Fantasy Baseball Today - Acuña Replacements, Gerrit Cole's Bounce Back, & Waiver Adds! (7/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

Well, this sucks. Ronald Acuña is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL (3:27). How might this affect his draft stock next year? Who are some possible replacements via waivers or trade? ... Pablo Lopez made history on Sunday (13:55). Should you add Triston McKenzie? ... Gerrit Cole bounced back in a major way in Houston (19:18)! ... News and notes (26:23)! Yu Darvish and Ian Anderson went to the IL. ... Prospect updates (32:01)! We had two catchers called up, the MLB Futures game and the first round of the MLB Draft on Sunday. ... Let's rank a bunch of waiver wire starting pitchers (40:30). ... Which hitters stood out this weekend (47:25)? ... What's our Worryometer level for Joe Musgrove, Wander Franco, and Framber Valdez (51:12)? ... We wrap up with some bullpen recaps from the weekend (59:30). ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  To nominate Fantasy Baseball Today for The People’s Choice podcast awards, go to podcastawards.com/app/signup/ and then toggle down the "Sports" category. Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Center field. What is magnificent? Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality.

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam. And just like that, the first half of the 2021 season is in the books. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, July 12, Frank Stanfield. joined by Chris Towers. Here to recap another wild weekend of baseball. Unfortunately, unfortunately. Ronald de Cunia has torn his ACL. We will try our best to find you some replacements,

but there is no replacing Ronald de Cunia. Garry Cole bounced back in a major way. We'll talk some prospects with the futures game and the MLB draft on Sunday and all the waiver wire options and much more. What's going on, Chris? How was your weekend? Pretty good. I watched a lot of soccer.

or football. You're a big soccer guy? I know, no. I like soccer. When it's on, I watch it. I did flirt with becoming an EPL fan. That's the English Premier League, for those of you who don't know.

I became a fan of Everton for about seven weeks. But you have to wake up real early on a Saturday to watch the EPL, and I just couldn't keep up with it. But, you know, when there's a big match, on match is what they call games there. I like to, you know, watch watch one. I was rooting for Messi. It was nice to see him finally get

one. I'm always rooting for like the all time great who needs to get one off their back. Me too. I was rooting for Messi as well. So that was nice to see. It's like we're so dumb about sports. And it's like oh, he hasn't won an international. Like the guy on the broadcast was like, this cements his place

as the greatest player of all time. It's like so like if they had lost to one, he wouldn't have been the greatest player of all time? Like this one game, it's stupid. Yeah, especially,

really good. Not that, you know, people don't want to hear us talk about soccer, but soccer is a very, like, team-oriented sports. So no matter how great your best player is,

I mean... And he's very small. Yeah. He's a very small little soccer guy. Sure is. Very busy weekend as well here for me, Chris. I went to a driving range for the first time on Friday.

Oh, how to go? It was actually surprisingly well. I bought some golf clubs because a bunch of my buddies are into it. I don't know if there's like a midlife thing that everyone goes through, like, as they approach 30 years old. But it was very fun. So if you ever want to go, Chris, I have clubs now. So we can, we can hook this. I go golfing

about once every five years. And it's terrible. Except if I get within like the 70 yards from the pin range, for some reason, I am like really good at chipping and nothing else. So like from that range, I'm pretty good. It seems like it. It takes me six. shots to get there and then six more shots to finish the hole. That seems like a very unique skill set to have in golf. I haven't been to an actual course yet. So I'm putting that off for a little bit. I'm going to go to the range a few more times. Let's hit up the driving range on a Friday. Let's do it. I am down, man. I am down. Let's do it. But before we do that, let's talk about Ronald de Cunya. Unfortunately, as a little more serious. Yes, very serious. Ronald de Cunia Jr. tore his ACL will miss the remainder of the season.

you can indeed drop him in redraft leagues. We had someone email in and ask if they should hold onto Ronald de Cunia as a good luck charm on their team. If you have unlimited IL spots, sure, why not? There's no harm in holding onto Ronald de Cunia, but any other league where you have finite IL spots and bench spots, you can drop Ronald Acuna. He was amazing this year, batting 283, 24 homers, 17 seals,

the number four overall hitter in Roto to this point. 4.2 fantasy points per game was actually third most among hit. So we normally view Ronald de Cunia as someone who's better in a Roto league. He was actually better this season in head-to-head points in terms of ranking among hitters than he was in road. He walks a ton now. Yeah, he's amazing. Like there's nothing he can't do. He's cut down a strikeout rate.

Batting average up over 280. The guy was giving you everything that you could ask for. And then some. Jeff Passon of ESPN did report that Ronald Lucuna is expected to miss nine to 10 months, which brings us to April, May of next year. So there is a chance to. he misses part of the season, the beginning part of the season for next season, Chris. Do you think that that will affect his draft stock at all when it comes to 2022 drafts?

So I was trying to find another example of an outfielder who tore their ACL. And the most recent one I could think of was Ronald Ocuna. I'm sure that Andrew McCutcheon. I'm sure there have been other examples. I mean, technically Ronald Ocunia is the most recent one. Andrew McCutcheon in 2019, Tor is ACL in like beginning of June. about a month earlier. And he would have been ready to play by like the end of April.

So obviously every player is different. Andrew McCutcheon was 33 when that happened. Ronald Kuhn, is 23 or 24. So, you know, there's, there's no saying that it'll be the same.

But yeah, I think you probably have to proceed at this point as if he will miss at least some of next season. And it's hard to say what kind of impact that's going to have on the speed element of his game. Because, you know, if Ronald was.

Kuna, let's say he's a 20 steel guy next season. He's really valuable, but he's not as good of a hitter as Vladimir Guerrero or Juan Soto. So, you know, I think it probably, I think it definitely moves him probably out of the top two rounds and probably further than that. It's so hard to say right now, but my guess is probably in like the 30 to 40, 40, range is what I would think just off the top of my head. So I'm trying to think of the most recent example of a stud hitter that was going to start the year on the IEL and Francisco Lindor is coming to mind from I believe it was 2019, 2018 or 2019 when he started the year on the aisle with a calf injury.

And we kind of had similar concerns because they were like, well, is it going to affect his speed and ability to run? And he was actually still awesome when he returned that year. I think he missed like the first two or three weeks or whatever it was. and he was still like a second third round pick. So I think when it's all set and done, if we have, you know, it's all guessing at this point, but if he's expected to miss like the first month,

Ronald Lucunya for next year, I think he's probably still going to be like a late first, early second round pick, but that's just my hunch at this point. So maybe I'm just being a little bit more aggressive there. The Braves lineup on Sunday without Ronald Kunia. Ari, Adria was leading off against the right-handed pitcher in Pablo Lopez.

And I think this also secures that Orlando Arcea's playing time will be safe in left field. He was called up recently more on him in a little bit. Drew Waters, who we saw play in the futures game on Sunday, has been scuffling in the minor league. So I don't think that they're going to rush

his timeline as a result of this. So I think they're kind of just rolling with who they got right now. Maybe this makes the Braves more aggressive around the trade deadline. Maybe someone like Starling Marte becomes available with the Miami Marlins. I don't know if they want to trade them

within the division, but that's just something that came to mind. Obviously a possibility there for the Atlanta Braves. So some possible replacements. Who are we looking at here? Again, there's no replacing Ron Lucunya, but you don't need me to tell you that. And head said, Points League.

These are some outfielers that are available between 65 and 70% of CBS League. So obviously, Points League's a little bit shallower. You only start three outfielders there. Brendan Nimmo, 67% rostered. Andrew Benintendi, who had a big game this weekend. 68% rostered. Alex Kiroloff, 68% rostered as well for the Minnesota Twins.

Seems like he's coming around a little bit with the power. And then Andrew Vaughn. Another one coming around, 63% rostered, hit a double dong on Sunday. Chris, of these replacements in a head-to-head points league, who is your favorite? Brandon Nimmo, Andrew Benintendi, Alex Kirloff, Andrew Vaughn. I think Nimmo, if I need a for sure starter, just his plate discipline and the fact that he hits at the top of the lineup should be super valuable. But I don't mind any of those four. I do like Ben-intendi more in a five outfielder, Roto League, because he does run.

I think he's a good pickup there. but you know I would probably rank them Nimmo Vaughan Keriloff and the other Benintendi I think that's how I would go for a points league yeah I think I would take Brendan at Nimmo as well his game is just so friendly for head to head points he walks so much

leading off for the meds should see a ton of at bats and that volume obviously is very helpful in points league so I think I would go to Nimmo first might take Kirloff second there but with the way Andrew Vaughan is playing. Yeah, he was hitting against the Baltimore Orioles coveted pitching staff this weekend, so that definitely helped prop up the numbers there. But then I think I would go Vaughan and Andrew Benintendi in that order. But I'm with you. I like all four of them. I don't see any issues. In a roto or a head-to-a-tad categories league, so this one might be a little bit deeper.

Akeo-Baddu, 50% rostered. Had a big game on Sunday, two-for-five with his sixth home run. Kike Hernandez, 43% rostered. Last 15 games, 278 batting average, and five home runs. Miles Straw, 46% rostered. If you need speed, he has 13 steals on the season. And then Hesu Sanchez, who we talked a lot about recently, 32% rostered. He fell just a home run short of the cycle on Sunday, had two batted balls over 105 miles per hour exit velocity.

But do Kike Hernandez, Miles Straw, Jesus. So this is if we're going a little bit deeper than the last group. I think it depends what you need. If you really need the stolen bases that Ocuna was providing, I think Straw is the pit. Otherwise, I would probably go but do Sanchez and Enrique Hernandez, as he's likely known in your leagues.

Yeah, that's what I would go with. All right. And then in deeper leagues, these are all names that are rostered in under 10% of CBS leagues. Orlando Arcea, which I mentioned, he's been hitting pretty well for the Atlanta Braves since being recalled former top prospect with the Milwaukee Brewers. Spoke about him last week with Scott.

Arcea was lifting the ball more in the minor. this year and having a really nice season in the minors as well at AAA. Brian Goodwin, who went four for five with a home run on Saturday with the White Sox. He's been hitting right in the middle of their lineup. Adam Engel has five hits, two homers, and a steal over his last three games since returning from the IL. And in your favor, Chris, Oscar Mercado, went three from four with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. That's a home run and a stolen base. He added four RBI.

Do you have a favorite here? Orlando Arcea, Brian Goodwin, Adam Engel, and Oscar Mercado. Honestly, probably Mercado or Arcea. Mercado does have the stolen base potential, which I think is what makes him most interesting. He was someone I liked a lot as a very deep sleeper before the season, and then he got sent to the minors. So, you know, I'm not guaranteeing anything with him, but I think he probably has the most interesting skill set for, you know, any category-based league for sure. Yeah, and these are, again, deep leagues. We're talking 15-Team Roto.

I've seen some of these guys available in my 15 team Roto League. So if you are desperate in that type of format, those are a few names that you can look at there. If you lost Ronald Acuna, we'll just give you each a trade target in the outfield too. I mentioned Teoscar Hernandez last week. I'm sticking with that. I don't think that his value is going to be too high

to go out and try and acquire him right now, the underlying numbers. We spoke about the great the season for Teoska Hernandez, better plate discipline, 24% strikeout rate, the best of his career. and when he's making contact, he's still hitting the ball really, really hard, does have a little bit of a power speed combination there as well.

That is Tiaska Hernandez. Chris, anyone come to mind for you, a trade target in the outfield? Yeah, I mean, the thing about it is because there's no replacing Ronald de Cunia, I think the best thing that you could do would probably be to try to trade for one of these high-impact players

who's currently injured, try to trade for them at a discount. So, you know, I would say, Catel Marte, you can probably get him super cheap. Don't know when he'll be back. Byron Buxton, kind of the same thing. And Luis Robert, actually. We haven't talked a lot about him, but he was cleared to begin baseball activities a couple of weeks ago.

And he actually could go on a rehab assignment before the end of July. So, you know, if he's back in early August, we know Luis Robert, we were drafting him as a, you know, a top 35 pick because of that speed power combo. and he does have Ronald Ocunae-esque potential at the very least. So I think he's definitely someone worth training for for cheap. If you're looking for someone who can help you out right now, you know, I still think we haven't seen the best of Randy or Rosarena. I think he's been pretty good for fantasy, but I think he could be in for a big second half.

I mean, we saw how hot he can get last season. He's definitely a guy with some speed potential as well. Luis Robert, 69% roster. on CBS as well. So if you play in any shallower leagues, you might be available if you just want to pick him up and add him. I actually had a 15-team Roto League

where Fab already ran and he was available in a $1,000 budget. He went for $8,000, which sounds super low, $8 out of a $1,000 fat budget, but this is a league that doesn't have IL spots, so it's a little bit harder to stash guys in that type of format.

All right, so Ronald de Cuneo, unfortunately, I hope he returns to the same skill level, the player that we've come to know and love because it honestly, the game is just so much better with a healthy Ronald LeCunia in it. 100%. Let's take a look at a few of the other big standouts from the weekend. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh my goodness gracious.

All right, Chris, where would you like to start? You know, you don't have to say, oh my goodness gracious. She's going to say it for you. That's true. It's the whole point of the drop. How about Pablo Sanchez? Sorry. Pablo Sanchez is the kid from backyard baseball. Pablo Lopez.

Legend is the starting pitcher for the, oh, one of the best athletes of all time. Yes, legend. Pablo Lopez is the starting pitcher for the Miami Marlins, who set an MLB record today with nine straight strikeouts to open his start

against the Braves. You know, it's the Braves with that Ronald Acuna, but this is still a pretty good lineup. Like, he had to strike out Ozzy Albies and Freddie Freeman. That's pretty tough to do. His changeup looked amazing today.

It looks amazing most of the time. It's a really, really good pitch. And I think, you know, he ultimately ended up allowing 300 runs in six innings. But, man, that was really impressive to watch. He was dialed in. And, you know, we're midway through the season a little bit more, I guess, the unofficial midway point. He's got 111 strikeouts in 101 innings.

He is sporting a 303 R.A. He's a top 24 pitcher for me. I don't know about you or Scott. but he's there for me. Yeah, so I actually just updated my starting pitcher ranks earlier today, and I have him right around that range. Let's see where. Yeah, I'm at SP 25, and I have one spot behind Framber Valdez,

and we'll talk about him in a little bit, but maybe with the way Valdez is pitching, I could drop him down a little bit and get Papa Lopez inside my top 24 as well. The change-up is filthy. You're right, Chris. And I think I said this last year, kind of comping it to a Luis Castillo light change-up, it is that nasty.

It is a filthy pitch, an awesome pitch to watch with Pablo Lopez's change up there. And I don't want to put a cap on what his upside can be because he's still just 25 years old. But I kind of just view him as a Jose Barrios type pitcher at this point, right? Where he's going to give you a load of mid-3s ERA,

solid whip, strikeout per inning. I don't know that he's ever going to get much better than that, just kind of given his repertoire and what he offers. But even if he doesn't get back, better, that's still a really, really good pitcher. A borderline SP2, high end SP3, whatever you want to call it. But Pablo

Lopez is kind of just settling in there as a really, really viable fantasy option. Yeah, I think he's probably a little better than Barrios. Berrios will give you more volume, but Pablo on a perning basis, I think, at least is better. All right. Oh my goodness

gracious for me from this weekend. We had a pitchers duel in Cleveland, and a pretty unlikely one, Tristan McKenzie up against Brad Keller. And I want to focus mostly on Tristan McKenzie here, who had an awesome season last year, came back this year. We didn't really know what to expect in terms of the innings and the limitations on him because he's dealt with so many injuries in his career.

And he was just walking everybody this season. Something he's never done at the minor league level, at the major league level. Comes out on Friday, seven shutout, one hit, one walk, nine strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on 85 pitches and the velocity way up in this one. Fastball velocity up 1.7 miles per hour from his. season average. Again, this is Tristan McKenzie. The walks mentioned were way up, but last season, 3.24 ERA, a 0.90 whip for Trisemke.

35% rostered, he's not a must add, Chris. But I think anywhere where you have the ability to kind of just take a shot on someone, maybe in a deeper league based on his roster rate 35%. I kind of just want to add him and see where he goes from here. I don't even know if he's going to remain in the Cleveland rotation, but after a start like this, I'm super intrigued. Yeah, and the thing about McKenzie and what I liked about him coming into the season as a sleeper was just the fact that he was really solid last season, 324 ERA, 33.1% K rate. And that was his first time pitching since, I believe, 2018.

He almost went exactly a year between pitching in a minor league game and his major league debut. And the velocity was up in this start. And that's a good sign because that was a, that was a. ultimately what, you know, troubled him late last season, ultimately sent him to the bullpen, was his velocity fell and he, you know, just they're not, still not sure whether he can hold up as a starter, basically. So, you know, if we can see more starts like this, I think there's a world of talent there for Tristan McKenzie. Yeah, and he's a very unique prospect because you watch him pitch and he's six foot five, 165 pounds. That's right. Six foot five, 165. The guy,

I believe his nickname is sticks because he's so skinny. But yeah, he's just like a super interesting, unique player. And he's fun to watch. So it was nice to see him get back on track there. Again, deeper leagues maybe take a shot and just see where it goes. If you're playing a shallower league, throw him on the scout team and see where this goes with Trista McKenzie. Brad Keller, I mentioned on the other side, seven and two thirds, one run, four walks, nine strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes on 114 pitches.

It was a great start for him. But I think at this point, we kind of know who Brad Keller is. There's a lot of inconsistencies there. He'll give you a start like this every now and then, but I don't really think there's much to see with Brad Keller. I do think there was much to see with this guy. Maybe you heard of him. Garrett Cole, who turned in his best start as a Yankee,

and it was in his return to the Houston Astros. Complete game. Shutout for Garrett Cole. Three hits, two walks, 12 strikeouts. He did have just 13 swinging strikes on 12 pitches, yada, yada. That's a 10% swinging strike rate. So that's not great. He was still started in 89% of league.

So I'm happy that you listen to Chris and you listen to Scott. You didn't listen to me because I was definitely the one that was worried most about Garic Cole. And it turns out, Chris, that we shouldn't have been worried about Gary Cole. Well, yeah, my thing the whole time has just been, you know, he's not in that like tier of two or tier of three. If you have a healthy Shane Bieber anymore, you know, there's a tier of one at the top. But then I think he's right there with, you know, Max Scherzer and. you Darvish and a couple other guys and Brennan Woodruff. And those guys occasionally have bad starts.

Max Scherzer had a bad start in his most recent one. Gave up a grand slam to a relief pitcher. Things happen. What makes you in that tier of one or three is those bad starts should be pretty rare. I don't think they'll be quite as rare for Garrick Cole moving forward just because I think he's going to be a little less effective than he was before. But like I said last time we talked about it, he still throws 98. You know, he can reach 100. He's still a big dude who can throw a ton of pitches and get a ton of strikeouts and get a ton of swinging strikes.

So even if he's a little less effective or I think more, more accurately, the margin for error is a little smaller than it was before when he was presumably using some sort of grip enhancer that made his pitches slightly more effective or much more effective. who knows. But I still think there's a very, very good chance. He's one of the five best pitchers in baseball moving forward. And that's how I have him ranked. I still have him number two before this. Yeah. I think I probably overreacted a little bit to him.

But I got him back up to SP3, I think it is. I have just Scherzer and Jacob de Grom ahead of Garrett Cole. Did you actually see the whole like confrontation between him and Aaron Boone? Like Boone came out. There was one batter left. It was Euron Alvarez coming up with like a man on first. Do you think they like stage that or something? Because I don't know, it seems a little ridiculous to me.

Uh, I mean, I would assume the manager knows his player well enough to know there's no way Garrett Cole is coming out in that situation. Like, yeah, you let him start the inning above 110 pitches or whatever it was. That's what, gonna let him finish it. That's what was so crazy about this, right? Like, 129 pitches. This was a throwback complete game. Like, we're not used to seeing stuff like that anymore.

So I hope in the long run, it doesn't, you know, turn around to a- He's probably fine, you know, just maybe, throws 85 in the next one. It's probably fine. Yeah. And apparently, this was a story too that came out afterwards. He was sick as a dog midweek in Seattle. He had to get fluids through an IV apparently. So they almost left him in Seattle, right? Yeah. It was crazy. Imagine that. Like they go to play against the Houston Astros and Garikol somehow just doesn't start in Houston. Like that would have been a huge storyline. And by the way, so much drama in that series for like no reason. The Astros conveniently, I don't know if you

saw this, Chris. They gave away Replica 2019 AL championship trophies and rings in the series that they're playing against the Yankees, whom, you know, they beat the Yankees in that series obviously back in 2019. Aaron Judge Gary Sanchez hit home runs over the weekend. They're shaking their jerseys.

They're mocking Jose Al Tuve. And then with all the karma, Jose Al Tuva hits a three-run, walk-off home run on Sunday and like rips his jersey off. Guy is like super jacked, by the way. For like a little dude, he's jacked. I mean, yeah, he's a professional athlete. Yeah, I'm, I'm not that.

So how do I get there? No, I'm not a professional athlete. I mean, look, y'all got to get over this like, oh, Jose L Tuve won the MVP. It should have been like, whatever. It was a really close race. Get over it. It's fine.

Jose Al Tuve is awesome. Stop hating. He is, he is. But like, the whole, it was super petty of the Ashro to do like the whole like championship. Of course it was. That's great. I love it.

It was a great series of baseball notes to watch just in general. Before we hit the news and notes, just want to welcome a new podcast to the CBS Sports family. Just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. Attacking Third will cover the U.S. Women's National Team as they aim to capture gold as well as the NWSL at least three times per week, making it the most comprehensive podcast in the space.

Join host Sandra Herrera and Lisa Roman as they bring you match previews, recaps, exclusive player interviews, and more. Download and follow Attacking Third, wherever you find this podcast, We've told you multiple times already, but our live YouTube Q&A stream is back. Monday, the day that you are listening to this

at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, we will be acting as your pre-game appetizer for the Home Run Derby. We're going to have a little bit of a derby draft as well. Chris and myself, we're going to be going up against each other. So it should be a lot of fun. If you're watching this video on YouTube right now, drop a comment with who you think

is going to win the Home Run Derby with your Twitter handle, one person who picks the winner will receive a free one-year subscription to Sportsline, our gambling, and DFS service. That is a $100 value, which you will earn for free. Again, don't miss out, just leave a comment

and make sure you attach your Twitter handle on this video. And speaking of programming, this week, we will still have a podcast every day. We're going to be doing some fun stuff. The all bus team from the first half, the all breakout team, take some more questions,

we'll have a mailbag, talk about some potential, trade candidates for the actual MLB trade deadline and how that could affect fantasy. And on Monday, busy week, actually, you would think, you know, there's no baseball on. It should be, you know, a less busy week. But I'm doing a... I sure thought it was. I thought so, too.

We've got the Welsh coming on on Monday as well. We're going to do a video recapping the first round of the MLB draft for those of you who are in Dynasty Leagues. And already looking forward to first year player drafts should be a lot of fun. News and notes, you do have to point one thing out. What you got? Before we move on. Would you like to know the last time a pitcher threw at least 129 pitches in a start?

I'm going to assume it didn't. Did it happen this season? No. It did not happen last season. It was May of 2019. Would you like to know who it was? Garikov. Because this just ties the whole thing back together.

Oh, Justin Verlander. No. Garikull. No. Mike fires. Oh, the whistleblower himself. Yeah. Interesting.

Yeah. It's been a while. they let a pitcher go that deep. It was honestly, I was super pumped up. It's fun to watch that kind of start. I tweeted out of profanity. I'm sorry, guys. I saw that.

You said a bad word. I was a little intoxicated. I was very hyped up. I was very hyped up. Definitely hyped up. News and notes from Sunday, you Darvish had an awful start on Thursday, but it was revealed afterwards that he was pulled with back and hit tightness.

He was placed on the aisle Sunday, retroactive to July 9th. How worried are you about this one, Chris? I don't know. Have we have the, has he had any MRI done or? It's like, that's, that's really like, if he's not going for an MRI, then like this was, this was probably just a, you know, or this could have been just a, we need an extra. We want an extra roster spot. You is a little banged up. So, you know, we got an extra roster spot for the last three days of the first half.

and then he could conceivably come back and not miss a turn in the rotation. He could be back on the first Monday after the All-Star break. So, you know, it's entirely possible that was what was happening. I don't know for sure, but, you know,

if he's not going for an MRI, that should make you feel pretty okay about it. Yeah, they're just dubbing it left hip inflammation for now, so it doesn't sound all that serious. I mean, like, you get into your 30s, you just turn 30s, so you don't know yet, but sometimes your hips just inflame.

Dude, I'm telling, just on fire. I went to the driving range Friday for the first time. I woke up Saturday. I was planning to go back on Saturday. I'm like, yeah, I'm going back. This was awesome. I woke up, my back was shredded.

I was like, what happened to me? You never use those muscles. Yeah, that's exactly. Those golfing muscles. My mom called me, she's like, are you okay? I heard your back hurts. I'm like,

I just played golf for the first time. I don't think it's anything that serious. Brian Snitker said that Ian Anderson experienced some shoulder soreness during his start on Sunday will likely require a, stint on the IEL. Kind of wonder if this is like a, all right,

let's limit Ian Anderson without saying we're limiting Ian Anderson kind of thing, but that wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, I mean, he was not very effective on Sunday, so maybe, you know, there is a little bit more there. Alex Bregman said he expects to go on a rehab assignment in mid-July. He is on the IL with a quad strain. Zach Granky was removed after just four innings on Saturday due to right shoulder so. Apparently it's been bothering him for the past month or so.

Pablo Lopez, we already spoke about that, set the MLB record, nine straight strikeouts to open Sunday start. Ryan Mountcastle left Sunday's game after being hit on the left arm by a pitch. Hope he's alright because he has been red hot over the past month or so. Zach Gallen threw a 44 pitch bullpen session on Saturday. He's on the IL with a hamstring injury and could be back shortly after the All-Star break. Carlos Carrasco could rejoin the Mets before being fully stretched out. Manager Luis Rojas had this to say.

We were thinking of him potentially joining us, not being at a full stretch, not being at the six innings or five so he could join us even before that. So let's see how this week goes. And then we'll share more on what the plan is, which seems like not the best idea to kind of like rush back someone like Carlos Carrasco, given everything he's dealt with this season in particular, but the Mets are pretty desperate for pitchers. So maybe that's why they're going down this route. Luis Severino tossed a couple bullpen sessions within the last week and his next step

will be facing live hitters. He's trained his groin back in June while on a rehab assignment. Vidal Bruhan was recalled Friday, but didn't start until Sunday, which I find kind of curious here, Chris. Are you worried about playing time being an issue for Vidal Bruhan? I don't really know why they would call him up if they're not going to play him. So I found it kind of weird. It is strange, but this is the raise. They do strange things sometimes.

Sometimes they call guys up and don't play them every day. I think that was the case when the Lao slash Lowe's made their debut. in, uh, was that 2019 or 2018? There was a lot of like, man, this guy should be playing more. You know, them and the, the Dodgers, they're willing to call guys up and not play them every day. If they think it's going to help them win games, um, you know, whether that will be the case moving forward, I think remains to be seen. But, you know, it could be like a, hey, get your feet wet. We'll, we'll really kick it off to, to start the second half kind of thing too.

Mitch Garver is closing in on a rehab assignment. He's 49% Ross. but wasn't playing every day for the twins anyway. Does offer power to 24 batting average with eight home runs and 41 games this season. Zach Thompson, who we're pretty excited about here. We talk about him a lot, was scratched from his start on Friday

as he was feeling under the weather for the Marlins there. The Tigers demoted Matt Manning to AAA after his start on Friday. Cole Calhoun returned from the 60-day IL this weekend and he only started Saturday. He went hitless in that game. 30% rostered. Cole Hamels, remember the name?

We'll throw for interested teams on July 16th. He's 37 years old and made just one start last season. He's 1% rostered. Don't know that there's much left in the tank for Cole Hamels. I guess, you know, someone like Cole Hamels. Someone. He's going to wind up on a team for sure. Names that were placed in the aisle this weekend,

Blake's now with Gastro Enteritis, which he's been dealing with for the past couple of weeks. He's expected to start next weekend regardless. So, all right. Drew Pomeranz with a four. Arm, Miguel Andohar with a wrist, Jan Goams with a left oblique, Oduble Herrera with ankle tendinitis,

and then we had some COVID-IL placements this weekend as well. Alec Bohn tested positive for COVID on Sunday. We'll miss at least 10 games. Aaron Nola was scratched from Sunday to start due to contact tracing. You say Kikuchi had a symptom, but tested negative. He was placed on the COVID-IL. Carlos Correa was placed on the COVID-IL on Friday due to health and safety protocols.

and Jonathan Loisga was placed there on Saturday. I do want to talk prospects a little bit here, Chris, although we still have a ton to get to. So let's not waste too much time on this, but we had some catchers called up this weekend. Cal Raleigh with the Mariners. He was promoted on Sunday, was batting 324 with nine home runs at AAA,

and he's 13% rostered currently. And Joey Bart for the Giants, he was recalled with Buster Posey going on the IL as well. 23% rostered. Someone asked me on Twitter who I would prefer, between Raleigh and Bart. And I actually said Raleigh because I think there's more long-term value here.

When Buster Posey's ready to return, I just don't know what's gonna happen with Joey Bart. Yeah, I mean, Joey Bart has played first base, as has Joey Votto, obviously, or Buster Posey, obviously. You know what's interesting about that, Chris? Neither one of them has played a single inning at first base this season. Yeah, so that's what makes you think,

like, yeah, probably not gonna be an opportunity there. you know, Bart is still a very high-ranking prospect. He's inside of the top 45 across the board. He's hitting really well. You know, it's the Pacific Coast Leagues or AAA West, I guess we call it now. We don't call the Pacific Coast League. That's offensive, frankly. Respect history, MLB. Come on.

So, yeah, I think there's more of a chance of Cow rally, you know, sticking around and making an impact, but Joey Bart's the better prospect, I would guess. Dodgers pitching prospect, Josiah Gray, pitch four shutout this weekend with four strikeouts. He's getting stretched out to potentially join the Dodgers rotation, 14% rostered. So definitely have him on the scout team and a name to follow there. Red Sox outfield prospect, Jaron, is dealing with backsorness at AAA. So he was shut down a little bit this weekend. It was not in the lineup.

Cubs outfield prospect, Brennan Davis took home the futures game MVP on Sunday after hitting two home runs. It was actually a route by the National League team. The AL team scored a couple of runs in the final ending, but it really was not close. Other home runs in the game in this futures game, the Cincinnati Reds shortstop prospect, Jose Barrero for the Rockies first base prospect, Michael Taglia, and for the Mets, Francisco Alvarez. I mean, this is a name that is crushing it in the minors.

He's not going to be up for a while. I think he's only in high A right now, but someone who is quickly rising up draft boards. Chris, was there anything you wanted to add from the futures game that you noticed on Sunday? Jason Dominguez, who is the Yankees top prospect, 18 years old, who dude is built like a freaking tank. Yeah. He is massive for an 18 year old. He's got the nickname the Martian for that exact reason. He made an out in what I think was his only played appearance, but he had a really nice line drive that just barely got caught at the third baseman. And in listening to, you know, or reading some of the reports from before the game, it sounded like

Francisco Alvarez, you know, the, the talk was that he had the most impressive batting practice in terms of power, which is, you know, that fits with his profile. He's considered a very, you know, high power potential player. But Brett Beatty from the Mets drew a lot of really, really positive reviews, you know, just from the, from the prospect people who were at the game. You know, these are guys who we haven't had a lot of looks at lately on account of the whole not having minor league baseball in 2020. But, you know, it was nice to see these guys, even if it was a seven inning game during the most watched football or soccer game of the year while 15 MLB games are going on. But I watched a little bit of it. Yeah, my Sunday, Chris, was just, I had so many different screens going on.

I had a soccer game going on this laptop. I had the futures game on the TV behind me. Later on, I had the MLB draft on the laptop. I had NBA playoffs on my phone. There's so much. Every single pick in the MLB draft, by the way. A steal, according to the MLB Network broadcast. Well, specifically for your Miami Marlins,

which I actually, I told you as soon as we joined up here on this little conference, but Khalil Watson, who was regarded as one of the top five prospects in the draft, felt a 16th overall. to the Marlins there. He's a high school shortstop. So obviously it's super hard to project guys that are that far out. But very toolsy player there in Kalil

Watson. A few other standouts from the MLB draft. Louisville catcher, Henry Davis was the first overall pick to the Pittsburgh Pirates, which kind of surprised some people. The Vandy Boys, the starting pitchers, Jack Lider, went second overall to the Texas Rangers. Kumar Rocker slipped all the way to 10th for the New York

Mets. I mean, that has the potential to just be so awesome. Like, imagine we see a rotation in like two years that has Jacob de Crom and Kumar Rocker in it. That would just be so fun to watch. And then the other big name there, who some people thought was going to be the first overall pick,

high school shortstop, Marcelo Meyer, went forth overall to who? The Boston Red Sox. I didn't love to see that. But shout out. Good job. Red Sox. You might have had yourself a steal,

the steal of the draft there. Anything you'd like to add, Chris, on the MLB draft? Nope. I will have some thoughts in two to four years. I think that. mean, it's just, you know, maybe we see Kumar Rocker down the stretch in a relief role. You know, that wouldn't be totally shocking.

Yeah, if the Mets are in the hunt for it. Wouldn't be the first guy from Vanderbilt to do that. David Price did that the year he was drafted. Chris Sale did that the year he was drafted for the White Sox. He was not Vanderbilt. He was Florida Gulf Coast University. Dunk you. But, you know, maybe we see him, but, you know, the earliest will see most, I mean, we won't see most of these guys.

But the earliest will see multiple of them is probably still two or three years away. So, yeah. Yeah. It's the nature of the beast. We saw Garrett Crochet actually get drafted last year and then come up in relief for the White Sox. And he was, you know, he was electric last year. He's electric this year. So it could be fun to potentially see Kumar Rocker later this season.

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We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, some more WaverWire starting pitchers and a whole bunch more. We'll do that next here on Fantasy Baseball today. So let's jump in here, Chris, and look at some starting pitchers who are rostered between 65 and 72%. So more so in shallower leagues. James and Tyone, now two starts in a row, back-to-back quality starts.

He was at the Astros on Sunday, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts. He's 71% rostered. John Gray at the Padre, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts, 17 swinging strikes on 90 pitches. Velocity, way up. Slider, almost three miles per hour up. The fastball's up, two and a half miles per hour for John Gray.

Shane McClanahan, still just 65% roster. Didn't have a great start this weekend, four innings, one run, five strikeouts against the Blue Jays, and Jake O'Dorrizi was up against the Yankees, turned into quality start, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts. How would you rank this group of four, Chris? Tyone, John Gray, McCrae, Clanahan, Jake Oterese. Probably

Tyone last, McClanahan first, gray ahead of Oteresee? I think that sounds right. I might swap Tyone and Oteresee just because I think Oteroesee is kind of like smoke and mirrors right now, but I think those guys are close.

Like the two best starts of the season or the best two-star stretch of the season for Teon, he still has a 9% swing and strike rate in a 28% caught swinging, caught plus swinging strike percent. And so it just, he still seems like he's not, you know, completely there yet. All right.

So McClanahan at the top of this group, John Gray, I mean, really pretty excited here about him at 96.8 miles per hour. Highest average fastball velocity since July 24th, 2019. Let's look at starting pitcher ads part two. These names are all rostered between 40. 35% and 65% of CBS leagues. And the first one up here is Ryan Yarbrough. He was up against the Blue Jays, five innings, two runs, four strikeouts,

15 swinging strikes on 104 pitches for Yarbrough. He's got a 2.81 ERA over his last three starts. Chris Flexen, to start the guy at home, he just lights out at home. Versus the Angels, seven shutout with six strikeouts. Kwong Kim, he was at the Cubs this weekend, six shutout with seven strikeouts. Chris, how would you rank those three? flexen and Kim probably flexen Yarbrough and Kim but like flexen he's been so good at home I'm not sure how much of this is real you know Yarbrough is what he is he's a kind of a

poor man's Kyle Hendrix but you know I don't have much interest in Quang Yun Kim who actually does probably have like a he's got to have have like a mid-3s or lower ERA so far if you include last year, right? At this point? Oh, yeah. I know lower than that. Yeah. We bring it's weird.

We bring up the name a lot, but this is, this is our modern day Marco Estrada right here, Chris. This is someone who just consistently, and I say this, like, he's made a ton of starts, right? Like, the guy has made 23, he's pitching 23 games, 22 of those are starts, 111 and one-third in closer. Yeah. He's got a 2.59 ERA in 111 in 111 innings. with a 4.48 X-fit. So he might just be someone

who consistently outproduces his underlying numbers, but I mean, still regardless, I would take the over, the way over on him having a 2.6 ERA rest of the season. He pitches well. I'm not going to take anything away from Kim.

He makes the most of the skill set that he has. I'll put it that way. Some deeper starting pitcher ads. These are rostered in less than 40% of CBS leagues. Vladimir Gutierrez at the Brewers this weekend, six innings. One run, exactly zero strikeouts.

Patrick Sandoval at the Mariners, seven innings, two runs, six strikeouts. David Price started. He didn't pitch very long, but he's getting stretched out. Three shutout innings with three strikeouts for David Price. And Alex Cobb, Chris's boy, five and a third. Two runs, five strikeouts. He is 30% rostered.

Chris, your favorite of this group, Gutierrez, Sandoval, Price, and Cobb. I mean, I don't want to say I told you so. Is it really? Is it really Alex Cobb? Is he your favorite? It's probably David Price if they're going to stretch him out and let him be a real starter.

I like probably second. I like Sondival. Gutierrez I don't have much interest in, but Sandoval, Price and Cobb, I think are all interesting. I actually think I would probably rank Sandoval first of the last group as well.

I think I'd rather have him over Yarbrough, over flexing, over Kim. I might rather have Cobb and Price over that whole group. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think the upside's higher for all three of those guys.

So those are, those represent two of the most, I would say, under-rastered starting pitchers in fantasy right now. Sandoval, they let him go 114 pitches in that start. So they're just letting him go. So pretty interesting there. At 38% rostered. And these are some of the deepest starting pitcher ads. These are less than 15% rostered on CBS.

Jordan Lyles turned in another quality start, six innings, two runs, three strikeouts. Eric Lauer, the same six innings, one run, four walks to three strikeouts. So interesting. Nestor Cortez with the Yankees. he's now made two starts in a row, four and two-thirds. Shutout on Friday against the Astros.

Jose Suarez, also being stretched out for the Angels against the Mariners on Sunday, five innings, one run, four strikeouts. And then Willie Peralta, he was at the Twins on Sunday, five innings, one run, two strikeouts. All not very exciting, Chris, but these are in the deepest of leagues. Liles, Lauer, Cortez, Suarez, and Willie Peralta. I don't know, Cortez is getting strikeouts in his small sample size.

so far this season, mostly out of the bullpen. His velocity is up, relatively speaking. It's up to 90.6 miles per hour. That's two miles per hour higher than it was last season. So he's got that going for him. A ringing endorsement. Yeah, I don't have much interest in this group. But if you're talking about like a streamer,

Peralta, probably the most interesting of the streamers in this group, maybe Cortez after that. Yeah, Peralta does have SPARP eligibility for those in deeper points leagues. You don't want him in a 12-team points leagues. Yeah, like an only points league. Yes. Nestor Cortez, I had a few bids on him in 15 team leagues. He's got a 1.05 ERA, 0.97 whip at this point. I don't think that that is going to continue, but he's doing a great job suppressing hard contact.

Just a 2.52 expected ERA at this point for Nestor Cortez. He is 3% rostered. And I don't know if you've watched him pitch at all, Chris, but he does like these wacky Johnny Quedo, like pausing on the mound, like swinging back and forth. Really just like weird things, but it's pretty entertaining to watch. Let's switch over to some hitting standouts from this weekend before we get back into pitching.

And some of the biggest performances or noteworthy performances, Shohei Otani hit his 33rd home run of the season on Friday. Brandon Lau now has five home runs over his last five games. Joey Gallo hit his 24th home run, the OPS is now up to 923. Joey Cowell's having an awesome season, dude. It's wild. Jazz Chisholm's last seven games coming back around,

300 batting average with two homers and one steel. Francisco Lindorwin, 3 for 4 with his 11th home run on Sunday. Michael Kinfordo, 2 for 4 with his third home run. Nice to see there. Danesby Swanson hit a double dong on Sunday. Mookie Betts, 3 for 4, 13th homer. Last seven games, 346 batting average. three homers,

love to see it. Max Muncie, Monster game, a lot like Joey Gallo, just like flying under the radar, I don't think that we've realized just how good he is. He's just been amazing the whole season.

It's been great. 19 homers now, a 972 OPS for Max Muncie. Kyle Tucker, Monster game on Sunday, a home run and two steals. That's a sock and two shoes. Yeah, sock and two shoes.

Confusing myself now. He's up to 15 homers and seven steals and Matt Olson also had a double dong on Sunday. Both came off of a last. Part of the reason why Madelson has broken out, strikeouts way down, he's crushing lefties this season, which is something we've never seen before. Chris, I just threw a bunch of names at you. Is there anything that you would like to touch on here? So, Brandon Lau, his 162 game pace since the start of June, is 241 average, but 63 homers, 136 RBI, 115 runs, six stolen bases. He was, good in June and he's been awesome in July so you know he's been an incredibly

streaky hitter throughout his career and I think you know it's only what three seasons now partial seasons across the board you know I think we're just going to have to kind of accept that like he's not going to be a guy who's worth a top 65 top 75 pick like he was coming into the season but you just have to probably ride the ride the ride with brandon Low, like, he's going to be inconsistent. And when he gets hot, he's going to get red hot. He still has a 4 E2 OPS against lefties, which is real bad with like a 40% strikeout rate. So, you know, maybe they've just faced a lot of righties. Or maybe he's, he's not really playing like every single day now, right? I think he probably gets benched against tougher lefties. That would make sense, given the depth that

they have on their team. But look, if people haven't realized how good Brandon Lau has been over the past month or so. I still think that you can try and buy on him because just like the overall numbers don't look very good. But specifically, if you play in any type of daily format league where you can just start him whenever he plays against right-handed pitching, that's where you can actually get the most value

out of Brandon Lau. All right, I got to pick and choose because we got about like 10 minutes left here on the podcast. Pick and choose what we want to talk about. I got to mention David Fletcher, who is just red hot right now, 24 game hitting streak. During that streak, he's betting 439. He hit his first two. home runs of the weekend this season, of the season this weekend. Did I just say that in

reverse? I think I did. It's late. I'm losing my mind already. David Fletcher, anyway, 62% roster. I think if you're playing in a points league and you need a second base or a shortstop, I mean, that is where David Fletcher excels. He is, again, red hot this weekend. Any other names here that we have to talk about? A.J. Pollock is hot. He's got six home runs and six hits in three home runs this weekend. He is 38% roster. Jonathan V.R. had a double dung on Friday as well. We'll do a quick Wuriometer here, Chris, and run through some of these names.

Joe Musgrove at home against the Rockies. It's supposed to be a pretty good matchup. Four in a third inning, two runs, six strikeouts. He has gone five in three straight. He's got a 9% swinging strike rate over his last five starts, actually. So what's your Wariometer on Joe Musgrove? I know we talked about him recently,

but he's been weird. Yeah, I mean, we talked about him a ton early on in the season and then they're really, he's just kind of settled in as a very solid starting pitcher. He hasn't been nearly as good since that start, but I'm not too worried about it. You know, I guess he is only used to being good for one month out of the season. So, you know, maybe he's tiring out. But no, in all seriousness, I, yeah, he's going to get the All-Star break, rest up. There's still a lot to like about what he's done. You know, maybe he's not. I don't know if anybody ever ranked him as a top 12 starting pitcher, but he's in that late teens range for me,

and I don't see any reason to move him down. Yeah, he's just had to work harder or so over the past month. Pitch counts are climbing quicker than you'd like to see. So maybe he's just better in Roto and categories leagues the rest of the season, because I'm not sure that the endings are going to be there on a per-star basis, specifically in points leagues there for Joe Musgrove. Wander Franco went 0 for 9 with six strikeouts over his last two games. The batting average is down to 197 now. And just like that,

the plate discipline kind of slipping here for him. 7.6% walk rate, 22.7% strikeout rate, Chris. Wariometer on Wander Franco. Yeah, I'm trying to see where his strikeout rate is. Did you just say it for the season? 22.7%. 22.7% for the season.

Yeah, I mean, what I was saying early on was that the difference between him and Jared Kellanick was that, you know, neither was hitting, but Frank, Franco still had his really, really great plate discipline. All of a sudden, I mean, it feels like it's been two walks on opening on his first start. Yeah, or one start. Yeah, he hasn't been walking much lately is the point. I'm trying to find the game log and I can't find it. But yeah, that's, uh, it's definitely a little, uh, concerning that he's kind of following the

the Kellanick route just a little bit. Yeah, he hasn't a walk in nine games and, you know, Calenick started out with pretty good play discipline too and then things really unraveled for him. I hope that's not the route Franco is taking, but yeah, I think you kind of have to be concerned right now just because he's also not hitting the ball that well. 319 X Wobon contact is very, very low. So it's not what you want to see. Hopefully, you know, All-Star break can get him, you know, a little time off. He hasn't been hitting well from the left side of the plate either,

if I remember correctly. Yeah. So 298 OPS versus right-handed pitching versus a 972 versus lefties. So, oaf, that's definitely a concern. Man, like a 35% strikeout rate against right east. too. Yeah. Very weird. And I know what happened to Kelnick was when he first came up, he actually was putting the ball in play quite a bit, but he just wasn't having results. And I know Scott has brought this up before. He thinks that as a result, he started pressing. And we might

be seeing something similar right now from Wander Franco. So I wouldn't drop him, but if you want to keep him on your bench coming out of the All-Star break, first couple of weeks, see what happens there. Because look, if he continues to struggle like this for the next two weeks, unfortunately, there's probably a good chance that he's going to get sent back down, similar to what happened with Kellnick. So maybe keep him on your bench for now with Wanda Franco. Last one I wanted to bring up here for Worryometer, Framber Valdez up against the Yankees on Sunday,

four inning, six hits, three runs, six walks in the start, and all of a sudden he has 13 walks over his last three starts. And he has had some control issues in the past, Framber Valdez, specifically in the minor leagues. Wasn't really an issue for him last year, wasn't really an issue earlier this season for Framber Valdez. and I still really like the skill set a lot myself, but I think it kind of like Wander Franco,

like if you want to bench Framber Valdez for now until he figures this out, I don't have an issue doing that. Yeah, like his velocity was down a little bit, but it's not concerning that it was. It's not concerning enough to point to that. I'm not too concerned, but, you know, maybe it's just a reminder that, like,

he's probably not going to consistently be a sub-3 ERA guy. you know, his peripheral suggested he would be more of a mid to high 3 ZRA guy, maybe that's what he'll be moving forward. Yeah, he's kind of he's like Dallas Kichel in that way. I mean, that's the most natural comp. Yeah, where he doesn't get

obviously a ton of strikeouts, he gets a lot of ground balls, the control is like, me, but he really, he relies on being fine with his command within the zone and obviously keeping the ball down and getting lots of ground balls. So when that's not working for Framber Valdez, this is unfortunately what can happen. I do have some quick standouts.

I'll mention them if there's anything you want to expand on here, Chris, but some starting pitcher standouts from Friday, Charlie Morton, Kentimaeada, and Wade Miley, we're all awesome. A bad standout on Friday, Alec Manoa, three and two-thirds. A bad relative, because he allowed three runs. He obviously didn't complete four innings. He still had nine strikeouts, so that was the good side of it. Morton, Maida, Miley, Manoa. Miley keeps doing this.

It doesn't make much sense, but I don't know, I don't feel particularly good about it. I am feeling better about Kenta Maeda. Oh, yeah. You know, I think I still have him inside my top 30 now. And I feel pretty good about having him on my team.

I feel very good about the fact that I was able to add him in Tout Wars. Yep. A couple weeks ago. Some Saturday starting pitcher standouts, Anthony Descolfani, six shutout against the national. Los Angeles, Lucas Gialito, had nine strikeouts over five and a third. Walker Bueller continues to just smash the season.

Six shutout with seven strikeouts. He's gone six plus endings in 17 of 18 starts. Hermann Marquez, man, another one at the Padres, seven shutout innings, nine strikeouts. His last 12 starts, he's a 2.16 ERA for Hermann Marquez. Descophani, Gialito, Bueller, Marquez. I've certainly expressed some concern about Bueller. his strikeout rate was down early on in the season,

but it just hasn't seemed to matter. So I think at some point, it's just like, I still don't have him in my top 12, but he's actually, he might be in my top 12 now at this point, given the attrition at the position. And, you know, G, Leto, I'm feeling okay.

You know, the results have been ugly lately, but the peripherals are still pretty good. He's still getting a lot of swinging strike. So I think all in all, he's going to turn it around. But look, you know, when you're telling he's another one of those guys who's had a significant dip in his spin rate. When you're talking about those guys, you know, a Gialito, Cole, you know, obviously some others. It's not that it's going to make them ineffective.

We've seen that with Lucas Gielito. It's just like I said with Garrickle, it makes the margin for error a little smaller. You can't get away with that fastball in the middle of the strike zone, the way you might have been able to before. Quickly mentioned some Sunday standouts. Brandon Woodruff, six innings, one run, four strikeouts. He threw a season high 38 curveballs. His curveball usage to season has more than doubled.

So pretty interesting pitch mix changed there for Brandon Woodruff. Chris Bassett, seven innings, one run, three strikeouts against the Rangers. Kevin Gosman just keeps chugging along, six innings, one run, nine strikeouts, has a 1.73 ERA at this point. And then Robbie Ray, which maybe the most impressive of all. you took a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Sunday. Seven shutout, one-hit, one-walk, 11 strikeouts. 17 swinging strikes for Robbie Ray in that start.

We'll wrap up here with some bullpen updates. The Call to the Pen. Ian Kennedy grabbed his 15th save of the season on Friday for the twins this weekend. Hansel Robles got the final five outs on Friday, picked up his ninth save. Taylor Rogers gave up a go-ahead grand slam to Jake, Rogers, the catcher for the Tigers on Sunday. So not great there, bud. For the Reds, the roller coaster, it's always fun.

Heath Hembray picked up two saves this weekend, his fifth and his sixth. I mean, I don't think that he's very good, but I guess he's the closer for now. I mentioned before, like, I really don't want to mess with the Reds bullpen, but people are desperate for saves. I guess Heath Hembray is the guy. And then on Sunday, they went to Josh Osich, his first save of the season. Hemperee had been used I think three of the last four days

so he was not available. For the Giants this weekend, Jake McGee picked up two saves. He now has 19. Tyler Rogers was used in the eighth inning for both of those games. So I think we've kind of swapped back here, Chris, where Jake McGee is like the guy again,

he's pitching well for the San Francisco Giants. He has six of the last seven saves for them. For the Diamondbacks, Joachim Soria picked up his third save on Friday. He's 20% rostered. Who would you rather have right now, Chris? Joaquin Soria or Heath Hempry, if you were desperate for saves? Hempry, I think.

Oh, right? For the Tampa Bay Rays, Pete Fairbanks was using the eighth inning on Saturday. Diego Castillo picked up his 13th save. For the Mariners, Paul Seawald got his second save. Kendall Graveman had worked Thursday and Friday, so I don't think that he was available there. This one's actually really interesting. We hadn't seen a Philly save opportunity in a while.

Jose Alvarado was used earlier in the game on Sunday. Sunday wasn't good again. I think he gave up two more runs. Ranger Suarez recorded the final seven outs of that game for his second save of the season. That's definitely going to earn him a longer leash there as the potential closer for the Phillies. 22% rostered. Chris, I think I would take Suarez ahead of both of the names I mentioned before, Hembri and Soria. Yeah, I mean, you look back and he was pretty good in 2019, you know, not a ton of strikeouts, but he's getting him this year. He has 314 ERA that year. So, you know, it's possible that he can pitch well enough to keep the job, I guess.

I'm not super excited, but I'm going to add him right now in a league where I have one closer. For the Tigers on Sunday, Gregory Soto entered in the seventh with a one-run lead, and he allowed three runs to score. A few of those were already on baits. Tigers bullpen is very bad this year. Soto, Cisnero, I mean, he's been a right at times, but even since, this narrow hasn't been that great. And then the Yankees, the Bronx bombers.

I mentioned they gave up a walk-off home run to Jose Al-Tuvei. They were up seven to two entering the ninth. And Chris, I've got to say, like, I was physically ill after I, like, watching that game. It was just to be up seven to two against the Astros with the opportunity to sweep them in Houston. And to blow that game, it was just, just embarrassing. But anyway, Chad Green winds up giving up a whole bunch of runs, walk off Homer to Jose Al-Tuvae. Arold as Chapman has not pitched in a game since July 6th. Now, he was warming up on Saturday in case they were going to take Garicol out of that game,

which I don't think they were ever going to do. But it's worth noting that Chapman was warming up that day. Chris, coming out of the All-Star break, first save opportunity for the Yankees, who you got? Chad Green. I'm going to assume it's Chapman. All right. Yeah, I mean, they have no confidence in him right now. Everything Aaron Boone has said that, you know, they're going to work him in lower-level.

levered situations for now, but maybe the All-Star break is an opportunity for him to clear his head, and they'll just go back to him for the start of the second half. But yeah, we'll see. Remains to be seen. We're going to wrap there. For Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.