Speaker 1Banking on Mercury is the ultimate solution for anyone tired of that kind of busy work. You can set automated transfers to keep your accounts in a specific target range and use their built-in spend management tools to handle employee reimbursements without the usual mountain of paperwork. It's free to get started and there are no surprise fees for the essential services you use most, like ACH and Wires. 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. Visit Mercury.com to learn more and apply online in minutes. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and column NA members FDIC. Hey, before we jump back into the show, let's take a quick break. But not just any break, this is a refreshing break with Snapple. We all know about Snapple's iconic real facts, so let's take a minute to go over some of my faves. Snapple real facts. 14. Before 1859, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs. Snapple real facts. 1483. More than 100 baseballs are used during a typical professional baseball game. Snapple real fact. 253. The first TV remote control introduced in 1950 was called Lazy Bones. Snapple real fact. 2105. Professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville in the off-season. So grab a Snapple, take a second, and enjoy the moment. Because let's be honest. This might be the most... 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.
Speaker 2Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, rushing deep left field. This is where the walk-a-walk... Got a fantasy question? Email fantasybaseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now, here's Frank Scott. Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports.
Speaker 1What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Monday, August 31st. I am Frank Snapple. Joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, last day of August. It's crunch time. Lots of waiver wire names. Lots of news, injuries, replacements, and much more. But we start with yet another prospect promotion. And the Mariners are looking for some offense. Because they are calling up their top outfield prospect. That is Lazaro Montes. And those who play in Dynasty Leagues, you have heard Montes' name for a while now. He is 21 years old. A big dude. And early in his career, drew some comps to Jordan Alvarez. He's got legit power. But I'm not sure that we're going to get the same batting average as Jordan Alvarez here. He's hit 38 home runs in the minors this season Montes has. He's certainly not a perfect player. Chris, he is 16% rostered. What are your expectations? And what size leagues are you? What are you looking to add Lazaro Montes, if any?
Speaker 3I think any five outfielder league, it's fine to add him. I'm not going to say he desperately needs to be added in every league. Because not only is there big swing and miss potential here, it's also Seattle. So it's the most unforgiving hitting environment in baseball. Even if he's not overwhelmed by the Major League pitching, Seattle's not going to help. And it very well could hurt. Significantly. So there is some real potential here for Lazaro Montes to just be a complete nothing. He's striking out 32% of the time at AAA. He's still been very productive down there. Hitting .267, .564 slug. 13 homers in 43 games. He's got 38 homers on the season. The power is very real here. It's a 94.7 mph average exit velocity at AAA. Max .116. Hits the ball in the air. I think he does. He did a pretty good job of pulling the ball in the air, too. He does all the things you want for power. He just doesn't hit for contact. And from a real-life perspective, he's not a particularly plus base runner, either. He's probably going to be a negative defender in the outfield. So there are some outcomes here where Lazaro Montes just doesn't play at all for the Mariners down the stretch. And he's just a twice-a-week kind of guy. But the high-end outcomes, you know, you could see an Esmeralda Valdez stretch from him. It's not the likeliest outcome, but he has that kind of skill set. And you could go either way on that, actually, because he could very much have an Esmeralda Valdez August, where I think Valdez has two homers, one homer?
Speaker 1I think two homers, but yeah, he has completely fallen off.
Speaker 3Yeah, so that's the upside and downside here for Montes. Still a lot to like, but yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah. Massive power, as you pointed out, the 38 home runs, all the quality of contact that he offers. But 17th percentile in strikeout rate, 7th percentile in whiff rate, 2nd percentile in zone contact rate down in the minors. So obviously those things do not bode very well for Lazaro Montes.
Speaker 4It's under 72% the zone contact rate. So, I mean, I think the clear parallel we can draw here is Munitaka Murakami. Montes' peak exit velocities are actually a little bit lower. A little higher than Murakami's, but the average exit velocity is similar. Murakami's strikeout rate has been even higher in the majors than Montes' was. Triple A, of course, you've got to adjust that up. A player going to the majors from the minors, so it might end up being pretty similar. And Murakami, for the most part, has made it work. His batting average is under 230 now, but I think the totality is something we'll take in fantasy, obviously. I think it's under 230. Last I looked, it was under 230. Somebody, I made the similar recommendation to Chris, where, okay, yeah, I'll take him to five outfielder leagues. Probably not in three outfielder leagues. Got to wait and see there. Especially since Montes' profile isn't going to be a points league friendly profile. So somebody was saying, oh, so it's like Joshua Baez then. And maybe. I think the bra power is better. I mean, Baez is a good guy. Baez is a base dealer and Montes isn't, so there's that. But on paper, I could see that. It's just ultimately the game isn't played on paper. And that's the trouble with this kind of prospect that has such a glaring, obvious flaw. And the kind of flaw that could be a complete deal breaker is it could be a deal breaker or it could not be. He could just be one of those players that overcomes it. I think my overall lean on Lazaro Montes is bearish, I would say. It's funny because all the years tracking him as a prospect, I think I started higher than the consensus, then I was lower, then I was higher, then I'm lower again, I think, with the consensus on Lazaro Montes. But my overall lean is bearish, but ultimately it's going to be on the player.
Speaker 3You know? I always forget. Which one's the bearish? Yeah, bearish is negative. Bull, so I always have to, you know, because it's like, ooh, a bull's scary, but a bear is scary too. You never know. Yeah. That's how I think of them.
Speaker 1Do you guys think Montes is going to play enough? Because if you look at their roster, they have Randy Rosarena in left, they have Julio in center, Taylor Ward in right, and Dom Canzone at DH. I think that they could probably just throw Montes either at DH or in right field as a strong side platoon and then Taylor Ward be the short side platoon. But I don't know if that's what they're actually going to.
Speaker 4I think I saw, I don't remember exactly, but someone on the Mariners beat was, it seemed to indicate it would be mostly at the expense of Taylor Ward. I mean, he's been an absolute disaster since getting there. And even before getting there, he was a disaster in Seattle. So because Montes bats left-handed, I'd be kind of surprised if he hit against lefties, at least to start out. But yeah, I would expect him, at least for the first. Week or so to play more often than he sits.
Speaker 1Yeah. And as we talked about on Friday's podcast, the Mariners have probably the best hitter matchups for the rest of the season. They have a series in Coors Field. They have a series in Sacramento. They have another series where they're facing A's pitching. So two series against them, two series against Angels pitching, which is not very good either. So really, really good matchups down the stretch here for the Seattle Mariners. I'll give you guys a couple.
Speaker 4I'm hearing right now, Frank, there are four lefties on the schedule. So maybe he won't play more than he sits the first week. That's not great.
Speaker 1Well, I guess maybe for the second week of September, potentially give you a couple of either ors here. And I think this one's pretty easy, but I'll ask it anyway. Lazaro Montes or Walker Jenkins?
Speaker 3Walker Jenkins, for sure. I think even if you told me playing time was going to be even, it'd be Walker Jenkins.
Speaker 1Yeah, I agree. Would you drop Esmeralda Valdez for Lazaro Montes? Yeah.
Speaker 3I don't think you're especially likely to regret dropping Valdez, and they both have the chance to make you regret not having them. So sure, take the new guy, I guess. Would you drop Joshua Baez for Lazaro Montes? Yes.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think so. I feel like Baez's playing time is more secure, and he has the speed.
Speaker 3He's already sitting pretty regular. I think he's sat like two of the last five games. Okay. Let's check. I could be wrong. It's two of the past five, yeah. Yeah. Which look, that's, that's not an S. Unnecessarily meaningful, but...
Speaker 4Two of the last five, but also two of the last ten, if you look at it that way.
Speaker 3He's striking out 38% of the time, so it's also that.
Speaker 1A couple other names here. Montez or Tristan Peters, who's one of your sleeper hitters this week, Scott?
Speaker 4I think I'd rather have Peters, at least for this upcoming week. And to a certain degree, we're going week to week now. There are only four of them left. Obviously, Montez has a lot more upside, but I think the likelihood of him meeting his downside is higher than that Peters is... I don't know. I put myself in the corner there with awkward phrasing. Yeah, I just think you've got to go with Peters for the upcoming week.
Speaker 1Two other names.
Speaker 4Nobody put Scotty in the corner.
Speaker 1Two other names here. Montez or Spencer Jones?
Speaker 4Jones. I... We've been doing some things.
Speaker 3Yeah. I worry that Judge could return this week. He is traveling with the team on the road. Because we saw with Juan Soto this week, where he went from basically the first day he took live BP, he was back in the lineup, what, like three days later? Not saying that it's definitely going to go the same way with Aaron Judge. He's been out longer. Yeah. But he is traveling with the team. He's taking live BP on Tuesday. And I just... I think there's a chance. And then you just have no idea what's going to happen with Spencer Jones' playing time. So that's my only concern. Well, that is not my only concern with Spencer Jones. Yeah. But that is part of the concern, in addition to all the concerns I have about his skill set.
Speaker 1Last one, Montez or Hector Rodriguez, whose playing time is ticking up, and he actually homered off of a lefty here on Sunday. Six games at home this week in Cincinnati. Yeah.
Speaker 3I think this is the more talented player, but the profiles are similar-ish, and Rodriguez has the playing time right now. So I kind of lean his way. I think so, too. Yep.
Speaker 1All right. Well, the Mariners, again, are promoting one of their top prospects, Lazaro Montez. If you need power in a deeper league, he is definitely a name to look at. Let's get into the players of the weekend. Away, back and gone! Oh, what a prodigious blast! And we actually got two. I don't know if they were prodigious or not, but we did get blasts from Gunnar Henderson on Sunday. Chris, he is your player of the weekend.
Speaker 3Yeah, he finally had a good game. It had been at least a couple of weeks since Gunnar Henderson had a good game, and it's frankly been a pretty long time since Gunnar Henderson has been good, which is very frustrating. He went four for four with a couple of home runs, a triple. He drove in five runs. He scored three more on Sunday. Before that, he hadn't had multiple hits in a game since August 17th. He hadn't had a homer since August 14th. He's basically had like three or four good games in the past two months, and honestly, not that many more all season. It's been an absolute disaster for Gunnar Henderson. Things are trending up, I guess, in the month of August. He has an 838 OPS, but one, Sunday's carrying a lot of weight there, and two, an 838 OPS isn't even that good. That's supposed to be like the floor for Gunnar Henderson, at least what we thought he was supposed to become, and I'm starting to think about 2027 and what that's going to look like and where Gunnar Henderson's going to get ranked, and obviously, look, September, he could go out and have a 950 OPS and look like himself, and that's going to change things, but right now, is he a top 50 pick even? Because he's not even running. He's not even running. He's not even running like he did last year. At least last year when he didn't hit for power, his batting average was still 274, and he still had 30 stolen bases, and this year he's got 10. He's been hitting for more power this season. He actually has 22 homers, but everything has taken a wrong turn for him. His expected Wobba's down to 316 for the season. That's just like a league average mark for a guy who is not running. I don't know, man. I'm really struggling with where Gunnar Henderson's going to rank next season.
Speaker 1I hadn't really noticed, but yeah, the steals are down tremendously, down from 30 last year to just 10 this season, along with everything else. It's a down season across the board, but the steals really stood out to me this weekend. In August, the expected numbers do look a lot better, but it still hasn't been a great month. Basically, he was a 1-2 turn pick this year. Do you think he drops further than the fourth round of a 12-team league
Speaker 3to fall out of the top 50? Yeah, that was where I, you know, is he a top 50? That's the question I'm asking myself.
Speaker 1And I think he's probably in that range. I think it's the right range. I think it's probably like round four or five.
Speaker 3I mean, he's a fourth round pick just because we've seen the elite outcome from him. But you also have to remember, it's been two and a half years now since we've really seen elite production from Gunnar Henderson. Remember, he was awesome in 2024 overall, but it was very top heavy. He had a 799 OPS after the All-Star break. So we're going on two and a half, two and a half years of Gunnar Henderson being a sub 800 OPS guy.
Speaker 4The state of shortstop is kind of in an unfamiliar place right now because you say that he might not even be a fourth rounder, Gunnar Henderson. And I feel that. I'm looking at shortstop though. You know, we've obviously had Trey Turner fall off, Mookie Betts fall off, Bo Bichette fall off. Yeah, but we're not doing positions. Scarcity for shortstop, right? Well, let me build up to my point. I ultimately, I think Gunnar Henderson is still going to be a top five shortstop for me. Put Witt ahead. You put De La Cruz ahead. You put Abrams ahead. You put Lindor ahead. I don't know if McGonigal has... Are we sure Jeremy Pena is not better than him?
Speaker 3I mean, he's... He's having another really good season. I'm pretty sure. I don't...
Speaker 4He has been better than him two years in a row. Yeah. The thing is, Pena's season has been constantly interrupted. So I don't even know how fairly we can judge it.
Speaker 1But it's... It is a pretty large sample. Like Chris said, it was last year and this year where Pena has kind of performed like an elite player.
Speaker 4At this point... Well, elite's a little strong. I mean, for real life, because he had so much defensive value, but like he's... Doesn't get on base much.
Speaker 3I mean, you're definitely taking Bobby Witt, Ali De La Cruz, CJ Abrams, and Francisco Lindor ahead of him. So then it just becomes a question of, you know, Zachary Netto. He's kind of having a better version of the season Gunnar Henderson is having.
Speaker 1Yeah. I think Pena's in that mix. I think that...
Speaker 3Yeah, but Henderson has a lot more upside.
Speaker 1I think the young guys are in that mix too. Like McGonigal and... Although I don't know... Is McGonigal going to have shortstop eligibility next year? He should. He's played... Yeah, right? I believe so. And then... And then Connor Griffin. I think he's going to kind of be in that conversation.
Speaker 3Oh, yeah. Connor Griffin's going to be ahead of him, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So... Whether he should be, whether he will rank that well, whether we will rank him that way is a different question. But yes, I think Connor Griffin will definitely be ahead of Gunnar Henderson. Yeah. Kevin McGonigal's played 91 games. Weatherholt will not be shortstop eligible. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1I don't think that he will. So, yeah. Interesting talking points to try and get, you know, the wheels turning for next season. And that's why I guess this is our promo to continue listening to the podcast, even if you've been eliminated, from your league, is that, you know, we'll start to get those wheels turning for next season as well. Scott, over to you for your player of the weekend.
Speaker 4I guess I'll do Max Scherzer. The old Wiley vet. Yeah. He had a big game against the Mariners on Sunday. Struck out 10 and 7 one-hit innings. It was really good. It felt like a throwback for Max Scherzer. It obviously justified, me putting him in my sleeper hitters, or sleeper pitchers for this past week. As little confidence as I had in that pick, it was officially a pick. And it turned out to be a good one. I don't think we need to go anywhere with this, though. I can, you look at the breakdown of this start for Max Scherzer, it's not like he was thrown a lot harder. It's not like the pitchers had, different characteristics on them in any way. It was nothing under the hood really suggested, "Oh, this is a different Max Scherzer. "Maybe we need to be interested in this." So I don't really know what got into him. Obviously the Mariners is a really favorable matchup, so that had to help. I think you can do a lot better off the waiver wire than Scherzer in most cases. And you can, you're pretty safe just ignoring this one. Let me see what his matchup is. For this week, KC, which isn't bad, but I'm not gonna put him in my 10 sleeper pitchers.
Speaker 1- I think it's a name in deeper leagues. If you need a stream, if you've suffered an injury or, you know, you're just really desperate for a starting pitcher at this point in the season, he has been better in August in terms of results, 362 ERA, 105 whip, 28 strikeouts to 12 walks. You know, that's not a great ratio over 32 and a third innings here for Max Scherzer. You mentioned he faces the Royals. They're middle of the pack against right-handed pitchers this season. but their offense has been better in august they are seventh in woba uh in the month of august as a team so i i think it's pretty combustible here for max scherzer but i do think he's a deeper name that you can look to uh stream if you are desperate this week my player of the weekend it's it's just a bunch of players i just want to talk about like awards right because there are a lot of interesting things going on right now and uh pca i mean my goodness another monster day on saturday four for six with a triple dong four runs six rbi and then another two home runs on sunday and that brings his season line to 283 38 homers 99 runs 91 rbi 32 steals and a 954 ops obviously rooting for him to get the 40 40 like not really worried about the the steals i feel like he can i think he's gonna get those eight steals if he needs to get eight steals i'm pretty sure he'll be able to do that it's
Speaker 3gonna be it's gonna be like otani when he was going after the 50 50 he's just gonna it's gonna be like every time he's on base yeah
Speaker 1yeah and he's certainly fast enough to do it too so look anything could happen over the final month but i kind of feel like pca is running away with the nl mvp right now yeah i wrote on last monday's
Speaker 3newsletter um that the nl rookie of the year sorry nl mvp race was not over and then since then peter armstrong had a three homer game he had a two homer game and shohei otani's return to pitching was delayed and he might not pitch at all anymore yeah so i i that was that wasn't the only way otani could make up the ground you know he could have a 15 homer month or something like that's you can't write anything off but yeah it's probably i think pci has got to be considered the heavy heavy heavy favorite at this point um and it's so he had never had before this season more than eight walks in a month at the major league level his past four months are 30 13 14 14 and 16 like he has just completely transformed himself as a player basically overnight he's fixed the biggest flaws in his game while keeping all of the strengths that made him able to overcome those flaws which is how you have to play to win mvp over shohei otani uh i i hate this idea that there's just nothing anyone can do to be shohei otani for mvp you have to have a historic season well aaron judge did that one time he had 62 home runs and peter armstrong is playing some of the best defensive center field you're ever going to see while going 40 40 probably maybe and putting up a 380 on pace for like he's having an unbelievable season and that's what it takes to beat shohei otani for mvp and shohei otani's having a little bit of a down season as a hitter which i think i think that all
Speaker 1makes sense where pca goes in drafts next year will be an interesting talking point as well i know that way too early uh first nfbc draft the first 15 rounds of that went down uh and pca was the first overall pick in that draft so i i think we're gonna have to have that discussion too yeah that that is a very interesting one there for pca you uh you mentioned nl rookie of the year perhaps uh a freudian slip here chris for my guy sal stewart who had two hits and a homer in each game this weekend 31 homers he leads baseball with 105 rbi has 12 steals and 827 ops this will be very fascinating to see how much the voters care about war for rookie of the year because i mean based on war both jj weatherholt and nolan mclean are better than sal stewart but he's also just having a ridiculous offensive season so i i don't really know which way they're going to go
Speaker 3with this but i as much as the the voting base has modernized and look as much as i am very much a modern sabermetrically minded fella it's going to be hard to look at a rookie driving in 120 runs and and say with 35 to 40 homers like yeah yeah but the other guy played really good second base defense for five months you know it's gonna be like i'm not saying that's not the right answer like i i think jj weatherholt has been a really good second base defense for five months but the more valuable player so far but it's gonna be really like that that's going to be a pretty historic outlier if that is what the voters go with i'm not sure what the right call is there the season's also not over nolan mclean has had a really good august and has put himself i think he's kind of overlooked in these discussions as well so you know i think maybe his how good he was at the end of 2025 maybe is um hurting him a little bit in terms of how his 2026 viewed but yeah it's um it's not over yet i do think south stewart
Speaker 1probably has to be considered the the betting favorite right now i hope so and i have a pre-season bet on south stewart so i hope it comes through uh jj weatherholt i will give him a little bit more credit than just being a good second base like he is an elite defensive second baseman he is 100 percentile and outs above average and uh that is very much so carrying his war number this year is the defense for jj weatherholt um and then the battle for the alsa young i mean it was on display again this weekend dylan sees against the mariners six innings of one run ball eight strikeouts velocity remains down but it has not affected his production one bit uh during the seven star stretch with the velo down it's a 157 era during that time and he is at 5.1 f war exactly and cam schlittler against the red sox five and two-thirds shutout two hits five walks eight strikeouts he has three plus walks in three straight and four of five 5.3 walks per nine during that during his five august starts but another one where it hasn't really affected his overall production scott they are both exactly right at 5.1 f war so uh it kind of feels like a coin flip right now
Speaker 4between schlittler and dylan sees yeah i i mean i'd give it to schlittler if the season ended today but the season doesn't end today and it's close like you said so schlittler has the better era he has the better whip um
Speaker 113 more innings too more innings more wins not that i care about wins but some voter might i don't know
Speaker 4yeah so it's it's definitely close and you know one implosion from either of these guys could ultimately decide it yeah but if it ended right now i'd give it to to cam schlittler and both
Speaker 1really came away with some very interesting uh just like historical stats from the weekend as well dylan sees seven plus strikeouts in 19 straight one more which is a little bit more different than what we saw in the first half of the season so it would tie the single season record held by randy johnson and kurt schilling and cam schlittler one run or less in 18 starts tying the yankees single season record which is previously held by ron gidry whitey ford and jack chesbrough so uh some interesting historical stats there for both cam and dylan cease before we hit our first break just a reminder to like this video big thank you to everyone for being here we started a little bit later than usual on a sunday so uh thank you once again and subscribe stay subscribed and i'll until the end of season and until the end of time because we would really appreciate it let's take a break and we'll be back right after this baseball season is in full swing and there's no better place to be than calci america's number one prediction market platform atlanta is currently trading at seven percent to win it all meaning a 100 trade pays out over 1200 with a win on calci you're trading against other people in a live market no house no odds makers and as the odds move you can buy in or out anytime throughout the postseason download the calci app and use code fan to get up to 500 in bonus credits when you trade 25 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 can you believe bob
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Speaker 1Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball Today. Let's run through the news and notes. Lots of injuries, lots of replacements to talk about. But up top, Shohei Otani did not feel right coming out of his bullpen on Friday. And as a result, he did not pitch this weekend as originally expected. And his return as a pitcher is very much so up in the air at this point. And we just don't even know if he's going to pitch again. It should not affect his hitting and his ability to be on the field. So you can continue using him in fantasy as a hitter, but might not see him pitch at all again this season. The Mets reinstated Juan Soto on Saturday. He homered on Sunday. So make sure to get Juan Soto back in your lineups this week. Eli De La Cruz left early on Sunday with left quad tightness. He is listed as day-to-day. Very hard to see. I would say for this upcoming week, the Reds do play at 6.40 p.m. Eastern time on Monday. If Eli is not in the lineup on Monday, and they just still say he's day-to-day, would you guys use him in a weekly lineup league? That's Eli De La Cruz.
Speaker 3Hmm. What quad was it last year? That's the question I'm wondering. It was the left quad. Yeah, I don't love it. I'm just saying that it's the same one. Reds aren't playing for anything at this point. Yeah, I do worry a little bit about that. Yeah, if he's not in on Monday, I think because of that history, I would lean towards sitting him, but it's a total guess.
Speaker 1Yeah, hopefully we do have more information on Monday. Some shortstop replacements. Scott has, for this week, his sleeper hitters, Cole Carrig, Willie Castro, and then just some other names that could be out there. Kaelin Culpepper is playing well. Angel Hanau has been all right. Cooper Pratt and Trevor Story. All those names. All those names are under 40% rostered as a shortstop position. Byron Buxton, go ahead.
Speaker 4Well, since you mentioned Cole Carrig, we should mention that his manager sat him out Sunday and said he was going to have him sit out a couple games because of what the certain beat writers referred to as a I can't think of the word. A gesture, like a bad gesture. And I think you can tell what gesture I'm talking about. He made it to the Braves fans who were burning up or something.
Speaker 1The bird is the word. Yeah, he went full Stone Cold Steve Austin on them. Yeah.
Speaker 4Now, so his manager said he was going to sit him for a couple games. He was out of the lineup Carrig Sunday, but he still got two at-bats off the pitch. A classic college football suspension. Yeah, I don't know. Originally, I was like, man, I got to find somebody else for my sleeper hitters list because of this. But now I'm like, I don't know that I really do because I still think Carrig is going to get his at-bats and it's a full week out.
Speaker 1Rockies, don't mess this up, man. I know you want to discipline the kid, but full week of games in Coors Field. Do not mess this up for Cole Carrig. Byron Buxton was placed in the IL with a right hip impingement and that hip has bothered him all season. He's been really good whenever he's played. He's appeared in 93 games. He's got 25 homers, 65 runs. The steals are way down this year from 24 to 7 for Buxton. And again, if you need outfield replacements for this week, Scott's sleeper hitters, you have Cole Carrig. If he plays, we'll see if he's in the lineup on, I don't know if they play on Monday or Tuesday, but we'll see then. Walker Jenkins, there's Willie Castro, Tristan Peters, Tommy Edmond, and Dalton Varshow. And then just some other names, rest of season that you can look at. Lazaro Montes, who we spoke about, and Hector Rodriguez, if you're in some deeper five outfielder leagues. J.J. Weatherholt was placed in the IL, with right wrist tendonitis, and he was really struggling offensively in the second half, so perhaps he's been playing through this injury for some time. And again, shortstop replacements for this week, Cole Carrig, Willie Castro, there's Kalen Culpepper, Hanau, Cooper Pratt, Trevor Story. If you were using J.J. Weatherholt at second base, there's Tommy Edmond and Travis Pazana as sleepers for this week. And then again, Hanau, Tim Tawa, Pedro Ramirez, and Connor Norby are some names. A little bit further down that you can look at at second base. Sticking with the Cardinals, they are promoting a prospect as well, Leo Bernal, who is at AAA this year, was hitting .279 with 16 homers and 9 steals in .833 OPS. He has mostly played catcher, but he's also appeared at first base in DH. I don't really know where he's going to play, if he's going to play. Scott, any interest in Leo Bernal of the Cardinals?
Speaker 4I mean, maybe as a deep second baseman, second catcher, but we've got to see how much he plays. I'm not moving to add him in any league at this point. Maybe in NL only. That's about it.
Speaker 1Fair enough. James Wood played seven innings at AA on Sunday, and it sounds like that will be his only rehab game. He went one for three with a homer, and manager Blake Butera said they'll give Wood Monday off, and then they will go from there. So if you have James Wood, I think he could be back as early as Tuesday. Start or sit James Wood this week? Start.
Speaker 4That sounds like he's going to be back, you know? I've already done that. Don't mess around with a guy that high end. Yep.
Speaker 1C.J. Abrams finally made his first start at second base on Sunday, so he should gain eligibility on CBS this week. And assuming there's no injuries or anything, I think that means he'll have eligibility to start next season as well. He'll have both shortstop and second base. Again, that's C.J. Abrams.
Speaker 3I think it's worth noting, and Scott, you probably mentioned this last week in the Prospects Report podcast, but it could be a path for Seaver King. Nassim Nunez has... slowed down, which isn't saying a ton, but he was hitting for a decent batting average for a while, but that was never real, and Seaver King is a shortstop who has... is it eight home runs in August, I think? He's having a crazy August.
Speaker 4He's having a huge August, yeah. Having a good season, but especially in August. Yeah. I'm intrigued. I mean, there was a report a couple weeks ago saying, you know, they weren't... They weren't... They weren't necessarily looking to call up Seaver King this year, but I don't know. Some people took that as a flat, it's not happening. If you actually read the report, that's... It was more he'd have to force the issue, and the kind of August he's having seems like he might be forcing the issue. So it's just a question of how much they want to evaluate Nassim Nunez as a defensive shortstop. He was a great defender at second base. Or if they want to get Seaver King's feet wet for a possible Rookie of the Year run next year, which would... Theoretically help with draft pick incentives, though we'll have a new CBA by then, if and when the 2027 season happens. So maybe those rules will all change anyway.
Speaker 1Sticking with the Nationals, Cade Cavalli left early Saturday after getting hit in the leg by a comebacker. And on Sunday, Blake Butera said Cavalli was fine. And before leaving, he threw four no-hit innings with eight strikeouts to three walks. So assuming that he is healthy, and good to go, I think you have to leave Cade Cavalli in your lineups the way that he is pitching right now. Pete Alonso left Sunday after getting hit by a pitch on the bill of his helmet. And after the game, they said that he should be fine. And he just wrapped up a tremendous August.
Speaker 3That was scary, too, man.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, anytime it's up around the head, it's scary stuff. So it sounds like Pete Alonso's all right. Wilson Contreras left Sunday with hamstring tightness. He is day-to-day heading into Monday. I want to see if the Red Sox play on Monday. And they do at 6.45 p.m. Eastern time. So we'll see about Wilson Contreras. Connor Griffin started a rehab assignment at AA on Sunday. He went one for three with two strikeouts. And apparently, he's going to be evaluated by the Pirates on Monday. 81% rostered is Connor Griffin. It sounds like they might kind of push the issue here. Would you guys look to get Connor Griffin back in your lineups?
Speaker 3In a points game, I would take a look at what the reports are on Monday before I make that final call, though, in a Roto League, because he's obviously a big upside guy when it comes to stolen bases, at least. But really, everything, if he is right.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think I'd play it by ear. See if what they're saying on Monday, if something comes out early enough that you can make that decision and if we don't hear anything, it would probably depend on what my actual middle infield need is. I would lean no. Right. If I have a solid option there, I'm not going to force the issue. It's not like, you know, Connor Griffin was showing some good signs before he went on the IL. It's not like he had established himself as a stud yet. Yeah, it was like a 12 homer.
Speaker 3It was like a 50 steal pace, but the hitting was iffy.
Speaker 1Ah, it sucks that. It feels like, look, something crazy would have to happen, but I don't think the, I don't think the Pirates are going to make the playoffs. They are six games out of a wild card spot. They have three teams that they need to, well, actually four teams that they need to jump to get in there. So they probably want to get them back to try and push for it, but I just don't see it happening for the Pirates, unfortunately. Riley Green started a rehab assignment at AAA on Saturday. He's a name to watch as well. See the reports early this week and even on Monday. And, you know, if there's any talk about him returning, I think definitely would want to get Riley Green back in your lineups. Samuel Basayo left Saturday with an injury. to his right hand and then was out of the lineup on Sunday. So another kind of... day-to-day up-in-the-air situation there with Samuel Basayo. Both Roman Anthony and Trevor Story were activated on Sunday. Anthony is still 90% rostered on CBS. Trevor Story is 40% rostered. Mickey Gasper was sent back to the minors. I only mention that because he had a pretty massive week, and you might have looked at him in a two-catcher league, but Mickey Gasper back in the minors. Roman Anthony, I think if you held on to him or picked him back up, obviously you get him back in your lineups, but what are your guys' thoughts on Trevor Story here, 40% rostered?
Speaker 4Well, he came back with a couple hits in his first game, so that obviously isn't much, but it does kind of incline me to hold on if I had him stashed in an IL spot. I've had to make this decision in quite a few leagues. A guy comes back from the IL, it's like, well, now I've got to carve out a bench spot for him. Is it really worth it?
Speaker 3You'd kind of rather that guy come off the IL Monday or Tuesday rather than Sunday,
Speaker 4so you get an extra week to look. He only went 6-for-35 on his rehab assignment. That's a 171 batting average, so I really needed to see those two hits Sunday. I had Trevor Story as a bust coming into this season, and he wasn't doing much before the injury, but it was so early, it's like he hadn't really established who he's going to be yet. I guess this is just a roundabout way of saying I'm not optimistic, but he was coming off a huge power speed season for a shortstop, and we were just talking earlier about how a lot of shortstops have disappointed, so in Roto especially, you might want to see it through, though I'm not eager to activate him just yet.
Speaker 1George Lombard Jr. left Saturday with a knee injury, and apparently everything checked out fine structurally, but he does have some inflammation by the patella tendon. He is day-to-day, and he has slowed down quite a bit, offensively, I guess you could say defensively as well, so I would not risk playing George Lombard Jr. in a weekly league this week. Some unfortunate Braves pitcher news. Spencer Schwellenbach will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a fracture in his right elbow. He missed the final three months of last season with that same injury, and then he had loose bodies removed back in February. It's just been a brutal series of events here for Spencer Schwellenbach.
Speaker 4Did you guys see? I looked. I didn't look. I didn't look. I didn't look again on Sunday, but I looked when this news was first announced. What is the nature of this surgery he's having? Because he already had loose bodies removed from an elbow that had supposedly healed from a fracture, and now he's having surgery? Does that mean they have to refracture the elbow? Like, what exactly happened there?
Speaker 1I mean, my interpretation is that he refractured his elbow while rehabbing, and that he needs some kind of surgery to fix that now.
Speaker 3Yeah. So it is, when you fracture your bone, the hopes are that it heals itself over six to eight weeks. We gave it that time initially, started playing catch again, had issues last year, then gave it another three months. We were trying to avoid. So I don't know. Yeah, it's like he's had several setbacks. There was a quote he was barely able to feel his arm when he threw a bullpen session last year. He'll have a screw inserted to stabilize the right elbow. Okay. All right. Yeah, I don't know, but the fact that they wanted him to avoid that surgery last year.
Speaker 1Yeah, is there a timeline for that surgery? I didn't really see a timeline anywhere.
Speaker 3Right. No, I mean, could return at, whether Swellenbach could return at some point during the 2027 season will be determined over the weeks and months following the procedure. That's from Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Walt Weiss, it's going to be a long haul, but he's got youth on his side and he's got talent on his side. So yeah, I'm optimistic is what Walt Weiss said. I think even looking at this from like a 2027 or 2028 perspective, I don't really think you can expect anything from Spencer Swellenbach at this point.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, it's really scary from a dynasty perspective too.
Speaker 3I mean, yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. Like I just, I think basically you have to view him as anything you get from him at this point is a total bonus, which is a tough spot to be in with a pitcher this young, but.
Speaker 1And a pitcher that good, man. He looks so good before he got hurt too. Hurston Waldrip will undergo Tommy John surgery, which means he will likely miss all of next season as well. And Spencer Strider is not expected to return this season. Scott, what is in the water in Atlanta? Or in the elbows, I guess.
Speaker 4I don't know. Oh, because of all the injuries? Yeah, it's like Swellenbach, Waldrip. I thought you were transitioning to something else.
Speaker 1No, it's just all three of these guys. It's like, dude, what happened? My gosh.
Speaker 4It's pitching, man. It's a volatile asset. And, you know, a couple of those guys throw really hard. Another primary pitch is one that's really tough on the elbow, the splitter. But this is just, you know, this is just the modern state of pitching. Like, and this is something to think about as you build your own dynasty team. I've altered my approach in dynasty because of it. Like, do you want to invest in a young pitcher or do you just want to pay a premium for an established pitcher? And just build your farm system on hitting?
Speaker 3Well, I think part of it is established pitchers also, once they're in their 30s, tend to get undervalued anyway. Right, exactly. I kind of think that's the way to go. You just have a, do whatever you want with your hitting, like focus on hitting, and then just have like a two-year window for pitching and just don't care beyond the next two years. I think that's the only way you can play.
Speaker 4Right, you can't count on any pitcher. Being more than just a flash in the pan, unless he's established durability over a course of years. So, and, you know, obviously the biggest assets to any team are the soon-to-emerge prospects, the ones that look like they're fully cooked and fully baked. I should say cooked means something else to today's youth. The ones that look like they're fully baked and have, six, seven years of, oh, that means something else to today's youth too, have six, seven years of team control ahead of them, including three or four years where they're going to be basically free. And so, obviously, teams cling tightly to those, but when it's a pitcher, you can't think that far ahead. You can only think of, what can this guy do for me right now? Because you're not promised tomorrow with a pitcher.
Speaker 3This is the argument I've always made with like the Pirates. And Paul Skeens, like, oh, we have all this time to build around Paul Skeens. No, you don't. You have Paul Skeens. You, like the Brewers, you have Jacob Mizurowski. You may not have Jacob Mizurowski next year. You might have a guy named Jacob Mizurowski, but he might be on the IL or he might not be the same guy. I have watched way too many Marlins seasons where people were like, oh, the Marlins have so much pitching, so much young, good pitching. This is going to be a great year. And then Ryan Gusto's in the rotation for two months. Like, that's just, that's not. If you have a good starting five, you have three good pitchers at any given point. And you have a window right now. There is no, like, three-year window for pitching. It's just, if you're healthy right now, your window is right now with pitchers. That's it.
Speaker 1And it'll be interesting to see how it affects pitcher contracts in the future, too. Obviously, Dylan Cease got a long-term deal, but he was and still is, I guess, one of the most durable pitchers in baseball. Look, you're durable until you aren't as a pitcher. But Scooble's contract this offseason coming off that, like, nano-surgery and, like, you know, entering his 30s. It's going to be a very interesting contract, I think.
Speaker 3He might only get $300 million.
Speaker 1Yeah, right. Nick Pavetta had a dominant rehab outing at AAA on Sunday. Four and a third shutout with seven strikeouts. And he got up to 64 pitches. He's 59% rostered. I think he's a totally fine name to stash right now. And at 64 pitches, I think we can see him up with the Padres pretty soon. Again, that is Nick Pavetta. Blue Jays manager.
Speaker 3I think Musgrove only threw 60 in his most recent start. And he's expected back ahead of Pavetta.
Speaker 4Yeah. Yeah, you could come back once you're to 60. I mean, that enables you to throw, what, 80 the next time out? So it's just a question of how, if they think you're commanding well enough. I mean, obviously, Pavetta got good results in this rehab start. His velocity has been down a mile per hour plus. So that's something to keep an eye on. But, you know, he was pitching in the PCL and had a dominant outing. So I think that counts for something.
Speaker 1And the Padres need to, you know, it's a pedal to the floor here because they are half a game out of a wildcard spot. So they are obviously playing for a lot. The Blue Jays manager, John Schneider, said Trey Savage continues to play catch off flat ground. And the Blue Jays are still hopeful he will return in late September. I can't imagine it will be as a starter that late into the season. Will Smith is expected to rejoin the Dodgers on Tuesday. So I think in all two catcher leagues and maybe even in some one catcher leagues as well. If you held on to Will Smith, go ahead and get him back in your lineups. The Mariners placed Emerson Hancock on the aisle with a left adductor strain and Bryce Miller was moved to the bullpen earlier this weekend. My guess is that Miller will move back into the rotation. But Chris, you brought up a very interesting name in your newsletter on Sunday.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean, we got to think Ryan Sloan could be at least a potential option when rosters expand because he hasn't been quite as good as Cade McCollum. Kate Anderson was at double-A, but he's a very similarly ranked prospect who... is doing well at AA, and Bryce Miller, for the last month and a half, hasn't looked like a major league pitcher, and we know he's been pitching through injury. So at some point, they might just have to make the decision to pull him out of the rotation. That doesn't mean Ryan Sloan will get the look, but it's a name to keep an eye on as rosters expand, and a very exciting name. I don't think you should be significantly less excited for Ryan Sloan when he makes his debut than you were for Kate Anderson. I know the numbers aren't quite as good, but the strikeout-to-walk ratio for Ryan Sloan is bananas.
Speaker 1I thought it was a typo. His last 15 starts at AA, 97 strikeouts to 5 walks. That's wild. Over 75 innings.
Speaker 3By all accounts, he has better stuff than Kate Anderson. Kate Anderson, more finished product, more polished, but that's something to keep an eye on. I'm sure we'll talk about Kate Anderson shortly.
Speaker 1Let me rush through the rest of these. Andre Palante threw around 50 pitches. In line. BP Friday and is on track to return this week. Jacob Wilson will undergo surgery on his left shoulder on September 16th. Old friend Corbin Burns threw two scoreless innings at AAA on Saturday. He only threw 17 pitches. He's 40% rostered. I just don't really think there's enough time for him to build up as an effective starter this year. Connolly Early will begin a rehab assignment on September 8th, so not really much time left for him. The Mets placed Luis Robert on outright waivers on Saturday. He's had a big offseason. August, but it seems unlikely that a team will want to take on the $5 million that he's owed for the rest of the season. The Angels placed George Clawson on the aisle with lower back inflammation. That was fun while it lasted. Elmer Rodriguez will stick around for another start on Monday at the Angels. And I picked him up in Tout Wars. It's a 15-team Roto League, and I needed some pitching help. So I think it's a name for deeper leagues, but I don't really anything shallower than 15 teams. I probably I'm not sure Elmer Rodriguez is even going to stick around past Monday. But he looked really good in his last start.
Speaker 4It's a glue guy.
Speaker 1Yeah, I just realized what you did there. And I heard this on the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast caught my attention. The Reds color commentator said that this was Chase Burns' last real start of the season and that the Reds are planning to use him in short starts the rest of the way. So I missed something. I didn't really read that or I didn't see it reported. I could have just missed it. But oh, it sounds like you're watching that game.
Speaker 4Huh?
Speaker 1Sounds like they're only going. Use him for what he said was like three or four inning starts.
Speaker 4So if the Kyle Leahy plan, as I call it, that's not great for Chase Burns' value the rest of the way.
Speaker 1No, no, no.
Speaker 3Yeah, I'm looking for.
Speaker 1I mean, would you bet you're going to find any quotes there?
Speaker 4Would you bet you as soon as this week? Yeah. I mean, if we trust. If we trust what was said on the Reds broadcast, and I have no reason not to. They're plugged into the team. Uh, I, I, I think you have to lean towards setting him
Speaker 3because all I can find is a video of Terry Francona talking, which is not as helpful as text because you got to sit and watch him talk. But I'm going to feed it to a island. Let's jump to a break and I'll listen to this video.
Speaker 1Now, other players who went on the aisle this weekend, Gavin Sheets with a left foot sprain, Luis Ranjifo with a right knee sprain, Blaise Jordan with a left ankle sprain, and Brian Hayes with a groin injury. And Edwin Arroyo was recalled by the Reds. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll run through waiver wire names, starter sit decisions. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Uh, Chris, do we have an update on Chase Burns?
Speaker 3Okay. Sorry. What was the question? I was trying to listen to the, he was fully absorbed. He's speaking very slowly. It's not, it's not really helping. I'm sorry. Yeah.
Speaker 1I was just asking if you had an update on Chase Burns.
Speaker 4I'm not seeing a mention in the recap either.
Speaker 1But the guy on the broadcast sounded very definitive that that is what was happening.
Speaker 4But yeah, I think I believe it. We might, we might be the only podcast fantasy baseball podcast in the world right now saying bench Chase Burns for week 24. But I'm, I'm inclined to say that based on your secondhand report here, Frank.
Speaker 1Well, thank you very much, Scott. Let's talk waiver wire hitters and Walker Jenkins. We talked a lot about him on Friday. He went one for three of the walk in his debut. He went one for three with a double in RBI and picked up a stolen base on Saturday. He did hit ninth in all three games. Probably going to take a little time for him to move up the lineup, but still 59% rostered a name that's out there. I think three, five outfielder leagues. You could still look at him and still saw some really big fab bids on Walker Jenkins, even though I didn't really think anyone had fab left at this point, but maybe they were saving it all for Walker Jenkins. I do have a couple of other shallow league names here. Luke Kieschel stayed hot. He homered on Sunday and in the second half, he's hitting three 11 with five homers, three steals in eight 89 OPS. He is 74% rostered and Alejandro Kirk continues to hit and apparently run. He hit his eighth home run on Sunday. He had a stolen base on Saturday. Do not expect any of those, but he had himself a huge August three 41 with five homers, 20 RBI, nine 46 OPS, 69% rostered. You know, if you've dealt with a, if you've dealt with a, if you've been playing the catcher carousel in a one catcher league, you know, Kirk is one of the hotter catchers right now. So I think that's a, a pretty fair name to go at.
Speaker 4I think Luke Kieschel needs to be rostered everywhere. Now again, I know he's under 80% on CBS. You gave the number since the all-star break, since the start of July, it's an OPS over 900 and his average exit velocity during that time. Hasn't improved that much. It's still only like 86 and a half miles per hour, but what has improved during those two months is the pull air rate significantly. And this was something that Kieschel excelled at in the minors. It was how he achieved so much power down there, despite still modest exit velocities. And if he's translating that skill to the majors, I think we're going to see Kieschel in full bloom here soon.
Speaker 3I also point out on Alejandro Kirk, just, catchers back to being catcher in the second half of the season. I don't want to overreact cause it's, you know, a month and a half sample at this point. But if you look at the catcher leaderboards, since the, the all-star game, Luis Torrens is a top 10 catcher in fantasy. So defense does not count. I think that tells you everything you need to know.
Speaker 4Hasn't he had a bunch of home runs though? Or am I imagining? I don't know if it's, I think he has,
Speaker 1I actually have in my NL only league. That's the only reason I know about. But yeah,
Speaker 4yeah. Langelier's hurt and yeah, there are been heard and only two catchers in the top 100 overall.
Speaker 3Tyler Stevenson is the third best catcher since the all-star break. And Luis Torrens, I mean, he has six homers in 58 plate appearances, six home runs. They're all in August. It's pretty crazy. It's a good August, but he's not playing that much either. It's weird. Yeah. But the, the point being that it should take more than six home runs in a month and a half to make you a top 10 catcher. If the position was as good as we thought it was, but it's been like a lot of those breakout names have either gotten hurt like Langelier's or just have fallen off. Ben Rice is only the 11th best catcher since the all-star break. He's going to be a really interesting one to rank with just first base eligibility next year.
Speaker 1Yeah. I do think the absence of Aaron judge has kind of hurt Ben Rice, but I mean, maybe you have to bake in that. Judge is just going to miss time moving forward, right? Like he's a big dude. There was, there's always some kind of concern about whether or not he could stay healthy this late into his career. So, uh, yeah, I think it's something you have to factor in. I wanted to bring up as Merlin Valdez who homered on Sunday. He's starting to lose some playing time too. He, he has sat out three of the past nine games and, uh, he look, he suffered that hit by pitch on his wrist on July 27th in 27 games. Since then he's hitting one 83 with two homers, a 30, 8% K rate. Um, and it's tough because I, you guys were all over this. You always expected him to regress and kind of, you know, come crashing down, but it's like, is it just regression? Is it part of like, he's not healthy and he has the wrist injury. So it's hard to say, but it is what it is at this point. 69,
Speaker 360 for 2027. Not so much right now, I think.
Speaker 1So you just think he's like an easy drop, right? Valdez. Yeah.
Speaker 4Maybe not in a five outfielder league, but even then I, I'd have to consider it. If I was looking to squeeze somebody else onto my roster.
Speaker 1Some names in midsize leagues, Pedro Ramirez is picking things up. He went, uh, one for four with a three run Homer on Friday, two for three with three runs scored on Saturday. He is playing every day since Dindy Swanson got hurt. He has 33% rostered. He has second and third base eligibility. Herberto Hernandez is heating back up. He Homer on both Friday and Saturday. He added a steal on Sunday. He has started 15 straight for the Marlins. They have seven games. This week and three against lefties, which is very good for Hernandez. He crushes lefties. Uh, and then Kobe Mayo stayed hot as well. Two for four with a stolen base on Friday, hit his 19th home run on Sunday. His updated second half numbers, two 69, seven homers, two steals, eight 75 OPS. And again, the Orioles does have that awesome schedule this week. And I will point out Mayo started all three games this weekend, even with blaze Alexander back and blaze Alexander started two games. So apparently there's enough room for everyone to go. Go around here. Uh, do you guys have any interest in these, you know, mid mid tier? names, mid-sized leagues, Pedro Ramirez, Heriberto Hernandez, and
Speaker 3Kobe Mayo. I have about as much interest in Kobe Mayo as I do in Christian Encarnacion-Strand, which means I think they're really good pickups for this week. Yeah. I don't have faith in either of them in any kind of medium or long-term situation.
Speaker 4This week because they are in Coors Field for three games, and they have three lefties on the schedule.
Speaker 3Three lefties outside of Coors Field.
Speaker 4Yeah. That's even better. They both have dramatic splits against lefties. Very good.
Speaker 3Yeah. Mayo leads the majors in home runs against lefties. He is like 250th against righties.
Speaker 1Any thoughts on Pedro Ramirez or Heriberto Hernandez?
Speaker 4Yeah. I like Pedro Ramirez. I don't know if I don't know how useful he is at present. I think he's in the discussion, but there have been a lot of middle infielders added to the conversation recently, and I don't know if Pedro Ramirez is anywhere close to the top of that list, but I think he has a nice, broad skill set that is going to make him have some sleeper appeal going into next year, if he has a place to play. Right now, he has a place to play because Dansby Swanson's injured. And so, you know.
Speaker 3But Swanson's out until he might be out for the rest. Very late, if not the entire regular season.
Speaker 4Yeah, I was talking about next season, Ramirez has a place to play. And I think that would require the Cubs to trade him, lest they make him a full-time outfielder, which I guess
Speaker 3is possible. They do have both, I believe both Happ and Suzuki are free agents. And hey, P. Karamshan can just cover everyone in the outfield.
Speaker 1That's fair. And I think getting exposure to this Cubs lineup right now is a good idea. They rank first in WOBA in the second half of the season, so they're putting up some big numbers.
Speaker 4I know that game Saturday, especially, the wind was blowing out 10 miles per hour to center, and there were a ton of home runs hit on both sides, and it just seems like at least in August, Wrigley Field was playing like an extreme hitter's park, as it's as it does sometimes. Sometimes it's an extreme pitcher's park, and sometimes extreme hitters. It just depends on the direction the wind is blowing, literally. And right now, it's blowing out. Yeah.
Speaker 1I like all three of these names. Mayo, Hernandez, and Pedro Ramirez. I think, like, 12-team roto leagues are deeper. I'd be interested in any of those names right now. A couple names in deeper leagues. Brady House destroyed a baseball on Friday off of poor Uri Perez. 110.9 EV, 445 feet. And he's 14% rostered, six games this week, three lefties on the schedule. That's good for him. He crushes lefties, but the lefties are also Chris Sale, Blake Snell, and Eric Lauer. It's like, whatever. Those other two are amazing, obviously. Austin Wells has looked much better in the second half. Two for two with a double dong. Five RBI on Sunday. One of those did come off of a position player, but he is hitting 250 with a 786 OPS in the second half. And Hector Rodriguez, who we've mentioned multiple times now, this podcast, he hit a three-run homer on Sunday off of Shota Imanaga, so lefty on left. He had two hits on Friday. He has started seven of the past eight games, and six home games this week in Cincinnati, so I do like that quite a bit for Hector Rodriguez. Any thoughts on these deeper names? Brady House, Austin Wells, Hector Rodriguez.
Speaker 3I think Rodriguez is kind of interesting. Obviously a great home ballpark. He was very productive in the minors, and he's been productive lately. So, as a hot hand play with a little bit of upside, I think he's worth a look. I don't know about House. He just sits a little too often. Austin Wells, look, if you're dreaming your second catcher spot, okay, sure. He's in that discussion, I guess, but not really a guy to get excited about. So, Rodriguez is, I think, the most interesting here, but still not a three-outfielder league guy, and probably just five outfielders in deeper leagues. All right, let's
Speaker 1slide over to the waiver wire pitchers from the weekend, and the shallow league names. I have Jake Bennett here, a great outing at the Yankees. Six shutout with seven strikeouts for him, and his last two starts, 13 innings, three runs, 13 strikeouts to one walk. Back-to-back quality starts after a rough stretch. He is at the Orioles this week, 78% rostered. Tyler Malley, a great outing here against the Rockies in Atlanta. Unfortunately, the bullpen blew the win here for him, but six and two-thirds, one run, nine strikeouts to zero walks, and five starts with the Braves, 148 ERA, .96 whip, and he is at the Phillies this week. Will Warren had his best start in a while, seven-plus innings on Sunday, one run, one walk, seven strikeouts, but it is just his second quality start in his last 14 outings. He is at the Padres this week, and the last name of the shallow leaguers, we have Andrew Painter, who had a rough first inning on Friday, but then he settled down for a quality start here at the Angels. Didn't maintain that fastball velocity jump that we saw recently. The IVB was up one inch. The previous start was up two inches, so I know we're tracking that fastball to see if it can play better for Andrew Painter. He is at the D-backs this week. I guess we're just playing it week-to-week at this point. How would you rank these four? Painter at the D-backs, Will Warren at the Padres, Tyler Malley at the Phillies, and Jake Bennett at the Orioles.
Speaker 3For me, it would be Painter, Malley, probably a little gap. I think Bennett is okay. I don't love the matchup against Baltimore, but I don't hate it. Will Warren, I have very little faith in. San Diego overall is not great against righties, but that offense has been much better since about June, really, but especially the second half, so I'm definitely ranking him fourth. If you need someone to start this week, I'm not opposed to Malley over Painter. I just think Painter has more upside in the aggregate. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 4I agree with that completely. So, those are the two I'm most interested in by far. I will point out with Bennett, after a rough patch there, he's emphasized his sinker again in his last two starts, and both of them have been solid. So, I think he's hopefully seized upon that and has figured out what makes him tick more and is hopefully trending up again, but I don't think he has the upside of Painter obviously, and even the upside of Malley with what he's shown recently.
Speaker 3When he's locked in, and he's thrown that splitter a bunch, yeah.
Speaker 1Four mid-tier names. Merrill Kelly had his best start in a while. Seven shutout innings with a season-high seven strikeouts here at the Giants. He also had four walks. He has three or more walks in six straight. He is at the Astros this week. Zebby Matthews, a great start against the White Sox. Eight and a third, one run, five strikeouts to zero walks, and his last three starts have been very good. 21 innings, three runs, 16 strikeouts to two walks. He gets the White Sox again this week. Quinn Matthews bounced back for his first career win. This one against the Pirates, five and two-thirds, one run, one walk, seven strikeouts, and he is at the Dodgers this week, so nice to see a good one from Quinn Matthews, but at the Dodgers is pretty rough. And then Andrew Alvarez, a strong start against the Marlins. Six shutout innings with six strikeouts. He also is at the Dodgers this week, so tough group. You know, Alvarez and Matthews, a little bit of intrigue, but the matchups at the Dodgers are terrible. And then there's Zebby Matthews at the White Sox and Merrill Kelly at the Astros. Any interest in this group of four?
Speaker 4I don't think I could get behind starting any of these four this week, except in an emergency situation. I am encouraged by what Quinn Matthews did. He threw only 62% of his pitches for strikes, so even though he walked just one, it wasn't like he was throwing strikes at a high rate, but Ali Marmol has managed her pointed out it was just more competitive two-strike pitches. Did a better job of putting hitters away. And I think he showed, this was the start from Quinn Matthews where we saw his upside the clearest. Even if he wasn't facing the Dodgers, I don't think it would be enough for me to say, okay, I'm comfortable starting Quinn Matthews now. And then the other one I wanted to touch on was Merrill Kelly. Because, I don't know that we brought it up, brought it up on this show, but in his previous start, I believe it was against the Cubs, there was a hubbub over him tipping his pitches. Specifically, the Cubs' third base coach was reading his pitches. And who knows how long that's been going on. They finally, Kelly finally discovered somebody was doing it, and then his next time out, it's his best start of the year, arguably. So, I find that interesting because it's not like the characteristics of the pitches themselves. The pitch themselves have changed a lot from previous years. It's definitely been a hard pitcher to gauge since forever. So, I'm not ready to start Merrill Kelly yet, but in some of those 15-teamers where I'm chasing starting pitcher categories, I was putting in some bids for Merrill Kelly, and I saw I don't think I actually got him. I think I got outbid in all the leagues, so I wasn't the only one thinking that way.
Speaker 3I do want to point out two things. One, that pitch tipping thing was very funny. The Diamond and the batch manager apologized to Craig Council the next day because he was like, You guys weren't doing anything wrong. That was on us.
Speaker 4Yeah, it was weird that he didn't know that was legal.
Speaker 3You're allowed to steal pitches. It's totally legal to steal pitches as long as you're not using video.
Speaker 4This isn't some rookie manager. He's been there a long time. Went to the World Series with them a few years ago.
Speaker 3Yeah, I just thought that was very funny. The actual thing I wanted to say that's actionable is, yes, we do not want to use Quinn Matthews at the Dodgers this week. That's a terrible matchup. We don't like that. But the next week looks like it's going to be at San Francisco and versus the White Sox. So one incredible matchup and one pretty middling one. But if he does well against the Dodgers, that could be a very exciting two-star week. Big if, but yeah. That's a gigantic if, but I think Quinn Matthews is pretty talented. So I just wanted to put a pin in that one as a kind of looking ahead to next week.
Speaker 1Two very. Very deep league names I'll quickly mention here. Matt Wilkinson, a.k.a. Tugboat, turned in his first career quality start. He is 4% rostered and he is at the Mets. And Nationals pitcher Jackson Kent turned in a solid outing. Seven innings, one run, four walks to three strikeouts. They don't love that. He is 8% rostered, home against the Braves this week. Two very deep league names. Do you guys have any thoughts or interest in Matt Wilkinson or Jackson Kent?
Speaker 3I have lots of thoughts about Matt Wilkinson. But not a ton of interest in him for fantasy. And even less for Kent.
Speaker 1All right. A couple of names. Are we okay to drop these two? Kyle Leahy was limited to just three innings on Saturday. Just 51 pitches. He's still 69% rostered. It stinks because he's pitched really well. It's just he's limited now.
Speaker 4I think he's going to be a true sleeper next year. Because his overall stats still seem kind of iffy, especially the whip. It's going to be one of those. Over his last however many games he had. This, though, and because he's not a big strikeout pitcher and because the season's ending this way, I think a lot of people are genuinely going to sleep on Kyle Leahy next year.
Speaker 1But okay to drop him this. Yes. And then what about Andrew Abbott? He was crushed by the Cubs. He's still 62% rostered. It just feels too high to me.
Speaker 4Mm hmm. Yeah, I agree. He's streamable, but that's it.
Speaker 1All right. Starter set these pitchers this upcoming week. We had Zach Wheeler with a nice bounce back at the Angels six innings. Want to run six strikeouts. He had 15 whiffs on 108 pitches, but still walked three in the walks have been an issue here. Scott, what do we see from Zach Wheeler? And are you definitely using him against the Braves this week?
Speaker 4I'm probably using him against the Braves. The walks were one issue. He had also brought up the possibility after his last start that maybe he was giving something away in his delivery because he thought the hitters just seemed too too confident in their swings. I forget how he put it exactly. But. Something kind of tipped him off to the possibility that maybe he was tipping and then he follows it up with a good start. Still has the control issue. That's part of the what's been going on with Wheeler and maybe the tipping thing is just a red herring. But I think it's notable that he brought it up and then the next start he looked good again. So I would I would feel okay about starting Wheeler against the Braves.
Speaker 1Next up, we have Cade Anderson, who has been pretty meh through his first two starts. This one was at the Blue Jays four and a third. Three hits, two runs, three walks, three strikeouts. The Mariners did say beforehand that he would be limited to around 80 pitches. He threw 85 in this one, and he is 36% started home against the Athletics this week. Chris, what do you think about using Cade Anderson this week?
Speaker 3I think you probably have to use him against the Athletics. Well, you don't have to, obviously, but great. I wouldn't it's only it's only one start this week. I thought he had yeah, okay, it's just the Athletics.
Speaker 1If he pitched this week. This weekend. Yeah, I think there's it's only going to be.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, I would lean towards starting him versus the Athletics in Seattle. Great place to pitch. Good match up right now. I feel okay about that. I do think you have to be a little concerned about Cade Anderson. Just his chances of being a must start fantasy pitcher the rest of the way. Because what we've seen so far is one thing we should start with is the shape on the fastball. Was better in this start than it was in his debut. He got up to 17 inches of IVB. He was down to 15 in the debut. I think it was like 15.4. That's better. We'd like to see that.
Speaker 4It was like 18 at double.
Speaker 3Yeah, it was like 18.5 or something. It was really good at double. It was like an elite market double a the ball is different. It moves differently. He was also pitching in a dome which can increase IVB. So, you know, I don't think you take that but on the whole I think you can look at the stuff. That Kate Anderson has brought with him to the majors and think okay, the control needs to be really really good for him to be an elite pitcher and the control hasn't been great so far. It's been okay and then you have the limits on the pitches. Yeah, 81 pitches in the first start 85 in the second he hadn't thrown more than 80 pitches in any of his starts at the minors and so and in fact the MLB.com recap by Daniel Kramer.
Speaker 4It's not a quote or anything but he's he mentioned in there that Kate Anderson quote was operating on a threshold of around 80 pitches.
Speaker 3So it does seem like that's something the Mariners have signaled and they've pulled him mid inning in both of his starts once he's hit a limit of some sort so it does seem like it's not a soft limit. It's a pretty hard one and I think. This can be a larger discussion at some point but I do think one thing that a lesson we could learn from Kate Anderson and look it's it's two starts you can't actually draw any analytical conclusions about two starts it's it's too small of a sample size if he goes out and dominates the rest of season I would not be surprised but I think we saw the 1.06 era at double a and how high he's ranked as a prospect and all the all that stuff and just. I know for me maybe I didn't look past the surface enough I read the scatter reports and it was all you know good stuff elite command but you know the the pitch count limitations the you know how if he the stuff might translate to the majors the the whole thing with the double a ball being different I knew that but I just didn't factor it into my analysis and now this is two years in a row of the best pitcher in organized baseball making the leap for me. from double a to the majors. And we'll see how it goes with Kate Anderson but obviously it did not go well with Jonah Tong there is something I thought you were talking about Chase Burns I was like who was the guy last year no because he pitched at least a little bit in triple a didn't he yeah I think a very little but yeah and Jonah Tong made I think 11 innings at double triple a but Jonah Tong was the most productive pitcher at any level in baseball last season he was ridiculously dominant the era wasn't quite as low as Kate Anderson's but the strikeout rate was even higher and I do think we have to you know start discounting double a production even more for pitchers because it's just the environment is very different there than it is at triple a and especially the majors so that's something we have to to keep in account so that's just I think I was a little a little more skeptical just there was like talk of Kate Anderson is like a top 10 starting pitcher in baseball right now and like anytime someone does that with a rookie it doesn't matter who it is.
Speaker 4I'm going to push back on that but I probably could have done a little better job of digging into some of the things well not not really because a lot of that data isn't available like we don't have that's fair stats for double a that's fair I don't even think we have intro stats for for triple a the some people do but we yeah you can get it but it's it's not like on a dashboard let's move much faster to the rest of the starter set pitchers Max Fried was okay but limited in his return against the Red Sox.
Speaker 1Three and two thirds one run four strikeouts only through 63 pitches and the velocity was down coming back from the elbow injury 42% started would you use Max Fried at the Padres this week.
Speaker 4Um I think so it would just be the innings that might scare me away so you know weigh your options as far as that goes but if it's a ratios thing I'd start Fried. Easier to stay in a points league.
Speaker 1Tyler Glass now was great at the Tigers seven innings of one run ball with six strikeouts. He is only 57% started I think people wanted to kind of play it safe his first week back he gets the Nationals this week what do you guys think about using glass now. Fire him up. Great. Kevin Gossman another step backwards this one against the Reds five innings five runs seven strikeouts two homers allowed and look the underlying stuff still says that he's like he should be better but he's now going on his last 16 starts to 563 era in a 142 whip 71% started. And he's home against the Brewers this week very tough matchup what you guys do with Kevin Gossman. I probably said I'm for that matchup and I I wouldn't say he's beyond dropping in in 12 team leagues or or or shallower I agree Jose Soriano had a strong outing here against the Mariners seven innings three runs six strikeouts but these outings have been very few and far between for Soriano he is 59% started and at the Guardians this week they're 27th. What do you guys think about using Jose Soriano?
Speaker 4I mean, it's an okay matchup if that's what you're having to consider. You don't have enough good pitchers where you can just ignore matchups. Okay, maybe you keep Soriano around for this start. But even then, I imagine he's going to do more harm than good to your whip.
Speaker 3So his roster and start rate is a testament to the power of a very good start to the season. Because he's been decidedly mediocre for like three months now. And he's still almost universally rostered, very widely started. And I think he's just okay.
Speaker 1And that was Jose Soriano we were just talking about. The last name on this list is Ranger Suarez, who still has not looked right since returning from injury, this time at the Yankees. Six runs allowed, over five and a third. And seven starts since returning, 501 ERA 145 whip. 70% started at the Orioles this week. I think it's a pretty easy... You got to sit Suarez for now. He hasn't looked right.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think so. What's been weird about this rough stretch is the strike throwing has actually gotten better, just in terms of is it a ball or a strike. That doesn't mean command necessarily is improved. That's much harder to gauge. But that's usually when things go wrong with Ranger Suarez, it's because he's not locating as well as he needs to. And so I just find it curious that, well, he has thrown more strikes. Well, this is...
Speaker 3It's always going to be hard to put any number on command. It's such an ineffable quality anyway. But a batted ball counts as a strike. So if you give up a bunch of hits, technically those are strikes. And so that's always the tough thing with a strike percentage is it's not necessarily just measuring command or control, you know?
Speaker 8Sure.
Speaker 3It's a good shorthand. But that's one of the ways in which it can fall short.
Speaker 1Some pitching leftovers. I'm not going to read off the line. I'll just mention the names. And if you guys have any thoughts. But the first group includes Tarek Skubal, Michael Waka, Hunter Brown, and Logan Henderson. Chris, do you have any thoughts on these four? Henderson, Brown, Waka, and Tarek Skubal.
Speaker 3I mean, Waka is the most surprising performance here. 10 strikeouts for Michael Waka. What? I don't really think there's much actionable there. He just... He's a pretty good pitcher who occasionally is pretty great.
Speaker 4Vila was way up in this start for what it's worth. In fact, he threw his hardest pitch since 2017.
Speaker 8Wow.
Speaker 4Which I found interesting. Everything was up like one to two miles per hour. No reason to think it's going to continue for Waka, but if it does, then, you know, obviously we'll have to change our evaluation of him.
Speaker 3Yeah. And then I wanted to highlight Hunter Brown. Just really good start for him. A guy who has been very up and down so far this season, but starting to look like he's putting it all together now. The curveball and slider were both excellent. He commanded them really well in this start. The feel for the changeup wasn't great, but I think everything else was working really well. So he's looking a lot better lately. I know it's been a very, very hard season for Hunter Brown, but nothing you can do about the past. And looking ahead, he kind of looks like Hunter Brown. Now, I think we, you know, okay. You're probably not drafting him as a top seven starting pitcher next season coming off a shaky season where he had a shoulder injury, but I'm not going to bury him down to like the 30 range or anything. I think he's going to be a top 15 or 20 starting pitcher probably.
Speaker 1Yeah. Last seven starts for Hunter Brown, 263 ERA, 115 whip over a strikeout per inning. So he has looked much better as of late. And Logan Henderson, man, he just keeps doing it. The innings are getting better too. Six plus innings in five straight, seven innings in, two of the last three. Last week, I moved him all the way up to my SP 21, which is insane, but he's also pitching insanely well. That is Logan Henderson. Some pitching leftovers. Part two, Blake Snell, Noah McClain, and Christopher Sanchez. Huge starts from all three. Scott, any thoughts here on Snell, McClain, or Sanchez?
Speaker 4I think I did have a note on McClain. Let me check that out. It was... It was that he threw his sinker 45% of the time instead of the usual 33%, which explains why he got only six whiffs. He was really leaning into getting weak contact on the ground instead. And I think that's in the range of outcomes for what Nolan McClain's ultimately going to be. We've seen now this is probably the third different version of McClain this year, and the overall stat line is solid. Maybe better than solid, but he hasn't obviously had the kind of massive breakout that like a Cam Schlittler or Jacob Mizurowski had when he was the highest rated of those three coming in. And I think this version we're seeing this year is more in line with my expectations than what we saw from McClain in his trial run last year. I don't know that he's going to be near the level of Batmisser as those other two.
Speaker 1Mm-hmm. I think I said this before the season. You guys might have had a similar thought. Nolan McClain long-term, it kind of feels like a Logan Webby profile.
Speaker 3That was the exact comp I made, yeah.
Speaker 1Which isn't a knock on him, and they don't do it the same way, but just like high floor, SP2, we should have really good ratios, but I think the strikeouts could kind of fluctuate for him. In August, while the numbers have been really good, it's just an 8% swinging strike rate in the month for Nolan McClain. Hitting leftovers, I have a bunch of names here. Again, not going to read off everything, but I'll just mention the names, and if you guys have a thought, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Cal Raleigh, Junior Caminero.
Speaker 4Caminero! Ha! Ha, Caminero!
Speaker 1Jazz Chisholm, Jose Ramirez, and Jeremy Pena, they all did some stuff this weekend. Do you guys have any notes or anything you'd like to mention quickly?
Speaker 3It is nice to see Jazz Chisholm doing some stuff. Because he has not done anything. He has not done a ton of stuff this season. Well, I guess he's been running all season, but that's about it.
Speaker 140 steals, it surprised me. It actually leads the American League. Yeah, I was... He hasn't done much else outside of that.
Speaker 3He might get to half of that 50-50 prediction.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3He could hit 32 home runs in August, in September. You never know.
Speaker 1A home run day.
Speaker 4I'll point out that Alex Bregman is now the fifth best third baseman in points leagues this year.
Speaker 3Yeah, he's going to end up having the season we basically thought he would. Some of us. Cal Raleigh...
Speaker 4That bus prediction's not coming true after all.
Speaker 3Yeah, Cal Raleigh... Looking more like the pre-2025 version of himself, and that's probably where expectations should be. So, you know, around the 100th pick, I think we talked about this last week, 100th, 125th pick, something like that, is probably where Cal Raleigh's going to go. And you'll just have to figure out if that's right for your team build next year. But 2025 is not going to... Not going to really factor in. Not going to factor into the expectations moving forward, I think.
Speaker 1With Jose Ramirez, I'll just mention he homered on Sunday. It was his first home run since coming off of the IL. So, 31 games and his first home run since June 6th.
Speaker 3Almost three months.
Speaker 1We have been waiting a long time for that. The call to the bullpen for the Dodgers. Tanner Scott on Friday picked up his 20th save. He is the guy. For the Royals on Friday, Stephen Cruz picked up his sixth save. And they've been mixing things up a little bit there. I still think I would put Cruz at the top of the ladder. For the Royals. For the White Sox on Friday, Grant Taylor, two and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief. He picked up the win. It was lefty Brian Hudson who picked up his sixth save. And then on Saturday, Brian Hudson picked up another save. Do you guys have any deep league saves interest in lefty Brian Hudson of the White Sox?
Speaker 4Well, probably not outside of really deep leagues. He's been part of a pretty crowded group. We've seen Sean. Newcomb gets some saves. We've, of course, seen Grant Taylor get some saves. And I just, I'm reluctant to say that now all of a sudden Hudson's the guy just because in back-to-back appearances he was. His appearance before that came in the sixth inning. So I think they remain closer-less in Chicago would be my guess.
Speaker 3I guess the one thing Hudson might have going for him kind of is that those other guys are more multi-inning relievers. And so when those circumstances pop up, they're more likely to get used in a multi-inning role. But I don't know how, whether that has any predictive value moving forward.
Speaker 1All right. For the Angels on Friday, Ben Joyce got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. It was a ground-out, a hit-by-pitch, a walk, a home-run robbery, wild-pitch walk, relieved by Sammy Peralta who then gave up a grand slam. So that all sounds right. Ben Joyce, I think, is still the guy, but it was not a pretty appearance for him. For the Orioles on Saturday, Andrew Kittredge picked up his eighth save. And then on Sunday, Kittredge was unavailable. It was Yannir Cano who picked up his third save. I think they're going to mix things up a little bit there, but probably still Kittredge at the top there for the Orioles.
Speaker 4I think Kittredge has five saves in August. I think. I was looking at the game log, right?
Speaker 1But I think they just had a bunch of save opportunities because I feel like even, I feel like Rico Garza, Garcia has one, I feel like maybe Yaneer Cano has like two in the month.
Speaker 4It's just four for Kittredge, and they had one on July 29th also. Yeah, I mean, they have been mixing it up, but I do think Kittredge, most of his appearances have come in the ninth, whether for a save or not. So I think he's definitely the front runner, but it is still a bit of a committee there for sure.
Speaker 1And then for the Pirates on Sunday, Mason Montgomery got the ninth with a one-run lead. He picked up his seventh save, and he is the dude.
Speaker 4Wait, I've started starting him at starting pitcher in some leagues.
Speaker 1All right, 55% roster. He's still out there in some leagues.
Speaker 3Can I add two bullpen notes? Sure. Kodai Senga, I don't know if he got a save this weekend, but he did pitch back-to-back games successfully, which is something he had not done before. Remember the first time he tried to pitch back-to-back games? He blew the save. It was a first-blown save. So that feels notable for his chances of remaining the closer moving forward. And then did you see how Mason Miller blew the save today?
Speaker 1Oh, my gosh. Well, yeah, because as the Yankees fan, I needed the Rays to lose. I need them to lose. Oh, that was brutal.
Speaker 3So this was two blown saves in a row for Mason Miller. I think home runs in consecutive outings, technically.
Speaker 1He gave up one to O'Neal Cruz last time out. Yeah.
Speaker 3This one was one of the dumber home runs you're going to see all season. It was, I don't know who the left fielder was. It was Saman Taylor. Got the ball over the fence. Robbed the home. Actually, I'm not even sure if it was going to be a home run.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 3But he gets up and catches the ball. Then his arm hits the fence and he drops it for a two-run home run into the bullpen right next to the foul pole. It's an incredibly difficult play to make. I am not criticizing Saman Taylor. That is really hard. But I'm also not criticizing Mason Miller for that one. Yeah. That was just dumb.
Speaker 1I saw a tweet that said, insert however number of batted balls that were hit the same exact way in the StatCast era before this. Every single one of them resulted in an out except for this one, which turned into a home run.
Speaker 3It's, what, 310 down the line in Tampa? 315? Yeah. It's a very short fence also. So, like, that was only, Johnny DeLuca only hit that one about 315 feet. And it just happened to hit in the right way where Saman Taylor dropped it. And that was dumb. No worries about it. No worries about Mason Miller. He remains the best pitcher in baseball.
Speaker 1All right. And then we will wrap up with to stream or not to stream. On Monday, we have Walbert Arreña against the Yankees. Elmer Rodriguez at the Angels. Bryce Elder against the Giants. Brady Singer against the Padres. Jackson Jobe is at the Twins. Clay Holmes against the Brewers. Gage Jump at the Rangers. Anthony Kaye at the Astros. And Aaron Ola at the D-backs.
Speaker 3Okay, so at first, I was really worried Bryce Elder was going to be the top pick. And I would not feel good about that. But Gage Jump is clearly the top pick. I think Walbert Arreña would be second. And then Bryce Elder's third.
Speaker 4I'm not starting Arreña. His past two outings have been rough. Yeah. I'd rather start Elder. I'd rather start Clay Holmes against the Brewers, frankly.
Speaker 1Yeah. Actually, Aaron Ola is all the way up to 81% roster. So I guess he does not qualify for this.
Speaker 3It's a two-start week. Yeah.
Speaker 1I like Clay Holmes. I think Gage Jump is boom or bust. But I like that he's on the road. Elder, high floor, kind of quality start guy. I mentioned earlier, I think Elmer Rodriguez could be all right in that matchup at the Angels. Good guy. On Tuesday, we have Grayson Rodriguez against the Yankees. Randy Vasquez at the Reds. Nick Lodolo against the Padres. Sean Minaya at the Rays. AJ Smith-Shawver at the Nationals. Connor Prelip against the Tigers. Randy Dobnak against the Marlins. Robert Gasser at the Cubs. JT Ginn at the Rangers. And Eric Lauer home against the Cardinals.
Speaker 3Ginn. Ginn. I don't have any faith in anyone else. I know Randy Dobnak's got like a two ERA or whatever it is, but no. Even against the Marlins.
Speaker 5It could be good, but...
Speaker 4I was going to say Dobnak. He's been a 55% ground ball guy. Yeah. That's really high. Yeah. And you can limit damage that way even if you're not very good. Yep. Yeah, I don't have any faith in it. Okay, fair enough. But Dobnak would be my second choice for Tuesday. And I have him as a two-start sleeper this week also.
Speaker 1I would go with Ginn if I had to choose a second. I think I would go with Grayson Rodriguez. I think it's very risky. It's combustible, but he pitched pretty well in August.
Speaker 4What about Sean Minaya at the Rays? I know four runs or more and three straight for him, but they're bad against lefties. And he was on a good run before then. So maybe, maybe Minaya.
Speaker 1It's not a very good day. So honestly, if you have any level of conviction at all, I'm all right with it. I sign off. We are 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 tomorrow. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
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