Fantasy Baseball Today - Add Votto & Bader! Mariners Trades! Fill in the Blank! (7/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 28, 2021

To nominate Fantasy Baseball Today for The People’s Choice podcast awards, go to podcastawards.com/app/signup/ and then toggle down the "Sports" category. It looks like the old Joey Votto is back (1:00)! Is Harrison Bader the most under-rostered player in Fantasy Baseball right now (4:28)? Where do the Twins go next at closer? ... We've talked about these players a lot but let's do it again (11:37). ... News and notes (15:40)! The Mariners made two trades, Stephen Strasburg needs Thoracic Outlet surgery and more. ... We have prospect updates on Jo Adell, Kumar Rocker and should you hold Wander Franco in redraft (26:23)? ... Fill in the blank (31:28)! How much are we buying into Austin Riley, Josh Bell, Jordan Montgomery and others? ... Let's check in on some hitters who have really turned things around (44:18). ... We wrap up with pitching leftovers, deep waiver adds, bullpen updates, and streamers (50:09). ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris and Adam. Joseph Daniel Botto. What a guy. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, July 28th. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White. Very late start here on YouTube, but, man, it was a wacky day filled with a bunch of games, trades, almost trades, COVID, and more. Today on the podcast, we will have some fill in the blank. We're going to play a little bit of that.

We check in on some hitters who have bounced back. Recap the rest of the action, but first and foremost, man, I hope you'll listen to Scotty Dubbs because he absolutely nailed it with Joey Vado, who hit another doubled tongue on. Tuesday. He is now homered in four straight games, has hit five home runs during that stretch. He is up to 19, 19, 17. Got a little bit ahead of myself there. 17 home runs overall in the season. And he is up to, I believe it's 75% rostered, Scott. That number needs to be 100. Yeah, it does. I mean, he's must start at this point. I know Anthony Rizzo just homered for the third consecutive day today, but I still say Joey Votto's better than

him. That's an exchange you can make if you need to. And you know, his season numbers would look a lot better if he hadn't slumped at the start of the year and people

forget this, but maybe not people who listen to this podcast, but other people forget that early on, the underlying numbers look great. The stack cast data look great. Like, okay, Joey Vado looks like he may be having a redemptive season here.

Yet when he went on the I.O. with the fractured thumb in early May, he was batting 226. Well, since coming off, 297 with a 957 OPS and 42 games, that was entering today. He hit his 11th and 12th home runs during that 43 game stretch here on Monday. And yeah, I mean, Joey Votto. So, Joey Votto wants to make sure he is not going to be a fringe call for the Hall of Fame. He is going to waltz in if he, you know, has another year or two like this one because he looks really good again. You love to see it too because Joey Votto is truly one of the more interesting players in baseball, I would say. So it's really fun to see him bounce back and have this Renaissance-type season.

He's not the only one. I mean, McCutcheon, we've talked about a lot this year, has really gotten back on track since really, the start of May. So it's nice to see McCutcheon and Joey Votto, two of the, two of our former fantasy stalwart, really kind of turning back the clocks here. Votto is 76% rostered again, so needs to be universally rostered at this point. And Scott, let me know if I am off base here, but I updated the ranks on Tuesday. I moved Joey Votto all the way up to number 12 in my first base rankings. I don't know if that's too aggressive, but just ahead of Trey Mancini, J. Kronomworth, Jared Walsh, who is currently dealing with an abdominal injury,

DJ LaMayhew behind him. Is that too high? I mean, I'm overdue to update my rankings here. I'm going to have to update them. I have Votto still down at 22nd. So I need to move them up. But no, that sounds like the right range. At this point, I'm kind of debating Votto versus like Yuleiguriel even.

I know Votto's been better since top, than top 12. since coming back from this injury. I don't know exactly what it's been, but I know it's definitely in the top 12, definitely in the top 10. So I don't think it's a stretch to say that at all. Over the last 28 days, Joey Votto is the third best first baseman in points leagues.

That's not fantasy points per game. That's just a cumulative points behind only Freddie Freeman and Jose Abraeu. So move them way up the ranks. Let's talk about some other standouts from Tuesday. Oh, my goodness gracious! I'm going to get a started here, Scott, and so when we keep talking about, I'm going to bring up a few players that we keep talking about here,

but Harrison Bader, another monster game on Tuesday, three for four with two doubles, a sock, and a shoe. That's a home run and a stolen base. In 20 games since coming off the IL, Harrison Bader is betting 384, five homers, three steals. Talk about the strikeout rate that's come down quite a bit this season. It's at 16% entering 2021 for his career. that number was 29%.

So I'm not sure that he's going to be able to keep up this type of plate discipline all season long, but given the fact that he's putting the ball in play as much as he is, hitting for a little bit of power, a little bit of speed. 97th percentile in sprint speed, by the way, the guy is super fast. Harrison Bader is only 35% rostered. I think that number needs to double.

At least. I think Harrison Bader is the most under-rusted player in fantasy right now. And you mentioned you're not sure if he can sustain a strikeout rate this low, which, I mean, it's almost half of what it was last year. And it's never been good during his time in the majors. But apparently he had surgery in the offseason to remove polyps from his nasal passages that were causing his eyes to water. It was giving him vision problems at the plate, basically. And that might explain why he's... seems to be seeing the ball better all of a sudden.

That seems like that seems like it may have been the critical variable here for a guy who seemed to profile is more than he was delivering on. And now he's delivering on it, even beyond our expectations.

And I mean, I kind of feel like how Harrison Bader looks right now is what Andrew Benintendi looked like once upon a time, what we were hoping. Benintendi would be for years to come, which if you've only been playing fantasy baseball for a year or two,

you may not understand what that means, but five category player. I mean, not really somebody who's going to lead the league in anything, but the across-the-board production could be significant. I mean, I guess maybe a comp could be like, you know, if Ozzy Al-B's was an outfielder, that's what Harrison Bader. looking like right now.

Yeah, and that's massive because in any type of categories league, we were drafting Ozzy Albies in the third round, maybe sometimes the fourth round, but he was being drafted as a top 40-ish player. So that is the way that Harrison Bader is currently playing. We'll see if he can keep it up. Scott, would you drop Adolice Garcia for Harrison Bader?

Since the start of June in 45 games, Adoles Garcia is betting 222, six homers, two steals, a 31% strikeout rate, a 48% ground ball rate. I mean, I don't like the idea of dropping Garcia, but I think you have to. If that's the worst player you have, if that's your first choice to drop, even when Adolice Garcia was rolling,

even at his best, you know, he gave me more hesitance than I feel like Harrison Bader is giving me right now. All right. Yeah. So I agree. If he's your worst player, I would try my best to hold on to Adolese Garcia. He might just be someone that's super streaky. But again, it was a two-month stretch where he was awesome. And now it's another two-month stretch where he's been suboptimal. Again, a 222 batting average for Adolius Garcia during that stretch. Scotty, oh my goodness gracious for you from Tuesday. I'm going to go with Hansel Robles, who is, I think we can all say Hansel is not so hot. right now. It's pretty bad. His ERA is up near five after a disastrous showing against the tigers of all teams. Those tricky tigers. He gave up four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. Yeah, 491 is what the ERA is up to now. And frankly, the underlying stats aren't much better. The walk rate is bad. He's in the second percentile in terms of limiting hard contact. And it's not

like he misses a lot of bats, you know, less than a strikeout per inning. Really, just by every measure. Hansel Robles is not very good, and now certainly the ERA backs it up if it didn't before. It's kind of, we're kind of at a tricky spot here if we're looking for saves because, obviously Taylor Rogers, I've got to make sure I say the right teen name, Taylor Rogers went on the I.L. with a sprained middle finger. And he and Robles were basically splitting the closer roll, so, oh, look,

This is a great opportunity for Robles to claim it outright. I don't know if that's going to go very well. We were already playing with fire with him, and you got burned. And he left the game with dizziness too, which I don't know. I guess you could argue contributed to his struggles. I think he was just his head was spinning after getting rocked. That's what made him dizzy. Because, again, like, it looked like it looked like, it looked like,

impending disaster. Dizziness or not. His numbers did not look like they were going to hold up, and they weren't very good to begin with. So I don't know. I mean, we talked about it a little yesterday, and I said, no pitcher in the bullpen has very good numbers.

Tyler Duffy's been good in the past, but a strikeout rate's way down, his whips way up this year. He did pitch a scoreless inning in this game, and his ERA is now down to 320, so maybe they go with him. Or maybe not. Maybe they continue to roll with Robles,

but I don't feel like I can trust Robles anymore. I don't feel like I want to. Did you actually watch the Grand Slam by any chance that Eric Haas hit off of him? I didn't. His hand kind of did this thing like where he wanted to point to the sky, but living here in New York, it's something that I noticed he used to always do with the Mets

because Mets fans make fun of him. Hansel Robles would point to the sky for like fly balls. He thought they were just like routine fly balls, and they would turn out to be home runs. And it was like the most ridiculous thing of all time. Like, how do you think every fly ball is just like a routine fly ball and then it turns in a home run?

So it seemed like he almost wanted to do it today. Again, something I noticed there with Hansel Robos. But you're right, he's been very bad, especially here in the month of July. I don't know who they're going to go to. Tyler Duffy, I guess an option. Entering Tuesday, he had more walks than strikeouts in the month of July. It looks like someone named Danny Cologne. Colombe.

I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. But he's been very good in July, but he is a left-handed pitcher. So I don't know if that's a route that they can go down, but I guess it's an option for the Minnesota Twins. We'll see what happens there. A few other players that we keep talking about brought up Votto, brought up Harrison Bader. I wanted to hit these at the top of the show.

Mitch Garver hit a grand slam. It was his 11th home run of the season. He is 63% rostered, but he got hit by a pitch on his hand late. Late in this game, and he actually had to leave. So we'll see. Leave Mitch. alone, everybody. Leave him alone. Leave him alone, man. He just wants to dominate you. He is getting it done, so I hope he's all right there. Nothing. Yeah, I hope so. I mean,

he doesn't get to get it done for very long because then he's having babies and then he's getting hit by pitches again. Poor Mitch. Poor Mitch. Eric Haas, I already mentioned his name. He had a grand slam. I brought his name up a couple of times recently. It was the 17th home run of the season. He's 58% rostered. I still prefer a healthy Mitch Garver. a Max Stassie over Eric Haas. But I think, you know, once you get into the James McCann area, Sean Murphy area, like Eric Haas has been much hotter than either of those hitters. So if you wanted to go down that route in a one-catcher league,

I don't have a problem with it. He's playing really well. 17 home runs. From the catcher position, it's wild. It's a very short span of, basically just two months, right? Yeah. Basically. And he just, he came out of nowhere.

He's kind of just like a minor. League journeyman guy who's come up and playing awesome. So Eric Haas there if you need a catcher. And Akele Badu, two for four with a double, hit his 10th run of the season. He's up to 73% rostered. It seems like every night, Scott, this guy is doing something. He's stealing a base. He's hitting a home run. Now the power stroke is coming back for Akeel Badu. So he's up to 73% roster. Does that seem appropriate or should that number continue to climb, even in three outfielder leagues? I mean, it should continue to climb. I know I was kind of dismissive when his plate discipline numbers were turning around because the power was completely absent,

but now five home runs in his last 11 games, it's been interesting to watch him sort of develop on the fly, which is often how it goes with Rule 5 picks. You know, they get returned to their previous organization. If you don't keep them on the Major League roster, you're kind of speeding up their timetable so you can retain them in your organization. and yeah, I mean, he was blistering hot his first two weeks and got buried in strikeouts,

then really seemed to sell out for contact, and now it's like he's put it all together. Of course, the steals total is great. He's good at drawing walks. So I think regardless of the format, Akeel Badoo needs to be picked up at this point. I guess the natural follow-up would be Badoo or Bader. Right?

Yeah, that's close. Gotta love the alliteration and the consonants there. Bedou and Bader. Badoo and Bader. I could see very similar skill sets from these guys too. Badoo is probably going to walk more. Don't worry about splits as much with Bader. I think I want Bader more.

Yeah, it is very close, though. I think I lean with you there. I think the playing time is going to be a little bit more consistent. But do is still not playing against lefties, and even if he does, he's just really bad against him. So keep that in mind. But man, he's actually crushing right-handed pitching whenever he gets the opportunity to do so.

Scott, would you drop Jared Kelnick in redraft leagues for both of these guys? But do and Bader? I would. Would you drop Jaron, who is not playing against left-handed pitching? He was not going to be in the lineup Tuesday before that game got rained out. Yes.

All right. It's the final week. We are finalists for the sports category of the People's Choice Podcast Awards. We appreciate all that you. do for us and we hope that you enjoy our show enough to nominate us to advance to the final round to nominate fantasy baseball today go to podcast awards.com slash app slash sign up and then toggle down the sports category we've included the link at the top of the episode description as well news

and notes and there was a lot of them so let's dive right in we had a trade and an almost trade the trade that actually went down well actually there was two trades that went down but we'll start with the Astros acquired Relievers Kendall Graveman and Raphael Montero from the Mariners. Just a very curious trade

and we heard from I believe it was Ryan Divish that the Mariners locker room clubhouse was very upset about this trade because they are competing for a wild card spot

and to trade those relievers especially Graveman who's just been fantastic this year in the division against the team that you're playing against like just walking across the field and you just had a dramatic come from behind win against the night before.

I believe Dylan Moore came off the bench to hit a grand slam when they were down by three. Put him ahead and they won. And then you ship your best reliever. Send them across the field to the team. He's just a beat. Within the division too,

it's a very curious move. But apparently GM, Jerry DePoto, said that it will make sense once they make other moves. We'll get to that in just a second. But they received Abraham Toro and Relief. or Joe Smith in return.

Anything to see there, Scott, Abraham Toro. I don't foresee him being an everyday player with the Mariners, do you? Not this year. I don't know if they acquired him, you know, expecting Kyle Seeger to leave in the off season and making him the air apparent at third base.

Or in light of Jerry DePoto's comments that this move will make sense, after future moves play out if if they acquired Abraham Toro because they knew he was a target of another team. I don't know. Abraham Toro seems like the kind of player with that high contact rate seems like a Royals kind of player, right? Mariners have been linked to Whitmerfield. Maybe something like that. Interesting.

Maybe. Yeah, I guess that is a possibility. Kyle Seeger, by the way, hit his 20th home run of the season on Tuesday. So I don't think Abraham Toro is going to take his. job. Maybe, you know, one of them plays DH. They've been using this rotation of catchers at first base and catcher and DH. So I guess that's a

possibility for the Mariners. But then they actually went on to well, actually, before we do that, you could drop Kendall Graveman, right? Scott. Category Leagues. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we kind of neglected the most important part of this deal for fantasy purpose. Right. Yeah, Graveman is no longer a closer.

I think it's fair to say. I think so. I mean, Ryan Presley's been very good enough that I don't know why they'd swap them out as good as Graveman's been. Presumably Paul Seawalt takes over as the Mariners closer. Presumably, Scott's service, the Mariners manager doesn't seem to be such a role-oriented manager. And he'll sometimes use his closer in the eighth inning as he did with Graveman in what turned out to be Graveman's final game with the Mariners. So Drew Steckenrider might steal some saves too.

but Paul Seawald seems like he had become the B option in the bullpen. And exciting pick up because K-per-9, third best in the majors behind only the two guys who I think are the best all-time in K-per-9 or oldest Chapman and Craig Kimbril. I may have mixed up their order, but they're one and two, and Seawald is third. Yeah, he's having a fantastic season.

Paul Seawald, 19% rostered. My only hesitation is, I guess, if they foresee other moves, maybe they are looking to acquire another reliever. I don't know why, but I guess you can't rule out that possibility. Still, if you need saves, Paul Seawald is someone to target right now. Great ratios and strikeouts as well from Paul Seawald. Then the other trade that almost happened happened.

Tyler Anderson was about to be acquired by the Phillies. Apparently something happened with the prospects that the pirates were acquiring. Medicals didn't check out. And then the Mariners swoop in and they acquired Tyler Anderson. not that it matters very much. Anderson has a 4.35 ERA 1.20 whip, but they're making moves. They're wheeling and dealing.

Nothing to see you with Tyler Anderson, right, Scott? Nah. No, I wouldn't be. This doesn't really change my view of him. Seattle's a big park, but so is Pittsburgh. Yep. And he's going to the AL now. We had a few very notable positive COVID tests on Tuesday as well.

Trey Turner was pulled from the game. Everyone thought it must be a trade. And then it turns out that Trey Turner tested positive for COVID. So he will be out for at least the next 10 days. And I mean, I don't know how that would work if he's still traded or someone's trying to acquire him. But I guess we'll see.

Everyone on the Nationals is apparently on the trade block outside of Juan Soto. And then the other one was Christian Yellich. Same thing. He's going to miss at least the next 10 days. Jace Peterson also went to the COVID-I-L because of contact tracing. Lorenzo Kane was reinstated. And he went two for five with an RBI on Tuesday. Steven Strasberg.

Also, massive news here. We'll undergo thoracic outlet surgery on Wednesday. We'll not pitch again this season. And Scott, I kind of wonder how effective he's going to be the rest of his career. Because we've seen thoracic outlet derail a ton of pitchers. I will point out that Merrill Kelly had thoracic outlet last year in, I think it was September or October. And he's actually bounced back fine this year. That's really the only case that I could think of where someone has bounced back

this soon and actually has been okay. But this is rough for Shrosberg. When Matt Harvey had thoracic outlet syndrome, and I kept seeing other people make the case, oh, this might be the end for Harvey. I did a lot of research on pitchers who've had thoracic outlet syndrome, and although they tended not to have lengthy careers thereafter,

they weren't all that bad. I can't remember all the names. Josh Beckett stands out. at the end of his career, the performance was actually pretty strong after thoracic outlet syndrome. But, I mean, look what happened in Matt Harvey. So all my efforts to defend his future prospects were for not.

Steven Straussberg turns 34 next summer. He's sneaky old. And, yeah, I'm kind of expecting there's probably not much probably not much to ring out of Steven Strausberg anymore W-R-I-N-G ring out of him Let's stick with the nationals

Max Scherzer has been medically cleared to make his next start on Thursday but I seriously doubt that will happen given all the trade interests apparently the West Coast is where Scherzer prefers could be the Giants, could be the Padres the Dodgers so I guess we'll see what happens there Jack Flarety made a rehab start at AAA

he went two scoreless with three strikeouts Carlos Carrasco is expected to make his Mets debut on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. I moved him up to SP 51 in the rankings, just behind Luis Garcia, and just ahead of Frankie Montas. What do you think, Scott? Yeah, sounds pretty good. There is the possible. I mean, obviously, Carrasco, once we see him going six innings,

and if he looks like himself. Yeah, I mean, this has the ability to skyrocket. right could wind up inside the top 30 top 20 if he looks like the cookie carasco of old we haven't but I think so I think it makes sense to play cautiously with him you know having already been set back a couple times this year and you know his rehab starts have been so short we haven't talked about him in a while but Trevor Bauer had his administrative leave extended until August 6th he is currently part of a civil hearing for the temporary restraining order obtained against him, and that will take place next week, Monday and Tuesday in Los Angeles,

and is expected to last two to three days. Day three of that hearing, however, will not take place until August 19th. And Scott, we've been receiving questions, and it's always so tough to talk about fantasy with something like this going on, but would you consider dropping Trevor Bauer at this point? We have no idea what is going to happen, how this is going to play out with him. but you don't I think if you haven't dropped him yet I kind of feel like

it's worth waiting for more unless it's a shallow league unless it's like a 10 teamer and even then it's not like I would I would call him an automatic drop I think yeah I think I think he might as well keep holding for now

Mookie Betts could be activated when first eligible on Sunday Adam Fraser let off in his Padre's debut against a righty in James Caprillion. Trent Grisham was dropped to seventh in the lineup. Jared Wallace was not in the lineup Tuesday. He left Monday's game with right abdominal soreness. Royals GM Dayton Moore expressed confidence in Danny Duffy's ability to pitch again this season and estimated he'll return within three to four weeks. Might be for another team. Nick Anderson fired a perfect inning for the Royals rookie level

Florida Complex League affiliate on Monday, someone who could work his way into save opportunities with the Tampa Bay raise. Michael Former was reinstated on Tuesday and pitched in, I believe it was the fifth inning in a game that they were losing at the time. So they probably just want to get him some work. I think it's still going to be Gregory Soto,

but I guess we'll see what happens. For the Marlins, we had a bunch of updates. Trevor Rogers is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Wednesday. He went on the IL over the weekend. Pablo Lopez will start throwing off flat ground. Later this week, he went on the IL last week with a shoulder strain.

and Hazu Sanchez is gearing up for a return from the COVID-I-L. Trade rumor just before we came on here, the Giants are talking to the Cubs about Chris Pryant and the Cubs are apparently scouting Joey Bart. So if they acquired him, that'd be pretty interesting, right? I guess Wilson Contreras has played outfield at times in his career, so maybe that's something they could do. And it would be fun to get Joey Bart in the lineup every day.

So pure speculation for now. I suspect if Joey Bart is in a deal involving Chris Bryant, it's not just involving Chris Bryant, but you know how this trade rumor stuff is. Rarely does it pan out. The success rate of trade rumors is very low. We had some prospect updates as well. Joe Adele had a sock in a shoe on Monday,

his 20th home run and his eighth steal of the season. That strikeout rate is down to 25% in the month of July, something I know that you have highlighted before, So it's nice to see that staying in that range, that mid-20s range. Well, it's been climbing more recently. I don't know. I don't know that there's really much ground for Joe Adelta gain in the strikeout rate. And I'm kind of, I don't know what it's going to take to get them called up at this point.

I really don't. They seem gun-shy after the disaster of last year. And, you know, they're in the race still. I mean, they're a long shot, but they're. technically in it, they're over 500. So, you know, especially with Trout's timeline being murky, they could use the help, but they really don't seem motivated to call them up. Yeah, I mean, I guess that they were just waiting to see more of that contact,

and by the time they're finally seeing it, Justin Upton is back, they've already called up Brandon Marsh. Trout will be back at some point, so I think it's just kind of a weird timing situation for the angels who are currently... five games out of the second wild card spot. So we'll see what happens with Joe Adele. This is kind of a weird situation and an unfortunate one as well. Kumar Rocker, who was selected 10th overall for the New York Mets in this year's draft,

him and the Mets are currently in a stalemate over his contract due to elbow concern. Something popped up in his medical. So there is a chance that Kumar Roker will not be signed by the New York Mets. So I don't know what's going to happen there, but that's quite unfortunate. We're going to check in on a bunch of hitters a little bit later on, but Wander Franco, we haven't talked about him in a while, so I just wanted to take a little bit of a closer look. 225 batting average to this point, 8% walk rate, 20% strikeout rate. Not bad for a 20 year old kid.

The batted ball data, not exciting. The splits, 972 OPS versus left-handed pitching, a 428 OPS versus right-handed pitching. That was never an issue for Wander Franco. In the minors, he's a switch hitter as well, so it should. shouldn't be an issue. He's still 93% rostered Scott. Are we holding out or if you play in a shallow league, would you be okay dropping Wander for, you know, one of these hot hitters who are currently emerging? I mean, at this point, I would rather have Harrison Bader. I would rather have certainly Joy Vado, Akil Badoo. I'd rather have any of them. I'm not anxious to drop Wander

Franco. It's not like it's something I'm desperate to do. but as we've said a lot, the learning curve seems to have been raised. It's harder to break into the majors, it seems like, given the struggles that so many top prospects have had the past couple years, I don't exactly know why.

Maybe it's a rest factor from no minor league season last year, except, you know, it's not really showing up in the minor league number so much. So I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is, but it seems like it's, It seems like these guys are having a harder time breaking in, almost universally.

And I'm less than optimistic that Wander Franco is going to be a significant contributor, a significant contributor over the last two months. Jared Kelnick, just another one too. At least on Tuesday, he's one for three here with two RBI, but he's batting 107 with a 368 OPS. And I saw a few tweets earlier today that he's just in his head. just like really overthinking things and swinging at bad pitches, is having bad at bats,

which is something, you know, people weren't used to seeing from Jared Kelnick in the minor. So it's tough right now between him and Wander Franco, but if you play in redraft leagues, especially if you have them in your lineups right now, you got to get them out. If you need to drop them,

if you need that roster spot, I think it's all right to do so at this point. Got to tell you about one of our sponsors. Express, Express, Express, Express is all new in all about you with a fresh mix of casual, versatile, and super comfortable styles. We've talked a bunch about their different styles over the past couple of weeks, but maybe you just need something to wear for the summer. Heading out to the park, a cookout, a baseball game, whatever it is, head to express. They offer four kinds of shorts with their chinos, performance,

drawstring, and denim, specifically for their drawstring shorts. They have this elastic waistband for all-day comfort, and I can't recommend their polo shirts enough. You've seen me come on here a few times wearing a bunch of different ones, super stretchy material, just really, really comfortable stuff. Maybe you're looking for a solid color, but if not, very stylish polos, floral prints, stripes, the softest fabrics you'll ever feel, and the shirt just fit right to your body. We encourage all of our listeners to be on the lookout for great summer deals in stores and at express.com.

Express Confidence, Express You. Fill in the blank. Let's play a little bit here, Scott. Let's have some fun. Austin Riley. a double tongue on Tuesday. Now, it's a six home runs in the month of July. 19 home runs overall.

23 July games. Austin Riley is betting 313, 6 homers, a 15% walk rate, 17% strikeout rate. Fill in the blank. Austin Riley is a top blank third baseman rest of season. Austin Riley is a top 12 third baseman rest of season. I think he's number 12. He may even be number 11.

Looking at how I'd rank them here once I finally get around to updating this. Yeah, top 12. I think it makes sense too. I think you can make the argument that he should be eighth, ninth? I mean, you have your Jose Ramirez, Devers, Machado, Muncie, Nolan Aronado,

Chris Bryant, Alex Bregman, who should be going on rehab. But then after that, it's all right, Justin Turner could be ahead of him. But yeah, I put Justin Turner ahead. I think Josh Donaldson I'd put ahead, but that's arguable. Just given Donaldson's health history, I still have, I think I'm still inclined to put DJ LaMayhew ahead, but that's getting harder to justify. And Anthony Rendon is kind of at a take it or leave it point as well.

And then there's Eduardo Escobar, who I think needs to be in that discussion. I do think I'd for sure prefer Riley to him. So, yeah, somewhere between like 9th and 12th. It's really just been, it was just a bad June for Austin Riley. It's, his April was fine, May was fine, and now July, he's really, really bounced back. So breakout season for Austin Riley continues. Jordan Montgomery, he was at the Tampa Bay raise on Tuesday. Five shutout endings, five hits, three walks, five strikeouts,

16 swinging strikes on 102 pitches. Tampa Bay is a lineup that swings and misses quite a bit. But over Montgomery's last four starts, he's got a 2.34 ERA, 24 strikeouts over 23 and a third innings pitched with a 15% swinging strike rate. He's currently 70% rostered. Scott, fill in the blank. Montgomery ranks blank among himself, Tuki Tucson, Tyler McGill, Austin Gomber. Where does he rank among that group? I think I have to go number one. Now, I think Tuki Tucci Toussaint has the most upside of that group. Montgomery feels more like the floor play.

I think Tyler McGill at this point is definitely last of these four. But I would go Montgomery weighing the upside and the downside. I'd go him number one. For what it's worth, I'd rank the other three in terms of how much I want to roster them. Gomber, I think. Yeah, I think I'd go Gomber over Tucson and then Tyler McGill bringing up the rear. We've seen this before. or five-star stretches from Jordan Montgomery

where he looks really good. I will point out, though, this recent stretch, this four-star stretch, he faced Boston twice, Tampa Bay on Tuesday, and then the Mariners. So obviously the Mariners are a good lineup, I mean, a good match-up, but Boston, to do it twice in a four-star stretch,

it's pretty impressive for Jordan Montgomery. And as of now, it looks like he is scheduled to face the Seattle Mariners next week. Yeah, I was going to say, probably should have thrown a no-hitter against the Mariners. So kind of let us down there. I guess it's been a while since you brought that up, Scott.

Austin Gomber, by the way, his final line on Tuesday, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. Guy just continues to get it done. I don't know how, I don't know why Austin Gomber is really, really good. Josh Bell went one for three with a 16th home run. And in 69 games since May 1st, 278 batting average, 14 homers, 21% strikeout rate. That's very manageable.

50% ground balls. That's too much. That is a 30-homer pace over 150 games. Scott, Josh Bell is a top blank first baseman rest of season. Coming around a little bit more on him?

Maybe. For, you know, even since he's turned things around at the plate, there's been the playing time issue, Ryan Zimmerman stealing too many of his starts. But that's been greatly reduced here.

I think it's, I think 17 of the last 19. I think that's right. Bell has started at first base. Now, they did get three games at, they did have three games with a DH spot available during that stretch, and Zimmerman started all three of those games at DH, so maybe if that didn't happen, Zimmerman would have stolen a few starts.

But it does seem like Dave Martinez has noticed Bell's turnaround at the plate and is rewarding him with more playing time. So to answer your question, I will say Josh Bell is, I think I can only say top 25. I think there's enough competition there because I'm looking right now near the back end of my top 20. I have guys like Hoskins and Rizzo and Carlos Santana. Santana has really slowed down. He has. He has.

You know, probably big difference points for. versus Roto. You know, Roto, I probably would take Bell over Santana. But I don't feel confident putting Bell much higher than he'll be in the top 25, but he might be outside the top 20. First base is a deep position this year between Josh Bell, who's come around,

Jonathan's Scope is first base eligible, he's having a very good season. Andrew Vaughn has come around. Dom Smith has been better in July. Ryan Mountcastle has first base eligibility. he's been a little bit up and down this year, but he's been good at times. Thai France, Jesus Aguilar.

It's been a pretty deep position for his base. I moved them inside my top 20, just ahead of Santana, just ahead of Luke Voight. Obviously, you could change with Luke Void if he comes back and starts hitting the way that we know he could, but... Yeah, I would...

I know Voight keeps going on the I.O., but yeah, I would rather have him than Bell. Logan Webb, up against the Dodgers on Tuesday, six innings, one run, five strikeouts, only nine swinging strikes on 80 pitches. He continues to get built up. This is his longest start since coming back off of the IEL. But in those four starts since returning,

Logan Webb has a 2.00 ERA, a 68% ground ball rate. He's currently 44% rostered. Scott, Logan Webb's roster rate should be blank. I'm surprised as 44. Let's say, let's say 60. Let's say 60, I think. You know, he hasn't been missing many bats during this stretch, 16Ks and 18 innings. You know, the fact that he has such a high ground ball rate,

and that's been pretty much true during his whole time in the majors. But, well, I guess it's been even much better. It's always been good, but it's been better than ever this year, the ground ball rate over 60% for the year. And that contributes to him having a low X-FIP. He entered the start with a 304-X-FIP. looks like. And obviously,

pitching half his games in San Francisco can only further help with run prevention in a way that's not going to show up in the ex-fip. There is definitely, there are definitely things to like about Logan Webb, but I don't know that there's a high enough ceiling, really, to make a big investment in him when he's still so unproven. I've kind of got to this point with San Francisco where

any pitcher that is starting for them, I just want to take a shot on and see where it goes, just based on how they've turned so many pitchers around the past couple seasons, especially this season as well. We would rank Logan Webb

behind the pitchers we mentioned earlier, right? Montgomery, Tucson, Tyler McGill, Austin Gumber. I think it's a close call with Tyler McGill, but I would put Webb a little behind him, yeah. All right, so maybe not a 12-team points league,

but a little bit of a deeper lineup, a roto lineup, 12-team Roto League, Logan Webb, I think someone you can look at. Glaver Torres went two-for-five with a run scored in 17 July games. He is betting 276, three homers, five steals, 11% walk rate, 21% strikeout rate. Bat at ball numbers look better.

They're not amazing. Scott, you are feeling blank about Gleber Torres. I'm feeling curious about, about Glaber Torres. I wouldn't even go as far as hopeful yet, but there's kind of that glimmer at this point. Like, okay, this month is looking like

the player we thought Glabre Torres was. This is looking more like Labor Torres. But, you know, it's only a month. And in the grand scheme of things, it's not doing a lot to improve its stat line, right? It's not this crazy outlandish month

that makes up for long. time. So I don't make much of it yet, but it has, I have noticed it at the very least. All right. Last one here. Brad Keller up against the White Talks, seven innings, two runs, four strikeouts, nine swinging strikes on 90 pitches over Keller's last four starts, 2.65 ERA, 26 strikeouts over 27 and two-thirds innings pitch, a 51% ground ball rate using his slider a lot more. He's 40% rostered. I'm just going to scrap fill in the blank here. Would you rather have Brad Keller or Logan Webb? Keller. I think Keller

might, oh, he's up to 40% now, but he might be the most under-rusted rostered pitcher, just like I said earlier, Harrison Bader is the most under-rastered player. I think Keller's fixed now. When this stretch of four quality starts was first getting started, I read about how he had fixed an issue in his delivery that was preventing him from staying on top of the ball, which is pretty important for a ground ball pitcher, and that he had also regained confidence in his slider, which he'd really been lacking early on.

So the overall numbers are still horrible, but I think it's, I think like a light switch, he's back to being the Brad Keller. It's gone on again, and he's back to being the Brad Keller that we were used to seeing, who's less than must roster, but a pretty useful pitcher who consistently goes deep into games.

Some optimism there, Brad Keller. Got one more thing to promote here. The NBA playoffs have wrapped up and that means it's NBA draft season. CBS Sports HQ is your home for Thursday night's event. We'll have pick-by-pick coverage

including grades and expert analysis for both rounds. How to stream HQ. You can watch on the CBS Sports app on your phone. It even pops out so you can have it play while you're scrolling through Twitter. You can watch using the CBS Sports app

on your connected TV and you can watch on your computer via MBA draft tracker which will be easily available on the CBSports.com homepage. And it's all free and featuring our good friends, Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander, Avery Johnson, Bill Ryder, and Rip Hamilton.

So don't forget, NBA draft coverage tips off at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS Sports HQ this Thursday. We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, let's check in on some hitters who have quietly got back on track. We'll do that next here on Fantasy Baseball today.

Danesby Swanson went two-for-four with a double and two RBI on Tuesday. 76 games since the start of May, 259 batting average, 15 homers, 5 steals, a 13.7% barrel rate. That is a 30 homer 10 steel pace over 150 games.

260-ish hitter. That sounds like Dansby Swanson. Yeah, it does. It does. I know a lot of people were down on him for a while where he got off to that super slow start, but a lot of hitters did in April. So if you held on to Danesby Swanson,

and I think you should feel pretty good about him at this point. Jeff McNeil went two for five with his fifth home run. He is betting 348 with two homers and one steel in the month of July. He is 78% rostered. We spoke about him recently, Scott, and you just weren't really feeling it with Jeff McNeil. Do you feel better now? I mean, it's a good month with the batting average,

batting nearly 350, but only a second home run for the month. Yeah. I kind of feel like he's closer to, as I think I said at the time, I kind of feel like he's closer to being David Fletcher than the McNeil we saw in in 2019 who hit 23 home runs, I believe it was. I just, I'm not confident we're ever going to see that kind of power from him again, but he's definitely a good contact hitter.

Yeah, he's very David Fletcher-esque. I think he has more power upside than David Fletcher, but we really have not seen it. Well, he certainly demonstrated more, yeah. Yeah, and well, we should point out that a lot of that power came in the season with the juice ball. He showed a little bit of it in the mind. but I don't know. Jeff Bainneal's very David Fletcher-esque.

Brandon Lau went three-for-four with his 22nd home run of the season. And since June, 42 games, he's batting 268, 13 homers. The batted ball data looking much better, hitting the ball harder, a lot more barrels, 29% strikeout rate. That's about right for Brandon Lau. Another one's got where, very quietly, since the start of June, Brandon Lau has been great. Yeah.

And he may just be one of those insanely streaky hitters. We saw it last year, too. It just so happened that the way the streaks broke down, the final line ended up looking better than maybe we should expect from him most seasons. But he's definitely a good power hitter. He can take a walk. There are reasons to, you know, there are reasons to be encouraged by this. But at the same time, you know, there's a good.

good chance he slumps at some point again this season. When you said he can take a walk, the way that you said it, in my head, it sounded like, take a walk, Brandon Lau. We don't want anything to do with you. No, he's been, he's been great for the past two months for Tampa Bay. You're right. I mean, he's someone who profiles better as a rotisserie player just because the end of season numbers, I think he's usually going to get there, right?

it's 240, 250, 30 homers, maybe double-digit steals. It's going to be really frustrating how you get there, but Brandon Lau is going to get there. It's much tougher in a head-to-head league where you need a little bit more weekly consistency. Paul DeYoung, let's show him some love, man. Not just Harrison Bader, who's getting it done for the Cardinals recently. One for three with its 14th home run in July.

Paul DeYoung's batting 328 with four home runs. Very curious, he's doing it with a 50% ground ball rate. He's 43% rostered. Scott, any interest in this recent hot streak from Paul DeYoung? Not really. He's, I think he's pretty fringy. He's never hit the ball all that hard in his career and even less so this year, which, you know, maybe he was just struggling. And now he's getting back on track.

But I don't think like these July numbers are the new baseline for Paul DeYoung or anything. I think he's just always going to be fringy. Would you rather have Paul DeYoung or Brendan Rogers who hit his seventh home run on Tuesday? I'll still shoot for the upside with Rogers. I know he's cooled off in July after showing signs that maybe he was breaking through in June. But all of a sudden, home runs and back-to-back games

and both on the road in the Angel Stadium, right? So they hit a pitcher's park. So yeah, I mean, Brendan Rogers. there's still a chance. There's still a chance. This is his breakthrough year, even if he went cold there for a while. This next player doesn't necessarily fit this category,

but I need a reason to talk about him. So I'm just going to throw him in here. Brian Anderson went three for four on Tuesday with a sock and a shoe. Not used to seeing that from the Marlins third baseman. He returned on Saturday. He now has homers in back-to-back games. Brian Anderson does.

35% rostered. What do you think, Scott? He's kind of fringy, But, yeah, he is fringy, but it's nice to see him. It's nice to see him performing well, coming up back from the IL, a lengthy absence. And third base, a lot of people have a need there. I don't know that in a 12-te-to-head lineup situation,

you're going to really feel good about playing him, making him your starting third baseman. But in anything deeper than that, I think he's viable. Yeah, I think you could probably start in a Roto League as your corner infielder or any type of

lineup that plays with a corner infielder so those are usually a little bit deeper there. So yeah, he doesn't have outfield eligibility anymore so keep that in mind, Brian Anderson. Only third base eligibility, but home runs in back-to-back games. Let's take a look at some quality starts from Tuesday.

Adam Wainwright, another one, just keeps plugging away. Seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts has a 3.51 ERA on the season. Shane McClanahan against the Yankees, six innings, three runs, six strikeouts, only 10 swinging strikes, and the velocity on all of his pitches down between 1.7 and 1.9 miles per hour in this start, and it's been down pretty consistently recently. Sandy Alcansara at the Orioles, six endings, three runs, five strikeouts, Dylan Cease, nice little bounce back

here, six endings, three runs, only two of those were earned. six strikeouts up against the Royals. It was his first quality start since June 30th. And then Kent and Maeda just keeps plugging away his last five starts now. 2.78 ERA, 36 strikeouts, over 29 and a third innings pitched. For Kent and Maeda,

he has faced the Detroit Tigers three times in that five-star stretch. Wayne Wright, McClanahan, Alcansara, Dillon Cesarna. Anything you'd like to add on these? Gentlemen? I think you pretty much covered it. I would just emphasize that Kinta Maeda appears to be fixed.

That splitter has been his best swing and miss pitch. Throughout this good stretch he's been on, five great starts in a row, a lot of strikeouts. I believe three of the five, he's gone six plus innings, so that's important for him too. And I would have no reservations about starting him at this point. By the way, by the way, Abraham Torre. came off the bench for the Mariners

at a two-run bomb off his old team. So maybe they got it right. Mariners mounting a comeback here. That's so crazy, right? Just walk across the field, put on a different uniform. Next thing you know, you're hitting home runs off of an all-star closer

and Ryan Presley. It's just so interesting how that worked. By the way, Jared Kelnick did add another hit and a run scored, so for what it's worth. Two for four with two RBI and a run there for batting 115. Jared Kelnick. Some deeper league hitters.

Is there anything here? Marlins first base prospect, Lewin Diaz, went two for five with his third home run of the season. Routi Thales went two for four with his seventh homer. He has eight hits and three home runs over his last four games. Again, now with the Brewers. Routy Telez, Brent Rooker had three hits and now has six hits and two homers over his last four games. He started five straight games for the twins.

Brent Rooker, six percent rostered. has hit for a lot of power in the minor league. So maybe now that he's playing with the twins. And then Kyle Farmer went three for four for the Reds. His last 15 games, he's betting 3992 with three home runs. He started eight straight games. This is deep league stuff, Scott. Lewin-Diaz, Roddy Tellez, Brent Rooker, and Kyle Farmer.

I'm the most hopeful that maybe, I guess maybe that Rooker could become something. And I'm not that hopeful. I mean, he had contact issues in the mine. He's had contact issues in the majors, but he definitely has power. And that's how you can overcome contact issues if you have enough power. It looks like he's getting an extended look here with Nelson Cruz out of the picture. So kind of interested in him, obviously, just in a deep leak scenario.

I would be more interested in Rowdy-Tales, except we got Daniel Vogelbach close to returning from the IL, and he was contributing pretty well before then. And the brewers are rumored to be in the market for a first baseman. I know they've been, I know Jesus Aguilar has been mentioned as a target for them. Obviously, he had a career season, 35 home runs. I think it was 108 RBI in 2018 with the Brewers. So they kind of already know what they can dream of getting from Jesus Aguilar. So Rowdy-Tiles may not be long for the role.

Some deep league pitchers. Brett Anderson. He was at the Pirates, six shutout with three strikeouts. ERA is down to 3.87. I don't know. Cal Quantrell at the Cardinal. Six endings, one run, five strikeouts. His last four starts, he's got a 2.35 ERA. Just a 7% swinging strike rate. The X-FIP is way high. I think it's over five or something for Calquantral. Vladimir Gutierrez returned for the Reds. He was up against the Cubs, six and a third, two runs, five strikeouts. He did have 13 swinging strikes on 109 pitches. And then Dane Dunning up against the Diamondback, six and a third, two runs, three strikeouts. It is his first time going six in a start since May 20th. Only three of those. Only three of those this year for Dunning, six inning starts. And it's been an issue for Brett Anderson, too.

I was actually looking into Brett Anderson for a possible trade in that 24-Team Dynasty League. There's a little rotation help. because he's always been good at run prevention with all the ground balls he gets, but this was only his third start of six plus innings, and in fact, only his fourth start of five plus innings.

So Brett Anderson looks pretty useless. Okay. Vladimir Gutierrez can, when he doesn't give up home runs, he tends to be pretty good, but as a fly ball pitcher in a small park, it's not uncommon for him to give up a bunch of, of home runs. And I do want to mention this too. I don't think he made the notes here.

Adbert Alzali, that's becoming a major issue for him. He gave up three home runs in his start here on Tuesday. Only four run runs and five innings, but three home runs. He's given up 15 home runs in his past seven games. Yeah, that's dreadful. Yeah, he's averaging over two home runs per start. Stream your hitters against Adbert Alzalai. That's my biggest advice. there, my biggest fantasy takeaway. Some National League notable dingers from Tuesday. Fernando Topsis hit his 31st home run. Juan Soto went two for four with his ninth home run of July alone.

He's now up to 18 home runs overall. So if you were ever worried about Wansoto, you shouldn't be. Bryce Harper went three for five with an inside the park home run, his 16th homer of the season. Mani Machado hit his 18th. Anthony Rizzo hit another one. He now has seven hits, including three homers over his last five games. Chris Bryant hit his 18th home run Patrick Wisdom hit his 15th

Ozzie Albiz went one for four with his 17th home run and Omar Nirvayez went two for four, two for five rather with his ninth home run for RBI in that game. For the American League Shohei Otani hit his 36th Eloy Jimenez. Scott, did you get a chance to see this

home run from Eloy? I saw him trotting around the bases. I don't remember seeing the home run itself though. Just a majestic go ahead three-run moonshot. The eighth inning of this game, 109 mile per hour exit velocity,

459 feet in Kaufman Stadium. It made Kaufman Stadium look small, and that's a big park. So, I love to see that from E.I. I did want to, I forget whether it was the first home run. I think it was the first home run for Austin Riley. It was aesthetically pleasing as well. It was just a rocket off the bat

deep over the left field fence. Jose Ramirez went one for three with his 21st home run. He's batting just 192 in July. Has been battling some elbow soreness. So overall, I'm not very concerned, but that lineup's pretty bad, Scott. So I think that in conjunction with the elbow, just things that are adding up right now for Jose Ramirez making it tough on him. Joey Gallo hit his 25th home run. Yerdon Alvarez hit his 19th home run of the season.

The call to the pen for the nationals, Brad Hand bounced back. gotta give credit where it's due. We ripped them yesterday. Clean inning for his 21st save of the season. For the Cardinals, Alex Reyes, got his 24th save. For the Yankees, the oldest Chapman got his 19th. For the Rangers, Ian Kennedy got his 16th. And then I wrote down a bunch of stuff while we're doing the podcast because, again, these West Coast games, there's so much stuff going on. Jake McGee got his 21st save of the season against the Dodgers, man. Those pesky giants, they just keep doing it. Liam Hendricks got his 25th save. Mark Malanson got his 31st. Daniel Norris, for the Tigers got his first save of the season in the 11th inning. Jose Cisnero pitched in the 10th inning of that game.

To stream or not to stream for Wednesday, Andrew Heaney versus the Rockies, Jordan Lyles versus the Diamondbacks, Madison Bumgarner at the Rangers, Tyler McGill versus the Braves, Eric Lauer at the Pirates, and Jake Oteresey at the Mariners. Fine with Oteresee.

I think Andrew Heaney is dangerous, but the Rockies on the road. or pretty favorable matchup. So if you're stretching, I could see you using Heaney and I could see you using Tyler McGill. How about Madison Bumgarner, Scott? No.

The Texas Rangers have the lowest Wobah in baseball over the last 30 days. Yeah, but Madison Bonegarner seems to be a mess again. He sure does. For Thursday to stream or not to stream, Kyle Freeland at the Padres, Alex Cobb versus the A's,

still dealing with that blister, but it sounds like he's going to give it a go. Chad Cool versus the Brewers, Luis Patino versus the Yankees, Drew Smiley at the Mets. Not the best group here. I can't even get halfway excited about any of them. Cobb would be fine, obviously, if not for the blister.

I think it's very likely he has an abbreviated start. I don't know, maybe Kyle Freeland at San Diego. He's had a stretch of quality starts, but we didn't get a chance to talk about them. either, but Chris Flexen and James Caprillion. I think he did mention Caprillion, actually. No, I didn't. I didn't.

Oh, okay. Yeah, Flexon and Caprillion both gave up. Both were awful, facing off against each other. Oh, no, they weren't facing off against each other. Sorry. But they were both awful. Caprillion gave up four runs in four and a third. Flexon seven earned runs in four innings.

And I think that serves as a reminder. It's easy to fall into the trap of, oh, this guy's had several good starts in a row, so he must be safe. Eventually, if the underlying numbers aren't there, it's going to, their magic is going to run out.

Chris Flexen entered the start with a 460 X-P. Caprillion entered his start with a 434 X-P. It's easier to like Caprillion because the strikeout rate is decent, more than a strikeout per inning. But he does give up. a lot of fly balls and that can be a danger and flex and I mean I know there's been times recently where I've recommended him but I never really trusted the skill set is K rate less than

six per nine yeah it's pretty bad he pitches to contact mostly Chris Flexen does and for Caprillion I will just point out the X-FIP is high gives up a lot of fly balls I think it can be masked at times because pitch is in Oco, it's a bigger ballpark, but for both of these guys, and fringy starting pitchers in general, if you play in a head said categories league or any kind of daily lineup league, just

play it safe more often than not. You know, Caprillion's been very good, but you look at those underlying numbers, you probably don't want to play him against the Padres in San Diego. It's just not a spot that is enticing. Same thing with Chris Flex, and while he's been very good at home, it's going up against the Houston Astros.

So just keep those things in mind with fringy starting pitchers. It's matchups, underlying numbers are not there. Usually those are the starts where things start to even out a little bit. For Scott, I am Frank, thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball. Today will be back again tomorrow. Bye bye.