Tommy Edmund fits at the bottom. The second form at the early second base. Yeah. If you need help, he's not just an outfielder like these other three are. So that would be the one point in Edmund's favor. And maybe it's the only point that matters to you, given your current situation. But I don't, I understand his batting average is through the roof right now. It's not going to continue. And I'm not sure he excels at anything else really at this stage of his career. Kwan Edmund. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I agree with them. All right. One deeper name. I brought him up recently. I think you guys laughed at me, but I'll do it again. Tyler Locklear of the defense. All right. Let's move on. Tyler Locklear, three for five with his first home run of the season, three RBI. He has started just three of five games since getting called back up. Maybe easing him in. He dealt with injuries earlier on. He was hitting pretty well in the minors this year. Is this just a and only name for now? Tyler Locklear. I don't remember laughing at you. So sensitive, like you scoffed. You just kind of brushed on really. Well, partly because I don't think the diamond backs really care about Tyler Locklear. And we had, we had a moment last year with him. He was still in the Marinors organization at the time where he's killing at a triple A that, that the data looks pretty good. Maybe he deserves a chance and they hardly gave him a chance and then traded him to diamond backs. Okay. He's going to get his chance now. He hardly got a chance again. Even now, this is the third time in the last five games that he started. So it's not like the diamond backs have cleared a spot in their lineup to give Tyler a locklear and honest look. Now, if he makes enough of these little chances, obviously, that could grow into more of an opportunity. That home run he hit here on Thursday was very hard 111.5 miles per hour. So like I do think there is, I do think there's thump here. And for a guy who doesn't have major strikeout issues, but he's a right handed hit, right handed hitting corner man who brings nothing defensively. And that's just, that's just a tough fit. So we'll have to see if he can squirm his way into a big enough roll to matter. Yep. So I agree. I think it'll only for now, but maybe he could work his way into like 15 team mixed conversations. Let's take our final break when we return. Hey, real quick trade deadline and the feud right after this. What is Toyota for ability? It's buying smart. Right now, your local Toyota dealer has great deals available on some of the most reliable trucks on the market like the off road ready to come. Rugged full size tundra and legendary for runner all with the space tech and features to handle it all from the work site to the trails. It means driving for less with efficient hybrid options available extending your overall driving range and delivering great MPG's meaning bigger savings at the pump without sacrificing power. 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We haven't talked about him a while, but he's still doing his thing. He is 19th home run. He did have a down June, but he has looked much better in July. One thing that stood out to me only six steals for Michael Harris. Where's the speed on the year only six deals. Yeah, only six deals at Antoine Richardson man. I know he's been playing through a back injury off and on all season Scott. So maybe that's contributed, but I guess, but I mean what is Antoine Richardson done for Aussie all these like it seems like he's had the most impact on Austin Riley. But he doesn't get on base. And he basically took him from like a zero steel guy to a 10 steel guy. So it's not nothing, but yeah. I guess Rome wasn't built in the day. And he brought Michael Harris from a 20 steel guy down to a 10 steel guy. I don't know it might be the back. I mean, like we're obviously I'm poking a little bit of fun here because of the hype of Antoine Richardson coming over from the meds after what he did with one so though, but yeah, that's we had hoped for more from Harris in that regard. Everything else with Michael Harris looks awesome though. Like the quality of contact, the expected stats. It's all like some of the best stuff we've ever seen from Michael Harris in his career. Gabriel Burreno has looked great since the start of June. We just need more power three for four with a double a run to our bi 41 games since the start of June 345 for homers 24 run 17 RBI and OPS over 900 more walks than strikeouts. He's hitting the ball hard, but the ground ball rate is creeping back up. So Chris, I think this is a very good version of Gabriel Burreno earlier this year. He was lifting the ball. So we were kind of excited about that. I still think that he is an awesome head to head point sleep player. Yeah, I think he's a borderline top 12 catcher and a head to head point sleep. I don't know exactly if he's 12 or 11. I know two of the top 12 went on the I L recently and I had the Ruchman and Samo Pesayo. So that probably helps. I might have kind of remember if I've moved Marano into the top 12 in my rankings updates today. I did 11. Look at that Gabriel Marano starting caliber catcher and a head to head point sleep. There you go. Let's go over the last 28 days. He is the fourth most total head to head points among catchers. So Gabriel Marano very, very good in that format for category leagues. We do need more power. Chris sale had a rough second inning and then say,
settle down very nicely against the Padres. Six innings, three runs, 11 strikeouts to one walk. 23 whiffs on 98 pitches. The slider and the fastball were awesome. He has now gone six plus innings and back to back starts, which is nice to see. Scott, we had a run there where it was like a lot of five in die for Chris Hill. - Yeah, in fact, it was a stretch of seven starts in which six of them, six of the seven were less than six innings. And not only that, but let me see if I can find the number here. So this was Chris sales, this was his 19th start of the season. He hasn't missed any time, right? Christopher Sanchez has 21 starts. Cam Schletler has 21 starts. Sandial Contra has 22 starts and sales sitting down there just got his 19th. That's been part of the issue here. - They haven't really let him pitch on four days rest at all since he came back from - Since they acquired him. - Yeah. - Yeah. And it seems like it's holding a back obviously in fantasy. Inning for inning, he's still as good as ever. But they're so careful with his workload that he ends up, I don't wanna say he's not an ace in fantasy, but he's a little underwhelming as an ace in fantasy. - All right, let's talk about Taj Bradley, who was great at the Guardian Seven Innings one run, five strikeouts here. Didn't have his best stuff, but still managed to limit one run over seven innings here. And last seven starts, 293 ERA 102 Whip, 49 strikeouts over 43 innings, doing a good job avoiding barrels. Kind of feel like he's a poor man's Gavin Williams. Like you can just never get too high. You can never get too low on Taj Bradley, especially this season, like there are times where he's been much worse. But I feel like Chris, he's kind of finding his groove this year, Taj Bradley. - Yeah, I still don't really trust it. I think he is kind of a poor man's Gavin Williams in that, you know, if I think Gavin Williams maybe a three six or three seven ERA pitcher, we're hardly probably more like a three nine to four ERA pitcher, but you'll get lots of strikeouts. The good stretches will be useful. And he's avoided for the most part, the really, really bad stretches that played him before the year. So I think he's leveled up. I think he's pretty good. I don't think he's anywhere close to great yet though. - And last thing on this list is Troy Melton. It turns out he is human after all, against the Royals, five plus innings, two runs, four walks, five strikeouts, still an okay line. The whip wasn't good in this one. But Scott, that is now four walks and back to back starts here for Troy Melton. Any concern there with the walks? - A little bit of concern there. Also his velocity, which had been up, it had been up four appearances in a row. It kind of returned to normal and we saw the Whiff rate, regress to where it was earlier this season. And he's still got a good result. That's the thing about Melton. Like he's looked, even when he hasn't been dominant he's been passable. - Yeah. And so maybe we shouldn't stress so much about the down moments for him. If we know that there is that other side to him, that upside side that he can run out there from time to time and I think if that's the case, then the net result of everything's gonna be pretty positive. So you're not gonna catch me saying anything bad about Mr. Melton today. - All right, yeah, I aggressively moved him inside of my, I think top 40 starting pictures. So I'm in, I'm all the way in on Troy Melton. Who could gain or lose value at the trade deadline? I've got some prospects I wanna mention. We'll go through some reliever stuff as well. But on the prospect side, I think number one with a bullet and we've talked a lot about it is Kate Anderson with the Mariners. We heard earlier on Thursday that they are now looking to trade Emerson Hancock. So it certainly seems like one of him or Luis Castillo will be moved. And I could see like early mid August, Kate Anderson coming up. I was thinking about this earlier. I think we had this conversation. Probably the most hyped prospect since like Chase Burns or Paul Schienz. I know that's not that long ago, but like those guys were awesome, right? And like Chase Burns wasn't great in his first taste, but look at what Chase Burns is doing this year, you know? - I think within the fantasy realm, he's the most type pitcher since Paul Schienz. Just because he's been marinating so much longer. Like Chase Burns was up by what may? But his work he sees are June? - I can say for a fact that Baba Chandler was far more rostered. - Oh yeah. - I think that's fair. - But it's a similar response now. - It's a similar spot where he was just down there for so much longer that it just like every time there was a discussion about pitchers, the stash for pitchers to, and a similar talent. I think Chandler, as I know, Anderson's been so good that it's hard to knock anything about him, but when you read the Scattering Reports, it's more pitch ability and command and the stuff is good but not elite. And look, that might work, but he's not, I don't think he's on Chase Burns level in terms of talent personally. - Maybe I'm wrong. - I'm wrong, but I think he doesn't have the upside that Chase Burns has. - If we're presuming Burns hasn't fully maxed his upside yet, then yeah, I think that's fair. I think Kate Anderson is about as polished as a pitching prospect can get though. And so it may not play that differently in terms of how impactful he is in fantasy. - Kate Anderson, 58% rostered on CBS. I know he's a minor leager. I feel like he's a some must-roster player. - It just depends on if you're in one of those leagues where we'll get comments when people are like, "Oh, I can't stash." - Yeah, daily lineup leads are tough. - Yeah, there are certainly some leagues where it just doesn't make sense to roster guy that you can't use, but everyone was doing it with Chandler last year. And I think, and in 13 days, I think Kate Anderson's gonna be in the rotation. - Very possible. The Cubs, we mentioned them earlier, I think they could be aggressive at the deadline. They need to acquire pitching and to do that, they could give up some major league ready talent. And James Chiantos is one name. Pedro Ramirez is another Kevin Alcantara. Even match-all, I know he's not a prospect anymore, but if he goes to an opportunity where he plays every day, I still think there's a little bit of power and it's be potential there with him. So those are some Cubs names to pay attention to. We talked about this a lot on the express episode yesterday, Scott, but the Rockies, if they trade Mickey Moniac, Jake McCarthy, maybe even other names, I'm not thinking of right now, it could be time for Zach Veein and/or Charlie Condon. - Yeah, yeah, they've been among the five best prospects to stash for over a month now, I would say. And the frustration has been that the Rockies of all teams don't really have a spa for them. But that could change at the trade deadline. They both, they both look like they're ready to get an honest chance in the majors. I know Veein got a little bit of a taste last year, but he looks even better this year. He seems really to have recommitted himself to baseball. I'm probably deserves more attention from the prospect towns than he's been getting. - Yeah, I think the Reds could be a team that winds up selling there now six games out of a wild card spot. And they could wind up moving JJ Bladey, maybe an A.U. Hanoi Suarez. Here's a prospect we haven't really talked about. Hector Rodriguez, he's 22 years old. He is having a big year at AAA 278 batting average, 24 homers, six deals and 890 PS. Any interest, any stash interest in like a Hector Rodriguez, or maybe just like once he gets called up, like, okay, we should pay attention to that name. - I think it's more of the latter. - Yeah, I would be interested in seeing his exif velocities, which are pretty good. Chase Raid is high, doesn't walk much, but I'd be even more concerned about the Chase Raid. It's been better this year than it's ever been before, but it's been between 40 and 50% at times, which is very high. - Yeah, so if we're just ranking the prospects, the impact, Kate Anderson, again, like far and away the top name, I think I'd put the Rockies guys, then the Cubs guys, then Hector Rodriguez. Is there anyone else you could think of that can make like a prospect impact down the stretch? - I guess it's not related to a trade, but I think towards Lombard Jr., it's gonna be a pretty sweet with the Yankees. - I'll throw it in there. Walker Jenkins. - Yeah. - Max Clark too. - Yeah, Max Clark. Well, Max Clark, there's kind of no reason not to call him up already, but it couldn't hurt. He's started to pick things up at Triple A finally. - Is Kaylyn Colpeper still hurt? I think so. - Thanks. - I know he's had like finger and glute injuries recently. If not for that, I think he already would have been up. - I'd keep an eye on Sebastian Walcott. He just got back from UCL surgery, I believe it was. And he's already, like he was up there, prior to having that injury, he was up there with glute degrees and Jesus Made. And he's, at last I checked, he was off to a. - Yeah, he's pretty much stuck. - He's probably stuck far, yeah. - Yeah.
So he spent most of last year, double A, I believe. So he could be ready to go all the way to August. You know, I do kind of wonder if the Rangers would consider doing something with Corey Seeger given their current state. But you know, I don't even think that would have to happen for, for, for Sebastian Walkout to get a look. Obviously, Frank, you may hate this. I think the Yankees should try to trade for Corey Seeger. It would cost them nothing except salary. Yeah, that is a, there's still a lot of years left on that deal. That guy cannot stay healthy. You would have him, Aaron Judge and John Colostan on the same roster. Yeah, I think his conscience stands, stands contracts over at this, the end of this year, right? No, I think it's after next year. Ah, okay. That's the Yankees they've been doing. Yeah, it's the point of being the Yankees if you can't do that. I'll let someone else be the Yankees for Corey Seeger. Tomorrowans are sending them $10 million next year for Stanton. Kaelin Colt Pepper still on the I.L. and I don't know if you guys have seen any pictures of Sebastian Walkout, but that dude is yoked. He said he basically was just working out the whole time while he was rehabbing that UCL. I've never heard that yoked. Yoke. That's a new one. Oh, you don't know yoked. Put up like, put on like 15 pounds of muscle Sebastian Walkout. So, because he eats a lot of egg yolks. That's exactly it. Is that it? Really? I have no idea. It's like the homology. It's Y.O.K.E.D. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like a pilot stick. I don't know what the origin is, but yeah. Okay. Some homology of yoked. Well, sometimes it's dangerous to look into these things. Yeah. I was just pausing there and trying to find out the origin of yoked. Yoke. It's because when you have heavily developed neck and trap muscles, it can look like the harness on a plow. Okay. Strong like an ox. Yes. Right. Yeah. Closers that can be on the move. Who is next up? Obviously Mason Miller is the biggest name that we keep hearing about. I don't think that he is going to be traded, but there's always a chance. And if he does get traded, Adrian Mardiome would be next up. But if they trade Miller, my guess is they would probably trade Mardiome as well. And then I think the next healthy arm would be Brad Glay Rodriguez. He's currently their seventh ending man, but Jason Adam could return from the aisle in early to mid August. The potrace thing is, I don't know, it's kind of messy right now. I don't think he's going to get traded. Are they going to get anything as good as Leo Dervis for them, which they gave up? No. Like was a year of Mason Miller worth that? I don't. I don't think they could look at it that way, though. I don't think they can compare it to Leo Dervis. I guess not. I mean, that's what Sunk and Coss fallacy to do that. But I can do that. I can sit here and dip pick. Yeah. I, I, yeah, I think they, I think they probably should trade him. I don't know if they will, but yeah. Yeah. So again, it's, if Mason Miller goes, Adrian Mardiome stays, he would be the closer if they both go. Then I think it's Brad Glay Rodriguez. And, and then once Jason Adam is back, maybe he can work his way into it. But obviously wherever Mason Miller is moved, he is the closer. Like there's no doubt about that. So wherever I remember staying that around this time last year, it did not go that way. Maybe he could trade it to the braves. Is there, is there really a team you think he could go to and not be the closer? I didn't think so last year. Even when he was traded to the bottom. I mean, I guess the Phillies like Yohan De Ron, him, he gets traded to the braves. Seven thing he got and Robert Suarez is closing again. Just for no like, like, like, Eglace, yes, you're out. We're going to put Suarez in just a mess with Miller. Yeah. That would be funny. But some teams that have been linked to Mason Miller, the Yankees, the Brewers, like that would just be the end of David Bednar and Trevor McGill. So just have to see where he winds up. And I think Mardiome is a sneaky one to where if he gets traded somewhere, he could become that team's closer because he's that master. Yeah. So he could just be the pirates or like the white socks. He could just become their closer. So pay attention there. I think we might all agree on this one that Luke Weaver is the top reliever to stash. He's having an awesome season. He's been linked to the pirates and the white socks. I think he would be, I think he would probably close over Grant Taylor for the white socks. I would think so. Yeah. I'm not sure if the nationals are going to go for it. They're only a game and a half out of a log card spot. I don't think that they should, but they're right there. But they could be a team that trades for a reliever and then that guy is just their closer because they haven't had anybody worthy of being a closer all season. So let's just see who the nationals acquire at the deadline if they acquire anyone. But there's also a chance that Luke Weaver could go to a team where he's not the closer. If he goes to the mariners or fillies or braves or even the Dodgers, right? Like he's just not going to be the closer for any of those teams. Yeah. I think an interesting situation is Louis Varlin with the Blue Jays. It sounds like the Blue Jays are going to sell. They're apparently listening on Kevin Cosmin and Dalton Varsho. They do not have to trade Louis Varlin at all. He's not a free agent until 2031 and he's awesome. But if they want to cash out on a awesome reliever as a tons of control, they could probably get a huge return. If they traded Varlin, I actually think it would be Tyler Rogers who would be next up. I think it'd be Hoffman. Rogers has been the eighth inning guy consistently. Their last two saves. He pitched in the eighth inning. I know that Hoffman has the experience. It could be. But I just, like Rogers is just having another Rogers. Like he has a 134 ERA or something like that. But Tyler Rogers also almost never ends up the closer anywhere. That's true. He's had multiple chances. It's just he can pitch so often. Yeah. He can pitch so often that I think it discourages teams from using, from confining them to the ninth inning role like that. You know? Yeah. So, I mean, remember, it kind of took a little while for Louis Varlin to fully take that job. And I think there was part of that as just they love having him available that they don't want to just save him from the safe situations. But yeah, I don't know. I get the feeling it would be Hoffman still. Yeah. Scott, we'll put you on record here. If Louis Varlin gets traded, is it Jeff Hoffman or Tyler Rogers? I don't think it'll be Tyler Rogers. So if those are the two, if it's a binary choice, I'll say Hoffman. All right. Angels can find a taker for Kirby eights Ryan Zepherjohn, what I think would be next up for them, but they're also really, really bad. I don't think these sellers matter for relievers. Well, I do want to enjoy this was pumping one or three today in a rehab assignment. So that's a name to keep in mind for the angels. A's, Royals, Rockies, Giants, Reds. Maybe the Reds, if they trade Emilio Pagan, but I just don't really know who would be next up. He has Pagan had two saves this week. Brock Burke worked the eighth inning in one and it was Julian Garcia who worked the eighth and the other. So I don't really think there would be a next up. Like maybe Alex Lange gets traded. And if that happens, Daniel Lynch could be the closer for the Royals. I don't know who's taking on Alex Lange. Maybe Daniel Lynch gets traded. Yeah. That's definitely a possibility. Other names that I think could gain value after the deadline, read Deppers and Jose Soriano just going to a better team organization and defense, I think could be better for both of those guys. I agree. Mm-hmm. Jung Huli and Luis Arise as left-handed hitters getting out of Oracle. I think that could be interesting for those guys. Freddie Peralta just changes scenery. It can't get worse than it's already been. And Chris, how do you mention these two as potential losers? Mickey Monia can take McCarthy. If they leave, of course, field. I think that one's pretty obvious. Yeah, I mean, McCarthy's actually been pretty good on the road this season. Monia has been terrible on the road. And basically, it has never hit anywhere except for his field. So I think that's one that would do. He's the one I think who has the outside of closures, I guess. He's the one who has the biggest risk of losing all of his value. Mickey Monia, a deadline. Any other names or situations you could think of that? It's just hard to talk about because it's all speculation. We really just have to wait until trades happen. And teams are so, like, how many teams are truly, truly out of it right now? There's probably not like five, six, five or six, yeah. And so I think the next 10 days are going to tell us a lot more than anything else right now. Yep. All right, let's wrap up with the rubber match, the fantasy view. All right, you guys know how to play the feud. I will bring up a question, a category. The rubber buzzes in, you get the first opportunity, and then the other person has a chance to get a higher answer on the board. And then we play it out, we play the feud. First up. It sounds like Mario Kart. Yeah, it does. I like it though. It's cool. Are you guys ready? Sure. Yes. According to the Fangrafts Player Rater, in 12 team category leagues, there are eight hitters who have produced at least $35 worth of value in the last 30 days. Chris. Oh, Chris. Uh, Pete Crow Armstrong. Pete Crow Armstrong is incorrect. This is the top eight. Basically just the top eight players in the tennis. Top eight hitters. Pete Crow Armstrong, 11th by the way, Chris. 30 days. Okay. Okay, let's say your now, whereas your dawn, Alvarez is incorrect. He's number 10. Oh, okay. Wait, he's number what? Oh, he is correct. He's number 10. It's only the number 10. I thought you said two.
- Sorry, top eight. - Top eight hitters in fantasy. Past 30 days. - What? He crumbs right in your own algorithm. - Hey, I don't make the algorithms. - I'll go off the board and say Fernando Tati's. - Fernando Tati's junior is correct. He is the number five hitter over the past 30 days. Chris, would you like to pass or put? - Well, it doesn't seem like a chance to steal or not. - No, we're passed that because we've screwed up. - We're not going to pass it. - Yeah, I'm going to pass this one, sorry. - All right, Scott, we are looking for seven, the top seven, seven of the top eight hitters over the past 30 days in fantasy. - All right, let's do this. - This is Roto, junior, commonero. - Junior, commonero. - Commonero. - Ah! - Ah, commonero. - Looks like a yes. - Is correct, that's the number one answer. - Ah, number one. - Well, it's been hot, Luis Garcia. - Luis Garcia, junior is correct, the number six answer. So we have number one, junior, commonero, number five for Fernando Tati's, number six, Luis Garcia. - All righty. - Let's, this guy's always hot, James Wood. - James Wood is correct, the number seven answer. - Okay. - Scott's looking to clear the board. - Oh no, don't. Don't, don't oversell it. Let's, oh, as Merlin Valdez. - Of course, the magician, he's the number two answer. - Okay, so that's what I'm annoyed by is I was looking up last 30 days to see where as Merlin Valdez ranked and he was the best hitter, like I, whoa, but I wasn't looking at the, but PCA was the second best hitter, I think, in the last 30 days. And he steals, but so I don't understand how that happened. But anyway, it's fine. - The player rate. - Fine. Player rateer. - Player rateer. - Player rateer. Don't be a hater, player rateer. - We are looking for the number three, four, and eight answers. - Ah, a tray turner. - Trey turner is incorrect. He is number nine on the list. - Yeah, terrible guess. - Ah. Okay, um, man, who am I forgetting? Who am I forgetting? I feel like I'm forgetting somebody who's been just so unbelievably hot that I should not be forgetting them, but I am. - How about. Gosh. I'm gonna need an answer, Scott. - Ah, Kyle Carous. - Kyle Carous. - What's going on? - Is incorrect. - Okay. I'm just scrolling down to see where he is number 41. - Oh, great guess. (laughs) - All right, we have two strikes. - All right, those, those mean. Those caddies. (upbeat music) - Scott, I just thought I won. - Oh, I get more guesses. - Yeah, I see you. - Oh, okay, Jake McCarthy. - Jake McCarthy. - Jake McCarthy is the number four answer on the board. - All right, sorry. I thought it was Chris' turn already. I thought I'd blown it. - You have two strikes and you have two answers left. - Ah. - That makes it harder. All right. Let's say. Let's say Ben Rice. Ben Rice. - Is it correct? - Of course. - Come on. - He's number 28. Chris, for the steal, we're looking for either the number three or number eight answer. - I'm like 80% sure the number three answer's gotta be Hunter Goodman, right? - Hunter Goodman is the guess. And it is correct. - Yeah, of course. - But it wasn't number three. He was number eight. - Okay, it was number eight. - Was it any more shadow? - Number three. - Ty France. - Do you remember this stretch? That Dan's B Swanson had? - Oh, yeah. - This is a lot better. - Yeah. - Wow. - He had that crazy run. - Yeah, where he just had like 14 RBI and like-- - That was the real one I was looking when I was looking at the last 30 days. He's like 10th in war, but he's got a sub 300 OPS in the last 30 days too. - Dan's B Swanson. - The new stretch. - Last 30. 287. - State Homer's five steals 27 RBI 20 runs scored during that stretch. I did just want to mention Jake McCarthy 'cause he was fourth on that list. His home road splits the season 925 OPS at home in Cores 780 on the road. So if he does get traded at the deadline, I think he's a pretty clear loser there for fantasy. - Oh yeah. - All right, are you guys ready? Move on to question number two. - This ready as I can be. - Six pitchers have 40 or more strikeouts in the last 30 days. - Chris. Chris. Last 30 days. - Last 30 days. 40 or more strikeouts. - I'm pretty sure Gavin Williams has 39 strikeouts in July, so it's gotta be Gavin Williams. - Gavin Williams is number four answer. - Oh. - It's got you get to steal. - This one's really tough 'cause the all-star break screws it up. - It kinda does. - Yeah, okay. Well, at the risk of overthinking it, not, I mean, I don't wanna overthank it. I'm gonna say Cam Schlippler. - Cam Schlippler. - I feel like he had like a 12 strikeout starting that stretch too. - He's incorrect. - Oh, right. - 30 to six strikeouts. 36 for Cam Schlippler. So we're looking for 40 or more over the last 30 days. - It's Chris's. - So Chris. - Chris's pass or play? - Chris's call. - I will play. - Oh, before I do. - I just wanna pass every time, you know, old. - All right, Chris, you got the number four answer. It's actually, he's tied for second, but there's a couple of, that have the same amounts. So 40 or more strikeouts. - Oh, that's a second Wheeler. - Zach Wheeler, come on guys. The number one answer on the board. Zach Wheeler. - Yeah, nine strikeouts and four straight starts, I think. - Yeah. - Zach Wheeler, number one, Gavin Williams, number four. - Okay. (upbeat music) - Terrick Scooble. - Terrick Scooble. - It's correct. - Okay. - That's the one that I was like, did he return more recently than 30 days, but I didn't think. - It's right there, 41 strikeouts. - All right. So we got four, four, three names left. - Three names left. Christopher Sanchez. - Christopher Sanchez. - No, it's not right. - Is incorrect. - He, I don't see him anywhere. - I mean, he's pitched. - I don't know. Okay, so I have one strike. - Yeah, one strike. Logan Gilbert had a bunch of strikeouts. Let me go and go. - Logan Gilbert has had a lot of strikeouts lately, but. - Not 40, okay. - Does not have 40. - I don't think it's Jacob, is he your ask you? I don't think it's Chris sale. Dylan Seas. - Dylan Seas. - Wow. - Is it correct? - Wow. - 37 strikeouts, so you just missed. That was, I believe you're a third strike. - Yeah, that was. - All right, it's got four of the steal again. We're looking for 40 strikeouts over the last 30 days. - I am gonna go with Cade Cavali. - Cade, that's a good call. - Four of the steal to keep the game alive. - Is correct. - Yeah. - Chris Us Lazardo. - Hey, Zeus Lazardo is not on this list. It's kind of cheating because it's just whoever's made more starts. - Yeah. - So, the guys that pitched today, Taj Bradley, Ian Seymour on the list. - I thought about Seymour, but. - Yeah, 40. - I did just mention he has 54 strikeouts in his last 42 innings or ever. - So yeah. - The top six in strikeouts last 30 days. Zach Wheeler, Taj Bradley, Cade Cavali, Gavin Williams, Ian Seymour and Terrick Scoobal. That is your group of six. All right, we go to the rubber match of the rubber match. Over the last 30 days, there are seven qualified starting pitchers with an ERA over six. - Aw. (laughing) - ERA over six. - Over six. - I wanted to get a bad one in there. - What kind of backwards category is this? - Boy, and they haven't really qualified with the ERA over six. - Seven qualified starters with an ERA over six last 30 days. - Gosh, this is so there's gotta be some really big names on there. - Right. - Just think about some of this to talk about. - Yeah. - Some of the blow ups that we've had. - Well, I already buzzed in, so I gotta give an answer. - We need an answer. - No. - I'm going to Christopher Sanchez. - He's correct. - Wow. - He has a 618 ERA over the last 30 days. - Yeah, 'cause he had the one like. - He's had a couple clunkers, man. - Yeah, he had one was like 11 or something. - That was the one I really wanted to point out. I was like, oh my god, it didn't really. - Okay, so that puts me on the right 'cause there was another one that I was thinking.
might be up there. - I, Chris, you get a chance to get a higher ERA. - Oh boy, who stinks? - Oh, there's some stinky ones on here. - Um, they can't all be good. - Kevin Gosman's been stinky. - Kevin Gosman. - Oh, that's not an answer. - Ease on the board, but he's lower than Christopher. - Oh, no. - So Scott passed or played. - Really for five more. - I got a pass, 'cause there's no way he's gonna sweep this, but then I have to come up with one. - Is the thing. - I, yeah. - So he called. - I'm not gonna evolve. I'm not gonna evolve. - Um. (upbeat music) - I, yeah. - And they are ranked in terms of how high their ERA is. So the worse you are, the higher you rank on this person. - Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna pass. - I really wish you hadn't. - All right. 'Cause I think I have a good answer here. - Chris, Chris names it then I mean, I'm, I, right. - All right, so you guys have two of the seven. ERA over six last 30 days, Christopher Sanchez and Kevin Gawzman, two of them. - I'm gonna start picking up some others. - I mean, the name I'm thinking has had two starts where he hasn't gotten out of the second inning in this stretch. And so I think Roki Sasaki, what he's so up and down that I, yeah. - Incorrect. - Okay. - Do you see not a whole thing? - He might not qualify. - Oh, uh, uh, oh, but yeah. Dustin May. - Oh, that's a good answer. - Dustin May. - No, he's not. - He's incorrect. - Yeah, he might have fall. - Start skipped in there. - Boy, who's been terrible? - God. (singing) - This is a diabolical one. - I got a lot of pictures of that. - I know that they don't have bad ERAs, but the trick is they have to have gone deep enough. - Yeah, you know what the main problem I'm running into? I can't think who on the Rokis qualifies over the last 30 days. I'm gonna throw Kyle Freeland out there. - Kyle Freeland is a great guest, Chris. He is the number two answer. - Okay. - A seven ERA. - Oh, bloody. - I had to make the last one a little tough, you know. - Are there any other Rokis picture guests? (laughing) - Um, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Gage jump. - Gage jump. The number three answer. - Okay, so I'm missing number one. - Six, 75. You are missing number one. You are missing number one, five, and seven. - Oh, no way, I'm gonna sweep this. (laughing) Um. Spencer Eregetti. - Spencer Eregetti. - Not on there. - It's incorrect. - Yeah. - I don't think he qualifies. - Is that strike three? - That is strike three. Scott for the steal. To win the rubber match. - Gonna go with the first name I thought of. I think his outings tend to be five innings for as bad as they are. I hope it's up to 60RA. Freddie Peralta. - Freddie Peralta. For all the marbles. Is it correct? - No! - He definitely has it. I guess he doesn't qualify because I feel like his ERA is definitely overestimated. - We have, it's got, uh, is Framber on the list? - Framber is not on the list. - Not on the list. This is really hard. - So the number one answer is Mackenzie Gore, - Oh. - 7090RA. Seth Lugo. - Oh, I was thinking Seth Lugo. But I knew he's had a couple of good stars there. - He has to start for good. - And Scott, when you started saying someone who has to go deep enough into their starts, I thought you had it. Aaron Nola. - Uh. - He always goes deep, but he always gets rocked. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I jotted down four names. It wasn't any of those three. - I jotted down Freddie Peralta, Gavin Williams, Braxton Ashcraft and Bryce Elter. - The qualifiers kind of throws it off. - Yeah. - So kind of a fuguesy category there. But Chris is the winner. - Chris, is there anyone that you would like to think after winning? - I would like to think Scott for passing on that one, actually. - Yeah. - Yeah, I thought the play there was to play it. - Yeah. - Also, you said that the names you wrote down, did you have any of the names that I came up with? - No. - Who were the-- - Okay, I might have still been able to say, I think I would have started to be able to do. - You might have. - Yep. - All right. - Congrats, Chris. You are the fantasy few champ. Let's wrap up here. I got some bullpened self streamers for the weekend. Call it to the bullpen for the braze. Bryce Elaglecius got the ninth with a one run lead. He allowed two hits, but picked up his 21st save. And he's had a bit of a rough go here in July. 623 ERA 127 whip for Bryce Elaglecius, but still picking up some saves. For the twin, somebody named Jack Anderson got the 12th inning with a two run lead. He picked up his first career save. And Yohanger's Gomez pitched earlier in the game. He tossed a scoreless ninth inning. For the Blue Jays, Louis Varland picked up his 21st save. For the Royals, Stephen Cruz got the eighth with the game tide. He allowed a run on two hits. He took his third loss. And for the Tigers, Kenley Jansen was unavailable. Lefty Drew Summers started the ninth. He had a strikeout a walk and hit. And then Kyle Finnegan got Salvador Perez to ground into a double play to earn his second save of the season. Freddie Peralta has an 844 ERA for the past 30 days. Just doesn't qualify. Take it up with MLB.com. You got to learn your qualifiers. I don't know what to tell you. I may have included too many starts. It's 5. It's 5.63. Wow. Yeah. This is why I win fantasy feud. The worst outing he had was like 33-32 something like that days ago. I almost went with Paul Schienz. I don't know how close he would have been. He was just outside 5.27. Okay. 5.27 ERA. Once you said Christopher Sanchez was the big one, I was like, okay, it's probably not Schienz. But yeah. He was close. So Schienmer not to stream for Friday. We have Schienz growing up against the Rockies in Milwaukee, Grant Holmes at the Orioles, Rokie Sasaki at the Metz. I just in May against the Reds. Does heavy Matthews against the Athletics, Arrogate at the White Socks, Patrick Sandevolg against the Blue Jays? I like Schienz growing versus the Rockies quite a bit. Yep. Probably the best one of the weekend. Yeah, I don't think I really like anyone else on Friday, but if I had to, Dustin May would be my second choice. Yeah, he's been pretty badly lately, but yeah, Rokie Sasaki probably be my third choice, but very risk reward there. Agreed. On Saturday, we have Ryan Johnson at the Giants, Bryce Elder at the Orioles, Brandon Young against the Braves. Robert Gasser gets the Rockies in Milwaukee, Entry Palante against the Reds. I just don't know if Gasser's pitched more than five innings yet, has he? Gast. Andre Palante is my first choice. I guess, yeah. I like Gasser. I mean, it could just, it could be five shut out against the Rockies. Brandon Young hoping for Braves' offense has been better since the break, but I still think I'd be willing to run Brandon Young out there against them. He's been pitching so well. Yeah, I would go Gasser Palante and Brandon Young on Saturday. And then on Sunday, we have Ronaldo Lopez at the Orioles, Luinda Vila at the Tigers, Walker Bueller at the Marlins, Janssen Junco against the Padres, Frenel Blanco at the White Sox, Kyle Leahy against the Reds, Andrew Abbott at the Cardinals. Like both sides of the Cardinals are Reds, Leahy and Abbott. I could see John having a good start, but I wouldn't want to trust him. I could see Blanco having a good start, but I wouldn't want to trust him yet. I like Luinda. Luinda, I view love better than both of them. I agree with Abbott and Leahy. Vila could be all right. And I think if you're chasing strikeouts in particular, Ronaldo Blanco could rack up some strikeouts, but might have bad ratios in that one. We are going to round there for Scott Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week. Bye bye. [MUSIC] >> Paramount podcasts.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Gavin Williams had a dominant start with 11 strikeouts, no runs, and two hits, but the panel debates his consistency, comparing him to Robbie Ray due to high strikeout but inconsistent performance.
The discussion emphasizes that Gavin Williams should be kept in lineups despite ups and downs, as his walk rate has improved but hard contact remains an issue.
Brandon Fought had a decent start but lacks strikeouts, and the panel advises against adding him in fantasy leagues due to unsustainable walk rates and limited upside.
Ty France is highlighted as a hot pick with strong recent performance (10 homers in 26 games), but his value is limited to deep leagues due to first base depth.
News notes include Ronald Acuña Jr.'s expected activation, Zach Wheeler’s potential reconsideration of retirement, and the Cubs promoting James Triantos.
Summary:
The fantasy baseball podcast on July 24th focuses on player analysis, starting with Gavin Williams’ impressive 11-strikeout start against the Twins. While his dominance is notable, the panel compares him to Robbie Ray, warning that his high strikeout rate comes with inconsistency due to hard contact and home runs. They advise keeping him in lineups regardless of streaks, as his improved walk rate offers some stability but not elite results.
Brandon Fought’s start is dismissed as unremarkable due to low strikeouts and an unsustainable walk rate, making him a non-factor in fantasy. Ty France is highlighted as a strong corner infield option in deep leagues, with a hot streak of 10 homers in 26 games, though first base depth limits his appeal. ’s imminent return, Zach Wheeler’s possible retirement reconsideration, and the Cubs promoting prospect James Triantos, who offers versatility but unclear playing time.
Overall, the episode emphasizes riding hot streaks while avoiding overreaction to small-sample performances.
FAQs
Gavin Williams was the player of the night, throwing 11 strikeouts with no runs, two hits, and no walks against the Twins.
Gavin Williams is good but inconsistent, with trade-offs like high strikeouts and occasional blow-up starts. He's best left in your lineup, as his ERA likely settles around 3.60-3.70 with a good walk rate but hard contact issues.
Brandon Fought has had a good run with a 2.33 ERA and low walks, but his low strikeout rate and history of underperforming estimators suggest he's not worth adding in most leagues.
Ty France is a strong corner infield option, hitting .323 with 10 homers in his last 26 games and 17% rostered. He's worth adding for first base help in deeper leagues, given his hot streak and solid underlying data.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is expected to be activated this weekend, though the exact day hasn't been announced. He could provide immediate value for fantasy lineups.
Zach Wheeler previously planned to retire after his contract ends in 2027, but he recently said 'never say never,' leaving the door open for a longer career.
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