Speaker 1Hey, before we jump back into the show, let's take a quick break. But not just any break, this is a refreshing break with Snapple. We all know about Snapple's iconic real facts, so let's take a minute to go over some of my faves. Snapple real fact 1417, before 1859, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs. Snapple real fact 1483, more than 100 baseballs are used during a typical professional baseball game. Snapple real fact 253, the first TV remote control introduced in 1950 was called Lazy Bones. Snapple real fact 2105, professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville in the off-season. So grab a Snapple, take a second, and enjoy the moment. Because let's be honest, this might be the most refreshing part of your day. Snapple, make your break more interesting. Alright, now let's get back to the show. Hey, our ride's almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes.
Speaker 2That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just dropped a video call, uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch cool bananas with the group chat, and of course, still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone. All at once? Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to T-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multitasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more, I'm totally switching. My post is. It's taking way too long to upload. That's a sign. You've got to get T-Mobile.
Speaker 3So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uclo Speed Test Intelligence data of national speed score results incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, rushing deep left field. This is where the walk of life. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasybaseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now, here's Frank, Scott, and Chris.
Speaker 1Hey there, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today. On Thursday, September 24th, I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have more names. For the 2027 Sleeper-O-Meter, are these four hitters cooked? Two players that I believe will be pretty tough to rank for next season, and much more. Let's jump in. Can you believe it? Wow! Wow! The Marlins appear to have a closer, and his name is. Sandy! Tell me about it, Stan. Chris, you're player of the night.
Speaker 4Yeah, no, Sandy Alcantara. Sandy Alcantara is not the Marlins' closer. The Marlins do not have a closer, and never will. Ever again. But I don't think this is. So, Sandy Alcantara got a save for the second time in the last week, on Wednesday night. Wednesday night, yeah. It was another. Not quite 1-2-3 inning, but I think he got a double play to get out of it. And that's now two saves. And I realized that. This is the fourth time they've done this, with three different starting pitchers in the past month. They did it with Jansen Junk towards the end of August. They did it with Uri Perez, I think, over the weekend, on Saturday, maybe?
Speaker 1No, I think that was on, like, Tuesday. Was that Monday? Was that last night? Monday or Tuesday, yeah.
Speaker 4Yeah. And now they've done it twice with Sandy Alcantara, where he's gotten a save. And with Uri, the plan actually was to use him in the ninth inning, and then the way the game went, the sixth inning ended up being the bigger spot, so they used him there. But I looked up the MLB.com story from yesterday, after Uri's appearance, and I'll just read from the story. Quote, McCullough reiterated that this wouldn't be something starters would do between every outing next season. Rather, maybe four times a year. Circumstances and variables would be taken into account. Then there's a quote from McCullough, This is something that has a potential. And him, being Uri Perez, now having the experience of having done that, I think it's a great developmental piece for him, too, to take on something different. Also, looking down the road, if this is something that we explore further, he and us can draw from this. It sounds like the Marlins are actually thinking about doing this. I don't think it's going to be, like, some kind of crazy closer committee with all five starters, pitching every week, and, like, that's not going to happen. But a handful of times, in key situations, when the closer's not available, yeah, it sounds like the Marlins might actually be considering this.
Speaker 5Didn't McCullough suggest a number of times they may do it? Yeah, four times.
Speaker 4Four times. But, you know, who knows what, like, whether that's the actual plan or what, because that's not a direct quote. That was what the reporter put. But I'm not saying this should be something that changes how you view Sandy Alcantara or Uri Perez or, I don't know, Jansen Junk or Max Meyer. I don't think they're probably going to do it with Max Meyer. But I think if you're, like, looking ahead to next season, it's something to consider, at least for Sandy, that, hey, maybe he gets four or five saves next year. And that's not a huge amount, but in a Roto League, that's not nothing. I'll always remember it because it's one of the weirdest seasons I've ever seen. Tyler Holton in 2024 was, like, a top 16 starting pitcher in fantasy because he had seven wins and nine saves. He also had a 219 ERA and.78 whip over 90 innings. But still, the wins and saves carried a lot of weight there. And it could be a nice little bonus for Sandy Alcantara. And it's at least something to consider heading into next season if you're torn between him and some other boring innings eater, type like Logan Webb. Maybe you just take Sandy Alcantara instead because maybe you get five saves out of him at the end of the season. I don't think it's, like, the most likely outcome. Anytime you're dealing with, I think this would be a pretty unprecedented situation. But it's something to consider, at least. This is the first time a player has had two saves and 33 starts in a season since 1996. Before that, it had been, like, the 1970s. So, this is weird stuff that we're seeing. But it could potentially matter for 2026. My initial thought with that Diamondbacks game last week was, oh, well, that was a fun thing they did. But, no, they're actually talking about it.
Speaker 5But to be clear, you're like, the take is Sandy Alcantara might get two or three saves next year.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think you'd be, like, five at the most. And so that's not a huge number. Like I said, tiebreaker.
Speaker 1Yeah. It just adds a slight wild card to fantasy and something that we really have not seen, at least since I've been playing fantasy baseball.
Speaker 4So, specific. Like, we have seen pitchers be used in different roles. But what the Marlins are seemingly talking about is taking their bullpen days between starts and using that in games instead.
Speaker 1Yeah, but we almost never see that. Maybe it happens towards the end of the season or, you know, in a playoff. In the postseason or something like that. But, I mean, we've now seen it twice in the past week. So, it's just kind of interesting. It's a fun thing. It's a little wrinkle, I guess, to remember for next season. Of course, Sandy Alcantara would have to be in your lineup all season long because I don't think we'll know when these saves are going to come, if they are going to come even at all. But it's, yeah, just kind of an interesting wrinkle, I think, for next year.
Speaker 5Well, and it might not be just him, too, because they did it this week with Yuri Perez.
Speaker 4True. And they said that the plan was to, use Yuri in the ninth inning before circumstances were changing.
Speaker 1Yeah, the game was tied in the eighth, and I think the heart of the lineup was coming up.
Speaker 5I guess, to give the, oh, there's a fence here. I don't know why there's a fence here, so let's just tear it down. That's kind of what the Marlins are saying. To give the opposite take, I don't know why the fence is here, so I better leave it. I think the idea of why, for all of history, teams haven't. done that, is because bullpen sessions, throw days in between starts, are lower intensity than a game scenario, particularly a closing scenario. So, I don't know how likely it is.
Speaker 4I think that's why they're testing it out now. Yeah. Especially late in the season, like, testing it out when these guys would presumably be at their least fresh, I think, would give them at least some data about how they bounce back from it. So, I think it's interesting.
Speaker 5It is interesting. I just. I wonder if they'll find out it's a bad idea. In the long run, I mean, something that, okay, it didn't cause any problems for two weeks. It might be a different scenario for 27 weeks.
Speaker 1And I guess this could all go away if the Marlins just somehow sign or trade for some very well-established closer, but Pete Fairbanks was a one-year deal. He needs thoracic outlet surgery, so it's not going to happen there. And honestly, you know, they use Fairbanks as their main, you know, their main closer this year, but last year in Clayton McCullough's first year, they were all over the place with closer. usage so uh yeah at his core he does not want to close her ever again scott over to you let's talk about your uh player of the night george kirby a perfect way to cap off his season
Speaker 6yeah it was it was what was basically
Speaker 5the typical george kirby start at least this year three or four on runs and five innings nine base runners allowed nothing remarkable about it he threw his fastball 34 percent of the time so i guess i'm just using the fact that he started as an excuse to address mariners pitchers as a whole again and i don't know um i don't know if this is an organizational philosophy i i have no idea i've just it's just something i've noticed but i don't know if this is an organizational philosophy i i have no idea i've just it's just something i've noticed but i don't know if this is an organizational philosophy between three mariners pitchers they happen to be on the same team so it wouldn't surprise me if it's something the organization is doing maybe these pitchers are doing it of their own volition but all three have gotten worse over the course of their career all three came up throwing a lot more fastballs than they do now i mean gilbert yeah logan gilbert uh george kirby and bryce miller all three came up very fastball heavy as they've gotten away with that gotten away from that they've gotten worse and so i that's part of the appeal i'm not the only one who's expressed it part of the thinking why george kirby may be able to recapture something if he was traded to a different organization i've noticed this with the fastball not just over the course of their career but within this season as well especially with bryce miller uh and logan gilbert we have a bigger sample of them and they're not going to be able to capture something like that of them having starts where they throw their fastball more and if you isolate i don't have the numbers compiled here uh like i do for peyton toley when i talk about his curveball but um i did look into it more when they've thrown their fastballs more this year they've generally been much better that's true for kirby too now he has only four starts where he's thrown his fastball 40 or more this year so it is a tiny sample and maybe the least revealing of the three but in those four starts george kirby has a 106 era 0.95 whip and and more than a strikeout per inning so it again it may it may not have anything to do with the mariners there was kind of a hullabaloo on social media this weekend because somebody tattled on me to lance brosdowski and eno saris saying i think the mariners are bad at pitching development that's that's not what i'm saying i'm just saying three mariners pitchers have all gotten worse by doing the same thing and i'm not sure it makes sense to do that thing in their organization and uh yeah i hope george kirby gets traded because i think uh i think in the hands of just just you know different or that probably the organization that acquires him would want to make some changes given the way he's fallen off and i think it might have something to do with this
Speaker 4and i think it's worth noting that around the trade deadline when trade when george kirby was mentioned in some trade rumors that was the the talk that the that other teams saw changes they could make to kirby to unlock something so there's some evidence of that uh around baseball i i also just think like logan gilbert is a funny one because there was a story this spring about when cal raleigh went to the world baseball classic logan gilbert was excited because it meant he could throw his cutter because cal raleigh just does not let him did not let him throw those pitches um in the past and you know whether that's the organization or just cal raleigh you know i'm sure he gets to decide what he's calling anyway um for a platinum glove winner yeah i really do think and there have been stories about this i think there's a culture of you know all the pitchers are constantly tinkering and trying to one-up each other and there's a culture of competitiveness within the staff and and i think all that stuff is good but i think you see it with i think logan gilbert's a really good example of he's got this like six or seven pitch arsenal now and everything looks good the stuff metrics i think he's like above average on five different pitches uh including like the splitters like a 141 stuff plus or something crazy um and the individual results on the pitches are all good and then you zoom out and it's like oh he's got like a 370 era and it's like well there's some kind of disconnect here and in gilbert's case last year it was slider it was four seamer slider splitter and then you zoom out and it's like oh he's got like a 370 era and it's like well there's a splitter uh curveball was basically all he threw and this year he adds the cutter this year he brings the change up back and those don't look like bad pitches but my thing with that was why what was the point of this it was working yep and so i just you know i go back to um trevor bauer like i had eight years ago where yeah famously tinkering all the time adding new pitches changed the grips all the and he got to a point where he was a cy young winner and then he got to a point where he was kind of mediocre after that and it was like well he tinkered his way into it maybe he tinkered his way out and i think jose barrio or not uh marcus stroman was another guy like this that was just constantly making changes and it's like that's not to say you should sit on your laurels and never try to improve but it does like sometimes there's tinkering broke yeah sometimes there's tinkering just for tinkering's sake and i i don't know like look the mariners are just bad like we talked about this on yesterday's pod but the vibes are just rotten and i think basically everybody but randy a rosarena and cole young has had a disappointing season for the rangers or the mariners so technically they're still not eliminated from the playoffs as we're speaking uh but maybe it's just one of those seasons where everything went wrong and there's nothing fundamentally broken and these guys will figure it out because they're all super talented but it's just it's been super frustrating for a lot of these guys and i
Speaker 5mean it didn't just start this year at least not for kirby and miller um and gilbert i don't i don't know that i'd say it started this year for him either he's kind of a different case but uh i
Speaker 1do wonder a little bit about the injuries just for both guys with kirby with the shoulder and then logan gilbert last year kind of had the flexor thing forearm injury i don't know if that has contributed at all to just you know changing pitch mixes or not in kirby's case maybe not throwing his fastball as much because of the shoulder i don't know i'm just kind of throwing theories out there but yeah that's all we have
Speaker 4right now is is theories so and kirby's a guy whose arm angle has changed yeah over the past three years and and i think uh that definitely was related to the injury last year it could just be
Speaker 5that i mean it could be the fact that they emphasize their fastball less at times also happens to be the times they're less than 100 it could be but like suspicious timing when it's true for all three
Speaker 4of them uh yeah i mean part of me thinks it's a it might be kind of a little bit like you know that stat where like oh teams are 112 and 7 when they run the football 35 times it's well like yeah they run the football more because they're winning right you know like you throw your fastball more because your fastball is working that day kind of thing but that's always true i i think what
Speaker 5it gets down to for me though is like that the trend in the sport right now is definitely add pitches like that's something every pitcher's encouraged to do and i wouldn't doubt that on the whole it the statistics show that pitchers improve by adding more pitches on the whole but i i don't know that george kirby logan gilbert and brian miller are that sort of median talent that needs to apply that that needs to be subjected to standard practices like they might be so good that um it's actually hindering them rather than helping them all right
Speaker 1i will very quickly mention my player of the night and this might be the one piece of advice that factors or matters for people who are still playing if you play in a daily lineup league uh for the weekend but yiner diaz went two for five with his 14th home run and three rbi and over his last 24 games he is hitting at 363 with six homers and ops over a thousand 93 mile per hour average ev he is absolutely locked in he is playing a bunch he has started 10 of the past 11 games yiner diaz is 39 percent rostered and his final four games are all in sacramento against the athletics great hitting environment he's going up against mason barnett jacob lopez jack perkins brady basso two lefties on the schedule lopez is spiraling right right now as well so just great pitching matchups great environment to hit in if you need a a catcher for the final four days of the season and you play in a daily lineup league i think yiner diaz is the name for you he also is amazing on the road this season so boom yiner diaz get him in there before we hit our first break big thanks everyone for being here watching live we appreciate you make sure to hit that like button and if you're listening on the audio side of things drop us a five-star rating and review apple or spotify wherever you listen we really do appreciate it let's take a break we'll be back right after this baseball season is in full swing and there's no better place to be than calci america's number one prediction market platform atlanta is currently trading at seven percent to win it all meaning a one hundred dollar trade pays out over twelve hundred dollars with a win on calci you're trading against other people in a live market no house no odds makers and as the odds move you can buy in or out anytime throughout the postseason download the calci app and use code fan to get up to five hundred dollars in bonus credits when you trade twenty five dollars k-a-l-s-h-i calci trade on anything 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors calci products are not available in all jurisdictions prices values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information see calci.com regulatory baseball has always been a game of inches now it's also a game of seconds t-mobile and mlb have teamed up to bring abs challenge to all twenty nine ballparks across the u_s_ this isn't a minor upgrade this is the most significant new technology in the history of the sport and it's powered by t-mobile with every pitch thrown abs challenge uses real-time precision to verify the call giving them the support they need no delays no guesswork just accuracy at the speed the game demands thanks to abs challenge t-mobile is helping power the moments that define the game when performance and reliability are non-negotiable mlb turns to t-mobile that's not a coincidence that's what happens when the most innovative network in the country powers the most data-driven sport in the world t-mobile powers mlb's most ambitious technology and america's best network powers your connection to baseball homer away every pitch every game every day t-mobile it's better over here major league baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of major league baseball visit mlb.com t-mobile best mobile network in the u.s. according to ucla speed test based on analysis by ucla of speed test intelligence data first half 2026 ucla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission
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Speaker 1baseball today let's hit the news and notes aaron judge told espn that he intends to be ready to play in game one of the wild card series next week and in response to that and in the words of ron burgundy i don't believe you i hope that i'm wrong about this situation it's a very weird one too because aaron boone came out the other day and said you know it's a moderate strain of the calf for judge and they're not expecting him back for the wild card series judge then spoke to the media after wednesday night's game and he had like a 10 minute interview where he's like i don't know why he said any of that stuff i'm still trying to make it back so just kind of weird misunderstanding miscommunication right now but uh it's it's
Speaker 4wait and see sounds like a situation where the team might need to protect the player from the themselves and i get yeah especially get why aaron judge in particular would want to play in the postseason and and you know kind of reverse some of the narratives that have started to crop up about his postseason play but and this might
Speaker 1be his best chance right like they have an amazing pitch yeah it's like now is the time you
Speaker 4know yeah no nothing's promised um and so i i definitely get that but man it's a it's a tough spot for a team to be in if he's pushing to play but i don't know it is oddly
Speaker 1reminiscent of uh kevin durant right a couple of years ago when he kind of yeah went against you know went against what was told of him and you know he was dealing with a calf strain and it turned out he tore his achilles in that series when playing with the warriors so um obviously that would be worst case scenario for aaron judge but it has to be in the back of like whenever you're dealing with a calf i mean it could turn into an achilles so it's uh i wouldn't want to be the manager of the yankees right now i'll just leave it there sticking with the yankees for a second the pay is pretty good yeah that's true uh a lot of scrutiny too uh john carlos day and took live bp on wednesday with the possibility of being available in next week's wild card series so sure yeah okay uh john carlos day and then aaron judge we'll see the dodgers reinstated shohei otani and optioned hoseway back to triple a they did say there's a chance that depaula could be on the postseason roster in 11 games he hit 323 with a 500 on base percentage one homer one steal his ops was over a thousand he had 11 walks to five strikeouts eleven and a half percent barrel rate tons of line drives obviously lots to be excited about one of the top prospects in all baseball is hoseway depaula uh scott let's fire up the sleep barometer for hoseway depaula next season you might want to do it like with or without tay oscar hernandez i guess
Speaker 5yeah i'm gonna say 10 like they gotta figure out a way to get him on their opening day roster next year like it's it's to me bizarre that they just sent him down i mean i guess they're not playing for anything right now they're acknowledging that uh they're likely to include him on the postseason roster so we may come to find out he does play more than tay oscar hernandez when the games count for them again and that'll make it pretty clear what their plans are for next year but i imagine they'll find a way to fit josue hoseway depaula in their lineup and i think he would be a burning red 10 the sort of sleeper who becomes not a sleeper it's he went and it's everyone's
Speaker 4favorite breakout it's it's the wrong yeah i think the sleeper is the wrong phrasing there i think it's uh like so the highest adps for rookies over the past decade are bobby witt at 82.2 carol at 62 cory seager at 60.1 randy rosarena 57.5 and vlad jr at 51.5 i think that's the range if they trade to oscar hernandez wow maybe he should like maybe that's too much but like we're talking about a top five prospect in baseball we have proof of concept of extremely high level skills and extremely uh well-rounded abilities and then yeah if he's in the lineup on opening day like if he's guaranteed to be there i think he's gonna be a top 75 pick no matter what like he's going 27 and 31 at yeah at double a and then walked 11 times in 11 games with five strikeouts like yeah you cannot ask for much more from a rookie
Speaker 5yeah yeah i think i think what's going to be kind of weird to until we actually take the time to line up the players we're projecting what round they're likely to go in is this was an unusual season we talked about a lot in the respect that a lot of the players the early round mainstays underperform like the vast majority of them did and you can only move them so far down the rankings and yet you have these new ones who actually ended up performing like early rounders who weren't drafted in rounds one and two this year and so i i think it's going to be a more crowded top 50 top 60 than usual because of that uh that's i'm pretty early in the rankings process still but that's already the sense i'm getting is wow i i can't move this just because he had one bad year i can't move this guy too far down you know
Speaker 4and tucker and vlad and yeah yeah a lot of guys like that yeah that astros mariners
Speaker 1game just went final by the way and the mariners walked it off so technically so they're not dead yet the astros had a golden opportunity to pull one game ahead of the rangers uh they are tied for the first place in al west both being under 500 and
Speaker 4i think do the mariners play the rangers for their next series i think that's the the way it lines up because i'm pretty sure if the mariners win out i don't know they play the angels next four so if the mariners win out and the rangers and uh astros lose out the mariners would make the playoffs that is the only way and it's almost certainly not going to happen right but wouldn't that be a crazy way for this mariner season to end they win the division with 78 wins and then if that
Speaker 6happens what if they win the world series chris i mean they they came pretty close to making it let's suddenly dan wilson has a job still that would be unbelievable
Speaker 1my my al my al world series representative He's still alive. Before the season, the Seattle Mariners, baby, let's go. Ronald Acuna was not in the lineup after fouling a ball off of his leg on Tuesday. Jesus Lizardo played catch Wednesday for the fourth day in a row and is expected to throw off a mound as soon as Thursday. The Blue Jays placed Dylan Cease in the IL with right shoulder inflammation ending his season. Once again, he does not need surgery, so that's the good news for Dylan Cease. Cedon Rafaela returned on Wednesday and then he left immediately with right hamstring tightness. Apparently, he will undergo an MRI on Thursday. Jeremy Pena was not in the lineup after getting hit by a pitch on his right wrist on Tuesday. Wilson Gutierrez has missed five straight with right hand soreness. Samuel Basayo was placed on the seven-day concussion IL ending his season, and it ends with 112 games played, 222 batting average, 18 home runs, 54 RBI, a 697 OPS. I still think there's a lot of promise. I think there's a lot of upside. I think there's massive power potential, but there also have been a lot of injuries early on here in Samuel Basayo's career, so I think that is something we will have to factor in for next season. Rays manager Kevin Cash said Shane McClanahan will not be included on the ALDS roster. He is working his way back from a forearm injury. This could matter for those who are playing in daily lineup leagues this final week. Sunday's game between the Cubs and the Red Sox has been rescheduled as a split doubleheader on Friday. Apparently, there is a big storm that is coming to the Northeast this weekend, so yeah, they've already got out ahead of that. Cubs and Red Sox doubleheader Friday. They will not play on Sunday, but I mean, that could cause some postponements this weekend and maybe doubleheaders on Sunday. I don't know. It could just turn into mayhem this weekend, so we'll see. The Astros placed Christian Javier on the IL with that groin injury ending his season, unfortunately. Curtis Meade is a long shot to be available for the postseason. He's been out almost two months with a fractured left wrist. Jackson Holliday will undergo left wrist surgery next week. He is dealing with a tear and some cartilage in that wrist, and he will need about 10 weeks of rehab. Should be fine for the start of spring training. Chase Burns worked on adding a sinker in September before going on the IL. It's something that we'll have to watch in spring training. Again, that's Chase Burns with a sinker. We know he throws super hard, so perhaps another weapon he could use against right-handed hitters. Come on, man. No, don't need it.
Speaker 5I don't like hearing that. That seems to fit into the same category, maybe even more so, as those Mariners pitchers. You just don't need it, Chase Burns. Maybe one day you will. Well, at least in his case, he really only is a two-pitch pitcher. Yeah, but he's amazing, so I don't really care.
Speaker 4It's not a need, for sure.
Speaker 5Yeah, and I just think it's more likely to hinder him than help him from offensively. From a fantasy standpoint, but we'll see. Maybe it's all talk.
Speaker 1Max Scherzer, who pitched on Wednesday, is an option to pitch on short rest on Sunday. The sole reason for this is to try and rank higher on the all-time strikeout leaderboard. So Scherzer is currently four strikeouts behind Justin Verlander, who is set to pitch on Saturday. But Verlander really hasn't been throwing much, so I don't really think he's going to throw too many innings. It might just be one inning of work there for Verlander. I don't think he's going to throw much on Saturday. And so Scherzer is trying to pass Verlander on the all-time strikeout leaderboard. I love it. Scherzer has also not announced whether or not he's retiring, but this kind of leads you to think he's retiring if he's trying to do this. Yeah. Yep. Mitch Keller said he feels fully healthy and plans to resume throwing in late October. He was shut down with a right terrace major strain back in August. Scott, this helps your Leo Bernal ranking for next season. The Cardinals believe that Bernal can be an everyday workhorse. And they are giving him a heavy workload here down the stretch to prepare him for 2027. So, good news.
Speaker 5Yeah, I ended up moving him down to 11th when I actually published my initial rankings. At least for Roto. I think I have him. Sorry, I have first base pulled up. Yeah, I have Bernal still eighth in head-to-head points because guys like Samuel Visayo, Carter Jensen, and Kyle Raleigh have been. They have some pretty bad strikeout issues. That's why they're lower in points. But I went ahead and left them ahead of Bernal. And Roto, when I took a closer look at all three of them, Jensen, Visayo, and Raleigh, I think there's enough reason for encouragement with each that I shouldn't give Bernal that massive benefit of the doubt over what's only a couple weeks of impressive production. I still like him a lot. I mean, I'm still. Putting him as a top 12 player at a pretty deep position for next year with very little track record to go on.
Speaker 1I think that ranking alone would still be higher than most people for next year.
Speaker 4Okay. All right, good. Yeah, when I did mine, I got. We have a lot of them. When I did mine, it was 14. The one that I bumped my head against was Will Smith because his underlying numbers were actually excellent this season when he played. It's just, what, 62 games?
Speaker 5Yeah, and I don't see that. Well, I told him to prove on 62 games, but, like, the. A friend of him sitting. It's probably, like, 110. Yeah. Yeah, it started even before the injury plague, 2026.
Speaker 4Yeah. But, like, with Bernal, I mean, they've got arguably the top-catching prospect in baseball at. He was at. Did he get to AA by the end of the season? Yeah. Yes. And so it's like.
Speaker 5Ryan E.L. Rodriguez.
Speaker 4And they've got at least one other top 100-type catcher down there. Blanking on the name, but you kind of have to figure out, if. What Leo Bernal can do really quickly.
Speaker 1Yeah. And I still think there's a chance that they trade Yvonne Herrera in the offseason.
Speaker 5Yes. Has he sat yet since being called up, Bernal? Like, that's. I don't think so. That's, I think, the ultimate clincher for me. Like, and now they're saying they see him as an everyday workhorse catcher.
Speaker 1He has not sat a single time.
Speaker 5Has not sat a single time as a catcher just entering the league.
Speaker 1And he's been thrown right into the middle of the lineup. He has hit fourth or fifth in every game except for.
Speaker 4One? It looks like. And why not? He's got a 127 WRC+. He's been awesome. Yeah. He's probably not this good. I get it. It reminds me a little bit of Carter Jensen at the end of last season, where it was like, oh, he looks like a superstar. And it's like, okay, well, he's probably just like a good player.
Speaker 1I was thinking that. I don't want to overrate kind of the small sample prospect, because again, like Carter Jensen, I think is a good example. We did that. But even if you don't overrate it and take like his minor league numbers at face value and just predict that he's going to play a ton next year, I still think that's a good example. That's enough to be excited about.
Speaker 4Yeah. A 110 WRC plus bat over 140 games a catcher is pretty valuable, no matter what. The comp, I
Speaker 5made it before, but I see some parallels to Drake Baldwin here with Leo Bernal. All right. Yeah.
Speaker 1And we did have some weird comments from Vlad Jr. Surface and Go Viral. Everyone has a comment about Vlad Jr. here on Wednesday in an interview that he did with Veronica Batista quote, and it was translated. It was an interview that he did in Spanish. So, I mean, I just hope like they didn't botch the translation, but it feels like everyone from what I've seen it.
Speaker 4Yeah. Everyone had
Speaker 1the same kind of response to this, these quotes, but quote, they didn't pay me to hit 40 every year, 40 home runs. That is, they paid me for what I already did. I want people to understand one thing. The money that they gave me wasn't for what I'm going to do. It was for what I already did. They didn't pay me because I'm going to hit 40 every year. They paid me for what I'm going to do. I already accomplished. Vlad was asked about these comments on Wednesday by reporters, Blue Jays reporters. And he said, quote, no, I don't regret myself. I'm not lying with what I say. I understand some fans. They don't understand the way and what I was trying to say specifically. But what I said is the way I feel. That's that clarification,
Speaker 5I think kind of confirms my own suspicion here where I understand why people are upset about. I mean, it sounds like Vladimir Guerrero is leaning into the classic case of, oh, I'm paid now so I can just kick back and not try anymore. But if you read the full context of the initial quote and then view that follow-up quote through the same lens, it sounds like he has had to tell himself this to not put so much pressure on himself to live up to the contract.
Speaker 4You've already done it.
Speaker 5Yeah. Yeah, like he's, because he talked about that. He felt a lot of pressure. Now that he's getting paid all this amount. And I think he also says, sometimes the part about how I think fans think they're paying me with the expectation of 40 home runs. And he says something like, sometimes I start to feel that way too. So I think this is something he's using to kind of reassure himself. And I don't know why he feels like he needs to share that with everybody because it's obvious. It's obviously not going over well. But I don't think he means it in the way it actually sounds. I'm trying to be charitable to him.
Speaker 4I also, one, nobody's ever charitable when it comes to athletes. And I'm guilty of that too. I understand it. But we should get the order of operations correct here as well. He had, he got the contract extension last year. And then he hit, what, 32 homers and was an all-star and led the team to the playoffs. playoffs and had that huge postseason that made everybody I think that he was going to be, you know, one of the 10 best hitters in baseball again this season.
Speaker 1He only had 23 home runs, by the way, last year.
Speaker 4Okay, 23 home runs, whatever. Whatever, he was good. And so, like, yeah, the idea that he was, like, dogging it, that all the contracts and albatross, I think that stuff is so silly. Like, he just had a bad season. He might just be, like, it might be a bad contract. I thought it was a bad contract when they signed it. Like, I don't love giving a first baseman $500 million. But, like, the idea that, like, it's suddenly a terrible contract or that he's dogging it, I think that stuff's patently unfair. Like, he had a great season after getting the contract. We don't need to do that.
Speaker 1Yeah, look, people are throwing out, like, Anthony Rendon comps and stuff like that. I think that is going way too far. I hear what you guys are saying, giving him the benefit of the doubt, and I think there's a good chance that he's just been playing through injury all year. He definitely has. I think there could be. There could be a little bit of, like, coasting or whatever. He got paid type thing. But perhaps he can use that as, you know, motivation to prove that doubter's wrong for next season. So, I mean, that'll be up to Vlad Jr. I mean, he is as talented as anybody in baseball. It's up to him. If he puts it all together, we know what he's capable of. It's just, is he going to do it? That remains to be seen. So, we'll see next year a potential bounce-back candidate for Vlad Jr. Let's take our final break when we return. Just how high will some of these names be drafted next season? We'll discuss right after this.
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Speaker 1Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball. Today, how high will some of these names be drafted in 2027? Ben Rice putting an exclamation mark on his breakout season. 3-4-4 with a double dong. He gets up over 40 homers. He's now at 41, and he's kind of had up and down. His first two months were great, but since June on, it's been very up and down production for him. If you look at his OPS by month since June, it's 656, 947, 641, and now 1103 in September. So he is finishing strong, and obviously the overall numbers are great, and the breakout has been fulfilled. How high do you guys think Ben Rice, winds up going in drafts next season?
Speaker 5Well, when I came out with my initial first two rounds for next year, that was, I think, two weeks ago, I had him going late in round two. I've since come out with my initial first base rankings, and I decided to drop him behind Nick Kurtz, as well as Miguel Vargas and Sal Stewart. So he is now fourth at that position when I was initially thinking Ben Rice would be first at the position. Now, I think there's a lot of argument. Like, that's still a what? That might still be a second-round pick. It wouldn't for me. It wouldn't for me. But, yeah, I mean, it might still be. And there might be people who disagree and take him ahead of the two third basemen, especially. I'm elevating them precisely because they're going to be eligible at third base, and it's so much weaker than first base that I don't think you should overdo it with position scarcity, particularly in deeper leagues. But there's a big contrast there between first and second. First base and third base. And so if it's close.
Speaker 1There couldn't be a wider chasm in position scarcity.
Speaker 5Right. So if it's close, I'll give the edge to the first baseman, even though I think Rice will probably put up the better pure numbers next year of those guys. And I decided to drop him behind Kurtz because I had to be reminded of this, actually. Kurtz was playing with that bad thumb for a while, and I was thinking, okay, he ended up hitting only 250-something. Crazy high strikeout rate caught up to him. But you go back to what he was hitting when he injured the thumb, or at least when we first heard of the thumb injury. Nick Kurtz was hitting 280 with like a 950 OPS. He was basically repeating his rookie season. And I think guys who can continually put up an OPS near 1,000 are extremely rare. And so Kurtz has to be number one in my mind.
Speaker 4Also, it's not like Ben Rice is a much better bet for batting average. He doesn't strike out quite as much as. Nick Kurtz, but. I don't know that he's a better bet for batting average at all. Yeah, he's hitting 263 right now. Yeah. So, yeah, I would give Kurtz the edge. I just think the physical tools are better, and I don't think the skills are that much different. I think, for me, Kurtz is the clear number one. It's muddy after that. And I think you go with really any of Rice, Stewart, Vargas, or Alonzo. In any order. I'm going in that order. Rice, Stewart, Vargas, and Alonzo, but I think they're probably all going to be at least top 36, potentially top 30 picks next season. Yeah, top 30, I'd say.
Speaker 1All right, let's talk about Bryce Serang, who has bounced back very nicely here in September after a rough August. He hit his 20th home run, and now in September, 364, three homers, an OPS near 1,100. August numbers were terrible, but he was playing through a knee injury, so I think that really affected the production there back in August. But I think. I think Bryce Serang, this version of Bryce Serang, he's kind of settling in the past two years as the baseline is he's a 20-20 bat. He's going to give you a pretty good batting average. The counting stats look like they're going to be great as well. Just a rock-solid all-around player. His ADP last year was 44.8. I think that's up at least a round. I think Bryce Serang's going to be a pretty consistent third-round pick next season.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think third round. You know, second base is weird because it's deep with a lot of guys, like a lot of decent players. It's not super deep on difference makers. Like, Fernando Tatis, obviously, I think Bryce Serang counts there. Will Brandon Lau finally be drafted as if he's a good player? The world may never know. But then after that, like, who are we going with for the number four second baseman? Assuming that's the. No. No, I have Marte there. But, like. Yeah, Cattell Marte. After that, it's Jazz and Cattell Marte both coming off pretty disappointing seasons. You've got, like, J.J. Weatherholt's a really good player, but it's not, like, a hugely impactful profile for fantasy yet. Brandon Lau? Yeah, I think Brandon Lau might be third for me. And so, yeah, it's second base. Not as strong as I thought it was, but I think.
Speaker 5But people got to remember, too, Otto Lopez and Sal Stewart won't be eligible at second base next year.
Speaker 4But that's kind of the other point I was going to make is guys always add second base eligibility, especially. Like, I feel like second base, you get more players unexpectedly adding second base eligibility than at any other position. But to get to the point of Bryce Terang, because we'll have a lot of time in the offseason to talk about the positions themselves, number two second baseman, I think, third round pick for sure.
Speaker 1Let's talk about Randy Rosarena. A huge season. One for three with. two walks three runs his 25th stolen base the overall numbers uh 279 26 homers 109 runs scored and 25 steals just the best all-around season of his career like full season of his career he entered wednesday as the 15th overall player in roto in the eighth best hitter in head to head points leagues the power of the contract year i also wonder where he will be playing next year i think that'll factor in uh to this conversation as well but the adp on randy was 83 coming into the season i don't know how people are i don't i hope people don't overreact to this i kind of feel like he's going to be a top 50 pick randy rosarena
Speaker 5there's a there are a lot of outfielders that people are going to be excited about we just talked about jose de paula does randy rosarena get drafted ahead of jose de paula next year
Speaker 4you I think that's the right i think that's the
Speaker 5right range yeah so like i
Speaker 4think randy rosarena versus jordan walker is a fascinating question um why langford's adp before the season was 45
Speaker 1and your expectation coming in was if he could stay healthy he'll probably go 25 25 right like yeah i think that's kind of the expectation for randy is like 25 25 right well he was also
Speaker 5langford was an up-and-comer and you can dream on the upside there a rosarena is going to be a 32 year old coming off a career season yeah if he goes to a really good hitting environment because he hasn't had a chance to play in one yet then then maybe that'll maybe that'll raise enthusiasm for him i i feel like though the past few years a rosarena has been routinely undervalued yeah in roto leagues and so i'm guessing because of his age and because they're just going to be younger alternatives that people are more excited about he's not going to go that much earlier than he did last year even though the production was better that's my
Speaker 4guess i currently have him 12 um and the number 12 outfielders usually in that 45 to 50 range but i have jordan walker right behind him i have o'neill cruz right behind him i have yeah i'd put those michael harris roman anthony i could see any of those guys moving ahead of him fairly easily but i think top 15 outfielder probably and probably top 60 pick fifth round pick yeah i think top
Speaker 160 at least i think that's where uh things will wind up there for randy rosarena let's talk about some pitchers here logan henderson solid outing at the phillies five innings one run three walks three strikeouts didn't have his best change up couldn't locate his secondary pitches but an overall solid outing just the numbers have been awesome for logan henderson it's three earned runs or fewer in every start of his career um how high do you guys think he's going to be in the next round i think he's going to be in the next round i think he's going to be in the next round i think he's going to be in the next round how high do you guys think logan henderson gets
Speaker 5for next season can i can i ask real quick just going back to randy rosarena would you take jack caglione over randy rosarena i'd go randy i
Speaker 1would go randy
Speaker 5as well kyle tucker randy as well i mean we are talking about a guy who hit 238 in 2025 and 219 in 2024 yeah i don't know i think that's kind of overvaluing could be the most recent season i mean i wouldn't
Speaker 1expect him to do what he's doing this season i would probably expect like a 250 batting average but i mean somewhere in the
Speaker 5middle and caglione hit has hit 280 this year and he's hit uh since really he broke through in june he's hit over 300 is he gonna get to 30 homers no he's only at i think like 23 okay because he's he missed too much time with injury recently he's hit over 300
Speaker 1i think they could wind up being similarly value players like where they rank at the end of next season but i think the shape will just be different i think you'll get higher batting average from cags but less steals as well
Speaker 4and you know potentially the power i think is still something of a question mark and the run production i mean that's a it's a bad lineup but it is also like we don't know where randy's going to be playing right so that that does make it hard because if he if he lands in a really good hitting environment that things could change very quickly
Speaker 1uh logan henderson how high do you guys think uh logan henderson could get for next season i'm thinking top 24 starting pitcher yeah i
Speaker 4i think so i i have that's the one i haven't gotten to yet is starting pitcher um i i would think top 24 you know without having done it like you look at where
Speaker 1bradish was drafted last year sp21 at pick 78 i could see something like that around pick around sp20 maybe like 80th i don't know if it's going to be like that but i think it's going to be like overall for logan
Speaker 5henderson yeah it feels a little high to me it's it's it's hard it's hard for me to just pull a number out of the blue like to me right now i don't feel as excited about logan henderson as i did about kyle bradish kyle bradish who became kind of everybody's breakout pitcher right yeah i mean he kept getting pushed up and
Speaker 4pushed up i'm looking at like where yuri perez and nolan mclean went last year right around 90 um right around the 20 i would guess 22nd pitcher starting pitcher off the board i'm looking at nfc adp so yeah
Speaker 1mclean was 24 perez was 25 yeah
Speaker 4so i i i think that's the right range whether it's you think people are gonna get
Speaker 5as excited about logan henderson as nolan
Speaker 4mclean yeah we have a bigger sample size of of him being a very very good pitcher yeah yeah i think so the skills
Speaker 1ported too with henderson yeah
Speaker 4he's like third in baseball in uh k minus walk ratio i think he's gonna be debuted and that is like especially for like the freaks drafting in november k minus walk ratio is like yeah projection
Speaker 1systems are gonna love them projection systems are gonna love logan yeah no i i think he's gonna be i think that'll push him up too yeah you don't think people will
Speaker 5hold him back the whole whole like you know obviously he doesn't have the pedigree that nolan mclean does doesn't throw very hard has basically just two pitches you don't think all the it's possible all the the pitch uh
Speaker 4maybe but it's 20 it's 22 guys it's 22 starts of a 235 era and 11 nine you know
Speaker 5yeah it's i'm not denying that i just i don't know what what we're trying to do with this exercise is put ourselves in the heads of the majority and not necessarily make our own arguments anderson is just the sort of pitcher that people tend to undervalue so i'm expecting them to undervalue him again i hope
Speaker 1you're right maybe they won't i hope you're right if that's the case uh yeah i would love to have a lot of logan henderson for next season the last name i have here is noah mclean who we just spoke uh about a little bit we mentioned where he was being drafted last year caps off a very strong rookie season seven innings two runs five strikeouts at the rangers 316 era 117 whip we've talked a lot lately about his sinker usage has been up a lot of times over his last eight starts and as a result his uh swinging strikes and his whiffs have really come down during that stretch uh i'll just ask this like do you think nolan mclean goes higher or lower than where he did last year sp 24 right at pick
Speaker 491 i will say he should go higher
Speaker 1i think he'll go a little bit
Speaker 4higher yeah i don't know if he will because expectations for nolan mclean were frankly unfair uh he lived up to it like he he lived up
Speaker 1to where you drafted him i think people
Speaker 4are disappointed with what they got from him and the 117 whip is a little concerning um but yeah i i think he should go higher than he did last year because we have we have proof of it last year was almost entirely theoretical and then he was being drafted that way so i i think he'll probably be a top 20 pick at starting
Speaker 5pitcher yeah i think so too that said i don't really like the way he's trending here to close out the season i brought it up before throwing a lot more sinkers 49 in this latest start so his last eight starts he's at 7k per nine with an eight percent swinging strike rate and the era has been good the whip has been high and this is a guy who doesn't have a lot of swing and miss to his game anyway overall the strike rate's been good it's been 9.7 but again last eight starts 7.0
Speaker 4so yeah he is a guy that there is a big gap between what like the pitching ninja gifs look like and the pitching ninja gifs look like and the pitching ninja gifs look like and what the actual results look like because mclean is actually like not a swing and miss pitcher he is a like nibble and called strike guy he has a 9.6 swinging strike 9.6 percent swinging strike rate that's below average it's a
Speaker 1lot like will warren but just better he's better he's a better version of will warren because will warren does the same like he gets a lot of movement on his pitches he gets a lot of called third strike so does noel mclean but noel mclean just has a wider arsenal and his pitches are just better so that's why you know he he obviously has much better numbers than someone like will warren but it's it's kind of similar in how they go about it but
Speaker 5yeah all right let me go back to logan henderson if i could and test do a do a little player comparison here do you take logan henderson or peyton toley toley i would take toley logan henderson or read detmers henderson
Speaker 4i'm gonna really struggle with detmers i i'm gonna guess i'm gonna be lower on the consensus than him so i'll go henderson
Speaker 5henderson or cavalli henderson henderson or brian woo henderson or cavalli is super close
Speaker 1i'm still still hung up on that one but i think that's the right range i think they'll go in the
Speaker 5same range hunter brown henderson or hunter brown i think henderson henderson or max freed
Speaker 4henderson easily i i think henderson yeah henderson or
Speaker 5henderson or joe ryan henderson
Speaker 4all right i mean i kind of think henderson and joe ryan are very similar pitchers and those are those are questions yeah henderson didn't have the the weird season that joe ryan did so but all those guys seasons
Speaker 6always end up being weird
Speaker 1all those guys just feel like rock solid sp2s right yeah
Speaker 5which is why like even if even if i think hender even if i suspect henderson is exactly what he's appeared to be it you 's hard to go against similar pitchers with a longer track record sure all right uh we are
Speaker 1kind of up against it here and i had a lot more stuff planned but i don't want to you know go super long here it's obviously our uh second to last in-season podcast of the year but you know two the two tough rankings i had for next season jordan walker and garrett cole just i'll throw those names out there i'll let it linger but we will have all off season to talk about those guys
Speaker 4i will say jordan walker not a good guy he's a good guy he's a good guy he's a good guy jordan walker not a top 12 outfielder my first run through yeah 13 so it's not like it's a chasm but i think that would
Speaker 1be pretty different than other
Speaker 5people but i would
Speaker 1guess so yeah um
Speaker 5i think he's going to be a second rounder he has had an awful september that makes it more of a question but if if not for that september he certainly would have been a second rounder so how much stock do you want to put on a player september and let's not forget we did this with
Speaker 1peter
Speaker 4armstrong last year and it was
Speaker 1sure pretty bad yeah that is true uh are these four hitters cooked i uh i'll just throw all four your way i guess you'd give me i'm not sure that there's a short answer for all of them but the names that i wrote down here austin riley christian yellich mike trout who really had a huge april but from may 1st on he's like a 750 ops bat um and then manny machado who did hit a homer off of yamamoto here on wednesday but uh i think he's going to be a short rounder um look you could blame him getting off to a slow start and you know the padres tinkering with his batting stance and things like that but he has only had one month with an ops over 778 this season so it i and he's falling back down in august and september so what do you guys think are these four cooked machado trout yellich and
Speaker 4austin riley um so relative to where they started i think mike trout is probably the most cooked but relative to the other three guys he might be the least cooked yeah right i think he's probably the most cooked but relative to the other three guys he might be the least cooked yeah right the other three guys he might be the least cooked yeah right like i think his skill set is still cooked yeah right like i think his skill set is still okay he's just not a superstar anymore but okay he's just not a superstar anymore but okay he's just not a superstar anymore but like yeah you know 22 homers 11 steals like yeah you know 22 homers 11 steals like yeah you know 22 homers 11 steals it's it's usable i'm not sure christian it's it's usable i'm not sure christian it's it's usable i'm not sure christian yellich is usable yellich is usable yellich is usable for fantasy anymore and i don't well for fantasy anymore and i don't well for fantasy anymore and i don't well actually i know i don't think christian actually i know i don't think christian actually i know i don't think christian yellich is usable for fantasy anymore yellich is usable for fantasy anymore yellich is usable for fantasy anymore i i think austin riley is fully cooked i i i think austin riley is fully cooked i i i think austin riley is fully cooked i think he's well done at this point i think he's well done at this point i think he's well done at this point i mean he's i think he's gonna be 30 next mean he's i think he's gonna be 30 next mean he's i think he's gonna be 30 next year so year so year so three straight pretty bad years in a row three straight pretty bad years in a row three straight pretty bad years in a row i i think we can probably call this one i i think we can probably call this one i i think we can probably call this
Speaker 5one machado machado feels the least cooked machado feels the least cooked to me like i i think he had an early season to me like i i think he had an early season to me like i i think he had an early season slump basically slump basically slump basically it's
Speaker 4mostly babbit right he's got like it's mostly babbit right he's got like it's mostly babbit right he's got like a 230 babbitt or something crazy low
Speaker 1a 230 babbitt or something crazy low a 230 babbitt or something crazy low that's what i'll say it's like a 230 that's what i'll say it's like a 230 that's what i'll say it's like a 230 last year with his babbitt was over 300 last year with his babbitt was over 300 last year with his babbitt was over 300 but even his xba is 243 i mean it's but even his xba is 243 i mean it's
Speaker 4but even his xba is 243 i mean it's if he hit 250 if he hit 250 if he hit 250 with 29 maybe 30 homers after this with 29 maybe 30 homers after this with 29 maybe 30 homers after this weekend and 90 rbi and 80 runs weekend and 90 rbi and 80 runs weekend and 90 rbi and 80 runs that's not manny machado but it's not so that's not manny machado but it's not so that's not manny machado but it's not so far off you know like i i still think far off you know like i i still think far off you know like i i still think he's definitely a top 10 third baseman he's definitely a top 10 third baseman he's definitely a top 10 third baseman for next season and that's not that
Speaker 1for next season and that's not that for next season and that's not that helps it's just the position is so helps it's just the position is so
Speaker 4helps it's just the position is so bad just because the the position's bad i bad just because the the position's bad i
Speaker 5bad just because the the position's bad i think he's he's number seven right now think he's he's number seven right now think he's he's number seven right now for me last 81 games for me last 81 games for me last 81 games not counting tonight but 81 games not counting tonight but 81 games not counting tonight but 81 games exactly half a season obviously exactly half a season obviously exactly half a season obviously 800 ops and 16 home runs 800 ops and 16 home runs 800 ops and 16 home runs so i i think he's i think he's basically so i i think he's i think he's basically Manny Machado still.
Speaker 1Yeah, but the June and July did a lot of heavy lifting for that, and then August and September, he's been bad again. He's a sub-700 OPS bat from August 1st on. So, I mean, look, you could slice and dice it any way you want. I understand what you're doing. It's like a longer sample, but the past two months have been pretty bad again for Machado, so it's like, I don't really know what to make of that, but you guys make fair points. I think I'm just holding him to a higher standard, because that's the standard we've always held Manny Machado to, but yeah, I think we just have to kind of reframe our minds on the expectations for Machado with Trout. I don't think that they're completely cooked. I think those other two, Yellich and Austin Riley
Speaker 4are pretty close to cooked. I think in a 12-team points league, I'm not sure Austin Riley or Christian Yellich will be drafted
Speaker 1anywhere next year.
Speaker 4I think that's totally fair.
Speaker 1The Sleeper-O-Meter! Two names on the Sleeper-O-Meter here. George Lombard Jr. hit his sixth home run. He also had a golden sombrero in this game, but his last eight games, he's starting to figure some things out. 294, three homers, eight RBI, one steal, and 882 OPS during that span. His full season pace, 24 homers, 84 runs, eight steals. What do you guys think? Where would Lombard be on the Sleeper-O-Meter for next season?
Speaker 5Oh, pretty high. I don't see a lot to be encouraged about in his actual rookie line, but he's very young. He's probably going to have a clear path to playing time. I think he just needs to develop, you know? And so, growing pains. That's what I view this season as. But I think a lot of people will come away discouraged, and so he'll probably go pretty late. Shortstop should still be pretty deep. That doesn't mean he won't be a Sleeper. I'll put Lombard at like an eight, probably, on the Sleeper-O-Meter.
Speaker 4Yeah, I don't really know what the. Like, I. I would rather have Caelan Culpepper. So, wherever Culpepper is, I think Lombard is a little lower. I think I'd rather have Culkerig. I just think there's been a little more juice there, but yeah, I think Lombard is a top 24, but not a top 20 shortstop for next season, so I don't know, six on the Sleeper-O-Meter? I don't. Yeah, I don't know what that. What it means, but yeah.
Speaker 1Ten is like, again, the most excited sleeper you possibly can be. Like, Josue DiPaolo, we had it at ten. So, yeah, I think having Lombard between like a six or an eight would make sense there. And Connor Prelip is the other name here. Solid outing at the Giants. Five and a third, two runs, three strikeouts. And under the hood, you know, his breaking pitches are really good. His ERA estimators are all below four. You know, I know the ERA and WIP are bad, like, on the surface for Prelip, but I think some of the skills, the underlying skills look pretty good for, you know, a rookie season here for Connor Prelip. Where would you guys put him on the sleeper-o-meter for next year?
Speaker 4Four or five? I'm not uninterested in him. I could see him being on my sleepers list. I think there are legit skills here, but you know, not necessarily a name I'm going to rank as a top even 75 starting pitcher, I would guess. So, there's plenty of room for him to be a late round pick.
Speaker 5I don't know if it's been brought up before, because most people, I doubt, spared a thought for Connor Prelip until he debuted. Could not stay healthy in the minors. Not even a little bit. It hasn't bothered him so far in the majors, but I think I think even before you get to the questions of performance, very low swinging strike rate, et cetera. Yeah, I can't go higher than four. I don't close my mind to any breakout possibility for a guy with some pedigree, but Prelip's not going to be one I'm gravitating toward.
Speaker 1All right, some hitting leftovers here from Wednesday's action. Luke Kieschel hit his 10th home run and the updated number since the start of July. 313 batting average, 8 homers, 7 steals, and OPS around 900. Brandon Lau is finishing strong. He hit his 34th homer, and over his last 21 games, 346 batting average with 7 home runs. Juan Soto hit his 27th home run. His full season pace, 41 homers, 103 RBI, 14 steals. That would be pretty awesome there for Juan Soto, and I'm just seeing now, I did not write in Kyle Tucker's numbers, but I saw that he had two hits and a stolen base, and just a reminder that he is having a pretty big September, a strong finish here for Kyle Tucker. Anything you guys would like to add on Tucker, Soto, Lau, or
Speaker 4Kieschel? Tucker is still going to rank as a top 20 outfielder for me next season, and this run at the end of the season is only going to make that easier to justify. It's not going to feel great, certainly, but I still think there's first-round upset here, as bad as this season has been. I mostly write this off. He's still young enough especially, too. I might
Speaker 5take him over a Rosarena.
Speaker 4I might. I don't know if I can get there, but he certainly has a higher ceiling than Randy or Rosarena. I don't think there's any question about that. I think we just saw a Rosarena ceiling. Yeah. And we've seen Kyle Tucker's ceiling in the past be much higher. Yeah. Then, you know, Kieschel, I think the biggest thing for Kieschel that people are going to bump on is it's a weird profile with just the 19 stolen bases. Like, it feels like he should be a lot higher. He's 85th percentile in sprint speed. He's 19 for 26 on stolen bases. That's a pretty bad success rate. I think you can project some improvement there. And I think along with that improvement, he'll run more. And so I would project 20-plus steals at least next season, maybe 25-plus. And once you put that in, you know, there's not that much difference between him and Nico Horner, especially. Like, Nico Horner has been hitting, like, sixth for most of the season, and he's got, like, 70 runs or something. It's, like, a crazy low number. Yeah, Nico Horner has not
Speaker 6had his best year by any stretch. He's supposed to be the safe guy.
Speaker 5And that, well, I mean, like, he actually ranks pretty well among second basemen. So there is something to that. But, like, having being a nothing for power obviously leaves you with very little margin for error. And I think that's what we're seeing with Horner now. But I'll go further with Kieschel. We talked about. I talked about this when I gave my bold predictions. Bold prediction, Luke Kieschel's better than Bryce Terang next year with the power we've seen in the second half, not unlike what we saw from him in the minors, pulling the ball in the air better.
Speaker 1Is that in conjunction with, like, you expect Bryce Terang to take a step back? Or you just think Kieschel's going to be that good?
Speaker 5I just think Kieschel's. Chris was saying 20-25 steals. I mean, that's basically what Terang's done this year. So it's just a matter of getting the power. And I think Kieschel took a big step toward that in the second half. It is. It is a bold prediction rather than just a straight-up prediction. So it's not like I'm going to rank them that way. But I think I'm going to be pretty invested in Kieschel next year. I think he'll clearly be a top-10 second-base player.
Speaker 4Yeah, I've got him eighth right now. Because second-base. It doesn't look great. Once you actually start. Like, Ozzy Albee's. I don't know what to do with that guy, but.
Speaker 5I think he has a lower OPS now than he did last year.
Speaker 4Yeah. Like, he's top-10 right now, but I don't feel good about that.
Speaker 1I could throw him on the Is He Cook segment.
Speaker 5Yeah, absolutely. I've thought about it. You know, like. He's still got to be a top-10 second-baseman, I would think. I think so, but. Yeah. Like, him versus Luis Urias is. Does it run anymore?
Speaker 4No. Yeah, like, him versus Luis Urias I think is pretty close, just because at least you know you've got one standout category from Luis Urias. I don't know if Ozzy Albee's as good at anything anymore. And I think at points, this
Speaker 1guy would pretty easily take a rise over. For sure. And then Xavier Edwards.
Speaker 4Xavier Edwards is kind of the same thing, where at least I know I'm getting decent batting average in steals. I think he's kind of nothing after that, but Ozzy Albee's just. Like, I don't know. It's. He still plays literally every day.
Speaker 5Yeah. 22 home runs, 85 runs, 72 RBI.
Speaker 4Yeah, I'm overstating the nothing part.
Speaker 1Yeah. The counting stats are pretty good there, yeah. And that just comes with the playing time, him playing every day. Some pitching leftovers, Chris Sale and Yamamoto. Chris Sale, a big whiff start here. 10 strikeouts over five and two-thirds, one run allowed. Had 23 whiffs on 97 pitches. His velocity was up. He had some extended time off. He looked really, really awesome. Unfortunately, no decision for him. And Yamamoto turned in a quality start. Technically gave up five runs, but two of those were earned. His 22nd quality start of the season now leads Major League Baseball. Way too early. Chris Sale or Yamamoto for next season?
Speaker 4Yamamoto. Probably Yamamoto. Yeah. I will say, Chris Sale, this was the fourth highest average fastball velocity in a start in his entire career. And the fifth highest was back in June. Yeah. This was a guy who was not supposed to age well. Like, that was always the thing with Chris Sale. And I think once he got hurt, a lot of people wrote him off. And then he has just. He's hurt for like four years, to be fair. Yeah, but there's been like no skills decline as he enters. Next year's going to be his age 38 season, I think. And there's just absolutely no sign that he's lost anything. It's wild. I think he's a top five starting pitcher next season.
Speaker 5Inning for inning, Sale will be better than Yamamoto. I just think the innings difference will be too much to overcome.
Speaker 1Yeah. That is fair. Yeah, Chris Sale has been spaced out quite a bit this season. And his year will end with. Exactly 200 strikeouts. 162 and two-thirds innings and 27 starts. Even with that, he entered Wednesday as the SP5 in Roto. Chris Sale did, so. Yeah, better in
Speaker 4Roto than points now.
Speaker 1Yeah, on a per-start basis. Some other pitching leftovers. Sonny Gray, another quality start. That was his 20th of the season. Tied for fourth most in all of baseball. Andrew Abbott, great outing at the Braves. Seven innings, two runs, six strikeouts for him. Foster Griffin, a quality start. Six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. Also gave up 10 hits in this game, unfortunately. And Kevin Gosman, a near quality start. Five and two-thirds, two runs. Yeah. Seven strikeouts, 21 whiffs on 101 pitches. He did leave this start with left shoulder soreness after making a pretty acrobatic diving play to tag a runner out. But any thoughts here on Gosman, Griffin, Andrew Abbott, and Sonny Gray?
Speaker 4We've talked a lot about the most popular breakouts and sleepers for next season. Sonny Gray's absolutely going to be the most popular bus pick for starting pitchers, right? I don't know if I can get down that road before. I don't know if I can get down this season. It's a mistake again, but. I know, but like. I don't want to comment on Sonny Gray. 272 ERA with less than 8K per nine. Like, it just does not feel sustainable. I think I had him as a buzz this year.
Speaker 1At all. I think we all did.
Speaker 4Yeah. Yeah, no, we all whiffed on that one for sure. And I'm just going to. I am not afraid to beat my head against a wall. I got a thick skull.
Speaker 5Yeah, if it was just a one-off, but I couldn't tell you how many times I've called Sonny Gray a bust. Oh, yeah, for sure. And it did not come true. Mm-hmm. Like, someday it'll come true. He can't keep getting away with it. Unless he does a David Ortiz and retires before he turns bad, but. He's only got one year left on the contract.
Speaker 1Do you guys see any way. Look, I mean, you could see it, but do you think that Kevin Gosman could actually bounce back at all? He has a 451 ERA, 127 whip. Obviously, he's getting up there in age, but his ERA estimators are all below four, including XERA, and it seems like, you know, some. Bad BABIP luck, and his left-on-base percentage was pretty low. I don't know. Like, some of his skills still look pretty good for Gosman.
Speaker 5It all looks pretty normal, really. Swinging strike rate, K per nine, BB per nine, average exit velocity. Like, the data points we normally look at all look pretty normal. I think it's unwise to bet on a bounce-back season from a guy in his late 30s. Yeah. But I don't think you'll have to. invest much in the possibility of a bounce-back season.
Speaker 4I think he'll even be a top 60 pick at starting pitcher.
Speaker 1I don't think so.
Speaker 4Could be borderline. Yeah, it's gonna be really cheap, so. I think it'll be a late-round fly.
Speaker 1Like, one of your last picks, I think.
Speaker 4It might depend on what the rest of your staff looks like and whether you just need, like, a boring guy, but, yeah, I. Where was Aaron Nola going this year?
Speaker 1Like, that's where I could see Gosman going.
Speaker 4Yeah. I mean, Nola was a lot worse, I think. But, yeah, I could see that. And, yeah, I think it's worth being interested in him, but it is. It is tough to see him put up a.483 ERA with the Cubs defense behind him and think, oh, it's gonna be better next year. Yeah. You know, it's. Unless he resigns with the Cubs. Yeah. He also is
Speaker 1someone that just makes you want to just bang your head against the wall.
Speaker 4Well, yeah, because there have definitely been stretches. He got off to an amazing start, if I'm remembering correctly.
Speaker 1Yeah, he did.
Speaker 4And so. There are definitely still flashes for sure. It's just. As you get older, it gets harder to do it every day or every, you know, fifth or sixth day, I guess.
Speaker 1Yeah. The call to the bullpen for the Nationals. Eric Tolman started the eighth inning with a three-run lead. He got two outs and he walked two. Then, Yovani Cruz came on to get the final four outs for his first career save. And it only took one day, but the Nats are back to not having a closer ever again. For the Twins, with the game tied, Yoendras Gomez recorded five outs across the sixth and seventh. Andrew Morris eventually got the ninth, and he picked up his fifth save. Jeff Hoffman got the save on Tuesday night, but it was a rocky outing. He threw a bunch of pitches, so he wasn't available for this one. For the Brewers, Trevor McGill picked up his 30th save. I thought it was a big injury risk this season, but he has just been awesome. 267 ERA,.90 whip, over a strikeout per inning, 30 saves. Great year from Trevor McGill. For the Orioles, Rico Garcia got the eighth with a two-run lead facing the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. He picked up his 19th hold, and Andrew Kittredge picked up his 11th save. Looked like they were trending towards Rico Garcia. I think he's their highest leverage reliever, but I think they just wanted to use him in the eighth inning because of that in this outing. For the Red Sox, Aroldis Chapman returned to strike out the side for his 35th save, and his velocity was fine coming back from the lat injury, so good sign there for Chapman. For the Royals, Steven Cruz got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed a hit. He struck out two for his eighth save, and then the D-backs with a two-run lead. Justin Martinez got two outs in the sixth. Brandon Garcia, four outs 4 outs across the 7th and 8th. Juan Murillo got the final 2 outs of the 8th. inning and then it was jonathan loizaga who got the ninth and he picked up his second save the d-backs do not have a closer and they never will ever again but maybe justin martinez for next year i don't know i'm kind of interested oh yeah very
Speaker 4interesting but you know we gotta see what it actually looks like
Speaker 1yeah uh and poor josh hater i did see he was the one who blew that game for the astros against the mariners he wound up throwing 44 pitches which was his most in like some absurd amount of time i saw a tweet about it but yeah it's just like he ran out of gas gas unfortunately uh did josh hater to stream or not to stream on thursday we have joey cantillo as the bulk reliever at the red sox tyler phillips is at the cubs zach thornton at the rangers andrew painter home against the brewers brady singer is at the braves nick pavetta at the dodgers peter lambert at the athletics grayson rodriguez at the mariners kumar rocker home against the mets well there
Speaker 5aren't great options yeah i think thornton's probably the best texas is so good against lefties though
Speaker 4true yeah maybe
Speaker 5painter i think i would say lambert at the athletics obviously you don't like the venue but it's not a very good lineup and he's been pretty reliable um i think grayson rodriguez at the mariners would be my second choice yeah painter against like painter we've been leaning on a lot lately but against the brewers
Speaker 1nah i couldn't do it i don't like any of these guys i think they're all pretty risky but i would i think i would go thornton cantillo lambert and grayson rodriguez in that order those four for thursday but again not with much confidence at all and then on friday jackson job is home against the pirates andrew alvarez home against the mets nick lodolo's at the blue jays michael at the brewers robert gasser home against the cardinals brandon's and fought at the padres bubba chandler is at the tigers grant holmes at the marlins hayden wesneski at the athletics jacob lopez old friend up against the astros and will warren is home against the orioles i think there
Speaker 4are some more interesting options here nobody that i feel great about um holmes should give you five good innings or could give you five good innings i guess is the better way to put it he won't give you anything more than those five innings and they might not be good um andrew alvarez is on a nice little run i like
Speaker 1alvarez yeah i think that
Speaker 4one's okay yeah i think that's the best one i
Speaker 1like alvarez and then i think the matchup of joe and chandler could
Speaker 4be okay yeah hayden was nesky you know at the athletics it's a terrible ballpark but i just don't hate the matchup i
Speaker 1just hate the spot that he's in he has mostly been okay but at the athletics man is just so tough yep i think i would go uh alvarez joe chandler and then even will warren as a fourth option i don't know if i don't think it's terrible so those are my four for friday we are gonna wrap there for scott and chris i am frank thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on apple or spotify and we will be back again tomorrow our final in-season podcast of the year see you then
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