Weekend Waiver Wire Adds, Drops & Start or Sit Questions! (6/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports Got a fantasy question email fantasy baseball at CBSi.com Get ready to win your league Now here's Frank Scott and Chris hello Welcome in to fantasy baseball today on Monday June 29th I am Frank sample joint by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show Weekend waiver wire ads and drops Trevor Rogers is hot Spencer Erigetti is not we have injury updates Starter sit decisions and much more let's jump in oh my goodness there was a beat down in Boston The Red Sox dominated my Yankees behind some great pitching this weekend and they've been pitching really well for a while It's actually 11 straight quality starts from their starting pictures a four game sweep and is one of the highlight at the very top Sunny Gray is He's kind of on fire. He looks really good right now took a no hitter into the eighth inning against the Yankees Final line seven and a third shut out one hit one walk nine strikeouts 14 whiffs on 97 pitches here and last two starts Incredibly impressive quality start and six straight during that span For ERA 101 whip 41 strikeouts over 39 and two thirds innings I know sometimes we pull our hair out trying to figure out sunny Gray, but Right now he's he's looking pretty awesome. I think he's just a set it and forget it the way he's pitching Yeah, he's had a weird season There were like no strikeouts early on he wasn't missing any bats That's changed a lot in June and I think part of it is He's gone from throwing the cutter as his most used pitch in April a mayor. Remember that's a new pitch for him He's throwing it as his fourth most pitch in the month of June or at least he was entering this start So I think that's probably not a bad thing for him I know the Red Sox are a big cutter organization, but you know doesn't have to be one sets fits off doesn't work for everybody so You know, it's not a terrible pitch, but it's certainly not great strikeout pitch for him So backing off on that appears to have helped sunny Gray quite a bit like Meanwhile the sweeper which is by far as best swing and miss pitch has got a 40 over 40% with rate did last year too It's got to swap places with the cutter Since April it was cutter one sweeper four and now sweeper one cutter four that sweeper usage increasing each month So yeah, I think sunny Gray has landed on the right pitch mix and if if the last Decade plus has shown You don't give up on sunny Gray. He's always you also don't ever buy in all the corner What's that you also don't ever buy all the way in on sunny Gray? It's gonna shift at some point, you know I think that's the story I think I think of the long run you're better buying than selling. Oh, yeah, no, I'm just saying he's like The stretch is where he looks like an absolute ace like right now. Yeah, those don't tend to last either sure Yeah, I think we say that for most pictures outside of like the very best Yeah, he's getting up there in age, but obviously still pitching very well We did see in the second half he slowed down last year You know give it up lots of home runs and things like that But that is not the case right now sunny Gray pitching very well, and he's at the angels this week a Mike Troutless lineup a team that has the highest strikeout rate against right right hand of pitchers this season so You didn't need me to tell you but you're using sunny Gray this week at the angels Chris. He's ten and one I did not right he won today didn't he ten and one he did not get the win though No, I had to go back too bad the bullpen blew in the ninth and then they came back in one and the bottom of the ten That would have put him on pace for 20 and two Instead, it's just 18 and two and he missed like what two or three weeks to and still has what nine wins It's it's pretty impressive now eight wins whatever it is there are actually eight pitchers with nine wins right now That's kind of wild. There's one there's one with ten right and it's a reliever Aaron Ashby. Oh, yeah I guess I'm only looking at the starters leader board I guess what for reliever leave the majors and wins every year We get one of these kind of wonky stats where there's a reliever I mean not like this ten wins at the halfway point is pretty crazy stuff. Tyler Holtin had ten saves and ten wins a couple years ago There you go. Five starting pitcher in fantasy very very weird stuff there Chris. Let's go to you You're player of the weekend. I'm interested here because I don't know if you're gonna say good things or bad things about this guy I've been very skeptical of foster Griffin and I Think that's starting to look unfair No Fairness he is pitching better. You know, this is not one of those situations where he has just been exactly good as good as this all season and I'm only now Starting to change my tune. He has gone from pretty midling Peripherals especially early on when remember he had like a two year a through his first like seven starts then he had a couple of bad starts Over the past seven starts he has a 149 year a which is obviously excellent But it comes with a 307 xe Ra and a 358 fit That is much better than what we had seen early on from him. He has 44 strikeouts to seven walks and 42 and a third innings He's got six pitches that he throws at least 10% of the time. He's got another one. He throws 5% of the time He's got good command and control. He's doing really really really well right now It's giving some like Seth Lugo vibes and Frank You might have made that comp for for foster Griffin his last Time out where it's a bunch of pitches none of them are really great pitches But none of them are really disasters either and he's commanding it all well and it's all just working I think right now it's definitely a Some is better than the whole or whatever some is better than the parts kind of situation where I don't think you look at anything about foster Griffin and think oh Yeah, that guy's one of the 40 best pitchers in baseball for sure But it's working for him right now and I don't think It makes too much sense to be skeptical of I don't think he's a sub three eRA guy. I don't think he's a sub 350 eRA guy the rest of the way we have seen with Seth Lugo how Marginal the differences between the really good and really bad versions of him can be And Griffin is a guy who has struggled a lot with hard contact this season He's struggled a lot with giving up home runs. He's got 16 homers allowed on the season His way of Yes, yes his his average ex-filosities not that high but he gets really hard when he gives the ball up in the air Is the problem. Okay. Uh, I think he's got like a 22% pulled air rate like he his home or issue is not a fluke His expected home runs. I think it's 14 and a half compared to 16 given up like homers are an issue for him in a way that doesn't seem like it's a fluke but That's also gotten a little better for him lately and so I I think you should be starting foster Griffin with confidence Mostly because I don't think anybody's gonna blow your doors off in a trade for foster griff And so I think your best bet is just ride it out He seems to have taken a step forward in the past month and a half and just Enjoy it while last I don't think he's gonna be a sub three ERA guy for long But I think he's perfectly useful especially in a point so I think you know in a In a road o'ling this could be a Good whip mediocre ERA kind of guy because of the home runs but I think you'll take it either way. I think the biggest difference between him and someone like Seth Lugo I get the comp with all the different pitches and everything foster Griffin actually is getting a good amount of whiffs right now Over as last five. Yes, it's it's a near 13% swinging trade rate Now I'm not sure he can maintain that but he does have some pitches Two in particular to the sweeper and change up with wifrates over 32% So he's doing a really good job with those two He's coming off a great June overall. I agree. I think he's a start with confidence Especially in points leagues, but 76% started for foster Griffin I think that number probably should be higher gets the pirates this week They're actually really getting it's lefties. They have struggled against really good against righties Excuse me they have struggled against left hand pitching this season So I do like foster Griffin this week Scott, let's go over to you Player of the weekend Yeah, racked up on tonna whiffs Got a ton of whiffs on Saturday and it's a guy who is available and Most every leak and his name is Brandon Young Pitches for the Orioles In case you've never heard of them And he's had some interesting moments already this year Times where we thought maybe maybe there's something here ERA down to 311 after this star It actually went up in this star two earn runs in five innings against the nationals But the reason why I'm highlighting Brandon Young here So you got eight strikeouts in those five innings and as you mentioned frank 23 Swinging strikes. He was a whiff machine against the nationals and a big reason why The characteristics of his splitter changed quite a bit It was the big swing and miss pitch. It was responsible for nearly half of those 23 whiffs It was down two miles per hour Normally it's a pitchy throws about 15 percent of the time and the wiff rate isn't very good on it, but he threw it 33% of the time. And again, it got those 11 whiffs. So he also got a good number of whiffs on his fastball in this start. Trying to I might be mixing him up with somebody else in my head. So I want to make sure I got the right guy. Yeah, branding young's fastball that has over a 20% wiff rate. So it's not it's not a terrible swing of mispitches. All right, this lighter has over 40% wiff rate. So if this blitter is a, the splitter again with different characteristics, it becomes a weapon for branding young, then suddenly he starts to go from borderline interesting to decisively interesting. And I picked him up in a 15 team league. That's probably as deep as I look to add him right now. But I think he's a name that needs to be on a radar, at least to see where he goes after this big wiff outing. Again, that is a branding young at the reds this week. Obviously anytime you go to Cincinnati as a pitcher, it is worrisome, but they are also a lineup that has struggled quite a bit here in June. Yeah, they are in the month 26th and well, but they're also 26th and well, against right hand to pitching. So I think it's still kind of a risky move here to use him in Cincinnati. But yeah, brand new young do it. It's an interesting things last seven starts, 232 ERA 117 whip, only made three starts in the minors this year, had a 19% swinging strike rate. So definitely, definitely an interesting pitcher right now. We'll compare him to some other waiver wire pitchers a little bit later on. Want to highlight an outfielder here up top, Esmerlin Valdez of the pirates. He continues to flash big in game power. He homebored each game this weekend, two for four with a home run on Friday. That was 106.5 Ex-Avalosity 414 feet, three for four with another home run on Sunday, 109.8 Ex-Avalosity 461 feet. That is a, this is a mammoth home run. Last five games, he's got the eight hits, three homeers, has only started three of five. So this is a very deep league name for now. Five percent rostered. I picked him up in Tout Wars, which is a 15 team mixed roto five outfielder league. I think in leagues like that, I would look to add him right now, big power in the minors as well. Also has been striking out a lot so far. Have to mention that 40% strike outrate in the majors. It was much lower in the minors like 22, 23%. But do you guys have any interest in adding Esmerlin Valdez right now, the magician in some deep leagues? - It have to be pretty deep. There are some, there are quite a few flaws here for Esmerlin Valdez, which is why even though he was very productive the last couple of years in the minors, he did it show particularly well on ranked lists. His zone contact rate was, at least what we have on record between low A and triple A, it never got to 80%, which 80% is kind of the minimum threshold you want to see. And so you looked at some of the individual pitches. I think that was a triple A for Esmerlin Valdez, Frank, and it was very high on the fastball, very high on some of the breaking balls there. And I just don't know, even though there's power, you can hit the ball hard, average exit velocity now, during the short time in the majors. - 95. - Yeah, it's really high. But I don't think in the long run he's going to make enough contact since he misses on so many hitable pitches. I don't think he's going to make enough contact to have real staying power. So deep five outfield release, he could take a fly on Esmerlin Valdez, but I don't have the highest hopes for his future. - While we're talking about very deeply galfielders, I mentioned his name last week, those who might know, I cannot quit this man. And his name is Josh Low. He hit a grand slam on Sunday. He stole a bag on Saturday. He has started four straights since being recalled. He was playing pretty well in the minors, had to power some speed, also strike out to the shoe for someone like Josh Low. - You get an extra player the weekend just because it happens to be a guy you love? - I'm just comparing him. - He runs the show, yeah. - He gets to bring up whoever he wants. We're at his mercy. - They got to talk about-- - I'm just saying there were more players and just foster Griffin, I like this weekend. I didn't get to talk about that. - He could bring up the most obscure player we've never heard of and we just have to pretend like we have. - We're totally at his mercy. - Many such cases like Josh Low. - That's true. - In deeper leagues, I was putting in bids for both of these guys. Do you have a preference between the two? Look, I understand there's massive skepticism with both of these guys, but in deeper leagues, we're just looking for any kind of pulse. And you know, these guys are playing, doing some things. - I think I'd give Low the adjo for Faldas. I think it's probably similar profiles as a hitter, but Low at least brings some speed to the table. Faldas has more power, but he's one of these guys that his swing is so groove for power. In a way that almost isn't necessary. Like we always talk about guys who hit the ball really hard but don't hit the ball in the air to the pull side. Faldas actually very much does those things. Almost to a fault to the point where he hits a ton of infield fly balls as well, which is also a thing that's held him back as a prospect. I think he can be a pretty good player, but there are lots of these guys, you know, retines and stick with the reds, our Steedas Aquino from a couple of years ago. Like, there's lots of these guys exist in matrily baseball who can hit the ball in mile. It's just, you know, figuring out how to become fully fledged baseball players is a little more difficult. Was Valdas the guy you caught the home runoff of at the Arizona Fall League, Frank? - I don't. - Was that the guy in the red socks? - I don't remember exactly. I think it was a nationals prospect. - Okay, it might have been an yeah. We were out at the Arizona Fall League home run derby, and I caught a ball not on the fly on the bounce during the home run derby, but yeah, I think it was a nap. - And then you dropped one on the fly. - I dropped immediately. - I didn't have to bring that one up, Chris. Yes, that did happen. It was top five most embarrassing moment for me in my life, just dropping in front of everyone. That was pretty bad. And I want to give the ball to a kid. A couple of kids came and asked for a ball, and I was like, I only got one. I can't give you this one. But if I had a second one, I'll give it to you. I do have an, oh my goodness gracious team, if I could bring up a few more players here. From the weekend, the white socks on Friday, they put up 22 runs against the royals. That's pretty awesome. - You can, put it on the fly. (crowd cheering) - Yeah. - Put it on the board, they did. 22 runs on 23 hits, including five homers on Friday. Miguel Vargas is picking things back up. He went three for six with a homer, five RBI in that game. He homered again on Sunday, 19 homers, 10 steals, massive breakout season for him. Kyle Teal, two for five with his first home run, three RBI, has started four of six games since being activated. 44% rostered. I saw him out there in a few two catcher leagues when putting bids in this weekend. I was trying to drop somebody like JT Real Muto, four Kyle Teal. Who would you guys prefer between, I think Teal and Cooper Inglier are kind of the hot names and like 12 team two catcher leagues, right? - No, Teal. - Teal was, I think so too. Before he got hurt, which was pretty early in spring training as I recall, but he was in that same tier as, a lot of the-- - Carter Jensen and Francis Ciarraz. - Yeah, a lot of the upside catchers. I mean, he had a very good rookie season. He's the kind of, coming off that rookie season and the caliber of prospect, Kyle Teal was like normally and the typical year for catcher when the depth there is about what it normally is. Kyle Teal would have come in as a top 12 guy. And now he's finally back from injury, he must add in all two catcher leagues. - I think so too. And Ingl, Ingl did start all three games this weekend, right? Two at DH1 at left field. - Yes. - So that was a good sign. I mean, I'm not surprised they're not actually playing at catcher, but still a good sign these playing. - Yeah, four, sure. Jacob Gonzalez in that game as well, three for four with his second home run, five RBI. He was slumping a bit. He's starting to lose playing time before this huge one on Friday, 10th percent roster. I don't think there's anything here for now. Maybe we could check back in a little bit later on in the season. Tristan Peters, a name that we haven't really talked about at all, but just wanted to give him some shine here. Two for four, two for five rather with his fourth home run, six RBI in that game. He's close to an everyday player. He is sat out just three games in June. He's hitting 285. He's got four home runs, five steals in 78 games this season. Has an OPS over 850 since the start of May. He's only 8% rostered. And he thought it's an interest in a Tristan Peters, pretty deep name as well. - Yeah, it is a pretty deep name and it looks like. It looks like you're relying mostly on batting average there to sustain him. And I'm not sure he has the profile to continue hitting over 280. There's not a ton of power there, not a ton of speed there. - I agree. - He is fast, but he's like the stolen base pace is in particularly high. - And even last year in the minors, only eight steals in 136 games, 824 last year before that. So not a lot of stolen base potential here based on his track record. We're shooting down that one too, Frank. As Merlin Valdez get out of here, Tristan Peters. No, thank you. - Hey, just gotta ask, man. And before we hit our first break to Sarah Minder, like this video and subscribe on YouTube. If you haven't already, I know the summer months are coming, things are heating up. You know, July 4th, right around the corner. People are starting to think about football and all that stuff. I get it, I get it, but stick around. We're gonna be here, you know, same schedule throughout the course of the season. So we'll be here all year, all season. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Welcome back, fantasy baseball. Today let's hit the news and notes from the weekend. Ellie De La Cruz tweaked his ankle, trying to get out of the batter's box on Sunday, but he did stay in the game very weird that they had a rain delay. And then he came back after the rain delay, had another at bat walked, and they kept him out to run, even though he was dealing with this tweaked ankle. So kind of a weird situation there. Afterwards, Terry Francoiner revealed that Ellie did get the ankle taped up. They will reevaluate on Monday, and he just recently returned from the aisle with a hamstring injury. So we'll watch closely see what happens here with Ellie De La Cruz. If you need a replacement for this week, Dan's be swanson and aim out there in shallow leagues. Will he cash show in medium sized leagues? And I think someone like Nessim Nunez, most people will need Ellie De La Cruz for speed. And so I think Nunez will provide a lot of that in deeper leagues as well. The next guy just cannot stay healthy, Wyatt Langford placed on the aisle with a left hamstring strain, and we'll be out through the All Star break. He was having a massive June as well, but it's just been one injury after another. It was oblique stuff the past couple of years. He had a forearm earlier this year. Chris, I know you were looking it up. I believe there was another hamstring strain in a previous season as well, right? - Yeah, his first aisle stand in 2024 was a hamstring strain. This is six aisle stand in less than three seasons now in the majors. That's not a great sign. - The fantasy streets are calling him the new Byron Bucks and what do you think about that? - Hmm, that's what I mean. - I mean, if Byron Bucks didn't a lot of his early career issues were like concussions and stuff. I feel like it was more bad luck than this. So yeah, it's not a great sign. Sometimes these things just stop though. - Yeah, that's true. - Sometimes, guys just truly do run into bad luck for a couple of years and then their luck changes or they're, I don't know, vitamin, regimen changes or whatever, and they find a way to stay healthy. But it's not looking great right now for a guy who has, I think, largely been a disappointment when he's been on the field too. So it's rough. - Outfielder's on Scott Sleeper hitters for this week. We have Cole Carrig, Sam Antonacci, Jake McCarthy, Willie Castro, Stardole Urochi, seven games at home this week, Lars Newbar and Owen Casey, who will have a couple games in Corsfield as well. As expected, Cole Reagan's will undergo surgery on his left elbow on Wednesday and they will reveal the extent of the surgery once they open him up and see how bad it is. They just don't even know exactly what they're going to do yet. So we can't even, we don't have a timeline. But I would be like, very shocked if we see him pitch again this year. I like these surgeries. It's like unwrapping a present. You don't know what's going on until you get in there. You got that situation with Cole Reagan's and Mick Able to. I think it a best case scenario for even just a minor elbow thing you're talking about a couple months. - Yeah, unless it's like a, you know, the nano needle or whatever, but. - I've seen you talk about September in a best case scenario. And, you know, if you're on a head to head league, your season might be over by then, not just because you've been eliminated already. So I don't know. And that's the best case scenario. Like obviously there are many scenarios worse than that. I think you can treat both Reagan's and Able at this point as if they're done for the year unless you just have unlimited free roster space, free IEL space. Like you can free up that spot. - Jack Cagley-owned was scratching the lineup on Sunday due to left growing soreness. The royals don't play again until Tuesday. So he does get a day off. Obviously one of the hottest hitters in June right now. So hoping that he's all right, but we'll have to see if he's in the lineup on Tuesday again. That's Jack Cagley-owned. Mike Trout took 30 swings and ran at about 50% intensity on Saturday. He's on the IEL with a hamstring strain. He also said this weekend that he doesn't plan to do the home run derby because of the hamstring strain. So if he kind of anticipates, this is still going to be a thing within two weeks. Like I hope he's back after the All Star break, but. - It sounds like he's expecting to be, like that it would even be a question seems like it's, he's expecting to be ready by then. It just doesn't want to take the chance. - Yeah, I see both sides because it's like, if he thinks, if he knows that he's gonna still be kind of dealing with it two weeks from now that just kind of scares me a little bit. - That's right. - Yeah, I hope that he's all good and ready to return right after the All Star break. That's Mike Trout. Hunter Green was awesome in his final rehab start Sunday at AAA six and a third shut out. One hit, four strikeouts to zero walks. He got up to 82 pitches. His next start will be with the reds later this week. It looks like that will be at home against the Orioles. Do you guys start Hunter Green first time out? - Yeah, almost certainly. - I agree. Are you any of Swarah's left Sunday after taking a fastball off of his left hand/rest area? X-rays were inconclusive, which sounds kind of scary. Yandidia has left early Sunday with a left shoulder strain. He said he's hurting a little bit but is optimistic that he'll play on Tuesday. One to watch might need a first-based replacement there. William Dom has left Sunday's game with back spasms. Apparently he's been dealing with it for the past week or so. Kyle Tucker returns to the Dodgers lineup on Friday. He went three for four with a home run, four RBI on Saturday. So nice sign for him. Tasker Hernandez will be activated on Monday. He's been out since May 27th with a hamstring strain. So get Tasker Hernandez back in your weekly lineups. I believe he homeworked in like three straight games down in the minors while rehabbing. So it looks like he's all good to go. Pirates, updates, O'Neal, Cruz and Spencer Horwitz are both expected to return shortly after the All-Star Break. Daniel Polencia, Cubs closer, dealing with elbow tendonitis. We'll also be out until after the All-Star Break. The Orioles reinstated both Adley Ruchman and Dylan Beaver's here on Sunday. So good to get Adley Ruchman back in your lineups. The Guardians reinstated chased the lottery from the aisle as well. Tyler Toderschum left early Sunday with a sore left hip and he left early Saturday, excuse me, then he was out of the lineup on Sunday. So another one to watch. You might need a first base or outfield replacement depending on where you play Tyler Toderschum. Nick Pavella has advanced to long toss and could begin throwing off a mound soon. He's been out since mid April with a right flexor strain. He's 67% rostered. Is now the time to re-ad Nick Pavella if he's available anywhere? Sure. I mean, I think it's unlikely he's back before August at this point. It might be closer to September. So depends on your situation and how much flexibility you have. But it does seem like he'll pitch this season. It's just he's probably going to have to go. Think of it like we're in February at the start of spring training or maybe even a little behind. He's probably still six weeks out, but from returning to games. Angelo 842-4 says Pavella. Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha. So that says analysis. In case you were curious. All right. Well, thank you, Angelo. Nick Lidolo has been cleared to start Monday against the Brewers. That makes him a two-star pitcher against the Brewers and the Orioles. He's only 38% started. It's got to let you rank all the two-star pitchers whereas Nick Lidolo on that list. He is in the points league only section of the rankings. 17th among 32 pitchers behind Ryan Johnson, who's only 4% rostered, but I think is a deep points league sleeper for this week coming off a good start last time. So all of which is to say, I don't have a lot of confidence in Nick Lidolo. The Cardinal Skip-Dustin May's turn in the rotation Saturday. He's been dealing with lower back tightness since his complete game. Shutout back on June 15th. He is 37% started. Do you start Dustin May this week at the Braves? Kind of tricky situation because again, he hasn't pitched since last week. And the Braves lineup, while they are a good lineup, they're kind of scuffling right now. So what do we do with Dustin May? It's only been the one start since the complete game, right? Yeah, and he was bad. He was bad, yeah. It was like six earned runs and five earnings or something. Yeah. It's like a first bad start since March though. True. I think I'd lean towards sitting him just because of the back issue, but it's hard to say. I don't feel like Dustin May is must start. Yeah. Even before that last good start, it's not like, I'm going to automatically put him in my lineup. He happened to be a two-star week, I think, which is unfortunate, because everybody was starting him. You could start him against the Braves, or you could not. It really just depends what else you have. I wouldn't be afraid to start him because of the back issue. I guess is how it's summed up. Yeah, I think it's pretty fringy. I have him in my homelie and I put Mackenzie Gore at Cleveland in there instead of him, just because Guardians lineup is so bad right now. So I would opt for someone like Mackenzie Gore over Dustin May this week. These are similar expectations of. results against an average opponent too. So that makes sense. The raise push a no max Shane McKinahan start back several days as they look to monitor his workload. He has struggled lately as well. It looks like he will start the upcoming series at some point at the royals 67% started to use a Shane O'Mac this week. I mean, he hasn't really been worth using for a few weeks now. I mean, you might have used them, but it went poorly. He's been scuffling and the upside is only so high within not being the strike outpitchery once was and with his outings being limited to like five innings a piece. So especially in points. Yeah. Yeah. I would I would side against that. It's not a bad matchup against the royals, but I'd still side against it. I'd say maybe in Roto, no, in points. It is a 579 ERA 182 whip. Lots of walks lots of hard contact over his last four starts for for Shane McKinahan. The blue jays called a prospect Sean keys this weekend. He's 23 years old. A fourth round pick in 2024 in 67 games between AA and AAA this season. He was hitting 284 with a 409 on base 21 homers 7 seals OPS over 1000 and lots of hard contact. I just don't know that he's going to play enough. You're guys thoughts here on Sean keys of the blue jays. Yeah, I don't see how he's going to play that much. He definitely put put himself on on the map as a prospect this year. Did you read off the numbers? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, the exit velocities were great after moving up to AAA to like between AA and AAA. Sean keys was awesome at both levels, but he's a corner in fielder. Yeah, he's only played first and third. Like the the blue jays aren't sitting flat in Mirka Rero or or Kazuma Okamoto, except, you know, just as a as day off, like keys isn't going to be more than a spot starter there. So I like him in a broad sense, but I don't think there's much utility right now for fantasy. Best case scenario, he forces his way into it to platoon or a DH role and then plays like once or twice a week at first base and third, but it have to be he'd have to prove it first. So I don't think this is when you have to get ahead of. I was wondering about the the DH possibility and I know Hazoo Sanchez went on the IEL. So they could theoretically play springer in the outfield. They kind of yeah, it seems like they've been hesitant to do that though. So there are ways they can make it work, but interesting. He has to force it, I think. Isn't Addison barger close to coming back? I know. Yeah, he started a rehab assignment last week, I think right. So I think that probably is keys return date when barger's back. Yeah, he's springer has springer not played the outfield. He hasn't played the outfield in all this season. Really not even single time. I don't think so now. I know we had the fracture toe. So perhaps that has contributed to it. But yeah, it looks looks like he had no he has not played that game. 67 games last year in the outfield, but none so far this year. So that's interesting. All right, Chris Babich made another rehab appearance on Saturday throwing two perfect innings at AAA. He got up to 22 pitches. His first time out, he threw only one inning. So it seems like they're just building him up very deliberately right now, but hopefully still planning to use Chris Babich as a starter. Jorge Polanco started a rehab assignment at AAA on Saturday. He's 30% rostered any interest in Jorge Polanco. The second base picture has changed a lot since we last saw Jorge Polanco. Yeah, I'm not counting him out, but I don't see a reason to be proactive unless you're desperate at that spot that no longer seems so weak. Elliott, we're almost supposed to activate it from the aisle. He's been out since mid May with a quad train last year. He had 256 with 21 homers. I'm not sure they'll play every day for the Giants, but they have six games this week. Three of them are in cores. 36% rostered any interest in Elliott Ramos? Five outfield religs. I think in 12 team rodeo leagues, he's probably out there in a few of them. It's just 36% rostered. So I, I'm not, I've never been too big into Elliott Ramos, but with the matchups this week in cores, I could see taking a shot on just this week. One question. No, have you guys heard anything? Frank, have you guys heard anything about just because we've spent so much time talking about the seven games of course, field and all that. I know Brent and Doyle started his rehab assignment last week. I know they sent Jordan Beck back down to Triple A. So maybe they're just going to do that with Brent and Doyle, but I was just wondering if you guys have heard anything about Brent and Doyle because that that's the one thing when I was going through for the waiver wire. Like, man, you can add a bunch of Rockies, but it's like, oh, is it going to get crowded in the outfield all of a sudden? That's what I'm not sure about. I genuinely have not heard anything about it. Doyle. Scott, I don't know if you have. Last I saw as he started his rehab assignment last week. I haven't seen anything since. No, I haven't seen anything either. I don't, I'm trying to remember if he had, if they were already kind of fading him before you got. He was not playing every day. They weren't playing any, remember the first month of the season, they weren't playing anyone every day except like maybe Tov are. That's really changed the last two months. So yeah. But Doyle's been pretty awful the past two years. Though I know Troy Johnston and Tyler Freeman are kind of trading off in the outfield right now, which is unfortunate because I couldn't recommend either as a sleeper hitter this week. I think Colt Carrick's role is safe though. That's what you're getting. I'm just kind of talking about everyone. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, look, a team that's, they have the worst record in the national league. I understand that in the past, they have been, you know, the laughing stock of baseball. They do have a different regime now. So I hope they realize like, let's just get, let the young kids play. I think that, you know, prioritizing their development makes the most sense for the Rockies right now. So I hope that's the case. But you never know with the Rockies. So they have like Charlie Condon and Zach Veein. They are both killing it at AAA and somehow before the years is done, they're going to have to clear, clear a path for them, I would say. Yeah. I mean, that's not even TJ Rumfeld as good as he's been this season. Hey, hey, hey, TJ, if you wanted to trade him at the trade trade deadline, I don't think he's going to have more trade value in the future than he currently does. That's fair. It's 26 years old with an 84 mile an hour average ex of velocity, you know, yeah, 84.7. I mean, now that front offices around the league can read those same numbers. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah. If you say like there aren't any real roadblocks here is what I'm saying. Like there's as surprisingly surprising as a lot of guys have been, if you want Charlie Condon in your starring lineup, I don't think, you know, TJ Rumfeld and Troy Johnston should be, should be preventing that. I absolutely could see them shipping Jake McCarthy out as well. Oh, yeah. That's that's that's probably the easiest path to clear. He's not well for them, but there's he's not a building block by any stretch. I was about to say like August 1st, I could see or whenever post trade deadline, we see Condon and Veein come up. But at that point, they probably just wait until, you know, mid to late August when they can keep them eligible for the draft pick compensation next year. If that's even a thing in the new CBA, like I have no idea what's going on. So I'll just assume that it's going to be a thing. But again, we have like a lockout lubing and all this stuff. So who knows players who went on the aisle this weekend, Hazoo Sanchez with a right ankle sprain, Tony Santine with a significant oblique strain. It was lefty Caleb Ferguson who picked up the save for the Reds on Friday, then Chase Petty picked up a save on Saturday does sound like Emilio Pagan that will be back pretty soon. Marcelo Meyer with a stress reaction in his left forearm, Daniel Susack with a lower back strain and Robert Suarez with right elbow inflammation. The braze recalled Hurston Waldrip who pitched in relief to shut out innings for walks three strikeouts. He's 20% rostered. They use Grant Holmes as a reliever this weekend. Scott Any chance Hurston Waldrip could work his way into the rotation? I mean, there's definitely a chance he had a semi breakthrough last year. I say semi because he pitched 56 and a third innings, but in them, 61 record 288 ERA 119 whip, nearly a strikeout per inning. Looked like he was going to be a fixture in the rotation coming off of that. But you know, then he got fired obviously. He's not, I don't think he's built up enough yet to enter the starting rotation. The most he went in the minors was four and two thirds innings. He's also had control issues. Walked four and two innings in this 2026 debut. Again, that's four and two innings. In the minors, he had 11 walks of 15 and third innings. But he, I like, I think between Hurston Waldrip, Raynaudal Lopez and Grant Holmes, they're hoping to find a starter there. I don't think any of their roles is particularly clear right now. Grant Holmes did come in relief, but I think he pitched four innings, right? It was more of a piggyback situation with Raynaudal Lopez. Maybe they'll continue to work in that role and Waldrip will just be long relief until he builds up. But I don't think in the long run of Holmes or Lopez. is good enough and Bryce Elter may be pitching his way out of the rotation sooner than later. And then Martin Perez is filling a spot. So he's been fine, but nobody trusts that long term. So long story short, yes, I think there's a good chance Waldrip is in the rotation within a month or so. I don't know that anybody needs to be stashing him right now. And we did get some manager news. The old Friday news dump, the Metz fire Carlos Mendoza and Andy Green took over as the interim manager. Did you guys see the pregame segment on the Metz broadcast? Oh my goodness. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in baseball. Scott, did you see this? The Metz pregame reporter is doing like a stand-up talking about the firing and the impact on the organization and Mr. Met comes in behind him and starts dancing. Like Mr. Met did not get the memo that they fired their manager on Friday. They're doing a very serious segment pregame about the direction of the franchise. And hey, they fired Mendoza and like what can Andy Green provide? And behind him is just Mr. Met dancing around. It's one of the most I think you should leave coded baseball things that has happened in a long time. It was so good. It was truly fantastic. So I encourage everyone to go check it out if you haven't. Let's take our final break. When we return, I've got some waiver ads. I've got the drop-o meter. Starter sit decisions will do all that right after this. Welcome back, fantasy baseball. Today, let's hit waiver wire pitchers from the, you know what? I had a waiver wire hitters. They skipped over that. Let's talk about those first. Luis Garcia Jr. just had a monster week. He went four for five with a home run on Saturday, three for five with a double dong on Sunday. And this week overall 10 hits six homers, nine RBI. It's a massive June. He has 55 RBI on the season, which is crazy. Wow. That is crazy because he's still not playing all that much. He sat out, you know, as hot as he's been 11 home runs in June, as hot as Luis Garcia has been, he sat out both Thursday and Friday because the left he was pitching. He got one at bat between those two games. I do think he's got to start one of the games against because I think they have three straight games against lefties to kick off this week. And they have an off day Thursday. There's no way they can have them on the bench for four straight games, right? Or four straight days. That's just, I would have that doesn't see. Yeah. I agree with that. So four straight days. Yeah. I would agree with that. I still think it's hard to fully recommend it. He's still only going to play four games at max. Right? So look, he's, I think in a rodo or a category, head to categories, league with daily lineups where you can kind of finagle it and, you know, play him whenever he's in there. It makes sense. But, you know, from a head to head points perspective, the lack of volume, I just, it's going to be hard in weekly lineup leagues. Whatever every week, there's going to probably be at least one or two lefties on schedule. So he has started one game against lefties. I believe since April. It's tough. It's tough to fully recommend Luis Garcia, but we are. He started one on June 22nd. I think that's the only one since April. That's the only one. Man, you may be right there. You may be right. I may be crazy. Yeah. It's, oh, yeah. I, like I think he's a good hitter. Is he this good of a power hitter? He's got some juice. He's the X of the loss. These are definitely there. He said, a ball's hard as 14 miles per hour. The last, like, that's a career high. The last time he even hit it, 112 was 2022. Average X of the lost. He also career high. His X slug is a career high as well. It helps that he never faces lefties. I mean, that might be the only knock on him, but that doesn't walk at all. So that hurts and points leagues. But I think he's an okay roto player, a good daily lineups player, especially because if you're talking about daily lineups leagues, you need guys who are multi-aligible to really make it work because you can't have five guys on your bench. He does have first and second. So at least you get corner and middle covered. So I think he's good in those formats. In any point, sleigh outside of a daily lineup context, I think it's pretty mid, unfortunately. If it was playing every day, it would be different. Yeah. Yeah. I feel the same way about Kerry Carpenter. We kind of know the deal. Homerd on Friday, Grand Slam on Saturday, two more hits on Sunday. It's got to believe you had him as a sleeper hitter this past week and obviously came through on that. Only has one lefty on the schedule this week. So, you know, you can play Kerry Carpenter if you want, but it's it's kind of the outfield version of Luis Garcia Jr. unfortunately. Jake McCarthy, who we've talked a lot about using this week, you know, Rocky seven games at home. He had a big game on Friday, three for five with a with his six home run. Then he went to for five with his 13th deal on Saturday. He's hitting over 300 six homeers, 13 steals. Very productive season here for Jake McCarthy. Another name I saw getting added in a lot of leagues already is Tommy Edmond. He's 27% rostered second base outfield eligible Dodgers said they would ease him in. They played him five of six games this week already. So it feels like it's kind of ramping up quicker than we thought. Two for four with three RBI on Saturday to ask her her name is his due back on Monday. My guess is that Edmond plays every day at second base or close to every day as they still kind of ease him in. 27% roster. Do you think that number should be higher for Tommy Edmond? Since joining the Dodgers after the 2023 season. So three seasons, a lot of it's been injured, but still three seasons since joining the Dodgers. Tommy Edmond has stolen a base nine times. I can't remember. He's hitting for all that power. I just don't. You know, I just don't know that he brings enough to the table if he's not a base dealer anymore. I just wonder if like was the ankle ever healthy, right? And he finally had certain. Like another one with that too. But he has yet to attempt his deal. He's got one stolen base attempt in 23 games between Triple A and the majors. He'll like the Dodgers write pretty low as a team in terms of steals the season as well. So let's see. They are. They're 27th in baseball with 33 steals as a team. So it's not like they're overly aggressive either. So that doesn't change. Again, it gets back to what I was saying about Jorge Palanco. There aren't that many people that are dying for another second baseman. You know, you're getting a deep enough road to lead where you got that extra middle and field spot to fill. We do need outfield help though. Yeah, I guess there's that too. Yeah. But it would have to be a pretty deep road, Oleg. I think for me to look at Tommy Edmond. I mentioned earlier speaking of deep names, Esmeralyn Valdez and Josh Lowe, Cedric Mullins. A name we haven't really talked about. He's home or twice this weekend. And he's been solid since the middle of May, basically last 36 games, 273 batting average, six homeers, six steals, and he's 16% rostered. He doesn't play against every lefty, but he plays against about half or a little bit more than half of the lefty so far this season. Any interest in Cedric Mullins? Power and speed over the past month? In like a deeper road, Oleg. I don't think a 12 team league. I would have much interest in him even, but if you're in a 14 or 15 team league, that's fine. How would you guys rank Edmond Mullins, Josh Lowe and Valdez? I'll put Edmond at the top. I guess. Which doesn't speak well for the rest of the list. I kind of feel like I might go with the other guys just because there's some uncertainty there. Like Scott said, a version of Tommy Edmond who doesn't run has never really been all that appealing. He's not that good of a hitter. So I'd be okay with going with one of the younger unknown guys or at least Josh Lowe is younger. I don't know. I don't know if he's unknown, but I don't know that my hope for Josh Lowe is any more than Edmond at this point. Yeah, that's fair. I think it's decisively less than Edmond. In fact, all right. Well, let's talk about some wave-roire pictures and three names I think pretty interesting here Trevor Rogers really picking things up six and a third innings one run seven strikeouts to zero walks. He had 16 whiffs on 87 pitches five starts in June 205 ERA a.91 whip and he gets the white socks this week. Joey Cantillo was great for a second start in a row six innings of one run ball nine strikeouts to two walks 18 whiffs on 90 pitches and those last two 14 innings two runs 18 strikeouts to three walks. He gets the Rangers this week with no white lineford and Jake Bennett continues to pitch well this time against Yankee six and a third, one run three strikeouts here. He has this three pitch makes looks looks pretty good for him four seam sinker change up relies on those pitches a lot and they all look pretty good for him. It's back to back quality starts for Jake Bennett. He's at the angels this week. No, Mike Trout in the line up. So Chris, how would you rank these three Jake Bennett Trevor Rogers and Joey Cantillo? I think they're all pretty interesting. Okay, so not counting that Cantillo has RP eligibility and a point slig, which I think would probably make him number one. And a point slig. Yeah, and a point slig, I would go Rogers Cantillo Bennett just because we have seen Rogers like I don't quite know what it is that makes Rogers good when he's good and bad when he's bad. It's like is it like a half mile an hour in fastball velocity in one direction? And he's like really good or really bad? I can't quite figure it out. It's just sometimes he pitches a lot better. And right now he's in one of those stretches where he's pitching really well and we saw him do it for 23 starts last season where he was unhittable. So that would be the top of the list. But and those last two starts where he was so good Trevor Rogers allowing one or and run between them with 13 strikeouts and 13 and a third innings against the top two offenses in baseball. I guess yeah. Well, the nationals, one of them went right. Nationals and Dodgers. Yeah. That's that's against lefties. Yeah. And so nobody benefited from that. Yeah. Yeah. Because who the kind of run Trevor Rogers was on who was starting him against those two anyway. Continue. Uh, Cantillo though there is some interesting stuff going on. One his velocities out. Pretty much across the board. He introduced a cutter like five start to go that he has started throwing his four seamer. He's gone from about 45%. Well, I was getting there. He did it again. There he's made multiple changes. The cutter, the curve ball have mostly replaced the fastball and curve balls looked really good, which is kind of out of nowhere like for for Cantillo. It's always been change up and just pray. And now he's throwing this curve ball like 40% of the time. The last couple of starts. I think the last three starts has been his most used pitch. Last two starts especially have been excellent nine strikeouts in each. This is a really interesting run from a guy that before this I'm going to be honest, I never had a lot of interest in. But the cutter replacing the four seamer, the curve ball becoming more of a weapon, it's looked really good. So I'm very interested. I think Cantillo, you know, 60% roster right now. I think that should be closer like 85 90. I'm not going to say he needs to be roster in every league, but you know, I'm looking at like I'm sure we'll get to Roku Sasaki at some point, but he's pretty badly lately. I think I drop Roku Sasaki for Joey Cantillo. Yeah. I think I'll put I'm putting Cantillo on top of that this list. I think he's a must must must to quote Tenefer from Parks and Rec with because like there's been this this clear arsenal change with that curve ball just spamming this much harder curve ball. Like you said, Chris came out of nowhere. He did it back to like he sustained it now for two straight starts and gotten the big strike out total. Yeah. Cantillo, like I moved him way up my sleeper pitchers for this week following this start. I think there's real staying power here. It's good magic this week too. Like you said about Trevor Rogers, I don't know what like sure I pick him up again because he was so good last year, but I have no idea. Yeah. No, it's just different deferring to how good he was last year. Yeah. But then there's the so bad this year that like makes me nervous how likely he is to revert to that again. In this particular start for Trevor Rogers, the fastball velocity was up 1.2 miles per hour and the fastball had 13 of his 16 swinging strikes. So I mean, that was massive for him. Scout, let's put your Joey Cantillo love to the test on Friday. We spoke very glowingly about Tatsuya Imi and Troy Melton and Ian Seymour. Would you take any of Jake Bennett Trevor Rogers, Joey Cantillo over that trio from Friday? I take Cantillo. Cantillo is a must must must. Okay. I think I take them both over Ian Seymour. Yes. Yes. Rogers over Seymour. Yes. I probably put him in my he's he's about equal with Rogers. I might give him the edge over Rogers. The thing with Melton is it's really just the one start where he's really looked impressive. I know the results have been good all along, but it was it's really just the last start that the velocity jumped or was the previous start and the and the whiffs the whistle and they're for really one star, but he did get a lot of whiffs in the miners too. Yeah. So I like all of them. I think we're we always this always happens. It's like every two weeks. Like, oh, there's nobody available. There's nobody we care about. And then it's like, ah, there's all these guys. And then most of those guys will invariably stink. Let's be honest. And then you're just hoping two of these guys, if they're still fantasy relevant in August, that's probably a win. So I do we glossed over Jake Bennett and we have a lot to cover, but he's kind of like a little poor, a little poor man's painting tolly, like big lefty, not the velocity's not quite as good as about two, three miles an hour lower than tolly, but it's a really good fastball. Nonetheless, he gets a ton of extension with it, 30% whiff rate with the four seamer this season. The change ups in really good. His minor league numbers are good. I I think Bennett's a guy. I'm not sure he's we talked about him a lot after last part, but yeah, that one was a little more impressive than this one, but this is gonna get the Yankees and you know, came through with the quality star. And anytime you get a good, swinging strike rate on the fastball. And those minor league numbers just remind everybody at AAA this year, Jake Bennett had 160 ERA 102 whip 9.4 K, per nine with a high ground ball rate. Yeah, there's a lot to like there. Two other names that I think are pretty interesting, but slightly deeper leagues. Brandon Young, we spoke about at the top. Kumar Rocker, man, he was good again. This time at the Blue Jays, Jake shot out innings five strikeouts to one walk had 16 whiffs on 92 pitches. He's been so he's been mostly bad so far in his career. But now it's like two good outings in a row through 65% of his pitches for strikes in this one. Change up the pitch mix once again. Thoughts on on Kumar Rocker. I think it's mostly a deeply play like kind of spec and let's see what happens, but it's a good pass to I was pretty interested coming off his previous start, not like interested in adding, but just interested in watching because he had that dramatic change in his pitch mix. He went all sliders and cutters now and it was like 76% between the two of those. And then he went back to his normal pitch mix in this one. And we've seen enough of Kumar Rocker being pretty underwhelming with his traditional pitch mix that I don't have a lot of interest to pitch well. Like I'm not downplaying that. I just I don't see a lot of reason to think that that's going to last. All right. I think these names are mostly just streamer types, but I'll run through Luis Castillo pitch well at the Guardian six innings one run four strikeouts. He gets the blue Jays this week. I think I don't know what the piggyback situation looks like. Although the piggyback they told us they were going to do this. They didn't do. So who knows what's going on with the Mariners. Even though too complicated, too complicated can't last Michael McGreevy a strong outing against the Marlin six shut out with four strikeouts for him. He's at the braves this week. Walker Bueller has quietly pitched well lately. Five June starts 171 ERA 129 whip. That number is pretty high. But he's at the Cubs Jack Flarety pitch well in his return Sunday against the Asher's five shut out innings nine strikeouts. It's mostly been a disaster this year. But the velocity was up in this first start back. We know that when he's on, he could get whiffs and he's at the Rangers this week. That's a pretty good matchup. Scott, can I interest you in any of these streamer types Flarety at the Rangers Walker Bueller at the Cubs. Michael McGreevy at the braves Luis Castillo home against the blue Jays this week. I think I could I could see myself streaming McGreevy with the braves lineup struggling. He's kind of in a quality start machine of late. I could see myself streaming Luis Castillo who has more hits than misses recently. I'm interested in Jake Flarety. I just don't know that I could justify starting him yet. I have one lead where he's coming off the aisle this week along with Hunter Green. And it's like, all right, well, we got to try to fly her to even though he had a good start. The velocity was up across the board in this nine strikeout effort against the Astros. It was his first start back from the aisle, obviously. But in his last five counting this one, 304-ARA 127 Whip 12.2 K per nine. All of them less than six innings. So when he's striking out that many batters, he tends to be good. I just don't know if I trust him, Jack Flarety to keep doing it, especially since he just got back from the aisle, you know, right. Some deeper streamer types. Kair Monterey has quietly had a strong season here. He's also at the Rangers this week. No white lengthered. Slade Sikone five starts in June 188. ERA 108 Whip. He gets the white socks this week. Connor Prelyp and awesome start here against the Rockies. Rockies on the road. Six innings two runs. Ten strikeouts to zero walks. But he struggled quite a bit before this. He's at the Yankees this week. Chris, deeper streamer types. Any interest in Prelyp at the Yankees Sikone against the white socks? Kair Monterey at the Rangers. I don't really have much interest in Monterey or Sikone. Prelyp, I think, is interesting. He's got a really good slider. And then in this one, he started throwing the curveball more. And it got eight whiffs, which is really impressive. So that is something to keep an eye on. It's also the Rockies on the road, which is one of the best matchups in baseball, though. They've actually been weirdly not as bad on the road and not as good at home. Did you see that your hunter? Yeah, hunter. Splets this year. He's got seven homers on the road. 18 or seven at home. 18 on the road. He's got like a six 80 OPS versus like a 990 or something. So weird. So weird. Hunter gunman's up to 25 homers, by the way. 25 homers in like 78 games. last year, 31 last year, 31 in like 130. 31 last year in a season that people said was a fluke. How about that? Um, guys get his pretty good. 40 bombs is here. Yeah, he's pretty good. Um, but I, I think pre-lip is pretty interesting. I, I think we have enough interesting pictures right now that I don't think you have to go at him. But if we get another good start in a row, then we'll have to start talking about Connor pre-lip. But right now, I think it's more just a watch. All right, let's fire up the drop-o-meter for these starting pictures. And, uh, let's consider this drop-o-meter. A 10 today would mean you would drop them for any of the pictures we spoke about in that first group. So Jake Bennett, Trevor Rogers, Joey Cantillo, and uh, the trio from Friday as well. So that would be Troy Melton, Tatsu Yemi, and Ian Seymour. Spencer Erigetti, he got destroyed at the Tigers. Three innings, eight runs, five walks, three homers loud, five starts in June, nine ERA, a 160 whip. He's 82% rostered. Where is Erigetti on the drop-o-meter? Just to be fair, that's the high Juni-RA is really just the last two starts, right? Which were both abysmal. That sounds right. He also had 17 walks and 29 innings during May when he won Ricky Erigetti. Yeah. No, I mean, we've been waiting for Erigetti to slip for a while. He does record strikeouts at a good clip, but the walks are too high. Like everything else is bad. He was, I don't know, a few weeks ago, I had him as one of six cell high pitchers. So hopefully you heated that advice, got something for Erigetti. I tried. I don't know that I drop him for everyone on the list. So I'm going to go like eight. I don't think I drop him for, uh, uh, uh, Adam Guy, Ian Seymour. I don't think I drop him for Jake Bennett. I think maybe all the others though if I'm remembering right? Yeah. So again, that would be Troy Melton, Imaa Rogers and who is the other name? Joey Cantillo. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I drop Erigetti for any of those. Rokie Sasaki has regressed as of late this time at the Padre is four innings, three runs, five walks to two strikeouts, through just 56% of his pitches for strikes. And he's basically ditched that slower splitter. The fork ball, he just hasn't really used it over his last six starts. Um, and over his last three, it's an 836 Irana 164 whip. So where is a Rokie Sasaki on the drop-o-meter? Probably about a six. It was frustrating because it was the Padre's, the worst offensive baseball. And he's facing the Padre's again in his next star. And I had him as a sleeper pitcher. I had to remove him. I feel like because he just faced the Padre's and walked five. There's definitely improvement here. But if there's not consistency there, particularly with the control, how much can you use them? I want to hold on because I think there's still upside there for Rokie Sasaki. But, you know, if he was my only way to get Joe, we can't tell. Oh, I do it. Who's second on the list? Should I have Rogers? Me, my, I'd rather have Rogers. I'd rather have my, yeah. I think that's a good seminar. I'm, I'm, I's kind of the same boat as, uh, as Sasaki. I think there's similar upside there, similar concerns. So yeah, I think those three I dropped Sasaki for. Bryce Elder has a lot of five plus earned runs in four of his last six starts and during those six starts in 870 ERA, a 177 whip, seven homers allowed 82% rostered. Where's Bryce Elder on the drop home? Meater. Same eight eight or nine, I think. Yeah, go to guys been terrible his entire career outside of two months. Basically. Well, I guess didn't he make an all-star game a couple of years ago? Somehow? Yeah. Well, he did. It was terrible. The second half might be happening. Well, no, I think he blew it early enough. He's not going to make the all-star game this time. Yeah, yeah. He's not very good. And Jared Jones, not great here against the reds. Four and two thirds, four runs, three earned, uh, did have 12 whiffs on 81 pitches in six starts, five 76 ERA, one 44 whip. Doesn't go longer than five innings. I, I think there's talent. I think we'll see that eventually like long term. Maybe not so much this year. But what do you guys think about Jared Jones on the drop home? Meater. I pretty high to. Yeah. I'll probably go eight about the same level as Eric Eddie for me. I think he's better than Eric Eddie, but yeah, I think the situation is holding him back. Start or sit these pitchers this week. Another rough outing here from Garicol this time at the Red Sox five and a third seven hits four runs allowed two homers allowed in this one. Still only six swinging strikes. He gave up nine hard hits in this game. I'm not looking good. 77% started. He's home against the twins this week. Garicol. His whiff rate on his curve ball, especially has just completely disappeared. I think that was the one that I was looking at. He's gone from like legit really good whiff rates on the curve ball to I think it's below 10%. Now he has 7% whiff rate on his curve balls 30% in 2024. But it's also just down across the board. The whiff rate on everything except the slider is down. So that's kind of, you can't just say it's just oh, he needs to fix one pitch and then he'll be fine. The weird thing is watching it from the broadcast angle, everything looks fine. Right? It looks like Garicol. And there's just something going on in the batter's box that it is not Garicol. He has, I think it would be the fifth lowest swinging strike rate of any starter if he qualified and the guys ahead of him are pretty bad pitchers. So I am not dropping Garicol. No, but it's very much Sandial Contra last season where I expected to work at some point. But he's not there right now. It's not, it's not Garicol. Ironically enough, his last two starts have been pretty bad. And those were the ones where his stuff plus and location plus were both way up. I have no idea what to make of that, but just something I noticed with Garicol. Brandon Woodruff look great again in his second start against the second start back against the Cubs. Five and two thirds shut out one hit two walks six strikeouts here on Sunday. He's 69% started nice at the Dbacks this week. Are we using Brandon Woodruff? Yeah, I'm not totally at ease with him, but he's been kind of an enigma dating back to last year. And these two starts were so good. Even if okay, there weren't many whips. His velocity was still down quite a bit from last year. He wasn't throwing the cutter that seemingly saved him last year. So I have concerns, but I think I have to start him as good as the result has been last two. Agreed. Kyle Bradish took a step back here against the nationals. Four innings one hit four runs, three of those earned five walks to two strikeouts, five walks a season high for Kyle Bradish. It kind of just feels like as long as his command is this inconsistent, it kind of just feels like we're going to we're going to do this thing all season where it's kind of up and down with Kyle Bradish. He's at the reds this week. What do you think about using him this week? I'm still starting him. Scott Kyle Bradish. I lean yes. Yeah. It was it was a frustrating step back after two steps forward. All right. We have Emerson Hancock who was supposed to piggyback Logan Gilbert on Saturday. Instead, he started Sunday and he pitched well at the Guardians five and two thirds. One run six strikeouts to three walks. His velocity up quite a bit in this one, but that sweeper has really fallen off as the season has gone on here. He's home against the blue jays this week. I think again, don't really know what the piggyback situation is. I also kind of feel like this this could be your last chance to sell high on Emerson Emerson Hancock. It was among the six in that article I referenced earlier. It's already happened for Eric Getty. You've already missed your chance. Yeah. Missed for Emerson Hancock. If you can't trade him again. Sign your Hancock on that deal. Get it done. Would you start him this week against the lugees Emerson Hancock? Yeah, probably. I think it's okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tosh Bradley. A nice bounce back here against the Rockies on the road for them. So obviously great matchup. Seven innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 99 pitches. His velocity up between one and one and a half miles per hour across the board here. And he's at the Asher of this week. What do you guys think about Tosh Bradley? I think he is. He's come crashing back down. I did notice though. I did notice in this start that was obviously a good one. He got his splitter usage back to where it was earlier in the season. It had been way down. He'd been thrown at about half as much as before the pectoral injury, right? But since before the IEL stint, he'd come back. He was throwing the splitter about half as much. It's his best pitch. Got back to normal usage in this one and lo and behold, you know, got a good start against the Rockies on the road, granted. But that makes me a little more hopeful. But overall, I still think I still think Tosh Bradley. There's a lot more downside there than upside. Alright, next up we have Emmett Sheen who bounced back at at the Padre is five innings, one run, five strike outs to two walks, 15 whiffs on 84 pitches. I mean, whiffs, not a problem here, but the last he was up, he uses curveball more. It was really good for him in this one. He's only 41% started to get to Padre's again this week. What do you guys think about using M.A. Cheyenne? I think he saved his job, baby. M.A. Cheyenne forever. He was on the separate article. I wrote six pitchers to buy low on. He can't buy quite as low now. Should have done it last week. Should have done it. True. True that. What about Robbie Ray? He turned things around this time against the Braves kind of. The result is there eight innings, one on her and run, but only two strike outs here. Use his sink or a bunch, faded his four seam fastball. It was such a weird start to just game to break down because Chris sale allowed two hard hits in this game and gave up eight hits and Robbie Ray allowed 14 hard hits and gave up four hits. It was just very, very weird start, weird game all around. He's at the rock he's this week. So I don't, I don't think he want to use him there, but I guess just an opportunity to talk about Robbie Ray. He's a sinker baller now. This is 39% sinkers in this start. It was 20% in his last start. It's seven percent for the season. So he's just like suddenly become a sinker baller and has worked for two starts back to back eight innings with no earned runs allowed. I don't know if that's just element of supply. I don't think a Robbie Ray who's pitching to contact is going to work in the long run. That's my take. Sounds like Chris had one too. It's a high bar, but I think this might have been the weirdest start of Robbie Ray's career. Eight, eight, one earned zero earned run innings with two strikeouts against a good lineup. I have no sense of how that happened. He seems like he's gone dramatically worse in the last year and I don't really have a lot of faith in Robbie Ray moving forward. So I'm hitting leftovers. Welcome back to Connor Griffin. He homeward in his first at bat back from the aisle. He went to for four on Friday. What a week for junior Caminero. He homeward each game this weekend. Caminero. How come an arrow last six games? 11 hits seven homers 15 RBI and all of a sudden he is up to 22 home runs on the season. Hunts are good men, massive power month. We talked about it three for five with a triple dog on Saturday, 12 homers in the month, 25 home runs in 78 games last year, 31 homers in 144 games. So I don't know. He's going to get some, if he says healthy, he's going to get to 40. I mean, how, how high is it going to go? That's the only question here for hunter. Good men. Moody Betts looks like he's coming alive. Last 14 games. He's hitting 368 with five homers and a steel OPS over 1100. Kyle Swarber, the first to 30 home runs the season two for five with a sock and a shoe on Sunday. And many Machado looks like he is coming around as well. Last 17 games, 266 for homers 12 RBI OPS over 900 during that stretch. Lots of names here. Anything to add guys on the hitting leftovers. It's good to see sense of life for many Machado. It's one of those ones that even when the underlying numbers are bad, I still just kind of expect the underlying numbers to get better moving forward. That's what we're starting to see is hitting the ball a little harder. I don't really have anything. I guess Moody Betts is kind of the same thing, although I was less certain just because we have seen multiple years of declining production for Moody Betts. He had that huge. What was it? 23 when he hit 39 homers and it was like, oh, he went to drive line and figured it out. He's a homerheader now again. But next season wasn't nearly as good of a powerheader the next season. He was pretty bad. And then so far this season had been pretty bad. So it did look like age was catching up to Moody Betts. I don't expect him to be a difference maker moving forward. I think at this point, it's more can he be a top 100-ish player? I'm still a little skeptical of that. Uh, the power in general has has bounced back a little bit this year for Moody Betts. Just in terms of the pace, it's a 205 ISO for him. And last year it was just 148. It's his highest ISO since 2023 when he hit 39 homeruns. It was 272 that year, which obviously was much higher. Some pinching leftovers. Part one. The Miz Jacob Mizierowski, another strong outing six innings, one run, eight strikeouts. And it turns out he's human. He gave up his first home run since April. How could he? He also touched 105 miles per hour of this fastball. So maybe he's not human after all. Nathan of all, he was fantastic at the Blue J seven shut out innings with nine strikeouts for him. That's three straight quality starts with nine strikeouts and back to back outings. Zach Wheeler seven innings of one run ball five strikeouts at the Metts. And Peyton Toley, the man loves facing the Yankees. He dominated seven shut out with seven strikeouts. And two starts against the Yankees this year. 13 innings one run. 18 strikeouts to three walks. Scott anything to add on Peyton Toley, Zach Wheeler, Nathan of all the and the Miz. Just a small observation about Peyton Toley's curve ball, which he still didn't throw that much. But it was it was the pitch that got us so excited in his season debut because it's like, wow, he has a weapon there to go with that awesome fastball. And then he pretty much shelved it after that. I don't know. I wish he'd I wish he'd work with that a little more because it was responsible for three of the whiffs in this one. And he got a great result again. All right, Pitch and Loft over is part two. Max Meyer, a great start at the Cardinals seven shut out with five strikeouts for him. Logan Webb has been money since coming back. Last five starts 0.71 ERA 0.61 whip went seven plus innings in each of those five starts. Drew Raspison wrapped up an amazing June six shut out with five strikeouts five starts in June 0.82 ERA 0.61 whip for Drew Raspison and Chris sale a tough loss at the Giants on Sunday six innings two runs 10 strikeouts to one walk. I mentioned eight hits in this one, but only two hard hits. He had a five 33 bad up against on two hard hits 77.9 average EV. So seems pretty unlucky. Chris anything here on sale Raspison that Logan Webb and Max Meyer Max Meyer. I think there's like a twinge of sell high on Max Meyer. I'll just throw it out there, but he's had a lot of trouble staying healthy in the past. This is by far the best stretch of his career. This is really kind of the first time in his career. He's even looked like a functional major league pitcher. Let alone a difference maker. I wonder what is his ending is get up to this year too. Yeah, that's a fair because I can't imagine he's had. I would guess he's had a season where he's had more than a hundred, but not many, I would guess. 1.11 in 2021 in the minors 2022. He got to one. Oh nine or 119. It looks like okay, there's some room here. He got to one 15 in 2024. I think you could get to 140, 150. So you don't have to worry about an imminent shutdown, but I think you have questions about how he'll hold up in the second half and how sustainable this all is because it's just a completely new level for him, but underlying numbers are all very, very good. If not quite 260 ERA good. I will say I think he's at Colorado this week. Yeah, he is. I can't tell you to sit Max Meyer. He's been too good to sit. I definitely cannot say that Max Meyer has earned my trust enough to start at course field and course field in the summer months plays a lot differently than earlier in the season and relies like throws his sweeper in slider, what 75% of the time it's good point. It's a really, really, really, really tough ask. I'm not saying it won't go well, but I am not ready to trust him there. All right, again, that was Max Meyer who gets the Rockies in course field this week. The call to the bullpen for the Orioles on Friday. Ryan Helzley got the ninth with a two-run lead. A clean inning for his eighth save. I believe he was charged with a loss in extra innings on either Saturday or Sunday, but man for the man, all that stuff. For the pirates on Saturday, Gregory Soto got the ninth with a one-run lead. He allowed three runs on two walks and two hits. He took his fourth blown save and second loss. Gregory Soto in eight Juniperences, 1215 ERA and a 240 whip. I looked into each of his four converted saves in the month and there were four different relievers that pitch before him each time. Is there somebody to look at in the pirate's bullpen? If Gregory Soto just keeps on stinking? I haven't looked at the pirates bullpen in a long time. I have to admit though, I was planning to put out a mid-season bullpen report where I go through the pecking order for every team. I think it would be -- I can't come up with an answer on the spot. Sorry. I would be invasive on Gumree, but I don't know for sure. So, it makes me remember him. It might be Dennis Santana. I know he's been bad, but sometimes managers do that. Has he been - Man, I'm wearing, oh man, my gummeries crash pretty hard here too. - I know Evan Sisk has looked really good for them all season, but. - And he's a former prospect, I think. And it might be like years ago now. - It's 29. - Yeah. - Dennis Santana in June 450 ERA 130 Whip. - I don't know. - I don't think it's a great bullpen overall. - No, he's a pretty bad bullpen, yeah. - Yeah, I saw someone put out that if games would just end after the seventh, the pirates would have the best record in baseball. - That's. - Yeah. - It's pretty crazy stuff. For the White Sox on Saturday, Grant Taylor pitched two perfect innings in the eighth and the ninth. And he struck out four, he wound up with the win as the White Sox walked it off. I saw Sir Anthony Dominguez pitching in the sixth inning on Sunday and again they were losing. So. - I have no idea. - Yeah, his usage has been all over the place. And he still pops in for the occasional save. Sir Anthony Dominguez, but he doesn't have a firm grip on that role. - It's not like Taylor's, it's not like they're clearly setting him up to take over the role. I think it's very much a committee situation right now with Dominguez and Lee and Taylor behind. But Taylor has stumbled himself. That's I think part of what hurts it the last like two weeks. If he had been clean the past couple of weeks, I think Grant Taylor might have this job. - I agree. For the Nationals on Saturday, Justin Lawrence got the 10th with a one run lead. He allowed a hit and a walk, but picked up his first save. His numbers are terrible. And then on Sunday, it was lefty PJ Poolyn who tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth. And he picked up his third save. The Nationals do not have a closer and they never will ever again. For the Rockies on Saturday, Jimmy Herbert got the final two outs for his third save. He does have the last two saves for the Rockies. Does this matter? - I have a hard time caring about any Rockies reliever in a few years of that. - I agree. For the Angels, Sam Bachman got the eighth inning with a one run lead. He allowed a hit and two walks, but he wiggled his way out of it. And then for the ninth inning, they got Kirby Yates with a three run lead, a clean inning for his second save. That was on Saturday, by the way. So I kind of felt like they were going towards Bachman, but Yates picked up the save on Saturday. So I don't know. They're also a very nice one. For the Rangers, Tyler Alexander picked up saves on both Saturday and Sunday. Did you guys see any reason for why Jacob Latz pitched Thursday and Friday? But I mean, I guess Sunday would have been a third time in four days, so I guess they didn't want to do that. - Did they score late? I didn't check the game situation there. They did, so it was tied at two going in. Blue Jays were down to nothing, heading into the bottom of the eighth. - Right, they tied it up. - Blue Jays scored in the bottom of the eighth, Rangers scored in the top of the ninth. So it could have just been that they were heading into the ninth inning, treating it like a tie game. You would still think you would put your closer in for the tie game in the bottom of the ninth. So his last appearance was the 26th Friday. That was his fifth appearance in seven days. - Okay. - They may have just wanted to give them an extended break. - Yeah, that makes sense. For the Tigers on Sunday, Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning with the game tie. He came back out for the tenth and he was charged with four runs, three of those earned. He allowed a homer and took his fourth loss. I mean, the problem, nobody in the Tigers bullpen has looked good, even including Jansen. I know Finnegan's ERA is low, but his whip is very high and his Kato walk stuff is terrible this season. So I still think it's Jansen for now. For the twins on Sunday, Yawendri's Gomez got the ninth with a one-run lead. He picked up his eighth save. Feels like Gomez kind of taken over. Not going to call him the closer, but I feel like he's most likely to get the twins saves. For the Royals on Sunday, Alex Lang got the ninth with a one-run lead. He picked up his seventh save. He has the last. He got a terrible outing in that 23-to-1 loss. If you were in pictures for the Royals on Friday, you had a bad outing in that game. It was-- He gave a five-run runs in one-third of an inning, Alex Lang. But he bounced back for the save. So I guess all's well there. Just bad for your ERA. I don't know if there is ever a way to look like a closer just to have the look. Alex Lang has it. I like this turtle neck underarmor thing that he wears. He just looks like a closer. He gets it. So I'm rooting for Alex Lang. For the Giants-- Maybe he's got it. For the Giants on Sunday, Caleb Kiley and got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a run on two hits, but picked up his sixth save. That is coming off of a horrible last appearance for him, but not really sure the Giants have anywhere else to go. Then for the Dodgers on Sunday, Tanner Scott recorded four outs across the seventh and eighth innings. He struck out two, and then it was Ed Gardo and Riekez, who got the ninth with a two-run lead. He walked one, but picked up his first save. I believe Tanner Scott had each of the last seven or eight saves for the Dodgers before this. So just using Scott in the biggest moments. So not really worried about that. I think Edwin Diaz probably backed some time in July as well. To stream or not to stream on Monday, we have Sean Burke at the Orioles shamed Boz against the White Sox. There are noa against the pirates. Sean Monaya at the Blue Jays, Robert Gasser against the Reds, Zemi Matthews at the Astros, Peter Lambert against the twins, Ryan Johnson at the Mariners, Tyler Malley at the D-Backs. >> Sean Burke, even though it's tough matchup, just like the way he's been pitching lately. And probably Peter Lambert for the same reason, even though that twins matchup on paper is pretty tough. Ryan Johnson, you know, their dream at Seattle, good matchup. >> I have no fear in that one. I know he was awesome in his last star, but that is literally the first one. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I got Burke. Lambert's okay. >> I think Shane Boz could be all right. >> Yeah, I mean, Boz is fine, I think. >> I kind of like Gasser against the Reds. >> Yeah. >> They have really struggled against good fastballs lately. >> Their lineup has just been bad. >> And they might not have Ellie or Suarez, yeah. >> Yeah, and Gasser has a good fastball, so. >> Yeah. >> On Tuesday, Kate Cavali at the Red Sox, Matthew Leverator at the Braves, Martin Perez against the Cardinals, Griffin Jacks at the Royals, Brandon Sprote against the Reds and landed Rup at the D-Backs. >> Cavali, Rup, Griffin Jacks. >> Agreed. >> Very excited about all three. You could do could roll the dice on Brandon Sprote coming off by far his best outing. >> Yeah, as with Ron Chowell. >> And that was against Cincinnati too. >> Yeah. >> It was in Cincinnati. Which could go either way. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I don't trust Sprote, but that's maybe that's my own problem. >> All right, there's no reason to trust him. >> Jacks, Cavali and Rup, yeah. >> Agreed on those three. We are gonna wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank Fixas always for tuning in to Fantasy B's Ball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple's Spotify and we will back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]