Fantasy Baseball Today - 21 Fantasy Questions! Woodruff vs. Cole & Gallen Top-20 SP? (9/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

Aaron Judge hit his 61st homer, tying Roger Maris (1:00)! ... Brandon Woodruff has been great over the past three months (4:10). ... Is Zac Gallen a top-20 pitcher next season (11:20)? ... Gerrit Cole or Woodruff (15:32)? ... Tyler Glasnow made his long-awaited return (16:35). ... George Kirby vs. Jesus Luzardo (22:00). ... Will Verlander with the AL Cy Young (24:22)? ... News (33:32): Starling Marte is still dealing with that finger injury. ... What can we expect from MJ Melendez (42:48)? ... What's going on with Matt Olson (46:50)? ... We wrap with the rest of our questions, bullpen updates and streamers (52:15). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, September 29th. Frank Sanfell joined as always by Scott White. Connection good for now.

Knock on wood. Camera's looking all right. not orange, the microphone is working. Everything's looking up, Scott. Today on the show, we're going to play 21 fantasy questions. Most of them are going to be related to next year, as you would assume.

But of course, we'll have some streamers and some bullpen updates, and we'll try and mix in some things that hopefully can help you out here over the final week or so of the season. Scott, big news of the day. He did it. My guy. Aaron Judge tied the AL home run

record for those listening out there. purest. It's not the home run record. It's the American League home run record. But yeah, obviously a big night for Aaron Judge, and as a result got, I went out and I bought tickets to Saturday's game. So now I'm kind of rooting for him not to do it on Friday

because I want to see it happen Saturday when I'm at the game. What do you think? I hope that happens. That would be exciting for you. Yes. I, um, yeah, no, that would be exciting. I don't think there's anything particularly special about the number 62, any

more because that would be what the sixth most home runs in history. I understand an AL record, but who can name any other AL record. You know, like, it's just the leagues are the, it's one league now. You know, they used to be more distinctive. They used to have their own umpires and whatever else, no interleague play, own league offices, but they don't anymore. It's one league. So, you know, I'm not trying to.

I'm not trying to be a party pooper over here, but I think the real reason it gets so much attention isn't because it's an A.O. record or Yankees record or anything like that. It's just because people want to pretend like Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds didn't exist. And of course they did. So it's kind of silly. The records are on the books.

They happened. I remember them happening. You can't pretend like they didn't happen. I saw it. And M.L.B. could have stepped in and stopped it from happening. if they really didn't want it to happen. And they didn't. They let it happen.

So it happens. And that's, sorry. Sorry if you don't like it. It happened. Hey, don't have to apologize to me, Scott. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have a Barry Bond jersey hanging up in my closet right now.

I am pro supporting the players that played during that era. Because, you know, look, is it even worth getting into? Like, there are many errors in baseball that are tainted by many different things throughout the course of history, right? It's like, it wasn't just the steroid era.

Like, there were things back in the day, like greenies and methamphetamines and all these kind of things that helped baseball players. But that's- I brought up the other day, not to interrupt you, but like now that we've seen just in the last five years, how big a difference, the characteristics of the ball makes, how tightly wound it is, how high the seams are, and how much that surely varied over the course of history, because they were handmade most of that time. obviously that influenced how many home runs were hitting during a given era or even a given year. Look at 1987 how randomly a bunch of home runs were hit that year. Yeah. Well, now that we pissed off basically one entire sect of the baseball audience, the purists out there. Yeah, let's move on to things that actually matter.

Aaron Judge, by the way, last thing that I'll mention did in style. 117.4 exit velocity, Scott. I mean, whoof, that's about as Aaron judged as it gets. But, oh, my goodness gracious. Let's jump in here. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Scott, we were talking beforehand. Obviously, there's not much that's actionable, I guess, at this point in season, just a few days left here. But where would you like to go? I'm going to go with Brandon Woodruff, just because I'd like an excuse to talk about him. There haven't been many opportunities to got off to kind of a bumpy start this year than then missed some time with injury, but he's been rock solid since then

and had another great start here on Wednesday. Brandon Woodruff struck out 10 over six shutout innings against the Cardinals. Good lineup. That was his fourth straight start with double-digit strikeouts. For the season now, Brandon Woodruff is at 11.2K per 9. He doesn't have the innings to qualify for the ER8. title because he missed that time. But if he did, Woodruff's 11.2K per 9 would be the third highest raised behind only Carlos Rodan and Garrett

Colzo would actually be ahead of Dillon Csise in terms of K per 9. He would not be ahead of, nobody would be ahead of Spencer Strider. He obviously doesn't have the endings to qualify for the ERA title either, which is why I'm not mentioning him here. But the point is Brandon Woodruff has. has been genuinely elite. He's been somebody who deserves to be considered among the earliest pitchers drafted next year. I don't think there's a strong case for him over somebody like Corbyn Burns,

but statistically the kinds of years they've had, it hasn't been so different. And I think Brandon Woodruff versus, say, Garrett Cole is actually a pretty interesting one. Garrett Cole also started on Wednesday, gave up three and runs in six and a third innings at the Blue Jays. His ERA is now at 351 for the season. And ever since joining the Yankees, ERA's kind of been a problem for him. This was something actually people worried about when he signed with the Yankees. And I kind of, I was kind of dismissive of it. I think most of us were,

but there were some who said, you know, home runs could be an issue for him in that environment, and they have been. They've been an issue for him in September. Garrett Cole's allowed nine home runs in five September starts. So just during that time, ZERA has risen from 328 to 351. But, you know, even where it started, 328, that's kind of high for pitchers who are going to be drafted in the top 10.

At Woodruff himself, it's now down to three. 2005. So Garrett Cole, I know I've kind of made this about Garrett Cole all of a sudden. I didn't plan for that necessarily, but Garrett Cole is I believe I haven't ranked seventh going into next year at starting

pitcher. At least last I looked at it. But I mean, somebody like Brandon Woodruff, I think, is verging on that himself. Well, Scott, I can tell, and I'm sure everyone else can tell that you've been doing this for a long time because you basically just answered all of my 21 fantasy questions. Oh, sorry. They're all about Garrett Cole, huh? No, but that, you know,

the ones that were pertaining to both Brandon Woodruff and Garrett Cole, you basically answered already. But I did want to just point out, back to Brandon Woodruff. He returned in like early July. His last 17 starts, including Wednesday night, 2.36 ERA 102 whip, 135 strikeouts, over 103 and two-thirds innings pitched, 14% swinging strike rate. That, basically lines up with any other starting pitcher in the game, I guess outside of Jacob de Grom. Although, you know, Jacob de Grom has had some hiccups the last three starts. I know we got to tweet about that on Wednesday. I think he's fine. But anyway, Brandon Woodruff basically pitching like a top five starting pitcher over the past three months, basically. The question for him, Scott, is, is Brandon

Woodruff in that SP1 overall glob? Which you kind of answered, you said like, I don't, you know, you wouldn't take him over a Corbin Burns, but. But what we've mentioned so far about pitching for next year is why be the first or second or third person to take a starting pitcher when they're all kind of in this similar tier. That includes Jacob de Grom, Sandy Alcantara, Shane McClanahan, Corbyn Burns, I guess Garakol's in that mix as well. I think Brandon Woodruff is in that mix. What do you think? So when I went through and ranked the top starting pitchers, it was actually when I was writing about, projecting the first two rounds for next year, a column I wrote last week. And I had a tier of seven at the top at starting pitchers,

seven starting pitchers basically who I feel like I'd be happy ranking in any order, which is what a tier should be, ideally. And it did not include Woodruff. It did include Cole. Cole, I decided, was last of that tier for me, seventh. but if somebody took him number one at starting pitcher, I mean, given his track, I could give him how many strikeouts he gets every year,

and the fact he plays for the Yankees who give him a lot of win potential. Like, I get to understand it. I don't know. Maybe Woodruff should be in there. He's not as durable as most of the pitchers in that group, but that group also includes Shane McClanahan, who, hard to say, whether he's durable or not.

You know, is somebody like Max Scherzer, or should we consider him, durable still. He's missed some time with injury the past couple of years. I still do because when he's healthy, you know, he goes seven, eight innings pretty often. Uh, is, well, Jacob de Grom certainly isn't durable. He's, he's in there for other reasons. But yeah, that would be what holds me back from Woodruff, but maybe he belongs in that tier. Yeah. Like I just said, for the, that, those seven, I feel like they could be drafted in any order. If I put Woodruff in that group and made it an eight. Do I still feel like they could be drafted in order? I don't know about that.

It'd be hard to make a case for Woodruff, number one overall, you know? So that might be, that might be leaving them out for me, but it's, it's not a, it's not a huge distinction. Yeah. I see what you're saying. Like, if given the option, you, I can't really see a scenario that you would take Woodruff as the first starting pitcher off the board, especially when, you know, all those other names are available. But talent-wise and, skill-wise and just production, kind of feels like he deserves to be in that mix. So I see what you're saying, Scott, but, yeah.

Man, maybe it's... Another, Carlos Rodon. He's not in the seven. I think Woodruff and Rodon are pretty comparable, actually, in terms of strengths and weaknesses. All right. Well, that was the first of our 21 questions. There's no way we're getting the 21 questions,

but we'll try to get to 21 questions. I can answer them faster. Yeah, I think there's going to be, like, there's definitely going to be some that are going to move a lot quicker than that one. Oh, my goodness gracious, for me was Zach Gallen. And he just keeps on dominating. I knew he was doing really, really well, Scott. But when I just looked up the second half numbers,

I didn't know it was this good. So he's going up against the Astros, albeit their B lineup, they've clinched a division, you know, they're risking some of their guys. It makes sense. Zach Allen, seven innings, two runs six strikeouts in this one. His curve velocity is up. 13 second half starts.

1.27 ERA, 0.69 whip. 97 strikeouts to just 16 walks over 85 in a third innings pitched. Getting ground balls, 49% ground ball rate. Swinging strike rate could be better, 11%, but he's still finding ways to get strikeouts, even with that swinging strike rate. And it's not like Verlander has a great swinging strike rate this year either. Yeah, 11% is, you'll find good pitchers

with an 11% swinging strike rate. When it gets below that, I start to get a little worried, but 11% is decent. And what I noticed during this, second half is that he's throwing his curb ball more, and his curb ball is amazing, Zach Allen. I mean, it rates out as the fourth best among qualified starting pitchers according to Fangraph's pitch values. So my question's got, one of my 21 fantasy questions. Is Zach Allen a top 20 starting pitcher drafted next year? Which I know you probably haven't

gotten that far, but, you know, let's- No, I haven't. Let's ballpark it. I could give you my 20 catchers, but I don't have my 20 starting, my top 20 starting pitcher yet. Okay, so just pulling up my rest of season rankings, which are a little stale at this point. I have them 22nd, and obviously some pitchers who have gotten injured have been removed that might go ahead of him. So 20 seems a little hive to me, but there's certainly a case for it. I imagine however I end up tiering starting pitcher. You know, if I put the Brandon Woodruff, Carlos Rodon, Dillon C.C. types in a separate tier from that top seven,

which includes guys like DeGrom and Alcantara and McLeanhan. Then I guess I'd say Gallin would be in the third tier. but if I make my tiers bigger and fewer than Gallaud would probably be in the second tier, regardless of whether or not I end up ranking him 17th or 23rd, you know? I think the answer is, yes, he will be drafted as a top 20 starting pitcher.

I don't know if I'll have him top 20 because you're right, Scott. He's right on that fringe. I think there's a lot of pitchers that he's kind of similar to in that range. Like an Alec Manoa, I think they're kind of similar profiles. Frember Valdez, I think it's kind of right on that cusp, too, top 20 starting pitcher. But, yeah, it's going to be close for me.

He's on that fringe. I think he will be drafted as one just because of how amazing the second half is. Reminds me a lot of Jack Flaherty what he did a couple of years ago. And then he was drafted as like a top 15, maybe even a top 12 starting pitcher the following year. Albeit, I mean, pitcher is a lot deeper now than I think it was back then. Do you think Zach Gallen will be drafted ahead of, like, Kevin Gosman? I think they're right in that same mix. And it's so hard to say this babbip and whip thing for Kevin Gosman is just so weird.

But I think the skills are better for Kevin Gosman, just based on swinging strike rate, strikeouts that he gets, plays on a good team. Gallin is somebody who stands out kind of maybe overperforming his skills and Gosman is somebody who kind of underperformed his skills. So do you value the skills more or the production that we just saw? Yeah, it's a good question. I think I kind of talked myself into Kevin Gosman right there when I was just talking about it. So that's the early lean. Gossman versus Gowan.

They'll be in the same tier for me, I'm sure. But again, I think they're right in that mix. Like, you know, 18 to 25, something in that range for those two. All right, let's move on. We have a few other, what do we got? We got to Zach Allen. We got to Brandon Woodruff. Garrett Cole, you already spoke about, Scott.

The question for him was Brandon Woodruff or Garrett Cole. And it sounds like they might be ranked back to back. so. Yeah, they might be. I think I'd have to say Cole. I think Zach Wheeler is right in that mix too, Scott. I think he's kind of right behind that SP1 group. Maybe it's like a mini tier, you know, Woodruff and Zach Wheeler together.

And tears by their necessity, I mean, starting pitcher by necessity, the tiers are going to be larger just because there's so many more. So I may have to cheat a little and put guys like Dylan C. Carlos Rodan, Brandon Wood, or Zach Wheeler would be part of that group, sure. And with the top seven I referred to earlier. But yeah, I think Wheeler, I think there's a distinction

between like a Zach Wheeler and a Zach Allen. Yeah, Wheeler's more desirable of the two. All right, let's move on to number four in our 21 fantasy questions. Tyler Glass now made his long-awaited return at the Guardians here on Wednesday. He went three innings, one run, three strikeouts in that one. Six swinging strikes on 50 pitches.

That's a 12% rate, which is fine. I think if everything's clicking for Glass now, he'll get more whiffs than that. He was definitely pumped up, and this one is fastball was up 1.1 miles per hour compared to last year. Didn't throw as many pitches, so I think that makes sense. His slider was up four miles per hour. Got to look into that. Like maybe it's a new kind of slider, a tighter-type slider where he's throwing it harder, but... Yeah, I wonder the same thing.

Yeah, the velocity was way up compared to last year. The only bad thing I noticed was the exit velocity against was very high. 98.2 miles per hour against Tyler Glass Now. Obviously, we don't need a direct answer here on September 29th for next season. But do you have any idea how to rank Tyler Glass Now for next season? Because I've thought about it a little bit. Obviously, we had Verlander this year coming off Tommy John, and he had so much time to recover.

similar situation for Glass Now, which, you know, Verlander kind of started off in like the 25-ish range in the rankings, 25 to 30. Maybe that makes sense for Glass Now. I don't know. What do you thinking? No, I'll be more pessimistic with Glass Now. Verlander, I think, was a very special case because he is, is he the best pitcher of his generation? I think Clayton Kershaw has a claim to that as well. But one way, one thing that makes Verlander the best is he's, he's, he's able to crank out 98 mile per hour fastballs just forever into his, you know, he's going to be 40 next year and able to pile on inning after inning. It finally did catch up with the Tommy John surgery, but like, I don't know.

I kind of see him as like a freak in the same way Nolan Ryan was a freak, you know. And so I just, I didn't think there was, I didn't think we would have the usual workload concerns or performance concerns coming off Tommy John's surgery for Verlander that we might for any other pitcher. And Glassnow especially, I mean, he's never really taken on a big workload. And I think starting pitcher is deep enough that it doesn't make sense to take that same kind of gamble on him. So, yeah, it'd be hard to put a number on it.

Top 40 maybe is where I would look to draft Glass now. I'd draft them over somebody like Jack Flaherty probably. But if it comes down to like Tyler Glass Now versus a Logan Webb or a Logan Gilbert, any of the Logans, basically, I'll take the Logans. I was going to say the Tristan McKenzie range too. I think Trist McKenzie is also kind of in that Logan Gilbert-ish kind of range, or at least in my mind. Tyler Glassnow, 88 innings pitched in 2021. That was his highest since 2018 when he got to 111 and 2 thirds. So, yeah, you know, just off the top of my head,

I would project maybe like 130, 140 innings pitch. Maybe that's too optimistic. I'll have to, you know, obviously once the projections come out, we can debate that a little bit. But yeah, that is Tyler Glass now. Hasn't really taken on a big workload in the past. Number five, we've got Jesus Lazzardo. another dominant effort at the Mets.

He went six innings, two runs, six strikeouts in that one. Scotty, I know you won't like it, but he did cut the curveball usage in this start, opting for more fastballs and change-ups. The change-up is very good. You just kind of wish he would throw that end the curve ball more in tandem.

But in 11 starts since returning, Lazardo has a 3.32 ERA, 1.00 whip, over a strikeout per inning, 13.5% swinging strike rate. The question, what starting pitcher number would you want Lozardo as next season?

So your SP3, your SP4, Jesus Lozardo? For me personally, it would probably be like an SP4. I think I'll have them ranked like an SP5, but I don't plan to go that hard after starting pitcher next year. So that's why I make the distinction. Are you excited about the idea of drafting a

Lizardo? Not especially, but I do think there's some untapped potential there. I think that makes him an ideal target for somebody who isn't going to go heavy after starting pitcher. I don't know exactly what the upside. At this point, I don't really feel like he has ace upside, you know,

when he first broke into the league, there was that possibility. I think he's aiming to be more like a number two in fantasy, and that will require him to be more durable than he's been so far, of course. Yeah. But, you know, he's at, he looks to be decent. if nothing else. I think the numbers I read off there, 3.32 ERA, 1.00 whip.

They are a little bit optimistic. Maybe it's more of like a mid-3s ERA, 1.15 whip, something like that for Lazzardo. But if he can keep that up over the course of an entire season, you know, he probably is one of those Alec Manoa kind of, maybe a little bit lower than that.

But his upside, I think, is he could be a top 25, top 20 starting pitcher if he could stay healthy. That is Jesus Lazzardo. Next up is George Kornow. Kirby, who was great once again. Six endings, one run, four strikeouts against the Texas Rangers.

Velocity was down in this one, fastball down 1.4 miles per hour of the sinker down 1.2. 12 starts since returning to the Mariners Rotatei. 2.65 ERA, 1.10 whip. 66 strikeouts, just 10 walks. His control, we've talked about it before, is just impeccable for George Kirby. 47% ground ball rate.

Not a lot of whiffs. 8.7% swinging strike rate. The question here, George Kirby or Jesus Lazzardo. Kirby. You said that definitively. Yeah. Well, I was getting it in my head to say it before you even asked it. I knew I wanted to make that comparison already. Yeah, I mean, the control, like, we see already how much the control is able to do for him.

He's better numbers than Lazzardo already, and he hasn't. really figured out how to get whiffs yet. I think he's going to learn to sequence pitches better, work on a secondary arsenal a little bit, because right now it's mostly fastball sustaining him. I see the potential for growth there. Not that there isn't for Luzardo, but I see more, I guess, for Kirby.

And even without that growth, he already looks like he's probably better. So, yeah, there may still be a potential there for Kirby. And he has yet to prove his durability either, but I feel like there are less, like the health concerns for Kirby aren't as clear as they are for Lazzardo either. He doesn't get nearly the whiffs that this next person, this comparison that I'm about to make gets, but kind of reminds me of like a poor man Shane Bieber, Scott. If George Kirby can figure out a way to get more whiffs, it's just, I know when Bieber came up,

He did a great job in terms of control, and he lived in the zone too much. He was getting hit hard. So it kind of reminds me of that. But I think based on Kirby's pedigree and his stuff, I think that he can learn to generate more whiff. Yeah, I made the Bieber comparison when Kirby was still in the minors, and I was writing about him as a prospect.

Nice. I hear what you're saying there. All right. Next up, we're up to our seventh fantasy question. Justin Verlander was great, once again, Scott, against the Diamondbacks, seven innings, two runs allowed, one of them earned, eight strikeouts to just one walk,

lowers his ERA to 1.75. This is where Justin Verlander, I think, is underrated every single year. He is the single best contributor in the whip category. 0.85 whip. Just incredible stuff over the volume that Justin Verlander has provided throughout his entire career.

Over a strikeout per inning for him, 28 walks over 27 starts, control has been amazing for him. your question, Scott, will Verlander win the American League Syong? I think so. I think so. Yeah. I mean, with the way McClanahan slowed down, certainly voters who are looking at war are going to go with Verlander over McClanahan. I think it's more likely C-Sce beats out McClan for second in Sy Young than

McClain-A-Han beats out Verlander for first. That would be my guest is things stand right now. Breaks my heart, Scott. Shane O'Mack, What a year, man. It's just wish that injury never happened. It's so unfortunate for him. Still an amazing season regardless, but, man, I was really hoping Shane O'Mac could take down the American League Sy Young. Just off the top of your head, Scott, Verlander, was he your second starting pitcher drafted, your third?

Yeah, I have him number two going into next year, at least in five-by-five scoring. I think in point scoring, Sandy Alcantara has maybe a case. as well, but I don't know. It would be hard to get him past Verlander. I think your aggressive, your ranking of Verlanders as the second starting pitcher will wind up looking aggressive compared to the rest of the industry. I just think a lot of people are going to talk themselves out of it because of the age and things like that, but it will be 40 next year. Yeah, yeah. And we saw which serves as this year, right? Just, you know, slowly starting to break down a little bit. There are different pitchers, but obviously they're,

both pretty old in their own right. Next step we have Josiah Gray, Scott, who did put together a solid start, and even after this, the ERA is up over five, so I don't want to overstate it or anything, but it was a strong start against a good offense, six endings, one run, two strikeouts, against the Atlanta Braves,

and the recipe, which we've talked about over and over, Scott, less fastballs, more sliders and curves. His slider and curve were his most two used pitches in the start for Josiah Gray. His slider velocity was actually up, 1.6 miles per hour. The question, and you won't have the answer, but we can try and figure it out together.

Why doesn't Josiah Gray throw his breaking pitches more? Well, this isn't... I feel like he has recently. Obviously, he has an all-season long, but let me see if I can find real quick. So I know two starts ago, the slider was his most used pitch. He's been doing it a little more recently,

and it hasn't helped that much. There was that stretch in the middle of the season where it seemed like it was helping a lot. The home run rate was down, the strikeouts were up. Maybe that was the key to his success. But I don't know for sure that it is. I don't think it could hurt, but I think he needs more than just that. He is so vulnerable to the long ball. It's such a distant first, or I guess last, depending how you look on it.

worst home run rate among starting pitchers that it's going to be hard for him to survive that. Let me see. Okay, so slider was his most thrown pitch last start, the start before that, the start, not the start before that. Okay, so this was the third start in the row where he's thrown sliders more than anything else. And, you know, even this start, he only had two strikeouts. He only had eight swinging strikes against the lineup that lifts a lot. I think of the Braves as a good hitting team, and they are,

but they swing and miss a fair amount, a fair amount considering. Josiah Gray has allowed 37 home runs this season. That almost feels like a made-up number. 23 of them have come on his fastball, though. So it's got to be a sequencing thing. His slider and his curb bowl, just looking at the metrics, the batting average against on both his breaking pitches are below 200, with whiff rates over 30%.

His fastball is just that bad. 302 batting average against 23 home runs allowed on the pitch. He's got to figure out a way to work those breaking pitches in more. But I still think that there could be something there, but he's got to figure out the control. I mean, maybe when I say he's thrown a slider more than anything else, three starts in a row, not by that much. Yeah.

You know, so maybe even more is the solution. We need to. And maybe like with the fact that he has a pretty good curve ball, too. Maybe both of them more. Maybe it's sort of like Jesus Lazzardo, where the fastball should really be his third pitch. Yeah, I think Dillan C's kind of laid out the plan for Josiah Gray, right? And they're technically not dissimilar, bad control.

Dillin Cs gave up a bunch of home runs last year and lots of fly balls. Dylan C's the slider is definitively better than Josiah Gray, and it's not close. So, you know, it's not a one-to-one comparison. But I think that's kind of the recipe for Josiah Gray. Last one here before we hit the break. Johnny Quato, he held on for as long as he could, Scott. He has allowed 14 earned runs over his last three starts. If you have the option to bench him in his last start against the Minnesota Twins,

I would say, please do bench him. It looks like that start will come on Monday, and he got rocked here against the Minnesota Twins. So two starts in a row against the same offense. I would say, get him out of there. Your question, Scott, is this it for old Johnny Quato? Well, I thought we had already heard the last of Johnny Quoedo as a fantasy asset. And then after 15 starts of being awesome and kind of bought back in, apparently should have given him longer than that.

Because, yeah, his past six starts now. So it was actually like his first 18 appearances. His first 18 appearances, he was good. But his past six, a 634 ERA for Quato. And it was hard to explain why he was having success when he was. I just thought, okay, guy who's been around a long time, had a lot of success. He's just kind of figured out how to be devil major league hitters without great stuff anymore. But that appears to have run out.

So, yeah, I would say Quato's probably done. All right, before we hit the break, just a reminder that we will have a special surprise announcement on the third. Thursday night stream here on the podcast. That'll be obviously in your Friday morning feed, but it's going to be fun. Just going to leave it there. Let's take a break, and we'll hit the news and notes here on fantasy baseball today. The news and notes, darling Marte's fractured right middle finger

remains immobilized, and he won't be able to resume activities until the swelling and discomfort subsides. Speaking of which, Scott, this race is stressful, man. I'm not even part of it. I can only imagine, you know, for Mets and Braves fan. out there. It looked like at one point in the night, the nationals and Braves were tied.

The Mets were losing. So you'd think, all right, you know, this could turn out to go to the Braves way. And then it just completely flip-flops. And it feels like that's kind of how it's been the past couple of weeks or so. Man, this weekend is this going to be incredible stuff? Mets and Braves.

Yeah, I hope it's incredible. I hope. Incredible for you would be a brave sweep, of course. Yes, I would be most happy with that. even more than an entertaining series, if I'm being honest. But I hope it's, you know, I hope it's not a Metsweep. Yeah. Yeah, disappointing tonight.

Jackson, Steve, you know, you hate to put the game in the hands of Jackson Stevens. You know, the Braves being the road team in extra innings, runner at second base, nobody out. all the nationals have to do to win is get that guy in, and they did in the bottom of the 10th inning. So that's a shame. But they had used a lot of their good relievers already. Jake O'Darizzi didn't make it long early in the game. And so you can understand why it was Jackson Stevens in that scenario.

But like, not who you want to see. Mets fans take off your headphones or stop listening, stop watching for the next 30 seconds or so. But Scott, have you seen these? Jacob de Gras to Atlanta Braves rumors. Like, I know he's from that area, the southern part of the country. And you think this is actually a possibility, Jacob Grom to the Braves? I don't know. I see it.

I don't know. I don't know where that's coming from. But there is a lot of smoke there. There has been all season long. If Jacob de Grom is willing to take a short contract, sort of like Trevor Bauer signed with the Dodgers a couple years ago, or like Matt, Max Scherzer just signed. I guess it's possible. Alex Anthopoulos love short contracts. True.

And it seems like there's a pretty good chance Charlie Morton retires, so maybe they'll have an opening in the rotation. Now you could argue Bryce Elder is already ready to fill that opening. They also have Kyle Mueller, who could be in the mix. Yeah. But, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if Alex Anthopoulos did something dramatic. I'm not counting on it. I am not expecting Jacob de Grom. to be a brave next year. But, you know, there is a lot of smoke.

Corey Seeger was out of the lineup after getting hit by a pitch on his forearm Tuesday. Terry Francona confirmed that Cody Morris will move into a relief role with Zach Plesack returning on Friday. Orlando Arcia has started three straight for the Braves while rookie Von Grissom rides the pine. Scott, what's going on here, man?

Von Grissom? No more playing time? Well, yeah, I mean, he's been in slumping, for a while. Yeah. And they thought they were getting Ozzy Albiz back. He only lasted two games,

not even two full games before breaking his finger. So they tried out Orlando Arcea again. I think they're just going to, you know, they're just kind of giving Grissom a break, giving Rcia another chance. Rcia Homer,

the first two games of that national series. So I guess he's going to keep getting chances for now. But, I don't have a lot of faith in him being better than Grissom in the long run. We'll see. I mean, I wonder, because I had already lined up Grissom to be my starting second basement in the Scott White Dynasty League next year, 2014 league, obviously. If you hadn't heard us talk about that already.

But if they're not willing to start him over Orlando Arcea right now, then I don't know what spot they're going to have for him next year. You know, Dan Sby Swanson is a. free agent. I don't know that they'd like Grissom enough defensively to have him take over a shortstop. And maybe they resign Swanson. I don't know. But yeah, I don't really know what, I have, I have a lot of questions now about Swanson's 2023 role and whether or not he's going to be a significant fantasy asset. Well, it's not like the Braves have their entire team on completely affordable contracts or anything like that.

So I think they can afford Danes B. Swanson if they really want him back. But you're right. I mean, that was my next thought. Well, here's the thing. And I don't want to get off. I don't want to, you know, turn this into like a Braves fan podcast. But Dance B. Swanson's representation is the same as Freddie Freeman's. And.

Awkies. Yeah. I don't even know how they're supposed to negotiate at this point. That's weird. And he said, you know, he said he wants to return the Braves and all that. then why haven't you changed agents yet? Because I don't know how that that's supposed to work. I mean, I think there were legal issues between the two sides, even.

So I don't know. Dan's response to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Confirmed! Don't know where, don't know where... Hunter's a free agent. Yeah, don't know where Trey Turner's playing it, though. Charlie Blackman was placed on the aisle with a torn meniscus in his left knee. The raise lied.

Yandy Diaz was not back on Wednesday. He was originally in the lineup, but he was scratched once again due to that lingering shoulder soreness. DJ LaMahue will be reinstated from the IL on Friday against the Orioles. He's been out for nearly three weeks due to a toe injury.

The Cardinals are uncertain whether Tyler O'Neill will be able to return for the postseason. He's been out with a hamstring injury. Nathan Avaldi is scheduled to return and start Thursday against the Orioles. Matt Manning was scratched from his start due to arm fatigue. Anthony Rendon,

I completely forgot about this. He was activated by the Angels, but then had to begin serving a five-game suspension that he picked up during that massive brawl that they had with the Mariners earlier on in the season.

So I don't know how many games they have left. Maybe Rendon gets to play one or two, something like that. Okay, so this was the first of the five games he was serving the suspension for? Correct.

Is that right? So, so, he'll be, he'll be available for the final three games of the season. Let's go. So hey, if you set your lineup again on Monday, you know,

you could get three games out of Rendon. Who the heck knows how he's going to perform? Who knows how anybody's going to perform over a three games band? But who knows? It's a possibility. Tony two bags. Let's see. Adrian Hauser was placed on the aisle with a right groin strain.

And no surprise here, but the Yankees and Cardinals basically sat out a bunch of their star players after clinching the division on Tuesday night. Let's get back to our fantasy 21, 21 fantasy questions. That would be the more appropriate way to say that. We are up to number 10.

And if it seems like we've talked about O'Neill Cruz a lot lately, it's because we have. And it's because he's been really good. He went two for five with two doubles and two RBI. Scott, the question is, did you know that O'Neill Cruz

has not struck out for five straight games? Ooh. That's actually pretty huge progress for him. Yeah. Yeah. really like what I'm seeing from him this month in general. He might, he might be pricing himself out of my range for next year. Yeah, that's what's so dangerous about this. It kind of reminds me of how in fantasy football, if there's a player you like during draft season, you don't want them to play well in the

preseason because then their stock is going to rise. It's the same thing in baseball, like the final month and especially the postseason. If players just go off during that time, it almost inflates their value for the next season. Someone on Twitter did ask me if I had an idea where O'Neill Cruz was going to wind up being drafted

next year, I don't have an idea. Somebody else responded saying the sixth round. It seems kind of high, but maybe you could talk yourself into it in a Categories League. I bet like an NFBC. 1,000%.

Yeah, because, Because the way people sell out for upside in that league where, you know, understandably, if you're trying to win the massive contest where you're competing against like a thousand teams or whatever, you have to go out of your way to distinguish yourself by selling out for upside like that. But I think the general fantasy player in a typical 12-team league, let's say, probably doesn't need to take that risk.

And if that's where he ends up going in a more, conventional scenario like that, then yes, he will be priced out of my range. Which isn't to say he couldn't live up to that upside. I just, you got a way downside, do. Question number 11, MJ Melendez went one for three with his 18th home run. He added two walks here on Wednesday. He was called up on May 3rd, Scott. The question, did you know that he leads all catcher eligible players in plate appearances

since being called up? He has even more than Dalton Varsho, more than J.T. Rolumuto, more than Will Smith, more than any catcher eligible player. That's mostly due to playing outfield, DH, and leading off for the Kansas City Roas. I don't know if he will do that again next year. Play discipline tells us maybe, you know, 12.7% walk rate.

That's pretty damn awesome for MJ Melendez. But I was surprised to see this guy. Did you know that? You mean specifically the lead-off thing. You're not sure he's going to do that next year. Yeah, yes, that I don't know if he's going to lead off. I assume we'll play outfield and DH a ton again. Yeah, no, I didn't know that specifically that he led the catcher position in a batts during that stretch.

I knew he was playing plenty. And, you know, part of, I've talked before about how the catcher position is becoming as deep and offering as many high-end options as we've seen in a very long time. Part of that is a lot of these guys are playing a ton. MJ Melendez is Adley Rushman is Of course Varsho Being a part-time outfielder Salvador Perez always has even with Melendez there

He's playing virtually every day Real Muto always has But even guys like Will Smith and Wilson Contreras I mean we don't know where Wilson Contreras is going to be next year He's a free agent But with the introduction of the DH to the NL They're playing more consistently too

So it's it's become a position where at least among that very high-end group, they're no longer held back as much by playing time relative to other positions. They still are in a more general sense, but not as much as they used to be. I did see in your catcher ranking, Scott, for next year that you have MJ Melendez as your 12th ranked catcher. Just off the top of my head, I think that I will rank him higher than that. I know low batting average this year, there's just so much to like, man.

I mean, 82nd percentile average exit velocity, 77th percentile barrel rate. And as a left-handed batter, crush his lefties. Oddly enough, was really bad against righties. 191 batting average, 670 OPS. I have to think that that regresses. You look at his breakout 2021 in the minors.

He was really, really good against right-handed pitching. So, you know, the lefties will come down a little bit, but I think the righties have a chance to come up a lot. for MJ Melendez. So I'm just throwing that out there. I like him a lot for next season. Okay. I'm curious who you'd rank him ahead of.

So I have him just behind Tyler Stevenson. I could see moving Melendez ahead of him and Travis Darno. Yeah. Maybe I could see doing Melendez ahead of him just because of playing time. Yeah, I would do that. Number 12, we have Alex Verdugo. He went two for four with his 11th home run and enjoying a fine second half. 315 batting average, five home runs.

Not much power, obviously. 836 OPS. That's only a 13 home run pace over 150 games. He has hit more fly balls this year, but the home run to fly ball ratio has dropped a lot, which I think makes sense in this environment. Scott, any hope that it gets better for Alex Verdugo? Not that much better.

I could see him hitting for a higher average. I don't think he's going to be like a 20 homer guy, given the current state of power around the league. I think he's going to be, like a pretty fringy three outfielder league guy, just generally speaking from you to year. Yeah. And speaking of three outfielder leagues, his better format is head-to-head points. So if you do wind up with Verdugo as your third outfielder, rather, I think that would be fine in that format. Matt Olson went two for three with his 30th home run. That is his second homer over the last three games,

but he has really scuffled here in September, Scott. The question on Matt Olson, what has gone wrong down the stretch? So yeah, I was looking at him pretty closely today because I've started ranking first baseman for next year. And what it looks like to me is just the, I don't know specifically what's gone wrong for him in September. It's probably just mechanical stuff being a little off. And he started to come around lately. But just in general, comparing his 2022 to his 2021, which is a career season for him, it mostly just looks like plate discipline. He's, you know, he got that strikeout rate around 16% in 2021, which is very good. He was basically a contact hitter in addition to obviously hitting the ball very hard.

He's actually impacted the ball harder this year on average than last year. So I think the main reason the production has dropped off is just because the strikeout has, strikeout rate has risen to closer to 25% from 16%, a big jump, the wrong direction. And he also hasn't walked as much either. So the plate discipline's been worse overall. I don't know if that's going to be a long-standing issue for him. Obviously, the 16% strikeout rate is kind of an outlier to this point. But I think if he's going to keep up with the top-tier first baseman,

you know, I've said in past years that he and Pete Alonzo are almost like mirror images of each other. I think if that's going to return to being true, then Olson's going to need to get that strikeout rate down. Yeah, that's exactly what I noticed in September, Scott, up around a 32% strikeout rate for the month for Matt Olson. And he is swinging and missing a lot, 16% swinging strike rate. He's chasing pitches outside of the zone nearly 39% of the time. So, yeah, he's expanding and he is whiffing quite a bit. I will say, if we're getting Matt Olson at a discount next year, which I think will be the case, I'm going to be in.

I said coming in, I was like kind of worried about the change. ancient venue. I know typically going from Oakland to Atlanta looks like a good move, but first year in a new location, I'm just always kind of weary of drafting those players in fantasy. Second year, I think we could see kind of a nice little bounce back here for Matt Elson. Question number 14, C.J. Abrams went three for five with an RBI and a run scored. He now has multiple hits in three of his last six games, including three steals during that time. Scott, are you encouraged by this small sample for C.J. Abrams? I'm more encouraged than discouraged.

Makes sense. Yeah, I don't think it's really going to change my evaluation for him for next year. He's probably going to be a late round lottery ticket, and even in like a 15-team Rotter League, I would suspect. All right. Not much more than that. Obviously, there's upside there, and he's very young, but he hasn't shown much in his rookie season.

several stents between several stents. I have noticed that they moved him up in the nationals lineup, so I think it's interesting that they're at least trying him out there to see what he can do. From one late round, middle infielder to another, Oswald Parraza got a chance to start for the Yankees with most of their players resting. He went two for five with a run and an RBI. He has only played 13 games, but he's batting 313 early on, three walks to six strikeouts.

So if nothing else, I like that he's not striking out that much. He has one steel, he has three doubles. And according to Stackass 87th percentile in sprint speed for Oswald Paraza, the question here, do you think he starts next year, Scott? Is he the starting shortstop for the Yankees? Is Kyner Falafa a free agent? I just looked it up. He is arbitration eligible in 2023, and then he is an unrestricted free agent the year after that. Well, and here's the other issue, Anthony Volpe.

exists. And has finished out the year, AAA, I think I saw he reached 50 steals today for the season. He was quite bad in AAA, though, the last, I looked on, I think, Monday. He hasn't made good in AAA so far.

But he's getting close. I think he'll be in the discussion next spring. And I don't know what they're planning to do with Oswald Paraz. if he profiles to be their second baseman long term. But of course they have Glabertoras there, who's had a fine year. Yeah. So I'm kind of, I guess, long story short,

I'm betting against that being the case on opening day that Oldswald Parazas and the Yankees starting lineup. Oh, geez. I just looked at Josh Donaldson's contract situation. So he signed through 2023. What does this mean? Oh, a mutual option for 2024. Okay, he's gone.

He's gone after next season, but... Because I was thinking, like, third base guy, maybe they slide Paraza or Volpe over to third. I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do exactly either, but I just feel bad. Like, you know, Parazas performed in the minors. Small sample here, he's looking pretty good.

Like, yeah, give the kid a shot. Let's see what he could do. Danny Jansen win one for three with his 14th home run of the season. Very solid year. Injury riddled for Danny Jansen, but he's put it together. 254 batting average, 14 homers,

and 841 OPS in just 67 games played. They have Alejandro Kirk, splits time, catcher, DH. They also have Gabriel Moreno, so I'm not exactly sure

what the Blue Jays are going to do here in the off season. Obviously, Scott, you know, I think you can name 12 catchers better than Danny Jansen,

but let's just say you wait at the position. Would you absolutely hate having him as your catcher one, like a back-end catcher one, Danny Jansen? Um, hate. That's, that's a bit strong. I do think it will be more of a priority to have a good catcher next year just because there are so many that you shouldn't have to reach for them. And because your competition, more of your competition is going to have a good catcher. So just to keep up with them, you probably don't want to sell that position short. That being said, I have Danny Jansen as my number 15 catcher going into next year. Like the E is the Blue Jays primary. catcher as much as, you know, Alejandro Kirk's obviously going to be drafted first in fantasy,

but it relies on him playing a lot of DH because they prefer Danny Jansen behind the plate. I'm guessing it's a bold prediction, I guess, Gabriel Moreno gets traded this offseason because of those, well, I don't think they trade Alejandro Kirk. And between Danny Jansen and Gabriel Moreno, Moreno is going to get a much better return. So they're going to, I don't know who they're going to trade him for. Like some stud pitcher or something. He's going to be like the key piece in that package. That's my bold prediction.

All right. Let's kind of zoom through the rest of these, Scottie. Brian Dela Cruz went three for four with his 12th home run. Does BDLC, that's, I just made that in his nickname now. Does he matter yet? Brian Dela Cruz? I still don't think so. He had a really strong finish last year too.

Obviously not as strong as this, but... I just don't see much there. Speaking of which, that pesky Greg Jewett while I'm facing in Tout Wars, he picked up Brian Dale O'Crues this week, and gosh, he's having a pretty good week against me. If anyone wants a score update, Greg Jewett currently beating me in Tout Wars

by 15 points, so this one is going down to the wire. Question number 18, Christopher Morel, backs to back games with a homer. It's been an inconsistent season. 239 batting average, 16 homers, 10 steals. The stat cast, is interesting, Scott, 92nd percentile barrel rate, 89th percentile sprint speed.

So there's power and speed here. Is there a player here with Christopher Merle? What do you think? I was hopeful early on because he was managing the strikeout rate okay, which had always been awful in the minors. It's, you know, he regressed in that regard. He's striking out about a third of the time, and I just don't think he's quite talented enough to overcome that.

Question number 19. Jose Ibrahim went two for three with an RBI. He is now betting 305. Very good. 823. That's okay. 15 homers, 74 RBI for Jose Abraeu. Just a nightmare season for, I don't want to say it's him. It's like a combination, but just a very weird, bad year for the Chicago White Sox this season. Murphy's Law. Anything that could go wrong, we'll go wrong. But his home run to fly ball ratios got way down, basically cut in half. It's probably something that we can expect.

in this new environment. But what do you think about Jose Brave? Are you, would you be okay with him as your starting first basement next year? Yeah, I would. I expect him to bounce back to some degree. And it's worth noting he's a free agent.

So, at least I think he is. Now I'm having... I feel like he signed an extension at some point. Yeah, let me double check that. His baseball reference page said he was free agent. Yeah, he is. Yeah.

Okay. All right. So, yeah, we don't know where he's going to wind up. I think there's a good bet he returns to the White Sox. I don't know. But, yeah, I mean, like. They have Andrew Vaughn's guy. I don't know that it's, you know, it's a given.

Yeah, I just think that's where he wants to be. But I could be wrong. True. It's not a given. Yeah, I mean, all the metrics still look awesome for Jose Bray. And I know we were saying that all season, his ex-slug has actually been better this year than it was last year when he, you know, when he hit 30 plus homers, right? So it's easy to say because it coincides with the year when that power production is down, that he's one of the

guys who suffered from that. But that's not really what the data shows. I think he just kind of had a fluky year in terms of power and was still productive in fantasy. He was still, he's still been a top 10 first baseman. I would draft him seventh at the position next year, and maybe higher depending on where he and Anthony Rizzo land. Anthony Rizzo is who I have sixth.

Ooh. Well, I don't know. Do we want to give, I don't want to give away your rankies too much, Scott, but have you ranked Nate Lowe yet? Yeah. Where does he pop out on there? So I have him

11th. in Roto leagues, and I have him 13th in points leagues. All right. Interesting. Got some stuff to think about. Question number 20, Jose Miranda went two for four with a double, a run, and an RBI. And I haven't checked in in a while, but his power production has slowed down a lot. He has his two home runs since August 20th.

That is 38 games. Scott, do you think Jose Miranda could be drafted as a low-end starting third baseman for next season? I think as a low-in third baseman, yeah, I think there's a good chance he'll be in the top 12. There's a really good top seven, and after that there's not much. So I think Miranda will be, he'll offer a little more upside than maybe others

you'd consider in that 8 to 12 range. So yeah, I would say so. Among first baseman, because that's where he'll be eligible there next year as well. I have him, even at that deeper position, I have Miranda's 17th right now. There may be some others I end up sliding ahead of him when all sudden done. But even at that position, he's pretty high. Question number 21.

We have made it. Mike Trout hit his 38th home run here on Wednesday. Where are you looking at draft him, Scott? I know you did your two-round mock draft for next season already. Where did Mike Trout slide into that? So I believe he slipped to round two. And let me pull it up real quick. He was the 14th overall player for me.

I could see drafting him as high as 11th. I slotted Raphael Devers, Freddie Freeman, and Fernando Tatis ahead of Trout. I mean, Tatis, there's probably going to be a wide range of opinions about where to draft him. And I'm not sure I totally feel good. great with where I landed at 13th overall. And obviously we're talking about five by five leagues, not points leagues. But yeah, Trout with that, we now know he has a chronic back issue that he's going to have to manage.

And that makes it even more probable he's going to miss time at some point during the season. He's struck out a lot more the past two years. So I don't know that he's a batting average standout like he used to be. Clearly a good slugger still. But there are a lot of, a lot. more questions about Trout performance-wise and even durability-wise than ever before. Batting average 275 for Mike Trout. The 38 homers he has come in just 113 games. So I feel like we say this every year when it comes to Trout, but if he can stay healthy for 140 games,

you're probably looking at close to 50 home runs for Mike Trout. It's just can he manage to stay healthy for that long? I don't know. Scott, we did it. 21 fantasy questions. What you think first time doing this? Yeah, it's great. Enjoyed it. It's not dissimilar than what we normally do, but just slapped a cool name on there, 21 fantasy questions, and this is where we wound up. I did want to mention Logan O'Hoppie making his debut for the Angels. He is one of the top catching prospects in the game. He was batting eighth in their lineup. He went one for three with a strikeout.

Didn't see any kind of hard hit, stackcast data readings that really popped off the screen for him, but he's a name that we need to pay attention to for these final five or six games because he is ranked inside of Scott's top 20 catchers on the site. Speaking of which, if you just have a need to figure out rankings for next year or get an idea for where things, you know, how things might look for next season, then go to the site, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Scott's going to have basically all of his early rankings coming out over the next month or so. So make sure to go check those out.

A few bullpen updates here, Scottie. For the Tigers, Gregory Soto struck out one for his 29th save. For the Red Sox, Matt Barnes allowed two base runners, but picked up his sixth save. John Shriver and Matt Schramm had the last two saves for the Red Sox. So it's still kind of a mess. For the Marlins, Tanner Scott entered in the eighth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up two runs. Thank you for blowing my Jesus Lazzardo win.

Dylan Floro then entered in the 10th inning with the game tied. He gave up a walk-off single to Ed Warrant. Eduardo Escobar, who drove in all five of the Mets runs. Very clutch performance for Eddie E in that one. For the Cubs, Brandon Hughes entered in the eighth inning with a two-run lead and runners on first and second. He recorded the next three outs. Manuel Rodriguez got the final two outs for his fourth save

with the Cubs, and that is now back-to-back saves for Manny Rodriguez. For the Diamondbacks, Reyes Maronta, pitched the ninth inning with the game tied, and Mark Melanson then pitched in the 10th in extras. for his 18th save. For the Mariners, Paul Seawald picked up his 20th save,

and for the Angels, Jimmy Hergit, picked up his eighth save. That is two in a row for Jimmy Hergett. To stream or not to stream, Scottie. On Thursday, Louis Varland versus the White Sox, Eduardo Rodriguez versus the Royals, Jonathan Heasley at the Tigers, Braxton Garrett at the Brewers,

John Gray at the Mariners, and Marco Gonzalez versus the Rangers. I will go with... Braxton Garrett and John Gray. I love Garrett especially. The Brewers are bad against left-handers. And let's see. I think those are the only two I like.

So Braxton Garrett, John Gray, they're both solid choices. All right, Scott. You know, I know you just recommended Braxton Garrett. I'm going up against him in Tout Wars. Need him to get rocked. I have Eduardo Rodriguez. I'm not going to watch baseball on Thursday because I'm just so scared to see what happens in that matchup.

On Friday we have Graham Ashcraft at the Cubs, Domingo Hermann versus the Orioles, Bailey Falter at the Nationals, Austin Voth at the Yankees, and Glenn Otto at the Angels. Yuck. Not loving any of these, TBH. If I have to pick one, I guess Falter at the Nationals, but Falter has faltered recently, so. Yes, indeed he has. agree it would probably be him or Domingo Hermann, but look to Thursday and maybe tomorrow we'll have some for a for Saturday and Sunday if you're looking for streamers.

We're going to wrap there for Scott. I have Frank. Thank you all for listening and watch it. Fantasy baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.