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Speaker 2Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. It's the smart, all-in-one financial home that actually helps you work more efficiently, giving you the data you need up front so you don't have to go digging for it. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. It's the smart, all-in-one financial home that actually helps you work more efficiently, giving you the data you need up front so you don't have to go digging for it. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. It's the smart, all-in-one financial home that actually helps you work more efficiently, giving you the data you need up front so you don't have to go digging for it. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank.
Speaker 1Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank.
Speaker 3Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank.
Speaker 4Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank.
Speaker 3Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank.
Speaker 4Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank.
Speaker 1Scott mentioned top 30, Chris mentioned top 36. Would you guys take Walker Jenkins over really all the other young outfielders that have been called up either recently or early on in the season? A lot of those guys have kind of fallen off. So I'm thinking about the Josh Baez, A.J. Ewing, Esmeralda Valdez, Sam Antonacci, Cole Carrig, who I know we like a lot. Would you take Walker Jenkins over all of those names?
Speaker 3I ended up putting him one spot ahead of Cole Carrig, who is the highest ranked of those. So it was a tough call between those two. Um, really for me, it comes down to, I'm not sure how startable Cole Carrig is on the road in shallower leagues. When I, I, I'm expecting you're just going to put Jenkins in your lineup, even in the three outfielder leagues and, and, and just leave him there. Maybe that'll be famous last words. Maybe he's, he's going to go through a growing pains phase, but that's, that's my expectation is that Jenkins is just going to be a fixture rest of season.
Speaker 4Now, having said all that, I would hope, I have a more boring outfielder to drop than one of those young guys. I do think it's a little different with like, you know, Zach Veen or Joshua Baez, where, you know, I think there are some limitations. I'm, I think either of those guys would be okay, but the guys that are a little more proven at the major league level, Carrig, Ewing, uh, Carson Benj, I would hope I have someone a little more boring. Um, like I'm looking at one of my leagues just for reference. So I do have Max Clark. I'd be fine dropping Max Clark for him. Although I would prefer not to drop Max Clark. And then I look at, I have Cam Smith. If Walker Jenkins was available in this league, I would definitely drop Cam Smith for him. That, that would be an easier call.
Speaker 1All right. Again, the twins promoting Walker Jenkins, their top prospect on Friday. Let's get into the players of the night. That man is hot. And, uh, there is, uh, perhaps no man hotter. Right now. Then Chris sale, man, a pitcher's duel out in Atlanta. Scotty, your boy, Chris sale. What a stud.
Speaker 3Yeah. We don't get many opportunities to talk about him since he is a stud, but he achieved a new level of studliness here. Seemed to rise to the occasion against the Dodgers, a series that had a playoff like atmosphere. I believe all three of the games were one run games and the Braves bullpen was taxed here in the third game of the series. Uh, it was honestly taxed yesterday. Dylan Lee had a bad outing, which is rare. Um, and Chris sale went the distance, shut out the Dodgers in a one nothing game. It was his first complete game. Wow. His first complete game since 2019. Really? Yeah.
Speaker 4Yup.
Speaker 3That's shocking. Which was before the Tommy John surgery and everything. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Uh, he also threw a pitch over a hundred miles per hour, which was the first time he had done that since 2018. So he was fired up, very efficient. Didn't walk. Anybody struck out 11, uh, five hits allowed. He lowered his ERA to two Oh six this season. He lowered his whip to an even one. Yeah. And he now has 11.1 K per nine. Uh, and it was his 13th win. So Cy Young caliber numbers here from Chris sale is obviously not going to win. Cy Young, Jacob Miserowski, but I think there's another thing holding it back. And, and, uh, that's, I think probably the most, it, we could obviously rave about this star, but the thing that, that actually matters more in fantasy is that he entered even with those. Yeah. Great numbers. I just listed off. He entered as only the 17th best pitcher in head to head points leagues. And it's not a wins thing. It was, you just picked up win 13. It's an innings thing.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 3And it's specifically a starts thing. The Braves have been so careful to preserve his health that this was only his 24th start. Most aces are going on their 28th start at this point. So, uh, I don't see. I don't see how that's going to change moving forward. Chris sale, 37 years old, I, I, I expect him to be good again next year, but I think this is something we're going to have to price in, uh, beyond just injury risk, which, you know, maybe, maybe that's a thing of the past. Now he's been really healthy two of his last three seasons. And the one where he wasn't, he fractured a rib on a dive and play. It wasn't an arm issue.
Speaker 4He really hasn't had an arm injury in like four seasons, right? Cause I think the year before he got to the Braves. Wasn't that the year he had like the bike accident and, and had like the fractured wrist and the rib, which I guess a fractured wrist is technically an arm injury, but you know what I mean?
Speaker 3His shoulder got a little bulky at the end of his Cy Young season. Oh, that's right. Yeah. It wasn't a playoff start.
Speaker 4Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3It wasn't anything too serious. Um, but the point is like at his age, like there's an established pattern here with how the Braves use him. And I, I think we need to remember to artificially. Suppress his, his, uh, his, his draft stock next year, um, in points leagues, well, in Roto, he's still the number four starting pitcher before today.
Speaker 4Oh, okay.
Speaker 3But, uh, he would, he would be a stronger number four if he had four more starts.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, I, it makes total sense what you're saying, but I think at this point it is a worth. A worthwhile trade off for the Braves and for Chris sale fantasy managers, because I think if they pushed him any further, you know, that's when we're talking about, okay, again, like his age and the innings adding up and things like that. And it's like, at some point, um, there's probably a point of like diminishing returns here for Chris sales. So I, I think it makes sense for them to limit it. That's a good strategy. Yeah.
Speaker 3And look, we just gotta, we just gotta price it in is my point.
Speaker 1Yeah. And we had that stretch in June where he wasn't even completing six innings consistently. Yeah. So here in the second half, they have been letting him go further on a per start basis. He has gone six plus innings in each of his second half, uh, starts here that seven starts and in the second half, one 76 era 0.7, six whip 60 strikeouts to three walks. I thought that was a typo, 60 to three K to walk ratio for Chris sale in the second half. He has been awesome.
Speaker 4And I also just want to real quick, one thing, um, I know people are gonna try to make the case that like, yeah, he's old. So you should downgrade him for that. I don't really think that's how it works. Um, you, you look at the, the truly great pitchers, your max Scherzer's and Justin Verlander's and, and those types of guys, yeah, there aren't a lot of good 38 year old pitchers, but the thing you have to keep in mind is there aren't a lot of good 37 year old pitchers. The pitchers who are great at 37 are probably gonna be great at 38. Like I actually think when it comes to pitchers, guys in their 30s. For dynasty are like perpetually undervalued, um, and guys in their 20s are probably overvalued because you're actually probably more likely to get a good three year stretch out of a really good pitcher. Who's 34 then out of one who's 24, right? Like the, the attrition rate is actually different for, it's kind of the opposite for pitchers and it is for hitters. Once you've made it to the age Chris sale is and still good, you're probably just going to keep being good for a while.
Speaker 3If, um, the hardest thing for any pitcher to establish is durability. And if, if you, if you make it to this age as a starting pitcher, you're durable. Now, every starting pitcher is right.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 3Their next pitch could be a season ending injury, but like some pitchers never even, I would say most pitchers never even make it to that point because, uh, it's just so taxing on the arm and that they just, their bodies just aren't capable of taking it.
Speaker 1All right. On the other side, I do just want to mention, I mean, poor Yamamoto here takes a tough loss. His first pitch of the game, he gave up a solo Homer to Drake Baldwin and that was it. That was all the scoring that was done in this one. Six and a third, one run allowed, eight strikeouts to one walk, 20 whiffs on 105 pitches. And he's been incredibly consistent. Three earned runs or fewer in 22. Two of 24 starts. He's gone six plus innings in 21 of 24. So the K rate is down this year for Yamamoto, which is a little bit unfortunate, but I mean, you look at the ratios and in terms of, I don't, I don't know how many wins he has, but I just, I heard on the broadcast.
Speaker 3I didn't follow it up and check the work, but I heard on the broadcast that he had the most innings per start of any pitcher this year, Yamamoto. So that sounds right. Workhorse. Now he, this was only his 24th start too.
Speaker 1So I just noticed the same thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3Because it's a sick, they've run with a six man rotation all year. So, um, yes, workhorse, but for the impact it has in fantasy, not so much. Well, and he's tied for six.
Speaker 4He's tied for six in the majors in innings now.
Speaker 1Yeah. So he just goes deeper than sale.
Speaker 4Yeah. So that's, he has about, I think sales at 144 innings. goes deeper than anybody Yamamoto's at 158 um so it's a slight downgrade relative to other pitchers but he's not far from the non-sandy alcantara tier of aces in terms of innings all right chris over to you who would you like to highlight here from thursday oh i'll go negative i'll be the bad guy because i feel like we haven't actually talked about joshua by as much since the three homer game now i was off his first week in the majors but i feel like i haven't been on a podcast where he's come up since he debuted and unfortunately things have gone about as poorly as the first game went well he had the first game where he homered three times he struck out three times on thursday he had a double that's nice um but still three strikeouts it is his fifth multi-strikeout game in his past sixth it is his seventh multi-strikeout game overall and he is up to a 40 strikeout rate and this was always the concern that yeah the raw power is incredible but the swing and miss is untenable and right now it's totally untenable his approach at the plate is a mess he's swinging and missing too much on top of that so it's just i don't think it's happening for joshua by as look he's talented enough that he's able to get hot and hit eight home runs in september and and we're talking about him as a top 120 pick next season that wouldn't shock me it would surprise me though so i i talked about this
Speaker 3on his debut the little bit of cold water i was sprinkling on it that the the book on him obviously strikeouts but especially fastballs elevated fastballs and that debut was against matthew boyd a pitcher who throws a pretty slow fastball and all three of the home runs came off boyd um so i'm i'm seeing now on four seam fastballs he has yet to get a hit other than two of the home runs on boyd his swinging strike rate on four steamers is 28 joshua bias swinging strike rate swinging strike oh that's that is massive yeah yeah and on top of
Speaker 1all that like his chase rate is 42 percent league average is 29 percent so he is chasing a bunch he is missing in the zone a lot uh so far actually no his own contact is yeah his own contacts are only actually slightly below average but he's chasing and you know his um his whiffs are coming when he's chasing pitches outside the strike zone so uh yeah josh bias i think if you obviously spent big fab on him in like a five outfielder league i would hold on to him but if you play in a shallower three outfielder league especially a head-to-head points league where you get penalized for strikeouts and i think it makes total sense to um perhaps ride the hot hand or even go with someone like
Speaker 3walker jenkins over definitely drop bias for jenkins at this point yeah yep all right let's
Speaker 1take our first break just a reminder that scott's week 24 sleeper articles and two-star pitchers will be out on the website on friday and we will have our fbt express episode breaking all that down on saturday we'll take a break and we'll be back right after this remember waking up on saturday mornings pouring a big bowl of sugary cereal and drinking every last drop of the sweet milk at the bottom nothing beats that feeling of pure nostalgia which is why i am completely obsessed with cachava's new cinnamon french toast flavor it gives you all those warm comforting morning feels but with incredible benefits instead of a sugar crash made with real cinnamon bark it honestly tastes like a warm slice of french toast in a glass just two scoops gives your body a massive upgrade with clean plant-based protein fiber and green seeds to support your energy digestion and whole body health it's packed with superfoods completely non-gmo and contains zero artificial sweeteners fillers or nonsense whether you love classic vanilla rich chocolate or this amazing new french toast blend it's the easiest way to give your daily routine a serious boost treat yourself to a childhood favorite go to cachava.com and use code fantasy for fifteen percent off your first order that's cachava k-a-c-h-a-v-a dot com code fantasy 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 any time throughout the post season download the calci app and use code fan to get up to five hundred dollars in bonus credits when you trade twenty thousand dollars in bonus credits 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 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 snapples i don't know if you've heard of snapple or if you've never heard of snapple or if you've never heard of snapple or if you've never heard of snapple or if you've seen snapple's iconic real facts so let's take a minute to go over some of my faves snapple real facts 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 offseason 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 welcome back in fantasy at baseball today before we hit the news and notes i just wanted to quickly uh mention jacob miziorowski's outing here from thursday night because some people might see the velocity being down and obviously it causes a pretty quick concern for someone who throws as hard as he's going to be in the offseason so let's get back to the show and for someone who throws as hard as jacob miziorowski it was six innings of two-run ball six strikeouts he had 12 whiffs on 89 pitches uh this is pretty interesting too per espn insights first pitcher since doc gooden in 1985 to start a season with 25 straight starts of three earned runs or less which is amazing stuff there from the miz uh but the velocity fastball down 1.9 miles per hour the cutter down 1.8 the curve down 1.9 miles per hour the curve down 1.9 miles per hour one point one and uh i had someone in the mentions earlier telling me that the miz was struggling with the mound and it was wet in that game and there was rain in new york city and then he spoke about it afterwards as well so i think that is a pretty fair reason here for that velocity to be down so i wouldn't overthink it too much with him yeah and i'm starting to get the sense that
Speaker 3they're just gonna let this go and i'm starting to get the sense that they're just gonna let this go in terms of like obviously he's already beyond his previous high in innings he's over 150 now it's kind of surprising given the big lead they have in the central and and they can afford to pull back the reins a little bit uh to make sure that they have all the the ammo they need for mizurowski in the playoffs but they're not talking like they're going to do that and i find that surprising but noteworthy given that obviously it'll have a big impact on the fantasy playoffs whether they do that or not but i think it's kind of surprising that they're going to do that and i find that surprising but noteworthy given that obviously it'll have a big impact on the fantasy playoffs whether they do that obviously it'll have a big impact on the fantasy playoffs whether they do that
Speaker 1they do that or not with them yeah his uh era actually went up in this one all the way up to 173 for the ms uh the whip did go down 0.75 whip uh for mizurowski he also has 13.2k per nine on the season and he is the sole reason why chris sale is not competing for a cy young this year sorry to chris
Speaker 3sale news and notes i don't know that he'd win it i don't know that he'd be ahead of christopher sanchez but but it's i don't know sanchez is kind of faltered yeah it's like a it's got a lot more innings the sanchez has a 262 era
Speaker 116 wins but you meant like chris sale has a 206 era yeah i know it's really good but innings innings
Speaker 3like a difference of 40 innings is a big deal but also a difference in like a one whip on the nose versus 120. that's also pretty massive yeah i don't i don't know that whip is a big scion category i'm not saying that voters don't consider it but that's fair i guess if we were handing out a
Speaker 1cy young for fantasy pitchers it's something i would consider uh the news and notes here walt weiss gave ronald acuna a rest day on thursday and he has been bad since returning from the il in 28 games 188 batting average six homers three steals 614 ops with a 27 strikeout rate uh and notice his bat speed and fast swing percentage while much better than the rest of the league it is down from previous years uh since returning from this injury so uh chris what what's
Speaker 4going on with uh ronald acuna yeah i mean maybe i i want to say maybe he's just kind of going through it and he's not 100 you know he's a little banged up but he's actually been running more lately i think he has four stolen base attempts in like his last 15 games um with three steals so that that's kind of surprising given that we i think all thought he was just kind of done running at least for the rest of the season um so i don't know i i i tend to think it's probably just a slump but he hasn't been very good this season you know even when he even before that the injuries he wasn't hitting the ball great and you know that's two out of the last three seasons now where he's not hitting the ball great and you know maybe the the injuries have just caught up to him a little bit yeah would anybody be shocked if ronald acuna was the best player
Speaker 1in the league in september i wouldn't it wouldn't shock me but i am starting to starting to think i look at 28 years old i don't think he's done but i do think there's a real chance that all the leg injuries he's dealt with are really starting to impact ronald acuna i mean
Speaker 3well i i think what what does that mean does that mean he's not he's developed some bad habits in his swing that he's gonna have to sort out to compensate for the injuries or just from rust i think that's very likely yeah does it mean that he doesn't have the strength he used to have and can never get back to that i guess that's possible but that wouldn't be my lean i will say
Speaker 4this is something i'm starting to think about like some content i'm gonna write maybe in september or october and pretty terrible season for the first two rounds and drafts yeah here i was thinking about that earlier today yeah i want to do the research but i cannot remember a year where the first two rounds were this bad like who who's been like bobby witt didn't get hurt right i know he had a he had an aisle stint but it was a pretty short one but he's so like like man everyone has missed a significant amount of time or holy rodriguez and paul skeens just been
Speaker 3super disappointing yeah so i i came up with otani's hasn't been as good as he could be but he's been good enough to justify the pick and bobby witt i would put in the same category not as good as he could be but good enough to justify the pick and you probably say the same about ali de la cruz yep i think if we're ranking how beneficial players and then the first two rounds have been this year it's shocking to think but fernando tatis yeah and uh tarik scoobel would
Speaker 4be pretty high on that list i mean i think junior caminero has been the best pick in the first two rounds like by by far just in terms of what you've gotten and even he's i think he's no actually he i i thought he had slowed down then i looked up the numbers and he's been great in the second half um ali de la cruz has been pretty good i mean jackson churio despite the injury has been we didn't talk about him but he missed so much of the season he's having but he's he's
Speaker 1on like a 30 25 pace now yeah um yeah no i think i think he's paid off well it's hard to say um i'm looking at it now the top 24 picks which cuts off with yamamoto so i would put him in this he has paid off yamamoto churio schwarber caminero carol has carol yeah carol's but again it's like
Speaker 5not as good as he could be but good enough tatis ellie ellie
Speaker 4wait i think you're like it's like nine nine out of 24 yeah i think that's it you're happy with nine of the 24 picks you're really happy with like three that's yeah that's bad it's been a really bad top 24 including just like you got nothing out of gary crochet nothing out of gunner henderson nothing out of kyle tucker nothing out of cow rally nothing out of vladimir guerrero it
Speaker 1like bottom out bad yeah busts not just like chism not just like oh all right he was drafted in the first round he finished as like the 45th player it's like no these guys are bad bad and actually
Speaker 3the first time this occurred to me was when uh so i i think i'm running away with my tout wars league 15 team roto i'm up more than 10 let's go scott i'm i'm never comfortable but it i've been up double digit points for a good while now i drafted ronald acuna in the first round of a 15 team league that's pretty crazy but it's like most people missed on their top picks so it's okay and i drafted pete crowe armstrong in round five that because it's the obp league yeah that'll play great no bp yeah so that was actually my first i keep looking at my tout wars team and it's like
Speaker 4man if i'd gotten anything out of gunner henderson this team would be pretty good and it's just instead i'm just i know gunner henderson and kyle tucker i'm in sixth place with gunner henderson and kyle tucker
Speaker 1as my top two picks yeah come on come on guys i spent up for ronald acuna in my tout wars league and uh i'm in ninth place so uh i did not get pete crowe armstrong clearly on my team this year uh keep it on with the news and notes james wood was doing base running work on the field thursday he's been out since august 4th with an oblique strain jake bowers has missed three straight with shin splints bo bichette was out of the lineup after leaving thursday and he's been out since thursday with a left foot contusion dustin may who left after just one pitch on wednesday could start sunday against the texas rangers so yesterday i talked about how terrible this would be if you play in a weekly lineup league where you get literally just one hit against dustin may and nothing else for the rest of the week but if he starts on sunday he could remedy some of that so that would definitely help nathan of all the resumed playing catch earlier this week but still needs another 10 to 12 days before throwing off a mound so i don't think he's going to be able to have enough time to be back for the regular season but i know the rangers are right in that al west al wild card mix so if they do make the playoffs maybe nathan of all they could be like a reliever option for them there roki sasaki was officially placed in the il thursday with a blister on his right middle finger willie adamas got a second opinion on his elbow and is expected to miss three to four weeks so not really expecting much uh from adamas anymore this season both a eugenio suarez and t.j. friedel cleared outright waivers they will remain with the reds and it sounds like um it will be just on the reds roster again on friday my guess is suarez will be in the lineup i don't think friedel was playing all that much for them anyway justin robleski is expected to start a rehab assignment at triple a this weekend and once he's ready he will return to the dodgers as a reliever so don't think you need to hold on to justin robleski does the roki sasaki injury change
Speaker 3that at all i know they're putting lauer eric lauer in the rotation for now but i guess it's
Speaker 1there's a possibility i just don't know if there's enough time for not that robleski has missed a but he hasn't missed that much time but he probably needs to get a little bit stretched back out right
Speaker 4i think they probably also needed to manage his innings anyway yeah someone scott when you were at that piece earlier he was on that list yeah he was yeah follow-up imaging on curtis meade's
Speaker 1fractured wrist came back clean and he started mobility exercises and strength work it seems like he'll be uh he'll be able to make it back before the end of the season assuming no setbacks again now with the reds is curtis meade so poor guy i mean his first game he gets hit in the wrist and fractured it um so sounds like he could be back at some point in september and bryce eldridge rejoined the giants after missing three games on the bereavement list some waiver wire options from thursday's action and i have two pitchers here noah cameron shallow league name he's already 76 percent rostered uh but he did turn in another quality start this one at the blue jays six innings two runs three strikeouts to two walks 11th innings two runs three strikeouts to two walks 11th innings two runs 11th swing swinging strikes on 81 pitches and he continues to emphasize non-foreseen fastballs and i think that is a good recipe here for noah cameron over his last seven games a 129 era a 0.72 whip and he gets the marlins next week so um kind of interested in noah cameron that's what cbs says
Speaker 3oh man i i i'm honestly like i probably need to put him in the sleeper pitchers article then i i i thought he had already graduated from that i i thought he had gotten past the 80 percent roster ship threshold i think he did i think he did and then he he must have got dropped he got dropped for some reason because he's had he had the one he was a two-star pitcher last week right yeah that's probably why he got bumped up so but all he's been doing is the kind of run he's been on why wouldn't you just hold on to him he's pitching well now this is two starts in a row where he hasn't gotten many strikeouts so that seems to be slowing down a little bit and and at the start of this run his velocity was up that seems to have leveled off too uh but you know he was good as a rookie last year and i i think the approach he's taking now calling his own pitches much fewer four seamers i i think it's a winning approach for him i think he needs to be more than 80 percent rostered at this point uh i i i don't see him as somebody who's going to be a good pitcher for a long time i don't see him as somebody who's going to be a good pitcher for a long time gonna be a must-start option long term i don't think noah cameron has that kind of upside for as good as he's looked during this stretch but i i think he's must roster a couple other marlins is a
Speaker 1good matchup obviously a couple other pitchers that are in a similar uh roster range as noah cameron are aaron nola and clay holmes i'm just trying to pull up uh clay holmes's matchup for next week uh he also is a so both nola and holmes are are two-star pitchers yeah so holmes is at miami and he's going to be a must-start option long term i don't think noah cameron has that kind of versus the brewers aaron olas at the d-backs and home against the braves i'm assuming with the two starts you would favor both nola and holmes over noah cameron
Speaker 3well since it's a it's a good matchup and a bad matchup for both right i might favor cameron in a categories league if i'm safeguarding ratios if i'm just chasing if i'm just chasing in the counting stats then sure the two-star pitchers but if i'm having to safeguard I might prefer Cameron, obviously, and points leagues prefer the two-star options.
Speaker 4For what it's worth, the week after, week 25, he is slated to be a two-star pitcher. Noah Cameron, that is. Yeah, Noah Cameron. It would be versus Arizona at Boston. Kind of iffy matchups there, but... Yeah, Arizona's actually... I think that's a reason to hang on to him in a points league, too.
Speaker 1Arizona's really good against lefties. They actually struggle against right-handed pitchers. So, yeah, not the best matchups, but I think in a points league for the volume for sure there with Noah Cameron. The other name I have here is Hayden Wesneski in a... How did I not realize this yesterday? Revenge game against the Yankees. Five-plus innings, one run, six strikeouts to two walks, and he has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five of six starts. 386 ERA, 119 whip, not many strikeouts, but he's been okay. 39% rostered, and it looks like he lines up for two next week. Home for two against the White Sox and the D-backs. Chris, can I interest you at all in Hayden Wesneski?
Speaker 4At all is the right way to put it. At all. At all, yeah, you can interest me at all in Hayden Wesneski, but not in a 12-team roto league. I don't think he's good enough for that. But in a points league, yeah, I think he's a perfectly fine two-start streamer. I don't think he's much more than that, but I think that's fine.
Speaker 3I have Wesneski in the points league only section of the two-star pitcher rankings this week, this upcoming week, so I agree. One thing that was interesting about Wesneski in this start, obviously a good one at the Yankees, the sweeper is his star pitch. It has a 160 batting average against and a 45% whiff rate, and he didn't have it in this start. He threw it more than any other pitch, but it had two less inches of drop. It got zero whiffs on it, and he still turned in a good outcome. So I think that's a positive sign for Hayden Wesneski, and I think he's on the fringes of rostering.
Speaker 1Yeah, his changeup was actually really good in this start. He didn't throw it for enough strikes, but he did get a lot of chases on it, and four of the five swings he got, four were whiffs. So an 80% whiff rate on that changeup. He got some really ugly swings against that pitch, and entering this start, both his sweeper and changeup had whiff rates above 40%. So decently intriguing there for Hayden Wesneski if you're looking for a two-start pitcher for next week. Some waiver-wire hitters. Vinny P! Baby! Vinny Pasquantino is hitting well since returning from the IL. Two for five with a walk, his ninth homer, three RBI, and 10 games since coming back. He's 13 for 38, three homers, eight RBI, one steal, and OPS over 1,100. He's all the way up to 81% rostered in CBS. He is 68% rostered on Yahoo. I don't know.
Speaker 3Is Vinny P back? He only had, like, he struck out in this game. That was his first. That was his first strikeout since coming back. One strikeout in 44 plate appearances. So he's, like, doing everything right as a hitter right now. His average exit velocity since returning, 93.6 miles per hour. That's up about four from his season average. His ground ball rate is down to 30%. He's hitting a lot of fly balls in the air. So right now, Vinny Pasquantino is doing everything you would want him to do. And, of course, he was the guy who hit more than 30 homers last year. So I think we have to take it seriously. I can't say... I can't say that anything fundamental has changed here. He might just be really hot. But we did just see him be more or less this version for a full season last year. So if you are in the position of needing first base help, I think he's, again, somebody to take seriously. Yeah.
Speaker 1Again, the position still remains loaded. But I did move him up to my 27th ranked first baseman. That is ahead of names like... Josh Bell, Kyle Stowers, Willie Castro, TJ Rumfield, Alec Boehm. So if you're shopping in that area for a corner infielder, I would take Vinny P over all those. And one name I'm realizing now I have ahead of him, and I would probably make that swap, is Christian Walker, who had a good game here on Thursday. But he really was only good in April. And from May on, he's hitting 214 with an OPS below 700. So I would actually make that swap, Walker, for Vinny P. I think that's fair.
Speaker 3It's been a long... He's hit for some power still, Christian Walker, since April. But yeah, the 90 games prior to this one, he had hit 197. He was a sub-200 hitter. So it's... Yeah, it's... He's back. It's been a... He's back. He was back in April, and now he's back again. It's just... Which is he back to?
Speaker 1He did the reverse of last year, where he had a good second half. And this year, he had a good month to start. And that was it for Christian Walker. I do have two deeper names here. Kobe Mayo hit his 18th home run. And in the second half, 258 batting average, six homers, 847 OPS. He plays against every lefty. He has started against 15 of 25 righties in the second half. So, you know, about three-fifths. 60% of the righties. Exactly three-fifths. There you go. And they have those amazing matchups next week, the Orioles do. So I wanted to mention Kobe Mayo in that mix as well. But somebody brought up a fair question to me. Blaze Alexander is close to returning. Just wondering if he can kind of mess things up for Encarnacion Strand or Kobe Mayo here. What do you guys think about that? He shouldn't.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 1He was playing pretty well before he got hurt.
Speaker 4And he was playing a good amount. But he's... But he's 27 and has never been anything more than a utility guy. So I... Look, it's possible. I can't say no. I'm not managing the Orioles. So I can't tell you for sure. Well, and it's not like Kobe Mayo and Christian Encarnacion Strand are so essential that they need to be in the lineup. So it's possible Blaze Alexander comes back and screws that up. It's also like Kobe Mayo can only hit lefties. He is tied for the major. League lead in home runs against lefties with 14 this season. Wow. He's tied with Matt Olsen, which actually, that's cool for a lefty. Nice. He is tied for 259th in homers against righties with four. He is really good against lefties and really bad against righties. But...
Speaker 3Well, I shouldn't say the Orioles aren't playing for anything because almost every AL team is playing for something and nobody actually wants it. They're like three. Three games out of the wildcard race. So they technically are playing for something. Like Kobe Mayo is only 24. I don't... And obviously he was a much bigger prospect than Blaze Alexander ever was. So he's showing some signs of possibly breaking through here. I think it would... If I were running the Orioles, I'd want to nurture that as opposed to suppressing it. But I don't run the Orioles. Meanwhile, Christian Encarnacion Strand also had a... He had a huge game and I think he's the most... The biggest prize of all of these Orioles corner infielders.
Speaker 4Pretty similar case, though. He crushed his lefties. 650 OPS against righties and 1,000 OPS against lefties.
Speaker 1What helps for him is that there are seven games next week, three lefties on the schedule. There's also three games in Coors Field. And Encarnacion Strand has been playing a little bit more against righties than even Mayo has. So I would put CES ahead of Mayo just for next week.
Speaker 3Agreed.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3I'd put him ahead of Mayo. I'd put him ahead of Mayo for the rest of season. Because they have the same strength and weakness. But for an Encarnacion Strand's case, the weakness is not quite as bad. And he seems to be getting preferred treatment in the lineup. And he's been a little better. Yeah.
Speaker 1All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, we've got league winners in September. We'll do that right after this.
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Speaker 1Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball. Today, we're taking a look at some players that could help us win the final month of the season. We'll call them league winners, but it's just players that have good schedules, that have good data, guys that we think are going to have a good final month of the season. We've got some hitters, we've got some pitchers, we've got some pitchers. Chris, why don't you kick us off with a hitter or two or three or four that you like in
Speaker 4the final month? I'll just go with one, and it's Jordan Lawler, who I know people have probably grown sick and tired of hearing Jordan Lawler's name. He made his MLB debut four years ago, four seasons ago, I guess. He has still just turned 24, and he's been very good when he's been on the field this season. He's hitting 290. He has an 830 OPS. In 20 games, only 20 games, but three homers, four steals. This is what we hoped he would be able to do when he finally got the opportunity. Injuries have been a real problem for him, but he's currently healthy. He's been productive since coming off the IL. It's a very small sample size, but he's playing. I think he started like six out of seven games as well. I think it might be happening with Jordan Lawler. We've always been really excited about him. This is a career 07 OPS guy in the minors. You're talking about in the minors, it's like a 25 homer, 50 stolen base pace per 150 games. He won't be that good, but I think he could be a 2030 guy in the majors. I still think the ceiling is there for that. He's going to play a lot down the stretch. I'm pretty excited about Jordan Lawler, who is also eligible at the two weakest positions in fantasy, third base and outfield. So that helps too.
Speaker 3So I got to bring this up. And I like Jordan Lawler. I wish this wasn't the case. And hopefully it's just a short-term phenomenon. So he sat out again here on Thursday, right? He sat out three of the 10 games since returning.
Speaker 4My numbers weren't up to date, I guess.
Speaker 3He sat out three. Three of the 10 games since returning. Wasn't in the lineup for three. Maybe he came off the bench for some of those, but he was out of the lineup for three of the 10 games. The Diamondbacks have faced four right-handers in those 10 games. So he has sat against three of the four right-handers the Diamondbacks have faced since Jordan Lawler returned, which has me a little concerned they view him as a semi-platoon player. Now, I brought up on the podcast yesterday that it may just be that because they've happened to face this high concentration of lefties, they feel like Lawler's getting enough playing time and they could justify sitting him against some of the righties. And over the long haul, as the lefties spread out more, they'll still want to give Lawler about the same amount of playing time. That could be. Or you could hit so well against the lefties that they decide they have to start him against the righties. That's a good point, yeah. It is. It is a real concern right now, playing time.
Speaker 4You can't take Max Kepler's bat out of the lineup. I was just going to say the same thing. You know, like you just, when you've got three dynamic, talented young outfielders, you just, you have to keep Max Kepler and his 594 OPS out there. You have no choice.
Speaker 1You could say the same thing about Lars Neupahr. He's hitting 218 with a 654 OPS. So it's, I don't really get it, but it is a fair talk. It is a fair talking point. And for next week, the D-backs have six games. There's only one lefty on the schedule. So.
Speaker 3So that'll be the real test, I think.
Speaker 1Yeah. Yeah. Next week, for sure, that'll be a big one for Jordan Lawler. All right, Scott, over to you for a couple hitters you like here in September.
Speaker 3So I got a head start on this exercise 17 days ago. The article was published where I looked at some hitters and pitchers that you could pick up and stash for the final six weeks. Of course, now we're down to the final four. Um, so I, I mostly looked at this in terms of counting how many favorable hitter matchups remain, how many, how many series against weak pitching staffs remain for, for hitters. And, um, Ty France stands out, not just because he's hit well, but because the Padres have, uh, they face the nationals, they face the giants, they face the diamonds, they have a series at Coors Field, and they have a series in Cincinnati remaining. Uh, the series in Cincinnati is this upcoming week, and Ty France is among my sleeper hitters for this upcoming week. So he might be, as long as he remains unrostered enough, he might be just the rest of the way with as many favorable matchups as the Padres are looking at. And of course, he's got an OPS in the mid-800s overall. So, uh, plenty of reason to like Tyler France right now. Uh, the Yankees also have good matchups. They face the angels among their eight series. They face the angels, the Rockies, the Mets, the twins, the diamondbacks. So that's five good series in the eight remaining. I think that's, uh, one reason you might want to stick with George Lombard. Uh, maybe you could put Spencer Jones in that category too, though I'm less confident in the playing time he'll get, and it might be matchup dependent. Uh, I have not spoken very highly of Tommy Edmund and my doubts about him. As a player at this stage of his career remain. And yet the matchups are really good for the Dodgers down, uh, down the stretch among their eight remaining series. They get the nationals, the reds, the reds again in Cincinnati, the giants twice, both home and away. So those are some weak pitching staffs they're facing. Edmund's been hot recently. I think he's triple eligible, right? So a handy player to keep around. And then, uh, the Mariners, they get the athletics. Pitching staff twice, the angels twice, and they have a series in course field. So that should bode well for Dominic Canzone and Cole Young, neither of whom has performed all that well lately. And like, it's worth prefacing this whole exercise. Um, obviously we're in September, the waiver wire has been picked over. These are all very flawed players I'm recommending. And like, it's not, it's not me saying, you have to start these guys down the stretch, but it's me saying, well, also in September players drop like flies. Obviously we've seen a lot of seizing and injuries recently. And with only four weeks remaining, not many injuries last less than four weeks. So almost every injury from this point forward is going to be a season ender. So you may, there's a high chance you're going to need to plug one of these guys in.
Speaker 1I agree. 1000% on the Mariners. I think they could just go completely off the final month. They're hitters. That is, uh, so I, obviously if you have Mariners hitters that are already, you know, way too rostered, I just think it could be a big month for J-Rod and Raleigh and, uh, Josh Naylor and all those guys. But I do agree with Dom Canzone, 72% rostered. Uh, they do have the two series against the A's. One of those also is in Sacramento. So they have a series in Sacramento. They have a series in course fields. They get the angels of pitching staff for two series as well. They have a series in Sacramento. They have a series in that's not a very good one. Uh, so I, I liked the Mariners bats a lot in September to others that I considered. They have good data, solid matchups. The final month you mentioned Spencer Jones last 30 days, 95.5 average EV 25% barrel rate, and even the expected stats, two 66 XBA five 66 X slug. I'm just not sure if Aaron judge returns, it's not a guarantee still, but if he returns in mid Jones could just get sent back down to the minors or he could be a fourth outfielder. So, uh, that
Speaker 4very well could affect him. They're probably not going to bench Trent Grisham, right? They love
Speaker 1Trent Grisham. He should not be playing center field. He's made, he's made some really bad one yesterday. He's made some bad defensive plays. They probably should be playing Bellinger or Spencer Jones in center, but they love Trent Grisham. So I don't, I don't think that they would, uh, they would bench him. The other name I wanted to mention was Tim Tawa, who is only 31% I mentioned this a lot recently, but his data is great 92.7 average EV 12% barrel rate, good expected stats. He's eligible all over the field, like first, second, third, outfield, I believe. And yeah, he's only 31% rostered, and the matchups are pretty good for Tim Tawa as well. Can I add one more?
Speaker 4Yes. You probably should mention him, Kalen Culpepper. He's only 37% rostered. He's been very good so far. The underlying numbers are not quite as good, but still like 337 ex-WOBA. That's really solid. He's hitting the ball really hard. There's a lot to like. It's a very fantasy-friendly skill set as well, so I think Kalen Culpepper needs to be mentioned in this. I don't know what the schedule looks like.
Speaker 3It looks a lot better now than when I did this 17 days ago because the Tigers pitching staff has gotten worse. He faces them twice. The White Sox pitching staff has gotten worse. He faces them once. And then he gets the Angels, the Giants. Yeah, it's not a bad schedule there for the Twins. I just... It also benefits Walker.
Speaker 4I don't think... I'm not necessarily saying Kalen Culpepper's better than George Lombard or even as good as him, but the 40-point gap in their roster rate doesn't make any sense right now.
Speaker 1I said just yesterday that I would rather have... I think Culpepper has moved to the top of that shortstop trio rest of the season just based on what he's done and some of the underlying data there as well.
Speaker 4Now, to be clear, you don't lose points for errors, so Lombard's not getting hurt that way. I had to get it. I had to get it in. Dude, what happened there? It's an extremely funny bit that he's turned into Anthony Volpe 2.0. His first... It's very funny.
Speaker 1His first 10 games, he had like eight defensive runs saved, and now he has an error in sixth straight. Like, what is...
Speaker 4Yeah, that's... That's just like... It's just funny.
Speaker 1He just caught the yips overnight. It was crazy.
Speaker 4You know the theory that evolution converges onto crab-shaped bodies? You guys have heard carcinogenesis or something like that? You guys know this. Everyone knows this. It's a thing. Carcinogenesis. I don't know what... I don't know how to pronounce it. All Yankee shortstops converge on Anthony Volpe eventually.
Speaker 1Bring back Didi Gregorius. That's what I say. Also, the Rockies, I'll mention, they have eight series left and five are at home. So, if you're looking for some deep names, I mean, I guess Cole Carrick would play there, but even someone like... I don't know how many lefties there are, but, you know, Zach Veen against righties. And in a really deep league, Connor Norby's been playing, and some of his data looks pretty good, too. So, just throw those out there as some deeper names. Let's go.
Speaker 4Carcinization. Carcinization.
Speaker 1All right. Any pitchers that you guys like over the final month here?
Speaker 5I feel like NBC went through that for a while.
Speaker 4I think there are two very obvious ones. Scott, you wanted to talk about Jacob Lopez, so I'll talk about Andrew Painter. Jacob Lopez, I think the case is much better because the track record of him succeeding at the Major League level is longer, but Andrew Painter, what he's shown since he came back from AAA and especially in his most recent two starts and really especially his most recent start, the fastball shape is back to where it was before his injury when he was the best pitching prospect in the world. And he has had to spend a lot of time this season working on the arsenal outside of the fastball. And now what if the fastball is back to being even an average pitch? Like if that can be, because it's been like a 10% whiff rate pitch for most of the season. If it can just be like an average four seamer around 19, 20% whiff rate, not get crushed. Boy, the ceiling for Andrew Painter starts to get really interesting. And if it's a plus pitch, like it looked in his most recent start when he was averaging 18.8 inches of IVB at 97, 98 miles an hour, Andrew Painter could be a top 30 starting pitcher the rest of the way. It's iffy. I would certainly wish that we had a bigger sample size of him looking like this because he's mostly looked really bad. But man, yeah, the upside could be really high for Andrew Painter. What we saw in his most recent start, especially is for real.
Speaker 1And Scott, we all love Jacob Lopez and we fought beforehand, but you won the fight. So you get.
Speaker 3I won the fight because I have the matchups and that's the selling point. Maybe the biggest selling point beyond Jacob Lopez. Frankly, we don't know. We don't even need to go into matchups. He is probably the most under-rostered player, certainly the most under-rostered pitcher right now. Last seven starts, 233 ERA, 103 whip, 10.9K per nine. And we've seen this before from him. I understand his ERA for the season is still close to five, but I think that was his evil twin who did most of that damage. And now we're seeing the good version of Jacob Lopez. And then when you consider the matchups, there's really only one team with a standout pitcher slate remaining, and it's the Athletics. Among their eight remaining series, they get the Rangers. They get the Mariners twice. They get the Blue Jays. They get the Guardians. They get the Angels. So that's what? Six really good series among their final eight. I don't think any other team has like three. So that's another reason. That's another reason why Jacob Lopez is clearly the pitcher who needs to be added down the stretch. And I would say with that schedule remaining, JT Ginn is also worth holding on to even though the strikeouts have slipped for him. And Gage Jump, there've been some extreme highs and some extreme lows, but hopefully it's going to be more highs looking at the series and the type of matchups that remain for Jump.
Speaker 1Use him on the road. That's what I would say. At least for Gage Jump. Those other guys you could probably just play anytime, but yeah, Gage Jump on the road I think could work. A couple other teams that I noticed have really good schedules on the pitching side. Toronto looks awesome. I can't really recommend anybody, but I mean, Dylan Cease could just go absolutely ham the final month of the season. And then the Tigers, Pirates, and Twins all stood out to me for good schedules. But again, there's no one that I really trusted there. I was like thinking, maybe Bubba Chandler. The results have been better lately. He's not getting a lot of strikeouts, but he's getting ground balls. He's limiting hard contact. He's looked okay, but the matchups look pretty good there for the Pirates. So I think Bubba Chandler could potentially be useful here down the stretch. All right, let's wrap up here with some leftovers. Scott, I had four hitters having weird seasons. Christian Walker was one of them, so we got him out of the way. But the other three, Carter Jensen, one for two with three walks in his, 18th home run. He is hitting 224. He's had 18 home runs, but 720 OPS, 29% strikeout rate, like hits the ball hard, but you know, the expected stats look pretty, pretty bad there for Carter Jensen. So I just wanted to see how you feel about him overall. I'll mention the other two as well. Jack Caglione, just a monster game here. Five for six, 23rd home run, six RBI. He did hit the homer off of a position player, but a home run's a home run. His OPS by month, 7-51, 6-38, 10-36, 6-15, 11-55. Just kind of weird for Caglione, who's had a very good season, but it's just, it's been all over the place. And you can see the same thing for Jackson Trio, who went four for five, two socks in a shoe, two homers, a stolen base. He's up to 19 homers, 14 steals. But yeah, his OPS by month, 7-21, 10-13, 5-88, 9-43. So, three very different games, three different players, Scott, but any thoughts here on Trio, Cags, and Carter Jensen?
Speaker 3Man, I'd be so disappointed if I found two socks in a shoe. That would like, ruin my whole afternoon. Carter Jensen has been a disappointment this year. I was high on him coming in 32 games prior to this when he hit 153. I don't think there's any reason to bother with him outside of two catcher leagues. Caglione, okay, some months have been awesome, some have been bad, but the overall stat line looks pretty awesome. Yeah. 282 batting average, 23 homers, 832 OPS, and it certainly feels like he's trending up now since his August has been monstrous. I'm going to make a bold prediction and say he has the consecutive big month here in September and reaches 30 home runs and heading into next year we'll all think of Jack Caglione as at least a top 25 outfielder. Maybe even higher than that in Roto. Yeah, I was going to say top 100 pick, right? It could be. That doesn't sound far-fetched for a top 25 outfielder. Yeah,
Speaker 4I think, well, because maybe the hype pushes him up there. You know, because he's still only 23. The upside, I mean, he's going to end up with probably 30 homers and almost 10 steals, right? He's at like six or seven.
Speaker 1Yeah, six steals.
Speaker 4He's having a really good season. It's been a weird season, but I think he kind of lived up to the preseason hype. Yeah, no, I think in a roundabout way, the breakout has, he'll end up there, I think. So, I think you're feeling pretty good about Jack Caglione moving forward. Carter Jensen, diving into the numbers, it's hard to come up with a good explanation for why things have been so bad for him. Like, there's a lot of swing and miss in his game, but it doesn't, It doesn't look like it should be a 29% whiff rate. Because he doesn't chase. His in-zone contact rate is about average, 81% versus 82.7% for the league as a whole. I don't quite know what's going on there. I know when I looked into his numbers entering the season, there was a lot of passive versus patient issues there where he didn't swing enough at pitches in the zone. But he's right around average there. I don't really understand why things have gone so wrong for Carter Jensen in a way that acknowledging that they have gone wrong and that that is real and matters. I think there's still some sleeper potential here. Oh, I think there definitely is too. I know he's been bad, but I think he's still someone to keep in mind for your late round second catcher next season.
Speaker 3Yeah, I haven't given up on him from a long-term perspective. And I just... I don't... At the risk of under-complicating it, I just chalk it up to growing pains. Sure, yeah. For a talented hitter.
Speaker 423 years old, yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 4As for Churio... 23-year-old rookie. We didn't talk about Churio, but I just think he's having a full-on breakout. I know it's been up and down across the year, but you have to remember he missed the first 40 games or so with a broken hand. Probably 45 or 50. So he's only played 99 games, but his full season, his first season pace is 30 homers, 20 steals. He's hitting .283. The underlying numbers are excellent. His average exit velocity is up 2 miles per hour from last season. It's a career high. I think he's a borderline first-round pick next year. And he's only 20... I think he just turned 22 earlier this season, in May. Been a borderline first-round pick every year.
Speaker 3But I think he's... The broken handmaid bone this spring kind of knocked him out of that this year, but he's already a border.
Speaker 4I think for the first time, because it requires some projecting. I think it required some projecting to justify it. And I think this is the first time that it's... You can just draft Jackson Churio as a top 15 player and not have to say, well, he has to get better to justify it. I think his pace is something like 30 homers, 20 steals, 100 runs. It's only like 80 RBI, but it's still really good for a 22-year-old who may still get better. But he doesn't have to get better to justify it anymore. Do I have that timeline wrong? Churio? It was a broken handmaid bone, right? I don't know if it was a handmaid or just a hand, but it was... We literally found out the day, like opening day.
Speaker 3Okay. So he wasn't a borderline first-round pick.
Speaker 4I remembered it being a World Baseball Classic injury.
Speaker 1He was playing through it, but it was kind of cryptic. And he was in the lineup and out. And then we found out either on opening day or the day before, like, boom, out of nowhere, they just put him on the line. Yeah, he was opening day. Oh, yeah, he had surgery, so there you go. Yep. All right, some pitching leftovers here. Garrett Cole turned in a quality start against the Astros. Six innings, three runs, five strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 79 pitches. The two-run homer that he gave up in this start traveled 369 feet and would have been a homer in one out of 30 ballparks. That was Yankee Stadium. So, unfortunately there for Garrett Cole. And Trevor Rodgers had a rough outing here at the Cardinals. Six earned runs over five innings, seven strikeouts to one walk. I kind of think it was a tough luck loss here for Trevor Rodgers. Hard to say with six earned runs, but he gave up four hard hits total, and two of them were homers. Like, I don't know. It feels like he deserved better. But 72% started at the Rockies, home against the Red Sox next week. What do you guys think about using Rodgers there? The matchup's not so hot.
Speaker 4I wouldn't want to. Let's see here. Where did I put him in the two-start?
Speaker 1His previous 14 starts before this one, 257 ERA, 105 whip. That's the thing.
Speaker 3Like, he had been so reliable for so long. He felt matchup-proof. He just had a bad start. Now there's two bad matchups coming up. I still have him in the advisable, in most cases, section of the two-start pitcher rankings. But I do have him behind Aaron Nola and Clay Holmes, who are... are available in about a quarter of CBS League.
Speaker 4So it's... I would really try to avoid it in a Roto League. If you're not worried about your ratios, then who cares? But there's real ratio risk there. I mean, there's always ratio risk with him. His margin for error is just super slim. That's ultimately my takeaway from the last two years of Trevor Rodgers, that the difference between the good and bad versions of him is very slim. I think in this one, he threw the change-up less and the sweeper more. I think in this one, he threw the change-up less and the sweeper more. I think in this one, he threw the change-up less and the sweeper more. I don't know if that really matters all that much. He just has to execute, because his stuff's not very good. And so, when he's executing, he's really good. And when he doesn't, he gets crushed.
Speaker 1And what's crazy is, as good as those previous 14 starts were, he still has a 438 ERA and a 125 whip on the season, which is not great.
Speaker 4I think you look at something like his 386 XERA entering the start, that's kind of what I expect from Trevor Rodgers.
Speaker 1All right. The call to the bullpen, there was just one call, and that was to the Cardinals. Riley O'Brien got the ninth with a two-run lead, and he picked up his 34th save of the season. To stream or not to stream, on Friday, we have Patrick Sandoval at the Yankees. Rhett Lauder is at the Cubs. David Peterson is home against the Reds. Christian Scott against the Astros. Grant Holmes gets the Rockies in Atlanta. Cody Bradford is at the Brewers. Luis Castillo at the Twins. Dean Kramer home against the White Sox. Jared Jones at the Cardinals. Quinn Matthews home against the Pirates. Andrew Painter is at the Angels. And then Brandon Young at the Athletics.
Speaker 3Ooh, well, Andrew Painter's an easy call. Yep. And that's the only easy call.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think Grant Holmes is okay. I mean, he almost never goes more than five innings, but they should be good five innings against the Rockies in Atlanta.
Speaker 3I think I said Christian Scott. Yesterday, when forced to pick a third against the Astros.
Speaker 1I think I might take David Peterson against the Reds. Oh, yeah, I did say him.
Speaker 3Yeah, I did say him. Yeah. He's actually been a lot better with the Cubs, getting a lot of ground balls again. Yeah. And that's a good matchup.
Speaker 1Christian Scott actually has really good underlying data. I looked into him as a potential league winner for September, but the matchups were not very good. So I kind of moved off of that. But his K to walk stuff and his XERA is actually really good for Christian Scott. But the Astros... Astros is kind of a tough matchup. I would take Peterson over him on Friday.
Speaker 4Also, just rarely goes more than five innings. Correct.
Speaker 1On Saturday, Bailey Ober is home against the White Sox. Andrew Abbott is at the Cubs. Walker Buehler at the Rays. Martine Perez gets the Rockies in Atlanta. Cal Quantrill's at the Brewers. Shane Drohan home against the Rangers. Shane Boz at the Athletics. And Merrill Kelly is at the Giants.
Speaker 4Boy, this is worse than Friday somehow. Shane Drohan. Maybe Shane Boz. I hate trusting him in Sacramento. Martine Perez, I think. Yeah, I don't have much faith in Martine Perez or Merrill Kelly, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had good matchups.
Speaker 3Robert Gasser against the Rangers, I think, could go okay.
Speaker 1That's on Sunday, Scott.
Speaker 3Oh, sorry. I jumped ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1It's all good. I like what Cal Quantrill's doing, but at the Brewers, I don't really love that. So, yeah, I would lean Drohan. And probably Martine Perez on Saturday. On Sunday, we have Will Warren against the Red Sox. Andrew Alvarez against the Marlins. Tyler Malley gets the Rockies in Atlanta. Max Scherzer against the Mariners. Seth Lugo at the Guardians. Zebby Matthews home against the White Sox. Kumar Rocker at the Brewers. Robert Gasser against the Rangers. Liberatore against the Pirates. Zach Thornton home against the Astros. And Chris Bassett at the Athletics. Revenge game.
Speaker 3Tyler Malley's the easy one. Against the Rockies.
Speaker 4Wouldn't be surprised if Seth Lugo was good. Wouldn't be surprised if Robert Gasser was good. I think I'd be surprised with the rest.
Speaker 3Chris Bassett did some interesting things in his last start.
Speaker 1His velo was up a lot in that one.
Speaker 3Sacramento's a tough place to pitch, but he seemed pretty satisfied with where he was after that start. And obviously, he's not far removed from being a bankable fantasy option. So, I'm not... I'm not saying I want to start him Sunday, but I am saying I'm intrigued. And if you're the person who streams like crazy, then I think Bassett's somebody you have to consider.
Speaker 1Fortune favors the brave or the bold. Picks for Sunday would be Bassett and Max Scherzer. Bassett with the interesting things, but tough matchup. Scherzer, good matchup, but he's, you know, like 48 years old and not very good anymore.
Speaker 3I think the Athletics are a really favorable matchup right now, to be clear. It's just a tough venue.
Speaker 1Yeah. But their lineup kind of stinks right now. Yeah, their lineup's very bad right now. Of course, Field Light, but yeah. I get what you're saying. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am 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 next week. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. © transcript Emily Beynon
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