Roki Sasaki Velo Jump, Injury Updates & Waiver Wire Adds! (7/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

What is Toyota Fortability? 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 Tacoma, rugged, full-size Tundra, and legendary forerunner, 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 MPGs, meaning bigger savings at the pump without sacrificing power. And it means trading for more. The Tacoma and Tundra are ranked number one and number two in resale value over all vehicles according to Kelly Bluebook, which can mean thousands more than average, right back in your pocket when it's time to trade in. That's Toyota Fortability. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. Shop Toyota.com or your local dealer for deals and details. Vehicles projected resale value is specific to the 2026 model year. 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. Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Oh, my God, and for the championship, we're in deep love film. This is what I want to do. 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. Here we go. The second half of the season is underway. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Monday, July 20th. I am, for example, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show. We have weekend waiver and it's lots of injury updates, start or sit decisions, and much more. But let's get things started with the players of the weekend brought to you by Stitch Fix. If you're like me and close shopping, isn't your thing, Stitch Fix has you covered. Get $20 off your first order at stitchfix.com/baseball. Oh my God, but this gracious. All right, guys, we are so back. A full weekend of baseball. We are here into the second half. And I'll start things off with Roki Sasaki, who had a big velocity jump against the Yankees this weekend. Five and two-thirds innings, one-unnered run, five strikeouts to one-walk, 16 whiffs on 94 pitches. Six on the slider, five on the fastball, five on the splitter, through 62% of his pitches for strikes, which is, OK, it could be better. But the fact that he only walked one was obviously very good. The big talking point here, again, is the velocity. His fastball was up 2.4 miles per hour in this one. He averaged 100.1 miles per hour. His splitter and slider, both up right around 101 mile per hour. But according to codify on X, I thought this was very telling, very interesting. Sasaki threw 21 pitches of at least 100 miles per hour in this start. His high in a start this season before that one was 4. Four fastballs of 100 miles per hour. Again, 21 fastballs of 100 plus miles per hour in this start alone against the Yankees. I still think he's an incredibly volatile pitcher. And there will be ups and downs. But if his velocity is at this range, I don't know if he'll maintain this. Obviously, it raises the ceiling of what he could do. 57% roster. I'm not saying he's an automatic must-add. But I think he is very clearly back on our radar after he start like this. Yeah, I think you'd have to say so. It is not the sort of thing that you can really put any stock into after just a one-off like this. And obviously, there continues to be control concerns. I mean, here's the way he put it. You'd refer to an adjustment he made with his lower half during the all-star break that allowed him to reach those higher velocities. He said, the adjustment I made is definitely something I can trust. Maybe I will be able to continue it, which-- Yeah, maybe I'd like that's like he can't even say for sure if it's going to continue. If it does, great. We probably have something here. If it doesn't, then he goes back to being just as frustrating as he was. I mean, the one thing that I think we can say with certainty about Rocky Sasaki is that something that happens in one start will definitely happen in the next start. So I think we can-- like, I have no idea. His velocity has been up generally over the past month and a half. His most recent start was the second highest average fast ball velocity of his career. But there is a tangible difference between 98.4 miles per hour and 101 or 100, which is where he was in this one. And we saw it. He doesn't really miss a lot of bats with his fast ball generally, but he had five swinging strikes on this one. And if that can be something he can do consistently, I think it changes the tenor of the whole conversation around Rocky Sasaki. And if Jared Jones and Go-Gosh, who is the other guy, Shane-- no. Oh, there was another pitcher I just wrote about today. Kate Cavali. If those two guys aren't available in your leagues, I think Rocky Sasaki is probably next up among waiver wire pitchers. I can't say for sure in absolutely every league, whether that'll be true. Peter Lambert has done some really interesting things the last few starts. I mentioned Shane Drowin, but he looked really good in his most recent one. So there could be worlds in which Rocky Sasaki is not worth adding, or early leagues where he's not worth adding, I guess. But I would lean towards wanting to add him after this one. And this start before this one was not bad. It had been about a month since he had a good start before that. So tempered optimism, I guess, is the way I'm approaching this on Rocky Sasaki. So I have a group of five starting pitchers later on that are all between 70 and 80% rostered on CBS. But I think most people, if you haven't added them, you've probably missed out on them at this point. And that includes Lennon Rue, Peter Lambert, Kate Cavali, Jared Jones, and JT Ginn. But I think the next tier down and guys that we've mentioned recently, well, throw Sasaki in this group. Sasaki, Shane Drowin, Christian Scott, who had a great first star coming out of the break, and Jack Flierty, who we've been talking ablately as well. Scott, how would you rank those four? Sasaki, Shane Drowin, Christian Scott, Jack Flierty. - I think Sasaki easily has to be number one of that group. I don't know that I put him at the bottom of the previous group, personally. It's a close call though. I don't entirely trust what Kate Cavali is doing. I mean, it's. - Well, I don't see how you can try. I mean, it's kind of like Sasaki. The way his season's gone, it's been a couple of great starts followed by month-long stretches of nothing. But like, I guess when Sasaki dominates, I understand why he dominates. - I don't really with Cavali. Cavali had that 13 strikeout effort where his fastball played up incredibly, but he hasn't been able to replicate that. The curveball's pretty good, but there's been a level of consistency there with Cavali that I'm sure is going to slot him ahead of Sasaki in most people's minds. And I get that, but I just, I don't know that I buy it. - Sure. - Where if like, it's a bigger gamble, obviously, but if Sasaki is this, then okay, I buy it, but obviously Big F. You want me to rank all of them though, and I didn't do that. So I'll go Sasaki number one, Flaherty number two, in part because I like him as a two-star pitcher this week. I like drawing more skills-wise, but it's close enough that I'll give Flaherty the edge for now. And who was fourth? Who was the fourth guy? - Chris Scott. - Chris Scott, yeah, I think fourth. - Who's just still kind of being treated with Keeb's gloves? That's the biggest problem with Chris Scott. I think he's talented, but just no real sign that they're gonna let him loose. - Yeah, I mean, same thing could be said for Jared Jones, right, which we should have talked about on Friday's episode, but obviously he flashed a lot of upside again this weekend. We'll get to that group a little bit later on. Scott, let's go over to you, your player of the weekend. Players, I mean, hey, if you just wanna talk about the Braves, it looks like the All-Star Break maybe came at a good time for them. - Yeah, it did. They started the second half-hot. Their offense looks like a juggernaut again, and they're about to get Ronald D'Aconia back. So things are looking up for them offensively over the weekend against the Rangers across three games. They ended up scoring. How many runs was it? 15 on Friday, six on Saturday, and then on Sunday, they added on another eight. So that's a good weekend, and specifically one player I wanna highlight is Drake Baldwin. Massive weekend for Baldwin, a home run in five RBI on Friday, another two hits on Saturday, and then five hits and two home runs on Sunday. So in all, that makes him 10 for 14 with three home runs this weekend. And I'd say he's back. Now, I had a feeling he was back already because if you'll remember, it was really the only down stretch of his career so far. Obviously, Raining and Elvab Rookie, the year winner, June. It was really the only down stretch of his career. He came back after missing about a month with an oblique injury, did not go on a rehab assignment, and suddenly, I couldn't hit anything. I clearly seemed to have 150 firms about them. I think the last month before the All Star break. Struck out 44% of the time in June, which prior to that, he'd never struck out more than 23% of the time in a month. Always had good contact skills, even good dating back to the minor. So 44% of the time in June, calendar flip to July. As of now, it's an 8% strike out rate in July. So totally opposite side of the coin definitely seems to have his timing back and still looks like the studly catcher that we remember before the oblique injury. So I never dropped them below the top three in my catcher rankings, rest of season. I actually had them two still and head to that point. He was behind Hunter Goodman and Roto, which he had a monster game this weekend too. But yeah, I think that's justified. You can continue to think of Drake Baldwin as the stud catcher going forward. Still plays every day, D.H.ing on the day. He's not catching, hitting lead off for now. I guess when Akuni comes back, he'll drop the second, but either way, it's a prominent line of spot in every day at bats for a really good hitting catcher. Do you know how many catchers have a better expected wobba this season than Drake Baldwin? One. Catcher eligible players? Catcher eligible players in the entire major leagues. I'm going to say one. Can I guess who this? You are both underselling Drake Baldwin because he has the highest expected wobba and that does include Ben Rice. I made sure to go over to that tab just to make sure. And it is Drake Baldwin at 384 entering today. I'm sure it went up with his five hit game higher than Dylan Dingler too. I know Dingler has ranked really high. I think Dingler is like 377. Rice is like a couple points behind Baldwin, but Baldwin's at the top. He's really good. And I think we really needed to see this just because oblique injuries can have a tendency to ruin seasons. We see that all the time. And so whether it's the timing, whether it's the rotational athleticism that they sat, there are just always concerned with oblique injuries and hitters. And seeing a weekend like this, yeah, I'm all the way back in on Drake Baldwin, whatever doubts and flaws I thought he might have. I think are gone. And I had Drake Baldwin as part of a group of four bats that I just wanted to highlight up at the top because they all had monster weekends. And his teammate Austin Riley who, you know, we needed to see some signs of life here. And he went to for five with a homerun Friday, three for four with a double dong, four RBI on Sunday. Season long line is still pretty bad only hitting two 17, the OPS is low, but in 12 homers, 47 RBI six deals, you know, it's creeping up there a little bit. Obviously, we need to see more, but I thought that was a very good sign for him. Fernando Tati's junior huge weekend as well. He had a sock and a shoe both on Saturday and Sunday. So picking up the power and the speed here. And then a monster weekend for William, a braille as well, a double dong in game two of their double header on Friday. And then another double dong on Saturday. So four homeruns for will year, a braille this weekend and just shout out to the Red Sox, man. Hot as team in baseball, four games sweep of the race this weekend. Now they are on a 13 game winning streak. And what do you know, the Red Sox are right back in the wild card spot in the American league. Anything that you guys would like to add on Riley Tati's a braille because they all had monster weekends as well. I think Tati's is more or less himself. I think he's going to finish the season with, I'm going to say 20 homers and 40 steals. And if you had told us before the season, I think we all would have taken that. I guess you're certainly hoping for more power, but when you don't hit homeruns for the first two full months of the season, I think you'll end up happy with a 20-ish homer season. But I have no concerns about Fernando Tati's. I think he's fixed to swing. He's looked like himself ever since that first homer. A braille when I was putting together the rundown for the newsletter for tomorrow. You know, I always do three up, three down. That was when I wrote as an up. And then I looked at and I was like, oh, that kind of got his numbers to wear more or less where I want them to be, which is no small thing. I mean, he hit what almost the third of his season total in one weekend. That's great. But it doesn't really change how I view will you or bring you. So I think it's just good to see Riley's the one who really needed it. Yeah. I don't know how much it can change how I view Austin Riley because it's one good weekend in a vast ocean of nothing this season. But, you know, I'll take it, right? The underlying number is still a bad. He still looks like he has lost several steps. Or strikeout rate of his career, at least since his rookie season, I think, worst expected boba on contact in a long time. He's lost like two miles per hour on his average. I said, well, I see. So Riley still needs a lot of work to convince us. He's still himself. But he's been a second half player throughout his career. So I'm open to it. I just, I need to see more before I treat him like the Austin Riley of old certainly. Yeah. I think the main thing with Riley is he's. He's still 89% rostered in CBS sports. And that is on the verge. It has been on the verge of plummeting, I think, any moment. Just he's saved by the fact that third base happens to be the weakest position this year. By a long shot, is it fair to say by a long shot, I think it is. I would say second base is close. Oh, second base is stacked. I don't really kept pointing that out. I think they're pretty close. I think second base is pretty deep. I think outfield actually has been kind of bad this season. Yeah, that's fair. It's always harder to. Lots of injuries too, but yeah. Well, it's just harder to. It's kind of like outfield is never is pretty much never deep enough to support a five out fielder league. And it's always too deep for a three outfielder league. So like somebody needs to come up with a four outfield league. That's my only. We play four outfielders. Four outfielder league, one and a half catcher league. Things would be perfect. But anyway, Austin, like, I think if you are on the verge of dropping Riley, this buys him more time. Like if you were ready to cut him loose for some mediocre third base option who at least wasn't going to thank you every week. This is reason to hold out. All right, Chris. Let's wrap up our players of the weekend with yours. I honestly don't know which direction you're going with here, but Steven Qualen. Oh, I think Stephen, Quon should be rostered pretty much everywhere. Tell me about that's what I'm going with because I never had a good sense for why things have gotten so off the rails for Stephen, Quon this season. Like the quality of contact has gotten worse, but it was never good. He's 28 years old. That's not old enough that you think, oh, the bottom is clearly falling out here. I just kind of think he wasn't right early on. But he's up to a after, let's see, he has four multi hit games in a row. He had eight hits or not seven hits this weekend. He's up to a 436 average in the month of July. Now those four games are carrying a lot of work, but he had hits, I think in every game, but two. And during this one, he's still making a ton of contact. He's running. He is batting at the bottom of the cardians lineup right now, which is not going to help. But I think if he gets hot quickly, it's going to change very soon. He was moved up to lead off on Sunday. There you go. I missed that, but he was moved off, moved up to lead off on Sunday. I don't know if you guys heard of that, but he was hitting ninth before that. And he responded with a couple of hits. And I just generally think when you have the track record that Stephen, Quon does, it's not going to take a lot for me to buy back it. And I think the run that he's on is enough for me to buy back it might not be enough for you guys. I fully accept that, but because I tend to anchor to my preseason expectations for player skill sets a little more strongly, I'm also more willing to buy back in when we see these signs from now with Austin Riley. I recognize there's a dichotomy between how I approach those two, but I think the big difference is Riley's 89% roster. So there's not really anything I can tell you to do besides don't drop him, which is what I would say. Quon is down to like 55% roster. So I do think he is someone, you know, maybe not in a 10 team three outfielder league. You're probably not adding him, but certainly any road league, I'd still be trying to add Stephen Quon if he's available. And plenty of points, like that was, I don't know if I got him, but I definitely add put in a bid for him in my, my points, Taut Wars league, which is a five outfielder points league. So it's a little different, but he is someone certainly in that league I did get him. I'm happy to get him. I do wonder with Stephen Quon, him playing center field more this season. It's hard to quantify like a person changing positions, but did you use quantify on purpose? Yes, I totally meant to do that in his career as a center fielder. He's hitting 229 with a 594 OPS in his career as a left fielder, 282 with a 739 OPS. So yeah, but that's, I don't know if mostly because he never played center field before this season. But I just wonder if maybe that. - It could be looked at that kind of stuff is impossible to quantify. Like that's, you know, these are human beings and we have no like, being asked to do something different at your job can mess with your job performance. That's something that everybody has experienced, I'm sure, but I don't buy it as a super compelling argument just because it's the one bad season he's had, you know? So I like, is it because he was playing center field or does he just happen to be playing center field while he's having his bad season? I have no idea what the answer to that is, but I'm inclined to believe that he can still be a high average hitter. - Yeah, it's kind of a, you know, chicken or a situation there with Steven Claw. And I'm just, like you, I'm just trying to figure out reasons why this season has been so poor for him and like just, okay, what's the one thing that's different this year? He's playing a different position. And that's the only thing that I could come up with. But I don't know if that's a good enough reason, but hopefully he is coming around. 'Cause I agree with most of what you said, like he's still in the prime of his career. He's still, he's walking more than he's striking out. His K-rated is still like, sub 10%. And he's underperforming his XBA basically all seasons. So hopefully a big second half coming here for Steven Claw. Thank you to StitchFix for sponsoring today's players of the night StitchFix takes the hassle out of clothes shopping. Just take a quick style quiz, show your size, your vibe, and your budget and you'll be matched with a real human style that's 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. Let's take our first break and we'll be back right after this. (bells chiming) (water splashing) (bells chiming) - Welcome back, fantasy baseball today and let's hit the news and notes from the weekend. Dave Roberts said Sunday that it's quote, "Going to be some time before Shohei Otoni pitches again, "he was expected to pitch Wednesday of this week, "but he continues to feel discomfort in his left knee. "That injury only seems to affect him when he's pitching. "He is expected to remain there every day, D.H. "He probably won't run as a result of the injury as well." But yeah, look, if you have him as just one player, you might have had decisions at some point this season, whether to use him as a pitcher or a hitter. Obviously now there is no decision. You just use him as a hitter. But if you have Otoni, the pitcher as a different player, you can't even put him on an IEL spot. It's just he's on your bench until he pitches again. - So time table is completely up in the air and you can't put him in an IEL spot. And that's very annoying. I do wonder what this means for the rest of the Dodgers rotation as in are they going to remain on a strict six man schedule because that was mostly for Otoni. I win a head and an A. - Yeah, I'm Otoni and Sasaki also. Yeah, but you know, I don't know. I did, obviously they have to come up with an extra arm if they're going to keep doing that. So we'll see. - River Ryan's still on the IEL, I believe. Last I saw. - Yeah. - In my arms. Blake's now has made one rehab start. - Yeah, and he only-- - He's for two. One or two, yeah. - Only one and he only threw 30 pitches. - Yeah, so-- - It's going to take up some time. - Yeah. - Kyle Glass also had anywhere close either, so. - Right. We did get an update on Aaron Judge kind of. His MRI Friday showed some healing, but he's not yet 100%. The Yankees had a specialist also review the MRI and he said that Judge is not ready to start baseball activities yet. So we, he needs to be cleared for baseball activities. He's probably need, he's going to need a ramp up period. He's going to need a rehab assignment. I still think the best case scenario for this is late August, early September, but that's pure speculation on my part. - Yeah, when he came back from the elbow injury two years ago? Two years ago. I want to say he did not do a rehab assignment. And that's something you'll see with, you know, I think teams will defer to veterans like that. Yeah, he hasn't played a minor league games since 2019. That was the last time he did any kind of rehab assignments. So-- - It was a lot of eye-hosted since then. - Yeah, so I would guess that they're going to defer, I think it was 2023 when he had the elbow injury. They're going to defer to him. I mean, we saw that with, I think Jose Ramirez those reports that he may not do a rehab assignment. - Yeah. - My trout, I don't think did a rehab assignment when he came back from his hamstring injury recently. So that's, I would guess-- - I saw them. - It's a Drake Baldwin. - Just putting them in the same category as those games. - Yeah, that, I think, that accelerates the timetable a little bit, but still, I agree it does not sound like we're particularly close. I would be surprised if it was before mid August if he's not cleared to do any baseball activities yet. - All right, Bobby with Junior was held out of the lineup Sunday due to back tightness and checking to see the royals play at 7.40 PM Eastern time here on Monday. So you should know pretty early on whether or not he's in the lineup. Corbin Carroll suffered a hyper extended right elbow on a swing on Sunday. Manager Tori LeVulo said, "Carol will not require imaging and is day to day." So he's another one, the D-backs played 9.40 PM Eastern time on Monday night. So another one to pay attention to there is Corbin Carroll. How about this, man? Monday full slate of games on Monday, man. - I'm a little annoyed at the schedule this week, actually. Why is that? - 15 games on Monday and only five on Thursday. - I know, it's like a round a little bit. No day games tomorrow either. I'm just complaining for work reasons 'cause I got a full day of work that I can't start until nine o'clock tomorrow. - Yeah, that's what usually makes Tuesday so tough is that it's a full slate of games and they all start, it's all between 6.30 and 10 PM start. So at least on Wednesday, every team plays, but we usually get some day games so it helps things out. - Yeah. - What do you think of the fantasy baseball podcasts? - Yeah, come on, man. - Yeah, they're thinking we could play fantasy feud on Thursday, that's what they're thinking. - Hey, hey, hey. - Oh, we'll have to do that. The Mariners reinstated Julio Rodriguez from the concussion IEL on Saturday. Previous report sounded like he wasn't going to be activated this weekend, but surprise, he's back on Saturday. The hope is that Ronald Acunio will return before the end of the Braves homestand which ends on Thursday of this week. So hopefully no setbacks when we get him back this week. Would you guys actually play Ronald Acunio throwing the lineup? - I could see in a five out of the elderly being so stretched with that fourth and fifth spot that it's like, okay, I'll take half a week from Acunio and it may be more than half a week. - But it wouldn't be my first choice. - I have a five out of the elderly in a 15 team league where my alternatives would be Brett Bader or Cam Smith. - Cam Smith plays every day. - Yeah. - But four games from Ronald Acunio might be better than a full week from Cam Smith. - Yep, Jose Ramirez, who's working his way back from that fractured ham a bone may not require a rehab assignment before he returns, which Chris mentioned earlier. Jacob Mizierowski is now scheduled to start Monday against the Metz. He was supposed to start Tuesday, but he was moved up a day. So hopefully that means that his arm is feeling all right. And I guess that would make him a two star pitcher as well. So, you don't need me to tell you, but I'll tell you. Start, Jacob Mizierowski. Kyle Harrison, who's on the aisle with Elbow Sornis had a precautionary MRI that came back clean. He also threw a bullpen on Saturday. So that's the situation we're following very closely. More brewers, pitching news. Logan Henderson left Friday with forearm cramps, but is expected to start Wednesday of this week. He dealt with either a forearm or elbow injury late last season. Before leaving this start, it was five innings one run, four strikeouts to zero walks. He threw 73 pitches. So they usually limit him anyway. He said he was good after the start. Are you guys all right using Logan Henderson this week? I guess that would be against the Metz on Wednesday. - Boy, I am. So he missed time last year with a flexor strain. He missed time this spring with Elbow Sornis. - Scary. - And yeah, I suppose I would start with him, but I am in the process of adjusting my expectations for Logan Henderson. Just, I do not know if this dude is built for this life, unfortunately, because he's so good, but just, they have babyed him a lot over the past year and he's still struggling to stay on the mound. It's just, it's worrisome. - Yeah. - It's, they are calling it a cramp. - He finished out the inning after being visited by a trainer and immediately after the game, he was basically cleared for his next start so he was already feeling better. So I'm hopeful that's all it was. I mean, a cramp is not a big deal, hydrate, but otherwise, you know, maybe, obviously with his history, you have to, you know, be wary of it being something more. Even more brewers pitching news, Brandon Woodruff announced Saturday that he will undergo season ending capsule repair surgery on his right shoulder. He underwent the same procedure in October of 2023 and ended up missing all of 2024. And like I don't want to be the ultimate pessimist here, but this might be the end of Brandon Woodruff's career. Unfortunately, I mean, the way they were talking about it, you know, they announced it, I think, on Friday that they had an update, but they were going to let Brandon Woodruff share it. I think it's the way their GM put it. And that made it sound like Brandon Woodruff had some decisions to make and then some things to sit with. And it's a bummer. He's so good. But it's just constant shoulder injuries. It's hard to come back from that at his age. I mean, I guess he's only like 33 or something, 34. Yeah, 33. But still it just, I think he's going to try. I would just he tries. I don't know that that happens still 2028. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the way it went in 2023, yeah. That might be when baseball is returning, by the way, 2028. Oh, come on. We're not missing games. I hope not. I hope not. Max Friedman is first rehab start on Friday at AAA. Three innings, five hits, two runs, three strikeouts, the zero walks, his fastball velocity was fine. The cutter, the curve, the sweeper. They were all down between one and a half miles per hour. He built up to 52 pitches and he will make at least one more rehab start. We'll see what their decision is after that. Carlos Rodón received a second round of injections after throwing about 10 pitches off a mound on Friday. The shots were a scheduled part of his rehab program. It still sounds like Rodón could be back sometime in August, assuming no setbacks. Blake Snell made his first rehab start at AAA on Saturday. He only recorded four outs, one hit, one walk, four strikeouts. He threw 32 pitches. Fastball velocity was down a touch. His curveball was down like two and a half miles per hour, but that could have been a conscious decision. Probably need like at least two or three more Blake Snell rehab starts. Maybe even more than that. Casey Meyers left early Sunday after hitting the left hand by a comebacker. In addition to the hand, he's now dealing with groin tightness as well. He went on the aisle twice already this season with a doctor injury. My guess is that this will probably land in an aisle, so unfortunately, forward Casey Meyers. He's pissed really well. I think he's looked a little bit more human as of late, but for the most part, this looks like the best version of Casey Meyers, but it has been derailed by three different groin injuries this season. So that is frustrating. Jacob DeGrom, who's been dealing with a left glute train is scheduled to start on Monday. That should make him a two star pitcher this week against the White Sox and Mariners. So get Jacob DeGrom back in your lineups. O'Neill Cruz was transferred to the 60 day aisle, which means the earliest he can return is August 8th, and he's working his way back from a fractured hand. It does give Jake Mangum more runway, and he's actually been pretty darn good over the past month, month and a half. Jake Mangum, 26% rostered. I know I brought him up to you recently, Chris, and you made a good point like, hey, O'Neill Cruz could be back soon. Yeah, no. If he's not back for the next three weeks, that's three more weeks of Jake Mangum just being an everyday player. Yeah, and he's strictly a two, maybe two and a half category player. He is hitting lead off when he starts now, which is pretty much every day. So hopefully that gives him some run scoring upside. He has to continue hitting. But I think he is someone who could hit 285 and steal a 40 steel pace. So yeah, I think if he's hitting lead off, especially, that's a pretty useful player, at least in any category, so you could. Rangers Suarez could be activated when first eligible on Tuesday against the Orioles, but it's kind of it unknown. Starter sit Ranger Suarez this week. I would start, I guess. Still what a game I first choice. Yeah, there would be maybe 30 pitchers ahead of him. Maybe probably more than 30 for this week, not for rest of season. Yeah. The Orioles and Kyle Bradish agreed to a $5 million dollar contract extension. It buys out his final two years of team control, as well as three years of free agency. Jeremy Pania was pulled from Saturday's game due to right hamstring cramps and was added to line up Sunday as well. I think I saw an update that he was feeling better. So hopefully in the line up here on Monday, he's dealt with a bunch of leg injuries this season, but when he's played, he's been really good. Again, that's Jeremy Pania. I don't want to gloss over that Bradish thing though, because that is a huge vote of confidence from the Orioles for a guy who from an Orioles team that has not given a lot of long term contracts out. And for a guy who's been kind of in the Nigma this year, where you haven't really been sure where the slider's gone. Still not who we thought he was going to be. And they're handing him this contract. So you know, they know the Kyle Bradish situation better than any of us do. And I think that's reassuring that they were willing to sign up to that deal now. Christian Walker left early Saturday due to right hip tightness and he was also out of the line up on Sunday. So he's a name to watch. He's in the lineup on Monday, but he's also been bad for the past month, month and a half. So it might be a blessing in disguise that you don't start him this week. Yeah. You had a four strikeout game on Friday, I think, before before the injury. So yeah, pretty ugly. Good reason to get Christian Walker out of your lineup. So sweet. Daniel Polencia is hopeful to return in mid August. Ryan Helsley was transferred to the 60 day IL, which means the earliest he can return is early September. Samuel Basayo left Sunday's game with right shoulder discomfort. So he's another one pay attention on Monday to the lineups there. Corey Seeger hits soft toss in the batting cage Sunday. In addition to fielding ground balls, he's on the IL with lower back inflammation. We did get some brave picture updates. Spencer Strider will have a follow up appointment with Dr. Keith Meister this week. He's been shut down from throwing it since June 16th. And Spencer Schwelombach lacks a clear timeline to begin a rehab assignment. So I guess not really an update, but there was kind of an ominous quote from Walt Weiss over the weekend about these two and especially about Strider. So I'll share that with you now. So he was asked by, I believe he was asked by Beatwreider Mark Bowman of MLB.com. If Strider was done for the year and Schwelombach was just a maybe and Weiss said, I wouldn't say it's inaccurate. I think there's a chance we could see both of them. But as we sit here today, it's hard to say. So I don't want to read too much into that quote because it was, I think he was mostly conveying that he doesn't know much about either of their time tables. But just the way he responded to it when the Beatwreider was saying he's sensing that Strider's out for the year and he's then Weiss said, I want to say it's inaccurate. Well, I don't know. That was the first I'd heard of that and I hadn't seen a report of any setback or anything. So. I mean, but you just think about, if he hasn't been clear to throw yet, a throwing program is going to take four to six weeks and then maybe that includes a rehab assignment. But let's say it's six weeks, including a rehab assignment. That leaves very, very, very little margin for error. Yeah, like that's really tough for you. Yeah. Presumably they'd want to as things stand today, it looks, we anticipate the braze game of playoff team and presumably they'd want Strider to be a part of that. So I don't think they're going to take their foot off the gas. Yeah. But they can only do what his arm allows and might be maybe having pitching the bullpen for the playoffs. Possibly. Yeah. Luis Robert is expected to return on Monday. He's been out since April 26th with a back injury. Do you guys consider Luis Robert a must roster outfielder and five outfielder leagues? Yes. Three outfielder leagues now. I am interested to see who loses out on playing time for the Met. If anybody, I mean, there's just a good chance Luis Robert is not an everyday player because he hasn't been able to stay healthy. But I'm just hoping neither of AJ Ewing nor Carson Benz loses playing time. Obviously Juan Soto is going to play every day, but I guess they could just shuffle one of Robert Ewing Benz and Soto into that DH spot every day. And maybe most of them are just Luis Robert. But I tried to figure it out for the waiver wire today. And then I realized in 11 days, it's probably not going to matter. They either trade Luis Robert at the deadline. If he shows anything, they trade Jorge Palanco who's been their primary DH, but can't play anything but DH right now. Fair. I think this gets solved one way. I don't think there's a world where Luis Roberts on the Met's the rest of the season and they're having to make a decision about who's sitting every day. That is the Palanco can't play anything, but DH right now. I believe he has not played anywhere but DH. I know that he's played first base at all. Okay. The nationals called up Harry Ford on Friday. He was having a pretty bad season in the minors, but he started two of three games for the nationals this weekend. And Friday he went two for five with his first career home run, three runs and three RBI. Then on Sunday, one for three with a double a hit by pitch and his first career steal. So intriguing skill set in a two catcher league, a little bit of pop, a little bit of speed, 10% rostered. I don't feel like they should just push. Caperooese to the side. They also gave him an extension. But again, Harry Ford started two of three games this weekend. So your interest level and Harry Ford and fantasy. He was terrible. The triple A this year. Yeah, terrible. Uh, so it wasn't good enough in spring training to even make it a competition either. So I'm not sure that a big weekend, you know, even though it was the first we've seen of them in the majors this year. And the first we've seen them in the majors in a couple of years. I'm not sure it really moves the needle for me in two catcher, these obviously the position is stretched stretched enough that somebody in that lead should probably be chasing the upside of Harry Ford. But I can't sit here today and today and say I'm particularly excited. All right. A couple of their items here. The A's traded Aaron Savoli to the Cubs in exchange for minor league reliever Aiden Moffit. A minor league reliever and others to the aisle this weekend Stephen Colock with a right flexor strain at Lordus, Greal with a strain right a doctor and South Freelick with a right shoulder strain, which does create some runway here for Luis Laura. So that's interesting to see what he can do now in fantasy. He'd only been playing like every other day. I think you started like five of us first nine games or something. So you needed that. Yeah. All right. Let's take our final break and when we return what to make of these two pictures right now I have Bryce Miller and Hunter Brown. I'm kind of confused. Then we'll get into some waiver options. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back fantasy baseball today. What do we make of these two starting pictures. Bryce Miller made another start this weekend where his velocity was down once again. There was more pot. There were more positives in this start than his previous one. He still had 15 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. He threw 67% of his pitches for strikes. He only walked one better. But again, the fastball down 1.5, the slider down 1.2 splitter and sweeper also down in that start as well. And over the last two starts its 10 and a two thirds innings six runs allowed nine strikeouts to five walks and Hunter Brown. He is just really struggling with the walks. Six walks over four and two thirds innings. He lied four runs in this one really just could not command either of his fastball. He has four plus walks in three straight. Perhaps this shoulder is just like still an issue for Hunter Brown. But where are you guys at right now on both Bryce Miller and Hunter Brown. I feel okay about Miller agree. One positive is that he leaned heavily on his fastball again in that previous start where the velocity dropped he also got away from emphasizing that fastball he seems to do best when he's throwing it upward of 50% of the time. He's just on a whiff in this start, including on the fastball. Helm is the velocity if it remains down, but because he's missing bat still because the Mariners aren't expressing concern I'm okay with it for now. And we'll just continue to monitor it for Bryce Miller might be the difference between a top 20 starting pitcher in a top 41. I think I could see that Hunter Brown, I think you just said him until he shows signs of turning around I think he eventually will. I think my approach to him is similar to how it's been with Garrett Cole where yeah he doesn't look right yet, but I think it's just a matter of time and hopefully over the weekend we saw it from Garrett Cole. I think he had his most encouraging start yet over the weekend so Brown the main thing is he's just not thrown enough strikes and I think a low for comment he has enough of a history to suggest you will, but it's been too bumpy right now to just stick with them. Yeah, three straight starts of four walks 17% walk rates since he came back off the I L. I do think it there's a chance that he's just never right this season that he's just that line between healthy and themselves can be slim and or more I guess wide action line. He's healthy enough to pitch the stuff looks okay he just like 30 was a 34% zone rate with the four seamer 18% with the sinker this guy with good command last season and it's gone completely away. It might be just something that the Astros can fix over the course of his next few starts and he'll look fine I think you don't want to drop him but I don't see how you can start Hunter Brown right now. All right so benching him at the white socks what do you guys think about using Bryce Miller at the Rangers this week. I'm fine. Okay. Yeah. I'm starting. Good match up. Yeah. All right. Let's get into the waiver wire pitchers from the weekend I mentioned this group earlier on but some shallow league names between 70 and 80% rostered all five of these had good starts this weekend anywhere from good to great starts but landing group Peter Lambert Kate Cavali Jared Jones JT. Ginn all five very good Chris how would you rank this group in Jared Jones Cavali Peter Lambert and Linda root Jones Cavali Lambert and I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get into the group or get in the group but I don't feel confident about any of them in any order and I feel like scots about to say he has them in the exact opposite order I can't really figure out land in the group. I just the command goes through stretches where it's just so bad that I kind of want to just throw my hands up and say I'm done with him. But I can't obviously because the good starts have been really really good but he's just been really frustrating and I don't know the peripheral stats are really good for 332-5 339-X-E-R I will take that but man it's just I don't have a lot of faith in him getting there Lambert I do want to focus on him because he's had this really good fastball for most of the season despite not having great loss. It's got good physical characteristics beyond decent velocity but not great but he ditched his sweeper at the end of May didn't throw it I think his first first 4 starts in June brings it back the last start of June and when he brings it back it's like 2-3 miles per hour harder than it was before getting more rise so less drop and it's like a 45% with rate for him in the month of July it's a very small sample size you only got two whips with it in this one so it's not like it was carrying the profile but you know a legit put away pitch for a picture who I think already has a pretty solid floor I think that's really interesting for Peter Lambert so I'm pretty interested in what we're seeing from him right now his last seven starts by the way 240 ERA 0.92 9.6 K per nine therefore Peter Lambert Scott how do you rank this group group Lambert Cavali Jared Jones and JT again well I will agree with Chris on Jared Jones I think he's a distant number one I think the last two outings now both being as dominant as they were both the least reaching the minimum required for a win he he looks like he is he's back and I think that makes Jared Jones must roster he looks better walk rates down to yeah yeah yeah the other four is pretty messy and my gut is more inclined to say JT again to landed roope three Kade Cavali four and Peter Lambert five so yeah very different or exactly how Chris I can't argue yeah I I have a lot of faith in roope because it's not just it's not just fit that says he's a lot better than he's been it's XERA is 339 and you know you go through piecemeal what makes a picture good gives up very weak contact average average is more on the strike up running yeah very high ground ball rate the walk rate is high but it's not like prohibitively high with everything else being as good as it is so I think he's good I get that he's a little frustrating is not on a very good team which hurts but uh but yeah I think land on roope is somebody who you should be very careful after a bad start if you're considering dropping and how many of those names if any would you take rookey Sasaki over because I know you said earlier that you might take Sasaki over some of them uh yeah well I yeah I kind of hinted I'd take him over Cavali which means I'd also take him over Lambert Scott is your desk falling apart no I was just playing with my wedding ring and I've been caught caught in the act uh the day after I got married I was doing that in like a public place it dropped fell down a flight of stairs and hit like every single and like it was a full like there were hundreds of people around and for some it was like there was a microphone every single step it was just ding I get it I get it do ever take it off like shower sleep and like that I'm cooking when I'm making some like you know like you make like a crab cake you got to mix it up with your hands that you don't damage the delicate crab meat I'll take it I just I used to for like shower and sleep sleeping, that sort of thing, swimming. But I eventually just got to a point where I was like, I'm like, I'm too happy to have my life. - I'm not used to wearing jewelry. I don't want to have to remember to put it back on. So now I just never take it off. - I'm too absentee minded. I can't, I'm definitely gonna forget it. And me like, any time I take it off, I'm sure. - I'm thinking, I put it in the same spot. I'm so like, oh my God, where is it? - Yeah. - If I'm doing physical activity, where it could get lost forever. - Well, I think. - I'll take it off and like put it on my key chain. - Who does physical activity comes never? (laughing) - I actually do the opposite now. I used to wear it all the time and now I only wear it when I go out and then I usually forget to put it on and now I just never wear it. So there you go. (laughing) Did you have an answer for Rocky's to talk about it away? I think you said that over at Overco Valley. - Yeah, over Cavali and Lambert. And anyone else? - I tend to put them at the bottom of this list, but I don't have, that's with zero confidence. On any of the six names involved. Like if you're selling out for upside, let's say it's a shallow lead. - Sure. - And you know, there's always a land and root type out there. Then I could see going only Jero Jones ahead of Sasaki. But Sasaki is clearly the most volatile of all of these. - It is worth saying Jero Jones only through 74 pitches I think in this one. So the hope that we had, that the All Star Break would be the letting him go deeper. Didn't happen yet. And that's the one that this could continue to be frustrating all season. That's the one thing I wanna point out is I think he's good. Stuff looks great. And he's pitching really well. I just, the upside might be a little more limited because of this. - All right, rank these streamers for this upcoming week. Bailey Ober, Solid Start this weekend. He's at the Guardians this week again. Still no Jose Ramirez. Brady Singer had a very strong outing and course field this weekend. And his last seven starts. He has a 281 ERA in a 103 whip. I don't exactly buy it, but he's going into Seattle to face the Mariners. So I think that's a pretty good spot. Michael McGreevy and other quality start. He has a quality start in seven of his last eight. And he's at the Angels this week. And Shane Drowin, a strong outing against the Marlins this week. And he had nine strikeouts over six innings. He has three straight quality starts. He gets the Rockies in Milwaukee this week. So obviously that is a prime time matchup. How would you guys rank those matchups? Drowin against the Rockies, McGreevy against the Angels, Brady Singer at the Mariners, and Bailey Ober at the Guardians. - Well, I can tell you only one of these is among my sleeper pitchers for this week. And it's Michael McGreevy. - No Shane Drowin against the Rockies. - Yeah, I was just saying Drowin for sure. Yeah. Okay, yeah, maybe I should look at that again. (laughing) The thing is, I had to come up with this on Thursday night and a lot of rotations weren't set yet. And I updated already, but I may have missed Drowin against the Rockies. Yeah, yeah, I like that one. You're right. - I'd probably put Drowin, McGreevy at the top. And then I don't have as much confidence in like Ober and Singer, but I think I'd probably take Bailey Ober over Singer if you're just looking for a streamer for this week. What do you make of these two who had trunk starts this week and Brandon Young, seven innings of one run ball with seven strikeouts to one walk at the Ashrose, back-to-back quality starts seven innings in each. He gets to braves this week. And Shane Bieber just had his best start of the season, six shutout innings with six strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 80 pitches against the White Sox. He had been completely awful before this start. So it's like a good step, but I thought it was a really good step here for Shane Bieber. He gets the raise this week. Your thoughts on playing young and Shane Bieber. It's not conclusive for Bieber, but you could see a path for him being useful in fantasy again, based on this start. I mean, that's a tough match up to White Sox. And he took care of them handily. And so we'll see how the next start goes. But it's another one if you were on the fence about dropping him, maybe hold on a little longer. I find Brandon Young to be interesting enough to be in the ad conversation, not in the same category as anyone else. We've talked about this podcast, but below it, he's only 51% rostered. So he was available in some of my 15 team roto leagues this weekend. He in this start against the Astros over the weekend, his slider was up two miles per hour over two miles per hour. And it's already his best pitch. It has better than a 40% wiffer rate on the year. The wiffer rate was even better than that with this additional velocity in this particular start. So I don't know, that's an interesting development. And he was already somewhat reliable. I don't know that I trust Brandon Young against the braves with the way their offense seemed to turn it around this weekend. But if he does end of the braves, then I think he becomes very interesting. If you need a deeper streamer for this week, Robert Gasser also gets the Rockies in Milwaukee. He allowed just one run over five innings this weekend, five strikeouts, a zero walks against the Marlins. He's been up and down his previous start before this was very bad. But again, it's Rockies first series away from course field. I do think Robert Gasser is in the mix as a streamer this week. And what's going on with Ian Seymour? Obviously we're all excited about him. We spoke him up as a sleeper or a breakout on Friday's episode. But had a weird short start at the Red Sox this weekend, three innings, three runs allowed, two homers allowed in this one. It took him 61 pitches to get through three innings. Just man, the raise of it all is just always so annoying. But he's still 75% rostered. What's going on here? Are we holding on? Are we keeping the faith in Ian Seymour? I would. It was a couple of bad starts in a row. He does have a good matchup again this week. Blue J's bottom five offense. So he remains among my sleeper pitchers for the weekend. Hey, and 5% of leagues where he was dropped, that's even more of you that can turn to him as a sleeper potentially. You know, he didn't pitch well. And so you can't really blame the raise for taking him out. But that is the danger for somebody who is not established as a rotation fixture and particularly in the organization that treats its starting pitchers maybe less conventionally than any organization is that when he's not on his A game, does he become basically a glorified opener? And so he really labored in this one. It was 47 pitches, I think, through the first two innings. And I know that was something we talked about last week is how much do we trust the raise with this. And I think that was suppressing your ranking of him, Chris. We were ranking. We were our pickups. And so, yeah, I mean, it's called as for concern. If it continues for a couple more starts, I do think we talk, you know, we have the drop conversation about the NC more seriously. But for now with another good matchup coming up as many strikeouts as he's had as many swingy strikes as he's had, there's a lot to like here still. - All right, do you have some waiver wire hitters from the weekend, mostly deeper names. But the one up top is Cole Young, who launched two homers this weekend back to back multi at Games on both Saturday and Sunday. And over his last 31 games, he's sitting 274 with nine homers, 20 runs scored a stolen base in OPS over 800. He's 43% rostered. Chris, how would you rank these three middle infield options? Cole Young, Nassim Nunez, Tommy Edmund. They're all right around 45% rostered. - That's the order I would put them in. I guess I could see a world where you just need stolen bases and Nassim Nunez is the pick. But otherwise, I think Cole Young is the best of this group. I think he's a legit like 20 homer guy. The quality of context has been pretty solid. I would like to see him run more. He was like a 2025 steel guy in the minors, but he's really run very little in the majors. But he's like 70th percentile speed. So I think there's some room there. But even if he does, and I think he's a, I don't know, like a poor man's brand and lous. You know, not quite that good, but I think the power will be pretty solid. - All right, again, that was Cole Young, who is now up to 13 homeruns in the season 48 runs and 48 RBI. Some deeper names. Joshua Karota Grower, he has started every game since getting called up on June 29th. And in 15 games, he's sitting 404, but it's come with not much else at all. He's 18% roster, third base and shortstop eligible. Jacob Gonzalez launched his first home run with the pirates on Saturday. He went two for five with that home run and one of their double header games there. Not confusing at all. Both of the Gonzalez's, Gonzalez, home run on Saturday in the same game. So Nick Gonzalez and Jacob Gonzalez. Jacob, 12% rostered, first and second base eligible. Lane Thomas stayed hot. He had multi hit games on Friday and Saturday. He home run in each of them. He added a stolen base on Sunday. His last 16 games, 323, four homers, 12 RBI, two steals. Talked him up as a deeper sleeper here heading into the second half. He's been playing pretty well. And Ty France has also been hitting well two for six with a double dawn five RBI on Sunday. He also homered on Friday. He has started six straight. And during that span, he has 10 hits for homers and nine RBI. So mostly deeper names here. Scott, they're all under 20% rostered. But is there do any of them stand out to you? Karota, grower, Jacob Gonzalez, Lane Thomas and Ty France. I think Karota, grower could be an interesting batting average specialist. And I think that's all you can count on him to be a plus in or even average in average in everything, but average. Basically, he might be Jacob Wilson though. I mean, he might be what your impression of Jacob Wilson is. I don't think he's going to be what Jacob Wilson actually was last year. Sure. Well, Jacob Wilson was last year. But yeah. But I think like that's that's what Karota grower, tons of contact, high line drive rate, hit for average in the miners. And that's it. And he's a ton, that's so far in the majors. So if that's what you need, fine, but there's a clear limit to the upside there, I think Lane Thomas, I mean, look, you followed up on exactly what you were talking about, the Hall star break with a couple more home runs this weekend. And Ty France, I had as a sleeper hitter for the long scoring period coming out of the Hall star break. So so far, so good as far as that goes. He's obviously been hot. He's been a player of some value in fantasy in years past. As as Lane Thomas, my trust level in all of these guys is very low. It's strictly, okay, they're doing something for me now. And I have a need. Let's see how long it lasts. And that's fine. Sometimes that's what you have to do. But I wouldn't, you know, I want to go crazy throwing $5 at these guys. Yeah, I picked up Ty France in my Tout Wars league on Sunday night. That's a 15 team roto. So I think I got him for $13 out of a $1,000 budget. So like 1%, but you know, he's playing and he's hitting. So see where I go with Ty France. I do have a name in NL only leagues. Andres Chaparo had a monster game on Friday as the nationals put up 23 runs. He went 4 for 5 with a double dong 8 RBI, but he's only really starting against left hand to pitching. So it's, I think it's just an NL only name for now. I have a bunch of starting pitchers here who keep trending up six names in particular. So I'll give you guys three of them each, but Yuri Perez, huge start this weekend. Velocie was up across the board, foster Griffin, another seven inning outing, only allowing one run and that one at the athletics. And Troy Melton, another start with nine strikeouts. He had 18 whips on 94 pitches. His Velocie was up as well. Chris, you get the first thought here. Troy Melton, foster Griffin and Yuri Perez, three pitchers that are just continually trending up. Yeah, it was maybe marginally concerning to see the walk rate go up a little bit for Yuri Perez, but he was so hard to hit. He missed so many bats that I can't really get worked up about that. He looks awesome. It looks like the light switch has gone on for him and it's the, the last seven starts in particular. It's been the couple starts before he went on the aisle. And then I think the fact that he's kept it up after going on the aisles are really good sign because it would have been really easy for him to lose momentum there. It seems like the same trick that worked for Edward Cabrera last year. Bringing in the sinker. In fact, it's been his most thrown pitch in the last two starts, but it's basically that's band of time that you're talking about where he's made the sinker prominent part of his arsenal. And he's the kind of pitcher who typically sinkers, especially for a batmissor, you don't want, but he gets so much movement and he's so hard to hit anyway that either the sinker's going to miss bats either way or he can afford to trim some swing and miss off his game, get some more easy outs. Maybe it helps him, you know, throw strikes too. You know, we'll take that. But either way, it's a super talented pitcher who looks like he's starting to figure it out. That's kind of what we always expected from Yuri Perez. And then Melton just looks awesome. I think he's really good. And, you know, now that he's figured out how to miss bats, now that the velocity has stayed up, he just looks like a really good pitcher with a lot going for him. Griffin, boy, I still don't really get it. I don't really believe in it. I know he has a 268 ERA and it's almost August. And maybe that will continue. But man, two strikeouts, eight whiffs in seven innings and he gives up one run run. I don't, I don't understand how he's doing this. Sometimes there's guys that just, you can't figure out for a long time. And that's that's foster Griffin for me. All right. Three others who are trending up. I have Jake Bennett here. Another strong outing six shutout innings with three strikeouts against the Tampa Bay race. His velocity was actually down across the board. But it is five straight quality starts for Jake Bennett. Trevor Rogers, another solid outing six and a third innings one run. Eight strikeouts to just one walk. Last six starts for him. 123 ERA 101 Whip. And Sean Burke, another great outing six and two thirds shutout five strikeouts at the blue jays. He had 12 whiffs on 98 pitches. And last six games for him. Five of those starts. 141 ERA 0.89 Whip. 47 strikeouts over 38 in the third. So it's got three more names here who keep getting it done. Sean Burke, Trevor Rogers and Jake Bennett. Yeah, it was interesting about Burke in this one. As we've been crediting his recent dominance with a spike in velocity. And that spike was gone in this start. It had been there the previous five. And so we were kind of taking it for granted at that point. But did not see the same increase of velocity in this start. And yet still had a really good start. So I don't know what to make of that. I wish the velocity was still there. But he still had a good start. And it was just one start and six where it wasn't. So I don't know. We'll see how the next one goes. But it's at least worth noting. Rogers, Bennett. I still kind of worry that the lack of strikeouts is going to catch up to Bennett eventually. But he is good at so many other things. Like that's the most important thing in my missing bats. But he's so good at the other things that I don't know if there needs to be a big strike up. Picture it's just 6.4 per nine innings. I mean, that's basically bottom of the barrel. So it has me a little concerned. But obviously I'm not dropping Jake Bennett or anything. Rogers keeps getting it done not really much to add there. I think it's reasonable to remain wary of them given his up and down history. But for now, he seems trustworthy. All Chris, you look like you wanted to say some. I just, Rogers, I have no idea. Dude, it's like there's never a particularly good explanation for why he's so good or so bad at any given point. Pitching, you know, it's just literally sometimes he pitches good and sometimes he pitches not good. And there's no like you're not going to find it in the stuff model. You might find it in the location, but it just, I think you just ride him and don't think too hard about it. And when things start to look like they're going sideways, I'd think strongly about giving up on him. But for now, I think you just start him. Starters at these pictures this week. Garrett Cole, he was pitching a gem on Friday. And it looks like they left him in a little bit too long. And that start, but it was six plus innings, two runs, eight strikeouts to one walk against the Dodgers 13 whiffs on 103 pitches. And his velocity was up a little bit here on the secondaries. Obviously generated some more whiffs. So that was a good sign here for him. He gets the pirates this week at home. What do you guys think about Garrett Cole? I'm starting him. Yeah. This is probably the point where I feel most comfortable starting him. Because like I said earlier, it was the most encouraging start. He's had so far. It was the one where he's looked most like himself. Yeah, I think it's fine to start him. All right. Reed Deppmer is bounced back against the Tigers. He threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts to zero walks, 12 whiffs on 86 pitches. He did use his slider more in this one. And it was a very good pitch for him. But his previous four starts before the break, 740 ERA 169 whip. And he's only 50% started. He gets the cardinals this week. What do you guys think about Reed Deppmer's? Reed Deppmer's a mood ring. Flip a coin or read Deppmer's is a mood ring. And he pitches exactly the opposite of however the fantasy baseball community feels about him. As soon as we start to buy in, he's terrible. As soon as we're like, well, not starting Reed Deppmer's again. He's great. It just he is designed in a lab to break your heart and frustrate you. And I don't know what to do with that as far as actionable advice, except to say that I think he's never going to be as good as his peripherals. Okay, I think that's just, I think he's just kind of McKenzie Gore, you know? I'm not sure I've heard the term mood ring in 30 years. Do it on a look up where the cardinal against lefties this season. They're 13th in Wobba, so kind of a middle of the pack matchup, but honestly with Deppmer's, I don't know that the matchup matters. It's like, it's Deppmer's good today. Is he bad today? I don't know. Flip it's a, it's a charizard. He's 50% starting for a reason. Half the people are starting him. Half are setting him and he'll either. I wouldn't want to have to start him. Yeah. Fair enough. That's three Deppmer's. And Matt, you boy, a strong outing here against the twin six innings of one run ball, four strikeouts. He only had six whiffs on 91 pitches. He is 67% started. He's at the pirates this week. What do you guys think about Mattie Boyd? I think he is good. I don't have, I don't have any concerns. I think he's mostly, I know he hasn't looked as strong as he did last year, but he's looked strong enough that I would not have any qualms about starting him against most anybody. I don't think he's back to must start status. So it just kind of have to weigh your options. But I'd be fine starting him this this week. All right, some pitching left overs. Ace is being ace. As Tarek's scubault dominated the Angel's seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. 19 whiffs on 87 pitches. That was his best start since coming off the aisle. Paul Schienz, very good against the Guardians. 17 innings one run, eight strikeouts. He had 18 whiffs on 100 pitches. I wonder if he's heard the chatter about his fastball. Not that the velocity was up or anything, but he just threw that pitch a bunch. And 15 of his 18 whiffs came on the fastball in the start. Yoshi Noble Yamamoto threw a complete game at the Yankees on Sunday. Four hits to run seven strikeouts to zero walks. And Chris Sale dominated the Rangers on Friday. Seven shutout with six strikeouts. Just his second time even completing six innings in his last eight outing. So I thought that was a good sign here for Chris Sale. Anything to add on Sale. Yamamoto, Paul Schienz and Tarek Scubault. I mean, Scubault seems all the way back. Sale, that is important. Like I had been noting just how how low his innings were relative to other pictures of his ilk. And part of it was that the braves were pushing back his starts often to keep him fresh, I guess. And part of it was that he had gone on a long run without even a six innings start. So to see him have seven, I was very encouraging. And yeah, those were the main takeaways for that group. Yamamoto is interesting because he leads the majors in pitches per innings per start. And so he might get to 200 innings despite only being on pace for 30 starts. Interesting. His strikeout is way down. He has a 223 Babip Elite Control, best of his career. He's definitely benefiting from the Dodgers having a very, very good defense behind him. But it's just been a weird season for him. He's just different this year than he's not quite as good as he was last season, but he's still really good and really valuable. He's just not a top five starting pitcher, I think. Any thoughts on schemes? I know that we've talked about him a ton lately. And I feel like we just have just I just think he's all the way back. Like I said, no, that's cool. I mean, obviously this was good. The sort of start where if you'd been doing this for the last month, I don't think anybody would raise any concerns. So it's not like the velocity was back or anything. So to the degree that that concerns you, you can remain concerned, I guess, but it was on its own. It was an encouraging start. Other pitching leftovers. No one McLean was awesome at the Philly six shut out with 10 strikeouts. Logan Gilbert, big whiffs against the Giants six innings three runs 10 strikeouts to one walk. He had 20 whiffs on 95 pitches. And he's gone six plus innings and seven straight. I think that's a really good sign for Logan Gilbert and show to Emanaga back on track against the twins seven shut out innings four strikeouts to one walk. This was just his second quality start in his last 11 outings. I knew it was bad. I didn't know it was that bad for show to Emanaga. Chris, any thoughts on him? Logan Gilbert and Noam Claim. Yeah, the note in here about Gilbert's splitter is interesting because the movement profile was significantly different. He was getting more drop, more horizontal break, and he threw it harder. I'm not sure what to make of that suggests some kind of grip switch on it. But that's noteworthy just because he's been working with a change up and a splitter this season. And I wonder if that's just kind of the feel hasn't been there, but that's interesting. It was really good. He got six whiffs. No heart, no contact on it at all. So I think Logan Gilbert's really good. I know it's been a frustrating season, but I think he's a if he's not a top 10 starting pitcher, he's not far off. Couple of hitting leftovers to point out. Tray Turner had himself a nice weekend. He homeworked on Friday. He went three for four with a sock and a shoe on Saturday as Merlin Valdez, the magician. He just keeps on hitting homers two more homers this weekend. He is now up to 12 home runs in 31 games. Jackson Merrill, a huge game on Sunday, four for six with two socks and a shoe and Hunter Goodman, a massive game on Sunday, three for four with a triple dong, five RBI. He's up to 30 home runs, which is the third most in all of baseball. So awesome season here for Hunter Goodman. The call to the bullpen for the twins on Friday. Yoendry's Gomez got the ninth inning with a three run lead. He allowed a walk, but he picked up his 12th save for the Orioles on Friday. Tyler Wells got the ninth with a one run lead. He allowed a hit and a walk, but picked up his third save on Saturday. Tyler Wells pitched a ninth inning with the game tide. He tossed a clean inning. Andrew Kitchwich got the 10th with a one run lead. He allowed the man for demand into score. He took his third blown save and eventually cam Sanders or Saunders got the 11th with a two run lead and he picked up his first save. Then on Sunday, both Tyler Wells and Andrew Kitchwich were unavailable. It was Grant Wolfram who picked up the save for the Orioles. But I still lean towards Tyler Wells as being the highest leverage reliever in that bullpen for the Royals on Friday. And it matters more now with Helsley. Ryan Helsley moving to the 60 day. I know. Yep. For the Royals on Friday, Alex Lang got the ninth with a one run lead. He allowed a game tying home or two tie France. He took his first blown save. He also his ear raised up to six. Do you guys? I mean, it might not matter. The Royals have been terrible, but yeah, any feel for their bullpen? I mean, part of it is he's had obviously the blown save is what it is, but he's had a lot of really ugly outings in non-save chances. And I don't know how much the Royals are factoring that in, but it is one of those oddities throughout baseball history that when a guy gets a custom to closing and you bring him into a non-closing situation, like I don't know if he just can't match the same adrenaline level or what, but I mean, look, he's had like he had like three solid weeks as the closer you can't take him. You can't mess with that role. No. Like I don't know that he's good enough, but like who else do the Royals have? I mean, that's the R.A. is pushing six and he's got a one seven with and Matt Strom is out for the season, right? I know. No, no, no, I'm thinking of someone else. That's the thing in a Brad Keller. Different guy. Go look, tell him. I don't know. Like obviously I'm not that attached to Lang, but in leagues where saves are scarce if you have to bet on any one Royals reliever, I, I would still bet on him. I'm looking at John Schreiber has a 338-ERA 129-Whip. He's well under a strikeout for any, like I don't. I mean, I would also think this bullpen's going to look different in two weeks, right? Like they're probably going to make some trades. How much trade value did those guys have? I don't know if he was trading for any of their kinds. Sure, but I don't actually think 31. John Schreiber's 32. Lucas Erick's 31. Like I kind of think you just get what you can for them. Maybe possibility. For the Angels on Friday, Kirby Yates got the ninth with a one run lead. He gave up two runs. He took his third blown save and fifth loss. For the Angels on Sunday, Ryan Zepherjohn got the ninth with a two run lead. He allowed a solo homer of a picked up his third save. They keep going back to Kirby Yates, but he has not been great. Do you think Ryan Zepherjohn now gets the next save for the Angels? Doesn't matter. All right, lean towards it. Doesn't matter. Kirby Yates had a good run there for a while. I guess he's, I guess he's had some bumps in the road here recently and checked. A couple bad outings, but all in all, his last month has still been pretty great. I always think it's worse than it is, but 374 ERA 106 whip well over strike out printing. Yeah, that's fine. Last 13 outings, 230 ERA 178 FIP. Lot of strikeouts. All right. So would you bet on Kirby eights? Yeah, I would. I wouldn't. For the pirates on Saturday, Gregory Soto entered with one out in the eighth inning, bases loaded a two run lead. He allowed a run in on a wild pitch and then another on an RBI single. He took his fifth blow and save the Dennis antenna got the ninth with the game tied and he gave up a walkoff. Homer took his fifth loss. The pirates need to trade for a closer or a reliever very badly. Yep. I don't think multiple. I don't think they're the person who leads them and saves the rest of season is currently on their roster. So I'll put that would be my guess too. Yeah. Although there was the annoying report that they're looking to add without adding salary, which is just what's the point? Come on pirates. You're finally solid. And you just the point like let's do something here, man. For the white socks on Sunday, Grant Taylor allowed two hits, but picked up his fifth save and for the nationals on Sunday, Clayton Beater got the final four outs. He did allow a run, but picked up his eighth save of the season. The nationals do not have a closer and they never will ever again, but it's probably Clayton Beater, but he's bad to stream or not to stream on Monday. We have Shane Bos at the red socks Trevor McDonald at the Royals, Jack Flurry at the Cubs, Andrew Abbott at the Mariners Kyle Leahy at the angels. Well, I said I liked Flurry is a sleeper picture this week, but that was for the two-star week, not so much the first outing. I think the second one is Kansas City, but this Cubs matchup is a tough one. So I think instead I would look to and Gavin's my favorite. Abidette Seattle. I don't mind Kyle Leahy at Angels. I don't mind Bryce Elder versus San Diego. I know he's been awful for a while, but really bad. Yeah, really bad. Another red socks have heated up, but I don't mind Shane Bos. I was thinking Bos, but red socks are pretty hot right now. Yeah, yeah. I think I would rank them Abid Flurry Bos on Monday. Honorable mention to Kyle Leahy. On Tuesday, we have Baba Chandler is not at the pirates. That wouldn't make sense. Baba Chandler at the Yankees, we have Ronaldo Lopez. I didn't write that as matchup. So like, what was I doing versus San Diego? Yeah, that was, I think we like that one. So Baba Chandler at the Yankees, we're not the Lopez against the Padres. Tyler Malle is at the Royals, Brandon Sprout against the Metz. Zach Thornt. Chris, I like it. Zach Thornton at the Brewers. Noah Schultz at the Rangers. Tattooi Mai against the Marlins. Walbert Arania against the Cardinals, Luis Castillo. Revenge game against the Reds. I think there's some good ones here. I like Castillo. I think Arania is pretty good. I like Ronaldo Lopez versus the Padres. I think Sprout or Thornton could be good. I think him, am I could be good. Yeah, I think my top choices would be Lopez against the Padres. Castillo against the Reds. And then we got to do Sprout in the revenge game. We have to do it. I don't think I do. I don't think you ever have to do, Brandon Sprout. I think I take Arania over him, but whatever. It's not a ton of upside there. All right, we are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Vs Ball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow with a full slate of game. We'll see you then. Bye. [Music] Paramount podcasts. Criminal Minds Evolution is back on Paramount Plus. Do you think it's possible, which is certain some hidden pattern shared by all serial killers? With a new killer each week. I see those wheels turning. When a convict get killer emerges, the VAU will form a dark alliance with a familiar foe. Elias, what do you help us with? This season, evil is contagious. Once it starts, I can't be stopped. Criminal Minds Evolution. New season now streaming on Paramount Plus.