Players Trending Up Heading Into The Second Half! (7/13 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

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For more information, visit Kelly Bluebook's KBB.com, Toyota brand average resale value is 53%, versus the average vehicle at 45%. Toyota, let's go places. - Now, Nina, what's now? Why do you want to get a car? - You're crazy. - You're so stupid, you're so stupid. - What are you doing? - What's now? - Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. - Oh, fuck, and what is it? - It's watching T-Class Film. This is WTF! - What the world? - Got a fantasy question, email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. - What fantasy? Because reality. - Now, here's Frank Scott and Chris. - Petzles down, the first half is over. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Monday, July 13th. I am Frank Stamford. Join by Chris Towers, today on the show. Pretty much our usual weekend recap there. Are a bunch of players trending up heading into the second half. We will check in on Paul Schien's velocity. Kind of feels like we'll just do that every start now until the end of time. The latest waiver, wire names, and much more. But let's get things started with the players of the weekend brought to you by StitchFix. If you're like me and clothes shopping, isn't your thing? StitchFix has you covered. Get $20 off your first order at stitchfix.com/baseball. - Oh my goodness! Unbelievable! - All right, the players of the weekend. And we have lots of pictures that are trending up, Chris, but we needed to see a start like this at Hunter Green. We got it. It is his first good start of the season from Hunter Green. It was his second start of the season, but still. His first good one. And it was pretty much the classic Hunter Green start. He struck out 12 over seven shutout and he's against the Cubs in the Great American Small Park. Only one walk, three hits. He generated 14 whiff, seven with the four seamer, six with the slider, the velocity, right where we want it to be. It was basically just the two pitches doing all the work, but that's usually what it looks like. For Hunter Green. And I didn't really have much concern after his very admittedly poor first start where he gave up eight runs and three and a third innings. I didn't really have much concern about that, but still it was nice to see him bounce back and look like himself because he was coming back from elbow surgery. You never quite know how everyone's going to come back from even a relatively minor surgery, but the fact that of the two starts, I think one of them was about as good as you can expect. I think that makes me think Hunter Green's just going to be himself moving forward. Yeah, I think so too. Obviously the first one was terrible. Eight earned runs over three and a third innings, four walks, lots of hard contact. This was the complete opposite here for Hunter Green. Classic Hunter Green start. Lots of fastballs, lots of sliders. Both of those pitches were awesome for him in this one. He threw 73% of his pitches for strikes. And again, the overall line, seven shut out, 12 strikeouts here against the Chicago Cubs. I just checked to see where we haven't ranked, heading into the second half. We both have him at SP 24, but if, you know, for me, that's kind of guarding against, you know, anything popping back up with that elbow. But if we get a few more starts where he looks like Hunter Green, he's probably inside the top 15 starting pitchers rest of season. Yeah, I let me see where I have him, because I can't imagine I had him too far from that. We have him in the same spot, 24. Okay. Yeah, I don't think it will take very much to move him up. So, and in, yeah, in Roto, I have him 14. So I think the strikeout edge will always keep him a little higher in Roto than points, but I'm more or less back in on Hunter Green entirely. All right, let's talk about another pitcher who is definitely trending up as well. I mean, he's one of the recent waiver wire pitchers that we've talked a ton about, but he just keeps putting up these massive starts. And that is Sean Burke up against the athletics. Seven innings of one run ball, nine strikeouts, a zero walks this weekend. 16 whiffs on 90 pitches, 10 of those on the fastball, three on the curve, two on the slider, his velocity remained up, his fastball's up 1.2 miles per hour in this start. Average 96 miles per hour on that pitch. Obviously it was great. His breaking pitches on the season, great out very well both the curve and the slider. Obviously that fastball has been very good as well. And over his last five starts, five games for those starts. One of them was a book relief appearance against Yankees, which he won seven to three tennings. Yeah, that was actually the start of this run here for Sean Burke. 169 ERA, a 0.97 whip, 11.8 K per nine, to just 1.4 walks per nine, 15% swinging strike rate. And those are ace level numbers. I mean, obviously we're not expecting Sean Burke to remain in the ace, but he is someone that is climbing up the rankings pretty rapidly. Yeah, and I believe these last four starts are the only starts in Sean Burke's career. Four of the last five, excuse me, are the only starts in Sean Burke's career where he has averaged at least 96 miles per hour with his four seamer. Sorry, that's not 100% true. He had one start at the end of last season, his final start where he averaged 97. Other than that, this is the only time in Sean Burke's career where his average 96 miles per hour with his four seamer. And that pitch has been a huge weapon for him. It's been, I mean, on the season, it's a 26% wiff rate. It's been even higher over the past five starts. I want to see that eight swinging strikes on the four seamer in this start. He's just, he's added like a mile and a half per hour on his fastball. He's sustained it and it's gone from a pretty good pitch to a really, really great one. And it's just made the whole arsenal look a lot better. So I think what we're seeing here is real, which is a different thing than is sustainable because velocity, you can't fake it, right? You're throwing 96, you're throwing 96, that's real. Can you keep doing it? That's always the question. And it's not something you can necessarily count on. But in Sean Burke's case, I am more or less completely bought in at this point to what he's doing. This five starts stretch. The strikeouts have been, we said, at least six in every start, eight or more in four of the five. And the eight or more have all come into the start to where the average fastball velocity's been 96 or above. So there's, you know, small sample size, but very strong correlation here. So if he can sustain this, it's not a guarantee, but it's very exciting what we're seeing from Sean Burke. We love, we love an elite fastball. That's such a good way to build a foundation because guys can, you can generate spin or, or, you know, a new changeup grip and all that stuff. But, you know, velocity is harder to add, especially in season and he's done it. So I'm very excited about what we see. Yeah, and overall in the season, big key has been getting the walks down. Last year he was up over four walks per nine. This year it's down to 2.8 walks per nine and obviously even much better. During this recent stretch as well, his K minus walk rate is all the way up to 19%. And even the ERA estimator is like 360, 65, 361 XERA, like it's, it's all pretty much buying in. So, and that's going to hold season, not just. Yeah, his start where his talent level has increased. So yeah, I had remained stubborn in having Ian Seymour rank ahead of him. Obviously Seymour stumbled here on Sunday, but I can't argue it anymore. Sean Burke has moved past Ian Seymour. And I think he's bordering on a top 50 starting picture now. We have been burned at least once this year by different white socks picture being inside our top 50 in Davis Martin, but. Let's see, that one, there was less of a compelling reason. Like there was less of a tangible skill change. It was just kind of the same, Davis Martin pitching better. He added a couple of things. It wasn't entirely the same, but that was the only real change. And it's not, I don't think the cutter was a very good pitch for him. So I think we are seeing more tangible changes in Sean Burke's game to grab onto. That's not to say it will be sustainable. I would guess he's not suddenly an ace, but we're seeing it right now. And I think it is worth buying into not that, I mean, I think he's pretty close to 100% roster at this point, right? Sean Burke, I believe he's up over 80% but not 100 yet. Yeah, it would be over 1884% there for Sean Burke on CBS. Let's check in on Yahoo because usually that lags a little bit. 67%. So I understand a lot of people on Yahoo, it's, you know, a lot of daily lineup leagues. I did categories. There's a lot of turn and burn. I think Sean Burke is someone that just needs to remain on your roster. I think in a league like that, you kind of, you keep churning and burning until you find guys that like do enough interesting where they can stick around. And I think Sean Burke has proven that. So you made all the points that I was going to say exactly comparing and contrasting him and Davis Martin. The underlying numbers just support a lot more of what Sean Burke is doing right now. Then what Davis Martin was doing earlier on in the season. So also 26 year old versus 29 year old. There's a little bit different there too. Yeah, I mean, there was this more of a track record of Davis Martin just being not good in the major so far. So yes, Sean Burke, one of those names trending up as well. Another one, not a pitcher, but now feel there. I mean, will it ever stop? Will he stop hitting home runs? I don't want him to. Got him in a few spots. But the magician, Esmeralyn Valdez, just a monster weekend. He kept to go in huge double header on Saturday. Four for eight with three home runs in that game. Eight RBI. Did he? I don't think he Homer again on Sunday. Did he? I could be wrong. He did not. He had a double score to a couple runs. Yes. But man, that double header that he had on on Saturday was just insane. I think one of them was either a three run or a go ahead grand slam in the seventh of that game too. So just monster stuff that he's doing right now. And I think all three homers were go ahead. Homo's somehow. I think that that was what I saw. Yeah. So 28 games out the pirates. He's sitting at 309 with 10 homers and a 10 84 OPS. The strikeout still remained very high. I mean, it's a 36% strikeout rate. We were talking beforehand. I, I wanted to look this up. And even in July where he's doing all this crazy damage, his K rate is still well over 30%. His own contact is really bad. The swinging strike rate. But then when he makes contact, Chris, he is just mauling the ball a 31% barrel rate. I mean, that's stuff that you see from like Aaron judge. So similar talking points. I don't think this is sustainable for Ezmerlin Valdez. But he's just someone that has to be like 100% roster at this point. Just in case he is like the big power massive breakout this season and into the second half as well. Yeah. So I remember Austin Riley's rookie season. This is pre-Frank. This might have been pre-Frank. Scott got a lot of grief for, there was a similar run for Austin Riley and Scott got a lot of grief for saying it wasn't real. And I don't want people to yell at me because I, I hope, I mean, it's a 400 Babip and a 400 ISO. It's not real. But I think it goes without saying that Ezmerlin Valdez is not a 309 hitter with a 10 84 OPS moving forward. Aaron judge is like the only hitter in baseball that I would say, okay, that's the floor. It's just a question of is he a 209 hitter? Well, with a 36% strikeout rate, he very well maybe. But, you know, can he be a 249 hitter? If he's a 249 hitter, then I think he's a legitimate fantasy contributor because he's a patient hitter. He draws walks 17% walk rate at AAA this year, 11% the previous year. The power is real. It was a 271 ISO this year, 234 at last season hits the ball hard. Like there are legitimate skills here. It's just if he hits 260, he's a star. If he hits 240, he's a pretty good player. If he hits 210, he's probably not a viable major league. And I think that's a realistic range of outcomes for him. And I think the 210 is probably more realistic than the 260. So it's tough because it's not real, but how unreal is it? That's what I'm not prepared to say yet. But I would guess he's more of a 240 hitter than a 300 hitter certainly. Yeah, me going down in Austin Riley, rabbit hole now. I'm looking at Austin Riley's rookie season, where in his first 34 games, which is a pretty close sample to where we're at with this Berlin belt is he hit 291 with 12 homers 34. I a 964 OPS and a 31% strikeout rate. And from that point forward, he let's see, he got sent down back down. He got sent back down in August. His final 46 games Austin Riley hit 164 with six homers and a 41% strikeout rate of 546 OPS. Now that doesn't necessarily mean the same exact thing is going to happen to us Merlin Valdez, but it's similar context in terms of, you know, a good prospect that came up, hit the ground running lots of power, but the strikeouts underneath were really scary. And even some of the other besides just the strikeouts themselves, the zone contact, the swinging strike rate, all that stuff is very high for his Merlin Valdez. So look, he's been one of the hottest hitters over the past couple of weeks since rejoining the pirates. You have to have him on your team just to see where it goes, continue to use him, obviously no doubt. But the XBA is 243. So that tells you what you need to know. He's overperforming that by 65 points right now. So unless he gets those strikeouts down, there will be some batting average regression at some point, but he is absolutely destroying the baseball impacting in a big way. And that pirates lineup, man, like they've actually been really exciting to watch. And they finally have run support after years of not having that. So yeah, yeah, very, very fun things to watch right now with the pirates in their lineup. And obviously, as Merlin Valdez as well. Big thanks to StitchFix for sponsoring this weekend's players of the night, StitchFix takes the hassle out of clothes shopping. Just take a quick style quiz, share your size, your vibe, and your budget. And you'll be matched with a real human stylist who will send you a fix box with clothes that fit and make sense for your life. Get started today at stitchfix.com/baseball for $20 off your first order that StitchFix.com/baseball. And before we hit our first break, just want to remind everyone, programming still being kind of sorted out for the rest of the week. But I do know what we have coming on Monday night. That will be an MLB draft recap with our buddy, the Welsh. Chris Welsh does great work over at Fantasy Pros and obviously we've had him on many times before. We will do that right after the home run derby. So let's say 11pm Eastern times, somewhere around there. The white sock selected UCLA shortstop, Rock Chalowski, first overall on the draft. So we'll talk about some of the big names. His way too early. First year player draft rankings for those who playing Dynancy Leagues. But I think people are too excited about this guy. They need to chill out ski. I'm sorry. Yeah, I did notice I was watching Rob Manford like Butchered his name too. It's like, dude, you have one job, man. Just know how to say his name when you get to the podium. But yeah, we'll talk about all the like big name players you need to know from the MLB draft. We don't talk too much about, you know, look to be honest, I don't watch college baseball. So that's why I'm leaning on the Welsh year to find out what he knows about these players. But some of them can move very quickly and can be in the majors as soon as next season. So I do think it'll be a pretty fun exercise. Let's take that break and we'll be back right after this. Max. Welcome back, fantasy baseball. Today let's hit the news and notes from the weekend. And we did learn that some of the stud pictures selected to the All Star Game will not be pitching instead of all Star Game. And this one's a little scary. Jacob Mizierowski was scratched Sunday due to right arm fatigue. He will not start the first series out of the All Star break as well. He is expected to throw on Tuesday. He won't pitch in the All Star Game. Here's what the Miz had to say, quote, nothing crazy. Just didn't bounce back a little quick on the days off between, but nothing crazy. We heard something similar from Kyle Harrison last week. Now it's not the same exact injury. Every picture is built differently. But look, the Miz throws 105 miles per hour. So obviously, this is always in the back of your mind is something very scary that could pop up with Jacob Mizierowski. A wait and see for now, Chris, but it's at least a little scary. It's definitely a little scary. How how scary it is to be determined. But yeah, you're talking about, okay, let's say he's fine, but he throws two miles an hour less hard. Well, he could probably still be really good. But he's taken such a big step forward with his control this season. How much of that can he sustain? There are unknowns and any time things go so wrong so quickly for pitchers that any time you're introducing an uncertain variable, I think you have to be a little concerned because because the difference even for super talented pitchers between dominating and being pretty bad can often be very, very slim. And so we have no, there's no sense that this is a serious injury. We have no reason to believe that this is going to derail his season, but it could. So I don't think there's anything actionable here. I definitely don't think you should trade, Jacob, as you're asking right now. But it's, I think it would be silly not to be at least a little bit concerned. - Cam Schletler will not pitch in the All Star game as well, both he and the Yankees assured that he's healthy. He just wants extra rest during the All Star break. So let's hope that's all it is for Cam Schletler. Who is? Look, he had that awesome start against the race where he bounced back, but he's looked a little bit more human lately. We'll get to Cam Schletler a little bit later on. The Miz isn't the only brewers pitcher dealing with something I mentioned in the game, Kyle Harrison was placed on the Isle Saturday with left forearm tightness. And he originally said that he was dealing with pain in the back of his elbow. And obviously this is scarier, right? Like having a having forearm tightness and the fact that he's been pitching through it. That was always the weirdest part to me that like, he's dealing with an arm thing, but the brewers had him continue to pitch through it. Like if we were a couple of weeks out from the All Star break, why didn't they just shut him down a couple of weeks ago? So especially for a team that has pitching death, like it's not like the brewers are the marlins where they had too healthy starting pitchers. Like this seems, you know, Pennywise pound fullish, right? Like you're letting a guy pitch in the short term and there could be long term ramifications. We don't know, like it's possible they had him testing done, then there's nothing showed up and it was fine, but it's certainly not what you wanna see. I do have a question. Does forearm, is it just the front of your arm or like could this part like under your arm, but still in the forearm cal- Like I don't know what the forearm, like what I think forearm, I think the top of the front, like the top thing, 'cause I always think of like this big meaty kind of flesh of your arm. I always think of that as your forearm, but I think it's probably just the whole thing leading up to the wrench. There's a name for those two bones, but I don't know. What connects your elbow to your wrist? Is just humorous your forearm? What is that why they call it the funny bone? No, I don't think so. But yeah, forearm covers a large majority of your arm and currently Kyle Harrison is dealing with tightness. So, humorous is the upper bow. That's, it's not great there for Kyle Harrison. Ever sinned Hancock left early on Sunday after being struck in the hand by a comebacker and of course everyone's, you know, light bulbs are going off thinking about Kate Anderson getting called up to the Mariners, which look could still always be a possibility. But as of now, X-rays are negative here for any injury regarding the hand of Emerson Hancock. So hopefully it's not bad because look to Emerson Hancock's credit, like he has had a breakout season and it's obviously been great for him. From a fantasy perspective, obviously we want to see Kate Anderson get the call and what he could do. And there are still other avenues to that happening because we also heard rumors that the Mariners are shopping some of their pitching depth, most notably Luis Castillo. So there are countless teams that could use more starting pitching. I don't think it would be very hard for them to find a taker. I think Castillo is either in a contract year or maybe has one more year left on that contract. So, yeah. Probably wouldn't be too hard to move it. Like the Cubs instantly come to mind. They've had so much, so many injuries this season. Like why wouldn't they go out and trade for someone like Luis Castillo? And if they do that, then we're getting a real look at, you know, Kate Anderson joining this rotation. But I think it's sooner rather than later, one way or another, Kate Anderson, I think, by the time we get to August, at some point he will be in this Mariners rotation. I, does he need two people to get out of the way? Like I assume they don't want to go with a six-man rotation. And that's why they're shopping Castillo. That was my read of it, but I'm not sure. Yeah, I mean, they've been kind of going with this six-man rotation. Yeah. They announced earlier in the week that they're going to do a piggyback thing and then Logan Gilbert is so good that they can't do a piggyback with him. So I think ideally they would not want to go with a six-man, but I said this for months now. Like the Mariners need to know if Kate Anderson is one of their three or four best pitchers before the postseason. They absolutely need to find that out. Like they can go on a serious run in the playoffs just given the pitching that they have on the team. And Kate Anderson could be like the second or third best pitcher on this team right now. We just don't know because we haven't seen it. So they have to find that out. Whether it's a six-man rotation or Emerson Hancock is a longer lever in the bolt, but I think it's going to happen very soon. I don't know that, but that's a hunch. Call it a hunch there with Kate Anderson. We did have a rough go of A's injuries. Nick Kurtz was placed in the Isle Saturday with a right thumb capsule sprain. And I didn't see much in terms of a timeline, Chris. I was trying to read some articles on LOV.com. Do you have anything here on a right thumb capsule sprain? I have not seen anything specific on this one, but I don't know. It's always concerning when you have the thumb injuries just because even when you're able to play through it, does it affect your strength, does it affect your ability to hit? It's always questionable. Yeah. Nick Kurtz obviously has been one of Vifft out the best first baseman in fantasy this season. So there is no replacing him. But as we've talked a lot about, first base is pretty loaded. So if you're looking for a replacement, there's Bryce Eldridge, there's Kurtz Mead, Royce Lewis, and even to a lesser extent, Jake Berger and Josh Bell, who have done some things this year, but specifically those top three. Eldridge has been good. The underlying stuff is awesome. Kurtz Mead, two more homers this weekend, Royce Lewis had another home run. So there is no shortage of first base for placements right now. And Zach Gelloff also went on the Isle on Friday with a right knee laceration. That doesn't sound too serious. I would expect him back pretty early into the second half. Jacob DeGrom was scratched from his start Sunday due to a mild left glute strain and manager, Skipschumacher said that DeGrom will be available to pitch right after the All Star break. We heard in DeGrom's most recent start that he was dealing with a hip slash leg thing. So this was that. They opted to give him some rest going into the All Star break. We have some Dodgers pitcher updates. Show how Tony was scratched from his pitching start Friday due to continued irritation in his left knee. He still started each game this weekend as a hitter. He homeworked on both Friday and Sunday. Otoni did say he believes he'll be able to resume pitching right after the All Star break. Edwin Diaz made his first rehab appearance at Singalay on Saturday. He struck out two in a scoreless inning. He threw 11 pitches and his fastball set 96 to 98 miles per hour. Mostly roster at this point. He's 86% rostered on CBS. But I think Edwin Diaz early on in the second half, I'm assuming those setbacks I would expect him back pretty early in the second half. And then Blake Snell will start his rehab assignment on Saturday of next week. So it's going to be a pretty lengthy buildup. Probably early August, I would think for Blake Snell. Yeah, I would think. Yeah, maybe something like the first or second week, like the latter half of the first week of August or the first half of the second week, if he gets, I mean, Scoobal only got like one rehab start, but he was a lot more built up already. And they just made me need him so much more. Yeah, Blake Snell had only made, he only made one start before this injury, right? And it was only like a foring start if I'm remembering correctly. So I would get now is going to be looking at three rehab starts before he comes back. That's just a guess, but yeah. Q up the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas meme. Here we go again. Nick Ladolo was placed in the aisle Sunday after developing a blister on his left index finger during Saturday's start. His season was delayed until May 8 due to that same issue. And I'm just not sure he's ever been right this year, Chris. Like the location plus the walks, he's hasn't been getting whiffs. I think this blister has just been an ongoing issue all year for Nick Ladolo. I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. And I think in leagues where there's limited aisle spots or if you play in the NFBC, I think you probably let go of Nick Ladolo. Like even if he's back in a couple of weeks or a month, I just don't really have confidence that he's going to look like the Nick Ladolo of last year. So yeah, just not much confidence there with him. The pirates transferred Conor Griffin to the 60 day aisle. He's expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks with a torn tendon in his left ring finger. He's not eligible to return until September 4th at the earliest. Speaking of young phenom short stops, the Cardinals and JJ Weatherholds are in agreement on a long term extension. Shortstop. Notice I included the position that he plays. I mean, Jeff Passon and like, I don't know if you saw this Chris. Him telling the guy to stop gooning over to. I did see that. Oh, that was maybe the guy's an arsenal fan. Yeah. I mean, I think that's exactly what it is, but it doesn't make it less funny regardless. Yes, JJ Weatherholds. So according to John Heyman, the deal is for 8 years, 112 and a half million and could max out at 132 million here for JJ Weatherholds up. Well, deserved. This has been a common theme this year. Lots of teams trying to lock up their prospects long term ahead of the, you know, CBA negotiations, because we don't really know what's going to happen in terms of like service time and prospects in the future. So a lot of teams have been locking up their prospects now, which I think overall is a good thing. Hey, remember Corbin Burns? He was cleared to begin a throwing program on Friday. He's recovering from Tommy John surgery and a terrorist major strain in his shoulder. He's 32% rostered. Christie, I'm an interest here in stashing Corbin Burns. Yeah. So I wrote for Sunday's newsletter, kind of a second half stash column instead of like the waiver wire. And he was one of the pitchers. I think there were like eight pitchers on there. But yeah, if you have the roster space, the IEL spot for him, Car Burn's obviously as a guy who has been an ace, I would guess we still don't see him until like September. Maybe late August. And so, you know, how stretched out is he going to be? How, you know, he is further removed from the Tommy John surgery at this point. I think he's going to be like 15, 16 months at this point. Oh, more because he was like June of last year. So he should be pretty far past it. But it's also a shoulder injury. So it's just there's a lot. It's, I would say the chances of Corbin Burns making a big impact are pretty slim, but non zero and the impact could be big. Dave Roberts said Friday that Will Smith's neck injury could linger into August. He's been out since June 11th with that injury. Ryan Hellsley was diagnosed with inflammation around the UCL in his right elbow. The oils are optimistic. He'll be back before the end of the season. Brandon Woodruff was transferred to the 60 day IEL with that shoulder injury. I think he's a pretty easy drop. Chris, if you need the spot. That's Ryan Hellsley. Brandon Woodruff. Brandon Woodruff, yes, yes. Boba Schett missed all three games this weekend as he battles general leg and right ankle soreness. Vinnie P Vinnie Paskoantino was activated on Friday and he was in the lineup Saturday and Sunday. Last I checked he didn't do very much, but 77% rostered there for Vinnie P. Mostly just like a corner infielder at this point and lots of other intriguing options that have surpassed him at this point. Blaze Alexander was diagnosed with a non displaced fracture in his left hand after being hit by a pitch on Sunday. The pirates and the white socks made a trade on Friday. The pirates received Jacob Gonzalez and reliever Brandon Isert in exchange for minor league reliever Jaden Woods and the 34th pick in Saturday's draft. The white socks used that pick to draft Landon to Tomay who is the son of former Hallfamer Jim Tomay. And I think he's like Hallfamer. Yeah, what I say, not former Hallfamer. Yeah, he's a still favor. That's yeah, that's former former white socks legend. Well, yes, Jim Tomay, I think he might have spent like one year with the white socks. I think he's also like a yes, some kind of role in their front office. I was reading about it. I think it's like a way of one of those like special coordinators or something like a four year. He had 134 home runs with the white socks. That is. I would have taken the under on that total. I do not have much recollection of that. I remember him on the fillies much more than the white socks. Obviously, I remember him with the guardians. Yeah. Jacob Gonzalez, by the way, didn't start any of the games with the pirates this weekend, but he could fill in at shortstop with Connor Griffin on the aisle. I cert is a left handed reliever. The service level number is look bad, but underlying stuff looks much better. Chris, you see either of these two factoring in Jacob Gonzalez with the pirates or maybe even Brandon I cert working into like the saves mix. I mean, they need someone to step up in the late innings there. I still think they're going to trade for a closer, but maybe, you know, Mason Montgomery, I got to save, I think on Saturday, but I don't think it was a clean one. Well, if him and Soto picked up saves in a double header, so that's why Montgomery was using the second game because Soto got to save in the first. Okay. Okay. I was at the pool, but I was watching on my phone because I know how to celebrate a pool birthday party by watching Pirates games on my phone. He could factor in, but I think that's just an ambiguous bullpen for now until frankly, until someone pitches well enough to take the job. I really think anyone there could do it because I don't think any of them are necessarily terrible, but I don't think there's like one stand out talent in that bullpen either. And they're all lefties, which is we do, right? It's Soto, Montgomery and Brandon I cert. They're all left handed pitchers like Dennis Santana is there, but he's had a bad season. I have been linked to Luke Weaver, which I think would make a ton of sense. He has closing experience and he's been really good this year with the Met. So I think Luke Weaver will be traded somewhere whether or not he winds up on a team where he is going to be the closer that remains to be seen. But I think he's a pretty interesting like ahead of the trade deadline save stash there in Luke Weaver. The nationals called up prospect Abamellic Ortiz on Sunday. I had all these notes were in up and then they sent him back down on Sunday. So yeah, he was up for one game. Good job. I called up and I was like, Oh, that's interesting. Where's he going to play? And then Syracuse. No, Indy Napa. Where is their triple? I can't remember. It used to be Syracuse, but I think that's the Met. Is it like Rochester or something? Right. Sounds like the Rochester Red Wings. That sounds right. The National's Triple A team. The Rochester Red Wings. Look at us, Chris. There you go. Abamellic Ortiz, by the way, if he does get called up again, he's hit for a good amount of power. The stack cast stuff looks pretty good, but he got sent back down. So I don't think it matters for now. He were in so many ways. He reminds me, oh, who's your guy? Your guy on the ring. Oh, really? You're a really calm. Willie Calhoun. Yeah, yeah. Willie Calhoun. Right. He reminds me of Willie Calhoun in a lot of ways. He's a stout guy. Makes a lot of contact. It's the ball hard, but production's not quite there. This is probably the weirdest pull that I have right here. This is a Willie Calhoun Cal Drogo Game of Thrones. Oh, okay. Cal Drogo, okay. Yeah, that was like Cone of the Barbarian. Calhoun Drogo is what it says on the front. Here you go. Yeah, I have these weird players that I kind of latch onto and Willie Calhoun was one of them where I just, I always thought he was going to be good. I still have guys like that. Like Lars Newpars, one of those names where I just, I always believe he's going to be good. Josh Low is another one. It's just like, man, still, I'm still waiting on Jeremy Hermita to break out. So. Others who went on the aisle this weekend, Zach Galen with right elbow inflammation, Mike Yostreski with left elbow inflammation. And the home run Derby is set for Monday night. We have the two home field heroes here, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Also with Junior Caminero, Murataka Moracami, Jack Caglione, Walsikitreurs, Ben Rice and Jordan Walker. So no shortage of exit velocity. It's going to be insane. Do you have a pick here, Chris? So you go with I, it's hard to argue against Schwarber. If I was going to, I think I would go Caglione or Muratakaami. Um, those just the fun things. We know Muratakaami can't hit velocity, but he's going to get fast batting practice balls. And then Cagli's just, he's a freak athlete. He's young. You know, maybe he won't get tired. Uh, and then could true, you know, I want guys who pulled a ball as well. That's my one concern with like Caminero. He does pull the ball well, but he hits a lot of like opposite field homers too. He's hard to do. I think he made it to the finals last year, right? David Derby? That could be right. Yeah. Yeah. I might be making that up, but I feel like he went pretty far into it. Um, yeah, as of now Kyle Schwarber is the betting favorite to win the home run Derby. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Ben Rice plus eight 50 is the second longest odds. I don't know. Let's throw this spring grass for the longest time. Yeah, plus 1300. Yeah. I like that. That's not a bad one. Toss like, you know, a couple, couple bucks on it. I like that one. All right. Before we hit our final break, let's quickly talk about Paul Schienz as late as start. Again, we are following this velocity thing and his performance very closely, obviously, because he was one of the top three pitchers drafted in fantasy this year and went through a recent rough patch that kind of coincided with his velocity and spin rate dropping off. But he had an okay start this week against the brewers, five and a third innings, three hits, two runs, seven strikeouts to one walks, still not overly dominant. He had nine whiffs on 82 pitches, but more notably, Chris, the velocity was down again. His fastball averaged 96.1 miles per hour, which is down nearly a full mile per hour from where it's out on the season. The spin rate also down 107 RPM compared to his season's average. So I'm not worried, but I'm not not worried. It's something we just have to continue to monitor. It's a little concerning. Yeah. I'm not too concerned, but I can't say there's no reason to be concerned. I think he's fine. I don't know. What does concern mean? Is he going to fall apart and not be useful? Is he not going to be one of the three best pitchers in fantasy? Okay, maybe. I could see a world where he's the 15th best pitcher in fantasy or something, but I'm not worried about that. I'll say it out loud. I don't want it to happen, but it's velocity and spin rate trending down as the season goes on. Is he going to be hurt? I suppose, but I don't know. Guys get hurt. We don't have any tangible proof that he is hurt. We have his velocity declining, which sometimes just happens. I don't want to say, you should be trading Paul Schien. In that regard, I'm just not going to do anything with it. Well, that was my next question. I guess you kind of answered it. But if you can get a, I don't know that you'll get the full like draft day return, like late first round value for him just because like, you know, I don't think it's worth his overall note. Like he has a 357 ERA, which is good, but it's not, you know, he was sub two ERA his first two years. So he clearly has not been as effective and he's had this run over the past six weeks or so where he's looked more human. But if you can get like 90% return a top, I don't know, top 12 starting picture and maybe another piece like, would you entertain it? Maybe the problem is the peripherals are identical to where they've been the past three years. And we went over this like his fastball effectiveness is still there. Yeah, like there's just not any taint like the argument would be that it has co that a drop in velocity has coincided with a drop in effectiveness. However, one the drop in effectiveness was the leader like that. It's not like his fastball started dropping and then he started pitching worse. He started pitching worse and then his fastball velocity started dropping. You know, so it's like, I don't know if there's causality there. And overall, he still looks exactly as good as he did overall at the stuff we care about, right? Not ERA, but we know ERA has very little predictive value. It has less predictive value than the peripherals. And the peripherals are all exactly as good as they've been in the past. So I just, I can't say there's no reason to be concerned. I would basically have to get face value to move him. I think that's fair. Yeah, I don't have Paul schemes anywhere. So I'm not in this predicament. But if I did have him coming off, you know, two bounce back starts, two run runs in each, I would at least, I would make it known to the league. I wouldn't like put them on the trade block, but I would, you know, maybe text a couple of people and see like, all right, what can I get for Paul schemes? And if it's fair value, I might entertain that. Whereas, you know, two months ago, I wouldn't have even thought about trading Paul schemes. But at least now, I think I would entertain it a little bit. Let's take that final break. When we return, we'll get into the waiver options. The waiver standouts from the weekend. Other pitchers who are trending up will do all that right after this. Welcome back, fantasy baseball today. And we will dive into the waiver wire pitchers from the weekend and two recent higher in names that we've talked a lot about. They're still out there and, you know, about a third of CBS leagues. Kate Cavali, a quality start in his return from suspension in C Yankees, six innings, two runs, five strikeouts to one walk. He's six whiffs on 85 pitches and he gave up nine hard hits in this game. I lean towards that awesome start at the red socks, just kind of being an outlier. He's still usable like his numbers are okay. He gets strikeouts like he's kind of in up and down. But the overall numbers still look pretty good. The underlying stuff solid as well for Kate Cavali. And then Gage Jump bounce back at the white socks. Do I have it? Nope. Don't have it loaded up. Gage Jump bounce back at the white socks. Seven two thirds, one run, seven strikeouts to two walks, 14 whiffs on 86 pitches, nine of those on the fastball. He did throw 69% of his pitches for strike. So obviously his last two starts were terrible, but this was a nice bounce back here. Chris, do you think either or both of these guys need to be rostered? Must roster, Kate Cavali, Gage Jump? I think it's easier to get there with Jump even though Cavali has had the more concrete examples of his upside showing. We've seen two double digit strikeouts starts in a row and then a 13 strikeout start if I'm remembering correctly. But he followed up the double digit strikeouts with pretty mediocre performances. And I want to say the double digit strikeout start. Was this, this wasn't his first start after that, right? No, he had a start after the Red Sox start. And it wasn't nearly as good. You left early because of dehydration or something. Yeah, but he is certainly capable of these big starts. He's got that great knuckle curve, but I just, I think he's just okay. He's a high strikeout pitcher occasionally, but not a great pitcher. I think Gage Jump could be. So I think there's a little more upside there. And there are still pitchers that are rostered in more leagues than these two that I would be okay dropping, I think for either one, like we'll Warren bounce back here on Sunday, but he's kind of falling off. And I just overall don't trust it. I think I'd rather just take a shot on, I think Cavali and Jump just have more upside than we'll Warren. I think I'd be all right, making that swap. Yeah, I think that's fine. Even someone like Tanner Bivey, like he's been okay, but just don't say enough there. He's been really effective, but I feel like it's three strikeouts every start. Yeah. Ryan Weathers is another one where he's looked more human lately and does he have a spot in the rotation long term? Uh, like Shane Boz, 76% Andrew Abbott, 74, Noah Carrick, 73. Oh, this is one of those ones that I think is always pretty easy to drop. Noah Cameron has been getting more strikeouts lately. I think seven strikeouts and three of his last four or three of his last five. I think he only had two seven strikeout starts before that, but I think on the whole, he's pretty fringy either way. So I think Boz is always okay to have around also totally okay to drop kind of guy. So I think Cameron's in that boat as well. And Warren probably is there too. Two waiver wire pitchers who look like they are trending up Peter Lambert, another strong outing this one at the Rangers. Six innings of one run ball, seven strikeouts to one walk. And he keeps on using this kitchen sink approach. Seven different pitches in this one between five percent and 25% usage. He's down to a three, 14 year a 112 whip. His last seven starts two, 43 year a 101 whip. He's 68% rostered. He's also a spark for those who play in points leagues. And Jack Flourty has been pitching much better since returning. He was at the Phillies six innings to his two runs, six strikeouts to three walks. He had 16 whiffs on 86 pitches and three starts since coming back. One, the eight year a point seven eight whip, 10 point eight K. Pranayne here for Jack Flourty, 53% rostered. Chris, how do you feel about these two Flourty and Peter Lambert? It feels like they are trending up. They've been doing some solid things. Yeah. Part of the problem with both of these guys is neither of them is likely to make another start for what seven more days, probably another week from now at best. And so I don't know what their next matchup is going to be. And I can't really say Peter Lambert or Jack Flourty is someone you have to roster regardless of what their next matchup is. I think it's probably if they have a good next matchup. Yeah. I think you could hang around, can't keep them hanging around, but I don't think they are must roster by any means. Would you take either Flourty or Lambert over the previous two gauge jump in K. Kavali? No. All right. This three Brighton Young turn in a quality starting against the Royal seven plus innings three runs five strikeouts to one walk. And last nine starts. He has a 296 ERA 128 whip. Underline numbers, not exactly buying it for Brighton Young. Shane Drowin a quality start at the pirates six and a third three runs six strikeouts to zero walks 17 with on 83 pitches. Definitely get some attention there. 51% rostered and he's a spark for those playing points leagues. Again, that is Shane Drowin and Noah Schultz a solid outing against the athletics five innings one run four strikeouts to zero walks. The result was solid Chris, but I didn't see enough in the underlying numbers here for Schultz. Like the velocity was down. He still gave a hard contact. But anything stand out for those three Brighton Young Shane Drowin and Noah Schultz. It's still not there for Noah Schultz. I think he remains interesting worth watching, but I need to see some double digit with efforts from him. The stuff is good, but he hasn't been missing bats with it. He actually did have a high chase rate in this one, but which has been a big problem for him, but guys made contact, which, hey, that helps. If you can generate wee contact on pitches out of the strike zone, that's a skill too, but it's not a skill he's shown much before this start. He's at a very low chase rate. I need to see more. Brighton Young, I know the results have been good, but I don't really think there's anything there. I mean, the slider's awesome and everything else looks pretty bad for him. So I don't think it's likely to sustain again. I think it probably matters. How rosterable Brandon Young is is almost entirely dependent on what his next matchup is. And I don't know that we don't know that until they set their rotation. Drowin is kind of interesting. He's got some traits on his fastball. He's a burst pitcher. So of course he does. He's just a lot of bass in this one. He's shown that kind of upside. That's what we're chasing. Spark. I think and I had to head point sleep. Changerone should be. I like to have like three sparks if I can and just play matchups with them. I think he can be one of those three. He feels to me like if there is another wave of, wave or wire pitchers that we can't stop talking about, I think Shane Drowin could be part of that group. I think so too. Yeah. I think the other guys here are likely to be part of that, but I think Shane Drowin could. Yeah, again, like 16, 17 whips on 83 pitches is just massive. And he has a 12.2% swinging strike rate on the season, a 324, 5336 XERA Kyle Harrison's hurt, who knows what the Miz like I think he has a spot in their rotation. I am if you picked up change on for the two star week, I would just be holding on to him after this past week. Deeper name that stood out on Sunday, Zach Thornton with the Mets. He looked great against the Red Sox. Seven shut out, two hits, two walks, five strikeouts here. He had nine whips on 82 pitches. It's kind of an unconventional way that he goes about it. Big left handed pitcher throws a lot of cutters. His foreseeing velocity is pretty average. Sweeper looks pretty good. Numbers in the minors are like he gets strikeouts, but he also walks too many. But in a deep relief, Chris, there's not much out there. Like, it's a mystery bag. I'm at least a little intrigued by Zach Thornton. There are probably some anal only leagues where he hasn't been added yet. And I think you should add him. I think in 15 team leagues, there are still like we've talked about some guys who might be available in 15 team leagues so far. So I wouldn't run out to grab at him yet. You look at the minorly track record. It was a 4-ERA before his promotion across AA and AAA this season. Some strikeouts, a lot of walks. I think it's more likely than not that Zach Thornton's just an average pitcher and that's probably more valuable in real life than for fantasy. One thing he does have going in his favor is that they've already come out and said that he will start the second half of the season in their rotation. So the mets are pretty far out of things. I think they're kind of in evaluation mode for the rest of the season and I think Zach Thornton will be part of that evaluation. Anything here at these two or did they just get the Rockies on the road? Tyler Malley and Trevor McDonnell, good results but their season-long numbers obviously don't look very good. Anything here with those two? Malley had like a two-something ERA last season, right? Yeah, and he's so awful this year. He's been terrible and I thought it was kind of a good landing spot going to San Francisco but he just hasn't been any good. The splitter hasn't been working for him as well as it has in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if he was useful in the second half, especially at home but again, I need to know what the next matchup is. If it's at home against a bad offense, yeah, I think Tyler Malley could be useful but I don't think he's someone you go on and add because of that. Trevor McDonnell, kind of the same thing except doesn't even have the track record of Tyler Malley. Here's just so interesting about just pictures on a year to year basis. His XERA last year and this year are basically identical. Last year he had a 2/18 ERA this year, it's 5/31. Yeah, that is um, ERA tells you very little about the world. Recent waiver wire names who hit a bump in the road this weekend. My guy Ian Seymour of Rough Outing Sunday against the Mariners, 3 and a third, 6 hits, 6 runs, 5 of those earned, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts. I didn't see anything too alarming in this start. He gave up only 4 hard hits, 62% of his pitches for strikes like that number could have been higher but I didn't see anything that bad that stood out to me for Seymour outside of the line itself. And JT Ginn got destroyed at the White Sox, 4 and a third, 6 hits, 8 runs, 3 walks, 2 homers allowed. His velocity was down again, last start he blamed it on being sick. I don't know, maybe there's a little bit of a carryover effect from like still being sick maybe. Yeah, possibly. So I'm going to watch with that velocity. Are those two guys that you think you have to hold on to even after these bad starts? Seymour and JT Ginn. I think Ginn less so than Seymour. I think you absolutely have to hold Seymour up. I agree but I think certainly you but I'm there with you. I really like Ginn Seymour and so there's a little bit of like who cares, it's one bad start. But I do think when you look into the start, it looks like he didn't pitch well. And we've talked a lot about that where when guys go through stretches where they just execute really well but there aren't like underlying skills changes, that would seem to be less sustainable. And I think the opposite is true. Guys just don't pitch well but there's nothing there to it. There's nothing to be concerned about or think it'll happen moving forward in May. But I don't see anything like any glaring red flags for Ian Seymour again. I think he's a little less talented than Ian Seymour. I think he's pretty good because you get a decent amount of whiffs, you get a lot of ground balls and you just kind of hope that that works well enough. But I don't think JT Ginn is a great player. I did think it was interesting. Sometimes when you're going through like on the game feed on baseball, when you have every game on the schedule, if you do box score on the drop down and then go to a next game, it'll have the box score for the next game. If you do the player breakdown, which gives you the the the stack pass data for the next game, it'll give you that for the next game. And I opened the player breakdown part for the White Sox A's game and I saw 18 whiffs for JT Ginn, five whiffs for no shots. Oh, JT Ginn was good. No, a shultz was bad. Nope. Exact opposite. JT Ginn was terrible. Yeah. And no shultz was good. So, whiffs aren't everything. Yep. WaiverWire hitters from the weekend. Want to highlight Brian Roqueo, who is turning things back on after a rough June. He hit his eighth home run on Sunday in 11 July games. He's hitting 317 with three homers, 10 RBI, a steal, 910 OPS. June was not kind. He hit only 222 with a 595 OPS. Brian Roqueo's 70% roster. He has second base in shortstop. I think that number is probably right Chris. Yeah. I think he's usable as a middle infielder, but I don't think he's worth rostering in like a head to head shallow type format. I think it's more likely 70% is too high than too low. All right. We haven't talked about this name in a while. That is Braden Montgomery, who had a big game on Sunday, two for four with his third home run for RBI, mostly an everyday player and digging in the plate discipline is solid, but the quality of contact just has not been good. His ground ball rate is 61%. I'm not writing him off. Obviously he's a very young player. He comes with a lot of prospect pedigree. He very well could have a huge second half. He could continue to like, you know, kind of just be mediocre and then have an awesome season next year. 50% roster. I think that number is probably a little bit high based on what we've seen so far. Yeah. It feels a little high. If you're, you know, the nice thing about the All Star Break is it gives you an opportunity to not worry so much about what your immediate needs are and you can, you know, drop a Braden Montgomery and add, you know, maybe add Joshua Piaz or Luis Laura's only, he was only 38% today. I assume that that'll go up once waivers run. So, you know, I do think you can take advantage of that if you're not because you have, you know, presumably just the partial week coming up to worry about. Corner infielders Royce Lewis, two for four with his 10th home run on Saturday, 32 games since returning. He's hitting 266 with seven homeers, three steals and OPS over 800. He's 56% rostered. Curtis Mead hit two more homeers this weekend. He home run on Sunday, despite not starting against a righty and will Warren. He 64% roster has first, second and third eligibility. Ezekiel Doran is picking things back up in July. He hit two home runs on Saturday. He had a terrible June, but so far in July 297, four homeers, one steal, nine 63 OPS. He's eligible everywhere except for catcher and then Nolan, Aaron Otto, Homer on Saturday and he also had a bad June and is picking things back up last 12 games, 279, four homeers, 11 runs scored. This is how he drank these four Royce Lewis, Curtis Mead, Ezekiel Doran and Nolan, Aaron Otto. That's the order. And Royce Lewis, that's 56% roster just feels way under rostered to me because he's hitting. At least you could use him at third base, even if first base is loaded, you could use him at third. First base or third base or corner infield since returning his pace is 260 average, 36 homeers, 99 runs, 90 RBI I believe, and 15 steals. I think Royce Lewis, I'm not going to say he needs to be 100% roster, but I think it's pretty close. Curtis Mead, 64% still feels too low. I know he's not playing every day quite. He's playing like, against 70% of varieties and that's annoying. I think he's good. I think he's just good. All right. I do have some names in five Alphilder League's Lars Newbar, one for two with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. He has started against every right handed pitcher since returning, but just six of 11 lefties. It's not terrible, but he's not an everyday player. Heriberto Hernandez from your Marlins, Chris. He is hitting for big power lately. He has five home runs and an OPS over 1300 so far in July. And Tristan Peters hit for the cycle on Friday, four for four with his six home run for RBI. That is all star Tristan Peters to you. Do you have any interest in these names in five Alphilder League Tristan Peters, Heriberto Hernandez and Lars Newbar. Newbar is by far the most interesting of these guys. I don't think the other two are particularly interesting at all, but Newbar clearly talented. It's just questions of does he get that everyday playing time or is it still more like 80 to 85% the game's moving forward. Can he tap into the ups? side because it's it's been a long time of well, he did. It's the ball really hard. And he's got good plate this one. And then you look up and it's like, that's a 750 OPS. You know, so I have some hope for Lars new bar, but it's, it's not a guarantee for sure. Uh, yeah, I think he's the most interesting of these three. But you know, her name is, he hits the ball really hard. His stack has stuff is great. 91.9 average EV 12% barrel rate expected. That's look pretty good. I, I just wonder if like he gets consistent run with the Marlins. Like maybe we actually have a pretty good power hit around her hands here. Yeah. I mean, I guess he was a 7085 OPS guy last year. He's had 525 play appearances in the majors with 23 homers. It's not terrible. So yeah, maybe I'm under selling him a little bit. Um, if he got full time playing time, maybe there could be 25 homer pop there. It could be a elite, or almost light kind of situation, not an exciting player, but a pretty interesting one. Yeah, that's, that's a fair point. All right. I do have some deeper infielders here as well. Ty France, two for three with his 11th home run on Saturday last 19 games. He's hitting 317 with five homers, 14 RBI. Jake Corona worth recently returned from the IEL and has looked pretty good with the Padres. 11 July games. He's hitting 316 with two homers and two steals. Henry Davis is picking things up as of late. He's getting to play more with Indy Rodriguez on the I L last 12 games, two 93 homers, 10 RBI and a steal. And Tim Tawa, just had a huge weekend against the Dodgers out of nowhere. He had a sock in the shoe on Friday, three more hits on Saturday, another home run on Sunday. He has started four straight and five of six. They de-faid, paving Smith last week. So Tim Tawa getting some run here. Very deep names, Chris, but do any of these stand out to you. Ty France, Jake Corona worth Henry Davis and Tim Tawa. I think the biggest impact here might just be the Henry Davis thing just because that could be an obstacle to Indy Rodriguez getting every day playing time. And, you know, if Henry Davis keeps hitting well and when Indy Rodriguez gets back, maybe it remains a 50/50 split, which would be annoying. Evan, that my only thought is if you were ever to make a road out of metal, you would need a paving Smith. Is that anything? That's not anything right? I was distracting myself trying to get through what I was saying about Henry Davis, while also trying to come up with that dumb joke. So I'm sorry. We have pictures trending up. We mentioned two at the top of the show Hunter Green and Sean Burke. Zach Wheeler. The guy is on on a roll right now. He's out for vengeance for not being an all star. Six shut out innings two hits two walks 10 strikeouts. He outdoled Terrick Scoobal on Sunday that's double to just strike out in three straight. His velocity actually down a little bit in this one. And it turns out he was invited to the all star game as a replacement. But he didn't want to be one. He wanted to be one of the initial all stars. So he declined it. But Chris Terrick Zach Wheeler, excuse me, we spoke about him last week. He just keeps on turning up. Yeah. Top 10 starting picture. I don't know what to say. I think I moved him up to six. I got him at eight right now, but like looking at Yamamoto and Chris sale. I think I moved him ahead of both of those. Chris sale keeps going five innings and Yamamoto has struck our eights. Been down all season. He's had a couple blow ups. Yeah. I think you can make the case. Yeah. I got Wheeler up to SP six now on the season. And you know, he's right behind. Uh, camp Schlippler. I'm probably not ready to do that. But if you told me you wanted Wheeler ahead of schoolable or even schemes right now, I don't think I'd really push back too hard. Sandial Contra tough loss here against the Guardians. Seven innings three runs. Eight strikeouts. The zero walks. He had 13 whiffs on 99 pitches in this one. And over his last eight starts, it's a 309 ERA a 108 whip. And he's throwing strikes. He's avoiding hard contact. And he had that just brutal. I think it was May just absolutely brutal. May, but since the start of June, uh, Sandial Contra has really gotten things back on track. I think I moved him back inside my top 50 or top 40 starting pictures last week. So he's earned that he's he's trending back up. Yeah, he's 37 for me. Um, it was, yeah, it was basically just one bad month. And he's been pretty good outside of, uh, yeah, 739 ERA handmade. 357 or better every other month. So that's a pretty good sign for Sandy. I moved them up a lot. Uh, SP 33. All right, Sandy, trend it up. What about his teammate, Yuri Perez turned in a quality start also against the Guardians. Six innings of two run ball, six strikeouts here. 14 whips on 99 pitches and over his last six starts. That includes two before he got injured for after returning. It's a 135 ERA 0.72 whip 10 K per nine. Chris, the biggest key by far, 1.6 walks per nine over the six star treads for Yuri Perez. Yeah, the command has gotten a lot better. And that was an issue early on. And that was the issue last season. Um, we would see flashes, but it would just be too many uncompetitive pitches, too many walks. And he, he's really gotten that in line, which is kind of shocking because it came with that injury in between and you never know how that's going to work out. But it's been great to see Yuri Perez pitching up to his potential. And you know, this was something we've said about him all along is that I don't know when the lights going to switch on. But I think it's going to happen at some point and you're going to want to be there when it does. And now we're seeing it. Sonny Gray, another quality start this one at the med six innings of one run ball, only three strikeouts to one walk, but he has a quality start in eight straight. And during that stretch, it's a one 92 ERA 101 whip just around a strikeout training, getting a good amount of ground balls. And he's another one. I have him just ahead of the last two names we talked about. So Sonny Gray for most of the season has been like around SP 50. I now have him closer to top 30 starting pitchers. I can't really make sense of it because like it is around a strikeout per inning, but it's been all over the place. Some starts it's nine or 10. Some starts it's like two. He had two whiffs on 91 pitches in this one. It's a Sunday great experience. It's but like in miniature, like it's like his whole career in one season where it's like, yeah, he's pretty good all the time. But the way he does it is different every start. It's it's bizarre. It's it's going to be interesting to see if they trade him. The Red Sox have one nine straight. I think they have one thought they swept three straight series on the road, which is pretty remarkable. They are still two games under 500. They are also in the playoffs as we speak, I believe. So that's the American League this season just no idea what they're going to do. But I guess at this point, they can't sell, right? No, I don't think they will. They're half a game out of a wild card spot right now. They're on a nine game winning streak as you pointed out. They're one of them. If not the hottest team in baseball right now. So, you know, we were thinking they could trade a role to Chapman, maybe sunny gray. You think about maybe stashing a Garrett Whitlock, but the way they're playing, I unless they come out of the break and they lose like six or eight in a row, which I'm not expecting. I don't think I don't see the Red Sox as sellers here heading into the second half. Kyle Bradish took a no hitter into the seventh inning against the Royals. Six and two thirds, one run, five strikeouts to two walks and over his last five starts. I think there's only one bad start in there, but two 12 ERA 0.88 whip just under a strikeout per inning, but 2.9 walks per nine. That is a big improvement from where he was at earlier this season. Yeah, disappointing that it hasn't come with a lot of strikeouts. Yeah. I want to say there was one really good strikeout start, but other than that, it's been a little underwhelming. But look, we'll take it given how rough it was early on. It's just a question of, OK, now the controls been better. Can you figure the rest out? You know, can he start to get back to being a big strike up hitter or is the version of him that we're seeing right now, just the version of him who he was in 2023 when he was good, but wasn't getting the strikeouts. I would take that at this point, but I'd like more. I'm greedy. Let's talk about Taj Bradley. Another strong start this one against the angels seven innings to run six strikeouts to two walks, still out two homers in this one. And you know, that can definitely be an issue at times for Taj Bradley, but he has allowed to earn runs or fewer in five straight. He has gone seven innings in back to back starts and three of his last four. And look, with Taj Bradley, I feel like you just never get too high or too low on him. He goes through stretches where he looks really good. He goes through stretches where he looks really bad. But I think I had him outside of my top 70 starting pictures for like a month. But based on this recent stretch, I have him closer to like top 50 starting pictures once again. And he's in the same range as Ian Seymour, Logan Henderson, gauge jump for me. I think that's close to 60. That's in the 50 to 60 range. But yeah, I, I, I, I regenerally, I don't trust it. I have very little trust in Taj Bradley. So if there was a sell window, I would be trying to open it. But I understand he has pitched really well. And there's no doubt there's talent. It's just been an execution thing. What about pitchers trending the opposite direction? Another bad start from Freddie Peralta this week. And it's a red socks four and a third, two runs, five walks, six strikeouts. He had 17 whips on 92 pitches, 12 of those on the fastball, but he threw just 55% of his pitches for strikes. I know that you and I believe Scott both had Freddie Peralta as a bus coming in and it was more like he's overvalued because he just won a bunch of games last year and I think there was some ERA luck, but I think even you guys wouldn't have expected like I know for 66 year and a 144 whips. So if you have Freddie Peralta, Chris, what do you do? Nothing. Just continue starting him. I mean, if you want to bench him, that's reasonable, but I think the thing that we forgot is this is who Freddie Peralta is. Now that's not to say he is a 470 ERA pitcher because he is not. But if you do, fan graphs has the rolling 20 game ERA chart. You can look it up every year since the 2022 breakout. Okay, 2021 break. 2021 breaks out. 2022, he has a 20 game start stretch with a 432 ERA. 2023, he has a 470 ERA over a 20 game stretch. He has a 471 ERA over a different 20 game stretch. 2023 or 2024, he has a 460 ERA over a 20 game stretch. Last year, his worst 20 game stretch, he was incredible the whole season long. Yep. This is just always who Freddie Peralta has been. He's always had that Blake's smell in him where there are stretches where he is just absolutely unhittable and there are stretches where he is absolutely terrible. And the end results are always a picture you're pretty happy with. You're not happy along the way though. And last year was the first time that you ever had a full season. I guess 2021 also, but those were the only two seasons where you were just happy you had Freddie Peralta around the whole season. But his career has been defined by inconsistency. I expect Freddie Peralta to be really good at some point. Will it start in his first start after the all-star break? Perhaps. I think it's more likely than not. But I you should have always expected something like this. I don't know that I have much to offer to the person who has already Peralta on their team right now. I think you could bench him if you want. Like you said. But I think you could buy really low. And I think you should try to. Yeah. Yeah. I think that I think I'd be a pretty savvy move. What about Trayya Savage, brutal outing here at the Padres, only recorded five outs. He was charged with four runs, seven walks to one strike out. Chris, I have never seen a number this low before. He threw 34% of his pitches for strikes. Scott talks about this. Normally a good mark is like 64% 65% really good is like once you get closer to 70% and bad is like 60% or less. That's just flat out bad. 34% is I think the lowest I've ever seen. He walks seven and less than two innings. So that's what you would expect. What are you doing with J.S. Savage. It's been a rotten season for him. And then you look at the ERA still 372 X ERA's 331 like he has still been very hard to barrel. He has these starts where you walk so many. Yeah. I am shocked that his whip is only 116 because he's not giving up any hits. His bad but allowed us to 11. But when you look at the underlying stats that might not be it's unsustainable, but it might not be a fluke if that makes sense. Like he is generating weak contact but he also has four starts with at least five walks two with seven walks. Which is one of those things where like you kind of stay with me. This might sound stupid, but I swear it's true. You kind of have to be a good pitcher to walk seven batters in the game. Because like a bad pitcher who walks five is probably just getting yanked. But like Treyis Savage, his previous seven walks start was five innings one or run. His six walks start. He got through five innings is five walks start. He got through five and two thirds. Like you have to be able to do something. And he is really hard to to barrel up. He's getting a lot of weak contact. He's just you got a splitter heavy pitcher with a weird delivery and it might just be frustrating moving forward. But I don't think you can drop him certainly. I just worry about the fact that he dealt with the shoulder injury earlier on like maybe it's just kind of sure. You know, just there a little bit and like has thrown off maybe his mechanics or you know his got weird mechanics. So it's possible that it's just really hard to repeat his his delivery. And maybe that's just maybe that's just it. But I'm not going to drop Treyis Savage. I wouldn't drop him either. So I kind of think you just got to hang on to him. Yeah. If you don't have him, he's another one. Would you try and buy low right now? I would. It would have to be low. But boy, like Taj Bradley for Treyis Savage. I think I would do that. I'm going to take a shot on your savage or thing, but I wouldn't feel great about it. Would you give Sean Burke to get your savage? I don't think I could do that. The way that I don't think I would do that with Burke pitching the way he is. Maybe that'll come back to bite me. But I think I think I'd rather well, I don't. I'm not going to rank it that way. But I'm not going to say I would rather have Burke and Treyis Savage. But I don't think I could pull the trigger on that trade in either direction. Yeah, they're close enough in the rankings where it's like if they're separated by 10 or 12 pitchers, that's really not that much in the grand scheme of things. I think on a similar kind of wavelength here as your savage Hunter Brown, he keeps struggling with walks as well. He walked five over six innings and his location plus is down to a career low 94 this year. Last year was 97. He has nine total walks over his last two starts. It's 5.6 walks per nine on the season. And he's another one who just came back from a shoulder entry. I just I kind of wonder if maybe that's affecting his ability to command pitches. I think that's a very real concern and maybe a little extra time off at the break. You know, we've got a couple of bullpen sessions between starts to try to tweak things. Maybe they'll get them back on track. Maybe they'll work for Treyis Savage too. I don't know. I still think these guys are talented, but sometimes talented guys never get it. You know, like for a whole season. It just never comes together for them. And maybe that's the situation with both of those guys. Some hitting leftovers, studs being studs. Your boy, your dawn, Alvarez, he gets to 30 homers before the break. Two more homers this weekend. He is up to a 426 on base 31 homers 70 RBI at 1059 OPS. He entered Sunday as a top three hitter both in Roto and head to head points. James Wood, homerd each game this weekend. Lead off homers on both Saturday and Sunday. One against Camstletler. The other against Will Warren. And he did have a down June last 12 games for James wood. He is all the way back 442 eight homers two steals Chris. He is got 28 homers 89 runs 64 RBI 15 steals. That is a good season. I think both had good season James Wood has done that in 97 game. The 89 runs 97 games is wild. For easy stuff. 410 OBP like that is he could get to like 130 runs fair. I mean, he would need 41 runs in the final what 60 games. That's pretty doable. Yeah, man. Other hitting leftovers. J. J. Bladeh picking things back up. He homerd on both Friday and Saturday last five games. He's got three homers in a steal. Casey Schmidt picking things back up. He had a rough June, but 10 July games. 262 three homers 835 OPS. Vlad Jr had a big game on Saturday. Two for four with a sock into shoe. His six home run his seventh steal. He has two home runs in his past four games. San Bessio is quietly having a very good season. He homerd twice this weekend. 16 homers 46 RBI 773 OPS in his first full season. I would. I would you know think that that seems pretty successful season here for San Bessio. Chase the lottery is hot once again 14 games since returning from the I.L. He's hitting 340 with four homers 12 RBI in a steal and Jake McCarthy. One for three with an inside the park sock and the shoe. His 10th homer his 15th steal. Did that on Sunday his second inside the park home run of the season. I mean that is just as one of the weird statistical anomalies of the season so far. And Jake McCarthy himself has just had a massive season. He's all the way up to 84% rostered. A lot of names here Chris anything you'd like to touch on. Yeah the the great serlings tweeted earlier Jake McCarthy is the first player with multiple lead off inside the park home runs in a season since Ed Roush in 1929. That's a that's a that's a fun stat that is that's deep cut. And that I never really lost face faith and chase the lottery so I'm glad to see that rewarded. He talked about you know the the rib injury kind of being a blessing into skies because the first this is the most he's ever played in the season and he was feeling kind of run down so hopefully all star break. And I think he's a good hitter the power is a little questionable he's more like a 15 to 20 homer guy but I've made the bike Michael Brantley comp before and I think it really fits so I'm glad to see him hot and then JJ Blade that's another one that I had been inclined not to move down the rankings because the The underlying stuff has still been pretty good, even when he's been struggling. So I'm glad to see him close out the first half. Strong. He's stars at 367, expected, woeber for the season. It's still at 331 over the past 100 played appearances. It's not superstar production. But it's pretty good. I think Jayde Blayday will still be fantasy relevant in the second half. And I didn't realize I could have included him in the wayer wire discussion. He's down to 63% roster. So I think he should be more roster than that. All right. So I'm pitching leftovers. Christopher Sanchez, lots of hits, but another quality start here at the Tigers. Seven innings, 10 hits, two runs, seven strikeouts for him. Cam Schletler allowed two homers to begin his start and then he settled down after that at the nationals. Six and two thirds, two runs, six strikeouts to four walks. No, McLean took a tough loss against the Red Sox six innings, two unearned runs, seven strikeouts to two walks. And Parker Messick had himself a weird start on Friday. Six innings, one hit, one run, four strikeouts to one walk. So obviously the Keta walk stuff is weird, but he only allowed one hit. Chris, anything to add on Messick, McLean, Cam Schletler and Christopher Sanchez. At Messick's philosophy, it was around where it usually is, but remember there are a couple of starts where it was up and it was like, oh, forcing him to be dominating. It's been down the last couple of starts and it hasn't been quite as good. Only one whiff in this one. So that's a little worrisome for a guy who's already 100 plus pit innings and we're not sure. I think he got to like 140 or 150 last year, so he should be okay in the second half. Just something to keep in mind with Messick. And then Schletler, he's allowed a bunch of home runs lately, which wasn't an issue coming in. He's seven home runs over his last four starts. One thing, I guess if you're gonna allow two home runs in a start, make sure they're the first two batters. So there's no runners on base. But now the only thing that's gone wrong for him lately, those are the home runs. And that's not nothing, but I don't find it too concerning. Home runs are important, but relatively rare. I guess the control was a little worse in this one, but I don't think that had been an issue before this start, right? I don't believe so. The one thing with Schletler is that his ground ball rate has been trending down as the season has gone on. So allowing more fly balls when you pitch your home games in the Yankee Stadium. That's not ideal. It's not ideal for Kanchelitler. So I look, I think his ERA was always going to take up a little bit. He wasn't going to pitch just a two ERA the rest of the season, but yeah, I could see some more homers coming a little bit in the second half, but still do have very high expectations for him. Eduardo Rodriguez. He can't keep getting away with this. He can't keep getting away with that. I agree, Jesse. But he does. Six innings, two runs, five strikeouts to one walk at the Dodgers of all teams. That is five straight quality starts going into the break. I don't know what else we could say about it. What a Rodriguez, Chris. It's going to end in tears and an ERA over 450. So still remains the biggest sell high in fantasy baseball. Anybody's buying? Trade him for a trade us average, Chris. I would do that in less than one heartbeat. All right. Two other rough ones from the weekend. Yamamoto, six innings, six runs, four walks to six strikeouts here against the D-backs. I didn't digging in. I didn't think that he pitched this poorly. It feels like maybe he deserved a better result here, but the line is what it is. And Braxton Ashcraft, he's struggled a little bit lately. Five innings, five runs, six strikeouts, two homers allowed. He has a lot of five run runs in two of his last three starts. He has given up multiple home runs in each of those as well. And over his last eight starts, much like Cam Schlippler, the ground ball rate is down to just 35% during that stretch, 91.5 average exit velocity against. So that's kind of scary here for Ashcraft. Anything else to add on him and Yamamoto? Ashcraft, yeah. He's been the ground ball rate going down. That's not what you want to see. That's been a strength of his. The underlying numbers are still really solid. 349 ERA 328 XERA. So I don't think there's too much to worry about there, but you know, maybe he's just a mid three ZRA guy. There's nothing wrong with being a mid three ZRA guy. The call to the ball pen for the Orioles on Friday, Rico Garcia entered in the eighth inning with the game tide. He faced the top of the Royals lineup. It was a clean inning for him. And then Andrew Kitchridge got the ninth inning with a two run lead. He allowed a double, but picked up his third save. Tyler Wells had pitched Wednesday and Thursday. So I just assume he was unavailable on Friday. He's Kitchridge get a save on Thursday as well. I think he did. I think that's a little annoying. I still think Wells is the guy, but it's annoying. I think Wells is their highest leverage reliever. I don't know that that will always come in the ninth inning though. Yeah. For the Angels on Friday, Kirby Yates got the ninth with a one run lead. He allowed a hit, but picked up his third save. The Angels are really bad, but they keep going back to Kirby Yates. So he feels like the guy for the Giants on Friday, Caleb Killing and got the ninth inning with a one run lead. He allowed a single, walk, buntsingle, then a two run single. He was charged with three earned runs without recording an out. He also was charged with his third blown save and fifth loss. Then on Saturday, JT Brew Baker converted the final two innings and he picked up his first save. Do you see the Giants going to anybody else in that bullpen? I don't even want to speculate on it honestly. It just, it doesn't seem like anybody's worth worth it there. Yeah. On Saturday for the twins, Gowentry's Gomez picked up his 11th save. Then on Sunday, Andrew Morris tossed two scoreless innings for his third save of the season. He's pretty good. Like I don't think he's he's going to be the closer, but he's he's had a nice rookie season. Yeah. I have Gomez in a few spots. I'm hoping that isn't the case, but no. Morris, I think, has been pitching almost exclusive, like multi-anings stint still. Yeah. Yeah. I think this is just a reminder that like as good as Gomez is, I think he will get the majority of their saves. He isn't their closer with like a capital C. Yeah. Yeah. For the white socks on Saturday, Grant Taylor got the final five outs for his fourth save and it does seem like things are trending in Grant Taylor's direction right now. For the Cubs on Saturday, Jacob Webb got the eighth inning with a two run lead. He was facing the heart of the red line uphill out a walk, but that was it. It was lefty Ryan Rawlson who started the ninth. He recorded two outs. Then Trent Thornton came on to get the final out for his third save. Then on Sunday, Jacob Webb did get the final two outs for his fifth save. I think it's mostly Jacob Webb until Daniel Plenty is back, but they've mixed it's similar to like Tyler Wells. I think he's their highest leverage reliever, but it won't always come in the ninth inning for the Cubs. And I think Daniel Pointer here, they're still expecting him to be back sometime in the second half. For the pirates on Saturday and game one at Gregory Soto picked up his 12th save. And then in game two, it was Mason Montgomery who picked up his first save. We spoke about it earlier, but do you have a lean in the pirates bullpen right now? I mean, I guess I lean Soto, but he's got to be good, you know. I don't think that their closer is on their team right now. I'll just I think that's their the person who gets the most saves from here on out is probably not on their roster. Then for the Mets on Sunday, Devon Williams got the ninth inning with a two run lead. He allowed two runs, one of those earned on two walks and two hits. Bad defensive miscube behind him after the game, interim manager Andy Green said that they're sticking with Williams. Luke Weber has been awesome, but he's good trade bait right now. I don't think they want to mess with that. So I think Devon Williams will remain the closer for the Mets unless he just continues to absolutely implode. We are going to right there for 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 in tomorrow with an MLB draft recap. See you then. Bye. Caramount podcasts. Tyler Rattacare from 2311 Racing and Bubba Wells. You know what's the worst part of a race? A rangelay. Sitting around waiting for the track to dry is dull. But instead of waiting, we hang out with Chamba Casino. Social Casino slots, Bingo, Solitaire, plenty of fun to keep us entertained. So why let a rangelay slow you down? Play now at chambacasino.com. 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