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Speaker 3Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now, here's Frank, Scott, and Chris.
Speaker 4Hello. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Thursday, September 10th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White. Today on the show, start, sit, or drop these four confusing pitchers. It feels like there have been a lot of those so far this week. I have seven hitters who are on fire. We had a couple. We had a couple slobber knockers on the schedule. I don't know what the opposite of a pitcher's duel was, but in my mind, it was a slobber knocker. A slugfest. So we had a couple of those. We'll get to that. But first, another prospect promotion here in September. The Dodgers. This one caught me by surprise. Promoting one of their top prospects, outfielder Josue DePaula, 21 years old. A consensus top 20 overall prospect in baseball. And what especially caught me off guard, they're calling him up from double A. So we know they're dealing with a lot of injuries right now. Otani was out of the lineup again. Dave Roberts said he has not ruled out an IL stint here for Otani. Freddie Freeman, also out of the lineup. He's dealing with a right knee injury. So there is a chance, a very real chance, that Otani goes in the IL. They call up some reinforcements here. Scott, what do you think of Josue DePaula? This feels very aggressive. But if some of these guys land on the IL, I think he actually could get thrown right in the fire. And actually play quite a bit.
Speaker 5Yeah, this may be a rare case where the prospect promotion is kind of the lesser news. Because I presume this means Shohei Otani is going on the IL. And Dave Roberts was saying, part of the difficulty in that decision is because he would count as a pitcher for IL purposes. They'd be without him for 15 days instead of just 10. But it's obviously a big move. And there wouldn't seem to be a position available for DePaula unless DH is available for him with Otani going down. And losing your best hitter like that, it kind of makes sense that you'd throw a Hail Mary. DePaula is a consensus top five overall prospect. And it's really all the bat. He brings basically no defensive value. And still, top five overall prospects. So that tells you how good the bat is for Josue DePaula. At AA this year, 302 batting average, 400 on-base percentage, nearly as many walks as strikeouts, 80 and 86, 26 homers, 31 steals. Hits the ball incredibly hard. Obviously, that plate discipline's been amazing from the beginning. And I think that makes DePaula I think he's the one you could actually comp to Jordan Alvarez rather than Lazaro Montes, who some people have compared to Alvarez. I think DePaula's upside as a hitter, because he controls the zone so well, I think it's more comparable to Alvarez. Except, like I said, DePaula has 31 steals at AA this year. So he might bring that speed element that, of course, Alvarez doesn't come close to. Or he could do it as a 21-year-old coming straight from AA, is anybody's guess. I feel like we've become more accustomed to as opposed to during Jordan Alvarez's era where prospects like him would come up and immediately would shift the standings in fantasy leagues. I think in more recent years, we've become accustomed to these guys needing some time to find their feet in the majors. But that doesn't always happen. Sometimes it is immediate impact. And not a bad roll of the dice, given DePaula's upside. If you have a spot to play with, this might be an excuse, for instance, to drop Sean Burke if you didn't have one already. Or Chase Burns. I said yesterday that I would only... Well, I don't have a lot of faith or see much use for those guys the rest of this year. I need an actual reason to drop them, and DePaula might be that reason.
Speaker 4I don't want to overrate Josue DePaula or any prospects as we've talked about lately, obviously, with the way Kate Anderson went down. Not, look, every prospect is built differently. I will still be excited about prospects getting called up because that's just like the nature of me as a baseball fan and a fantasy baseball player. But the power is 100% legit. And we've heard about it for years. This is the first year where we're actually seeing that power come to fruition in the minors. The 26 home runs, a 237 ISO for Josue. Josue DePaula this season in the minors. And I have to expect that if he's getting called up again, someone's probably going on the IL and it should lead to playing time here. Looked at the schedule for next week. The Dodgers have seven games with five of those being against righties, two of those being against lefties. My guess is he would probably be a strong side platoon player from the jump. And so, you know, potentially five games where he plays next week. That would be pretty interesting there for DePaula. Scott, would you take him over the other recent call-ups? The Lazaro Montez, who you just mentioned, or not that he's a recent call-up, but his name has come up lately. Hector Rodriguez with the Cincinnati Reds. Would you take him over him as well?
Speaker 5Yeah, I don't feel like either of those two is particularly usable in fantasy right now since they are strict platoon players. Maybe DePaula is also 24 of his 26 home runs have come against righties. Although, you know, still a 340. 46 on base percentage against lefties. So it's not like he's been an automatic out against them the way those other two have. And obviously a much higher end prospect overall. So, yeah, I'd gamble on the better prospect and the relative mystery box. I mean, I guess Montez especially is still a mystery box as little as he's been up, but it's not a mystery at the playing time. It's not very good. And so, yeah, I'd gamble on DePaula over those two.
Speaker 4And it is interesting that, you know, the Dodgers opted to call up Poseway DePaula. I didn't look into if either of these guys are dealing with injuries or anything, but calling him up over Mike Sirota, who was also at AA, and James Tibbs, who we've mentioned a lot this season, who was at AAA. So it's just interesting that they opted to go with DePaula over those two other names.
Speaker 5There's still a path for Sirota since he can actually play center field. And that's, they're obviously without Andy Pajas, their center fielder. They've been playing Tommy Edmond out in center field a good amount. But of course, They can play him elsewhere. So maybe the DePaulo will kind of open the floodgates. Tibbs is surprising. I imagine Tibbs, given how well he's performed at AAA all season, I imagine he'd be the first one up if they had a need in their outfield. But I think this just goes to show you the confidence they have in DePaulo, who is the best prospect of those three. And that's even accounting for his severe defensive limitations.
Speaker 4All right, again, the big news, the Dodgers promoting one of their top prospects, outfielder Josue DePaulo, and likely means somebody is going on the IL. My guess is that person is going to be Shohei Ohtani, but we will find out when the Dodgers have to make that official transaction on Friday. Let's jump into the players of the night. Oh my goodness! Unbelievable! All right, jumping in here, and I will kick us off, Scott, and let's talk about Kate Anderson, who picked up his first career win, and I'll just preface all this. No, I'm not just going to do a complete 180 and take everything back. That I said last week, it was a good start on paper here against the Rangers, a team that actually is pretty good against lefties, but good spot to pitch in, in T-Mobile Park, at home in this one. Kate Anderson, six innings, one run, five strikeouts to one walk. He had 10 swinging strikes on 81 pitches, which is an okay amount. Pretty normal pitch mix, velocity, and movement. The only thing that stood out to me, the induced vertical break on his four-seam fastball actually was down. It was down two inches from 17 to 15, inches in the start, so typically not exactly what we would want to see from Kate Anderson. The slider was the best pitch for him here. Some good, the results. The bad, still gave up 10 hard hits here, 91.3 average exit velocity against. Did throw a bunch of pitches for strikes, and looking at the pitcher list stats card, we've referenced these all throughout the season. If you go on X, there's a specific account. I'll look it up while you're talking, Scott, but pitcher list puts out like these, cards, these graphic cards that break down like every pitcher's start, and they gave Kate Anderson's stuff a C in this one, so the stuff's still not playing up very well. 79% roster for Kate Anderson, 34% started at the Angels, at the Rockies next week, so as good as it was to see a nice start here, Scott, got his first win. The Jekyll and Hyde matchups both on the road next week too, I don't think that I would chance using Kate Anderson's in that spot, in those spots next week.
Speaker 5I think it's at least in play. I'm not saying he's an obvious must start with those two matchups. It would help a lot if that Rockies matchup was in Seattle rather than Colorado, but it isn't. I think he at least showed he's usable with this start. It wasn't a dominant start, as you said, still gave up hard contact. It's not like any singular pitch looked like, like a world beater, but, and again, he still threw 81 pitches, so that seems like a pretty hard limit. It's rare that he's going to be able to go six on that limit. He has to be very efficient, as he was in this start against the Rangers, but I think Kate Anderson showed that he can hold his own in the majors. He can be useful with the right matchups. It's just a question of whether next week's matchups are the right matchups. It's just a question of whether next week's matchups are the right matchups. It's just a question of whether next week's matchups are the right matchups. It's just a question of whether next week's matchups are the right matchups. Because there's two of them, it's tempting. And I think in a points league, I don't know. I think it's questionable in both formats, honestly. I can see doing it in a roto league if you're chasing wins and strikeouts and are okay with ERA and whip. But then in a points league, normally you would prefer the extra start, but from a guy who is very unlikely to go six innings in either start, it's still questionable, I'd say. Questionable in both formats.
Speaker 4Yeah. If you look at just the matchups for next week, at the Angels, at the Rockies, they both rank in the bottom half of the league against left-handed pitching this season. But again, one start being in Coors Field, you know, anything can happen there. We see blow-ups start happening in Coors Field all the time. So I have a segment set up for later. Start, sit, or drop these polarizing, confusing pitchers. I would put Kate Anderson in that category. I don't think that I would start him anywhere. I would probably hold him until the weekend if you play in a weekly lineup league and then drop him then so that my opponent can't use him against me just on the off chance that he does perform well in those two starts. But I don't think that I could actually pull the trigger and use him myself. That is Kate Anderson. And the account, by the way, that I wanted to mention on X is at PitcherlessPLV. They put out a graphic for every pitcher, every start that they make throughout the season. You could get an immediate stuff metric there from the start that day. All right, Scott, over to you for your player of the night.
Speaker 5My player of the night, we've talked about a couple of young ones. Let's go with an old guy. Let's go with Corey Seager, who just homered for the third straight game on Wednesday. It was his 17th home run of the season, which isn't very many, but he's spent a lot of time on the IL as he often does. His 17th home run in his 86th game. The overall numbers still look pretty bad, as we've noted. And on the other occasions, we've had to talk about Corey Seager. It is a 230 batting average, 760 OPS on the year. Not Corey Seager-like numbers. However, in his 35 games since returning from his most recent IL stint, Corey Seager is batting 300 for back inflammation. We know how a bad back can impact a hitter. In 35 games since returning from that issue, Corey Seager is batting 300 with seven home runs, an OPS right around 900, average exit velocity 92.4 miles per hour, only an 18% strikeout rate. That very much does sound like Corey Seager numbers. So I think Corey Seager is back to being Corey Seager. And I kind of suspected all along that that would be the case. But I think everyone can see it now. And I don't know that that means he's going to be a hot commodity in drafts next year at his age, given his injury history. You know, again, the final stat line isn't going to look that great. But that's all the better for our purposes. Like, if we can get potentially normal Corey Seager at a greatly reduced cost, I'm going to be in on that. So, I don't know. We'll see when we line up the shortstops where he ranks for me. Just given the amount of young talent coming up there, Kevin McGonigal and Connor Griffin, how high they're going to rank, along with all the usual suspects, might be hard to get Corey Seager in the top 10. But I would be very much excited about the prospect of drafting Corey Seager. Outside of the top 10, if that's the case.
Speaker 4I know this is not how we're supposed to play fantasy, Scott, but he's all yours. I will not be drafting Corey Seager next year. I had him in a few spots this season. And it's just the age, the injuries, and look, maybe the cost is so diminished that it's like, whatever. His ADP is outside the top 200 and it literally costs you nothing to draft him next year. Which, at that point, it's like, whatever. I can understand drafting him. But, I mean, this is somebody who, who has only played 150-plus games twice in his career. He has not played more than 123 each of the last four seasons. And I'd much rather take advantage, if it's possible, like, in-season, wait for him to get hurt, or if he gets off to a terrible start, buy low, pick him up once someone drops him. Like, I'll take advantage of Corey Seager that way. But just in terms of, and maybe in a points league, but anything where there's like a middle infield spot, you go deeper into the player pool, I'm washing my hands. I'm washing my hands of Corey Seager. There are two players I know I'm probably not going to draft. Corey Seager and Blake Snell are two of them. I'm just not going to draft either one.
Speaker 5But what's changed for Corey Seager? Because what you said about him only having 250-game season, that was true going into this year. It was true going into last year. Well, unless you're just not convinced that he's back over this 35-game stretch past the back issue. Like, you think he is diminished and that his full-season stat line is more indicative of who he is now. Then I get it. Then something has changed for Corey Seager. But I don't subscribe to that thinking. And so I think it's exactly the same scenario, just at, I don't even know how many rounds. It's going to be five rounds, six-round discount. I mean, that seems like a very profitable pick to me.
Speaker 4I think it's partially that. Partially, I think the skills are declining here for Seager. He has looked more like himself since coming back. But it's also, I just don't want to deal with the headache of a 30, he'll be 33 in April next year. I don't think his body can hold up. I just don't think it can for a full season anymore. And if you want to tell me, like, all right, like, I'll just plug in someone else for the 50 games that he misses and, you know, you put that production in and it's like, whatever, he's worth the cost.
Speaker 5It's what we've been doing all along.
Speaker 4I'm just, I'm not doing it. It's a headache. I'm telling you, like, it's easier in practice to think about it. Once you have him on your team and you kind of, you always have to kind of, like, factor this in. Oh, now I have to find another Corey Seager replacement. It's just not fun, it's not a fun situation to be in. And so, it won't be for me. It's all for you, Scott. I feel like Chris is going to be on them again. We've had that conversation over the past month or so. So, you and Chris, Corey Seager, all yours. You won't have to worry about me. In honor of football being back, the Jets defeated the Dolphins 15-4. 15-14, excuse me. This is one of those slobber knockers. I mean, my goodness. The Mets had an 8-zip lead. The Marlins came back, tied the game up 8-8, and it wound up finishing 15-14, which is just absolutely crazy stuff here. But runs abound, hits abound here. Francisco Lindor, he picked up the power in the second half. He hit his 18th home run. He has 13 home runs in 49 second-half games. The OPS is over 800. Batting average is still low for Lindor. He's an interesting one just to see where the price tag kind of settles for next season. And A.J. Ewing had himself a nice game. Three for four, two runs, two RBI, his 23rd steal. And he has. Been better as of late. Last nine games, he has 14 hits, one homer, seven runs, seven RBI, and two steals. But this is to be expected. You know, he's rookie, got called up midseason. But he's been all over the map here, Scott. It's struggled in May, great in June. He was okay in July. He was awful in August. It was a sub-500 OPS. And now he's heating back up here in September. 58% rostered is A.J. Ewing. I wouldn't blame anyone who dropped him because he was that bad in August. There are seven games next week for the Mets. Lozardo and Christopher Sanchez on the schedule. So it's not the greatest matchups. How would you kind of just grade out what A.J. Ewing has done so far? Do you have any interest in using him next week? I kind of lean no for next week.
Speaker 5Look, he hasn't been hot for very long.
Speaker 4No.
Speaker 5And you're telling me the Phillies rotation is on the schedule for next week? Let's see. So, yeah, you've got Lozardo and Sanchez. You've got Painter, who's been hot. You've got Aaron Nola, who's been hot. And then he opens the week against the Orioles rotation. That's not so scary.
Speaker 4That part of it is good.
Speaker 5But still, overall, I would say it's a week of tough matchups for A.J. Ewing. And, yeah, I wouldn't say that this five-game stretch, for as good as it's been, has won me over to using him in that situation. In a five-out fielder league, sure, that's fine. That might be the best you can do. But in the sort of leagues where Ewing might be a question, actually, I think with those matchups, the answer is still no.
Speaker 4On the Marlins side of things, they had seven hitters with multiple hits in this one, including Griffin Conine, Otto Lopez, Jacob Marcy, Javier Sanoja, Owen Casey, Graham Pauley, Joe Mack. We have talked a lot about Marcy. And Sanoja lately, we know that they've been pretty hot for the Marlins here. And taking a look at the schedule for next week, they have six road games, all right-handed pitchers. So that could work out well for some of these deeper names. Scott, can you see yourself? I don't know exactly who the pitchers are. I could look that up while you're talking. Actually, it's right here. Corbin Burns, Zach Gallin, Merrill Kelly, Nick Pavetta, Casey Mize, Walker Buehler. So that's pretty good on paper. If you want to use some left-handed Marlins bats next week, I could see that working out.
Speaker 5Yeah, that's good matchups and a bunch of righties. I think Griffin Conine is the most exciting of them. Still not sure what to make of Jacob Marcy. You know, he had a couple of really weak hits again, but the expected batting average on them was high. So, like, in that way, they were legit. It's just, if you're making that kind of, if you're making that quality of contact consistently, for how long can you expect to have success? And, of course, for the year, he's batting, what, 225, something like that? It's, uh, he's hot, but still don't have a ton of trust there. Casey's been ice cold. I know he's homered, what, two straight now, but apart from that, he's been ice cold. So I don't have much interest in using him.
Speaker 4All right, before we hit our first break, I want to thank everyone for being here, watching us live, watching on demand as well. Make sure to hit that like button. And if you're listening, on audio, make sure to drop a five star rating and review Apple podcast, Spotify. It really does help us out a lot and we do appreciate it. Let's take a break. We'll be back right after this. 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 29 ballparks across the US. This isn't a minor upgrade. This is the most significant new technology in the history of the sport, and it's powered by T-Mobile with every pitch thrown. ABS challenge uses real time. Precision to verify the call, giving them the support they need. No delays, no guesswork, just accuracy at the speed. The game demands thanks to ABS challenge. T-Mobile is helping power the moments that define the game when performance and reliability are non-negotiable. MLB turns to T-Mobile. That's not a coincidence. That's what happens when the most innovative network in the country powers the most data driven sport in the world. T-Mobile powers MLB's most ambitious technology and America's best network powers your connection to baseball. Home or away, every pitch, every game, every day, T-Mobile, it's better over here. Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. T-Mobile, best mobile network in the US, according to Ookla SpeedTest, based on analysis by Ookla of SpeedTest Intelligence Data First Half 2026. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission. Hey, 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. Lazy Bones 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. All right, now let's get back to the show.
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Speaker 5Just said Owen Casey, Homer didn't too straight. That's not true. That is not true. Just this one, one isolated home run. And other than that, he's been ice cold.
Speaker 4Ice cold for Owen Casey. News and notes. The Yankees plays jazz schism on the. With a thumb sprain and they were called Anthony Volpe. Volpe has been getting reps at second and third base since getting sent down. He also has been mashing. He might just be a quad a player, someone who could hit well in the minors. I don't know. We'll see if he could translate it all. But 28 games since getting sent back down to triple a. Anthony Volpe, 284 batting average, 10 homers, eight steals, 10, 23 OPS, 12% walk, 24% K rate, 10% rostered. Scott, do you have any. Deep league interest here in, in Volpe, who I think will probably play every day at second base while a jazz schism is out.
Speaker 5Uh, I, I think I need to see it to believe it at this point. He did hit the ball harder on average at triple a, but that's, I suspect that's just a product of facing triple a pitchers. And it's not like the max exit velocity was any better, which is a more indicative of upside. So, yeah, I, I gotta wait to see it. You know, you say deep leagues. Well, it depends how deep, but it would have to be so deep that he's obviously the best choice. Yeah. Off the waiver wire.
Speaker 4No, I, I totally get that. If you're looking for second base replacements for jazz schism, some names in a shallower leagues, there's Zach Geloff, although they're on the road next week. There's Cody Clemens. There's Tommy Edmund names in like medium sized leagues. There's a Javier Sanoja, who again has the pretty good matchups next week. He's been playing a lot. There's, um, Jeff McNeil has been hot in the second. But again, they're all on the road. Uh, and then if you need some deeper names, Thomas, the JC and Jonah Cox are getting some playing time for, uh, their respective teams, the Cardinals and the giants. Corbin Carroll was held out of the lineup again on Wednesday and we'll go for imaging on his lower back on Thursday. So it doesn't sound great for Corbin Carroll right now. Once we get an update, we'll let you know. Gunnar Henderson was out of the lineup after leaving Tuesday with a sore foot. So that's another one. We'll have to watch Gunnar Henderson. Roki Sasaki tossed a multi-inning simulated game on Wednesday. He's working his way back from a blister on his right middle finger. And, uh, assuming he gets back pretty soon, that means probably one of, uh, Robleski or Sheehan moves back to the bullpen. Uh, but Sheehan was so good in that start back the other day. I, I, I think Sheehan's kind of earned himself at least one more start and we'll see where it goes from there.
Speaker 5I think Robert said he was going to stay in the rotation after that start.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5I think that's the plan.
Speaker 4Well, begin a rehab assignment at AA on Friday. He's working his way back from a hamstring strain. Adley Rutschman has missed two straight after getting a cortisone injection in his right elbow. Manager Chad Tracy said Rutschman should return on Friday. Jake Bowers has missed three straight and four of his last five as he continues to deal with shin splints. Jack Caglione has missed four straight with that left flexor strain. I did see that he was hitting. I think he took some batting practice. So perhaps they can get him back in there as a DH, but annoying injury here for Jack Caglione. Michael Garcia will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Thursday. He is 75% rostered and assuming no setbacks, I think he could be back on Monday. So that's a shallow league name. Could be a potential jazzy replacement as well. Chase DeLauder returned to the Guardians lineup with a bang. He went two for five with his 14th home run. The Marlins activated Pete Fairbanks from the IL. So they finally have a closer once again. George Springer has missed two straight with a nagging left shoulder injury. Hagan Smith will make his first major league start on Thursday. He has been up with the White Sox. He's been pitching well too, but mostly as a, not mostly, completely as a reliever to this point. All 10 of his previous appearances. So far it's 16 innings, five hits, two runs, 10 walks, 23 strikeouts. Nearly a 15% swinging strike rate. He has not thrown more than 48 pitches in an appearance yet. 17% rostered. It would have to be a very deep league. I'm more so just intrigued to see what he looks like as a starter, Scott, probably for next season. But he's looked really good and relieved so far. That's Hagan Smith.
Speaker 5Yeah, that's good to see. And I wonder if, you know, because he's been kind of underwhelming since the White Sox drafted him so high in the minors, a lot of walks. I wonder if a more extended, stint in the bullpen would help his development, kind of take the Grant Taylor path. Because I think as far as I know, I mean, we're kind of relying on things they were saying in April, but I think the plan is to move Grant Taylor to the rotation next year. And so maybe they could have, maybe they could slot Hagan Smith into that role and see if they can have similar success with it.
Speaker 4I am seeing now that it's official. Dave Roberts says that Shohei Ohtani, will be placed on the 15-day IL. So it is September 10th. And so that takes us right up to the end of the season. I think the final day of the season is September 27th. So obviously he'll do some simulated stuff to get ready for the playoffs. Like maybe he's back for those last couple of games just to like see, you know, live in-game pitching, but could be rusty going into the postseason. So that kind of changes the calculation, I think, for the Dodgers going into the playoffs.
Speaker 5Well, and, and even more, even more actionable for us, could probably drop Shohei Ohtani, right? I mean, the only, the only situation where you might think twice about it is a league with daily moves. Maybe you get him back for two days at the end of the season, but that's a big maybe. And you may not want to devote the roster spot to him all that time.
Speaker 4Yeah, no, I think that's a very fair point. And I think, I think Jose DePaul is going to play against right-handed pitching. So, he is a pretty interesting add right now for daily lineup leagues. The, the, you know, the, the stretch here, deeper five outfielder leagues for sure. If you need a little thump, he isn't guaranteed to hit, but yeah, obviously had a huge year in the minors. So that's Jose DePaul with the Dodgers. And the last news item I have here is Blaze Alexander was placed in the aisle with lower back discomfort. And hopefully that's good news for Kobe Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. We got some more, blow up starts. What do we do with these pitchers? Do we hold? Do we drop? I think that will depend on the matchups for next week. Foster Griffin crushed at the Orioles, two and a third, seven hits, eight runs, two walks, four strikeouts, had eight whiffs on 62 pitches here. It's interesting that the start was this bad. Admittedly, I didn't watch it. So there could have been, you know, something that happened in game that, you know, I didn't see here in the box score, but he threw, he threw a decent amount of strikes. He had a 13% swinging strike rate. He only had three hard hits against, and three of the hits that he gave up had an XBA of 200 or less. So, kind of feels like an unlucky start here for Foster Griffin. Look, his seven starts with Cleveland overall have not been good. 594, ERA 159 whip. He is in line for just one start next week against the White Sox. So, what are we doing here with Foster Griffin, Scott? Are you holding him?
Speaker 5Your analytics. You can take your analytics and shove them. Is that Frank?
Speaker 4Is that true? Is he just bad? Is he cooked?
Speaker 5I sound like one of the olds. I mean, since joining the Guardians, he has like a six ERA.
Speaker 4Technically, Scott, you are the oldest person on this podcast.
Speaker 5I am. Yeah. I don't know that I'm one of the olds though. The old head on this podcast. I mean, the guys, I don't know why. It seems like every day, I think Harold Reynolds was trending today and there was Jeff Kent recently. They're talking like baseball is like a miserable experience and dying. I mean, just the opposite is true. It's obviously on the ascendancy. It's growing in popularity. It's making a comeback. It's probably has the strongest place in the zeitgeist that it's had since the strike. And now they're complaining about this. Now they're saying it's a problem. I don't, the timing of it is what I find perplexing. Because 10 years ago, I kind of get it, but it's become so much more watchable in recent years with the pitch clock and the increased activity on the base.
Speaker 4And the talent man. Like look at the guys that we have in the majors right now. It's like two of the all time players. I would say when they're healthy, of course, but you know, Otani and judge having those guys around and then all the other young talent that's come through the past couple of years. I mean, baseball feels like it's in a pretty awesome spot.
Speaker 5Yeah, I don't, I don't get it. They're just, I, and honestly just seems like they want attention and this is a way to get it right now because it's like, okay, are we supposed to cater to you when clearly what's going on right now in the game is resonating and younger people are starting to enjoy it again. And like, it's, it's on an upward trajectory. Let's not slow the momentum by complaining, having these personal pet peeves, putting them out there. It's, it's dumb. I just wanted to take a moment to say that, but yeah, don't start Foster Griffin. You can probably, probably drop them.
Speaker 4All right. What about Jake Bennett who got rocked by the angels? Five and a third nine hits, six runs allowed three homers allowed in this one. This was his first truly disastrous start. He has, he hasn't been very good for a while. Now his last nine starts, it's a five Oh eight era, a one 27 whip. Uh, the era estimators during that span, they're all below four. So I don't know, maybe some bad luck here with, uh, Jake Bennett as well. He is 84% rostered, 62% started. He's at the Rangers next week. They are fourth in Woba against left-handed pitching. It's a good park to pitch in Scott. If we're not using Jake Bennett next week, then he's another one we could probably just drop. But what do you think about Jake Bennett?
Speaker 5Yeah, I don't like the reverse of the trend here. Obviously it's he got a bad result. So that's part of the reason I don't like it. He had been emphasizing the sinker again in the previous three starts finding success with that. I think two of them more than 30% usage on the sinker. The sinker down to 19 in this one. And that's more like how he was using the sinker during that rough stretch. So I don't know why he made the decision to throw the sinker less, but it's not a winning formula for Jake Bennett. And it makes me less likely to trust him next time out. Uh, particularly since, um, you know, it's, uh, yeah, I just don't know if I want to trust him even with a good matchup.
Speaker 4And Kevin Gosman, the random number generator, he was destroyed. By the Brewers, I guess in his defense, two starts in a row against a really, really good Brewers lineup, four innings, eight hits, seven runs, six of those earned three homers allowed in this one still had 16 whiffs on 94 pitches. That's not the problem. We know that Kevin Cosman could get whiffs, but man, when he leaves that splitter up in the zone, just a little bit, I mean, it could get absolutely walloped. Uh, two of the three home runs came off of his splitter. His fastball routinely gets hit hard. He has a four 60 era on the season. Now one 29, whip, uh, seven starts with the Cubs, five 31 era, one 28 whip. Um, it feels like he's been mostly bad, like just unusable in the second half, but the last time out, he was really good. So it's like, we still, we, we see what he's capable of. Uh, he's 96% rostered, 72% started home against the Braves next week. Scott, if you told me he went out and threw like seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, I wouldn't be surprised. Equally would not be surprised if he gives up, like seven runs over three innings next time out, so.
Speaker 5And what do we call a pitcher like that, Frank? A Charizard. That's right. Old man Gosman has become a Charizard. At least, you know, at least if you get burned, you got gauze right there.
Speaker 4Kevin Gosman, he's like an older pitcher at this point, right? A lot of the older generation, like when I was in school growing up, they would call it Pokeman or Pokemans. And I would be like, oh God, it was just nails on a chalkboard. Kevin Gosman would probably call it Pokemans.
Speaker 5I don't think so. He's not that old. He's younger than me.
Speaker 4He's old in like pitcher years, but he's actually not that old. I think he's probably like the same age as me, actually.
Speaker 5Yeah, probably.
Speaker 4I probably just made all that up.
Speaker 5Yeah. It's funny. It's funny the way like we perceive older ballplayers. This is kind of going on a different, going down a different path as far as that goes, because we're saying, oh yeah, Kevin Gosman's an old guy, but he's younger than us. I remember old pitchers when I was a kid looking much older. And you think that's just a memory thing. Okay, from my perspective, it seemed like they were older, but now that I'm older, it doesn't, you know, I can see the youth in them, the relative youth in them. But you go watch clips of them pitching, man, they pitched like old guys. You know, like their deliveries just look so floppy and weak. Like it's not just a perspective thing. Like they really, I don't know. They're just like their posture seems limp and they're just like actively not throwing hard. It's, I don't know. It's kind of, go look up a clip of one of those old guys. Go look up like a Charlie Liebrandt or something and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4Kevin Gossman, by the way, is 35 years old. I am turning 35 in just about two months. So yeah, who am I to call Kevin Gossman old, you know? What are we doing with him in fantasy, Scott? He's still 96% rostered. He gets the Braves next week. I just looked, I know the Braves offense has been cold last 30 days. They're 27th in WOBA. So, but I don't even think the matchup matters, man. It's like if Kevin Gossman has it, he's good. He's good. If he doesn't, he's bad. And it's, it feels like a flip of the coin. I don't know if I want to do that at this point in the season when everything is, you know.
Speaker 5And you know, it's gonna, it's gonna feel bad if he's great against the Braves, but hindsight's 20-20. You can only make the best decision. You can only make the decision with the information you have now. And the information you have now is that he's a Charizard and just as likely to burn you as to burn your opponent. And are you willing, are you willing to stake your season on a coin flip like that? I'm not.
Speaker 4Imagine seeing Hunter Brown and Christopher Sanchez on the schedule, Scott. You would think, wow, pitchers duel, low scoring game. Nope. This was another slobber knocker here on Wednesday. Hunter Brown, five runs allowed, four of those earned over five innings, seven strikeouts to zero walks. The zero walks, that's a really good sign here for Hunter Brown. Just the second time he has done that this season. He is, uh, down to 78% started. So not everybody thinks Hunter Brown is just a, uh, must-start player. He gets the Royals and the Braves next week. I, I still think we're throwing Hunter Brown out, out there for this.
Speaker 5I want to call him a must-start with the way he's pitched. It's been trending up, but then he has a start like this, which is pretty underwhelming. And just, we're not seeing a lot of dominance here from Brown. So I want to call him a must-start, but with two starts, he's basically a must-start. Yeah.
Speaker 4And then Christopher Sanchez on the other side, six innings, 10 hits, six runs, uh, only three strikeouts to zero walks, two homers allowed in this one. Uh, the crazy part, he still picked up his 17th win despite giving up six runs in this one. And, uh, you, you know, it's an off start when on paper, his slider was his best pitch in this start. I mean, the changeup just wasn't where it usually is. He gave up hard contact and, uh, oddly enough, this is the fifth start with double digit hits allowed. This season seems weird for Sanchez. I mean, that's why the whip is up over 120. Uh, he's also second in major league baseball with 185 hits allowed behind only Sandy Alcantara. So the Phillies defense obviously plays a role in that. Uh, but it's weird. It's got, cause Sanchez is legitimately one of the best pitchers in baseball and he gets a decent amount of whiffs, but for whatever reason, man, he, he's just giving up a ton of hits this year.
Speaker 5Three 33 Bap it.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5It's only the second time he's had a bad day. Bad Bap over 300. And I do think,
Speaker 4what was it for him last year?
Speaker 5Two, two, hang on. I lost it. Two 98 and three 33 now.
Speaker 4Pretty. Yeah. 35 point jump. It's pretty significant.
Speaker 5Yep. Yep. And, uh, the fact is a ground ball pitcher with a bad infield defense behind him, I think entirely explains it. I don't want to say entirely, but mostly explains it.
Speaker 7Yeah.
Speaker 5I don't know. If I don't want to say it, I don't know why I said it. I could have picked a different word.
Speaker 4I do think this has to factor into next season. When you're drafting Christopher Sanchez, you probably have to use the second round pick to get them on your team. I do think he's a better, I think he's a really good pitcher for fantasy. No matter what.
Speaker 5He's a second round pick to get them on your team. How many pitchers are going to go on the first two rounds?
Speaker 4I think Sanchez will be one of them.
Speaker 5You would think Mizorowski and Scooble would.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5I would push Littler ahead of Mizorowski. I mean, ahead of Sanchez. I'm fine with that. Um, who else we got? Yamamoto's going to be up there. That's a, to me, that's a top, that's a coin flip. I'd put him over Sanchez, I think just for the whip issue. Yeah, that's fine. Cease is going to be up there. Lizardo's going to be up there. Sale's going to be up there. I,
Speaker 4I think Sanchez is right.
Speaker 5None of those are going to be in round two, but I don't know that I'd put Yamamoto or Sanchez in round two. Personally. I think at most it would be Mizorowski, Scooble and Schlittler, but you probably have to have all three in there.
Speaker 4The point being with Sanchez is that you have to factor that whip in when drafting him next year. Cause he gives you so much volume too. It's kind of not to the same extent, but Logan Webb for years, he gives you a lot of volume. He also gives you a higher whip so that his whip counts for more than it does for other pitchers. So Sanchez really, really good in a points league. He's going to give you a ton of volume there. Like no issue with him being drafted as a top five pitcher in a points league. But if you draft, him as a top five, top 10 pitcher in Roto, you really have to insulate that with some guys that you expect to get a, a good whip from next season. Let's take our final break. When we return, I have some waiver wire names to talk about. I have seven hitters who are on fire. We'll talk about that right after this baseball season is in full swing and there's no better place to be than Cal she America's number one prediction market platform. Atlanta is currently trading at 7% to win it all meaning a $100 trade. Pays out over $1,200 with a win on Cal. She 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 Cal she app and use code fan to get up to $500 in bonus credits. When you trade $25 K a L S H I Cal she trade on anything 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Cal she products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information. See cal she.com slash regulatory.
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Speaker 4Welcome back fantasy baseball today. Let's jump into the waiver wire hitters from Wednesday's action. And if you are looking for a first baseman for next week, probably aren't because, you know, again, first base is loaded and someone like Bryce Eldridge is probably still out there and in some leagues, but Josh Bell just keeps on doing Josh Bell things. He hit his 19th home run. He's up to 86 RBI on the year. And Jake Berger, he's finishing strong here. Last 15 games, 280 batting average, five homers. He's up to 26 home runs, 83 RBI on the season. Six home games next week for Berger. He has two lefties on the schedule. He's much better against lefties. So kind of wish there was a few more lefties there. Josh Bell, seven games on the schedule for next week. Will Warren, Freed, Rodon, Arania, Detmers. Not the greatest matchups for Josh Bell. So I'm really just starting to look into matchups now, Scott. But if you had to choose one, who do you like more between Bell and Berger?
Speaker 5Berger Bell, the famous fictional fast food stop for Mr. Lunt. I would say Berger over Bell.
Speaker 4Okay. Henry Bolte, another one. His 10th home run of the season. And updated numbers since the start of August. He's played 37 games. In those games, he has a 320 batting average, seven homers, seven steals, OPS over 900, hits the ball hard. We've talked about it a lot. Hits the ball hard. A lot of it is on the ground. His launch angle during that stretch is a negative. It's a negative launch angle. And it's still a 28% strikeout rate. So interesting player. Power, speed, hits the ball hard. Still has to figure some things out. 48% roster, six road games next week. So I think he could use, I'm not saying you have to, but then six home games the final week. So if you have Bolte, obviously you're holding him, you're using him that final week. But even if you want to think ahead and just kind of add him to use for that final week, he's been a monster at home. So definitely would be thinking about that with Henry Bolte. If you're looking for a corner name, Kobe Mayo, someone we've talked a lot about here. He's having a big second half, hit another home run, 274 batting average, 10 homers, a 911 OPS in the second half. We know that he absolutely destroys lefties. He has a 530 OPS against righties and he has six games next week, three lefties on the schedule. So I, I kind of liked that for Kobe Mayo, 31% rostered. I, I think he could be a decent corner infield option for next week with three lefties on the schedule.
Speaker 5Yeah, he could be that's that's the only reason he'd be worth using is there has to be enough lefties on the schedule. Uh, see a show in Kyle Harrison is one of those lefties, not sure. He's still in the rotation.
Speaker 4He is going to start on Saturday this week, but they said that, um, they will have a long reliever ready to go if, if he just struggles from the jump.
Speaker 5Okay. So they're, they're giving him another chance basically as a starter and we'll see how that goes if he remains in the rotation, the other two being Shaman, I and Shane drone, who aren't the easiest lefties, but they're not aces. They're anywhere close to that either. Yeah. I think, I think I'll be, may will be in consideration when I put together my sleeper hitters list.
Speaker 4Some deeper names who are, uh, making some noise. They're popping up here. John Peck, someone you mentioned recently, Scott from the tigers one for three with a run RBI and his second stolen base. He has a seal in back-to-back games. He has started eight of the past nine. He is 2% rostered. I think it's really just an AL only name, maybe 15 team Roto, um, and Leo Bernal. Of the Cardinals. He has impressed early on. He had a second home run. He had three RBI. He has started nine straight since getting called up. He's 10 for 36. He's got the two homers. He's got 10 RBI. He had a good season at triple a, uh, 7% rostered. I, I think in the mix for two catcher leagues, the final two weeks, I think
Speaker 5definitely mean just by virtue of him playing literally every day, uh, Leo Bernal and. Uh, I. I, I, I think the Cardinals think very highly of him, obviously for him to play that much. And I think for a good reason, he's hit. Well, he hit well in the minors. He brings some defensive value. Uh, he, he should be rostered in two catcher leagues.
Speaker 4I would say who, how would you rank these three? Uh, Raphael Flores, Kyle Teal and Leo Bernal.
Speaker 5I think I got a per Bernal at the top right now. I like Kyle Teal a lot, but. He has something to prove at this point, I would say I'll put him second.
Speaker 4And then Flores third, if you are looking for Leo Bernal on CBS, by the way, uh, it's his full name, Leonardo Bernal. So just, uh, in case you're looking for him, are we, what are we doing with these two? Uh, they're technically, uh, both right around 60% rostered. They were names that we talked a lot about when they got called up and obviously Esmeralda Valdez did his thing for a while now. Uh, but has cooled off George Lombard, Jr. One for four hit his first career grand slam. It was his third home run of the season. His previous 14 games before this one 67 batting average, 36% K rate. He is 57% Ross rostered. And then as Merlin Valdez hit his 17th home run, uh, but over his, uh, it was since he got hit by a pitch on his hand on July 27th, I keep referencing that date because I don't know if it's just like affecting his production. It very well could, but 33 games since then, one 75 batting average, three homers, 37% K. Um, I don't know if it's just like affecting his production. I don't know if it's just like affecting his production. I don't know if it's just like affecting his production. I don't know if it's just like affecting his production. I don't know if it's just like affecting his production. I don't know if it's just like affecting his production.
Speaker 5I don't know if it's just like affecting his production.
Speaker 4Right now, moving over to the waiver wire pitchers, will Warren had a great outing here against the Rocky six innings, one run, eight strikeouts, 12 whiffs on 95 pitches. Uh, his last two starts have been good. 13 innings, two runs, 15 strikeouts to three walks. And it looks like he might line up for two at the twins at the D backs next week. That is will Warren Griffin. Jack's looked better, uh, in his second start off the IL, this one at the Braves, five innings of one run ball, only two strikeouts here, velocity down around one mile per hour. Um, I think he was a little bit fortunate. He gave up six hard hits in this one overall, as a starter of the season, Griffin Jacks has mostly been very good. He's a spark. It looks like he lines up for two, one against the athletics. One against the red Sox for next week. Uh, Andre Palante. Okay. Start here at the giants five innings, one run, four strikeouts. He gets the giants again next week. And, uh, Davis Martin was okay against the pirates, five innings, one run, two walks, one strikeout, honestly. I. I would not. I would not use Davis Martin, but, uh, he does line up for two starts next week. So I just thought I would throw him out there. Uh, one against the tigers, one at the guardians. Can I, uh, interest you in any of these four for next week?
Speaker 5Those are good matchups for Davis Martin, but I can't do it. Yeah. I mean, two straight good and that he's prevented runs, but four strikeouts to three walks exactly. In those two starts, so not missing bats at all and was on a terrible run before. Then I just don't think it's enough to win me back over, even with two starts and favorable matchups and Griffin Jacks. I really liked what he was doing before going on the IL. He got a good result in this one, but as you were saying, it seemed kind of fortunate, only the two strikeouts, uh, only four total whiffs and he threw just 66 pitches. So he doesn't have much of a, uh, a leash there coming back from the IL either. Velocity's been down both of his starts since returning, got crushed in the first one. I think I need to see more. It's a shame that the two starts are coming up. I can see maybe starting Griffin Jackson, a points league with two starts, more forgiving format. Plus he's got that relief pitcher eligibility, but apart from that, I don't think I'd use them. Will Warren. Has been good two outings in a row now, both six plus innings. He actually went seven in the first of those two outings and he's been, he threw his change up more in this one. It is his best pitch. He's his fastball has been up about a mile per hour in both of those starts. So he may, there may be something here for Will Warren. It's still a big gamble at a time. A year where I don't like taking big gambles, but of the three, I think I'd be most inclined to use him. What are the matchups again?
Speaker 4At the twins, at the D backs, the twins are eighth and well, but against righties, the D backs are 29th.
Speaker 5Yeah, it would be, it would be the two-star Will Warren would be the sort of play where you're just chasing specific starting pitcher categories in a Roto league or. you feel like you're an underdog in your head-to-head matchup. and just are hoping to get kind of lucky.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5I think that's the only scenarios where I'd use Will Warren.
Speaker 4I think I would use him over any of the three pitchers we brought up as drops. Gosman, Bennett, Foster-Griffin. But I'm not overly excited about Will Warren, but I'm less excited to use any of those pitchers.
Speaker 5Bennett, Griffin, and who was the third one you said? Kevin Gosman, the Charizard. I mean, kind of the same logic applies with Kevin Gosman. You feel like you're the underdog and you're just hoping to get lucky. But yeah, I'd probably lean Warren there. I don't know about Bennett, because Bennett is facing the Rangers. That's a good matchup.
Speaker 4They're good against lefties, though.
Speaker 5Are they? That's surprising.
Speaker 4Yeah, fourth in Wobba against lefties.
Speaker 5I guess. Okay.
Speaker 4Jake Berger, baby.
Speaker 5Fair enough, fair enough. Yeah, I guess I would... be more likely to use Will Warren than those other three.
Speaker 4One name in deeper leagues. Ryan Johnson turned in a quality start at the Red Sox. Six innings, three runs, five strikeouts. He only had eight whiffs on 103 pitches. His velocity was up across the board in this one. Last five starts for Ryan Johnson. 215 ERA, .99 whip. The K to walk is very bad. It's a very low BABIP. It's a very high strand rate. It all looks very fluky. With that said, the matchup's next week. Home against the Mariners. Home against the Twins. It's a deep league context, Scott, but any thoughts here on Ryan Johnson?
Speaker 5I am not totally disinterested. I agree that he is not... He's not succeeding in the way we normally want a pitcher to succeed in the way that's going to have the most upside for fantasy. But during this stretch where he's been so effective, a lot more cutters. The pitch has a 188 batting average against. And he is also a... He's a pitcher, Ryan Johnson, who gets a lot of weak contact in the air. And if you can get contact in the air that's not hit very hard, that doesn't turn into home runs, you can be more effective than a ground ball pitcher because you're also likely to put up a very low whip in addition to the low ERA. It's more of a tightrope walk. It's a higher margin for error. But in theory, it's the better... The better... profile than the ground ball guy. Again, it's a big roll of the dice. But if you're just chasing volume, I think Johnson is somebody you could consider using facing lineups, especially that Mariners matchup. I mean, that's a favorable one.
Speaker 4Yeah. Anything to see here with these two D-back returns? Zach Gallen and Michael Soroka. Gallen, three and a third. Two rebounds. Two runs, two walks, one strikeout. Soroka, four innings, three hits, three runs, four strikeouts. Gave up a three-run homer to Bobby Witt. Was very good early on in the season. He got up to 58 pitches. He's 76% rostered. People, you know, a lot of people still held on to Soroka. Looks like it's one start against the Marlins for next week. Can I interest you in either of these returns? I just don't know that Soroka is going to be built up enough to want to use him.
Speaker 5I agree. And it's not like he pitched all that well in this return. So...
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 5And I think there's more downside than upside to that.
Speaker 4Seven hitters who are on fire. Actually, it's six now because Corey Seager was one of them. Jackson Churio, three for five with a sock and a shoe. His 23rd home run, his 17th steal. Last 34 games, 326, 10 homers, seven steals. The OPS is around 950. The 162-game pace, 33 homers, 118 runs, 94 RBIs. 24 steals. Lock it in, Scott. Jackson Churio, first-round pick next year.
Speaker 5Probably. Probably in Roto and in categories. Maybe not in points since he doesn't walk much at all.
Speaker 4Yeah, I was thinking about points leagues. I don't know. That one's close. I think he's like a one-two turn guy in a points league. In categories, I think it might surprise people. I think he's going to be more like a mid-first-round pick. I think a lot of people are going to be sold on Churio.
Speaker 5I am. Okay. So... I think... Five that... I think... Hang on. I was just writing about this earlier. Let me see if I can pull it up. Okay. So, I think my top six in some order are going to be Shohei Otani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt, Juan Soto, Jordan Alvarez Jr., Kamenero, and P. Crowe Armstrong. Did I just name seven? One, two, three, four... I think that was seven. Five. Yeah. So, my top seven in some order is going to be them. So, eighth is in the discussion. I don't know. The Churio is the obvious choice there. But that, I think, is the absolute highest I could talk about. Just knowing that top seven that I have.
Speaker 7Yeah.
Speaker 5And, of course, Elie De La Cruz is in that discussion. And... James Wood? James... Oh, gosh. James Wood. Yeah, I think James Wood has... Maybe I need to think about him in the top seven. I think it has to be a top eight.
Speaker 4A top eight. Yeah, I think it's a top eight, Scott. Yeah. Forgot about him. Yeah. That's fair. So, yeah. I think maybe I overshot it there on Churio then. Because if I had to guess, I think those eight hitters you named make sense. And then it's some combination of Churio, Elie, Tatis...
Speaker 5Yeah, Tatis. That's a good one. And... He's second base eligible for next year. Still.
Speaker 4Jose Ramirez is probably still in that mix, I think.
Speaker 5Oh, that's a tricky one.
Speaker 4Or Mizzi Arouse. It might just be those 12 names, right? The eight you mentioned plus Tatis, Churio, Elie, and the Miz. That kind of feels like the top 12. J-Ram in the second round? Oh, man.
Speaker 5But we're definitely taking Churio over J-Ram and over Julio Rodriguez and over Corbin Carroll.
Speaker 4That's the way I feel right now, yeah. I'm not saying everybody will agree with that, but that's the way I feel. No.
Speaker 5No. I hope there's a lot of disagreement. Because there's a lot of questionable cases. Like, I've said it so many times in the past week or two, something like 16 of the top 24 players drafted vastly underperformed, and other than Cal Raleigh, they all have extensive track records of dominance and or are still in the prime of their careers. Normally, we give players like that a pass. We can't give them all a pass because too many other players... We can't give them all a pass because too many other players have put themselves in that top two-round discussion. And we're not just going to run back the first two rounds from a year ago. So, who you decide to give a pass to, I think, is going to depend on personal taste and just how much faith you have in certain players. And that's going to make for a lot of disagreement. It should, anyway.
Speaker 4Jackson Merrill had himself a massive game.
Speaker 5We didn't even mention Ronald Acuna. He's another one.
Speaker 4Yeah, I wouldn't include him in the top 12 that we talked about. I think he's firmly a second-rounder at the earliest. That's fair. Jackson Merrill, 4-for-5 with a double-dong, 6 RBI. He finished a double short of the cycle. And his last 81 games, half a season, 278 batting average, 18 homers, 55 RBI, 15 steals, 92.2 average EV, 14% barrel rate. Look, he is definitely a better Roto Category League player. He's low OBP. It's a lower OPS. But just in terms of power and speed, 24 homers, 25 steals. That is pretty awesome stuff for Merrill. I think in a Roto Categories League, he's probably, I don't know, somewhere in that 2-3 turn range? Second, third-round pick? I think Merrill's back in that mix. I can already tell Scott's like, I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 5Well, no, no, no. Because I feel good about where Jackson Merrill is right now. I actually think he's underachieved this year in batting average. Everything else looks great. Doesn't walk much, so that's going to hold him back at points leagues. But we already knew that. I wanted to boldly predict that he'll perform like a second-rounder next year. But you're kind of saying he just deserves to be drafted there.
Speaker 4I think so. Yeah, I think round two or three.
Speaker 5Okay.
Speaker 4Categories League. But yeah. I mean, two years ago, he was drafted there, remember? He was after his rookie season. He was, I think.
Speaker 5He hasn't actually performed like that this year. But I think there are strong indications that he still has that kind of upside, is how I would put it. So he's going to be a part of a crowded group in the outfield. And I think it's going to be one of those situations where somebody is going to end up lower in the rankings than you'd like them to be just because they can't all rank 14th or whatever we're talking about. We're talking about in the outfield rankings.
Speaker 4Yep. A couple of their names here who are on fire. Zach Netto hit another home run. Last 20 games for him. 373. Five homers. Three steals. OPS over 1,000. William Contreras is finishing strong. Last 21 games for him. 353. Four homers. 18 RBI. OPS over 950. Carter Jensen. Last 13 games for him. 319. Six homers. OPS around 1,300 during that stretch. And Mookie Betts. Fool me once. Fool me twice, shame on me twice. me. Shame on you. I don't know how the saying goes. Last 26 games, 314, six homers, 24 RBI, OPS over 900. He did this last year. I think there needs to be a significant discount on Mookie Betts now at this point in his career. Any thoughts on these other hot hitters? Mookie Betts, Jensen, William Contreras, and Zach Netto.
Speaker 5Yeah, Betts is maybe a top 100 player. Probably not. Trey Turner, I think, is following him down. Trey Turner's going to end up with a 2020 season. Is he already there?
Speaker 4He might already be there. He is up to 19 homers, 19 seals.
Speaker 5Yeah. It's 2020 with a 678 OPS. He's compiled well enough to keep himself useful for fantasy. I think we've seen the last of Trey Turner. He's an early round performer. And Betts now, this is two straight years, so I think it's safe to conclude he's not that
Speaker 4anymore either. Yeah. It's a sub 750 OPS two years in a row for Mookie Betts, and that kind of feels like closer to the expectation at this point in his career. Some other hitting leftovers. Isak Paredes hit his 19th home run. He's been pretty much himself since the start of June. Did get off to a slow start. A Schwarzlam for Schwarber. One for five with a grand slam. His 44th home run of the year. Just model of consistency year in and year out. He turns 34 in March. The bat speed is still right where it's been in previous years. I see no reason why Schwarber can't do this again next year. 40 home runs, 100-100. He's just one of the most bankable players in fantasy. Second rounder. Trey Turner did hear you say yesterday, Scott, that he was washed, and he just heard you again. He did have a sock in his shoe. His 19th home run, 19th steal. Roman Anthony hit his fourth home run. It was his third home run in 11 games since returning from the IL. Luis Garcia Jr. continued his breakout season with his 29th home run. And Connor Griffin, one for four with a walk, two RBI, and two steals. Sounds like you're working on early rounds for next season. Did you have Connor Griffin in the top two rounds in a categories league?
Speaker 5I haven't gotten there yet. I will do that next week. But I just had to think about it. I was working on that bold predictions article, and within it, I had to start thinking about who deserved to go at the top of drafts. Will Connor Griffin make it into the second round? My initial thinking is no, that's not where I'd want to put him. But I am probably going to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing that, because I suspect the rest of the world will want him there. And so if I want to get any Connor Griffin, I'm just going to have to follow suit.
Speaker 4In category leagues, for sure. In points leagues, I think you kind of devalue him a little bit. But I wonder if just thinking of, you mentioned bold predictions, like Connor Griffin has a season that rivals Ellie De La Cruz's second season in the majors, right? 25 homers, 67 steals. Obviously would be pretty bold to get something like that from Connor Griffin. We haven't really seen that power production from him yet, but being the top prospect in baseball, you feel like it's going to come eventually. Will it come as soon as next year? His 162 game pace is 56 steals, so the speed is absolutely there. He could go 20 homers, 60 steals as soon as next season. Connor Griffin. Where does everything else land? Batting average, counting stats, that remains to be seen. But he does kind of have that 20-60 skill set as soon as next year, I think. Some pitching leftovers, Yamamoto carved up the red 7 innings of one-run ball, 10 strikeouts here. He has 8-plus strikeouts and 5 straight, so that's a good sign. Strikeouts have been down for most of the season. And then Logan Henderson, another solid outing. This one against the Cubs, 5 innings, 1 unearned run with 6 strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 95 pitches, 3 earned runs or fewer in all 16 starts this season, and the updated K-walk rate, 25.6%. That is 4th highest among starting pitchers with at least 80 innings this season. Anything to add, Scott, on Henderson or Yamamoto?
Speaker 5Yeah, I mean, Henderson only going 5 innings. That felt kind of familiar, but since 3 of the previous 4 were 7 innings, I'm not going to say too much about it. I think he remains bus start.
Speaker 4The call to the bullpen for the Athletics, Hogan Harris got the 8th inning with a 2-run lead. He was facing the top of the lineup, there were 2 left-handed hitters scheduled for that inning, and it was a clean inning for Hogan Harris. Elvis Alvarado got the 9th, he allowed a single, he struck out 2, he picked up his 6th save, and the last 6 saves for the A's, 3 have gone to Alvarado and 3 have gone to Hogan Harris. So, yeah.
Speaker 5But, I will say that 6 of, um, sorry, I forgot his name for a second, Elvis Alvarado, right? Yes. I'm sorry. 6 of Alvarado's past 7 appearances have been to close out a game, to finish off a game. Not always for a save, but I think he's more or less the closer, just with some exceptions carved out for Harris.
Speaker 4For the Giants, either Dylan Smith was unavailable, or the Giants are rethinking his role. Somebody named Trent Harris got the 9th inning with a 1-run lead. He allowed a hit, but he picked up his first save, and Trent Harris in 14 games, 281 ERA, 125 whip, 21 strikeouts, over 16 innings. If you are in the most desperate NL-only league and you need saves, might be a name. Trent Harris. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz picked up his 26th save. For the Orioles, Rico Garcia got the final 5 outs. He did allow 2 hits. He struck out 3 for his 7th save. For the Angels, Ben Joyce got the 9th inning with a 3-run lead. He allowed a run, but picked up his 4th save. For the Royals, Stephen Cruz was unavailable. Nate Pearson picked up his 4th save. And for the Pirates, Mason Montgomery got the 9th inning with a 2-run lead. He struck out 2 for his 11th save. And Mason Montgomery is a fascinating name for this offseason. I lied for some reason. I don't know why I thought he was a free agent. He is not a free agent. He is arbitration eligible for a long time, and he is under team control through 2031. But he looks like one of the best relievers in baseball. Yeah, a bold... I hope the Pirates just make him the closer forever, until the end of time.
Speaker 5One of my bold predictions for next year, I'll go ahead and spoil it here. Mason Montgomery is the number 2 reliever in fantasy. Not saying that's where you draft him, I'm just saying that's where he ends up next year. Behind only, of course, Mason Miller. That's why I'm not willing to go
Speaker 4number 1. The Masons!
Speaker 5Yeah! You have to have the
Speaker 4M squared M squared initials there to be the top closer in baseball. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we have just a 5-game slate. It is a very light one. Martin Perez against the Rays, Jared Jones at the White Sox, Christian Javier at the Phillies, and Hagan Smith in that first start against the Pirates. I think he'll probably only throw around 50 pitches, but that is a complete guess.
Speaker 5I don't really want to start any of them. If I had to choose
Speaker 4one, it would be Jared Jones, but not with the most confidence. I might
Speaker 5lean Martin Perez over him just because the Rays are bad against lefties, but again, I don't really want to do either.
Speaker 4And then on Friday, we have Yusei Kikuchi at the Nationals, Chris Bassett at the Blue Jays, Revenge Game at Max Scherzer, home against the Orioles, Seth Lugo at the Red Sox, Andrew Abbott is at the Brewers, Shane Drowin home against the Reds, Jeffrey Springs is home against the Mariners, Kumar Rocker at the D-backs, and Merrill Kelly home against the Rangers.
Speaker 5If you're telling me the Rangers are good against lefties, they must be real bad against righties. They are
Speaker 4very bad against righties. They are 25th in Wobba against righties.
Speaker 5So I don't hate Merrill Kelly against them. Don't love it. Shane Drowin against the Reds, I don't hate. Jeffrey Springs was good last time, right? So he's facing the worst lineup in baseball now, the Mariners. But that is in Sacramento for what it's worth. And it's two starts
Speaker 4against the same lineup in a row. Don't love that.
Speaker 5Is there anyone else that I could possibly recommend? No, there's not. So I'm going to say Merrill Kelly, Shane Drowin, Jeffrey Springs
Speaker 4in that order. Yeah, I would say Kelly or Drowin. I could see one of Bassett or Scherzer having a good start here, but it is very risky. Fortune, favors the bold or the brave for Chris Bassett up against Max Scherzer. We are going to wrap there for Scott, I and Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye!
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