Fantasy Baseball Today - Add Mitch White? Schwarber Won't Stop & Pitching Clunkers (7/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 7, 2022

If you support the show, please nominate Fantasy Baseball Today for The People's Choice Podcast Awards in the "Sports" Category: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup/ Josiah Gray is on a roll (2:16)! Should you add Mitch White? ... Kyle Schwarber won't stop hitting home runs (9:00)! ... Shohei Ohtani made history again (11:35). ... The Yankees crushed the Pirates Wednesday (17:30). ... How do we rank these waiver wire hitters (18:45)? ... What did we see in Brayan Bello's debut (24:55)? ... News and notes (29:57): Bryce Harper plans to return this season. ... Why have Shane Bieber and Lance Lynn been struggling (35:05)? ... Should you add any of these projected two-start pitchers (43:40)? ... Why is Bo Bichette having a down year (46:33)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (50:55). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, July 7th. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White, reunited. And it feels so good.

Today on the show, Kyle Schwerber just will not stop. hitting home runs. This guy is incredible. Brian Beow will talk about his debut. We've got some pitching clunkers and much more. But thank you, Scott, for holding it down while I was out. How did you enjoy hosting on Sunday night, huh? It gives me a new appreciation for what you do, Frank. Putting together that rundown specifically with the full weekend of events, I was telling you before we started recording here, and I don't know how much it came through to the listeners. But I had put together, you know, right up until the last minute trying to put together that rundown and maybe not whittling it down enough. So, you know, we were at 50 minutes into the show and I think we've

gotten through like a third of the rundown. So for the next 15 minutes, I feel like I was just rattling off important stuff while Chris sat there twiddling his thumbs. But, you know, I heard it went well. I didn't receive any negative feedback. So I'll take it as a win. But happy to have you back. Happy to have you back. A married man now. That's right. For those watching on YouTube, you see the ring on the finger. Still trying to get used to typing with the ring on and stuff. I'm sure it'll be fine. Yeah, you're used to it. After time. I didn't hear any complaints either, Scott, so I'm sure it went well. But, you know, I was going to ask, you know, moving forward, maybe you want to host a show here or there. And, you know, I'll, I'll sit in the analyst here.

I mean, it wasn't my first time. Maybe like once a year I end up posting. But yeah, it's, it is a what it is. Hey, the honeymoon's coming up soon. So we'll see what we'll do. What we're going to do for that. This honeymoon is over. I'll tell you. All right, let's jump into Wednesday's action here. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious. A standout from Wednesday. Who do you have, Scott? Oh, my standout from Wednesday. Such a standout. Josiah Gray. Josiah Gray was incredible against the Phillies, about the only one who could get. to him was Kyle Schwerber. Kyle Schwerber hit two home runs off Josiah Gray.

Josiah Gray, no stranger to home runs, of course. That's something he has shown himself to be vulnerable to. But aside from that, he was near flawless. He struck out 11 over 6 innings, 22 swinging strikes on 100 pitches. Half of those swinging strikes came on the fastball. And what's particularly notable about that is the success we've seen from Josiah Gray recently has come from him emphasizing his breaking balls more. He featured the fastball more prominently in this start, and clearly it was working for him.

So I don't know that it's the optimal formula for success for Josiah Gray moving forward, but it's nice to know that it can be a weapon in its own right if he needs it to be, and at times anyway. Its velocity was up slightly, which probably helped. When you pull back, though, and look at what Josiah Gray's done here recently, past six starts. Only one of them has been bad, really. The overall stat line in those six starts, a 278 ERA, a 107 whip, 11.4K per 9.

You know, the home runs are going to still worry me, and I wonder what the final ERA is going to be, but Josiah Gray appears to be making strides and seems to have a lot of upside. Yeah, yeah, he sure does. You mentioned what he's been doing recently. The swinging strike rate has been up. The walks have been down consistently in his last five starts. So two walks are fewer in four of those last five has been huge for him.

Because when he gets in trouble, it's too many walks, it's too many home runs. Obviously those things combined is just going to be a disaster for any starting pitcher. Josiah Gray is 82% rostered. I think he's out there in many leagues, maybe some 10 team leagues. You could pick him up and use him while he's hot here and maybe he just continues to ride this out. But I think if you have Josiah Gray on your team

and you kind of waded through the struggles earlier on, then you should feel very, very good about having him. For me, oh my goodness gracious, I was gonna do Eloy Jimenez. I'm gonna save him for later. I feel like talking about Mitch White maybe makes more sense. I found out right before the podcast

that Scott almost named his son, Mitch White. So a little interesting, fun fact. I actually said the wrong name to my wife. I had been thinking Mitchell, but I said Marshall. And then I was like, wait, that doesn't sound, right? That doesn't sound like, but like she liked it. And, you know, I tried to be like, oh, no, I thought of it. It was actually Mitchell.

And she was like, nope. So he's Marshall now. So you accidentally named your kid. I guess, yeah. Interesting. All right. Anytime I hear Marshall, I think of how I met your mother. Did you watch it, Scott?

Well, yes, I did. Yeah. No, that's, yeah, his middle name. His middle name is almost a tribute to that character in that show. I'm not going to say what it is because I want to give his first middle and last name over the podcast. I might be a little weird, but yeah, no, that there's, I definitely made the connection once, once it became official.

That's what the name was going to be. I loved how I met your mother while it was happening. And I, look, in hindsight, I think it's still a very good sitcom. But since then, I've watched The Office and Parks and Rec. And I think those shows are, are much, much better than how I made. Well, I mean, how I met your mother started off really strong, but they just dragged it out so long because it was successful. I mean, that's, you know, that's kind of a bygone era on television, I feel like, where that happens, where, you know, you get these 22 episodes seasons and just keeps going and going. And it's like, oh, man.

And so they weren't able to fulfill their premise for like a decade. And then it just, you know, it just ran out of steam. But it was a strong start. You know who else had a strong start? Mitch White. Let's talk about him. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies. five and two thirds, one hit, one unearned run, four walks to six strikeouts.

He only had nine swinging strikes on 102 pitches. He's been serviceable this year. 40 innings pitched whenever he's been called to duty, whether it's as a starting pitcher, reliever, whatever it might be. 3.38 ERA, again, 39 strikeouts over those 40 innings pitched. He does walk quite a few, doesn't get many swinging strikes or ground balls. So I'm trying to figure it out, Scott. Like, is there anything here to this?

or was it just a really good start here on Wednesday? He's 21% rostered Mitch White. Widely available. What do you think? I mean, he's had some success in the miners. He pitches in the Dodgers organization. It wouldn't surprise me if they turned him into something respectable. I don't see a lot of signs of it yet.

You know, I mean, this start, the walks were high. There wasn't a ton, there weren't a ton of swinging strikes. You know, the overall ratios are good, but not great for Mitch White. this year. I would have rather, particularly after the start of a Tuesday, I would have rather seen Ryan Pepio stick around and take this spot in the Dodgers rotation, but he's already been sent back down.

I believe he can only be sent down one more time this year because of a new rule. There's a limit how many times a player can be optioned in a season. So, you know, the next time Pepio is up, maybe he will stick around. But in the meantime, Mitch White is here, and I don't know. I'm not that excited.

Keeping an eye on him from start to start, but I haven't seen a lot to get excited about yet. All right, so just scout team fodder for now. You're not going out and trying to add Mitch White. No. Okay. The two big names Chris and I spoke about yesterday

in terms of adding pitchers were Nick Ladolo and Brian Beow. Would you still rather have both of those over Mitch White for now? Oh, yeah. Okay. We'll talk about Brian Beow a little bit later on too and his debut that happened here on Wednesday. In honorable mention, oh my goodness gracious. I just, I don't know.

know what else to say about the guy. Kyle Schwerber is just on another level right now. Three for four with a double dong that's back-to-back days with two home runs. Now up to 27 home runs total and he's got 16 homers in 32 games since the start of June. That is a 81 home run pace over a full season. And during that time, his average exit velocity 96.2 miles per hour. 96.2. His barrel rate is 28%. that was before Wednesday's action. That hasn't been added in yet, so it's only going to go up. The beefcake is on another level right now, Scott.

Yeah, he is, and he heated up last summer, too. It would be better if he was batting over 227. I'd prefer that, of course. His expected batting average, according to stat cast for what it's worth, is 258, but his strikeout rate is on the high side even for him, and so that's kind of suppressed the batting average. certainly in points leagues, it hasn't mattered.

He's the number three outfielder for the season. Forget just what he's done recently. Kyle Schwerber has certainly established himself as elite in that format. But batting average is one of the five categories in Roto leagues, and it suppresses his value there. I think there's hope that it improves. I do think what he's done so far with the power is more legitimate than not. Remember, I was calling a 40-Homer season for.

him at the start of the year. And it looks like I may have undershot it with that estimate because he's already, what, this was, these were home runs 26 and 27s. So he's only 13 away from 40 at this point. I think he's going to get there, barring injury. And, uh, yeah, I'd just be, I want to be looking to sell high or anything. I think Kyle Schwerber is, is legitimately this good. I mentioned this on yesterday's podcast too.

over the last 28 days, Schwerber is the number one hitter in both headshead points and Roto. So, look, you hit this many home runs. Obviously, you're going to rank highly. And I just pulled up the ranking, Scott. I wanted to see where you moved Schwerber up to outfielder nine in points leagues. And I moved them up to 14. I thought that was aggressive. Scott goes and puts him inside the top 10, which I understand the way that Kyle Schwerber's playing.

He deserves to be ranked that way. I'd rather have him than George Springer. I decided that was the key. Yeah, look, both of those guys are points. League standouts, so hard to argue with that. Like to have both, but yeah, Shorebird just a little bit better right now. Shoah Otani, got to mention, it's like every time this guy is out, just continues to make history.

This time, the first player to strike out 10 batters while also picking up 2 RBI and a stolen base since RBI became an official stat back in 1920. He goes seven innings, one unerred run, 10 strikeouts, 21 swinging strikes, really lean into the slider in this start toward 47% of the time. He's got a 2.44 ERA, 111 strikeouts, over 81 innings pitched. And as a hitter, Scott, since the start of June, Otani's batting 277, seven home runs, three steals, crushing the ball, barrel rate is up, average exit velocity is up. No matter where you want to use him, pitcher or hitter, Joey Otani is amazing.

Mm-hmm. I don't know if there's anything you'd like to add. I don't know what there is to add. No, I mean, I do think... You know, pretty soon here, I'm going to do another look at what the first two rounds would look like if we were drafting today. So kind of, you know, think if you're redrafting for the second half, what are the first two rounds going to look like? And, you know, presuming it's not a daily league. That's not what it would be for.

It would be for the more standard weekly leagues where you'd have to, where you'd be limited to either Otani's pitcher stats or hitter stats in a given week and not get both. because if you get both, he's probably the number one pick. But I'm not sure he's going to be in the first round anymore for me. Because I think others have moved past him. Aaron Judge, certainly, Mookie Betts being healthy again. Jordan Alvarez, I moved him up to, I believe he's now my number, is in my top five it might be in my top three

in one of the either points or roto you have him second in outfield ranks behind only judge for points I probably have him third in roto because I have a cunea number one but yeah yeah it might be hard to

you know it's kind of unfortunate than in those weekly formats you don't get the full effect of Otani but I don't think the home run steel combination is going to be what it was last year and I think that's going to put him more toward the end of the second round.

Scott, when you do this redrafting the first two rounds, I assume we'll do one, you know, around the All-Star break, you know, try and have some fun, do some interesting content things around that time. But what do you think about Julio Rodriguez versus Shohei Otani? Because I've seen fantasy Twitter is, I mean, they're leaning all into J-Rodd now, and I get it. I mean, he looks like a phenom and, you know, people are talking about him as like the number one overall pick next year,

which seems a little bit premature to me, but what do you think? Yeah, and they're doing a Julio Rodriguez versus Juan Soto thing, which, you know, I know Juan Soto's production's been kind of disappointing so far, but that seems a bit aggressive for a player who has been great for two months. But, yeah, I mean, Julio Rodriguez, you know, I think Julio Rodriguez versus Shohay Otani in those weekly leagues is a fairer comparison. and I might lean Julio Rodriguez in that case.

The key for him, because, look, I mean, plate discipline, at least at this stage of his career, is more of a liability for Julio Rodriguez than an asset like it is for Juan Soto, which matters more in points leagues, but it matters to the hitter profile overall. And so, I mean, just as a pure hitter, I don't think Julio Rodriguez is in the same class as Juan Soto. So it's really going to come down to,

at least not at this stage of his career. So it's really going to come down to how much, how aggressive he remains on the basis. And it's, he's already started to slow down a bit, you know. So of his 21 steals, nine came in April. So, you know, he's probably still going to get to 30. It's going to be a nice steals total for the season. but is he going to be able to do that year after year?

Typically with these middle-of-the-order bats, you see them run less and less as time goes on. And it's not always a gradual thing. It's just running becomes not much of a priority for them. I think in the long run, Julio Rodriguez is going to be more of a 15 steel guy than a 30-steel guy, which is going to put more pressure on his bat to perform.

But at this point, I'm willing to call him a second rounder for next year, sure. You know what's so interesting? interesting about that, Scott, Jose Ramirez a couple years ago when he was like really lost, he had that like year long funk where he was trying to figure everything out. Even when he wasn't hitting home runs, he was stealing bases. And it's at least reassuring in a categories league, roto, whatever it might be, that if Julio Rodriguez is not hitting, that he's already showed us that he'll still be aggressive on the base pad. So I do like that aspect of this game. And it's look, it's hard to predict. Yeah. Exactly how. Because steals are so much.

a matter of intent. And so, you know, obviously somebody like Jose Ramirez, he's just kept running throughout his career. He hasn't fallen into that, that trend that you so often see. But like, there are plenty of fast players. There are plenty of fast players who start out stealing bases and then stop, like Mike Trout, you know, it's the way it normally goes in the modern game, at least. So it, you know, it makes me a little skeptical that Julio Rodriguez he guess is going to continue to run at this pace. But he could. He could.

He's shown a willingness to do it so far. All right. Let's get back into Wednesday's action. I guess the Yankees took their loss to the Pirates on Tuesday personally because they came out and just clobbered them here on Wednesday. They put up 16 runs on 22 hits, including six homers. John Carlos Stanton hit his 21st. Joey Gallo hit his 10th.

Josh Donaldson hit his seventh. Donaldson is having just an absolutely brutal. season. Kyle Hachioca hit his fifth homer. Aaron Hicks hit his fourth, and of course, we saved the best for last. Aaron Judge hit his 30th home run. He's the first player in baseball to hit that milestone this season. It was a grand slam. Oh, and he stole a base. Scott, what do we call this? Is this a grand sock and a shoe? What are we doing with this? A grand sock and a shoe. Yeah. Maybe like a granny sock and a shoe. It's more like, kids or something. It's more of like a stocking.

Mm. Mm. Yeah. Really old school. Yeah. Stocking in a shoe for a grand slam? Probably not. Yeah, we're leading way too hard into this.

Anyway, Aaron Judge had been scuffling a bit of late. He was batting 128 in his previous 11 games before having this monster game. I don't think anyone is worried about Aaron Judge. But yeah, it was an absolutely dominant performance by the Yankees here in this game. Not really anything else to say about that. So let's move on to some waiver wire. hitters and will rank a few outfielders. Fran Morayas showing some signs of life now has three homers in his last seven games.

68% rostered and he's batting 250 in 15 games since returning. He's crushing the ball. He's hitting it really hard. He also has a 40% strikeout rate during this time. So that's very bad. Ramon Luriano went one for three with his sixth home run and low key he is on fire right now. Last 14 games, he's sitting 286, four homers, three steals. he's got six barrels.

He's walking a bunch, also striking out quite a bit. 42% rostered. Eddie Rosario is on the board with his first home run of the season. He's got three hits in three games since returning. And Andrew Benintendi went two for three with two walks, three runs,

and his second stolen base of the year. He now has multiple hits in seven of his last nine games, and he's betting 316 overall. The problem doesn't really do much outside of that. He's only got three homers and two steals overall. He is seven.

22% rostered. Scott, how do you rank these four names? Probably more for shallower leagues. Fran Mill Reyes, Luriano, Rosario, Benintendi. Well, it depends how shallow the league. I would rank them in the order you have them, I think, Reyes, Luriano, Rosario, Benintendii. You know, I'm definitely keeping an eye on Rosario

in his playing time. He was one of my sleepers coming into the year. I really liked the way he finished last season, particularly if you factor in the playoffs where he was awesome. Let me see if I can find those numbers again for you. I was just writing him up earlier. So yes, final 48 games playoffs included last year, Rosario hit 316 with 10 homers and a 975 OPS.

And of course, for most of his career, we've thought of him as a must-star player and fantasy. The problem for Rosario, and maybe you and Chris went over yesterday, is that his return leaves no room for Adam Dunn, or Adam Duvall. And I just, I don't see that being in something that's going to happen every day. And even today, Wednesday, Duval pinch hit for Rosario when a lefty was on the mound in the seventh inning. So Brian Snitker has said it's not going to be a strict lefty-righty thing.

He'll play it by year. He'll ride the hot hand. But I do think playing time could be an issue for Rosario unless he gets as hot as he was down the stretch last season. So nice to see him hit a home run. Hopefully those vision problems are truly behind him. But for now, I'm going to put him behind Reyes and Luriano because of those playing time concerns.

No, that's a good point. And not really one that I had considered. I mean, I guess the Braves have a good problem with Michael Harris, It's just the way he's played so far, and they still have a Kunya, obviously, and they have O'Suna, who they need to kind of plug in at DH. If you've ever watched Marcel O'Zuna play the outfield,

you do not want him playing the outfield. So, yeah, that kind of plugs things up a little bit there. Scott, if you other most added outfielder's right now, I assume Alex Kiroloff ranks among all these names for you. Well, the ones we just talked about? Yeah, Kierloff's at the top. Okay. And I know he left Wednesday's game,

collision, but turns out that he's okay. So good to hear that. One of the other most added outfielders recently is Jaron Duran. He's up to 54% rostered. Would you take him over all of these names as well? I think so. I mean, not Kirloff, but everyone else. Yeah, if he's going to be a lead-off hitter who steals bases for the Red Sox, I mean, that's more valuable, even in points leagues,

because I don't think strikeouts are going to be an issue for Duran. So, yeah, even. in points leagues. All right. Anything with these names in deeper leagues. We're talking probably 15 team leagues or anything deeper than that. Nixon Zell went two for three with his third home run and very sneakily is playing well as of late. His last 13 games, he actually has a 13 game hitting street going where he's hitting 442, two homers, three steals, bunch of line drives, 28% line drive rate. He's only 18% rostered. Yandy Diaz went two for three with two walks and two runs scored. mostly empty batting average.

His last 15 games, he's getting 3.89, with a 484 OBP, eight runs scored, only 3 RBI, zero Homer, zero steel. So that is basically always been the case for Yandy Diaz. And Jonathan VR went two for five with a steal. He's now let off three straight games for the Angels. He's only 9% rostered. Scott, what do you think of these three names in deeper leagues? Zenzel, Yandy Diaz, VR.

I mean, let's keep an eye on this VR situation. I think we've probably seen the last of him as a fantasy asset, but I've thought that before, and he's come roaring back with stud numbers during that stem with the Orioles that he had. So, I mean, batting leadoff in front of Mike Trout and Shohei Otani, that's about as optimal a lineup spot as it gets. Obviously, VR will have to perform to remain there,

but he still has a willingness to run. He stole that was his seventh steal. Obviously, he wasn't doing much with the Cubs at the plate, but the playing time was more sporadic. You know, deeper rotisserie leagues, I think it might be worth a while to put in a claim on VR and see where it goes. Nothing on Nixon Zell, this recent 13-game hitting streak. He's been pretty hot. Not hot enough, I think, to really move the needle for me. It's been a tough go of it for him.

Fun fact, Scott. I have a Jonathan VR Milwaukee Brewer's player shirt. Did you know that? Oh, I did. I don't know if you actually did. I might have worn it on this podcast before or brought it up at some point, but back in his Brewers days,

one of my favorites, Jonathan VR. So had to get it, I guess. Anyway, Brian Beow, let's talk about his debut. It was not the best. He gave up four runs over four innings pitched, six hits, three walks, only two strikeouts, only six swinging strikes on 79 pitches. Mostly sinker change up with his pitch mix.

They accounted for 75% of his pitches. Mixed in a slider, 16%. Also a four seam fastball 9% of the time. 23% CSW, not gray. You know, 28% is league average. He threw very hard, nearly 97 miles per hour on the sinker, but did struggle quite a bit with control while I was watching that game. 44% rostered Scott, so some people have been adding

Bayo, and I get it, you know, as minor league numbers are ridiculous, but what did you think about this debut? Will he stick around? Should you hold on to him in fantasy? Yeah, I mean, obviously, it wasn't what I wanted to see. It's not a huge, it wasn't a huge surprise to see him struggle with control. I mean, nerves in his major league debut, that that's enough of a reason. But, you know, even in the minors, he threw, he was throwing 62% strikes, which isn't a great rate in 3.5 walks.

per nine innings. It was 57% of his pitches went for strikes in this one, which is a really bad rate. So, you know, not terribly surprising that that's what he struggled with. There is a question of how long the leashes, how many chances the Red Sox give, I mean, do they send him down after this start even? Chris Sale is on the verge of returning.

Certainly there's a way they can keep him in the rotation for the rest of the season if he wants to, if he proves capable. of it. But, you know, this wasn't a great debut. The stuff sizzled. I mean, you definitely see the potential. There's a lot of movement on that sinker and a lot of velocity, as you point out, a good mix of pitches there for Bayo. And because of that, you know, you can make the case that now is actually an optimal time to add him. There's going to be less competition for him. If that's, if that's something that matters in your league you know there there's going to be a lot fewer people

looking to add him now than if he had gone out there and dominated in this first start and it's worth reminding everybody what Spencer strider's first start looked like what Spencer strider's second start looked like you know and if if we had completely written him off then I don't think we'd be too happy about it now so I have

I had more confidence in Strider at that time than I do in Bayo right now, but you got to acknowledge the upside. And if he sticks around, I think it's not a bad idea to have him on your roster. Would you rather have him or Nick Ladolo, who's 45% rostered? I'd rather have Ladolo. I mean, he's actually, you know, there's a lot of upside there too, and he's actually delivered on it in his last three starts. Granted, two and a half month wait in between the third and the fourth one.

But his last three stars have all been, all showed a lot of, shown a lot of upside. All right. Before we hit the break, have a fun little announcement here. Fantasy Baseball today is a nominee for the best sports podcast category in the People's Choice Podcast Awards. We appreciate all that you do for us. And we hope you enjoy our show enough to nominate us to advance to the final round. To nominate FBT, go to podcastawards.com slash app slash sign up and then toggle down the

sports category. The whole process takes less than a minute. I did it earlier today. We've also included the link at the top of the podcast description. It's in the YouTube description as well. So if you listen to the football podcast with Adam Mazer, you've probably heard already that they're up for a similar nomination. So help us out. You know, FFT, FBT, we both advance, compete against each other. Who knows? But anyway, we would really appreciate your support if you can help us make that happen there. Let's take a break. And when we return, we'll the news and notes here on Fantasy Baseball today. The news and notes, Bryce Harper said that he intends to play again this season, but was unwilling to commit to a timeline. He did add that

even if the Phillies are out of playoff contention, he's still going to come back and play. We just don't know when. And I feel like that can change. I know he wants to return, but if they're legitimately out of it and he's got the elbow thing going on, I don't know that they'll I didn't think it was a question until he brought it up, to be honest. I assumed he was going to be back this year. Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like it would be late August, if anything, but we'll see. Wonsoto returned to the lineup after missing two games with that calf injury.

I believe he had two hits, is what I saw in that one. Rafael Devers was out Wednesday with a little bit of right hamstring soreness and back tightness. So not great. We got to let's get to the all-star break, have these guys rest up a little bit. It sounded like he was just banged up. Yeah. Not a real injury. Kevin Gosman is unlikely to pitch on Thursday

but still has a chance to pitch Sunday against the Mariners. I believe he's dealing with an ankle injury right now. Frankie Montas was diagnosed with inflammation but no structural damage to his right shoulder. Of course it's pretty scary but he is going to miss his start this week. Looks like he will avoid the IL for now. Glass half full, glass half empty

I don't know for Frankie Monta. They got to keep them pitching to cash in that trade chip. Yeah, they sure do. Ramon Luriano, by the way, I mentioned he's crushing it. You think that guy wants to get traded right now? I'm sure he's playing well and wants to wind up somewhere else outside of Oakland. Jonathan India left after being hit by a pitch on his ankle. X-rays have come back negative.

Alex Kiroloff mentioned this earlier, was removed Wednesday after colliding with Andrew Vaughn at first base. Turns out Kiroloff is okay. Chris Taylor was placed on the IL with that small fracture in his left. foot. We haven't heard anything yet about prospect Miguel Vargas getting the call, but I don't know. Well, they've already announced what roster moves they're making, and it didn't include calling him up. You know, that could change. Sure. But yeah, not yet. Would be fun. Of course, a little of power, a little bit of speed from Miguel Vargas. And if you listen to FPTN5, you've heard Scott and me talk about I'm quite a bit already.

Craig Kimbrel was available to pitch Wednesday after missing a few games with that back injury, and in fact, I just saw him pitching in the top of the ninth inning. He threw a scoreless ninth there for the Dodgers. Tyler Malley was placed on the IL with a right shoulder strain, but was quoted saying he's not concerned at all and expects to return after the All-Star break. Kyle Hendricks was placed in the IL with a right shoulder strain, and he will miss the final two starts before the All-Star break. Brandon Lau will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-Lub.

on Thursday. He's been on the IL since mid-May with a back injury, which I believe he suffered a setback on at some point, but yes, Thursday will be the start of rehab for him. Anthony Rizzo has missed two straight due to lower back stiffness, something he's dealt with in the past. Marcus Stroman scheduled to throw a bullpen in the next couple of days before the team determines his next step. Stroman has been on the IL since early June with right shoulder inflammation. Evan Longoria place on the IL with an oblique strain. David VR has quietly been playing third base for the Giants and

he was having a huge year in the miners. 284 batting average, 21 homers and OPS over a thousand. He's only 2% rostered. Scott, do you have any interest in this gentleman? David VR in deeper leagues. The big question being as it's the Giants

is how regularly is he going to play? and what is it, back-to-back starts. So that's good. Yeah, I mean, and then also the fact he was a, he's 25 or 26. He's old for a minor leaguer. Yeah. And, you know, that kind of,

that kind of undermines the production he was delivering a AAA. But yeah, if he goes on a home run binge here, I think maybe he could become an exciting pickup. We'll just have to see how much he plays and how he does. I don't think it's a high priority to add David VR at this point. All right. Yon Moncada exited after fouling a ball off his right foot on Wednesday. Joey Votto was not in the lineup due to back tightness.

And despite a solid start on Tuesday, Dodgers prospect Ryan Pepio was optioned back to AAA, which we mentioned. Seems that Mitch White will remain in the rotation for now. Tigers have had no communication with Eduardo Rodriguez since he was placed on the restricted list on June 13th. He's been away dealing with a personal matter, but even the Tigers admitted this situation is unusual. So not really much of an update, but if anything happens with Erod, we will let you know. Let's talk about some pitching clunkers from Wednesday's action.

Shane Bieber gave up five runs over five and two-thirds, innings pitched, still did have 16 swinging strikes. However, in his last five starts, he's, you know, kind of scuffling again. 4.62 ERA, right around a strikeout per inning. Swinging strike rate still looked solid during this time, 12.6%. But allowing a lot of hard contacts, got 56% hard hit rate, 92.5 mile per hour average exit velocity. What do you think about Bieber? Because he started kind of slow, then he was really good in the middle part, and then he's kind of slowing back up again. Yeah, it's still been a lot of quality starts, but more like three earn runs in six innings than one earn run in six innings lately, which will get the ERA climbing as it has for Beaver. You know, I think what we've been saying all along still applies, not top five anymore, but top 15.

And stretches like this are going to keep them in that ladder range. So I still think he's fine, but, you know, it's clear he's, his skills have diminished somewhat from that two-year stretch when he was, you know, considered one of the very top pitchers in fantasy. Yep. And, you know, could be related to the fastball velocity being down a little bit this year and dealt with a shoulder injury last year. But for the most part, Bieber's still been very good so far this year. I hope we hear about them going to like drive line baseball this off season, you know, one of those, one of those workout programs designed to increase velocity. Because if he gets that velocity back, yeah, it's going to be exciting. Fun fact, Shane Bieber. Another one. I have his player shirt. But I actually have the, the players weekend one that says not Justin on the back.

All right. I thought it was, I thought it was pretty. entertaining. So I, Scott, I have so many random clothes. I guess now I could say my wife, right? It's kind of weird still to say that. But she always yells at me. She's like, you can't buy new clothes until you get rid of old clothes. So you buy those things that I wonder, who buys those? Yes. Do you have like an all-star jersey, an all-star game jersey? I do. I do. Yeah. I have a, I have a Justin Upton All-Star game jersey back when he played for the Diamondbacks. Because you always see those on like the clearance rack of the team store, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's me.

You know, I have a bunch of stuff where it's like, you wouldn't buy yourself that, but you would buy it for someone else as a gift. It's like, that's, I don't know, just like a bunch of random stuff that I have. Anyway, Lance Lynn, he put up another clunker here on Wednesday. He gave up five runs over five innings pitched. He did have 15 swinging strikes, but through his first five starts here, he's got a 5.33 ERA, 1.33 whip, and the velocity has been down. And, you know, the fastball is the main pitch for Lynn.

He throws like three different fastballs, but it was down to 92.1 miles per hour in this start. It was 94 miles per hour last season. So, Scott, what do you think about Lance Lynn right now? I don't feel that concerned about it, to be honest. I'm having a hard time articulating why. I just think he's, I think he's going to figure it out. I mean, he had that one start where the velocity seemed fine, and I don't know. He's just earned a lot of trust with me.

I don't think he's, you know, we've seen the swinging start, even in this start, the swinging strikes were high. We've seen that happen a couple times, even in stars when his velocity's been down. So I just don't see a lot to get worried about here. Obviously, I'd feel better if he came back and was, you know, dominating from the get-go. But I think you'd be making a mistake by panicking over the way Lance Lynn has performed so far. I think in the long run, he'll still be what you want in a number three or maybe even number two guy for your pitching staff. So you would look to buy low right now if you could on Lanslin?

Yeah, I would say so, sure. Would you, hmm, who's a pitcher? Ha, I got one. Would you give up someone like, we'll talk about Javier in just a little bit, but he's been great recently. Would you give up like Javier or Strider to get Lanslain if you could? Hmm, let me, you know, I was actually, that was right around the range

where I was moving Javier and Strider when I did my update of the rankings today and I don't remember where I landed on that so let me double check and that was before Javier's latest start which might change my thinking in your points rankings you have Lynn at 31 you have Javier at 34

starting pitcher ranks of course and Spencer Shreter at 39 yeah okay I might move Javier down closer to strider based on tonight's performance. But yeah, I guess I guess I'm going to stick with Lynn ahead of those two. All right, fair enough.

Let's talk about two others. Joe Ryan and the aforementioned Christian Javier. Ryan, not that he got blown up in the start, but he's just been so subpar. Like last nine starts, he's got an ERA over four, way less than a strikeout per inning. He's given up 55% fly balls during this time. It feels like it's going to catch up eventually.

And then Christian Javier coming off two amazing starts, struggles against the royals of all teams. He gives up five runs, three walks, three homers. He did have seven strikeouts over five innings pitched. But what do you think about these two? Scott, Joe Ryan and Christian Javier. Well, there does seem to be a clear correlation for Ryan with velocity. You know, is five.

five starts since returning. Four of them have been not so great. One of them has been great. It was the start prior to this one. And that was the only one where his velocity was basically normal. The other four starts since his return, it's been down about a mile per hour and a half, including the start on Wednesday.

And it may be that he can't, you know, he needs to be more in that, 91-92 range than that 90 range on average to live up to its potential for that sneaky for that sneaky delivery to fool hitters. I'm not super worried about it, but I'm more worried than in the case of Lance Lynn, obviously, because Joe Ryan doesn't have that same track record. All right. And anything on Javier, you worried about this start at all? So he gave up three home runs to the royals of all teams. He gives up so many fly balls. That's bound to happen on occasion. He gave a three walks.

And we've seen him struggle with control from time to time. I mean, it's hard to flip out about it when he struck out a combined 27 while allowing a combined one hit in his previous two starts. But it's frustrating because, you know, obviously we were, oh, man, up and coming ace at this point. And then he goes and turns around and has a start like this. So that's frustrating. But in the long run, I, you know, I still think you're going to be happy with hobby. I think as long as he walks as many batters and gives up as many fly balls as he does, Christian Javier is who we're talking about,

that that's what will hold him back from consistently being an ace. I mean, I think we'll still see some amazing starts from him, but we'll also still get some clunkers like this out of Javier, unless he can fix that problem with the fly balls and all the walks. It's a similar problem that Josiah Gray has, but, you know, Javier has just been a lot better than Josiah. Yeah. Yeah, I think he's, you know, they're different in a number of ways. Javier's kind of hard to have a comparison for Javier because it's so fastball-centric, his arsenal.

Kind of reminds me of Freddie Peralta before he kind of rounded out his arsenal. Yep. But, you know, I would say Javier has been even more successful than that version of Peralta. So there's a lot to like there. All right. Most of these upcoming pitchers are not. good, but they might have two stars next week and we'll know more on tomorrow's podcast when we do a week 15 preview. But Trevor Rogers, what do you know? Another not great start. He has one quality start in 16 tries this season. That astounds me. I would say he's an easy drop. He's

64% rostered, but he's in line, or at least looks like he's in line for two starts against the Pirates and the Phillies next week. Glenn Otto, solid start, five innings, two runs, five strikeouts. He is going up against the A's and the Mariners. David Peterson's recent hot stretch comes to a halt at the Reds. He gave up three runs over three and two-thirds innings. He walked five, still had seven strikeouts. And it looks like he has the Braves and the Cubs next week. And then Adrian Samson turns in a near-quality start at the Brewers.

Gives up one run over five and two-thirds, five strikeouts to zero walks. He is only one-per-in-roasted. So in very deep leagues, looks like he was lined. up for the Orioles and the Mets next week. Scott, what do you think? These pitchers are not good, but they might have two starts. I think David Peterson's my favorite. I know the five walks killed him today,

but the swinging strikes were high again. And that was even with him using his slider less than we've seen him use it recently. That's proven to be a really effective pitch for him. And he's made more consistent use of it recently. Not so much in this start, but still managed to get seven. the strikeouts in three at two-thirds innings. So he's the only one here that I'm really interested in. I mean, even Trevor Rogers, I have him now 100 second in my rest of season pitcher

rankings. I'm just out on Trevor Rogers. So, yeah, that's two-star weeks. Having two starts isn't enough to entice me with him. Let this be a lesson to you all out there who play in Dynasty Leagues. Do not trade for young pitchers in Dynasty League. because that is what I did last year. I traded for Trevor Rogers.

I actually traded with Chris. I gave him like Jose Burrios and I don't know. I think Lordus Garell. Yeah. Rogers was practically free to keep. Yeah. Now he was a great keeper and he gave me like Rogers and Brett Beatty who's not doing much this year in the miners.

But yeah, I was sold, Scott. I thought, you know, Rogers looked amazing last year. I thought, oh, you know, the next great Southpaw and baseball and he's going to be amazing. And, you know, it's just, it's very hard. to predict with young pitchers from one year to the next. There's so much turnover yearly and trying to project pitchers three years out, especially in a dynasty league.

It's just so tough. Let that be a lesson to you. I think kind of build out the rest of your team and then maybe trade for pitching if that's the last thing you need in your dynasty leagues. Where are we? Hitting leftovers. Some hitting standouts here from Wednesday's accident. Bo Bichette went one for three with his 13th home run.

Kind of having a disappointing year, Scott. Have you looked into Boba Chet recently? Because I didn't even realize that's been this bad. 257 batting average, 13 homers, five steals. And the thing is, nothing in his underlying stats really look that off. Do you see anything with Bobachette? Well, I've noticed the same thing you have, that it's been pretty underwhelming. It hasn't been bad, like, you know, not like, you know, it's not like he's doing nothing.

like Jonathan Indy is doing, but certainly for the price you paid for him, you expected more from Beau Bichette. And I think we'll still get it. I still have him second in my rest of season shortstop rankings. I've been tempted to move him down. But, you know, a lot of the other big names at that position,

Trevor Story, Zander Bogart, even Francisco Lendor recently, they're not exactly performing up to expectations either. It's like, you know, Dan's B. Swanson's looking very appealing all of a sudden. I actually moved him up to seventh and rest of season shortstop rankings right behind that group. Wow. I mean, it's well deserved.

Yeah, in the long run, I think Bichette is still going to be, is still going to be really good. So I would be more inclined to buy on him than sell on him at this point. All right. Randy Rosarana went two for five, hit his ninth home run. He added three RBI. And on the season, he's hitting 258. with nine home runs, 18 steals. He's currently the outfielder 17 in Roto, 58th overall in that format,

and he's the 27th outfielder in head-to-head points. So very clearly, his better format is Roto at this point. And Scott, I actually moved a Rosarin inside my top 20. He's, you know, he had this awful April, but really since then, he's been very, very good. Yeah, and Roto, I moved him up into the top 20 as well. I moved him up, probably 10 spots today. And that's his better format, obviously,

because he gives you the steals that are more valuable there. And the plate discipline isn't great, which hurts them in points. But living up to expectations, I'd say, that may be one preseason bust call that doesn't pan out. Fair enough. Matt Chapman went two for three, his 13th home run, back-to-back games with a homer and multiple hits.

Scott, are you still looking to buy Matt Chapman? if you need help at third base. I am. Yep. I still like what I see in the underlying numbers, and I'm still going to trust in those to pay off in the long run, even though I would have expected to see more signs of a turnaround by this point. It's going to happen.

It's hitting the ball really hard. He's striking out about as little as he ever has, certainly much less than the past two years. So I still consider Chapman a by-low. cue up the welcome back music for Eloi Jimenez. His first game back, he went two for five, hit his second home run of the season. He had two bad at balls of 105 miles per hour.

Scott, I still think that Eloy Jimenez could be a very good player. He's just struggled so, so much to stay on the field. And lo and behold, his first game back, Tony Laruso throws him out there in left field too. It's not an ideal situation. He should be de-aging, but I just hope he could say healthy, because I think that there's a really talented player in there. Yeah, I mean, the problem is Andrew Vaughn should be DHA too.

You're right. Yeah, too many too many DHS. Yeah, quite the log jam for the White Sox. Luis Arise four more hits for him, two runs, one RBI. He's now betting 354, which is by far the highest among qualified hitters. Paul Goldschmidt is batting 340, so he is the next closest. Jorge Polanco had a double dong. He's now had, he now has five home runs over his.

his last eight games, which is a welcome site. He got off to a very, very slow start this season. Brandon Nimmo had a big game. He went three for five with his seventh home run. He added three RBI, still 86% rostered. So I don't think Nimmo is available in the leagues where you might want them. Mostly, you know, three outfield heads head points leagues. Some pitching leftovers.

Corbyn Bruns retakes the MLB strikeout lead with his sixth double-digit strikeout game of the season. He goes seven shutout with 10, Jose Barrios tossed his first quality start since June 15th. He was at the A's six innings, one run, six strikeouts. Luis Severino has now gone six plus innings in eight of his last nine outings. He was at the Pirates, six shutout for him, three strikeouts there. Max Fried now has a quality start in 13 of 17 starts this year. Six shutout with four strikeouts. I think he left this start with some glute tightness,

but whatever happens there, we'll obviously let you know. And then Corey Klobber continues. He's having a very serviceable season. Quality start at the Red Sox. Six shot out with five strikeouts there. Scott, anything you'd like to add on Kluber, Freed, Severino,

Berrios, and Corbin Burns. Well, it's back-to-back starts here for Severino where he hasn't missed a lot of bats. Just six in his previous start. That was against the Astros. This one against the Pirates. He only had five. and I feel like I moved him up too aggressively in my rankings after, you know,

when it seemed like he had gotten the slider back after not throwing it as much early in the year and he had a, you know, back-to-back double-digit strikeout efforts and I moved him into my top 15. He's back closer to 20th now in my rest of season rankings. And it seems like the Yankees have, I've noticed, the start total for a lot of the Yankees pitching staff isn't as high as others around the league. I don't know if they've done more to space out starters or I don't know exactly what that's about. But compared to a lot of the players ranked ahead of Louis Severino, he's a couple starts behind. So his totals aren't in the same neighborhood.

Let's see. I presume that's going to continue if the Yankees have been doing that so far. Anything else here? It was nice to see a bounce back outing from Kluber after he got knocked around in his previous start. I don't have a... I don't really think he's in the same category as these other pitchers. Obviously, the Brillo start was nice to see, but it's still hard to know what to make of his season. You could maybe use it as an excuse to try and sell him now that he had a good start,

and, you know, he still has the name value, obviously. you know, it's worth exploring just to rid yourself of the headache. In the long run, I still think Barrios is probably going to be okay, but it's, you know, I've said that a few times already, and then he's gotten throttled again next time out. So, you know, what would be a good return for him? I have Barrios 41st in my starting pitcher rankings rest of season. So just to do a comparison,

at that same position. Like, if you wanted to trade Barrios straight up for Lance Lynn, I think I'd be willing to do that. You know, Charlie Morton, if he's still on the table, just because his full season stats aren't great. Probably not, but it might be work.

If you can trade Barrios for a rehabbing Chris Sale, would you do that? I move Chris Sale up to 35th. And his rehab start, on Wednesday didn't go well. He walked, I believe, five and three and two-thirds innings. He had been dominating prior to that.

But he didn't sound worried. And I'm not really worried either. It's just one of those things that happen sometimes on rehab starts. Would you do it? Would you give up Berrios for sale? Yeah, I would. Yeah.

All right, cool. The call to the bullpen. Some bullpen updates here. For the brewers, Josh Hayter, entered in a tie game. He gave up a walk, a hit and a run. He took the loss there.

On the other side, for the Cubs, David Robertson pitched a clean ninth for his 12th save of the season. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano,

struck out two for his 18th save. For the Orioles, Jorge Lopez back in there, struck out two for his 14th save. He is 71% rostered. For the Nationals,

Tanner Rainey, pitched a clean ninth for his 12th save of the season, 38% rostered, widely available. if you play in any category leagues and need saves there. For the Reds, Hunter Strickland entered in the ninth with a one-run lead.

Proceeded to give up a run on two hits. Takes his second blown save. 9% rostered, you know, not as excited about Hunter Strickland, but he has been consistently pitching in the ninth for the Reds. For the Braves, A.J. Minter gave up a hit, but picked up his second save. And since Kenley Jansen went down, the Braves have five saves, Three have gone to Will Smith. Two have gone to AJ Mentor.

I assume they're going to continue to roll with this committee, right, Scott? Well, and it sounds like Kenley Jansen's going to be back in five days. Right. So it's probably a moot point. Will Smith had thrown 35 pitches two days prior to this game. And probably, so that's probably the reason we saw Mentor. But, yeah, I mean, you may have missed your chance to get any saves from this duo. regardless.

For the Rockies, Daniel Bard entered in a tie game, did not record a single out, he gave up a walk, and three hits, he took the loss there. And for the Giants, Camillo Duval started the ninth, and he had a three-run lead. He walked three, gave up a hit and a run, and then he was relieved for Sammy Long, who converted his first save of the season.

So Camillo DeVall, he's just been shaky, it feels like Scott, the past like month or so. lots of walks. The whip is 1.26. You know, they've just used them in weird spots here and there. So I don't know.

It's the Giants. I think he's still there closer, but I think he's far from a sure thing. That is Camila Duval. Yeah. It's, you know what I, with Camillo Duval's name,

you know what I always hear? Like, I always hear like the Cruella DeVille song because it just fits. You know, Camillo Duval. Makes sense. It's kind of like Boba Chet. You always hear Boba Fett, you know?

Yeah. It's just like once that idea is planted, you can't shake it. Fair enough. All right, let's wrap up with some streamers. To stream or not to stream for Thursday, Rwanzi Contreras at the Reds, who it was either his last start of the start before, just got absolutely destroyed. Mike Minor up against the Pirates,

Michael Lorenzen at the Orioles, Austin Gomber at the Diamondbacks Marco Gonzalez versus the Blue Jays. Yuck. Let's take no one. Let's see. If you're going to make me take somebody

and that's what you like to do, Frank. You like to make me take things. I guess Marco Gonzalez against the Blue Jays just because he's on one of those runs that he goes on from time to time. I think so too. I think that's probably the right answer. But probably none. How about Friday? Let's see what we have here.

Tyler Wells versus the Angels. Aaron Savali at the, I was about to say chiefs. They're facing the Royals. Brady Singer on the other side. He's going up against the Guardians. J.T. Brubaker at the Brewers. Chad Kuhl at the Diamondbacks and Ross Tripling at the Mariners. Well, I don't like these either. Some yucky stuff.

I will take stripling. Do you like that guy? I think so. I think that's the right answer. Tyler Wells has been pretty good, but I feel like there's going to be some regression starts coming soon. Yeah. Yep, I guess the next two days, Ross Stripling. Angel Line has been bad lately.

Yeah, they have. Hmm. Hey. Ross Stripling, it is. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy baseball today.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.