Fantasy Baseball Today - Add Ryan Weathers & Miguel Andujar? Injury Updates on Royce Lewis, Jordan Romano (6/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

Ryan Weathers has some dominant whiff pitches (2:40). ... Chris Sale got clobbered by the A's (7:45). ... Miguel Andujar is doing what now (10:20)?? ... Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are on fire (13:16). ... News (17:28): Gerrit Cole will start a rehab assignment on Tuesday. ... The Pirates are recalling Henry Davis (24:22). ... Rank Nolan Gorman, J.D. Martinez, Davis Schneider and Joey Ortiz (35:28). ... Any interest in Jake Irvin, Hunter Brown or Ben Lively (43:30)? ... Time to drop Jordan Montgomery (49:30)? ... Should you look to sell high on these pitchers (53:12)? ... What to do with Walker Buehler (59:09). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:01:58). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Well, fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today, and welcome to June. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, a very eventful weekend, as always. Tons of injuries to address. Waiverwire ads and drops. potential sell high pitchers and much more. Let's get into some of the biggest standouts from the weekend. Oh, my goodness, goodness, goodness, player the weekend, and we will start with Scott. All right. We'll start here with Ryan Weathers, going with a Marlins pitcher here against the Rangers.

He had another great start. Well, in some ways it was a great start. He did give up four runs on nine hits in six innings, but he walked nobody, and he struck out 11 against the Rangers. He had 21 swinging strikes on 96 pitches, including 13 on his change-up. And I'll have you know his change-up isn't the pitch

with the 55-per-width rate on the year. That's his sweeper. His change-up has a mere 40% on the nose. 40% whiff rate. So, you know, two pitches, one pitch with a 40% whiff rate, that would normally be a pitcher's best pitch, and not every good pitcher even has a pitch with a 40% width rate. And for Ryan Weathers, there's one that's 55%. But it was the change up that was working in the start against the Rangers. Because he gave a four runs in six innings, it ended his streak of five straight quality starts.

But his numbers are looking pretty good at this point. And he was somebody, Ryan Weathers, who we gave a lot of attention to this spring because he kept having good outings one after another. And it was kind of outsized attention for how rostered he needed to be. And then he got off to kind of a rocky start this season. And we wrote him off with all the many other pitchers doing great things. But I think it's time to take a look at Ryan Weathers again. If you don't already have a full roster of quality pitchers, and maybe you just picked up John Means a couple weeks ago

or Alec Manoa a couple weeks ago and you have a free spot all of a sudden, I think Ryan Weathers is worth looking into. I wish he pitched for just about any other team than the Marlins, but, you know, maybe he could become trade bait at some point. Groundball rate is really high. His walk rate is pretty good. all the ERA estimators are in the high threes,

but I think he can build off this 11 strikeout performance since he does have two pitches that are capable of getting whiffs at such a high rate. And it's 26 strikeouts over the past three starts because the one thing that stands out about Ryan Weathers is 22% strikeout rate, really? That's all? It feels like it should be higher. Yeah, he's got two double-digit strikeout starts. He's got a handful out of out of.

others with, you know, seven or eight. And it's just that there's been a lot of three, four, five strikeout outings. There are a couple of one strikeout outings as well back in April. Yeah, the early ones. Yeah, he just didn't look like he was missing bats at all early on. It was just, yeah. Okay, this was, spring was total fake out with this guy.

And, and so that, you know, that's why I think what we all kind of thought, right, when he came out and struggled early on. But, yeah, I don't know, the changeup and sweeper both have super high whiff weights, What's really impressive about it is sweepers, changeups are what you use to negate the platoon advantage. That's true for lefties. It's true for righties. It's true for everybody. Sweepers tend to have the biggest platoon problems for starting pitchers.

Lefties, lefty sweepers get crushed by righties. Righty sweepers get crushed by lefties. Ryan Weathers has faced about 80% righties, if I'm doing the math in my head correctly. And his sweeper has got. given up a 243 expected Wobah, a 78.4 mile per hour average exit velocity. That is really, really impressive when he's thrown 155 of the 229 sweepers that he's thrown have been to Ritey's. Like, he can't really avoid using that pitch because of how often teams stack their

lineups with Ritey's against him. And it hasn't mattered. It's really impressive. It's honestly, I think one of the most impressive stats I've stumbled upon this season. Ryan Weathers is 44% rostered on CBS. He is scheduled to face the Guardians this week. They are fifth in Wobah against lefties and just a really tough lineup. So I agree with looking into adding Ryan Weathers.

I don't know that I would want to play him this week. Some of the most added starting pitchers on CBS right now, Ben Brown, Matt Waldron, Spencer, Schwellenbach, Tyler McGill. Would you take Ryan Weathers over any of those names? I'd take him over Schwellenbach and McGill. I think I got to take Waldron over him. You could make the case to take Weather's over Waldron if you weren't going to start

Waldron this week. He is the best two-star pitcher who's possibly available in your league. That's exactly what I was going to say. I would take Weathers over all of them except for Waldron if you need one this week. Who was the other one I didn't mention by name? Ben Brown.

Ben Brown. Who had a great start earlier in the week and then a bad one here on Sunday. I mean, I think Ben Brown has more upside, but I think I'd lean the, weather's over him. All right. Chris, let's go over to you. Your, oh, my goodness, player of the weekend.

Yeah, let's go with another lefty who probably hurt your ERA this week. Chris Sale, who doesn't have the bright spots of the 11 strikeouts that Ryan Weathers had. Chris Sale was just not good in this one. Gave up eight runs and four innings. His ERA rose from 2.12 to 3.06. He gave up, he had four strikeouts, one walk. I don't really see anything to be worried about, though.

Like, there were a handful of, oh, I guess all of the regression happened today starts this weekend. Cal Braddish, Joe Ryan, a couple other guys. And Chris Sale was definitely among them, but we didn't expect him to have a 206 or 212 ERA, whatever it was the rest of the way anyway. So the fact that his ERA is up to about three, that sounds about right for Chris Sale. I think I'd expect an ERA around or above three moving forward. So I don't really think there's anything to take away from it. I just thought we should acknowledge it because I'm sure many of you are frustrated. And given how much skepticism there has been around Chris Sale over the past couple of years,

I would guess a lot of you are pretty worried coming off of a start like this. And I would just say I didn't see anything to be worried about here. For people who like the granular stuff, which isn't generally me, I will note that his slider didn't have its usual horizontal movement. Yeah, it was like three inches short. Something like that. And I watched the interview with him after the game. I'm paraphrasing here, but he said basically whatever went wrong,

it should be pretty glaring when he goes to look at it based on the results. So like it's not like there's some underlying physical issue or that he's, You know, he basically thinks it's small and he can correct it and he'll find it. He wasn't worried. So I wouldn't be worried either. Baseball is just such a funny sport in that way in that Chris Sale had allowed a total of six earned runs over his previous six starts entering this one against the Oakland A's of all teams. And then he gives up eight earned runs over four inning. So it's frustrating.

Yes, we have gotten a lot of these regression starts where everything kind of crumbles at once. over the past couple of weeks or so. And maybe that's the sign of like, all right, offense is starting to come around a little bit. But yeah, an unfortunate one for Chris Sale there, which I think this is a good kind of segue here to talk about someone on the Oakland A's. Guys, I don't know what year it is, but here we are.

We are talking about Miguel And Duhar, who went two for four with a steal on Friday, and then in that game against Chris Sale, four for five with a homer, three runs, four RBI. That home run did come off of Chris Sale. And Miguel Andohar has started seven straight. He has hit either second or fourth in the Oakland A's lineup in each of those. And so far in eight games, he's batting 394, two homers, 12 RBI, one seal, a 1018 OPS.

I realize the most likely outcome here is that things are not going to work out well for Miguel Anduhar. But I wanted to point out that he was having a huge spring before he, I think it was a shoulder injury he dealt with, something that he dealt with where he missed the start of the season. And he also had a really good Dominican Winter League, like way back in December. So just bringing all these things up because we are starved for offense and we need help in five outfielder leagues. And Miguel And Duhar is out there in a lot of them. And he's only 19% rostered. Any optimism here on Miguel And Duhar?

I think optimism is a little strong. But you basically made the case by saying we need offense, especially in those five outfielder leagues. We all have needs in those leagues for offense. And Andrew Har, he's going to get the playing time. He's never been one to strike out much. And that seems to be like the players who don't strike out much seem to, they're among those who are exceeding expectations on the hitting end this year. Yeah, I mean, he's been a productive player in the past.

It's been a long time. So I would be skeptical. I wouldn't throw all my fab dollars at him. but I could probably find somebody to drop for him in most of those five outfielder leagues just to see, just to see if he can put something together again. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. It's why not? Like, you almost certainly have somebody that you can feel pretty comfortable dropping.

Joey Ler Perfito was like 67% roster very recently. He's not in the discussion anymore. Reed Detmer's was just sent down. There are probably guys you can drop. I'm not saying I expect Miguel and Duhart to be good. good, but for what it's worth, he has remained productive at AAA as well. So, yeah, I, I sure, why not? We're desperate.

And it was knee surgery. He had a torn meniscus in spring training. 389 with four doubles in his five AAA games. Yeah. And no, two strikeouts in his first seven games, I think. So yeah, two in his first eight. So making lots of contact Miguel And Duhar. And I had waivers run in three different,

team leagues and he went for between one and four percent of fat budget like anywhere from like fifteen to forty five dollars so just to give people an idea if you're playing some of those deeper leagues how much you might want to bid on Miguel and Duhar want to give an honorable mention to the Bronx bombers just to mention I mean what Aaron judge did wrapping up his May and then this weekend obviously three for four with a double dong four RBI on Friday he became the first hitter to 20 home runs the season and then two for three with another home home run on Saturday. The final numbers in May for Judge, 361 batting average, 14 homers of 1397

OPS, and 26 total extra base hits. And then Juan Soto on Sunday, massive game three for five with a double dong. His second homer was a go-ahead shot off of Camilo Doval. If we were redrafting today in a points league, would these two be the first two players drafted, Judge and Soto? in a points league? I kind of feel like they would be. I mean, bets would be in the discussion, especially since he's triple eligible.

True. But though, I'm trying to think if there's anyone else in a points league. Jose Ramirez, I think is up there. I mean, Ramirez.

I want to be ahead of those, though. Tucker, Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker's plate of one has been excellent. Shohay, I think, is in that discussion. Yeah. That's probably the top five right there,

leaving, leaving Ramirez out, Betts, Soto, Judge, Tucker, and Otani in a points league. And Categories League, you'd probably get... I think it's Bobby Witt as number one. Bobby Witt would have been in there. I know L.A. Dela Cruz has had a bad couple weeks, but he'd probably still be in there on a 25-9-D pace. Yeah.

So, yeah, top five picks and head-ed points, top, I don't know, seven or eight in Roto Category leagues. But, man, what those guys are doing right now together. And obviously, it helps each other to reach the... their ultimate upside with all those counting stats right now in that Yankees lineup. Quick reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already.

If you're watching us on YouTube, you can scan that QR code that will take you right to the website where you click on the FBT logo, you punch in your email address and it's easy as that. You sign up for free, you get a newsletter delivered right to your inbox every single weekday. Let's take our first break. When we return, so much news to talk about,

we'll do it right after this. Welcome back in, news and notes. There's a lot. Garrett Cole will begin a rehab assignment at AA on Tuesday, and he should be ready to rejoin the Yankees by mid to late June, assuming there are no setbacks. What's up? I laughed because there have been so many recurrences this year.

More than I could ever remember. We got Blake Snell just today. Oh, disaster. It's not even exclusive to pitchers. You had Josh Lowe. So many. They're not even all going to come to mind, but like nobody just.

Nobody just gets healthy anymore. Sanga Gavin Williams. Yeah. So many. Yep. I hope we're wrong about this one. I hope so. We'll see.

You know, it's deflating. The twins are expected to reinstate Royce Lewis on Tuesday. He hasn't played since opening day due to a quad injury. The twins have six road games this week against the Yankees and the pirates. Do you guys just get Royce Lewis back in your lineups if you have them? So the roster move that they made today, in sending Edward Julian down.

I don't know what that means as far as Royce Lewis coming back because they kept Jose Miranda around, which makes sense. He's been very good. He's got like an 800 OPS this season. But he's also able to play third base. So is it...

I'm presuming Willie Castro will play second. I looked into it too because I was thinking, well, Jose Miranda's played some second base in the minors. Oh, no, no. I just meant it as in like, they're probably going to ease Royce Lewis back. I think that was probably part

of the thought process there is that they feel like they need a third baseman more than a second basement. I just think they're really happy with what Jose Miranda is doing at the plate and feel like he deserved to keep playing over Edward Julian. And it sounded like they really didn't want to have to send Julian down. God forbid they eat some money on Kyle Farmer. Miranda had, yeah, Miranda had earned the right to play over him. It'd be one thing if Kyle Farmer had played an inning at catcher in like the last five years. And you could at least say like, yeah, but he's an emergency catcher. And what's the, what is Kyle Farmer doing on there?

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was very frustrating watching them send Edward Julian down. I know he's been in a slump. But. So Cal Farmer's right there. Do you guys want to start Royce Lewis as week? Yes, I am starting Royce Lewis, even though I do expect him to get at least one day off.

All right. I, yeah. Yeah, I probably would too. I've kept him in my top 12 third basement, really, because nobody has been worth moving ahead of him at that position. So unless you have some great alternative, yeah. How many opportunities are you going to get to start Royce Lewis? Gosh.

That's fair. Hopefully no recurrence is there, but. Yeah. Ranger Suarez was removed Saturday after being struck on his left hand by a 106 mile per hour comebacker. raised came back negative, thankfully, but there is swelling in his left thumb. And on Sunday, manager Rob Thompson said the swelling has improved significantly, and Suarez could pick up a ball in the next day or two.

My guess is we probably should not start him this week. I would not start him this week unless we got confirmation before lineups lock, and I will just say, Spencer Turnbull looked really good in relief of him. If Ranger Suarez has to miss some time, Spencer Turnbull could be relevant again. Uh, I don't know. I mean, yeah, I mean, if you have great pitching alternatives, don't risk it. But if you don't, I'd probably start Suarez still. I mean, pick up a ball in a day or two means throw your side session, I assume.

Mm-hmm. Start on when you're lined up to start on Saturday. Yeah, hopefully. Trey Turner suffered a minor setback in his recovery from a left hamstring strain earlier this week. He managed to resume feeling grounders and also did some light jogging on Friday, but doesn't appear close to. running the bases again. Lots of pitcher injuries this weekend. Jordan Romano was placed on the 15-day IL Saturday with right elbow inflammation. Retroactive. Recurrence. Yes, certainly. Retroactive to May 30th,

and MRI didn't reveal any structural damage, but this is now the second time Romano has gone on the IL with an elbow problem this season. And Yemi Garcia picked up the save on Sunday, 24% rostered. I think he's very obviously the replacement. Right. Yeah, he's been great this year and was the fill-in when Romano was down before. It's just hard to know how long Romano's going to be out. I could see it be in months. I could see it be in weeks. Yeah.

And so it was a really tricky situation for Fab in the deep leagues where saves are scarce. I don't think. I put more than 10% of my budget in on Garcia in the league where I had Romano, but I still didn't win him. Somebody went 11%. Wow. Yeah. I got him surprising.

for $28 in one of my 15 teamers, which I was not expecting to get that, but I think he went for like 78 in Tout Wars. So, yeah, as always, prices all over the place. The Padres lost a few starters to injury this weekend. U. Darvish went on the IL with a left groin strain. Joe Musgrove, another recurring injury with right elbow inflammation. The second time he's been on the IL with an elbow issue this season. Zach Gallen went on the IL with a right hamstring strain. Blake Snell exited his start Sunday due to a tight left groin. He's set for an MRI and is likely to go back on the IL with the Giants. Michael Waka was placed on the 15-day IL with a non-displaced fracture in his left foot.

Daniel Lynch was recalled and will take Waka's spot in the Royal's rotation. And Alec Manoa officially went on the IL with a right elbow sprain retroactive to May 30th. C.J. Abrams has been scratched two games in a row due to a jammed left shoulder. The Nationals play on Monday, so we should learn more by then. If Abrams is not in the lineup on Monday, do you guys risk it and go with him still or play it safe and sit CJ Abrams? I mean, Jam's shoulder doesn't sound like a simple, straightforward thing. Your shortstop options are limited in most leagues, probably,

but I would try not to start Abrams. Yeah, he has been slumping pretty badly too. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. started at third base on Sunday. His first start at the Hot Corner since 2019. This allowed the Blue Jays to play Justin Turner at first base and Daniel Vogelbach at DH. I didn't watch this entire game. I did see some highlights of him doing some good things at third base,

so perhaps he could get the required five games in to gain that eligibility this season. Bobby Miller is scheduled for another rehab start this time at AAA on Friday. His last outing did not go so well, allowing four runs over three and a third innings at single A. Henry Davis is expected to be called up from AAA on Tuesday in 22 games down in the minors. He was batting 286 with seven homers, one steal, a 1082 OPS, only 17% rostered. And Chris, I know you've been pounding the drum on unstashing and waiting on Henry Davis.

Do you think he should be re-added in all two catcher leagues? So like Patrick Bailey's roster rate is still really low. I think it's like below 30% entering this week. I think given what we've seen from those two, I think I'd rather have Patrick Bailey. But if Bailey's not rostered, then yeah, go ahead of Henry Davis.

I'd rather have Henry Davis than who was the, I wrote about another catcher for WaverWire today, who I really wasn't actually all that interested in. There's like Yvonne Herrera, who's 20%, Cabot Ruiz, 28%, Mitch Garver, 31. Connor Wong, 44. I think I'd rather have Henry Davis than Connor Wong probably. So yeah, I think that's probably about right.

I think that range, like 35 to 40 percent rostered. Lars Neupar went on the I.O. With a left oblique strain retroactive to May 30th, manager Ali Marmal said Newpar is expected to miss several weeks. Alec Berluson, Dylan Carlson, and Michael Ciani started all three games in the outfield for the Cardinals this weekend. Christian Scott and Brett Beatty were both optioned back to AAA on Friday. The Mets don't need a fifth starter this upcoming week because of their series in London. They only have five games.

They have multiple off days. I imagine Christian Scott will be back soon. Would you guys, is he an absolute must hold if you picked up Christian Scott? Well, I think it was a little less than much roster on Thursday's show. I said his 66% roster, it was probably about right, maybe a little on the low side. I think in the leagues where he obviously needed to be rostered before getting sent down, he still needs to be rostered because, yeah,

five game week trip to London, London, right? Yeah. It makes sense that they'd want to use that roster spot some other way in the short term. Would you rather hold Christian Scott or have Matt Waldron? If you need the pitcher this week, I think you go with Waldron.

Just in a vacuum, I think I would hold Scott. I have Scott in a few leagues, including some 12 team head-to-head leagues where only like 250 players are rostered. And I did not drop them in the leagues where I have them, even though shallow ones. I had someone else I could drop for Waldron. I put in a claim for Waldron in those same leagues. But I tried to hold on to Christian Scott. What about Weathers? Because I didn't mention this earlier, but his upcoming schedule is also really, really nice.

next game is likely against the Guardians than probably the Nationals and then either the Cardinals or Mariners for his next three starts. That's pretty good. The Guardians are great against lefties this year. But those other two are pretty good. I think I would hold Scott,

but it's close. I agree. Oh, also, 13 swinging strikes with Ryan Weathers change-up earlier today. That's the most anyone's had with a change-up all season. Hmm. Another, I didn't, I wasn't expecting this to be the Ryan Weathers podcast. I'm sorry, I just, I just found my notes about him. It's good information. So, Mark Vienzos, by the way, is expected to see the bulk of playing time at their base.

More on him. He's worth a look. Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say more on him in just a little bit. Reed Detmer's was optioned to AAA after another rough outing on Saturday. He's still 55% rostered. I think he's okay to drop, right? Detmers. I would drop him for either Waldron or Weathers. Yes. I mean, one would surprise me if he made some kind of tweak at AAA and just came back dealing. So it happened in 22? Yeah, two years ago.

But there's so much pitching. I can't see the justification for holding on to read Detmer's except in really deep leagues. All right, Spencer Torkelson also expected to be optioned to AAA on Monday. He was batting just 201 with four home runs and a 596 OPS. one of their prospects, Justin Henry Maloy, is expected to be called up, and he's 24 years old in 45 games at AAA this season. He was batting 253 with a 4-10 on base percentage, six homers, three seals, and 883 OPS.

Scott, any interest in Justin Henry Malloy in deeper leagues? 15 teamers with like a corner infield spot. I can't say for sure I'm totally disinterested, but I'm not optimistic. I think it's hard to be optimistic with the way all the hitting call-ups much higher profile than Justin Henry Malloy, the way they've gone.

He's always been a great source of on-base, a really good on-base guy in the minors. I think his career percentage over four seasons, it's over 400, things like 410. But his numbers of AAA, the exit velocities are pretty unimpressive. The zone contact, rate is only 80%, which is pretty low and kind of surprising considering we think of

Justin Henry Malloy as a plate discipline guy. He does pull the ball very well, over 50% is usually what it's been throughout his career. So you could see him performing beyond his exit velocities, but that's probably more information than you need right now. It's just, I think Justin Henry Malloy could be a useful fantasy option someday. I would bet against it happening on his initial call up. In My Tout Wars League, 15 team, Roto OBP, Justin Henry Malloy went for $21 out of a $1,000 budget.

So again, just to give some kind of a reference point there. Clayton Kershaw through live batting practice on Saturday the first time he's faced live hitters since his shoulder surgery. It sounds like he could be ready to go shortly after the All-Star break to rejoin the Dodgers. Brian Wu was lifted after just 66 pitches on Friday, and his manager, Scott Service said Wu has been dealing with some, quote, arm stuff. Wu is expected to make his next start, but this is now the second time we've heard about an arm-related injury since Brian Wu has returned. So I think you start them,

but I don't know, you kind of proceed with caution right now. It's another recurrence, Frank. It's happening. Yeah. I don't think it's crazy to, I mean, I don't know how realistic it is for you to like sell high on Brian Wu per se. He doesn't have like a long track record. But if you could, I don't think it's crazy to try since we've had this arm thing pop up a few times. Yeah, I think in 12 team leagues, he is very on the fringe right now. Because even though he's pitched well, it's a lot of short outings.

And it was a lot of short outings last year too. And now you can't trust the health of his arm. So I just, I don't, I don't think there's much demand for Brian Wu, but maybe in deeper leagues you could try something. All right. Let's blast through the rest of this. It turns out that both John Means and Tyler Wells need surgery on the UCL in their pitching elbows. They will both remain, miss the remainder of 2024. Obviously, sucks for both of those. It goes without saying. But it does create a potential opening for their pitching prospects, Kade Povich and Chase McDermott.

So just keep those names in mind. I mean, I'm pretty intrigued by Albert Suarez in those deep leagues, the 15 teamers. And he's been mostly ignored, but he's pitched to a sub 2ERA, a sub 1 whip. Not going to sustain that, but he's got a dedicated rotation spot now and the Orioles offense backing him up. I mean, it's the thing we talk about whenever we talk about Oriel's pitchers, which is it's a really great lineup backing them up in a really great home park. So if you're just decent, you're going to look pretty good for fantasy there. I think Albert Suarez is a very useful fantasy option moving forward.

Jung Hu Lee will undergo shoulder surgery Tuesday and we'll miss the remainder of the 2024 season. Other players who went on the IL this weekend, Sixo Sanchez, Von Grissom, Andrew Benintendi, Marco Luciano, and A's reliever Lucas Urseg. Two prospect notes, Jason Dominguez is crushing it on his rehab assignment right now. I just don't see a spot for him on the Yankees roster, but life does find a way. So we'll see what happens with Dominguez, and the Braves promoted their top pitching prospect. Hurston Waldrop to AAA on Saturday,

and 9 starts at AA, a 292 ERA, a 140 whip. Just under a strikeout raining, walks still a problem, getting lots of swinging strikes. Scott, do you think we could see Waldrop with the Braves anytime soon? I mean, they, They promoted Schwellenbach after two starts at AA.

They promoted A.J. Smith Schauver. He made a similar kind of leap last year. So I want to put it past them. You know, it's obviously Waldrop has to perform really well at AAA. And he got off to kind of a shaky start in the minors this year. If you look at his overall numbers, they're not great, but it's been much better lately. I want to put a high priority on stashing Hurston Waldrop right now, unless it's an NL-only league. but sure he could be up at some point this year that's possible

all right let's hit our final break and when we return we'll get into all the waiver wire options right after this welcome back in let's talk some waiver wire hitters from the weekend and rank these names in shallower leagues position doesn't matter just who do you think can have the biggest impact Nolan Gorman is on one of those streaks right now two for four with his 11th home run on Sunday his last 18 games batting 322 seven homers, 17 runs, 16 RBI.

He is 68% rostered. J.D. Martinez has picked things up as well. One for four with a home run on Friday. Then he went two for four on Saturday, added an RBI triple on Sunday. He's up to 65%. Davis Schneider, another strong weekend, one for six with his seventh home run on Friday. Then he went two for four on Sunday. And Joey Ortiz added two more multi-hit games this weekend,

and he is now batting 2.93 with a third. 391 on base percentage. Chris, how would you rank those in Shower League? Just who can make the biggest impact? Gorman, Martinez, Schneider, and Joey Ortiz. I think I would go Gorman, Ortiz, Schneider, Martinez. Scott?

I think that's the range. I may have Gorman ranked ahead of Ortiz and Schneider rest of season, but I'm not only considering shallow leagues. And they're very close together, no matter what order I have them in. I would rather be rostering Ortiz and Schneider both at this point, think Gorman. I know Gorman's picked it up.

He's on a nice little home run binge right now. Still striking out 40% of the time. So, you know, he's among my 10 sleeper hitters this week, but I believe Davis Schneider is higher on that list. And I just, I trust them more right now as the Blue Jays leadoff hitter. But I trust Joey Ortiz most of all. All right, what about these two shallow league third baseman? Brian Hayes had himself a nice weekend, and he went one for four with a steel on Friday,

two for four with a home run on Saturday. Jake Berger slowly coming around his last nine games, batting 405 with one homer, six runs, five RBI, starting to hit the ball really hard during that stretch. It's just been way too many ground balls this season for Berger, and I know he missed some time with injury, so perhaps it's just taking him some time to really get going here. I don't know that either of these need to be more than like 65% rostered,

but is there one in particular you trust or would be looking at it? Brian Hayes and Jake Berger. I think I'd still go with Hayes over Burger. Burger, he got into this weird habit very early on of swinging very aggressively early in counts, and it was leading to a ton of weak contact. And so, you know, maybe he's starting to figure out, you know, be a little more patient, wait for your pitch, that kind of thing. But yeah, I don't know.

I think I'd rather bet on Hayes figuring it out than Burger. I would take Joey Ortiz over both. Right. He's eligible there, so. Yeah, no, that's good context. Rank these young upside options who are all doing things as of late. Say Don Raphaelho with the Red Sox had himself a nice weekend, two for four with a double dong, five RBI on Friday.

Then he went one for four with a steel on Saturday. He's quietly on pace to go 20-20 the season, just doing that with a really low batting average. Pete Crow Armstrong went two for four with a run scored on Friday, and went one for three with two steals on Saturday. Nick Gonzalez, another name we've talked a lot about recently, added another multi-hit game on Friday. He is batting over 300 with an 860 OPS.

And Mark Viantos, who I mentioned earlier, likely to see bulk of playing time at third base for the Mets, with Brett Beatty getting sent down. He went three for five with two RBI on Friday on Friday. Friday, two for four with his fourth home run on Saturday. He's lowered the strikeout rate a lot this season, gets a good amount of barrels. Also hitting more ground balls than I would like to see. Scott, how would you rank these young, upsidey options, Viantos, Gonzalez, Crowe Armstrong, and Raphaella?

I think Nick Gonzalez would be the clear number one for me, and he probably needs to be a lot more rostered than he is with all the improvements he's made this year, and it's translating to results. Between Raphael, sorry, between Raphael, Crow Armstrong, and Mark Vientos, I don't have a huge preference. It kind of depends on do you need the corner infielder more, do you need power more than speed?

It's kind of needs-based. I guess I'd give the edge to Raphaelah, both because he's so versatile and because I read about a change he made prior to that two homer game this weekend with his stance. He's kind of lowered his hands. Lowered his hands. He's putting his elbows together before he swings.

Was the cue that they gave him? Yeah, and part of it is just trying to catch, like helping him catch up to fastballs better. And he's been working on it in the cage for a month and it's just kind of now started to deploy it in games. So it's not just something that happened on a lark. And maybe it could unlock his potential. As you say, he's been delivering power and speed anyway.

But if you can get a little more consistent at the plate, Ceylon, Raphaela, he might turn into something. And this is why you have to watch us on YouTube, because you get to see Chris Towers recreating Ceylon Raphael's patting stance live here on the show. And he's got a baseball now. So when we get to talking about... I'm going to just be doing pitches and stuff.

When we talk about pitchers, he's going to show us all a bunch of pitch grips and all that crazy stuff. What about in deeper leagues? We already spoke about Miguel And Duhar. Hazu Sanchez had himself a big game on Friday, three for three with two doubles, a homer. Three RBI that was back-to-back games with a home run for Sanchez. Trevor Larnick has homered in three of his past four games. The problem is that he's playing every other day right now. The twins like to platoon their players are probably not going to play Larnick again.

against lefties. Luke Rayleigh had himself a nice weekend, two homers and one steal. He had a very bad April, but then picked things up in the month of May. And Jose Miranda, who we spoke about earlier, he continues to hit for the twins.

He went two for four with his sixth home run on Sunday. I think they could find ways to get him in the lineup, whether it's he D.Hs or Royce Lewis D.Hs, and Miranda could play first base too if they really need him to. Anyone really stand out here in deeper leagues? outside I mean if and Duhar is the top one feel free but between him Sanchez Larnik Luke Raley and Jose Miranda yeah I think do Hahr is really the only one I have any interest in outside of

only leagues maybe Miranda just because it has been going on long enough and clearly the twins have some faith in him given the roster move to send Edward Julian down so it would be in Duhar and then Miranda I don't have much interest in the rest of them I've been starting Miranda when I lost Max Muncie, and it was a roto league, and Miranda was the best third baseman I could find. But given how he's performed since I picked him up,

I haven't been inclined to swap him out for Mark Vientos, let's say, the latest third basement to emerge as a possibility in that league. So I'm pretty satisfied with what Miranda's done. Miranda has been my starting third basement and ale-only labor for like a month. That's a great get. Not that I'm confident it's going to last forever. But that's a league where like 360 players are rostered.

I just don't feel like there's a certain enough improvement out there for me to turn away from Miranda. One name I'll throw out there in NL only leagues. Casey Schmidt was recalled by the Giants and he had two great games in a row, two-four-four with a home run on each of Saturday and Sunday. And he was doing some good things in the minors as well again. That's Casey Schmidt in NL. only leagues. Let's slide over to the Waver Wire pitchers, and the first group was led off by Ryan Weathers, who we already spoke about, but Hunter Brown has now turned in three straight quality

starts. He was up against the Twins, where he allowed three runs over six innings. He had seven strikeouts, 11 whiffs, continues to tweak with the pitch mix here, faded the four-scene fastball, which I think is a smart thing for Hunter Brown to do. Jake Irvin continues to pitch well. He was at the Guardians. He threw six innings, two runs, six strikeouts with 11 whiffs, And he really leaned on his curveball. That's a really, really good pitch for Jake Irvin. And Ben Lively, he just continues to pitch well. I don't really trust it, but he was up against the Nationals,

five and two thirds, two runs, four strikeouts. Scott, how would you rank this group? Lively, Irvin, Hunter Brown, and Ryan Weathers. Ryan Weathers, I think, I mean, Jake Irvin feels more usable than Hunter Brown, But I think I'm going to rank Hunter Brown second for the upside, then Jake Irvin, and then Ben lively, who I have. Like you, I have just no faith in him continuing this. And we're not taking any of those names over Ben Brown or Waldron, right? Well, we just did Ben Brown versus Weathers.

Well, yeah, with Weathers, yeah. Yeah, I don't think I share the enthusiasm over Ben Brown. I think I liked Hunter Brown more than him when we were talking about him, them earlier. here this week. Ben Brown's got one pitch. And that pitch needs to be really, really, really good. And it wasn't today, or in his most reason start. I think he threw his fastball 70% of the time.

That's not going to work. But the problem is if the curveball is not dominant. It's the one outing, basically, that didn't work, right? Yeah, but it's not like he's been phenomenal. He's got a 13.7% swinging strike, right? That's elite. that's pretty good. Pretty damn good, yeah.

He's pitched a lot in relief as well. I don't know. I just, I have found him for the most part as a starter pretty, pretty uninteresting. Again, I don't,

I don't necessarily think it's a starter's work arsenal. That was Ben Brown that we were just talking about. Let's move on to the next group of Waverwire pitchers. Michael Lorenzen continues to pitch well, this time at the Marlins, six and a third shutout, five hits, two walks,

seven strikeouts. He had 15 whiffs on 19. He's continued to change up his pitch mix as well. Getting rid of his slider, throwing more cutters, curves, and sweepers. It's a great idea for Michael Lorenzen to keep doing that. Andrew Heaney had a great start at the Marlins as well. Six shutout with seven strikeouts, 17 whiffs. You're noticing a theme here against the Marlins.

Bailey Falzer turned in a strong start at the Blue Js, six shutout with five strikeouts. And Griffin Canning has quietly pitched well since the start of May. Last six starts, a 236 ERA. 122 whip is on the higher side, but he's doing some things right now. Chris, do any of these pitchers actually interests you? Canning, Falter, Heaney, Michael Lorenzen. Lorenzen and Heaney are okay streamers, but I don't think there are anything more than that.

I feel like we're like one more good Bailey Falter start away from getting yelled at about why we're not taking Bailey Falter seriously. I tried, like I looked into it and tried to find some reason to believe that I don't really see anything with Bailey Falter. I'll just remind, like Michael Lorenzen made an all-star team last year. Josiah Gray made the All-Star team. Like these kind of stretches happen for pictures like this. And I, yeah, I just, I don't see much reason to think that Bailey Falter is suddenly even a sub-4 ERA pitcher. I would take the over on four moving forward. I didn't notice his fastball has a 158 batting average against,

but I don't see a good reason why. He's pitching a batting average against. Right. Like I think it's probably just he's locating his sinker really well, and maybe he'll continue to do that. But there is zero margin for error in Bailey Falter's approach. And the last time I trusted him, I think I picked him up against the Oakland A's or,

It was a two-star week, and it was just a terrible week. I was just like, oh, gosh. Let's not do this with Bailey. One week, I very cautiously included him among the sleeper pitchers, and it was backfired. And there is. Pitching well since, but. There is a deep league pitcher in the next segment I would rather have than,

I think, all of these guys. Yeah. And let's talk about those two names. Albert Suarez continues to pitch well for the Orioles. He was up against Tampa Bay, five innings, one run, five strikeouts with 10 whiffs on 95. pitches. The other name is Luis Medina, who made his season debut. He was at the Braves. And he looked pretty good. Five and two thirds innings, one earned run, six strikeouts,

11 whiffs on 89 pitches. Did have some prospect pedigree a couple of years ago. I mean, these are very deep league names, but anything to add on Suarez and Medina. Yeah, I mean, we referenced Albert Suarez already. I don't know that he needs to be a deep league option anymore now that we know it seems like he's going to. stick in the Orioles rotation for as long as he deserves to, as long as he pitches like he belongs in the Orioles rotation. And he first caught my attention in spring training. He had some absolute wipeout outings this spring, a 34-year-old whose velocity was way up on his fastball. And there wasn't a spot for him then. I know his final spring year I ended up high because

I think there was a bad outing in there. But he looked really good in spring training. And he's pitch to a 157 ERA and 0.99 whip over. We've gone over this already, but there are reasons to like Albert Swarres beyond just the ERA and whip is what I'm getting at. Let's fire up the dropometer for three pitchers. One, we're not dropping this pitcher anywhere. 10, you could drop this pitcher in any league.

Jordan Montgomery at the Mets this weekend, four innings, eight runs allowed. Six of those were earned. He has a 548 ERA, a 156 whip. velocity down nearly two miles per hour across the board this season. He got the late start, signed the one-year deal with the debacks. Hasn't work so far. Chris, one to ten, Jordan Montgomery on the drop-o meter. I'd see six. My preference, ideally, would be to hang on to him.

I wouldn't drop him for Bailey Falter. Would you drop him for Weathers or Matt Fulter? Yes, I would drop him for Weathers. I would drop him for Hunter Brown. I don't think I would do it for Jake Irvin. Jake Irvin's another one I've tried to find like a good reason to buy into it. And I just couldn't really find one. So it probably just weathering

and Hunter Brown for me. I mean, I trust the low batting average against on, I was citing that for Falter on his fastball this year. Jake Irvin's top two pitches are like that. And it's been a two-year trend now, which is why I'm buying into it a little more with Jake Irvin. But I don't think the upside is, especially high.

The thing is, I'm not sure, like, Jordan Montgomery's never been an upside guy himself. Yeah. And his curveball just isn't getting the same movement this year that it usually does. And I think there's a good chance

he corrects that at some point, but in this pitching rich environment, like, it just doesn't seem worth waiting around for. So I'd go, like, eight for Jordan Montgomery on the dropometer. I think he's one of the most over-rosted players right now.

What about Eric Faye? who's allowed four plus earned runs in three of his past six games. He is still 77% rostered. I might go as high as eight on him too. I'll round down to seven because I think I'd be more likely to drop Montgomery than Fetty. But we've talked about it a lot with Fettie this year, even when he's had success. I don't see the underlying reasons for the success. It hasn't been the extreme ground ball rate.

it hasn't been the whiff-tastic sweeper that we saw from him in South Korea last year. So, yeah, I don't think there's a lot of legitimacy to the success that he has had. And then he has to overcome what's by far the worst offense in baseball backing him up. What about Taj Bradley, who got destroyed at the Orioles? He allowed nine runs over three in a third inning. He gave up four homers in that start. and he is just giving up a lot of hard contact. It's a 632 expected ERA according to Stackcast.

That is the fourth percentile, 92.5 average exit velocity against. That is in the first percentile, 20 percent barrel rate against. That is also in the first percentile. What is the dropometer on Tage Bradley? I want it to be one. I think he's super talented.

And you look at like the arsenal and the pitches all look pretty good on their own, but he just doesn't have the command. And I think these kind of blowups are going to be a routine part of his game until he figures it out. I'd say seven on the dropometer. I think I'd rather have Fetty or Montgomery, actually, than Bradley. I'm going to go lower.

I'm going to go five on Bradley. I was very excited about him before this start. So it seems inconsistent to abandon him after one bad start. All right. Should we try and sell high? On these four pitchers, Bryce Miller had himself a great start up against the Angels. He threw six shutout with nine strikeouts, had 12 whiffs on 83 pitches. He's got a 319 ERA that also comes with a 397 FIP and a 407 expected ERA.

Jose Burrios turned in a strong start up against the Pirates, seven innings, one run, five strikeouts. And while he has a 278 ERA, it's a 426 FIP, it's a 413 expected ERA for Burrios. Mitch Keller turned in another strong start. He was up against the Blue Jays, six innings, one run, eight strikeouts, had 10 whiffs on 106 pitches. And in his last five starts, it's a 134 ERA, a 0.92 whip, but like the others, the expected ERA, not necessarily buying it with Mitch Keller. And the last name is Ronaldo Lopez, who pitched well against the Oakland A's, six innings, one run, eight strikeouts with 16 whiffs. He's been awesome. There's no doubt about it.

and I don't really have as much concern with like the underlying numbers. It's just the same conversation as Garrett Crochet and Luis Heel. It's how many innings are we going to get out of Ronaldo Lopez? So I think that's something that should be in the back of our mind at some point.

Like he does have a 370 XERA, Ranaldo Lopez. But that's better than any of the other names that I mentioned. Sure. But there's significant regression coming. And he has, I mean, basically no track record of succeeding as a starting pitcher.

I do worry with Rinaldo Lopez that I'm stuck to my previous, my preseason take, which was just that we've seen him as a starting pitcher, averaging 95 miles per hour with his fastball, and it's never been a particularly impressive pitcher. And the strikeout rate has just collapsed. That's the biggest concern here is since the start of May. The swinging strike rate is very good, though.

Yes. Like he has one of those. And that wasn't true when Reynaldo Lopez was a starter previously. His swinging strike rates were pretty bad, but it's over 12%, which is better than a lot of aces. But, yeah, I mean, I get what you're saying. I mean, ERA estimators three, Phipp likes him a lot more because he's managed to avoid home runs, which is true for a lot of pitchers so far.

I would say, of these four, Reynaldo Lopez, well, I don't know that I can't say that. I don't think I can single out any of these guys, Bryce Miller, Jose Barrios, Mitch Keller, or Reinaldo Lopez as the guy to sell high on. You can make a case to sell high on all of them. It comes down to who could you sell for the most. And that kind of depends who you're trading with

and their perception of all these players. And, you know, if they insisted on one versus another, I wouldn't make a big fuss about it. I'd be like, okay. So I think maybe Mitch Keller would give people the least to get excited about, which in a way makes him the worst sell high. And I will say that he's been a tough pitcher to figure out overall because his success doesn't always line up with traditional indicators.

But I will point out that since he started throwing his cutter harder, more than a mile per hour harder. It's been four starts now. Mitch Keller has a 134 ERA.92 whip and 7.2K per 9. So is that the adjustment? We kept saying, Mitch Keller will probably figure out something with his vast arsenal of pitches that causes him to have more success.

Maybe that's it because he's had more success since doing it. I don't know how long it'll last, but I'm happy to use Mitch Keller for the time being. I don't know if that gave you actionable advice, but that's kind of where I stand on all these guys. So I am willing to take a little bit of a stronger stance on Miller more than the other three guys. Because I just, I don't know who's paying for Jose Barrios and Mitch Keller. And I think that's the point Scott was trying to make,

is that if you were going to, if you had, let's say you have all four of these guys and you really need to sell one of them. I just don't think you're going to get the same return for Burrios and Keller, who have these established track records, have been disappointing. there's a decent chance someone in your league has had them on their team and been disappointed and frustrated with them. Miller is new enough and young enough and throws hard enough that I think you can talk someone into, yeah, he's figuring it out. And I just, I don't know if he is. I think it's sort of similar to who are we talking about earlier? There's a comp I wanted to make to someone who just keeps getting blown up occasionally. And I think

that's just going to be Breits Miller's thing because despite the addition of the splitter and despite the fact that yes, technically does throw sweepers and sliders, he's a fastball guy. It all comes down to the fastball ultimately.

Like his success in any given start is almost exclusively, did he get a lot of whiffs with his fastball? Did he get ground balls with his sinker? In this one, it was what, seven whiffs on the four seamer and a couple on the sinker. Yeah. Good quality of contact. And hey,

it turns, that he had a very good start. But I just, the rest of his arsenal, and the splitter's a good pitch, I think. The sweeper and slider, I just don't think are,

but it just, he's too dependent on throwing his fastball, like 60% of the time plus. And I just, it's really hard to succeed that way. So I think, I think in the long run, I'd say more like a four ERA

with stretches from Bryce Miller, where he looks like an app. absolute ace, and I think you probably want to try to sell on those stretches when you get the opportunity. What do we do with Walker Bueller right now, who turned in a quality start, but just kind of barely? And up against the Rockies on the road in LA, it was six innings, four runs, three of those earned, four walks, seven strikeouts, only had eight whiffs on 92 pitches, just not getting wifts on his secondary pitches. And look, he could be rusty. I think that's expected. He hasn't, you know, pitched regularly since 20.

But through five starts, it's a 432 ERA, a 132 whip for Walker Bueller. He is at the Pirates this week, which is a really good matchup. But if you guys had Walker Bueller right now, do you just, do you sit him in until you start to see something? Or what do you do? Well, I don't think you can, I think you got to wait just a little bit to consider dropping him in like a 12-team league. I don't know. I mean, would it be the worst thing in the world? Probably, I have concerns.

I have real concerns about Walker Bueller. The one great start he had, he took something off his fastball and averaged 94.9 on it. That was, there have been two starts since then, and he cranked the fastball back up. So I don't know why he went away from the success he had in that one start where he seemed like he was able to command everything better. And he started throwing the fastball harder since. and it's just taking a step back for Bueller. So there may be, like we've seen that one little glimmer of hope there. Not that he's been getting throttled necessarily.

He's just kind of looked shaky. And it's hard to justify keeping that shaky guy around if he's not showing world beater potential, you know? I don't think they're like, I can't. say never, but it's hard for me to imagine I'm going to drop Walker Bueller anytime soon. That's not to say that I think he's fine because clearly he's not. His whiff rates on pretty much all of his secondaries have collapsed, but especially on the cutter and slider. Those have been especially not good for him.

I just, we know what the upside can be. And while physically he doesn't, he doesn't, he's not throwing as hard as he was at his peak. He is throwing exactly as hard as he did in 2021. when he was basically an ace. I think his fastball velocity is like 95.5 right now is 95.2. That year, maybe he has to ramp up a little more to get there. And it's affecting the quality of his overall stuff. That's possible.

But I'm going to hang on to Walker Bueller. I think sitting him is totally fine. Although I've gone to Pittsburgh, I'm probably just going to start him. But I'm not going to drop him now. Let's get into some leftovers from the weekend. and the starting pitchers, part one. Pablo Lopez turned in a strong bounce back start at the Astros. Seven innings, one run.

Six strikeouts had 17 whiffs, 12 of those on the fastball, which was just dominant in this outing. Luis Castillo turned in another strong start, up against the Angels' seven shutout with six strikeouts, 21 whiffs on 102 pitches. Yoshinobu Yamamoto up against the Rockies, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts with 12 whiffs, and Framber Valdez had a lot.

himself a bounce back start up against the twins seven innings one run four strikeouts there scott anything to add on valdez yamamoto castillo and paula lopez hmm not really i mean i guess people were freaking out about pablo lopez and here's your reminder he's still good i not that we on this podcast ever lost confidence in him so you know you're welcome You're welcome for saying stick with Pablo Lopez. All right, pitching standouts part two. Garrick Crochet continues to pitch well. He was at the Brewers, six innings, one run, eight strikeouts with 19 whiffs.

Last seven starts for Crochet, a 135 ERA, a 0.75 whip. Tanner Halk also continues to pitch well. He was up against the Tigers. He threw seven innings of one run ball with six strikeouts. And Tanner, Bybee, has pitched much better over his last four starts, where he has a 182 ERA and a 0.85 whip. Chris, anything on Bibi, Halk, and Crochet? Yeah, Bibi is, his fastball has been a real problem for him this year, and it wasn't.

He accounted for four of his strikeouts with the pitch, had a solid 30.4% whiff rate. And maybe it's just that his velocity was up a little bit. I think it was up about one mile per hour in this one. And maybe that's just the difference between bad Tanner Bybee, who's frustrating and really good Tanner Bybee. It's just 96 instead of 95 or whatever it was. But I think this was one to grow on and then crochet it like, how many times can we say the same thing? I think he's awesome.

I think he's like as good as Cole Reagan's maybe. I really like I really don't think that's overstating it. it's just how long is it going to last? He's on the worst team in baseball. There's a lot going against him. The people in your league know the things that are going against him. And so I don't think anybody's going to pay face value for Garrett Crochet. If somebody did want to buy him as a top 30 starting pitcher,

go ahead and trade him. But I think your best bet is probably just to hang on. All right. Pitching standouts part three. Marcus Schroman has pitched much better over his last four-star. It is a 101 ERA, a 0.79 whip for him. Charlie Morton had a nice bounce back after getting clobbered his last time out. He faced the A's. He threw six shutout, one hit, five walks, six strikeouts, had 15 whiffs on 97 pitches.

And Michael King has turned in three solid starts in a row. He was at Kansas City, seven innings, one run, four strikeouts, only had eight whiffs. And noticed that he didn't really have his changeup working, so it was surprising that he could pitch as well. So it's kind of like a glass half full situation for Michael King. But it's got anything that's set out for King, Morton, and Marcus Truman. Yeah, I mean, I noticed that the pitch mix was a little different for King in this one. He was throwing his sweeper harder.

It was up 1.3 miles per hour. You know, I don't know that any of those are going to be longstanding changes for him. He has been a little better lately, but there's still been those. disaster starts mixed in. And so I'm, I'm kind of wary of Michael King, but is he back, like if you had the choice

between dropping Michael King or Walker Bueller, who would you be more likely to drop? Ooh. Chris? Bueller versus King? Yeah, I thought Chris would immediately say he'd... It's Bueller for me. You want to hold on to Bueller.

Yes. Okay, because that's not the question I asked. I said, likely to drop. So you would be more likely to drop King? Maybe not in a headhead points league because of the RP eligibility, but in a vacuum, I would rather have Bueller than King. I think they're in basically the same category for me. So I think I'd lean toward dropping King too. But the point is, I still see him as pretty fringy, even though back-to-back good starts. Some hitters that are picking things up, Vinnie Pass Quantino, Vinnie Pee!

Baby! Last four games, eight hits, two homers, seven RBI. Riley Green had that great start. Then he kind of went into a funk there in May, but he's picking things back up. Three straight multi-hit games. He added a steal on both Friday and Sunday. Sayas Suzuki last five games, seven hits, two homers,

seven RBI and a steal. And Alex Bregman might, he might be back. Ten hits, four homers, five runs, seven RBI over his last six games. Some other quick leftovers is just, players that had massive games this weekend. Christian Yelich on Friday, five for six with two doubles, five RBI,

and his eighth stolen base. Yordaun Alvarez, three for three with a double dung on Saturday. Gunner Henderson, three for three with a sock and a shoe on Sunday, his 19th home run, his eighth stolen base. Catele-Marte, three for three with a double dong,

three RBI on Sunday. And Freddie Freeman, one for one with three walks, a sock and a shoe. His seventh home run, his second stolen base, and that came all on Sunday. That's like the best one-for-one game I've ever seen. That's pretty damn good.

Some bullpen updates for the Phillies on Friday. Jose Alvarado entered in the eighth with a two-run lead. He faced 9-1-2 in the Cardinals lineup. It was Jeff Hoffman, who then struck out two for his fifth save. And Hoffman has three of the past four saves for the Phillies. Do you think Jeff Hoffman needs to be more roster? I think he's like right around 30%. I mean, if Jose Alvarado is worth rostering in your league,

then probably Hoffman is too. Hoffman's 31%. And I was going to look up. I would guess Alvarado's a lot higher than that. Probably, yes. For the Mets on Friday, Reed Garrett entered in the ninth with one out, two runners on, a five-runner lead. He gave up two home runs, four runs total.

Did manage to close out the game. And then on Sunday, Reed Garrett entered in the seventh with a one-run lead facing the heart of the D-BACs lineup. He struck out the side. It was Adam Ottavino who then got the eighth. He struck out two. And Jake Deekman, who got the ninth. With a one-run lead, he gave up two runs, took his second blown save and second loss.

Kind of feels like mixing matchy right now, but I still think Reed Garrett is probably the top of the totem pole here, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for however long that's going to be, for however long that's going to matter. For the Royals on Friday, James MacArthur entered in the 8th with the bases loaded. No outs. He gave up four straight singles. He was charged with four runs, took his fourth blown save of the season. For the Rockies on Friday.

And I think his next outing was in the eighth inning. It's still a situation where you could see them using a closer. But like MacArthur's numbers don't look closer like apart from the saves. The Royals don't really have anyone in their bullpen. Yeah, that's the problem. Who deserves to close over him. but I, you know, they're like a 600 winning percentage team, so they could be a valuable source of saves.

I just, I don't know, I don't know that you put too much faith in MacArthur because I could see a change happening there. Stop being cowards, Royals, and go trade for Mason Miller. Do it. That would be fun. I can't imagine what that trade package would have to look like. Yeah. Royals, weird, weird farm system too.

For the Rockies on Friday, Jalen Beeks got the final four outs to be the strikeout against the Dodgers of all teams. He picked up his sixth save. For the Oakland A's on Saturday, Mason Miller had thrown two innings on Thursday, so I guess he was unavailable.

It was Danny Jimenez who got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a hit and picked up his first save. For the Brewers on Saturday, Trevor McGill made his return, and he entered with the Brewers down one run in the seventh. He struck out the side. And then on Sunday, I'm guessing they didn't want to pitch

Miguel back-to-back days right after the injury. It was Inoli Paratus, who pitched the final two innings for his first save. For the raise on Sunday, it was Pete Fairbanks, who picked up his sixth save. And for the Padres on Sunday, Robert Suarez was unavailable. Yuki Matt Sui got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up three runs on a walk and two hits. He took his third blown save and first loss of the season.

season. To stream or not to stream on Monday. I think Trevor McGill at the

Nationals. Tyler McGill excuse me. Yeah. Matt Waldron at the Angels and

probably Tyler Anderson against the Padres. Distant third. Yeah. Um, yeah. Say it,

say it, Chris. I know you want to say it. I don't. Bright, Bryce Wilson. No,

not against the Phillies. No. Fair enough. On, Tuesday we have maybe Trevor Williams against the Mets. Yeah, I don't. Dane Dunning against the Tigers, maybe. That could work.

Maybe Aragutti against the Cardinals. His last start was good. It was, but. Their lineup is coming around now. What about? Yeah, I don't, I don't really like any of these. I don't have, like, I could see Dane Dunning or Trevor Williams having good starts, but I don't necessarily expect it.

Yeah. So, no, this is a pretty poor, poor crop. There. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.