Fantasy Baseball Today - Aaron Nola Resurgence? Would You Rather...? (8/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

Aaron Nola has looked better as of late (2:30)! ... Parker Messick and Cade Cavali might be making the ace leap (7:10). ... We got another clunker from Paul Skenes (14:07). ... News (22:17): Jacob deGrom will officially start Thursday. ... WOULD YOU RATHER this player or this player (30:09)? ... Let's check back in on the rookie bats (49:08). ... Anything to see with these waiver wire leftovers (53:02)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (1:00:25).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

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Devin, walk the law. 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. I thought we were past this, but is Aaron Nola kind of back? Hello and welcome into fantasy baseball today on Thursday, August 20th.

I am Frank Stample joined by Scott White. Today on the show, Would You Rather? We'll check back in on some of the rookie bats. Two pitchers who look like they are gaining ace status. And much more. Let's jump in. Oh, my goodness, goodness. Goodness gracious.

Oh, my goodness. The players of the night. And Scott, you get Aranola. How does that feel? Let's drink a cola for Aranola, because things are looking up here. This latest start against the Marlins, one-earn run in seven innings,

eight strikeouts, no walks. And got a ton of whiffs, too. did Mr. Nola, 19 of them on 100 pitches, 12 of them on the curveball, and that pitch, it's been a good pitch all year. It has a whiff rate over 40%,

but especially lately, it has been dominating. I don't think that's too strong of a word for. In his last three starts, Aaron Nola has a 212ERA and 13.2K per 9. So we don't, I guess,

we didn't have stack cast data for his previous start, because it was Field of Dreams, but I was looking at the baseball savant game log, and it did seem to, it does seem like pitch data got added in after the fact. So that was a little weird. I'm not exactly sure how that works

if Stackass wasn't set up there, but I don't know. Bottom line is like it's three starts where he's done basically the same thing. But it's not like the pitch selection overall has changed that much during that stretch. I'm not seeing a lot in the process that's actually changed here. The results are significantly better.

And so I'm not saying nothing has changed. But it's not the normal things we look for. Aaron Nola himself talks about how he's feeling better, how he's limiting walks, that sort of thing. Just being more consistent, being more efficient. Not really offering too much insight into what he's doing differently,

but it's three starts in a row now where he's been on top of everything else missing a lot of bats. And this time of year, when we're all desperate for pitching help because they're dropping like flies, I think he's probably worth a look again. We talked about George Claussen yesterday.

I think I'm more interested in Nola than Claussen, personally. Yeah, I think there's more, Well, I do think both pitchers are pretty volatile, especially Aaron Nola at this point in his career. Like, he still does have an ERA over five at this point. So he is prone to blow up starts. But, you know, that the young gun, the mystery box, I guess,

with George Closson. I think I would still go with Claussen. But just in terms of usability, next week, Arronola is at the Mariners. And obviously, pitching in Seattle is a great place to pitch. Mariners lineup is not very good. And Aronola is much better on the road this season. So I do like that one as well.

Scott, I actually looked at the last five starts for NOLA. I know you mentioned the last three. The strikeout, the big jump in strikeouts, which I find more convincing. I feel like we've had this tug of war with another pitcher, Tyler Malley. Yeah. Where you want to, you go back a longer stretch for a low, where it's been a low ERA, but the more convincing stretch is when the whiffs jump up for me. And so that's why I said last three.

But you're right. It's been even longer than that, that Nola's ERA has improved. Oh, I can game log surf with the best of them, Sky. I finagle things all around to create whatever narrative I want to talk about. But the last five starts for Arenola, it's a 251 ERA, 129 whip. The walks were actually a little bit higher before this one when he walked zero in seven innings. But one thing I did notice that has changed. I know Chris has brought this up is he's been using his changeup more.

So over the last five starts, well, the previous four, it was like 26% usage. Today on Wednesday it was like 20%, but that still is up from his league, his season average of change-up usage. But I just think using his fastball less and anything more is probably a good combination. And the curveball is the best of the best. Like that's what we want to see first and foremost.

But if we can get change-ups in place of four-scene fastballs, I think that can also be a recipe to help Aaron Nola have usable starts, which he has done recently. So that was just one other thing that I mentioned. But yeah, 56% rostered. I like the matchup for next week. So we'll be interested to see if he's on your sleeper pitchers. I think so.

Probably. Probably will be if he's facing the worst offensive baseball after this kind of run he's on. Yeah. All right. Again, that was Aaron Nola, my players of the night. I'm going to cheat a little bit here.

Double dip. And I mentioned up at the top, two pitchers I think might be gaining ace staff. is Parker Messick and Cade Cavali. Both of these guys are on insane runs right now. Parker Messick, big whiffs here against the Giants' unfortunate loss. Like, dude gives up one run and takes an L here. But six and two-thirds innings, one run,

10 strikeouts to zero walks, 19 whiffs on 98 pitches. His fastball was dominant. 15 of the 19 swinging strikes on that fastball. And it's kind of encouraging to me that he didn't have his change-up, at all in the Starlink. It just was not working well, and that's typically his best pitch, and he's still dominated. The fastball, he used a slider a little bit more. That was a very good pitch for him in this one as well. But now this is two earned runs or fewer in eight straight for Parker Messick, and during that stretch, 188 ERA.96 whip right around a strikeout per any. He's

just below that number, but he's limiting the walks, and overall, keeping runs off the board, he has been great. Kate Cavali, the other one, six shots. Shutout innings, 11 strikeouts here to one walk, 14 whiffs on 84 pitches. He did give up hard contact in this one. So he had been doing a better job of that. Seven hard hits, 92.1 average EV, but he was able to generate wifts on his curbball

and on his fastball. We know that curveball is, I think one of the best curveballs in all of baseball with Cade Cavali and obviously showed that again here. And we've talked about this recently, how he is developing more into an action. pitcher, becoming more efficient, throwing more strikes, limiting walks, and obviously has the stuff to rack up a lot of strikeouts as well. So this is his fifth start with double-digit

strikeouts this season. Cade Cavali, he has a quality start in eight straight, and during that span, 198 ERA, 0.92 whip, 57 strikeouts to just 11 walks over 50 innings pitch. So I know the the ace moniker kind of gets thrown around, but I don't know that these guys are in it yet, but I think they are getting dangerously close. What do you think about Parker Messick and Kate Cavalli? I can't disagree. I think the main thing holding Messick back is he still tends to fall short of six innings.

Seems to do that more often than not. But he's been great all year. I was actually, you mentioned the fastball use was up in this one. for Parker Messick. That's been a long-term trend. Seven of his last nine. So his season-long fastball use is 38%. Seven of his last nine, though,

it's been 50% or more. So he's really been spamming that pitch lately. And during those nine starts, 230 ERA, 0.99 whip, that's really good. It's not that much better than his season numbers. His ERA and WIP are only slightly higher than that. I don't even know that it's made a substantive difference.

He's just been good. No matter how much he's thrown his fastball, he's been good. But Parker Messick being a rookie. He is a rookie technically, isn't he? Haven't heard much rookie of the year buzz for him, have you? Not really. That's interesting. Because he's got 4.5 war on baseball reference

in addition to the great ERA and whip. Anyway, the point is early in his career hasn't been built up for that ace workload yet, which is a very big part of the ACE equation, the ACE formula. But he's getting there. I think the talent is there, and I think as soon as next year we may see him in that light. And Kate Cavali, we had our doubts early on with him, but he has legitimately gotten better over the course of this season.

He's become a much better strikethrower. The strikeouts have trended up. He's been getting a ton of ground balls. Really, the big turn, though, was just cutting down on his walks. And it doesn't seem like it was just a short-term blip. It seems like genuine growth. And with each passing start, it seems clear that Cade Kava Holly is here to stay.

And I think his volume is actually pretty consistent in terms of going 6 plus, right? Yeah, he's done it in 8-3-8 because it's 8-3 quality starts. His ERA and his whip aren't as good as Messix, mostly because of early on again. He was walking more guys. But, yeah, I stopped short of calling him an ace just because it is only about half a season of pitching like an ace, but he's trending that way too. I have a lot of confidence in Kate Cavali going forward.

He did have the pedigree, right? Former first round pick. He dealt with a lot of arm injuries, but we always heard that he could throw hard, and obviously he does do that, but he also has that wicked curveball as well. Parker Messick, I agree with you, especially early on in the season.

He was not, he was getting to five and a third and five and two thirds very often, and then they would just pull him, and it was frustrating. But over his last 11 starts, he's gone six plus inning, in seven of those. So it has gotten better as the season has gone on here for Parker Messick.

I updated my pitcher rankings earlier on Wednesday. And of course, whenever you update the rankings, it feels like pitchers do something either really great or really bad that same night. And then you're like, oh, well, I don't know. Should I change this already? But Kate Cavali, I moved up to 35. And I kind of just feel like that number should be higher. Some of the names I have just ahead of him, read debt.

Mers, Ian Seymour, Troy Melton, Imanaga, Sandial Concord, George Kirby, Sean Burke, Logan Henderson. Those are the eight or nine pitchers that I have ahead of them. Yeah, I like Cavali more than most of those guys, so I agree. You probably need to

keep moving. Keep it moving, Frank. Yep. I got to make some changes to my pitcher rankings here. Yeah, I can definitely get Cavali up to like that. I have Ashcraft, Henderson, Sean Burke, 26, 27, 28. I could put Cavali in that group and have them

inside the top 30. Like, I'd rather have Cavali over George Kirby at this point. Kirby's been fine, whatever, high floor, but, you know, it's clearly not the pitcher that he has been in previous years. Before we hit our first break, I just feel like let's not spend as much time on his, like, Chris and I spoke about him for 10 minutes last

week, and I feel like we always just talk about him so much, but just another clunker from Paul Skeen, so we'll get this one out of the way. But it was a rough one, even after extra rest that he was given here. Four and a third innings, three runs loud, four walks, five strikeouts. He has four walks in three of his last four starts. I guess the good news here is that the velocity was back up a little bit,

and by that I mean compared to his previous starts. So it was now in line with his seasonal average, but it's not really up to where it was earlier in the season, but it was up in general here for Paul Skeens. And the updated number is last 10 starts, 582 ERA 151 whip, 23 walks over 51 innings during that time. That's nearly four walks per nine.

His ground ball rate is way down during that time as well. So lots of hard contact, lots of hard contact in the air. So what are your latest thoughts, Scott, on Paul Skeen's? Yeah, I'm not sure they changed from when I last talked about him. I think Tom Ferducci's theory that he presented with visuals is the most. compelling to me that he's off mechanically he's more straight to the plate with his delivery before he had a bit of a crossover delivery and it's it's made him it's it's it's made his fastball less dominant it's made his command less sharp and until

he fixes it I think we're going to continue to see start it's like this. If not that, then there is an injury that hasn't been discovered yet. I'm open to that theory too. Could be affecting his mechanics. Sure. Yeah. No, it could be both.

You're right. That's all I can surmise for how a pitcher who looked like God's gift to pitching for two years suddenly seems very vulnerable. After, I should say two and a half years, because he was fine. At the start of this year, it was really the end. end of June where this all started to fall apart. Yeah, you shared with Chris and I via text today the results of the first NFBC draft for 2027, right?

Do I have that right? Yeah. Is that what I was looking at? Correct. 15 teams, so bigger league. And Paul Skeenz went in the fifth round. Now, it's a sample of one. And obviously, these early drafts especially, there's a lot of, it's a lot of flying by the seat of the pants, right?

It's a lot of, particularly all it takes is one person in the league when their pick is up to think of a guy like, oh, yeah, remember, I thought of this guy, I better take him here. And it's not, there isn't a ton of organization. There isn't a lot of consensus yet. But I think you see that more reflected in players who move up the draft board. I'm more interested in the ones who move down the draft board. And so seeing Paul Skeen's go as late as round five, surely there's some recency bias at play there. And I don't think he's actually going to go that late once drafting picks up in earnest.

If he does, I'll have a lot of Paul Skeens, I guess. But it shows just how much confidence in him has diminished over these last two months that, again, he went from being God's gift to pitching in fantasy to fifth rounder in a 15-team league, which is what about, it was about the 70th pick. The thing that stood out most was Kate Anderson went in the very next round. Not the very next pick, but in the sixth round. So it was like just the interesting. dichotomy there, I guess.

It's like the proven should be stud Paul Skeen slipping now down to the fifth round. The guy who has not thrown an inning yet in the majors in the sixth round. So it was just pretty interesting to compare and contrast there. Yeah, and shout out to Rob D.P.H. Oh, the Deadpool hitter on Twitter.

I know that they put out the draft board and so if anyone else wants to check it out, it's an interesting concept, right? Because they're still, you know, like five, six weeks left in the season. And I think that's part of why Skeens went so late in that particular draft. because between now and the end of the season,

you could find out his arm is falling off. And then that pick can mean absolutely nothing, right? So it's just impossible to make draft picks for next season at this point, but it's just an interesting exercise to kind of get those wheels turning for next season. Paul Skeen's 84% started on CBS Scott. He's at the Padres next week,

one of the hottest hitting teams in the second half of the season. I would not start him. That might be crazy. but I kind of feel like I would rather use Aeronola at the Mariners than Paul Skeens, the way he's pitching right now, against the Padres who are hitting very well. I think it's reasonable.

I don't think, I don't think Skeens has been so bad that it's like, oh, I got to get this guy out of my lineup. You know, it hasn't been like Bryce Miller, for instance. He's not completely crushing you, but he's just, he's not helping either. Right. Yeah. So if you want to go, if you want to go with a hotter hand, with a better matchup.

I can't really dispute it. My instincts, if that's what the choice comes down to, Skeens or Nola for next week, I think I lean Nola as well. So, of course, he's going to allow seven and runs in four innings. Yeah, that is definitely in the range of outcomes for Aaronnola. But it feels like it's kind of in the range of outcomes for Paul Skeens right now, too.

Before we hit our first break, make sure to hit that like button. Subscribe or stay subscribed for the rest of the season until the end of time. We're going to have a lot to talk about in the offseason. Maybe way more than we want, but we'll get there when we get there. Let's take that break. We'll be back right after this.

Welcome back, fantasy baseball today, and let's hit the news and notes. Jacob de Grom will officially start Thursday against the Nationals. He left his previous start with right triceps fatigue. So we'll have some eyes on that start. We'll see what the velocity looks like and how many pitches and how many innings he's allowed to throw. Because even before leaving his previous start, he's been pretty limited lately. and honestly this hasn't been great. So we will have all eyes on Jacob de Grom.

D-Bax GM, Mike Hazen, was non-committal when asked whether Cotel Marte will return this season. Such a bizarre situation with a lack of information. We just have no idea what's going on with Marte. He did not show up for Monday's game in Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Then he was placed on the restricted list, and then he was sent for an MRI on his knee.

so we just don't really know what's going on with Cotel Marte and being on the restricted list you can't even put them on your IL in fantasy which is annoying as well so it's like all right what are we doing with Cotel Marte it's a case by case basis

of course my instinct would be to try as hard as I could to keep him around unless it's a leak so shallow that you know, second base, it's been a position of some surplus this year, I would say.

And if you have another, if you just happened into another really good option there, fine, maybe you can afford to part with Cotel-Marté, but if it's like a typical league, I doubt you're going to find a magical second-base cure off waiver wire. And Cotel-Marty's been a high-end option there for many years. So in theory,

if there's any hope of him coming back, and you're still contending for something, you want to, you want to take that chance that he actually does come back and you're willing to sacrifice a roster spot to do it. But, you know, it depends how many roster spots you're already sacrificing on other things.

It depends how, again, how abundant your waiver wire is, how good your second base alternative is. It depends on a lot of things. But generally speaking, I would try to hold out. Joe Ryan threw a 25 pitch bullpen on Tuesday. He's working his way back from a left glute strain. Edwin Diaz had an MRI on his neck that revealed no additional damage. He is dealing with some inflammation there.

And Tanner Scott picked up yet another save. So two days is closer. Two saves there for Tanner Scott. 66% rostered on CBS. That number should be closer to 100%. Jeremy Payne left early Wednesday after getting hit by a 100-mile-per-hour sinker on his right hand. X-rays came back. negative. Good news. Jack Caglione left early with right ankle

soreness and I did not really see anything after the game, no updates, no quotes, so hopefully it's not too serious for Cags. Vlad Jr. went through a full workout on Wednesday and is targeting a return to the Blue Jays on Saturday. Cody Bellinger could return as soon as Sunday. He's supposed to start his rehab assignment here on Thursday. Samwell Basayo was activated by the Orioles. He started at first base and hit cleanup. He went one for three with a hit by pitch. Daniel Pellellar. They trade Adley Rushman and they bring Basayo back as a first baseman.

It's kind of weird. Yeah. I mean, obviously, just because that's the first game he plays back from the Ion, it's not like he's, it's not like they're declaring him a first baseman now. But it's still weird. It just seemed like he'd be a full-time catcher going forward. Yeah. And they, yeah, technically they're carrying three catchers on the roster because they have Samuel Bessio, Carlos Nervaez, and then Yoel Pozo came in the game. later in that game.

So it's, I don't know. I don't really know what's going on with the Orioles roster management right now. Daniel Palentia will be reinstated from the IL on Friday. It's unclear who will be the Cubs closer the rest of the way. And we know that Jacob Webb has been pitching very well. I believe just yesterday, Scott,

you expect Daniel Palencia to very quickly kind of retake that closer roll, right? That would be my expectation. Can't guarantee it, of course. But they seem pretty thrilled with Palencia in the role before all these injuries came up, and they seem reluctant to move Jacob Webb into the role when Palencia was out. So I would guess their opinions there haven't changed, but I could be wrong. Webb has pitched well, and they may not want to rock the boat too much.

Ben Brown is slated to throw against live hitters Friday at the Cubs facility in Arizona. He was awesome before he suffered a stress reaction in his neck. I don't think there's enough time here for him to get Bill. built up as a starter once again for the Cubs, but I do think he makes for a very, very intriguing sleeper for next season. Again, that is Ben Brown. Jacob Wilson has missed three straight with a sore left shoulder. Nolan Aronado returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with left side discomfort.

The Brewers activated Cooper Pratt from the IL. He is 40% rostered and he was heating up before he got hurt. Scott, where would you rank Cooper Pratt among the rookie shortstop? So Lombard, Anheelha now, Kael and Cole Pepper, where is Cooper Pratt in that mix? No, I put him behind Lombard. I was holding up the one finger like, you know, Dr. Strange and Avengers endgame. But no, I put him second behind Lombard, I think. He was looking really good, though, Cooper Pratt, stealing plenty of bases, getting on base.

Not a lot of power, but those others in that group haven't done much at all. And we will catch you up on what they're doing. a little bit. The Angels reliever Sammy Natera Jr. He is nursing a tight back and his day-to-day. That's why he has not appeared in a game in over a week. Zander Bogart's left early with a right

hamstring injury. Jorge Polanco will have season-ending surgery on his left ankle. Marcelo Meyer could make his Giants debut on Monday and in 70 games this season with the Red Sox he hit just 220 with three homers, three steals. Former top prospect, it has not worked so far in the

majors. Don't really see why it would work out very well in Oracle Park, 18% roster. Do you have any deep league interest in Marcelo Meyer? I have virtually no interest in Marcelo Meyer. I picked him up in an NL only league. That's exactly where I'm looking at him as well. Yeah, obviously he wasn't part of the NL only player pool until recently. And I guess since he was on the IL, others didn't think to pick him up first.

So I have him there, but I'm not expecting much. I think it's telling how quickly the Red Sox gave up on him. Then again, they've been making a lot of short-sighted decisions on the trade market lately. As the Brewers can point out with Kyle Harrison and the Dodgers can point out with James Tibbs and I don't know, maybe Marcel O'Meyer, the Giants will score win there too. But we've seen next to nothing from him now in between both this year, and last in the majors. And last but not least,

the Phillies signed Nestor Cortez to a major league contract. He had surgery last October to repair a tendon tear in his throwing arm and he will have a chance. I don't know how built up he is, but he will have a chance

to make it into the Phillies rotation. No, I guess they called up Andrew Painter recently. I felt like they were using a bullpen game recently, but now it looks like they do have five. So probably more of a relief role than anything for Nestor. Cortez. Would you rather? Here we go. I'm going to pit a couple players up against each other,

and I've got a bunch of these. So let's get into it. Young upside starting pitchers with control problems. And neither was great on Wednesday. But Walbert Arania, five innings, three hits, three runs, seven strikeouts. He did have 14 whiffs on 94 pitches. And Roki Sasaki, who survived Corse Field, five innings for him, seven hits, two runs, six strikeouts to one walk. Both of them did have a lot of whiffs. Sasaki had 18 whiffs and Arania had 14. If I pull up

the schedules for next week, it looks like Arania for two, home against the Guardians, home against the Phillies, and Sasaki, it's one start at the Atlanta Brave. So that could factor into your decision, Scott. Would you rather Robert Arania or Roki Sasaki? Just for next week?

In general. You can answer for both if you want. Well, I mean next week, I'll go with the two-star guy. Irania. I think Sasaki is more talented and has shown it consistently enough over it didn't write down the stretch of time, but it's been close to two months now, right? Sasaki, it's basically been the second half of the season.

Yeah. Which has been the last six-star. A seven-start stretch. Yeah. where he's really lived up to his upside. And so if we're looking beyond next week, whether it's rest of season or next year or dynasty or whatever, I'd rather have Sasaki.

But for next week, Arraniya. All right. Next up, would you rather more young upside-e starting pitchers? A.J. Smith-Schawber, a rough line here in his return, but I think it was a little unlucky. Four and a third innings, five hits, four runs, three walks, three strikeouts. He did have 13th, swissive.

swinging strikes on 75 pitches. 11 of those came on a splitter. He got through four innings, just one run, and then he struggled in his final inning of work. He left with two earn runs and a couple runners on base. The reliever came in and kind of jacked up the line there. He is 29% rostered. Looks like he's in line for two against the Dodgers and the Rockies next week.

And then Jackson Job is the other name, five and a third, one run, three walks, three strikeouts here. One earned runner fewer in two of three starts. The other one, it was six. turn runs. And four strikeouts are less in all three of those. 57% rostered. One start against the raise next week, Scott.

Would you rather, AJ Smith-Shawber or Jackson Job? I don't care for Smith Schaver. See how I threw your curb ball there? A little curbball. I don't know. Like, obviously, I'm just, I'm just

meaming up here and don't take anything I say too literally. But I have been more discouraged than not, I'd say, from Smith Schavers two starts in the majors this year. He had two whiffs total in the first start. That was on about 60 pitches. In this second start, he did have 13 whiffs, as you say, 11 came on the splitter. Zero on the fastball.

Like the fastball is not missing bats at all. Through two starts, but, you know, and it's, now it's a trend because it's two starts. And also the velocity was much lower in this second start than the first start, like on everything. Yeah. So I just don't see any justification to use Smith Shaw for next week, even with two starts. One's against the Dodgers, and you said the other was in Colorado? No, it is in Atlanta against the Rockies. Okay.

Well, that's a little better, but even so. I think we need to see a good start from Smith Schaver in the majors before I'm ready to trust him like that. Now, Jackson Job, I'm not blown away by what he's doing either. He did change his pitch mix in this one through a lot more sinkers, 28% versus 8% previously. It was mostly at the expense of the slider, which was supposed to be a great pitch for him. That's always what the scouting report said. So far, the slider, at least coming into the start,

11% whiff rate, which would be bad for a four seamer, a slider with an 11% whiff rate. That does not sound good. So they're having them lean more into a pitch-to-contact approach, it seemed like, with so many sinkers in this start. You've got a good result, to be fair. I'm just not seeing the upside at the moment. I'm not saying it's gone. I'm not saying Job is never going to live up to his prospect potential, but I'm not seeing the upside right now. And so I kind of want to do neither, but if you're forcing me to pick one, I'll pick Job. I guess, I mean, that is helpful for the listeners

that you just don't really have confidence in either one. So I will accept neither as an answer there. What about for these next two corner infielders and both of them have sound drops? So it's the battle of the sound drops here. Vinny Pasquantino, Vinny Pee! Baby! He is back with a vengeance.

Three for four with a walk, his seventh home run. Three runs, two RBI. The Homer came off of a lefty. Four hard hits. in this game all for over 102 miles per hour. The home run 105.6 EV 427 feet. And I believe he just missed a home run on Tuesday night as well. It was a double off the top of the wall.

So could have been back-to-back games here with a homer. Maybe the hand and wrist are finally healthy for Vinnie P. Who is 70% rostered. And the other name is Josh Bell. One for three with a walk and RBI and a run scored. Not an outstanding game or anything. but the updated August numbers, 361, four homers, and OPS over a thousand.

Scott, who do you like more as a cornerbat? Vinnie P. or Josh Bell? I like Josh Bell because, I don't know, he's actually been good this year, and Vinny Pasquantino, for the most part, hasn't. Maybe we're seeing the start of Pasquantino getting right here. It was his first home run since returning, in those 14 games.

And he has looked better, but Bell's been good enough that I don't see any reason to go away from him. All right. Well, you know, I just, Viti P's is a guy I always want to rue for, so I do hope that he turns things on, and obviously it's only three games,

but he has looked better since returning. And again, yes, hopefully he is finally healthy once again. I mean, even at his best, his career high in OPS is 798, Vinnie Pasquantino. Really? It was technically higher as a rookie, but he played 72 games.

It wasn't over 800 last year? Nope, 798. Wow. All right. I guess we all got sucked into that Team Italy World Baseball Classic sipping the espresso, huh?

Maybe we were sipping a little bit too much Vinnie P. Cool-Lade. How about that? Now, if he is that still, I mean, that was 32 home runs, 798 OPS. Josh Bell's 751 OPS coming into play Wednesday.

So it would be better, but you're asking to be past Guantino to be at his best all of a sudden, rather than what he's actually been for most of this year, which is at his worst. So I think I'd just stick with Bell. Is that, do we have one on the bug counter, Scott? Did we just, did we smash on there?

No, I just picked up my phone for no apparent reason and then set it down clumsily. That's it. All right. Sorry for the thud. Let's continue on with a catcher. Would you rather? Alejandro Kirk State Hot, two for five.

with his seventh home run. Last 22 games, 380 with five homers, 17 RBI. His OPS up over 1,000. And Rafael Flores came on as a pinch hitter and made a big impact. He homered twice, including one of them in the ninth inning to tie the game here. Both homers over 420 feet.

The one in the ninth inning was 110 miles per hour off the bat. And over his last seven games, he's 10 for 23 with five homers and 10 RBI. This would you rather, doesn't seem like it should compare because their roster rates are very different. But if you told me you just wanted to shoot for upside with Flores over Kirk,

I don't think that's crazy either. So would you rather Kirk or Flores? I mean, I got to go with Kirk if we're comparing apples to apples here. Like, it's just, it seems too cute to go with Flores when Kirk is a perfectly stable option who happens to be hot right now.

And so that's even, better. Stable and hot. Flores, though, is interesting. I don't know why he was so bad in the minors this year and has come up looking awesome. I mean, three of his batted balls in this game were, hang on, I made a note of this. Three of his batted balls were, oh, no, it was just the two home runs.

The two home runs were hit 106.4 and 110. The 110 makes it as hardest hit ball of the season. majors or minors. So he's turned it on here, and it's been long enough that, you know, I'm not inclined to dismiss it completely, especially since he was so good in the miners two years ago. But where did it come from?

And where does it go? I think the uncertainty there would lead me to call Raphael Flores just an option for two catcher leagues, where you really don't like your second catcher. I was really hoping we would get the continued lyrics to Kot and I, Joe, there. But Rafael Flores, 9% rostered. If we do, Would You Rathers with other names, like, closer to his roster rate. There was a few that I saw.

Eduardo Valencia, still not playing enough, but he's made an impact in a small sample, too. Who would you take there, Flores or Valencia? Flores. Would you rather? Raphael Flores or Luis Compuissano, who's hit very well, it's not really playing enough. Yeah, so you gave me the answer, Flores.

Rafael Flores or Moises Bayesteros, who's playing a lot, but has done nothing. Yeah, so Flores. Like, you're making it... Clearly, Flores is the best of his class. All right. Those being, what, catchers rostered in less than 25% of leagues?

So let's bump him up a class. How about Flores versus the Marlins guys? Joe Mack and Augustine Ramirez. I'll take Flores over them. Okay. And now I'm interested to see how high we can go. Yiner Diaz at 40% rostered. He's kind of crap.

Oh, I haven't looked at Diaz lately. But you're telling me he's kind of crap. On the season, 252 with eight homers and 66 games? I mean, look, the bottom line is, if you think you have a bad catcher, Flores might be better than bad. So swap them out. If you think you have a good catcher,

I'd just stick with that good catcher because most likely Flores is not that good. But at least there's a chance with him, unlike some of those other guys. All right. Last, would you rather, on the player side, we have corner infielders, deeply corner infielders here.

Charles McAdoo and Andres Chaparro. Charles McAdoo went three for four with two RBI and his first steal. He has started seven of the last nine games for the Blue Jays. a little unsure where he plays if Vlad actually does return this weekend, but having a pretty good season in the minors this year was Charles McAdoo, and Andres Chaparro got a start at DH against a right-handed pitcher.

He typically only plays against lefties, has now started three of the last five against right-handed pitchers, and he went three-for-four with his eighth home run, and his underlying data is pretty good, Scott. So a deep-league corner guy, would you rather Charles McAdo or Andres Chaparro? Very deeply. Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to have to say Macadoo because of the playing time.

Let me double check that. He hasn't quite been playing every day himself. And do you think that he'll have a spot if Vlad returns this weekend? I guess they put Vladie at DH and Okamoto at first and Macadu at third, I guess. They could do that. Isn't Vlad like a gold glove caliber first baseman? Well, yeah, I mean, they could kind of mix it up. But either, like Springer mostly.

They have room at the DH spot to play around. Well, Springer mostly plays DH. I forgot about him. He hasn't really played the outfield anymore. You're right. So I don't really know where Macadoo has appeared as a left fielder during this time he's been up. And they have room in the outfield for him if they want to keep him around. But it's a fair point.

Chaparro Chaparro is interesting I mean he's he clobbered the ball today three batted balls over 104 and since he has played against a couple right handers recently

in the nationals they have some openings after the trade deadline maybe maybe they do give him some looks down the stretch he's already 27 it's not like he's a building block in all likelihood

but he hits the ball hard his walk rate has actually been really good strikeout rate decent polar rate good yeah there's a path to success here I think there is for Macadoo as well Macadu seems like a really good back control guy

who can get into one often enough to be of some value 16 home runs in 89 games of AAA this year but the zone contact rate very impressive about 90%. And good line drive stroke too.

So I like them neither one of them is probably a huge upside guy but they're interesting enough data points here for me to say I like Andres Shapiro and Charles McAdoo. So it really comes down to playing time.

I guess I've talked myself into Shapiro after kind of leaning McAdo at first but clearly it's a thin line. Clearly it's just if you could make a strong enough case that one's going to get more playing time than the other then okay I'll go with the one who I think's going to play more. Yeah.

I think I would lean Chaparro again starting against three of the last five and it's only 28 at bats but he has a 1235 OPS against Ritey so I think the nationals to just throw him out there and see what he could do against both left-handed and right-handed pitching. It doesn't mean that they will do it just because I want them to do it. I also have him in my N-O-only league, so let's go.

Andres Shapiro, let's get some more playing time. And the last, would you rather, Scott, would you rather a bowl of ice cream or a bowl of spaghetti? It feels topical with our conversations later. You know, so I was thinking about this the other day, yesterday, when I said there are worse things you could eat every day than spaghetti. and one of the things I was thinking was ice cream. Ice cream is probably a worst thing to eat every day. And I got in the habit of eating ice cream every day.

And then my cholesterol readings came back high. So I had to break that habit. And it was now I eat ice cream like once a week. But now you should experiment on yourself and eat a bowl of spaghetti every day. Get your cholesterol levels and see if it also goes up. The triglyceride spike. If they don't, then that means it actually is healthier to eat a bowl of spaghetti every day. Well, for me, like, I mean, I think part of this is everybody's body responds in a different way to these conditions.

And in different states of life, obviously, it responds differently. But I like ice cream more. I would rather eat a bowl of ice cream every day. I actually was eating ice cream every day. I was not eating spaghetti every day. Like spaghetti, don't give me wrong, but I'll take the bowl of ice cream if there are no health ramifications. We know which way I'm going, obviously based on yesterday's conversation. I like both a lot too. I would go with the bowl of spaghetti. Give me a little spicy mariner sauce in there as well.

I would text Chris. I feel like he's probably not awake at this point, and I don't want to scare him. But he would have to be the tiebreaker. So perhaps I'll ask him on Thursday and I'll report back on Friday. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll check back in on the prospects, see how they're doing. have some waiver wire leftovers, and we'll get to that right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today, and let's check back in on the prospects, the recent call-ups, and see how they are doing. And Joshua Baez, it's interesting, right? He had the three-homer game and then did nothing until Wednesday,

where he did not start, but he actually came off the bench and made an impact. He went one-for-one with a walk and two steals. The games in between this one and his three-homers, homer game, he went 0 for 17 with seven strikeouts, Scott. So I kind of feel like we're going to see a lot of this potential streakiness from Joshua Baez. Yeah, I mean, the duality of Joshua Baez. I think we've seen it here in this short time.

And I pointed out after the three homer game, as exciting as it was, as much as everyone was right to respond to it like they did, those three home runs came off Matthew Libertor who doesn't throw very hard. Matthew Boyd. I'm sorry, Matthew Boyd, yeah. I had the wrong not hard throwing Matthew left-hander in the NL Central. Matthew Boyd. All three home runs came off Matthew Boyd, and Joshua Baez struggles in particular is with high heat.

So that is a pitcher he should have owned, and he did. And I think he's talented, but will other major league pitchers be better able to exploit his weakness. Well, maybe that's what we've seen since. Maybe it's just baseball and you know, you're supposed to fail more than you succeed. But, uh, but yeah, I think, I think now some doubt has crept in how valuable bias is going to be the rest of the way. Not saying you drop them if you picked him up. It's still a lot to work out here. But it took a while for him to get that fourth hit. Mm-hmm. And then checking back in on the shortstop prospects, George Lumber Bar Jr. He has held up. Honestly, all three have held up so far pretty nicely.

He went two for three with two RBI. He has started each game in 13 games so far. 318 batting average, two homers, one steal in 857 OPS. Kellen Cole Pepper, he went three for four with a run scored. He has started six straight and 10 of 12 since getting called up. And so far he is 11 for 35, 314 batting average with one homer, 804 OPS. And on hell and now, he keeps racking up the hits. Two for four with two singles, nothing else, has started 11 of 13 games since getting called up, and is hitting 3.41 with one homer, seven runs, one steal in 876 OPS. So, Scott, your thoughts so far on these three and has your ranking of the three changed at all?

Lombard, Cole Pepper, and On hell now. I don't think it's changed. I know I had Lombard number one, and he's been the most productive so far, and I think he has the highest upside, so I'm sticking with that. And I know this doesn't matter much, but his defense, I don't know if you've watched or seen any of these numbers, Scott. He already has eight defensive runs saved in 11 or 12. It's, I haven't seen anything like it. It's insane.

It certainly matters for like job security. Yeah. Not that, not that he's hitting a way that would make it insecure. Now in Culpepper, I don't care as much. It's kind of just either of you show me something. I'll prefer you. They're not doing much right now. And I'd drop either for Cooper Pratt.

If somebody made Cooper Pratt available when he first went on the IEL, I know he was expected to miss more time than it seems like he's going to. I don't have much confidence in an hour, Cole Pepper, right now. I was dropping Cole Pepper in some roto leagues, even as deep as you go into the hitter pool. I just needed to make better use to that roster spot. Some waiver wire hitter leftovers here. Anything to see here with these two.

Ryan Walshmitt has looked better since returning to the debacks. He went two for three with two walks and his seventh stolen base. 26 games in the second half, 321, two homers, 15 runs scored, one steel, 848 OPS. Another one, like, he's hitting well, but there isn't enough oomph, you know? We're not getting a lot of power and speed from Ryan Walshmidt. And then Matt McLean has looked better since returning from the IL, 20 games since coming back. He is hitting 238 with three homers, four steals, a 754 OPS. Both are right at 27% rostered.

Anything to see here with either. Ryan Walschmidt, Matt McLean. I don't think there's much to see with McLean. I have been encouraged for the most part by this return for Walshman. He is hitting the ball significantly harder. Hasn't translated to a lot of power yet, but he has been, it looks like he was in a little mini slump before this game. he had been piling up a lot of hits

but yeah he was in a little it was in a rough stretch there overall though I like what he's been doing and I think he's trending up the right direction and I think if as long as the diamond back

stick with him he'll be worth using in five outfielder leagues how would you rank these three Ryan Walshmit Zach Veen and Henry Bolte uh man I feel like I'm picking on Vine which I don't want to feel that way

because I like Zach Vien, but I'm going to go Walsch-Mitt-Bolti Veen. It's just a playing time issue for Vene. It's the main thing. Yeah. I hear you with the playing time. I think I would still put VIN at the top of the list.

I think he still comes into games as a pinch hitter even when he doesn't play start against lefties, but I do think he's going to start against most, if not all righties. And I just think there's more impact in his bat over the other two. So I'll take the slightly lesser playing time,

but perhaps more impact on a per game basis there with Zach Vien. Waver Wire pitcher left over as Clay Holmes was okay against the White Sox, five and a third innings, one run, two walks to one strikeout. The velocity down across the board, that is two starts in a row where the V-Lo has been down here for Clay Holmes. His first start with the Cubs was rough. The last two have been solid. He's at the D-backs next week,

and I think we need to reframe how we view the D-backs, because if there's no Cotel Marte in the lineup, and they've also just been bad against Wrighties this season, I think Clay Holmes at the D-backs could actually be a pretty good start next week. Yeah, that's fine. I don't entirely trust Clay Holmes. He has had two good starts in a row,

basically no strikeouts, velocities down on everything, one to two miles per hour. Is he just getting away with it? Definitely suspicious of that. But if you know, need a streamer. I could think of worse ones. Hopefully you don't need a streamer.

Like, we talk about streamers a lot because it's actionable. But the ideal scenario is you never need to use one, right? I can think of worse one than Clay Holmes, though. Yeah. Would you hold or drop? Dustin May got crushed by the Mariners. Two innings, seven hits, seven runs

allowed in this one. And he did continue to use that cutter more, which seems like a trend here with the Brewers. But it really had nothing working. It had one whiff, 9% and CSW, five hits against that cutter on seven batted balls, despite a 69.8 average exit velocity. So that seemed kind of weird and unlucky for Dustin May. That's the impression I got.

So the pitch selection was very similar to the first two starts with the Brewers, which were very successful. He gave up seven hits. Only one of them was an extra base hit, a double. He had only three hard hit balls. And for the game, not just on the cutter, but for everything, Dustin May's average exit velocity was 76.9, which is really good. So I didn't watch the game. I don't know how these hits looked, but by the data,

sounds like he had a lot of bad luck. And so I would not be jumping ship here. He did have at least there was one single that had a 170 batting average. There was another one that had a 220. expected batting average. Excuse me. Yeah. Another one that was at 290,

so that's a little bit, I mean, not as defensible, but at least two of the hits, you know, had XBAs at 220 or lower. So, yeah,

I think I would be holding on Dustin May. Like, I wouldn't drop Dustin May for Clay Holmes, for example. I mean, an expected batting average

of 290 on a bat at ball is still, you're not expecting that to be a hit. It's the one. that are 500 or higher that you're expecting to be hits. Yeah, so he did have at least three that were, I mean, below 300. XBA. Right.

Yeah. So, are you holding? You might have said that already. Yeah. Yeah. A deeper name here, you mentioned him earlier. Matthew Libertor with a quality start at the red, six innings, three runs, nine strikeouts to zero walks.

He still only had eight swinging strikes here on 100 pitches. He has looked better in August in four starts. 403 ERA, but a 0.90 whip, and over a strikeout per inning lines up for the Orioles and the Pirates next week. Pirates are much better against righties and they are against lefties. So this is kind of like a deep league streamer, but any way you would consider Liberator with Orioles and Pirates next week? I'm going to do it.

Yeah. The ERA still over five. I mean, good for him, but it's, I don't see a lot to, I don't see a lot that inspires confidence here. And then some very deep names. Jose Erkidi was awesome in bulk relief at the Cubs, six shutout innings with eight strikeouts. He had eight swinging strikes on 68 pitches,

and he was pitching pretty well in the minors. 348 ERA 106 whip there for Jose Orkidi. Adrian Houser has been pitching better for the Giants, five shutout innings, three strikeouts. And over his last 11 games, only one of those is a start. So it's mostly relief appearances, but a 150 ERA, a 0.91 whip for Adrian Houser. And then I'll just mention Tugboat, Matt Wilkinson, who got called up.

I don't really understand the point. Like, they called them up to be an opener. He only threw two, he threw two innings. They were shut out. One hit, zero walk, zero strikeouts. He did not have a single swinging strike. But he was a marvel on the mound. He is fun.

He is one to watch for sure. I just don't really get why they didn't let him throw more. in this one, but three very deep league names. Got anything here. Matt Wilkinson, Adrian Houser, and Jose Orkitty. I mean, Erkitti looked really good in this one, and it was the first time he's looked really good all years.

So I'm kind of just want to brush it off. And I did not even spend a second looking into Adrian Houser. So that shows you my level of interest there. All right. Some hitting leftovers. Carson Benj. having himself a strong August, two for four with his 15th home run,

and in the month 311, four homers with a 930 OPS. Pete Alonzo hit a bomb. It should have been two. One for four with his 29th home run. Scott, did you see the replay of the Pete Alonzo foul versus fair home run call

down the line? I did not. You check that out. You let me know what you think. I mean, unless the replay center had replays that, we were not seeing or that I was not seeing because at least on the Yankees broadcast,

every single one looked like it was inside of the foul pole. So I felt like there should have been two home runs for Pete Alonzo here. But he is on a heater, his last 10 games, 19 for 38 with six home runs during that stretch. So you're saying you saw angles that clearly showed it fair? Yes. It's hard to... The problem was it was so far above the foul pole, you know, that it gets into, you know how the camera's positioned,

the angle that the camera's positioned relative to what you're looking at, it can be misleading where, like, you can think, it's just misleading. Camera angles make things misleading when you're having to, when you're having to judge where something is relative to something else. With a foul pole, usually it's not higher up than the foul pole. So you can see if the white goes on the inside of the foul pole, if the little white sphere passes on the inside

or if it passes on the outside because it disrupts the yellow when you're watching the replay, right? The fact that it was so high, I think makes it a little hard to say for sure. And if you're not sure and the initial call was foul, then you probably have to stick with foul. Yeah, there are a couple of different like views here. the one on the Yankee broadcast, it looked clear as day. But then there's another one here from Jacob Calvin Meyer,

who covers the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun, where it looks very foul. So I guess perhaps the replay center was looking at that one. But everyone I saw before that one looked like it was pretty fair. So, you know, I just, I know it comes up when the camera is positioned behind the pitcher's mound in a less than optimal way. It can kind of play tricks on you the way the ball is moving

because our eyes are limited in how we can, and the ways we can measure these things. And so if you're just relying on your eyes and you don't have like a clear giveaway, like again, the white passing over the yellow. I mean, your eyes aren't going to play tricks on you with that. If you're just having to gauge the direction of something on the X axis relative to something on a Y axis and there's space in between them, it's just, you're not going to be very good at gauging that. Yeah.

But also, it's 2026, and I feel like we have the technology to get this right. You know, it's like, is there a chip inside the ball that you could just kind of track the batted ball and see, like, you know, whether or not it was fair? I don't know. It feels like this is a solvable problem in the year 2026. Jordan Walker looks just fine. He went one for four with a walk in his 25th home run. He did struggle out of the gate in the second half, but so far in August, 3.38, three homers, three seals, 940 OPS.

He is awesome. Sal Stewart, also awesome, and he clobbered another homer. That's not the right sound drop. I swear, I changed it. What happened there? I don't know. Yeah, well, I definitely changed it beforehand. I don't know what happened.

There you go. There's your South Stewart, Super Mario. But his 27th home run, and he, Mario, Mario, someone else yelled at me about that. Mario. It is what it is, man. Leads Major League Baseball and RBI. How about that?

South Stewart, 94 of those bad boys. Mm-hmm. For on a bad offense. True that. Josh Naylor is picking things back up, three for five with his 25th stolen base last nine games. He is 15 for 36 with two homers and three steals. The batting average, the steals,

right where they should be, or even better with the steals. But everything else is dreadful for Josh Naylor this year. The home runs, the runs, the RBI, the OPS, everything else down for him. And Jackson, Turyo picking things back up, three for five, this 12th stone base and in August 309, four homers, two steals, 926 OPS for Jackson

Churio. Some pitching leftovers, Michael King took a tough loss at the Mets, six and two thirds, two runs, two walks, four strikeouts. Tage Bradley was okay against the Braves, had been struggling recently, five innings, two hits, one run, seven strikeouts to three walks, and Peyton Toley was just okay against the debacks, five innings, three runs, six strikeouts to two walks. He did throw that curve ball over 10% of the time, so I feel like I always need to point that out for you now, Scott. And the last name here,

what happened at Drew Rasmussen? He got bombed by the Blue Jays, five innings, five runs, five strikeouts to two walks. Any thoughts on Rasperson, Tully, Taj, and Michael King? Yeah, I think Rasmussen's allowed to have a start like this occasionally. They've been so

rare. I wouldn't make anything of it. You say, Tosh Bradley was okay against the Braves. I think he was pretty darn good. Had a 180 ERA, a 100-0 whip, and more than a strikeout per inning in this one. Yeah, but only five innings.

And three walks and five innings is a pretty bad ratio. Well, the walks are the big concern for Bradley because this is now six of his last seven starts where he's had three walks or more. Were you expecting me to do the thing? I did it first. Yeah. It's 5.2 walks per nine during that seven-star stretch, by the way.

It's bad for Taj. Yeah, it's not what you want to see. And I do think it spells trouble in the long run if it continues. It's funny how there's such a clear dividing line between two walks and three and a start, right? If a guy walks two and a start, you don't even notice. If a guy walks three, it's like, mm-hmm. That is true, though. It's, it's, I, yeah, it's so clear that, that distinction between those two integers in that stat.

All right. I did have one other name here, kind of confused by Brandon Fott, who, I mean, on paper, he had a regression start here, five runs over five and two-thirds innings. But eight strikeouts to zero walks, he had 17 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. and look for most of this stretch, it seemed completely unrealistic and not sustainable. But he now has 13 or more swinging strikes in back-to-back starts. So I'm just left wondering, like, I don't know. Is Brandon Fott starting to figure out the whiffs?

I'm kind of confused by that one. I mean, if this is the trade-off, do we want it? Do we want him to figure out the whiffs? He's bad, but he gets whiffs, or he's good and he doesn't get whiffs. So the turnaround happened because of his change-up. And a mechanical change that made the change-up more effective.

In this start, he threw a lot more of the sweeper, which was kind of his old go-to, and it was a better bat-missic pitch, and he missed more bats. But the previous nine starts on the strength that's changed up, he had a 115 ERA, and, you know, gave up five run runs in this one, even though he got more with.

I don't know maybe the perfect version of thought, the one that combines the best of everything doesn't exist. But I wouldn't consider this start a step in the right direction necessarily. All right. Yeah, I mean, it's weird. I hate whenever we do that too or I do that. It's like a guy goes on this run where he gets really good results with his IRA and whip, but he doesn't get strikeouts or it doesn't look sustainable.

And then the first start where he gets blown up, It's like, oh, he got whiffs now, and then it's like, well, I can't buy into that start because it technically wasn't a good one. So it's just, I don't know. Weird, weird run here for Brandon Fott. The call to the bullpen for the Dodgers, I mentioned another day, another save for Tanner Scott, who is 66% rostered. And he is the top reliever priority right now in leagues where he's available. For the Giants, Dylan Smith entered in the eighth inning with a one-run lead. He tossed two scoreless innings with five strikeouts, and he picked up his third save.

Seems like the guy for the Giants right now. For the Mets, Kodi Senga got the ninth with a three-run lead. He allowed a run on a walk in two hits, but picked up his fourth save. And Scott, did you see the entrance for Kodi Senga? I did see that one. Yes, I did. Beat it, baby.

Yeah. I like that. They had an image of him on the big video scoreboard of him wearing the red Michael Jackson jacket while the song was. starting, which was just hilarious. And Mr. Met was jamming out. Brusting some moves out there. I've had a couple other dancers. Yeah. Like, you know, they tried to do it up, which tells me

that that may be the clearest indication, in fact, that Kodi Senga is the closer. Yeah, oh, no, he's the guy. It's just, is Devin Williams returning or not? That's the only question we have left. I mean, the Mets aren't really playing for anything. So, like, yeah, why not just build up Kodi Senga as a high leverage reliever, and maybe he's part of the plans for next season, or you can trade him to someone else. And you can be like, hey, look at this guy. He's an awesome closer, and who wants Kodi Senga?

So, there you know. Kodi Senga. So, you know, we told, wait, now I'm getting the lyrics wrong. I had it, and now I lost it. The joke's not going to work anymore. I was talking with a couple friends. I'm like, why does he come out to Ghostbusters? It is kind of weird because, like,

I guess technically he throws the ghost fork and so he is defeating opponents with his ghost fork pitch. But I mean, isn't that that's just like a clear opportunity, ghost busters for for Kodi Senga? So Kodi Sanga is running on the field and it's playing. They told him, don't you ever come around here. That is the message they're sending to Devin Williams. Is that a lyric from Beat It? That's how the song starts.

You ever heard the song before, Frank? I know the song. I don't really be it. I wasn't sure I was going to get the words exactly right. I don't pay attention to the lyrics. They told them, don't you ever come around here? I guess that would make sense. Yeah.

And that was your- That's what they're telling Devin Williams. Don't you ever come around here? We got Kodi Senga now. And that was your best Adam Azer impression. Probably one of the only times I've ever heard you sing on this show. That was pretty good. I sing all the time.

Come on. For the Royals, Stephen Cruz, got the ninth with a four-run lead. He gave up two runs, but he did close it out, and he does look like the high-es-end. Leveraged name there for the Royals. For the White Sox, Grant Taylor got the ninth with a three-run lead. He walked one. He struck out two for his seventh save.

For the pirates, Mason Montgomery was used in the ninth, with the pirates down one run at the time. He gave up two hits. He struck out two. He kept it scoreless, and the pirates wound up winning the game, and Luke Weaver actually pitching the eighth. So yet another reminder that Mason Montgomery looks like he is kind of taking over that ninth inning role for the pirates.

For the Tigers, Kenley Jansen got the ninth with a one-war. run lead. He allowed two solo homers. He took his fifth loan save and his fifth loss. It's unfortunate because I believe he's nine or 10 saves away from 500. He just looks cooked, man. Kenley Jansen, he just

I know he had a run recently where he got some saves but overall, I mean, he's looked pretty cooked this season, so I hope he can latch on at least a little bit longer to get to 500 saves. For the twins, Yowendra Gomez, clean inning for his 20th save. For the Reds, Emilio Pagan, gave

up a two-run homer but was able to lock down his 16th save. For the Phillies, Yohan DeRan picked up his 28th. For the Yankees, David Bednar picked up his 29th. For the Reyes, Brian Baker picked up his 36th. For the Mariners, Andres Munoz picked up his 23rd. And for the Astros, Josh Hader picked up his 18th save. Who we haven't really talked about, but Josh Hater has been amazing ever since returning from injury.

So that he has. Good for Josh Hater. It's one of the good ones. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we have Michael McGreevy at the Reds, Brady Singer, Home Against the Cardinals, Landon Roop at the Guardians,

Shane Bieber at the Rays, Gage Jump at the Royals, Grant Holmes at the White Sox, Anthony K against the Braves, Robert Gasser against the Mariners, Andrew Alvarez at the Rangers, Grayson Rodriguez at the Astros. So, did we talk about this one?

I guess we did. I said Landon Rup. I don't remember Gage Jump being on this list before, but... He is a new addition. New addition to Thursday. I mean, it's... It's boom or bust, you know?

It's fortune favors the bold here with Gage Jump, but you like the favorable matchup there, Kansas City. And so I might be willing to risk it. It's not like Rup is entirely bankable himself. So Landed Rup, Gage Jump, and then Michael McGrievey, Brady Singer against the Cardinals, McGree's opponent is okay,

and Robert Gasser against the Mariners is also okay. So that's five decent options on a light slate. Can't complain about that. I would go Roup McGreevy Singer as this kind of like the high floor guys, but I do agree.

I would have gauge jump as a fourth option if you just want to, if you want to shoot for some strikeout upside there at the Royals. On Friday, we have Sean Mania at the White Sox, J.T. Gin at the Astros. Joey Cantillo, but he's at the Rockies, unfortunately, Nick Ladolo at the Debacks,

Connor Prelip is at the Padres, Bubba Chandler is at the Dodgers, Hunter Dobbins at the Phillies, and Hayden Wesneski Home Against the Athletics. Yeah, this is tougher. JT. Ginn at Houston, nice high floor option there. I guess Sean Minai at the White Sox,

though I like that start two, that term two starts a good. when he eliminated the sinker and got a ton of strikeouts and then he didn't follow up by doing that. And his next start, so I'm not sure he's actually on the right track, but it has been a solid run. So Manaya at the White Sox would be my second choice.

Distant third would probably be Hunter Dobbins at Philadelphia. I don't have a lot of confidence in Nick Lodolo right now. The results have been okay, I think, his last one or two. Last one, but at the D-backs, no Catelle Marte, it does help. If I had to choose a third, I think I'd probably go with Lidolo, but it is very risky. So I agree with Ginn and Mania as the top two for Friday.

We are going to wrap there for Scott. 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 again tomorrow. Bye-bye. And welcome to Plutofo. If you know the name of the movie you'd like to see,

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