Fantasy Baseball Today - Add Louie Varland, Bench Alek Manoah & Rookie Standouts (5/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

Add Louie Varland and drop Jack Flaherty (2:15)? ... What are we doing with Brandon Pfaadt (7:05)? ... Alek Manoah is broken (13:20). ... Max Fried went to the IL with a strained left forearm (18:57). ... Francisco Alvarez hit a double dong and seems to be coming around (25:27). ... Lars Nootbaar is starting to get going (29:20). Let's rank some waiver wire outfielders. ... News (38:25): Mason Miller might not go on the IL. ... Rank Varland, Michael Wacha, Michael Lorenzen and Clarke Schmidt (45:08). ... Shane Bieber or Framber Valdez moving forward (46:30)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (54:14). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, May 10th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and The Returning.

Chris P. Tate. CPT, yeah, it's Krispy Tower. CPT, Krispy Towers, yeah. Yeah, I was confused there for a second. Almost confused myself. You're Chris Paul. I am Chris Paul, yes. Somebody gonna steal your identity

now that I revealed that? I don't think that's how stealing identities works, but maybe. Yeah, not to be confused with Cliff Paul Towers. Today on the show, we're gonna recap Tuesday's action. What's going on with Alec Manoa? A few rookie hitters look like they're coming around and much more.

Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube. if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating. It really helps. Thank you very much.

Chris, you are back. How was your little vacay? It was nice. I went to the Shaky Nees Music Festival in Atlanta. I am just completely sore everywhere, just from standing around. It wasn't even like hot or anything.

It was just like being on my feet for nine hours a day. I'm sure there are people here who do that every day for work, who are furious at me for complaints. about it. But yeah, that's, uh, it was, it was a good time. It's, uh, I'm going to be out a lot over the next month. I, I'm just apologizing in advance. I got jury duty now. I got two weddings coming up. It's, if there's a lot going on in my life right now, I'm kind of overwhelmed. I'm going to like come up for air in mid June and the, my whole world's going to have changed somehow. Oh, man. All right. Well, let's get into the, the baseball action here from Tuesday.

I don't believe. And we'll start with you, Scott. Who you got? All right. I think this is probably the Olive Garden breadstick today. Louis Varland of the Twins, a highly available pitcher who had a great start against a good lineup. San Diego.

Louis Varland, allowed one run in six innings, struck out six, walk two, allowed five hits. Got the whole line there now. Had 14 swinging strikes on 95 pitch. And this is something we've seen consistently from him when he's, you know, the previous stints he's had in the majors beginning last year. And then earlier this year, he made a start. 14 whiffs on 95 pitches, five on the fastball, four on the cutter, two on the slider, three on the change up. So he has a diverse arsenal there of pitches that are pretty effective for him.

And he's raised his stock a lot in the last couple years with his velocity climbing. I know his fastball today peaked at 98. He developed a cutter that pairs very well with his slider and has helped to improve this bat missing ability he's showing. Last year in the minors between double and AAA, Louis Varlane had a 306 ERA, 1-26 whip, 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings. But that whip was pretty high, 1.26. 8.3 hits per 9 is high.

high 1.1 home runs per nine. Again, this is against minor leaguers. So Louis Varland does have a hitability quality to him. You know, I think it's the diversity of the arsenal that helps him to be effective at times, but more so than he just has this like wipeout pitch. So I think the ceiling is limited here with Louis Varland, but when you're talking about pitchers you can pick up

in a pitching starved environment, you're not going to find a more attractive. active pitcher who's as available as he is, I would say. And at this point, it's worth considering him in basically all formats. Yeah, I saw the same things as you, Scott. The increase in velocity really stands out more than anything. He's averaging 95.6 miles per hour on his fastball this year. Last year, that was 93.8. So up nearly two miles per hour compared to last season. And a 15% swinging Shrike Great entering this start and had a bunch of whiffs here against the Padres as well. Louis Varland is 29% roster.

He's going up against the Cubs this weekend as the second start of a two-star week. And then it looks like he's at the Angels next week. And he should stick around for a while, Scott. I mean, given the injuries to Tyler Malley and. Kentimaida. He should stick around for quite a bit. Mali went on the 60-day D.L. I-L, excuse me.

So he's going to be gone for a long time. Maeda, it's not a short-term absence. He is only on the 15-day IL. At some point, you would imagine he would come back. I think it's one of those things where, like, if he does come back and he still stinks, they're probably not going to stick with him. Like, they've already done the IL stint. And Maeda has experience in the bullpen from his time with the Dodgers.

So that is a possibility. Presuming Varland and Bailey Ober are both pitching well. If I had to choose between Varland and Ober, who's here to stay, I would choose over. But Varlane's pretty interesting too. I do think Varlane is pretty interesting. There's a tweet from, you know, Saris last week, uh, going by AAA numbers. Louis Varlane was a quote, borderline top 10 guy in AAA with a plus fastball above average

slider, average cutter below average change up. And that was, you know, as Frank mentioned, he was not throwing as hard last season. the average 93.8 miles per hour with his fastball in the majors. It was 94 at AAA. We talked about it already, but 95.6 miles per hour in this start, 95.2 overall through three starts. So, you know, it does seem like there's room for him to have taken a leap. He's got a big extension on the pitch, which makes it play up.

I think he's pretty interesting. I'm not going to say Louis Varlane is a stud or anything. thing, but, you know, this is, what we've seen so far is, is intriguing to be certain. Scott, would you drop someone like Jack Flaherty for Louis Varland? Flarety still 74% rostered another atrocious start on Tuesday? Yeah. Yeah, I would drop. I think we're to the point with Jack Flaherty now where I would drop him for anyone interesting.

Yeah. And Varland certainly meets that threshold. All right. Well, we might actually be dropping. the player you're about to talk about as well, Chris, which is whom? Brenna Fott, who came to the majors

with a decent amount of hype, although it was one of those situations where the hype in the fantasy community greatly outstripped the hype in the scouting and prospects focused community. Not to say that there wasn't any hype

around him, but, you know, the fantasy community talked about him like he was, you know, a top 10 prospect. And he never quite got that high on the list. And so far, what we've seen through the first two starts is the strike, the home run issues in the miners were not necessarily just a result of pitching in bad home parks. He's given up six in his first two starts, including two today, uh, 460 something shot by, uh, Jorge,

Salair and then I think the second one was only like 433 feet so you know not quite as impressive there but yeah he's uh he's getting hit real hard right now his uh he's getting whiffs with his slider and change or his slider and curveball but uh fastball getting hit hard and fastball has been the primary culprit so far um yeah it's uh it has not been a great start i would prefer not to drop burn and five that being so Yeah, I think there's enough upside here, you know, the strikeout and walk numbers in AAA, especially very, very impressive, that like my preference would be not to drop him. However, you certainly can't start him right now. And if you have a player who you definitely can't start, you have a player who you can't start, you have a player who you can at least consider dropping.

Now, you drop him for Louis Varland, I assume you drop him for Bailey Ober, I presume. I think so. Yeah, I mean, those guys are doing it at the major league level, and Brandon Fott isn't. So I think that's a reasonable enough choice. I do think, I don't know, fantasy baseball Twitter, and unfortunately Twitter is too often used to gauge public perception anyway, but fantasy baseball Twitter has become a place of very unnuanced takes, I guess. And I do think, like you were saying, Chris, it was a little too quick to anoint Fought. It's also a little too quick to bury him.

Like, he's worthless. In a Dynasty League, Brandon Fought still has a lot of value. But I think in a redraft league, I don't see a lot of reason to hold on to him. I mean, it's possible he could come back next time out with a start deserving of all the hype and we're scrambling to pick him up again. I think that's pretty unlikely. Frankly, I think it's more likely he gets sent back down. Sure.

I mean, yeah. I do think it, and we've talked about this a lot in recent weeks, the learning curve for players entering the majors for the first time is especially steep right now. And the presumption should be to approach every call-up with great skepticism and fantasy. The presumption should be that they'll fail at first. And, you know, it'll take them a while to figure it out. and that may just be what thought's going through here.

He did have 13 swinging strikes on 88 pitches, which is very good rate in this start where he gave up a lot of hard contact. He had four whiffs on three different pitches, so he has something of an arsenal to work with there. But it does seem like he needs more development. Maybe he'll take some learning experiences from this stent and apply it, again, presumably on a return trip to the miners.

I would have no objections. to dropping him because he's just he's just unusable right now and it's it's there's obviously no track record to suggest that he will turn it around but there's no track record I'm writing a piece

you know based around like the worryometer idea and I'm writing about Max Scherzer and Alec Manoa and Brandon Faw Jack Flaherty also when Flaherty's the highest he's a 10 I think you can drop him Fought's like an eight and Manoa and Scherzer are like six and five,

which your mileage may vary. I would imagine a lot of the people listening are much more concerned about Scherzer and certainly Manoa than that. What it comes down to in those cases is there's a extremely lengthy track record with Max Scherzer and there's a year and a half track record without Manoa of them being really, really good. Fawt's never done it before.

So obviously, you know, you have less to go. on. But you know, one thing that like we we talked about before the show that I wouldn't be surprised with is like if Brandon Fott had kind of like a Shane Bieber-esque arc where, you know, I'm actually looking up Shane Bieber's rookie year game log and he was actually very good. His first four starts and then things fell apart. He had a two to two, two ERA through his first four starts and then was really bad the rest of the way. But like you remember he was someone who the issue was he gave up too many home runs, gave up too much hard. contact, but the strikeouts and the walks were there, or where you want them to be. The walks weren't there notably. I could see something like that where like the first go through the league is tough because the margin for error is kind of slim. Branafat doesn't have overwhelmingly dominant stuff, just like Shane Bieber. And so, you know, that's that's one where I don't want to give up on the long term potential,

even if I do think the short term is obviously dropable or at least certainly not startable. Brandon Fought is currently 67% rostered. I'd mostly agree with you guys. I think 10 and 12 team leagues probably could be dropped. I would drop them for either of the twins pitchers, Bailey Ober or Louis Varland. I think in deeper leagues, like 15 teams or deeper, probably whole just because there's not much out there right now. And in Dynasty, I mean, this goes out without saying if anyone panics after two starts into a career, yes, I would look to pounds. But I'd imagine, you know, most Dynasty managers are pretty savvy.

Chris, you mentioned the name, Alec Manoa in there. and, man, continues to look broken this time at the Phillies on Tuesday night. Four and two-thirds. Three runs allowed four walks to one strikeout. Three swinging strikes total on 94 pitches. He allowed eight hard hits in this game, although the average exit velocity against wasn't terrible. It was actually pretty good.

His slider had absolutely nothing. And for some reason, he made that his most used pitch. I just, I don't really get it. I mean, zero whiffs on the slider in the side. start. It had a 7% CSW. Call it strikes plus we have 7%. League average is like 30%. 7%. That is awful. So I don't know why he used the slider

so much. He has just two quality starts in eight outings this year. He's up to 25 walks to 32 strikeouts. That is a five and a half walks per nine. Last year he was at 2.3 walks per nine. It's a lot like what we said about Dylan cease yesterday, but even worse. It's just a culmination of everything bad happening at once, hard contact, barrels, the BABIP hits, home runs, walks.

Everything is up and the swinging strike rate is way down. There is nothing to point to with Alic Mnoyas production right now to be positive about, like literally nothing. Everything, everything looks bad. He's got a 483 ERA, which is bad enough. His expected ERA is 670. That is almost too, full runs worse than a 483 ERA.

He's been awful. It's not the worst differentiation, by the way, between actually ERA and expected ERA. That would belong to Bryce Elder. But I will say, things are getting worse here for Alec Manoa because it started out. It was mostly just a walks that were an issue. That hasn't improved. And now the stuff itself is playing way down. You mentioned the overall swinging strike rate.

Franken's last two starts, Alec Manoa has three swinging strikes. in each of his last two starts. Yikes. Something is very wrong here. Frank used the perfect choice of words. He's broken right now. Something appears to be broken with him. Yeah.

Now, part of what makes predicting baseball performances so hard is that it can take, a lot of times it can take just a small adjustment that we don't even really hear about to fix what is broken. And maybe next time out, Alec Manoa throws seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts. I mean, we know that's within his capabilities. So I'm not going to sit here and say Alec Manoa is done.

But until he has that kind of redemptive start, I'm done using him in fantasy if I can at all help it. Because as you mentioned, Chris, there was nothing redeeming here in the profile for him right now. It's only getting worse. The thing that I would say to keep in mind is that this game is all about trying to identify talent levels. But talent levels fluctuate. Now, for good players, the talent level fluctuates very little.

And for bad players, the talent level tends to fluctuate very little. For most players, however, there are pretty big ranges of outcomes. And obviously, some players are more or less consistent than others. And in Menoa's case right now, I think clearly the talent level is at an all-time low. It's just a question of, is this the new baseline or is this just an ebb? My assumption is it's an ebb. And so when we say there's nothing we can point to in the underlying numbers to suggest that things will be better. That is not to say, at least for me, that is not to say that I do not think things will be better.

I think he will figure it out. I think that Alec Manoa will end up being at some point a top 25 pitcher again. But you can't treat him like that right now. He doesn't deserve that. Luis Castillo went through this a couple of years ago. There was someone last year who had a similar, like a top 20 guy who just wasn't right for a stretch. These things happen. It's frustrating to go through.

Don't drop Alec Mnoneau. certainly and if you have him on your team you're kind of stuck because I I think trading him right now would be a bad idea because I do expect him to be much better than this moving forward and you're not going to get anywhere near equal value for him yeah unless you could find a Blue Jays fan in your league that's willing to pay I don't know 75 cents on the dollar then probably not looking to do anything what well with Manoa what I was gonna say is how much on the dollar would you pay for him I don't think I'd pay 75 cents on the dollar

either, but would you pay 50 cents on the dollar? Would you pay 40 cents on the dollar? I mean, what does that look like, right? There is a buying opportunity here if you don't mind planting them on your bench for a while. So we spoke about two names yesterday, Scott. Mitch Keller and Justin Steele. Would you be willing to trade either of those pitchers, I mean, the way they're pitching right now, they're absolutely dealing.

Would you trade either one for Alec Monella? Well, yesterday I would have said yes. After this start, uh, look, I still. rank Alec Manoa ahead of those two rest of season. So it's a justifiable move. But, but, like, I don't think you should have to do that to get Manoa is the thing. I think I would drive a harder bargain than that. We had another round of pitcher injuries here on Tuesday that I just wanted to quickly run

through. Max Freed. We knew that he was kind of dealing with something, but the Braves were, I don't know, they weren't being forthcoming about whatever he was dealing with. and it turns out it's a strained left forearm, and he's placed on the IL. Looks like Jared Schuster is going to make the start Wednesday in Max Fried's absence.

And obviously, every time, any time you hear, strained left forearm, it's, you know, it sounds pretty bad. And then Max Scherzer was also scratched from his start on Tuesday due to neck spasms. And he said he hopes to start this weekend against the Nationals. But between the neck, yesterday, the neck spasms and yesterday's report about the shoulder. It's, you know, pretty scary stuff right now with Max Scherzer.

There was an article release last week that we didn't really talk about, but it was released on The Athletic, and it was authored by Will Salmon, Brittany Garoli, and Inosaris, revealed some fear in the baseball industry about this, like, injury reckoning that's coming due to the pitch clock. And this April, just revealing some of the stats that they had in this article, this April was tied for the highest number of pitchers on the IL since at least 2000, and the greatest number of starting pitchers over that period.

And it's not proven to be because of the pitch clock, but it is a possibility. And it's something that I think we have to keep in mind. It's just this is why we're seeing, I think, so much bad pitching right now is not only our good pitcher struggling, but we have what are supposed to be good pitchers out injured, and then their backups are coming in, and those guys are getting rocked,

because obviously they're not very good pitchers either. So just kind of wanted to throw all that out there. I don't know if you guys have any thoughts on Freed, Scherzer, or, you know, everything else I just revealed. Well, I will point out that while the effects of, like, there could be effects of the pitching clock like that

that, you know, are going to take some time to become evident. Right now it's a lot of theorizing. And, of course, correlation doesn't imply causation and all of that, for what it's worth. MLB's own studies because the pitch clock's been in existence. It was even shorter pitch clock in the minors for the past few years,

and they said it didn't lead to an increase of injuries. I don't know. I haven't had a look under the hood at those studies that they did. But that's what they said. That is part of how they sold the pitch clock. There are a number of pitchers. We've mostly focused on the bad starts from Tuesday, but there were a number of pitchers who had been struggling,

who had very good starts. And I feel like there has been a lot of like May is the month of the pitcher's revenge happening here because, I mean, we haven't gotten to him yet, but like Lucas Gialito had an incredible start and his velocity was way up. Velocities for a lot of pitchers have been up in May. I don't know.

We talked about that recently, Frank, and maybe it has to do with the temperatures warming up. But like Lucas Gialito, his last. two starts, 18 swinging strikes in each of them, his velocity in this most recent start Tuesday, even better than two years ago. So like, sort of like I was saying about Tony Gonsolin Monday, this was kind of like Lucas Gialito's, oh, he's back start. Like, Lucas Gialito, he has my trust again. I feel like he's the guy who we knew prior to 2022. And you can feel really satisfied with that.

And so there have been instances like that where it seems like on the whole, the pitching situation is improving. Maybe that's just my perception. It could only go up based on how bad it was early on. But I do get the impression that on the whole, it's improving. I think the key takeaway is just like one month is not going to be enough of a sample size for us to know one way or the other at a population level. let alone how it's going in. Like, I've seen a lot of like,

Alec Mano is struggling because of the pitch clock. I mean, maybe, like that's a perfectly reasonable explanation, but it's also like, we don't really know. He is struggling and there is a pitch clock. But like Scott said,

causation does not always equal correlation. And so- backwards? No, no, I think you said it right. Did I say it backwards? I think you said it backwards, Chris. Correlation does not equal causation.

Correct. Or necessarily equal causation. Yeah, that's the one. And, you know, that's one of those smart guy things that, like, I'm not, I'm just like faking my way through being smart and every once in a while, it, it shows up. Handlin's razor. But yeah, it's, um. That's not Handlin's Razor.

Sorry. We are having a great podcast. It's one of those things where it's like, there are anecdotal evidence to suggest one way or the other on all of these things we're talking about that. pitching is better in May than it was in April or the velocity. But like someone can and maybe should sit down and like actually do the research on this. But I still think like we probably don't want to make any population wide pronouncements right now. I think it's one just too early just in general. And then like we're slicing the too early into even smaller two early.

And so it's. I just want to keep steady, you know, not try to swing back and forth between now, Pitching's good now and, you know. Oh, yeah, no, I wasn't saying that. I'm just saying, like, we aren't actually going to wind up in a scenario where everybody has a 450 R.A. Yeah, hey, it's a very welcome site. We'll take some good pitching performances when we can get them. Let's take our first break.

When we return, we'll get into Francisco Alvarez, who hit two home runs in a game on Tuesday. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back. And just a reminder to, download and follow our five-minute podcast, Fantasy Baseball, Today in Five, wherever you listen to podcasts. We usually grab the biggest news items, the biggest standouts, and we talk about them in just five minutes. So if you want an abbreviated version of the podcast, you can follow there. And if you're watching on YouTube, we have a QR code in the

top right corner. You can scan that, and that'll take you right to the podcast. Let's get into a few rookie hitting standouts here. Francisco Avarez went two for four with a double dung and has started five of the last six games for the Mets, which is encouraging. And over his last 14 games, he's batting 308 with three home runs, a 24% strikeout rate. The average exit velocity and launch angle are still lacking during that time. But the overall numbers are coming around. Scott Francisco Alvarez, 48% roster. Do you think that number needs to be higher?

I moved them up to 15th in my rest of season catcher rankings, and there's a lot of room for debate, I would say, from 11 on. Francisco Alvarez, as among the most upside of that group. I think the biggest thing for him is just that he's playing so much more regularly now, started... This was... Five of six.

Eight of 11 in May. So he's their primary catcher now, and that's a good thing for his fantasy value, of course. Hopefully this two-homer game is the beginning of a hot streak because we know there's a lot of upside there. I think the key thing to keep an eye on over the next few days is whether he finally gets a start at DH. I don't think he has one not yet yet this season.

And then the thing they said when they called him up was we're not going to use him as DH, which was what everybody thought they were going to do. But he could hit his way into that role. And so that'll be the question is like, does the two homer day lead to a DH opportunity? I think that's where you would start to see his value potentially really take off. So to put that in perspective, Scott mentioned he moved Alvarez up to 15th in its catcher rankings.

That's just ahead of Yasmani Grandal, Gabriel Moreno, Shay Langaliers, Elias, names like that. So if you play in a deeper one catcher league and you're looking to make the swap, those are a few names that you can pick up Alvarez over. Miguel Vargas went one for four with a walk and his third home run.

And in May, he's hitting 241, but he is hitting some extra base hits. Two homers, two doubles, one triple, a stolen base. Overall, this season, the plate discipline has been as advertised. Very good. 20 walks to 25 strikeouts. He is 77% rostered. Chris, do you think that number should be closer to 100%?

Miguel Vargas is the name we're talking about. 100% is tough just because I don't know how much of a contributor he's ultimately going to be in home runs or stolen bases. and so it's, you know, he might be more heavily tilted towards the head-to-head side of things than the roto, which is more or less what we expected. You know, the underlying number suggests that there's a little bit of room for improvement on what he's done so far. So I will say, you know, 77% is probably not, it's certainly not too high.

So I think there are probably some Roto leagues where you could go ahead and add him. Do we do anything with this? Jordan Diaz went three for four with a. triple dong against the Yankees here. He started three straight for the Oakland A's. He didn't start any of the five games before that. Scott does this matter at all? Jordan Diaz for three.

I mean, a 22-year-old with a three-homer game, who's eligible at second base and third base too, right? I'm not going to say it doesn't matter. He hit 326 with 19 home runs and an 882 OPS between double and triple A last year. And like I said, it's only 22. I'm not rushing to pick him up everywhere, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on this, see if he can spin it into more

because he was a good hitter in the minors. Yeah, and hey, the Oakland A's don't have anything to lose. Why not play the kids and see what he could do? So a very impressive performance for him. Let's see if Jordan Diaz can build off of that. A few other waiver wire hitters in shallower leagues. Lars Neupar went one for four with a walk and his third home run, and he crushed that home run, by the way, 431 feet, 108.2 eggs of velocity,

and he's coming around over his last seven games, batting 393 with one homer and two steals. I like to see the speed. That's, you know, I wasn't really expecting much from Newbar, but yeah, he's running a little bit. 74% roster for him, and Ahmed Rosario went 4-4 with a triple and an RBI. He needed it because he's batting just 242. The strikeouts are up this season. Still hitting the ball very hard this year and still very fast. best, 72% rostered is Ahmed Rosario. Chris, what about those two names? Same question as Miguel Various.

Do you think they are must roster in every league, Newpar and Rosario? Again, no, I don't think every single league that it's tough because I do think Newt Bar especially has that kind of upside. Yeah, I'm gonna say Newt Bar is. Sure. Yeah, he's another player who like, it's always tough when the player might be better for a points league where the shallower rosters hold them back. But yeah, I'm fine saying he should be 100% roster. Brasario, I don't know. I've never, I'm just not much of a believer in him.

He always has interesting skills and he never seems to quite put them together at the same time. Last year was the closest we've gone and even then was still pretty mediocre overall. So I don't, I don't think he's a must roster player. It would be hard to roster Rosario in a league that doesn't have the third middle infields. Yeah. He's used the traditional roto lineup. His skill set, contrary to Vargas and Nupar, his skill set is more palatable in a Roto league than a points league. So, you know, there is room for him as a middle infielder, sure.

But I was saying with, I wrote about Nupar and the last edition of Waver Wire because I was surprised how much his roster rate had. fallen considering, you know, he was one of the trendiest outfield picks on draft day. And he's basically done everything we asked him to do. He missed those two weeks with a jam thumb. But since coming back, he's reached base out of about a 400 clip. He's padded lead off for the Cardinals. There isn't huge home run stolen base totals there, but there's enough. Like, I think if you approach Newbar like a Brandon Nimmo type or Christian Yellich

type or maybe even the best of both, that's how you should value him. So he's a top 30 outfielder for me and that makes him. I mean, and he specializes in points leagues, which tend to be the shallower roster. Yeah, he's hitting 288 with a basically an 18 homer 24 steel pace. Like that, you would take that every time from him. And almost, you know, as many walks is strikeout.

So again, you know, lending itself to the points league format. But the launch angle, has been weird for New Bar this year. Lots of ground balls. I noticed a few of those hard hits on Tuesday. They were higher launch angles, so hopefully that's something that new bar can get going. A few outfielders, Scott,

how would you rank this group? Harrison Bader, he's just like off and running since he returned. Well, not literally. He's often hitting, I guess. He went three for four on Tuesday. 11 hits in seven games since returning. He also has eight RBI and five runs scored.

Jorge Soler, a double dong, a massive double dung. I mean, We're talking the first home run he hit, 12.5 exit velocity, 468 feet. Then the next one was 433 feet. I mean, he's still crushing the ball. He's like 94th percentile and barrel rate.

That was entering Tuesday. Jerks and ProFar went 2 for 4 with a double dong. He's batting just 220 early on. And T.J. Friedel went 2 for 4 with a triple, two runs, 2 RBI, and his fourth steal. He's quietly having a very productive season. He's batting 325 as well. He's got a little power and speed.

Scott, how would you rank that group? Bader, Soler, ProFar, and Frito. I mean, clearly Saler is the most attractive. He has these games occasionally where he reminds us just how much of a masher he is. And

like I've had a hard time getting fully behind him. So he's up to nine home runs now. His batting average climbed over 230. You know, it seems like he could hit for a better average than that. You look at his stack cast page and it's all lit up in red. But that's always true for Jorge Saler.

like, okay, 91st percentile, average exit velocity, 96 percentile, max exit velocity. Every year, he's like 93-third to 98th percentile in those categories, and rarely has it translated to big production. So it's a bit polyanish of me, I guess, to just say, oh, look at his stack cast page. Of course, this is who he is. But there have been times in the past, the 48 Homer 2019. that stretch with the Braves in 2021 after coming over from the Royals where he was a must-star fantasy player

and he could be that again. I don't know what was, like I look at the profile in previous years where he wasn't good, and I don't really know what was lacking. Like there's just that hole in player evaluation that I don't know how to fill that explains why Jorge Saler was such an underachiever.

But there's a chance that this year is different and I would say even in three outfielder leagues it's not a bad idea to make a play for him so he could clearly be number one here and a distant number one to rank the others quickly

I would I think I'd go pro far jerks in pro far too even though the numbers are bad so far he's the Rocky's lead off hitter and so hopefully that'll change and then I will go T.J. Friedel 3. I'll go Harrison Bader 3, even though I don't really like him. Then T.J. Friedel 4 and Taylor Walls 5. Don't really know how Taylor Walls has done what he's done so far.

The underlying numbers are pretty unimpressive, and he doesn't play all that consistently either. Scotty, jumping ahead in the rundown. I didn't even mention Taylor Wall. I thought you mentioned Walls. Sorry. No, not yet. He doesn't have outfield eligibility, but I was going to pair of the next two together. They, you know, they're kind of versatile players. It's Taylor Walls who hit a sixth home run and he's batting 265. He's got six homers. He's got six deals, a 907 OPS. And Christopher Morel, his first game back in the lineup. We spoke about him on yesterday's podcast, two for four with a sock and a shoe and a strikeout. It's like the entire Christopher

Morrell experience in one game. And, uh, 422 feet was the home run. It's, you know, the guy's got legit power. Um, Chris, if you're looking for like one of these more, like versatile type guys that you can move around. Who would you rather have Taylor Walls or Christopher Morel? Morel pretty easily. I mean, it's possible that he ends up running into the same playing time issues that Taylor Walls has and just will likely continue to have because it's the raise. Basically, everybody except a Roserena and Wander Franco has those issues.

He's been really good. The underlying numbers in a large, in large parts back it up. Christopher Morel, I find him really interesting. It's kind of like the Cubs let Javier Baez walk and then just kind of replaced him with another, like, sub-peak, Javier Baez, to be clear. Not the guy who almost won MVP, but like, Morel's going to hit the ball hard. He's super athletic and he's going to strike out a lot. And it's just a question of whether that strikeout rate will be palatable enough for him to hit 2.45. if he does, I think he's going to be a pretty good fantasy option.

We had 16 homers and 10 steals and 113 games last year. At least in the short term, I have some playing time concerns for him. But if he plays up to his potential, there's a much easier path for him to everyday play and playing time than there is for walls, I think. Yeah, I wonder what happens when Nico Horner is healthy, right? Because he's dealing with the hamstring right now. But, you know, between middle infield and outfield, I think they could find a way to get Christopher Morel in their lineup. So I like to call out to Javier Baez, too. Morel is super animated too on the field.

He hit that home run. He was screaming. He's fired up around the bases. He definitely has that kind of, that same quality that Javier Baez had when he was in Chicago as well. A deeper league name to watch here, you know, I always love this guy.

I have him in the Scott White Dynasty League. It's like you always find yourself rooting for players you have in Dynasty. Hazu Sanchez went two-for-four with two doubles. That's back-to-back games with two doubles. And over his last 15 games, he's betting 3-57 with two home-runs. at one steal, which frankly even surprised me.

So he's just a name to watch for it for now. And he's starting to play more and maybe he can go somewhere with it. Some news and notes, great news as the MRI on Mason Miller's right elbow came back clean. He's expected to try a side session on Friday and the belief is that he'll avoid the IL. I don't know how much I buy all of it, but that just seems unnecessarily risky, right? Like this guy's never been healthy. He throws 102 miles an hour or whatever. now or whatever, just give them two weeks off.

Yeah. But just clearly, give Mason a little two weeks off and go try to finish off your stadium deal. Like, focus on what you really care about, Oakland. Clearly, I overreacted yesterday by saying you could go ahead and drop Mason Miller because now they're talking about him not going on the I.

A little, I still think he'll go on the IL, but it's not nearly as serious of an injury as they were making it sound like, like yesterday. It's great news because he's looked electric so far. So obviously we'd love to have him in the game. Jacob de Grom could be another two to three weeks away from his return.

He's been limited to playing light catch. This report was kind of weird. There was one earlier on before this that said he's only been playing light catch and he's not really close. So I don't know, you know, where we got. Given that is Jacob de Grom. I'm going to assume he's throwing 95 in light catch. Yeah. Yeah, for what it's worth.

I'm not really buying the two to three weeks return for DeGrom, but we'll see. Luis Severino will begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Wednesday. Carlos Rodon was given a cortisone injection and could throw off the mound as soon as this weekend. He's apparently battling a chronic back issue now. Kyle Swarber left Tuesday with a left foot contusion. X-rays were negative. Stalling Marte has been dropped to sixth in the Mets order as he's batting just 213 on the season. That definitely went up because I saw he had two head.

hits, but yeah, he's been struggling. Tyler O'Neill could begin a rehab assignment next week. He's on the IL with a lower back strain. Nick Lodolo's next start has been pushed back from Thursday to Saturday due to left calf soreness, and I just kind of wonder if maybe that's something he's been

pitching through, and it explains some of the, you know, poor performance, but... That is, as the kids say, cope. I'm trying, I'm trying here. Lance McCullors threw a 25 pitch bullpen session on Tuesday. He reportedly hit 91,000, point six miles per hour during the session. Last year he averaged 93 miles per hour with his sinker.

Weirdly specific bullpen session velocity reading there. Hey, it's usually like, eh, he hit 92. 91.6 miles per hour. Exactly 91.6. Andres Munoz underwent a PRP shot in his shoulder last week and won't be ready to go on a rehab assignment until the end of the month. Noah Sintergard left his start with a cut on his finger. David Roberts said, they'll see how Sinderguard's finger responds. Mauricio Dubon left Tuesday's game with left hamstring discomfort. There's a good chance, Yo-Wal Moncada could be back this weekend.

Ranger Suarez is set to make his debut this weekend in Colorado. He was okay last year, but I just don't think he's going to work out very well in this new environment, but I could be wrong. Josh Donaldson will go through another week of intense baseball activities before starting a rehab assignment. Ramone Arias was placed in the aisle with a strained left hamstring, and I wonder if this could lead to one of those Orioles prospects

getting the call in his absence. I think I saw Ryan O'Hern was recalled in the meantime, but who knows? Ah, come on. Got Jordan Westberg tearing it up. You got Colton Couser tearing it up. You're one of the best teams in the AL. Play like it. Yeah, let's go.

They called up Joe York teams recently. That's a better verb. Act like it. Lots of fun names coming for Baltimore. Oswell Parraza was played. on the aisle with a right ankle sprain retroactive to May 6th. James Paxson will make his Red Soxswain debut

this Friday against the Cardinals. He has not pitched in a major league game since 2,021. So yes, highly anticipated for him and some prospect notes. Red's top prospect, Ellie de la Cruz. I mean, this is crazy stuff. Just literally breaking statcast.

Had three batted balls of at least 116 miles per hour on Tuesday night. No team in the Stackcast era has ever done that in one game, let alone one player within that game. So this kid is ridiculous. There are swinging issues with him,

but big power, lots of speed. I think we'll see him at some point this season. I don't know how soon, but... I've said with L.A. Cruz, because he's another very tall shortstop, that he seems like a derivative of O'Neill Cruz, right down to his name, De La Cruz, of the Cruz.

Yes. No, I think it's a really good call. For what it's worth, he was really bad to start the season. Struck out like 42% of the time in the month of April. I think he had a hamstring injury that he was recovering from from spring training. But he's been awesome since the start of May, which is only six, seven games now. But he's got seven strikeouts and 44 plate appearances in that time, three straight games with a home run, including four in that stretch.

So seems to be figuring it out. I think we see him this summer at some point. I would love for the Reds to do this. I know they won't, but it would just be awesome if they call up everybody at the same time, right? Like, Ellie De La Cruz, Christian Encarnassee-Strand, and Matt McLean. Just call them all up, let them all play,

and let's see what happens. But it's not going to happen. Giants prospect, Casey Schmidt, was promoted and was batting seventh on Tuesday. This season in the minors, he was batting 313 with 10 doubles, a home run, and a 762 OPS. Actually hit a home run in his very,

first game here on Tuesday night. Scott, anything to see here with Casey Schmidt. I mean, there's always a question. The Giants are sort of like the race. How much is he going to end up playing? He is not among the highest in prospects, but he has some power. Let's see how much he plays.

Reminds me a little of David VR in terms of the fantasy impact he could make. Yeah, by the way, Frank, you left one out. What did I leave out? Andrew Abbott and his 60s. strikeouts and six starts. Yeah, let's call him up at the same time too. Get them up. Let's get all these Reds prospects up. They definitely

have some fun names coming as well. Let's take our final break and when we return we'll get into a few pitching performances here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back and a big thank you to everyone watching us live. 600 people here going strong well after 1 a.m. Eastern time. So if you're here watching us live, please

hit that like button. We really do appreciate it. Some waiver wire pitchers, we already talked about Louis Varland. How would we rank the rest of this group. Michael Waka turned in a quality start on the other side of that game. At the Twins, six innings, one run, four strikeouts for him. Lots of inconsistencies, but back-to-back quality starts there. Clark Schmidt turned in his first quality start of the season. He was going up against the Oakland A's, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, and over his last four starts, he has a 3.00 ERA and a 143 whip, well over a strikeout per inning. And there was a little

sleeper appeal coming into the season. It feels like maybe he's turning it around. And Michael Lorenzen posted back-to-back quality starts. He was at the Guardians, seven innings, one run, three strikeouts for him. Did have 13 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. Chris, how would you rank this group? I'll throw Varland in there too.

I'm pretty sure he's at the top, though. Varland, Waka, Schmidt, and Lorenzen. I think it's Varland, Gap, Schmidt, Gap, Waka, Gap, Lorenzen Gap. Pretty low end. walk up. I'm going to redo my rankings

hopefully this week and he might be inside the top 100 but that's damning with faint praise. So yeah. Varland and Schmidt are the most interesting mostly just because they're not proven to be mediocre. All right, fair enough.

Let's get into a few other high end performances here on Tuesday and I've been telling people to sell high on Shane Bieber. Was that a mistake? I don't know. I'll ask you guys about it. Season high, nine strikeouts up against the Tigers. He went six shutout in this one, seven hits, one walk, season high, 19 swinging strikes on 101 pitches. Still did allow a lot of hard contact,

91.6 average exit velocity against, and it's two starts in a row now where the slider was Bieber's most used pitch. He's got a 261 ERA, a 110 whip, but well below a strikeout per inning. And again, he's allowing the most hard contact of his career. His expected ERA entering the start was 486. Scott, did I make a mistake telling people to sell high? Well, if you made a mistake,

then so did I, because my article, seven sell high pitchers just dropped Tuesday morning, and then Shane Bieber turned in this start Tuesday night. And what made him such an attractive sell high candidate is that the ERA and WIP

had been Shane Bieber-like, but his strikeout rate was coming into the start was, his caper 9 was 5.9. 5.9. K-per-9 in an environment where contact is being punished, maybe worse than ever before. And just get the profile of Shane Bieber, right?

He had that big velocity drop last year and managed to overcome it because his slider and curveball both played up like crazy. That seemed like, you know, kind of a tightrope walk. And they weren't playing up the same way. The whiffs were clearly down. it seemed like a good time to shop him because he still, the casual player would still perceive him as an ace

but there were a lot of underlining morning signs. So I was with you on that. But again, like I was saying for Alec Manoa earlier, what makes it so hard to predict future performance in baseball is that a lot of times it can take a very small adjustment to click it all back into place. I don't know that for sure that that happened. with Shane Beeper, but given his history, it certainly seems plausible it could.

I would still call him a sell high candidate, even after this start. It'll be even easier to sell high on him now. But as always, the key is that you're selling high. You are taking an asset that appears to have peaked and you're selling it at its peak. So you should get a peak return. Otherwise, it's not worth doing it. Yeah, you should still value him in trade. as at least in my eyes, no worse than a high-end number two starting pitch. That's not to say I think he will be a high-end number two starting pitcher, although I think that's certainly more likely than that he falls outside of the top 40.

I don't love that he's like throwing his cutter more. That's not actually been a great pitch, and when he's been at his best, it's not really been with the cutter being a big part of his repertoire. So I don't know if he just hasn't had the feel for his curveball, which is down to a 10% usage, which is the lowest of his career. And even in this start, it was only 10%.

But this is one where, like, yes, the underlying number suggests he hasn't been as good as he's, sorry, I kicked something accidentally, as he's actually performed. But I just, the track record makes me believe he'll figure out the deficiencies.

Would you guys flip Shane Bieber for Sandial Concert if you could? Absolutely. Yeah, I agree. I would do that as well. You know, I had someone yelling at me on Twitter today. Oh, you told me to sell high on Shane Bieber. Yeah, I did. Sell high.

Again, we always stress the sell high. I'm not telling you to just sell Shane Bieber for anything. It's like sell, if you can get appropriate value for him, then you shouldn't be mad and you're still pitching well. Here's an interesting one. Shane Bieber or Framber Valdez. Well, I'm thinking Valdez. Framber Valdez.

is up next and that's why I did it that's that's what we call a transition that one that they'll teach that one I wanted to say more about selling high I'm not ready to transition that's a lot closer I think I would take Valdez but I would definitely take Valdez let's talk about Valdez let's talk about Valdez sell high is this the best version of Framber Valdez that we have seen he's starting a new quality start streak he's now up to seven straight quality starts eight innings of one-run ball, 12 strikeouts to zero walks at the Angels, 18 swinging strikes on 99 pitches, nine of those on the cutter,

five on the curve, three on the change-up, seemingly everything working in this start, and changed a pitch mix-up. He tripled his cutter usage in this start out of nowhere. Used it 32% of the time. It was 11% entering this start. And his velocity continues to rise three years in a row. So back in 2021, 92.5, miles per hour. Last year it was 93.9. This year it's up to 95.2 on that sinker, which looks like a

phenomenal pitch. And the control, 1.7 walks per 9. Now, I'm skeptical that that will remain the case for Framber Valdez, but throwing harder and getting whiffs on all these different kind of pitches, I kind of lean towards, yes, this is the best version of Framber Valdez that we've seen. He's kind of, like, the comp for him has always been Dallas Keiko. It's, been kind of a lazy comp, lefty ground ball pitcher for the Houston Astros, but like, he's also kind of following that path now. Like, is this his 2015 Dallas Keogel season? It was a different type of pitcher. Dallas Keikle didn't get as many strikeouts as we're seeing, but that was also an outlier season for Dallas Keikle in terms of his strikeout rate. He was an above average

strikeout pitcher that year. You know, it could be one of those scenarios where like he's just putting it all together. For him, Valdez looked amazing tonight. He looked so good. He was getting whiffs with three different pitches. The cutter has been an outstanding swing and miss pitch for him so far. 39% whiff rate entering tonight.

I don't see a lot of reasons to be skeptical. Well, there weren't. There already weren't. What I look at with this performance from Valdez is, oh my gosh, he may have he may have taken, he may have another level in him

to unlock with this cutter because his cutter was his best swing and miss pitch he was only throwing it 11% of the time prior to this start which is not very much at all. It was the most thrown pitch in this start and it would still but they still couldn't hit it.

Yeah, I was responsible for half the whiffs. So like he, Framber Valdez had, I'm not going to say he had only one trick but like the thing that made him so good was this outlier ground ball rate. He was still a good strikeout pitcher for an extreme ground ball pitcher, but he wasn't a huge bat misser.

If he becomes a genuine strikeout pitcher on top of it, then in addition to working deep into games consistently, yeah, I mean, we might be talking about Framber Valdez as a legit ace at that point. And I have more confidence in saying that with him than I do, Shane Bieber. All right. And they're getting Jose Altuve back soon. So some run support too.

That can only help Framber Valdez moving forward. A few other pitching performances I wanted to mention this first group, Grayson Rodriguez. Remember last week, Scott, I said, there's no way. No way you could start Grayson Rodriguez against Tampa Bay. And then you were like, he's probably

going to have his best start. Look at what he did. Not that it was like a great one. It wasn't that great of a start. I mean, it was the furthest he went into any start in his career. Five and two-thirds, two runs allowed, four strikeouts up against Tampa Bay. So pretty impressive stuff there for Grace and Rodriguez. Aaron Nola turns in a quality start up against the Blue Jays, six innings, two runs, six strikeouts for him. Charlie Morton, similar kind of performance up against the Red Sox,

six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. And the name we mentioned earlier, I mean, apologies, Gialita, I mean, should have got to you earlier, but awesome start. At the Royal, six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes. And the name, the velocity up across the board. He averaged 94.3 miles per hour on that fastball, which is actually a little bit higher than where he was pitching in his prime. I already got into all this, Frank.

We did. We did get into Lucas G. Leto earlier. A little bit, yeah. Anything else you'd like to add on those names, Scott? Charlie Morton, Nola, and Grace and Rodriguez. I mean, are you grading Grayson Rodriguez on a curve here because he had less than a strikeout per inning? He had a whip over 1.5 in this start.

His swinging strike rate was below 10%. It wasn't that great of a start. It was a solid start for a top pitching prospect. I feel like we haven't had many of those. Very tough match. You are grading them on a curve. Yeah, sure. Okay.

Yeah. I'm not ready to get Grayson Rodriguez in my lineup or anything. All right. Well, this next group includes Shohi Otani, who turned in his fifth quality start of the season, seven innings, three runs, seven strikeouts. And since I told everybody to use Otani as a pitcher, I don't know, two weeks ago,

he's been a little underwhelming as a pitcher. He's had... Not strikeouts wise, but the ratios. He's kind of had like two bad innings, I think. Like, he had the really bad fourth inning in his last start. I think tonight was the fifth inning

where he gave up. It was either five straight hits or five straight base runners. And also, you know, Houston's not a great offense, but still a relatively tough like contact oriented lineup. So he's awesome.

Yeah. Second in the major scene, strikeouts. Yeah, I think I heard during the broadcast that he passed Babe Ruth in terms of pitcher strikeouts in his career and whatever. I mean, he's obviously going to get much further past that as well. George Kirby tied a career high with nine strikeouts up against the Rangers. He went seven shutout. Of course, zero walks.

He only has, what is it, three walks allowed in seven starts this season. This was the best that I've seen the slider look as well. So, you know, maybe Kirby can use that to get more whiffs moving forward. Logan Webb turned in his fourth straight quality start up against the national seven innings one run seven strikeouts Chris anything else on this group Otani Kirby and Logan Webb I'm glad to see that things have turned around

for Logan Webb because he had that weird start to the season where I think it was his first four starts he gave up four earned runs in each but he was getting a bunch of strikeouts I don't know I remain really intrigued by him I think he's like sort of a poor man's Framber Valdez, but there are some signs that he's like making a little bit of a leap similarly to Framber Valdez and getting more strikeouts this season. So I think he's, I think Logan Webb is very good and still has room to be great. A few hitting leftovers, Wander Franco went two for

four with a sock and a shoe, his seventh home run, his ninth steal of the season. While we're talking about the raise, I just find it interesting. I know they're just so loaded with talent right now. They can't find a way to get Josh Lowe in the lineup. He has sat two of the past three games, and all three of those have been against Ritees. That's kind of interesting, and I don't really understand it, but... That's the knock on low. That's, yeah, it's a knock on the raise, right?

Playing for the Tampa Bay Rays. Boba Chet went two for five with his eighth home run of the season. Nick Castiano's completely proving me wrong. I mean, he has bounced back. Like, nothing happened last year. Three for four with his fifth home run, his 14th double of the season. So tons of doubles.

He's been great in every format, but even better in points leagues. It's interesting the way Bo Bichette and Nick Castellanos have taken off this year, because they've done it sort of doing the opposite thing from each other. Bo Bichette has been much more opposite field-oriented this year, and Nick Castellos has been much more poll-oriented this year, which, I mean, it's not universally a good or bad thing. I think it just depends on how hard you impact the ball. spreading it out more is probably a good thing if you impact the ball as hard as Boba Chet does,

and pulling it more is probably a good thing if you don't. And in Castiano's case, he's always been someone who underperformed his expected stats for the most part, in part because he hits, in part because he played in a terrible home park and in part because he hits so many balls to straight away and to the power alleys where, you know, if you hit a ball 380 feet down the left field line, it's definitely a home run. If you hit it 380 feet to right center, might just be an out. So if he does sustain that, that, you know, that that's, I think in his case, a pretty good change. Glaber Torres is trying to get going again, back-to-back games with a home run.

He has three straight multi-hit games, and he got off to that amazing start, and then he was ice cold and looks like he's coming around again. Big game for Danesby Swanson, who had three hits, two doubles, and his third home run. Juan Succo, I mean, Juan Soto, four for four with a walk, four hard hit balls. three of them over 108 miles per hour. Sean Murphy, another great game, three for four with a double and four RBI. He had a batted ball, one 10.5 off the bat. A few bullpen updates for the Guardians,

a manual Class A allowed a hit but picked up his 13 save. For the Orioles, Felix Bottista recorded the final four outs. He did walk three, but picked up his eighth save. And I'm just, whenever this guy pitches and he does something good, I'm going to continue to mention it. Yaneer Cano, he recorded another five outs with two strikeouts and his sixth hold.

He has yet to allow an earned run this season. For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley was unavailable. Giovanni Gallegos picked up his second save. For the Reds, Alexis Diaz recorded the final four outs for his seventh save. For the White Sox, Ronaldo Lopez pitched in the eighth inning with a two-run lead. Kendall Graveman pitched in the ninth for his first save of the season. Not that it matters too much because Liam Hendricks is presumably back soon, But that was a situation where I think the two, three, and four hitters were up against the White Sox.

So that was why Lopez was in there. If I can take you behind the curtain here, Chris, I honestly didn't even look it up for that exact reason. I'm like, yeah, it probably doesn't matter that much. For the Astros, Ryan Presley struck out two for his fifth save. And for the Giants, Camillo DeVal also struck out two for his eighth save of the season. To stream or not to stream, your two or three favorites. and we'll start with Wednesday here. And who did we say yesterday, Scott?

I think it was... I think my preference was Edward Cabrera at the Diamondbacks, even though that's a tougher matchup. Right. But you preferred... I like Josiah Gray at the Giants. I like Josiah Gray at the Giants. I like Seth Lugo at the Twins too.

I think that's fine. Yeah, those are all okay. I'm not dying to use any of them, but they're all okay. I also mentioned in deeper, leagues, Rich Hill against the Rockies, and Peyton Batonfield up against the Tigers. On Thursday, tougher matchup, but Bailey Ober is pitching well going up against the Padres. I'm good with that one. Yeah, definitely. Not much else here. Maybe Domingo Hermann against Tampa Bay, but this is his second start in a row against Tampa. And I typically don't like using like questionable pitchers

against the same offense two times in a row. So, yeah, I'm okay skipping that one. Yeah, so not really much else going on on Thursday. I think Bailey Ober is probably your best bet. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.