Fantasy Baseball Today - Aaron Judge Injury Scare! Waiver Wire Moves & Pablo Lopez Struggles (6/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

Aaron Judge got hit by a pitch on his left hand but looks to have avoided a major injury (2:25). ... Walker Buehler could get bumped from the Dodgers rotation (5:50). ... Spencer Schwellenbach had his best start yet (9:01)! ... Dodgers at Rockies was a wild game (14:10). ... News (18:40): Bo Bichette went on the IL and Orelvis Martinez was promoted. ... Do JP Crawford or Brandon Lowe need to be rostered in more leagues (30:00)? ... Who is this Jonathan Cannon (40:29)? ... Pablo Lopez struggled yet again on Tuesday (46:10). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (53:48). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 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/ 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. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hello, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, June 19th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have all the waiver-wire moves. We've got pitchers, we've got hitters.

Pablo Lopez struggled once again, hitters turning up in June, but let's start with yet another. Injury scare to the New York Yankees for the second time in the past three days. We had a high profile player get hit in the hand by a pitch, and on Tuesday it was Aaron Judge, who was removed from the game after getting hit by a 95-mile-per-hour fastball on his left hand. Originally, he stayed in the game, he played defense, but later he would leave before his next at bat. Apparently, x-rays and CT scans came back negative for any structural damage, which is the good news. My guess is he'll probably miss a day or two, hopefully no longer than that. Chris, when x-rays and CT scans come up negative, does that mean we're automatically in the

clear or can something else come out later on? I mean, you would expect with a hit by pitch in particular that as long as the bones are fine, he should. should be fine. I can't say for sure. It's possible that maybe a hit by pitch could cost some ligament damage that wouldn't show up in an x-ray or CT scan. But yeah, I think as long as that initial testing comes back fine, he should be okay. Like you said, I would expect a day off or two for Aaron Judge. That seems reasonable. But yeah, I'm not, I'm not too worried about this one. Okay. And I had a mini rant planned if he was actually hurt because it didn't look too good at the time.

You tell me if I'm off base here, Chris, if a pitcher is incapable of pitching inside without the ball leaking that far in and hitting a batter on the hand or, you know, in some cases like guys get hit in the head and stuff like that. It feels like if you are incapable of controlling your pitches, then you shouldn't try to throw them there. That was going to be my rant.

This comes up every time that there's like a beaning and people are always like, yeah. That's what you should do. You should throw baseballs of people. And like, if you watch baseball with any degree of regularity, guys miss their spots by like two feet regularly with their fastballs. And so, yeah, like you, I'm not going to say a guy shouldn't throw inside, but like it's bad if you can't control your pitches.

And this is a risk. You're putting other players at risk, but you can't also just give up the inside half of the plate. You know, that's, that's tough. It's, it sucks that a Yankees player got hit bit with a pitch, but I'm not going to go that far. Yeah. There was a little bit more emotion behind this one,

admittedly for me with Aaron Judge. But look, it's, when we're losing some of the best players in the game with Aaron Judge and Mookie bets and they're not the only ones, I mean, guys get hit in the hand all the time with pitches. And it's unfortunate and it sucks, but it's been a part of the game for a long time. So probably an irrational rant.

Just thought I'd mention it. But let's get into the rest of Tuesday's action. The impossible has happened. You want to talk about impossible. The power of Grimmis. The Mets have won seven in a row. We were talking beforehand. What are they a half a game out of a wild card spot now?

A half game out of a wildcarts spot, incredibly. Just crazy, crazy stuff. But let's talk about actual players. Who is your player of the night? Good or bad? We're going to go bad. this time because, um, look, I mean, it's weird because like this start going poorly for Walker Bueller isn't particularly surprising, given how bad he has been this season, given the fact that

he was starting at core course. It's not surprising that he got shelled. Seven runs in four innings was the final tally, two strikeouts, two home runs allowed his fastball velocity down, uh, a full mile per hour in this one. And he talked about in his, last start. The fastball has mostly been where he wants it to be in terms of like the physical characteristics. And he just doesn't have, I think the quote was he doesn't have that F you behind it. And there was a quote from, there was some talk from both Walker Bueller and Dave, Dave Roberts about the idea that they could probably look to get him some extra time off between his next start in order to try to write the ship.

And I mean, that's the only reason you could be optimistic here, right? Is that one, I mean, this was a former Scy Young contender. And two, if the team believes there is some way that they can turn things around for Walker Bueller, that would be reason enough to not drop him, for me at least, because I want to have faith in this guy getting back to the level he once was. but it's been a disaster. I mean, nothing is working for Walker Bueller right now.

The whiff rate on all of his pitches is below 20% except for his curveball, which is at 31%. This was a guy who used to have four or five reliable swing and miss pitches, and now he doesn't have any, really. He had three whiffs in this start all on the cutter. You certainly can't.

start Walker Puehler whenever he makes his next start, I would still try to not drop him. I still think there's going to be a point where Walker Bueller is very useful for fantasy, but it's not right now, certainly. Yeah. And as we've said with the Orioles pitchers, it's not the same circumstance, but for the Dodgers, you don't even have to pitch that well to have fantasy value. We've seen, you know, James Paxton just yesterday in Coors Field. you know, he's been racking up wins

and he's been a pretty bad pitcher by all measurements and standards. Yeah, he's been good for fantasy. He's been, yeah, he's been all right just because, like, he's managed to rack up wins with one of the best offenses in baseball behind him. So it's not like Walker Bueller even has to be who he was before.

If he can be 75% of who that pitcher was and pitches to like a high three ZRA, even an ERA around four, he probably would still have fantasy value, which is there's no reason to believe that that is coming anytime soon for Walker Bueller. He's still 92% rostered. You said that you want to

stick it out with him right now. The most added pitchers, some kind of weird names right now like Tobias Myers will talk about a little bit later on. I think he was mostly added because he was a two-star pitcher and obviously had a great start here. But we'll talk about him in just a little bit. Let's get into Spencer Schwellenbach, who

had his best start of the season yet. Best start of his career. He was up against the Tigers. Six innings, one run. Seven strikeouts had 18 whiffs on 89 pitches. Seven of on the cutter, four on the slider, three on the curve, two on the fastball, two on the splitter, kind of goes with this kitchen sink approach, throws up like five or six different pitches, and seemingly had all of them working in this start. He actually leaned a little bit more on his cutter and slider. The cutter was especially good. It accounted for seven of those whiffs,

as I mentioned. Had a really low average exit velocity against. Notice that the fastball velocity was down for Schwellenbach, so that's something to pay attention to moving forward. but this is now back-to-back quality starts. Pitches on what should be a really good team. He's 24% rostered, widely available. Chris, do you have any interest in adding Spencer Schwellenbach after this start? Yeah, we are in a weird period in this of the season

when it comes to pitchers where there are some guys who have been getting added and have been performing well who I don't think are particularly interesting. And I think Spencer Schwollebach mostly falls under that heading. My early numbers are good in terms of run prevention, but not a ton of strikeouts. This was really the first time we've seen like a huge whiff performance from him. 18 on 89 pitches.

That's really a good sign. But I don't know if this is a profile that has a ton of upside for fantasy. I think, you know, you mentioned that kitchen sink. approach. That makes me think of like a like a Seth Lugo. And that might be like a best case scenario for him. And that can be a useful pitcher. But it's not necessarily someone that I think you,

you absolutely have to run out and add everywhere where he's available. I think Spencer Schwellenbach is an interesting young pitcher, probably not someone who has a ton of impact upside. Let's just talk about Tobias Myers now then, because he has pitched really well recently. It's now three strong starts in a row. He was at the Angels. He threw six in a third.

Shutout innings. Had six strikeouts, 10 whiffs on 90 pitches. He throws 92, 93 miles per hour with the fastball. Slider and change up actually both look like they're pretty good pitches. Three starts in June for Myers. It's a 0.44 ERA, a 0.69 whip. He's up to 50% rostered.

I think a lot of that is due to the two-star week this week. Who would you rather have if you're just speculating? Schwell and Bach or Tobias Myers? I mean, in terms of like team context, they're probably pretty similar, right? Like, are the Braves a significantly better team than the Brewers right now? I'm not sure that they are. I would still go with Schwellenbach just because we have a pretty lengthy track record

in the miners from Tobias Myers, where he has been really bad. 4.52 ERA over 197 innings at AA, 5.67 at AAA at AAA with 150 strikeouts. to 100 in 155 and two-thirds innings. It's tough to pitch in AAA right now at any league. The International League is not quite the PCL, but offense has been crazy there the past couple of seasons. So I'm not going to hold that too much against him, but Schoenbach has better underlying numbers.

He's got better minor league track record. So I'll go with him over Tobias Myers, who it's worth noting entering this start had a 504 FIP and a 462. X ERA. So I don't think there's very much there with Tobias Myers. I'm guessing you would not drop Walker Bueller for either of those. I would not. Yes. I mean, if you desperately need a start and whenever they all make their next start,

I think I'd rather have all of them than Walker Buehler, who like we mentioned, seems likely to not make his next start for, you know, whatever that's, whatever happens there. So I suppose if that's the criteria, but long term, I think Walker Buella has much more upside. Yesterday, Reese Olson led the Waverwire pitchers, and obviously he pitched amazing at the Atlanta Braves. Would you take Reese Olson over any of the names we just mentioned?

Tobitzmire, Schwellenbach. Yes, right? Again, with Walker Bueller, if you're talking long-term upside, I still think when you're talking about an end-of-roster pitcher, I'd rather take the chance on the upside that I think Walker Bueller has, but I think I'd rather certainly rather start race also next time out as well. Yeah. Last name for you, DJ Hers.

Would you take Hers over either of Myers or Schwellenbach? I mean, hers, his minor league numbers are pretty mediocre as well in terms of run prevention, but a ton of strikeouts. So I think I might be okay chasing upside there, certainly ahead of Myers. And I think I'd go Schwallenbach ahead of Hertz, actually. Okay. Oh my goodness gracious, game of the night. We've been doing the lineup.

This game was just wild like most games are in Coresfield. Dodgers at the Rockies. The Rockies entered the ninth inning with a five-run lead. They proceeded to give up seven runs. They lose 11 to 9. There was some controversy. Chris, did you see the check swing? So, it was like, I would say it was like a 60-40 strike.

Like it should have been called. I feel more like 75, like 75. like 75, 25, should have been a strike. But, you know, it wasn't like obviously a strike, I thought, I don't know.

Yeah, so for those who didn't see, Tasker Hernandez had a check swing with two strikes, two outs in the game, and the first base ump said he didn't go. It was rule the ball, the very next pitch.

Tasker Hernandez hits a go-ahead, three-run homer, which put the Dodgers ahead for good. They win the game 11 to 9. On the Dodgers side, to Asker Hernandez hit his 18th homer. Shohei Otani, two for five with his 20th home run. Andy Paez, one for three with his eighth homer.

And Jason Hayward hit a pinch hit Grand Slam in that ninth inning. I remain in 15-team, five outfielder leagues. If you want cheap exposure to the Dodgers lineup, Jason Hayward is out there. So I'll just throw the name out there in the right matchups, you know, weeks where he's facing lots of right-handed pitching. Or if he's in Corr's field, obviously that makes sense. On the other side, for the Rockies,

Brenton Doyle continues his fine season, four for five with his sixth home run, two runs, two RBI. Ryan McMahon has quietly been pretty good, two for five with two doubles and two RBI. And Nolan Jones, only O for one, but he walked three times. He had a run and an RBI.

He now has eight walks to two strikeouts in five games since returning, and I think that's pretty encouraging for Nolan Jones moving forward. Lastly, I was going to bring up Walker Bueller, but we already talked about him, so no need to do that. Quick reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can scan that QR code that will take you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo, you punch in your email address, and it's easy as that. You get a newsletter delivered to your inbox every single weekday for free. Let's take our first break, and when we return, we'll hit the rest of the news and notes right after this. Welcome back in the news and notes. Bo Bichette was placed on the IL with a right cash strain retroactive to June 15. As a result, they promoted one of their top prospects, Orrelvis Martinez.

He is 22 years old, has played 63 games at AAA this season, batting 260 with 16 home runs in 866 OPS, hits the ball hard. You see that in the max exit velocity, 115.2 miles per hour. You know, Chris, as the season has gone on, I've kind of developed prospect fatigue, where we've let off so many of these podcasts with this hitting prospect, that hitting prospect.

and my expectations are just so much lower at this point. It doesn't really have anything to do with the individual players. It's just the jump from AAA to Major League Baseball right now is so, so tough that I just do not have high expectations for these guys. Maybe Martinez can buck that trend. Maybe it's a short stay, but any thoughts on Arelvis Martinez? You know another thing I was thinking of,

and I don't know if you saw this news item today, the change to AAA that they announced today. And I hadn't. really considered this, but it's worth talking about this idea that apparently in AAA this season, the way that has been working is like, I think it's Monday through Thursday, they use the automatic ball strike system. And then on the weekends, they use a challenge system. And it seems likely what the change is that they're going to full time challenge system. No more automatic ball strikes. It's just going to be an umpire calls.

strikes and balls and I think two times per game, every team can tap their head if they want a challenge and they go to the booth and they look at it and it's fairly straightforward. But that leads to an inconsistent strike. So for obvious reasons. And if you, you know, are an automatic balls of strikes believer, I think you think it's bad that the strikes are inconsistent. So players are dealing with that fluctuation throughout the year. Yeah. And then they're getting called up to the majors, which doesn't have either of those, which has the full human element, which I am of the apparently controversial opinion that umpires are actually good at their jobs. But they get 92% of calls right on the whole.

And that's less than 100. And so I do wonder if maybe this is contributing to the jump to the majors being a little more difficult for hitters, that they're just. they're dealing with inconsistent and different strike zones as they make the leap. And I wonder if that's a part of it. I don't know. As for Martinez in particular, I mean, he's got the standout power. You know, we've seen that in action across his minor league career. He had a 30 homer season in 22, 28 homers in 2023.

He's on pace for even more than that this year. You don't see that too often. at the minor league level, multiple almost 30 home run seasons. And so that seems like a skill worth getting excited about. I think contact is probably going to be an issue. It's a lot of pull side power. So, you know, he has to sacrifice some hit tool for that as well. Likely a low batting average, not a lot of speed potential with Martinez.

And then, you know, whatever is going on with the Blue Jay's offense and their home park in particular, which really seems to be hurting them. I don't know, you know, there's been some research indicating that for some reason, the changes that they made to the Rogers Center a couple years ago to like the seating configuration has made it a much harder place to hit. So you add it all up, and I think expectations should be pretty low. But I think it's probably still worth adding Martinez just in case we're wrong. And he does end up making an impact, even if it's like an Andy Pahas type impact, right?

Where it's not a difference maker necessarily, but a pretty useful player. I think that's within the realm of possibility. Or Elvis Martinez is 23% roster. I think one thing that's playing against him, Chris, is that he's shortstop eligible and shortstop has just been so loaded in fantasy this season. and we continue to talk about the Mason wins

and Ceylon Raphaelos, who they've seemingly come around over the past month and they've been really, really good. So I just think the bar is really set high for shortstop right now. But if you play in a 15-team league, AL-only, pretty deep leagues, yeah, let's take a shot on Martinez

and see where it goes. Anything shallower than that, I think we'd probably take a wait-and-see approach with Orelvis Martinez. Max Scherzer will make his season debut Saturday against the Royals. He had off-season back surgery and then battled thumb and forearm injuries throughout his rehab. Justin Verlander was placed in the IL with neck discomfort retroactive to June 16th.

Yordaun Alvarez was out of the lineup Tuesday due to a family matter. Mike Trout's recovery from meniscus surgery has gone slower than expected, and he remains without an official timetable to return. Jordan Westberg left early Tuesday due to left hip discomfort. He had a collision with Juan Soto between second and third base in that game. William Contreras returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing one game following a collision at home plate on Sunday. Anthony Rizzo was officially placed in the IL with a right forearm fracture. He'll be shut down from all activities for five weeks,

which means he'll likely miss eight weeks of game time. So, you know, we're looking at if we're lucky, not if we're lucky. like Anthony Rizzo hasn't been great for fantasy by any means. But maybe mid to late August at this point for Rizzo. And as a result, the Yankees promoted one of their prospects, Ben Rice, who is 25 years old, excuse me, has played mostly catcher in the minors, but also has some experience at first base. And in 60 games between AA and AAA, a 275 batting average,

393 on base, 15 homers, nine steals, 925 OPS. everything that I said about Orelvis Martinez remains the same. I don't have very high expectations for hitting prospects right now. What changes this a little bit is that Ben Rice has catcher eligibility on CBS. So if you play in two catcher leagues, I think they're going to give them a pretty long leash, at least as the strong side platoon at first base. So that type of playing time could matter in two catcher leagues, Chris.

Yeah, and look, it's a great lineup. It's a good home park for a left-handed hitter that there are, you know, when you're talking about Ben Rice as a prospect, there's a lot more to like about a guy who is a catcher than a first basement. The bar for viability there is a lot higher. But for our purposes, because he carries that catcher eligibility, that doesn't really matter so much. And the minor league numbers have been really impressive. The plate discipline by all accounts is very, very good. He doesn't chase very often. He makes a lot of in-zone contact.

Tends to hit the ball hard in the air. So I'm not expecting Ben Rice to be an immediate difference maker, but there is an interesting skill set there that could play up at Yankee Stadium in this lineup. He's an older prospect. Expectations should be relatively low, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ben Rice was pretty useful for fantasy. Yeah, I was going to bring up the older prospect thing, 25 years old.

He was drafted in 2021. His development got set back. I know he just came out of the Ivy League where just their baseball league, their operations were shut down for like two years in a row because of COVID. So his development has been a little bit stifled because of that. But he's come around and we'll see if he can make the most of his opportunity. but if you play in 12 team two catcher leagues are deeper, I think there's a chance that Ben Rice could have value there.

Willier Abraeu started a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. He's 57% rostered and was having a pretty good season before getting hurt. I think he's worth adding in category leagues if he was dropped. Points league's not so much because he does not play against lefties. David Hamilton was out of the lineup after leaving Monday with left side discomfort, but he came on as a pinch runner. Guess what? 19th steel of the season.

and the guy is just running wild right now. Ty France was activated from the I.L. But interestingly enough, Tyler Locklear was not optioned back to minors. So, this is kind of interesting. We'll see if they could find ways to get both of those guys in there. Which would probably come either at Mitch Garver's expense or.

True. They don't, I don't think they have another catcher on the roster right now. I believe with Savala sent down. It's just, big dumper and Mitch Garver if Mitch Garver counts as a catcher. So I do wonder if maybe we see him behind the play a couple times a week to give Locklear a chance.

And I wonder if it is starting to put some pressure on Garver, who has been better of late, but still hasn't been great to start to figure things out. Yeah, no, I think that's a good point. I mean, Cal Raleigh is a workhorse. The past couple of years, he's been among the league leaders in, And games played a catcher, and he's constantly back there. So even if he only needs to be spelled once or twice a week, they could probably have Mitch Garver suit up as the backup catcher.

We'll see where it goes from there. And Garver has played four games at catcher. I didn't realize he had started to get some games at a catcher. All right. Kyle Manzardo was optioned back to AAA. He was betting just 207 with zero homers and a 571 OPS in 30 games this season. Yohan Moncada is expected to return around the All-Star break. He suffered an adductor strain back in early May. One prospect note, National's top

prospect James Wood was activated from the seven day IL at AAA. He was batting at 355 with nine homers, 10 steals, an OPS over a thousand. And if he picks things up where he left off, it might not be long before we see James Wood in the major. And did we mention Dylan Cruz? We got called up to AAA yesterday. Yeah, we mentioned that on yesterday's. It was, I thought the timing was interesting because he's not crushing the miners by names. He's been better the last month or so from what I've seen. But yeah, it's just, that's a very talented outfield. They got up in Syracuse.

Is that where they're triple Indianapolis? No, Indies. Rochester? I think it's Rochester, Redmondis, maybe? Wherever it is. Yeah. And last news item, certainly not least. Sad, sad day in the world of baseball is one of the best to ever do it.

Willie Mays passed away at 93 years old. rest in peace to the say-hey kid. Let's talk some Waverwire hitters and some middle infield options that have emerged recently. J.P. Crawford had himself a big game, two for three with two walks, his seventh homer and three RBI.

In 28 games since returning from the IL, he's only batting two-17, but five homers, the counting stats have been there. He's hitting the ball hard. I feel like better numbers are going to come at some point for J.P. Crawford. And Brandon Lau is hitting well

since coming off the IL. He went two for four with his fifth homer, 23 games since returning, batting 240 with four homers, 12 runs, 16 RBI, hitting the ball up, barreling it up, 61% rostered.

Chris, you think either of those numbers need to be higher. Crawford at 64% Brandon Lau at 61. Probably not too much higher, at least for now, and for kind of different reasons.

For Crawford, it's just he's a points league specialist and an OBP specialist, and he's probably maxed out there, especially given how deep shortstop is. And Lau just isn't a particularly good points league player. Although concerns about his playing time, I think,

are a little overblown. He has started 20 of 24 games since coming off the IL. He's sat four times. That's not too big a concern. He's just been okay. The batting average still really, really low. Mm-hmm. And Brandon Lau, by the way,

that's who we did there. Low batting average, Brandon Lau. 24% rostered on Yahoo. So if you do play in a daily lineup league, I think that's where someone like Brandon Lau could excel. I said the same thing about Jack Peterson in the past. So if you play on Yahoo, Brandon Lau might be worth another look. How do you rank these multi-position players? Say Don Rafael, a name we just spoke about yesterday. Stayed hot, three for four with the RBI and his 10th steal. Last 27 games, he's batting 3.43 with four homers, 17 runs, 18 RBI, and five steals. I didn't confirm this, but Scott speculated that was right around the time

where he changed his batting stance and his approach with his hands. And obviously, he's been really good over the past month. That's Ceylon Raphael. Willie Castro, two for four with a walk, two doubles, and three RBI. He's been leading off. He's getting on base. You know, not crazy, you know, power and speed, but he is, walking a ton, which is good for points

leagues. And Josh Smith has been pretty good for the Rangers, two for four, with his fifth home run, added three RBI. All three of these players have at least three different positions of eligibility. How would you rank Raphaelah, Castro, and Josh Smith? This might be a hot

take, but I think Saddam Raphaela is like way over-roastered. Ooh, okay. His bat is legitimately bad. I know that over the last month or so he's been hitting better. You know, batting average up to, what, 3.343 over his past 27 games.

That's terrific. His XBA is still in like the 220 range. His play discipline is still an absolute disaster. I think he's still striking out like 31% of the time in that 27 game stretch or right around there. He has a little bit of power and a little bit of speed, but not so much that it's, I think worth the loss there. So I think 66% rostered is honestly a little high given his skill set.

I kind of feel that way about all of these guys. Castro, where's the, where's the speed? Why isn't he running? Yeah, he has eight steals total. Yeah. Only two over the past 27 games. Yeah, he had 33 last year. It's weird.

Yeah. It's extremely weird. He's still fast. So I don't want to say he can't do it anymore. And maybe that's a reason to have faith. But like, it's hard to see a case for, hey, Willie Castro doesn't run anymore, but he's still good for fantasy. You know, like that that's not really a player I think is worth getting excited about. So I don't necessarily think any of these guys are like worth going out and adding in most leagues.

If I had to rank them, I'd probably go Castro. Smith, Raphaela. So you are way out on Raphaela, which you gave your reasons for what if I told you, and this blows my mind. Raphaelah entering Tuesday was the 78th ranked player

in Roto this season. That's really surprising because his counting stats are really bad. No, they're actually good. He has 36 runs and 40 RBI. I don't, he bats last in the lineup. Yeah, I don't understand that at all. It's pretty crazy.

Yeah, I still don't buy it. I totally get what you're saying. Maybe that's me being stubborn, but I think he's very far from a finished product. The plate discipline is Ezekiel Tovar levels of bad. I mean, how often Raphaelah chases, he does not walk, and he swings and misses a lot. I do think he needs to be rostered in all category leagues. Sure, that's fine. I don't think he needs to be rostered in a single points league because of his plate discipline.

Should any of these names be rostered in more leagues? they currently are. Alec Berluson has been solid for quite some time. Two for five with his 10th home run. Last 31 games, he is batting 288. He's got seven homers, 19 runs, and two steals. Mitch Garver, who he spoke about earlier, two for five with two doubles, two RBI.

And so far in June, he is batting 227, 382 on base, three homers, 13 RBI, 927 OPS. And Mark Vientos had himself a big game, three for five with his sixth homer, three runs scored. The home run was 113.2 exit velocity, 409 feet in 16 games since Brett Beat Beatty got sent down. He is batting 333 with three home runs in that spin.

But 42% rostered for Vientos, 39% for Garver and 49% Burleson. Do any of those need to be higher? Burleson feels low at 49%. you know, like you said, he's been pretty solid for a while, decent spot in the lineup. So I'll say Burleson at 49% is a little too low. Garver at 39.

Like, I'm a believer in Garver. I think he's going to be a very good source of power at the catcher position. But I don't think there are that many leagues where Mitch Garver is really making a difference that aren't currently rostering him already. He's just a number two catcher. Vientos plate discipline is. much improved. And that's the biggest thing. 21%. He's always had the raw power. He's actually cut back on some of the power this season. And he's hitting the ball on the ground more often.

But because of the improved plate discipline, I think all in all, it comes out in the wash. And yeah, I think 42% is maybe a little low for for Mark Vientos. He should be rostered anywhere where there's a corner infield spot. Yeah. I am intrigued, man. Scott, and I spoke about him yesterday, 42% rostered for Mark Viantos. He has a really good barrel rate. The one thing that stands out is weird. Lots of ground balls. 56% ground ball rate for Viento.

So it's hard for him to tap into that crazy exit velocity power that he has when he's hitting the ball into the ground. So he's got to raise that launch angle. I'm looking at some roster rates on CBS right now. If you're playing in a shallower league and you're just looking for a quick fix at third base For someone who has upside, I would be a right-dropping Justin Turner for Mark Vientos. Turner not playing every day. He's still 63% rostered.

Michael Bush is still 54% rostered. He's kind of coming around recently. Yeah, I think those are kind of similar. Yeah. And Bush has more of a track record at the major league level. That's not saying a ton, but, you know. What about Brian Hazy, 68%. I think I would do that.

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of similar. profiles. We have a longer track record of Brian Hayes doing the thing that we're hoping Mark Viantos can keep doing, but Mark Viantos is currently doing it, so I'm fine with that, yeah. All right, let's take our final break, and when we return, we will talk about some waiver wire pitcher ads and drops. We'll do that right

after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk waiver wire pitcher ads and drops, and we already discussed Spencer Schwellenbach and Tobias Myers. Some other names that pitched well on Tuesday not sure how much interest we're going to have, but Billy Falter turned in a quality start against the Reds, seven innings, two runs, three strikeouts,

and he's got a 374 ERA 112 whip. Whatever, it's Bailey Falter. Two names in deeper leagues, Slade Sacconi turned in a great start at the Nationals. He threw six shutout innings with six strikeouts to zero walks. That was his first quality start since April 27th, and make that two really great starts in a row. For Jonathan Cannon, up against the Astros, he threw 8 and 2 3rd shutout innings,

seven hits, one walk, four strikeouts, only had nine whiffs on 104 pitches. He got 12 ground ball outs in this start, so that clearly helped him. And he's got a 334 ERA. The underlying estimators pretty much line up with that with Jonathan Cannon, but he pitches for the White Sox. Anything here, Chris, with Cannon, Slade Cicconi, Bailey Falter. Yeah, I mean, that Canon is the only one who's even moderately interesting. Even in a 15 team league, I don't think I'd have much interest in Cicconi or Bailey Fultor.

The problem is we have now two really good starts from Canon in a row and almost no track record of success prior to this. You know, like even in college, he had a 402 ERA. So it's not like he was dominating as an amateur. In the minors, he had a 455 ERA with pretty mediocre strikeout rates. I'm inclined to think that Jonathan Cannon is just a flash in the pan. But, you know, there are some interesting things going on with the White Sox pitching development. I think Lance Brostowski pointed out the other day. I hope it was him.

I'm not giving someone else. You know, I saw this on Twitter that the White Sox have had the biggest velocity. gain as an organization on their fastballs at the minor league level year over year, which that seems relevant for a guy making the leap from the minors. But no, I don't see a ton in Cannon's profile to get excited about. So, you know, there have just been so many pitchers who have done well lately that I don't know how many leagues there are where Jonathan Cannon should be a priority. Probably AOL only.

I don't know if we could even get into like 15 team mixed leagues with good old Jonathan Cannon. What about drops? I have two names listed here. Tristan McKenzie, another rough start, up against the Mariners, which is supposed to be one of the best matchups in baseball. Two and a third innings, four earned,

four walks, zero strikeouts. He's got a 448 ERA, a 146 whip, for some ungodly reason. Still 78% rostered. I feel like you could drop McKenzie for almost anybody. I'm so mad at myself. I picked Tristan McKenzie up and started him in a Roto League. Because he had the two starts.

And like, that's not what I do. That's not me. I don't pick pitchers who I don't think are good up just because I like to. I'm so frustrated. Best matchup for strikeouts and he gets none. Zero. Right. Yeah, his fastball velocity's been way down. He only has three pitches. None of them are, you know, an off speed. It's a slider and a curveball in addition to the fastball. I think Tristan McKenzie has been very dropable for a while. Yeah, it would be fine dropping in for Schwellenbach, Tobias Myers, whoever else you want to speculate on. This is canon, honestly, like even with the lukewarm praise I gave him. This other one is a little tougher because we've talked Luis Severino up recently,

but I think this is your reminder that he should just be treated as a streamer in the right matchups. And at Texas was clearly not one of the right matchups for Luis Severino, six in a third inning, six runs allowed, two homers allowed in the start. He still has a 352 ERA, a 120 whip. I don't think he is a must drop by any means. But what do you take away from a pretty roughout? outing here from Severino. Trust the process, right?

If you have a process that helps you identify players' skill sets and what they are likely to do moving forward, and there are players who are operating outside of that, there are a lot of examples of that this year, like Luis Severino was always going to regress. He was never going to sustain a sub three ERA or an ERA around three. It's likely to be closer to four moving forward, even though it's still only 352. So I'm just not surprised that Trista McKen or that Louis Severino had a start like this. I'm not saying you should drop him anywhere necessarily, but he's exactly the type of guy that ride him while things are going well. That's totally fine.

And that goes for Seth Lugo and Jake Irvin and any number of pitchers who are getting good results, but that we don't really believe in. It's fine to keep them in your lineup when things are going well. it's just totally fine also to let them go once things go wrong. And I think that's the way to treat Luis Severino. Speaking of that process, Chris, let's talk about Pablo Lopez because this thing has gone bad for quite some time right now. It's a rough start for Pablo up against Tampa Bay, four innings, five runs allowed, two homers allowed in this start,

lots of hard contact. He was clearly searching. for something, anything in this start. He completely changed his pitch mix. He led with the sweeper. He threw it 34% of the time. It did not work. He's allowed five plus earned runs in five of 15 starts.

And over his last six outings, Pablo Lopez has an 849 ERA, a 158 whip. Nine homers allowed in his last six starts. That has been the biggest problem this season is that the ball is just flying over the wall for Pablo Lopez in a year where it is... Not doing it for anyone else. Not doing it for anybody else.

The Seth Lugos, the Jake Irvins, the Luis Severinos of the world up until tonight, obviously. It's just such a frustrating season. As someone who has him in multiple leagues, I just don't know what to do. When I'm going to update my pitcher rankings on Wednesday, guys like Pablo Lopez, guys like Freddie Peralta that have been struggling for quite some time. I hear you on trusting the process, but it just feels like they need to. move down the rankings? Sure.

That's not the question to me. Should Pablo Lopez still be ranked as a top five starter like he was in the season? No, of course not. Should Pablo Lopez be dropped? No. No. But the thing is, like, I have had several people on Twitter practically begging me and getting mad at me for not saying, yes, drop Pablo Lopez.

So here is what I'm going to say. If you want to drop Pablo Lopez, it's your team, and you should do that. If that's really what you want to do, I had someone today ask me, I'm going to drop Pablo Lopez because my worst other pitchers are Brian Wu and Bailey Ober. I would drop both Brian Wu and Bailey Ober before I drop Pablo Lopez. I don't know if that's a hot take. I know Brian Wu has a very low ERA. He also has a 20% strikeout rate and had had roughly 20 MRIs taken this season. But like if you want to drop Pablo Lopez, go for it.

I'm not going to tell you to drop Pablo Lopez. I'm not going to drop Pablo Lopez. If my opinion matters to you and you use that to guide your decision making, you should not drop Pablo Lopez. But if you want to, do it. It's not debate club. I'm not going to argue with you about it. like go ahead and do it, you know?

Like I still think Pablo Lopez will be fine. I still think Pablo Lopez will be one of the best pitchers in baseball the rest of the way. Whether that's a 2-5 ERA or a 3-2 ERA with a ton of strikeouts, I'm not exactly sure because I get the frustration. I get the concerns about him being his home run prone as he has been. But I will also point out in the first half of last season, Zach Wheeler had a 405 ERA. He ended up with 308 in the second half.

Freddie Peralta, 470, 281 the rest of the way. Sandy Alcounter had a very bad season, 472 before the All-Star break, 320 after the All-Star break. Sometimes good pitchers just have bad stretches and whether it's just bad luck or whether they're just not pitching well for one reason or another, which is my assumption about Pablo Lopez. He's not executing well. But I'm not going to give up on a guy with his track. record and his ceiling because he's had like eight bad starts in two and a half months. That's just, that's not the process that I have as a fantasy player or a fantasy analyst. That's it.

And I completely agree with you that there's no way. Anywhere that I have, Pablo Lopez, I'm not going to drop him. And I know this is probably not what people want to hear, but there are outwire things that are working against Pablo Lopez right now. And maybe some of those are by his own. doing. Maybe it's he's completely missing his spots and that's why he's getting crushed and giving up these home runs. And he has a 357 babbip on the season. For his career, it's 297. He has a 65% left on base percentage. For his career, that's 73%. He has a 16.7% home run to fly ball ratio. For

his career, that is 13.5%. He entered Tuesday with a 328 expected ERA, a course. to Stack has. So if you trust the process, then much better days should be coming for Pavel Lopez. But I understand the frustration. I understand your frustration. And if you just like, if you just need to vent, if you are like, I kind of needed that right now. I get it. I understand. And and I'm sure someone is listening and saying, ah, but on Sunday, you guys were very concerned with Jesus Lozardo. And there is a key distinction that I think is worth pointing out with regards to Pablo Lopez.

There is not really very much in Pablo Lopez's underlying skill sets that suggests he is a different pitcher than he has been in the past. He's giving up a little more hard contact. He's getting a few fewer strikeouts. But on the whole, like you said, the XERA 328, last year, 3000, not a significantly different pitcher. Hazel Zazardo, and Pablo Lopez, notably Pablo Lopez velocity is also fine.

It's almost exactly where it was last year. Hazel Zazardo's velocity is down significantly. That's the distinction. And he's already had a significant injury this season. That's the key distinction that is worth pointing out. I understand the frustration about Pablo Lopez, but ERA has very little predictive value over a two-month stretch, over a full season, ERA has very little predictive value.

Over a two-month season, it has almost none. So while I understand your frustrations, I get it, I share them. I have Pablo Lopez and several teams. Deep breaths. It's going to be okay. Last point on Pablo Lopez, there is no better time to buy low. For all of the reasons that we just mentioned, his fantasy managers are freaking out. And what does a buy low look like?

Our rankings are live on the site. You can go check them out. I don't know that I would trade any. one inside of my top 40 starting pitchers for him. I know the way rankings work, yes, I should be able to do that. That's, I get that. But I'm talking about buying lower than that. And I think you could pull it off.

You know, just outside of my top 40, Bryce Miller. If I could turn Bryce Miller into Pablo Lopez, I absolutely would do that. Somebody like Mitch Keller, Seth Lugo, Jose Burrios. If I could trade any of those for Pablo Lopez, I would do that right now. Sure. What about? Now, guys that are inside of my top 40, this is what gives me pause, is trading someone like Luis Heel or Tanner Howe.

Yeah, that's what I was going to ask. Those guys have been. Those guys have been so good. It's, yeah. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do those trades. No, I get that. I think that's perfectly reasonable, but.

I think you have to buy lower if you're going to. I expect Pablo Lopez to be more valuable than those guys the rest of the way. All right. Let's talk about some other pitchers that are actually on a nice run. They're the opposite of Pablo Lopez right now. Nick Lodolo was awesome at the Pirates, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks. He had 18 whiffs on 95 pitches. He has turned in four straight quality starts.

The ERA is down to 276 with a 101 whip with Nick Lodolo. Justin Steele continues his nice run as of late, six and two thirds. Two runs loud, had eight strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 96 pitches. Last five starts for Justin Steele, a 114 ERA. 0.98 whip and Chris Bassett turned in a quality start against the Red Sox. Six innings, two runs, had six strikeouts, and over his last nine starts, a 233 ERA, a 117 whip for Chris Bassett. Anything that stands out for Bassett, Steele and Nicola Dolow. I think this is pretty much just who all these guys are.

And maybe Bassett just hates April's. And it's like Garfield and Mondays. And you just got to get past the poor April that seems to have become a recurring theme for him. I also never understood why Garfield hated Mondays so much. You don't have a job guy. Calm down. It's fine. It's so hard being a cat on a Monday.

You sleep all day, right? Like, it's fine. Don't be so dramatic. Let's talk about some hitters who are putting up some big June numbers and Kyle Schwabber. Like I said yesterday, find somebody who loves you. the way Kyle Schorber loves hitting in June because this guy, he just loves it. He loves the month.

Two for four with his 17th home run. So far in June, batting over 300, six homers, a 1058 OPS. Anthony Santander, one for four with his 18th homer in June. 292, nine homers, 1085 OPS. Tyler O'Neill, in nine games since coming off the IL, batting 382 with four homers, 10 runs, 9 RBI, a 1215 OPS. Carlos Correa continues to hit 3 for 4 with a walk and 2 run scored

He is betting 452 with 4 homers And 1155 OPS in June And Corbyn Carroll He's not putting up huge numbers But he's doing something Yeah and that counts 2 for 3 with a triple Two walks and his 13th steal

In June he's betting 293 He's got four doubles, two triples, four steals In 837 OPS Much better than any other month that we've seen, but also zero home runs in this span. So do with that, what you will. Anything stand out here? I mean, look, a version of Corbyn Carroll who hits 285 with 10 homers, that's probably not a first rounder.

It's probably still like a top 30 pick, right? If he's going to steal 40 plus bases and score a bunch of runs, like, that's not what you drafted him to be. And I mean, 10 home runs at this point feels optimistic. So maybe I'm giving him too much credit. But it's to say that like, we were drafting guys like Nico Horner,

you know, as top 70 picks. And even a diminished version of Corbyn Carroll could be a supercharged version of those guys. You know, it might not be that different. from Trey Turner. You know, maybe trading a little bit of power for a little speed.

Maybe that's what Corbyn Carroll is right now. Still a very useful player. So I, there's been a lot of panicking, not for no reason, but I do think some context is worth noting. It's also just the Kyle Schwabber thing is so funny. Like he's basically played a full season in every month of his career. Not quite. It's a little more for the most part.

But he's started 162 games in the month of June in his career. in his career. He hit home run today? Yeah. That's 61. In a hundred in 163 career June starts. Crazy. That's incredible. He doesn't have more than 53 in any other month. And that's August where he has like 80 more plate appearances. It's, it's hilarious how good Kow Shorber is in June. Last point on Corbyn Carol, I guess I'm a little surprised. He only has 13 steals. He's still 95th percentile sprint speed. And we know he's one of the fast. fastest players in the league. I guess the obvious retort is,

well, you got to get on base to steal bases. So that's part of the problem with Corby and Carroll. He hasn't been on base all that much this season. But a little surprise that he only has 13 steals. Yeah. But yeah, that might be some form of expectation moving forward. 280. And these are pace numbers.

280, 10 homers, you know, 40 plus steel, something like that. It's a disappointment, but would be much better than what we got to this point in the season. Some pitching leftovers for Logan Webb. He turned in a quality start at the Cubs, seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts, and he has gone six plus innings in eight straight, has turned in three straight quality starts.

Framber Valdez turned in a quality start at the White Sox, six innings, two runs, five walks to five strikeouts. The five walks were his most since opening day, and Nestor Cortez pitched really well against the Orioles, six shutout, five hits, zero walks, six strikeouts. I lied. There was one other pitcher I wanted to mention.

Bryce Miller turned in a solid start at the Guardians, five and two thirds, three runs, two earned, two walks to two strikeouts. Interesting group here, Chris, in that I've kind of been unimpressed by all of them when looking into the underlying numbers. I don't know if you feel the same way, but Bryce Miller, Nestor Cortez. Cortez is a little different. We didn't really have much expectations coming into the season. And then Valdez and Logan Webb.

Yeah, I mean, Logan Webb, I get it. Like seven innings, five strikeouts, two earn runs. That like it feels... That's just what he does. I feel like I shouldn't be unimpressed. Well, no, that's what I was going to say is there are like four guys every night right now who are doing that who like you've never heard of. Like there's like some some guy named Tobias every night seemingly is going seven

innings with one earned run allowed. Like, I get why it feels a little underwhelming from Logan Webb. The difference is that when Tobias Myers and, and I don't know why Jake Irvin is the guy that's come to mind on this, because I do think he's pretty good, but like Javier Assad and Brady Singer early on in the season and all the, like these guys who, you know, we don't think are all that good, but we're putting, have been putting up performances like that,

it definitely feels a little unrolling. The difference is we're going to get to September, and Logan Webb's still going to be doing this, and he's still going to have a low 3 ZRA. And all of these other guys who can do it for two starts at a time are going to be forgotten. And that's the key difference there for Logan Webb, is that he's just a reliable, super high floor pitcher.

Framber, yeah, it feels, like there's some real risk moving forward of the ERA. You know, it's already up to 391. Some risk of it just staying that high for a guy that, you know, I think we expect better from. The velocities down, that's concerning. The curveball hasn't been nearly as effective as well. So a lot of warning signs there that, you know,

he's not the ace or borderline ace or the Logan Webb clone that we thought he might be coming into the season. And Bryce Miller, you've said it a bunch of times, but I'm with you. Feels like one of the more obvious sell high candidates at the pitcher position right now. It's not like he's been dominant. You know, 346 ERA in this landscape is just okay. But he's back to basically being like a 75% fastball guy. It's a little different than last year because he does have a sinker now that is a pretty good pitch for him.

and kind of, I think, raises the floor. But in terms of, like, his ability to get strikeouts, I just still don't see any reason to think he's going to be a plus there. And so, yeah, I think with Bryce Miller expecting an ERA, more in the high threes is where I'm at right now. Some hitting leftovers. Cateel Marte has had an awesome season, two for four with his 15th home run.

added three RBI and entering Tuesday he was a top three second baseman in both Roto and head to head points. I was working on my infield rankings earlier in the day and I actually moved Marte up to third at second base.

In both formats he is now ahead of Ozzy Albies and Mookie bets because of the injury to Muki. Nick Castiano's slowly coming around four for five with two doubles, a run and an RBI. Last 17 games he's betting

278 with three home runs Danes B Swanson had himself a big game one for four with a sock and a shoe his seventh home run, his fifth steal. The problem for Swanson this year, career high 53% ground ball rate. Not really something we've seen from him in the past. Brandon Nimmo has Homer two games in a row.

I remain, if you can buy on Brandon Nimmo, I would the expected stats to look amazing for him. So he's one of the biggest underperformers so far this season. Met's got that grimace power, but also like Lindor Alonzo Lendor's been really good

JD Brandon Nimmo have all been awesome lately you know Lindor has been like top six in baseball in war over the past 30 days and like has the best expected stats

of his career since 2018 yeah I think Lindor has been awesome and I don't know what it is that everybody freaks out when he inevitably starts the season slow every year and the

There's always so much concern. It's like, no, this guy's awesome. It's fine. Yeah. Wyatt Langford might be awesome one day. He hit his first home run over the fence here on June 18, just like we all predicted. His first home run was an inside the park home run. This is his second career home run, and he got it. 107.1 exit velocity 414 feet.

And since returning from the IL, he's betting 248, one homer, two doubles, two triples, and five steals. So maybe the start of something better coming for Wyatt Langford. And nice to see Josh Lowe do something positive, two for four, with his third home run, two RBI. It's just been a mess of a season, mostly because of injuries for Josh Lowe. Some bullpen updates for the Reds. Alexis Diaz struck out one for his 16th save.

For the Padres, Robert Suarez, got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up two runs on four hits. He took his first blown save of the season on June 18. Robert Swares has maybe been the fantasy MVP at the relief pitcher position. That is one blown save for every non-fastball he's thrown this season, I believe. Is that true? He throws his fastball like 80%. He throws his four seamer and sinker a combined 90.4% of the time.

All right. Well, it's been a wild season for Robert Suarez with how dominant he's been with this approach. It's working. So don't change it up. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz got the final five outs for his 13th save. For the Red Sox, Kenley Jansen struck out one for his 13th.

For the Cubs, Hector Nerris and Mark Leiter Jr. were both unavailable. Kegan Thompson struck out the side for his first save. Maybe a name to watch in that bullpen because Nerris has been pretty shaky as of late. Everybody's been so bad in that bullpen. Yeah.

I mean, even Thompson. He has a 430 year and a 123 win. Yeah. And a 123 whiz. At least he's got the huge strikeout numbers. So, yeah. I mean, Craig Counsel did give Hector Narris the vote of confidence after Monday's blown save. But yeah, I think Keegan Thompson, if you're in a 15 team league looking for saves, is worth a look.

For the White Sox, John Brebia got the final out for his second save. Michael Copac has not pitched since June 13th. So I would have thought he's available, but I know he's been struggling lately. For the Mets, Edwin Diaz allowed a hit, but picked up his seventh save, and that's his second save since coming off the IL. On the other side, Kirby Yates got the ninth with the game tied. He gave up an earned run, took his first loss. For the raise, P. Fairbanks started the ninth inning with the game tied.

He got the first two outs, gave up two hits. He was one of the hits was a ground ball, which bounced off his hand, forced him to leave this game with an injury, and then Phil Mayton entered with the two runners on. He gave up a hit. and the rays lose. For the Rockies, it was Tyler Kinley, who started the ninth inning.

He recorded just one out. He gave up four runs. He was then relieved by Victor Vodnick, who sounds like a villain in a video game. I think his name is really similar to the bad guy in Sonic the Hedgehog. He's the, he is the, he's like the first boss you have to be in a fighting game

before you get to the big boss. I think it's Dr. Robotnik, right? Yeah, it's Dr. Robotnik, yes. Eggman. Yeah, Eggman. Gosh. Every time I see this guy's name, Victor Vodnick, it just makes me think of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Well, he gave up three runs. He took his first blown save and first loss. On the other side for the Dodgers, Evan Phillips, got the final out for his 11th save. And there were two of their late games. Mason Miller picked up his 13th. Trevor McGill, I don't know if you saw this catch. Ooh, yeah.

That was wild. He entered with two outs, two runners on, trying to get the final out of the game. He gives up a fly ball to deep center field. Sal Freelick jumps, robs a home run, which would have tied the game to end the game. It was awesome.

And the Angels had already scored three in the night. Elias Hernandez started that inning because they were up six nothing. He gave up two, Pyeamps gave up one, and then McGill came in and got one of the biggest, bailout to the season. I mean, he's a really good pitcher. I'm not like holding it against him. But yeah, that was a heck of a catch by South Freelick. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday. I think Kyle Gibson at the Marlins is fine. And I don't really want to start anybody else. Yeah, like I know Kate Povich is coming off a good start. But there's no way. Even if Aaron judges out, there's no way I can start him at the Yankees. No, I don't think he's all that good anyway.

very interested to see the start. If there's no judge, I think it could work. I think it could, but I, I'm just not a believer in Povich necessarily anyway. If I had to pick a second one after Kyle Gibson, it would probably be Brian Beyo. And given how poorly he's pitched lately, I, that is not an, an endorsement. Tyler Anderson, can the magic go on? Maybe against the Brewers. I don't really want to go with any of those outside of Kyle Gibson.

On Thursday, yeah, it's another day where it's not great. I guess if I had, you shouldn't use any of these players. Let me stress that. But if I had to choose three, I would say Logan Allen against the Mariners, Zach Litella at the Twins, and Simeon Woods Richardson versus Tampa Bay. I think those would be the three if I had to pick one. I could be talked into Keaton win at St. Louis because they're a decent matchup, but his last star was his first good one in a long time.

So I'm not too optimistic there. All right. We're going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back back again tomorrow. Bye.

Bye.